SUPPLEMENTARY READING FOR BP. TOPIC: The rise of superteams. LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 1

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1 SUPPLEMENTARY READING FOR BP TOPIC: The rise of superteams. LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 1

2 ARTICLE 1 THE NBA SUPER TEAM PHENOMENON June 15, 2017 On Tuesday 13 June 2017, the Golden State Warriors won their second NBA Playoff final in three years, with Kevin Durant winning the first of his career. Despite the Warriors being way ahead on games, the super star line-ups meant that dull moments were going to be hard to come by. No matter where your allegiance lies, it is hard to begrudge Kevin Durant his first and incredibly well-deserved championship, taking the mantle of series MVP and being the first player with five 30 point games n beginning of this season on a free agency, breaking Thunder hearts and creating a championship winning super team. That move thrust the idea of player loyalty back into the press, but KD was keen to explain at the time that his decision was made with a heavy heart. Nike capitalised on from the start of his career, the draft, to winning his first championship. What is a super team? A super team is a team with at least two superstars and usually an additional star. The concept is probably best illustrated by examples. Anyone born in the 80s (or earlier) w Bulls team: Jordan, Pippen, Rodman. Despite the 2004 Lakers team Bryant, Gary Peyton and Karl Malone were super team quality. It is also impossible to miss out the 2011 Miami Heat team. Those are just to name a few. Why do people care? Basketball in America, like other sports, operates on a drafting system, of players. The idea behind this system is that it should be harder for pick in the next draft and vice-versa. People are worried about e for example in Spanish football, where two teams have won the La Liga title 14 times in 17 years. It also comes down to the sport. In a game of basketball, you only ever have five players on the court if three of LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 2

3 those are big names, you can see the immense impact that will have. Even teams without an all-star line-up usually have at least one star (thanks to the draft system) and often build their tactics around their star. It is important to note that super teams are not a new phenomenon, as illustrated above. The difference between then and now is choice. Previously super teams came together through trades and drafting, whereas now players themselves have more agency in deciding where to go. They can effectively choose to make a super team. Changing rules At the start of this year, the National Basketball Association, the NBA, s the agreement between the NBA and the NBPA that codifies the rules that govern the league from wellknown aspects such as salary caps to more intricate details like player dress code. In terms of super teams, the key elements of the CBA are the salary cap, the exceptions to that salary cap and the rules around free agency. Salary caps are supposed to be the key deterrent against the formation of super teams in theory. These are dealt with in Section 2 of Article VII in the 2017 CBA. As Larry Coon explains in his CBA FAQ.com the salary cap is: helps to maintain competitive balance in the league. Without a salary cap, teams with deeper pockets could simply outspend the remaining teams for the better free agents. The basic idea behind a salary cap is that a team can only sign a free agent if its total payroll will not exceed the cap so a team with deep pockets is on a more level playing field with every other team. While this is true in theory, NBA teams in big markets nevertheless have been able to significantly outspend teams in small markets. For example, for the season the lowest team payroll was approximately $45 million and the highest was over $90 million (plus an additional $20 million in luxury tax). As a result, the correlation between team payroll and regular season LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 3

4 The exceptions to the salary cap allow some teams to spend more on pay a penalty for each dollar their team salary is above a certain level. In the season, the salary cap was $70 million with a luxury tax limit of $84.74 million. For the season, the salary cap is $94.14 million with a luxury tax limit of $ million. - teams to sign players for a certain number of years depending on the extent to which they have exceeded their cap. This operates in two key ways: (i) the non-taxpayer mid-level exception which allows teams to sign players for up to four years with a certain percentage annual around $4 million dollars above the luxury tax); and (ii) the taxpayer mid-level exception which operates on a similar basis, but only allows for three year contract extensions and is for teams that are above the luxury tax apron. In the latest CBA, salary caps are now tied to revenue which is significant when you consider the fact that the league recently signed a $24 billion dollar television contract. Money from television is just one and (b) of Article VII. Curbing super teams The NBA had two options in terms of limiting the formation of super teams in the 2017 CBA. They could have either put rules in place with the goal of restricting the movement of players, or incentivised players to remain at teams. The NBA went with the latter by way of Designated Veteran Contracts. Players can now be given higher salaries if they remain at teams rather than opt to move in free agency. The highest salaries are reserved for the real superstars and require certain high performance criteria to be met. These higher salaries are also reserved for players who have been with team for a longer period of time. These rules will only apply to a few players every year. This is also on top of a -andat the end of their careers. LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 4

5 Perspective Outside of the USA the concept of drafting players, limiting a labour agreement between two unions are not common in sports. Although the merits of ensuring competitiveness and equality are plainly visible, so is allowing individuals to make the choices they want to make for the good of their career. In this context, incentivising players to stay seems like a better option than enforcing restrictions. BY: Simon Grossobel SOURCE: Sports Shorts LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 5

6 ARTICLE 2 THE HISTORY OF NBA SUPERTEAMS, FROM WILT CHAMBERLAIN TO THE 2017 WARRIORS June 16, 2017 The superteam is an existential threat to the NBA conventional wisdom. or so goes It's understandable was particularly fraught with the perils visited upon us by a superteam, and we love nothing more than recency bias. The Golden State Warriors added Kevin Durant and rolled through the rest of the Association, capped by a 4-1 evisceration of LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers. Yet this grand hazard must be placed in its proper context. When Draymond Green accuses LeBron of starting the whole superteam trend, as the Warriors forward did on Thursday, he glosses over years of NBA history. The NBA superteam is no more a modern phenomenon than the game of basketball itself. So long as there have been titles contested, there have been superteams. Before we go too far down this road, though, we should define what a superteam actually is. Those who point to LeBron's "Decision" as the catalyst for this situation bring up one key argument: While there were stacked rosters prior to 2010, LeBron's Miami Heat was the first superteam created by, for and through the players. Other teams had to surrender players and picks in trades for stars; the only sacrifice in Miami was figuring out which of the Heat's Big Three would take a little less money to make the move work. That doesn't quite encapsulate everything a superteam represents, though. We loathe superteams because of the feeling of inevitability that follows suit and the context in which they occur. It's not about how the team came together because even the superteams since the turn of the millennium weren't all built the same way. There's a certain feeling you get when you're looking at a superteam a creeping sensation that starts in the back of your head, LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 6

7 works its way down your skin and sears every nerve-ending in your body as you watch the ensuing onslaught. To paraphrase former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart: "We shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material we understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps we could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. "But we know it when we see it." With apologies to the late Justice Stewart, we here at FOX Sports are willing to take a swing at intelligibly breaking down what a superteam really is. There are in fact three key indicators that you're dealing with a superteam: 1.) Multiple Hall of Famers joining forces, with at least one superstar coming from an outside team; 2.) The superteam-to-be already enjoying a certain level of success before taking the leap; 3.) The newly formed superteam being seen as a juggernaut that threatens the balance of power in the NBA. Today's superteams are the result of players going out of their way to team up, but that's not a prerequisite; it boils people's blood that much more to see players set the stage instead of teams, but a smart franchise can put together a superteam, too. Given those parameters, LeBron's Heat are far from the first superteam in NBA history. You'd instead need to go all the way back to 1968 and Wilt Chamberlain's move to the Los Angeles Lakers to find the trend's genesis. Wilt didn't set out to create a superteam; he just wanted out of Philadelphia. Yet despite the process, the result was the same as we see today in Golden State: four Hall of Famers on the same team ultimately trying to overcome an opponent that had their number. Again, the difference is not in the "what," but the "how." LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 7

8 Chamberlain, who'd won a championship in 1967 but still faced questions about his desire to win, was fed up with management and the coaching staff but without any real recourse unless he demanded a trade. The Sixers obliged, sending the Big Dipper to Los Angeles to team up with Elgin Baylor and Jerry West on the Lakers. Los Angeles led the NBA with a record and entered the 1969 Finals as 3-to-1 favorites over Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics, but the Lakers lost in seven games (with owner Jack Kent Cooke famously planting celebratory balloons in the rafters of the Forum, and Russell telling Chamberlain before Game 7 that those balloons were staying up there). The next year, Chamberlain suffered a severe knee injury then came back in time for the playoffs, only to see Los Angeles lose in the Finals to the New York Knicks. Fed up with losing with three Hall of Famers on the roster, the Lakers reacquired Gail Goodrich for the season. A year later, all that firepower paid off, as the Lakers needed just five games to beat the Knicks in the 1972 Finals. The lesson is the same as it's always been in the NBA: if you go out and get the biggest stars on the planet, you'll probably win a title eventually. Next, the superteam trend picked up steam with the Bucks and another of the greatest big men of all time. Beyond the Lakers' reinforcements, also saw the creation of a Milwaukee superteam featuring Lew Alcindor and Oscar Robertson, whom the Cincinnati Royals traded to Milwaukee without explanation and for little in return. The Bucks won the championship in the duo's first year together and made one more Finals before Abdul- Jabbar headed to the Lakers. That Robertson is linked with one of the earliest superteams is a striking coincidence. Player movement was limited by archaic rules that put owners and teams first for much of the NBA's existence. Robertson's legal challenge of the Association in the 1970 antitrust suit Robertson vs. National Basketball Ass'n paved the way for restricted free agency in 1976, which slowly evolved into the modern free-agent structure we know today. LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 8

9 Such freedom was a direct forerunner to the modern superteam. Players throughout history have wanted to partner with other superstars to win rings or settle grudges with even Michael Jordan himself coming awfully close to joining the New York Knicks in 1997 but they lacked a mechanism for actualizing such moves. Robertson changed all that at the same time he was playing on a superteam of his own. Now, where Draymond Green is almost correct with his LeBron comments is the matter of superteam scale. We can expect at least one superteam to exist in any given season in 2017 and beyond, and that squad will be extraordinarily super. Over the first 30 years of the NBA's existence, however, we saw just three such squads Wilt's stacked Lakers, the early-'70s Bucks, and the Philadelphia 76ers. Like the Bucks, the Sixers don't get much mention as a superteam because they had just two Hall of Famers in Julius "Dr. J" Erving and Moses Malone (along with one of the Hall's biggest snubs, Maurice Cheeks). A 27-year-old Malone came to Philly in the summer of 1982 via restricted free agency thanks, Big O! with the Sixers coming off of a 4-2 Finals defeat at the hands of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the Lakers in the 1982 Finals.* *It's quite the coincidence that all these superteams feed off of defeats at the hands of the game's greats almost as if the creation of a superteam is a reaction to a larger event, not an isolated occurrence. Philly lost one game in the 1983 playoffs, exacting revenge on the Lakers with a 4-0 Finals sweep that proved its superiority as a superteam. The history of the NBA superteam enters murky water after Unrestricted free agency was in full swing by the mid-'90s, but no star had the audacity to shout, "If you can't beat them, join them." Then, 34-year-old Charles Barkley left the Phoenix Suns to join Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon with the two-time champion Houston Rockets. Although Barkley wasn't quite in his prime in 1996, he was just LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 9

10 four years removed from an MVP season and averaged 19.2 points and 13.5 rebounds for the Rockets. Indeed, the Barkley Rockets and the 2004 Los Angeles Lakers featuring Karl Malone and Gary Payton serve as a bridge between the historical superteams and today's era. Both squads straddle the line between superteams built on the backs of Hall of Famers and your run-of-the-mill ring-chasing. For that, we should blame Michael Jordan. Before His Airness locked up a perfect 6-for-6 Finals record, NBA greatness was an open discussion. Jordan changed all that. In his wake, retiring without a ring meant you were borderline worthless no matter what other success you had. We'd put that pressure on great players before, sure, but Jordan's success amplified the criticism paving the way for the Boston Celtics to unleash the full force of the superteam model. Boston's trades for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen constituted the first truly modern superteam, as they joined Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo to take the Eastern Conference by storm and to earn that oh-so-coveted ring. That Eastern dominance in turn gave rise to LeBron's frustrations in Cleveland, so he and Chris Bosh took the trend to another level by sacrificing a little bit of money to build an unstoppable force alongside Dwyane Wade in Miami. (Shoutout to the "This is going to be fun!" Lakers team with Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, and Steve Nash while we're here the ultimate proof that sometimes, your superteam plans are destined for disaster.) Once the floodgates opened, there was no stopping the trend, but that's the thing. LeBron didn't start the NBA's love affair with superteams; he merely made it acceptable. The Heat's subsequent denouement enabled LeBron to form another superteam in Cleveland, which fostered Kevin Durant's decision to join the Golden State Warriors... and here we are today with no end in sight. The more the NBA empowered its players, the more they looked around and decided the best approach was to team up to win rings. LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 10

11 You can hold that against this generation, but ask yourself are you really sure we wouldn't have had far more superteams across the ages had free agency existed from the dawn of the Association? Or did the fact that those players had no other option stoke the hatred that defined the old-school NBA? Therein lies the real essence of this discussion. It's not that superteams are a recent phenomenon, it's just that the execution has changed over the years. We've gone from a rare superstar looking for greener pastures once a decade or so to Hall of Famers trying to preserve their legacies, to the game's best players taking the easy way out at their peaks, all in the unending pursuit of rings to hell with the cost. And you know what? If your entire worth as a human being in the eyes of others boiled down to whether you'd earned a piece of gaudy jewelry, you'd probably make the same decision. BY: Andrew Lynch SOURCE: Fox Sports LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 11

12 ARTICLE 3 - KNICKS vs. WARRIORS: EXAMINING WHAT MAKES AN - What makes a team "super" and how is it different based on context? July 24, 2016 The NBA joke-of-the-week involves Derrick Rose and the New York Knicks. In an interview with NBA.com, the new Knicks point guard alluded to the idea of there being two "super-teams" in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors with Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson... and Rose's Knicks, with himself, Carmelo Anthony, Joakim Noah and Kristaps Porzingis. From NBA.com, emphasis mine: ROSE: (Expectations are) high. I mean, with these teams right now, they're saying us and Golden State are the super teams, and they're trying not to build that many super teams, and Adam Silver came out with the statement and this and that. And the expectations I think of us, we just want to win. Talking to Melo and all the guys who've been around. You've got Brandon who just signed for one year, he's got to show why he's there. I've got to show why I'm there. Joakim has to show why he's there. Everybody's trying to prove themselves. When you've got a group like that, it's like, alright, I know everybody wants to do that, but we're going to break this down as simple as possible, and try to win every game. I think winning takes care of every category, as far as being an athlete. You look at endorsements, being on the floor, almost everything -- I think winning takes care of all that. And if you're in the league, winning takes care of all the mistakes, or if you have any problems on teams. Immediately the jokes started flying in, most notably about the fact that Rose was right. The Knicks indeed put together a super-team... if this group played in There are any number of reasons to unleash snark on Rose's remark. Honestly, though, the comment is in line with how Rose still views himself, given his preseason comments last year about what he expects from his next contract. But Rose's comments do present an interesting question unintentionally. How do we define a super-team in the NBA? LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 12

13 WHAT IS A SUPER-TEAM? Among the major team sports in the U.S., the concept of a super-team is only really possible in the NBA and MLS. In baseball and football, no individual player has enough impact on the game to change not only a team's chances for winning but to alter the league's ecosystem. We've seen big-talent teams on the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers, but rarely do they ever dominate in a way that elite-talent combinations can in basketball. In the NBA, one starter can significantly alter a team's prospects, and more than that, individual talent is the biggest driver of success -- over strategy, coaching and team play or style. It's why teams that are well built with good talent lose in the playoffs if it lacks a star. (See: Celtics, Boston.) But while several teams have more than one star, they're not all super-teams, yet all super-teams have stars. Here are some of the factors that help define a super-team in the NBA: A Super Team needs at least two superstars and at least on additional star First you'd have to define "stars" and that itself can be tricky. You can have "stars" like Al Horford or DeMar DeRozan, who are multiple-time All-Stars and marquee players on their teams... and then there are "stars" like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. The Triad Heat provide the best kind of model for how to evaluate these teams. You need three stars. If you have two stars, that is not a super-team; no one ever called the Thunder a super-team despite Serge Ibaka being a near All-Star. You need three legitimate stars, but you also need at least two "superstars." Chris Bosh, despite ultimately proving more important in that run for Miami than Dwyane Wade, was still not a superstar for the duration. As another example, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were superstars when the Boston Celtics' super-team formed in 2008; Ray Allen was that complementary star. With regards to the Knicks it's important to note that the idea of a player being a "star" or "superstar" lingers past their peak. Joakim Noah was definitely as much of a "star" in 2013 as Chris Bosh was in However, for it to be a real super-team, those players have to still be in their primes in a very evident way. This is why the 1997 Rockets with Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley were not a superteam (and were a pretty good comparison for this Knicks squad). LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 13

14 That brings up a tough call. The 2004 Los Angeles Lakers were definitely regarded as a super-team when they added Gary Payton (35) and Karl Malone (40). So why was that a super-team and this current Knicks team isn't? A Super Team cannot form from the draft alone Interesting element in this is that to really be considered a "super-team," one of the stars has to be added in free agency or trade after the other players on the team have become stars. For example: No one would really call the current Clippers a super-team because when Chris Paul joined in 2012, only Blake Griffin was considered a star; J.J. Redick just barely falls beneath the label of "star" and DeAndre Jordan lies somewhere in a murky nebulous star/non-star state. This is why the Warriors, who drafted Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, were not truly considered a true super-team. You can't draft a super-team, but if you draft the other members of a superteam, and then add a free agent (Kevin Durant) when the other players you drafted have become stars (or superstars, arguably), then you are definitely a super-team. But the Showtime Lakers already had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then drafted Magic Johnson, and while Jamaal Wilkes and Michael Cooper were stars and Hall-of-Fame caliber guys, they don't resonate on the same star level. By the same notion, the San Antonio Spurs have featured three future- Hall-of-Fame players and won multiple titles with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. They then added Kawhi Leonard, yet were still not considered a super-team. Even more interesting if you take into account the "free agent star acquisition" corollary, the Spurs weren't even considered a super-team last year after having those four and then adding LaMarcus Aldridge. So in the end, we wind up with categorizations all over the map for teams that could be, or were, described as super-teams. DEFINITELY SUPER-TEAMS Golden State Warriors Superstars: Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant Stars: Klay Thompson, Draymond Green* LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 14

15 (*You can definitely make the argument for those two as superstars, I'm just playing it conservatively here.) Cleveland Cavaliers Superstars: LeBron James Stars: Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving Los Angeles Lakers Superstars: Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Karl Malone, Gary Payton Stars: None Los Angeles Lakers Superstars: Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol* Stars: None (*Nash had slipped, but was still an incredible player coming off the 2012 season; the injuries hadn't really ruined him yet because he was still with Phoenix's magical training staff. Gasol was still considered one of, if not the best big man in the league at that point.) Miami Heat Superstars: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade Stars: Chris Bosh Boston Celtics Superstars: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce* Stars: Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo (*Realistically this was only a super-team until about 2012 when they lost to the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals. What's interesting is that they were a super-team with the "Three Amigos" and then at the time when Allen started to slide with age, becoming just a spot-up shooter, Rondo emerged.) LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 15

16 BORDERLINE SUPER-TEAMS Brooklyn Nets Superstars: None Stars: Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, Joe Johnson, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce* (*This one's tough. They were on the cover of Sports Illustrated when they formed and while the team was a flaming disaster that wound up costing the Nets every draft pick for what feels like a decade, at the time, most people thought they'd be great. I thought they'd win 62 games for crying out loud. Whoops. But Garnett and Pierce were definitely past their primes, and Williams and Lopez were never that good -- in Brooklyn, at least. This one might be the best example of a team we thought was a super-team that maybe we should have examined closer.) Los Angeles Lakers Superstars: Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol Stars: Andrew Bynum (*The biggest reason you would call them a super-team is that the Lakers went from good team to "Man, they are the favorites in the West" when they traded for Gasol in They won two titles, but that's hindsight. It definitely felt like when the Lakers added Gasol that things had tipped, even though Bynum had only really emerged in 2008, and then he went down with a knee injury that severely impacted his career.) Houston Rockets Superstars: Hakeem Olajuwon Stars: Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler* (*This one, maybe more than any other, suffers the most as history recedes because of their failure. Barkley's fall-off was really what wound up meaning this team wasn't a super-team, but it's entirely possible that, like the 2014 Nets, they were considered as such going into the season. In the end, though, all three star players were past their primes, and that impacts things.) LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 16

17 NOT SUPER-TEAMS Los Angeles Clippers Superstars: Blake Griffin, Chris Paul Stars: DeAndre Jordan, J.J. Redick Not a super-team because: Paul wasn't added when the stars had hit their primes New York Knicks Superstars: Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire Star: Tyson Chandler Not a super-team because: There were already signs of Stoudemire's injury decline and Anthony's relative inability to carry the team Oklahoma City Thunder Superstars: Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant Star: Serge Ibaka Not a super-team because: All their star talent was drafted San Antonio Spurs Superstars: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker Stars: David Robinson, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard Not a super-team because: All their star talent was drafted Orlando Magic Superstars: Shaquille O'Neal, Anfernee Hardaway Stars: Dennis Scott, Horace Grant Not a super-team because: Grant was never quite a real "star" -- he wasn't on Bosh's level, for example, and their superstar talent was drafted. LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 17

18 Chicago Bulls Superstars: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen Stars: Dennis Rodman Not a super-team because: All their superstar talent was drafted San Antonio Spurs Superstars: Kawhi Leonard Stars: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, LaMarcus Aldridge Not a super-team because: I'm not honestly sure, but it has something to do with the inherent "Spurs-ness" of the team Chicago Bulls Superstars: Derrick Rose Stars: Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer Not a super-team because: Rose wasn't a superstar when Boozer was added, and Boozer wasn't quite the level of star, despite being a huge free agent in 2010 to define them as such. This team was awfully good in the one year Rose was healthy (2011) though Houston Rockets Superstars: Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming Stars: Ron Artest Not a super-team because: This team was crazy hyped at the time; people might have hinted at this being a super-team if healthy. But with Yao's injuries already an issue as well as McGrady's, and Artest a definable star, but not elite, they just don't make the cut. This team for the brief time it was healthy, though, is crazy underrated historically New York Knicks Superstars: Carmelo Anthony Stars: Derrick Rose, Kristaps Porzingis, Joakim Noah LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 18

19 THE BIG TAKEAWAY In the end, we see that really you can make the same description about super-teams as you can in the famous quote about pornography from Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart: "I know it when I see it." You know that the Warriors this season are a super-team, just as you know that the Knicks very much are not... unless you're Derrick Rose. The nature of these definitions is complicated and can shift instantly built upon certain elements. Beyond all of these definitions, though, is maybe a bigger point. Look through that list of "definite" super-teams. Every one except the 2013 Lakers wound up winning a title with that core. The drop-off is steep after that, but there's a reason these teams are called "super." Talent in the NBA matters more than anything, and having the embarrassment of riches that elicits that description means good teams for your chances of winning a title. BY: Matt Moore SOURCE: CBS Sports LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 19

20 ARTICLE 4 June 6, 2017 ARE SUPER TEAMS GOOD FOR THE NBA? After two dominating performances and a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals, the Golden Many are crying foul at the unfairness of an already-great team, one with a championship in 2015 and an NBA-record 73 regular-season wins in 2016, having the audacity to add perhaps the second-best player in the league. But, while the 2017 version of the Warriors may in fact be super, they are a bit different from the previous NBA super teams we have come to know and love, or hate. These Warriors are not the result of three superstar free agents collectively deciding to come together to wreak havoc on the rest of the league, like the one spearheaded by LeBron James in Miami in Bosh would team up for the Heat and play with whoever else was willing to take the scraps left of the salary cap in exchange for multiple rings. These Warriors are not the modern-era Boston Celtics, who acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in trades prior to the season to super team, this time with the Cleveland Cavaliers. James, of course, joined the Cavaliers as a free agent from Miami and insisted that the team trade for Kevin Love in order to crea with Kyrie Irving already in place in Cleveland. These Warriors are different. They are a team whose three stars prior to this season were all get this drafted and homegrown, and shrewdly, at that. Stephen Curry was drafted seventh in the 2009 NBA Draft, after the likes of Hasheem Thabeet, Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn. Klay Thompson was the 11th pick in 2011, after Derrick Williams, Jan Vesely, Brandon Knight, and Jimmer Fredette. Finally, the Warriors drafted a true diamond in the rough, Draymond Green, with the 35th LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 20

21 overall pick, fifth in the second round in 2012, behind too many busts to list. All three of these players exceeded expectations to become top-15 s development, along with its system of play. The finishing touch to this potential (they still have to win two more games to be called champions) super team came in the form of one free agent, albeit a great one, in Kevin Durant. You can argue that taking the easy road to an elusive championship, but as referenced above, it was far from the most obvious or egregious attempt. Nor is the NBA super team anything new or modern. It is the NBA. Even before t and Kobe Bryant. Before that there was Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul- Celtics super team in the 1960s that included the likes of Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Sam Jones and Tom Heinsohn and helped Russell accumulate many of his 11 world championships, or the Lakers roster with Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor. Durant and the current Golden State Warriors are business as usual in the NBA and actually more organic than the typical NBA super team. Is it good for the league? It must be. The NBA is thriving financially, and oozefest, this Finals series will likely break viewership records. Is it good for the rest of the league and the poor franchises that cannot pull together a super team? Probably not. But the rest of the teams in the league are used to it. Only 18 of the N have won a championship, and only 10 have won more than one. embrace the 2017 version. or simply BY: Jamal Murphy SOURCE: CBS Local Sports LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 21

22 ARTICLE 5 IS IT FAIR THAT THE WARRIORS ASSEMBLED A June 8, 2017 With a victory here in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday night, the Golden State Warriors will claim a second championship in three years and become the first team in history to go 16-0 throughout the NBA playoffs. It would be a fitting ending to what has been a remarkable season and the culmination of everything this team was supposed to be from the moment Kevin Durant chose last July to join the core of a roster that had just won 73 regular season games. If there is anyone who should be frustrated by that sequence of events, it would be LeBron James. The Cleveland Cavaliers superstar remains the face of the NBA and is its best player even as his 14th season in the league comes to a close. Last June, it was James who was hoisting the ving led the Cavaliers from 3-1 down to beat half-century championship drought. In most seasons, these Cavaliers would be more than good enough to on the verge of being swept in the NBA Finals by a collection of talent the likes of which this league has rarely, if ever, seen. Presented with the question of whether it was fair for Durant to join such a loaded team as a free agent, James dismissed the idea out of hand. James, in many ways, created this circumstance by choosing to join the Miami Heat as a free agent in 2010, before coming back to the Cavaliers as a free agent in The same was true with the Boston Celtics acquiring Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett via trades in 2007 to set up their own Big Three, one James lost to twice in three years before going to Miami in the first place. All of those decisions and moments have built upon each other and the health of the sport has followed suit. The NBA has nearly doubled its salary cap over the past several seasons, and this is the first year of a LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 22

23 $24 billion television deal. And while the playoffs have often been called boring up to and including the first two games of these Finals the affairs. look at the money our league is pouring in. I mean, guys are loving the game, our fans love the game. like I said before the series started the On that point, James is in the minority. Ever since Durant chose to join people saying he ruined the Oklahoma City Thunder who seemed like a worthy adversary for the War hellacious seven-game series in the Western Conference finals to those criticizing Durant for some combination of taking the easy way plenty of anger and resentment sent his way. But the fact is that the Warriors benefited from a combination of factors them drafting Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and hiring Coach Steve Kerr and General Manager Bob Myers and the new television deal leading to a one year jump of roughly $24 million in the salary cap that allowed them to sign Durant as a free agent while keeping their core intact. And, even after all of that, they still had to go out and play the games. And the Warriors have blown past everyone in their path, putting them on the verge of a historic 16-0 postseason with one more victory Friday night here at Quicken Loans Arena. have had some good fortune, too. Every year is different, and we know that, but so far things have gone our way. Our guys have really played well and competed at a high LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 23

24 The Warriors found themselves in a once-in-a-lifetime situation last and put a gigantic boulder in Jam foreseeable future. But rather than look at it as a frustration, James sees it for what it is: the Warriors going out and doing exactly what he would do if the same situation presented itself to him. Cowboys added Deion Sanders? one of the best players, and you can do it, go ahead and do it. Why not? The day for James to try to own a team is still some ways off. His more to extend his season by another day, and another game. in the postseason do something going out. He sees it for what it is: common sense. BY: Tim Bontemps SOURCE: The Washington Post LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 24

25 ARTICLE 6 SUCCESSFUL July 3, 2017 PAST IN NBA BUT NOT ALWAYS There was a whole lot of doth-protesting-too-much going on during The 2017 NBA Finals, hoops by way of Hamlet one might say. As the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers met as evin Durant and LeBron James, respectively, grew uncomfortable with assertions they had stacked their respective decks to eliminate most serious competition. James -- who actually has been the orchestrator of two sof three NBA rings, first in Miami with two titles and then one title in Cleveland -- went into denial mode after his Cavaliers squad lost their title defense in five games this spring. at it seem like the Warriors were just some fluke of nature in winding up op 15 players in one locker room. Durant went Ancestry.com in his comments, breaking down the lineage for how Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green arrived in Oakland without big reputations. And to that extent, he was right. al last summer -- a four-time scoring champion, onetime Kia MVP and most coveted free agent of 2016 joining the 73- Thunder squad -- was anything but organic. Still, he had the temerity to s extremely well together. Coach [Steve Kerr] puts us in position to Ahem. The Twittersphere rightly set Durant straight on that disingenuousness. LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 25

26 Only a week earlier on a Finals off-day, and more in keeping with the spirit of what everyone was seeing with their very eyes, James had spoken with the precision of a future franchise owner and personnel expert in dissecting differences in roster- Golden State team and his Heat teams. The idea of multiple stars congregating in just a few markets was just fine with him. ratings, look at the money our league is pouring in. I mean, guys are loving the g series started with Draymond, Klay, Steph and K.D., or if I'm going d to play the Twenty-eight other teams might not have shared that view last season, but hey, the man was on a roll. you have the opportunity to do that -- is it fair that the Cowboys added Deion Sanders? one of the best players, and you can do it, go ahead and do it. Why not? If I become an owner The controversy over teams packing two, three, four or more superstars is roaring these days as the NBA and its fans consider the prospect of Warriors-Cavs V, VI, VII and beyond. And already, this offseason -- with Houston dredging space to bring in star point guard Chris Paul, with the Cavaliers and the Celtics driven to upgrade already formidable rosters and with even young center Karl- (KAT, Jimmy Butler and Andrew Wiggins) -- has turned into an arms race of accumulating top talent. * * * -- It boasts two, three or more stars on its roster, any one of whom would be able to anchor a franchise on his own. LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 26

27 -- Trades and/or free agency had to have been used to unite those stars, either in their prime or at least after obvious, recognized success (All-Star appearances, all-nba selections, major awards won). -- The team needs to be a reasonable contender, not merely a collection of big names past their prime and far back of the reigning conference or league champs. -- Bonus points if media outlets have carried one or more stories about is enough, or * * * - Stars or even future Hall of Famers (Golden State in 1975, Seattle in 1979 and Detroit in 2004 come to mind). But based on the criteria above, even the great Minneapolis Lakers teams (five titles from ) and The Lakers rounded up legendary players such as George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Slater Martin and Vern Mikkelsen the old-fashioned way, by drafting and developing. Ditto for those Celtics that won 11 titles in 13 years. Russell arrived in a trade the day he was drafted and the rest of them -- Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones and more -- essentially were homegrown or acquired without fanfare or portfolios. The same held true for the later champs in Boston and Los Angeles. Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge Magic Johnson, Byron Scott, James Worthy or Michael Cooper did. Jordan) and one Draft-day trade (Olden Polynice for Scottie Pippen), with entirely different supporting casts for each three-peat. Kobe Bryant was a rookie fresh from high school when the Lakers added him approach there, either. But a or attempts at building them, before the Miami Heat (or even their inspiration, the Boston Celtics), needs to keep reading. LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 27

28 Here's a look back at the starting-point season for some of the most memorable "Super Teams" in NBA lore: Los Angeles Lakers Super stars: Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor Super run: Three seasons. Zero rings. Super results: 149- conference finals (1971) Super start: With the leverage on his side of potentially jumping to the ABA, Chamberlain -- already the most dominant player in league history -- told the Sixers he wanted to be traded to Seattle, Los Angeles or San Diego. He was sent to L.A. for Archie Clark, Jerry Chambers and Darrall Imhoff. Super notes: West and Baylor had been to five Finals with Los Angeles, losing each time to Boston. Chamberlain had led Philadelphia to one of the best seasons in NBA history in 1967, including a record and a fivechampionship streak.... By the start of their first season together, Chamberlain was 32, West 30 and Baylor In their first season together, they each put up big numbers -- West 25.9 ppg, Baylor 24.8 and Chamberlain 20.5 ppg with 21.1 rpg -- and led the Lakers to their most victories ever (55). But they lost to their shared nemeses, the Celtics.... In , Chamberlain returned from knee surgery just before the playoffs, but the Lakers lost in seven games to New York.... The next season, it was Baylor succumbing to injury, then a loss in the West finals to eventual champion Milwaukee and sky-hooking star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.... Ironically, it was after Ba games into the season that the Lakers won the first championship of their Los Angeles era. That team posted a then-record mark, won a record 33 consecutive games and went 12-3 in the playoffs, beating the Knicks in five games for the title Milwaukee Bucks Super stars: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson Super run: Four seasons. One ring. Super results: (.756)... Won NBA championship (1971), lost West LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 28

29 Super start: After holding out to block a trade to the Baltimore Bullets during the season, Robertson acquiesced when his friend and former Cincinnati Royals roommate working with Milwaukee, Wayne Embry, persuaded him to consider the Bucks. Robertson was acquired for Charlie Paulk and Flynn Robinson Super notes: Robertson had averaged 29.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg and 10.3 apg over his first 10 seasons, playing in the All-Star Game each season but missing the playoffs four times and advancing beyond the first round just twice.... He was 32 in his first season with the Bucks, a team featuring eight players with only one or two years of experience -- including Abdul-Jabbar, then just Milwaukee won 66 games, led the and went 12- Abdulunstoppable with hi down, though only six NBA guards last season and four in three years.... The closest the Bucks got to a third star was Bobby Dandridge, who averaged 19.0 ppg and 7.1 rpg during the four-year run and won another title in 1978 with Washington.... Actually, they came close to a Hall of Famer in 1972 when Embry drafted a guy named Julius Erving out of Massachusetts but Dr. J had signed with the ABA and never did join Abdul-Jabbar and Robertson on a real super team New York Knicks Super stars: Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe, Willis Reed, Jerry Lucas, Bill Bradley Super run: Three seasons. One ring. Super results: (.626)... Lost in Finals (1972), won NBA Super start: Rattling the entire NBA at the time, the Knicks -- remodeling on the fly to shore up an aging roster -- acquired Monroe, ole players Mike Riordan, Dave Stallworth and cash. Super notes: As Harvey Araton of the New York Times wrote in his 2011 traded to the Celtics -- that's how unimaginable the dealing of Earl LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 29

30 already had added seven-time All-Star Lucas as a quality big to weather ness his game to play -- who had claimed the 1970 championship -- extend their excellence. They got to The victories and a 12-5 playo slipped offensively into the bottom half of the 17-team league, and Reed, Lucas and Dave DeBusschere all were gone by Year later, Monroe still was wondering if he should have stayed in Baltimore He had been a Top 10 scorer in his first three NBA seasons, but he averaged 13.9 ppg in his first three years in New York. Monroe wound up with a ring and reached the Hall of Fame, but the dazzling playground legend ranks 81st in NBA career scoring... Years later, while have been revered as a different type of player, who would have accomplished all the things that Philadelphia 76ers Super stars: Julius Erving, George McGinnis, Doug Collins, World B. Free Super run: Two seasons. Zero rings. Super results: (.640)... Lost in NBA Finals (1977), lost East finals Super start: Erving, the marquee player for the New York Nets, entered the NBA when four ABA franchises were absorbed into the league in June But the Nets needed cash to survive, so his rights were sold to Philadelphia four months later. Super notes board in McGinnis, who switched leagues one season earlier and led Philadelphia in with 23.0 ppg and 12.6 rpg.... Collins had been the season before Erving arrived.... Free, who launched an average of 16.1 shots per game in his career, put up more total field-goal attempts than all but 77 percent of his appearances). Add Darryl Dawkins and a couple more, and the question hanging over Philadelphia became: Is one ball enough?... Philadelphia outscored foes by an average of 4.0 points and got past Boston and Houston before facing and losing to Portland in The Finals.. McGinnis took turns more than they played together. Despite upping to LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 30

31 55 victories, the individualism never dissipated. Billy Cunningham replaced Gene Shue as coach and both McGinnis and Free were traded Philadelphia 76ers Super stars: Moses Malone, Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks, Bobby Jones, Andrew Toney Super run: Four seasons. One ring. Super results: (.698)... Won the NBA championship (1983), lost in East first Super start: After Malone signed an offer sheet with the Sixers, Houston matched and then traded the Hall of Famer-to-be to Philadelphia for Caldwell Jones and a 1983 first-round pick that became Rodney McCray. Super notes: Philadelphia had averaged 60 victories for three seasons -- configured around Erving, Collins, Cheeks and Jones from and twice lost in the Finals to the Lakers (who still had a gamechanging Kareem Abdulan NBA promotional tour of China, with both Erving and Malone on the trip. So was noted Boston trash-talker M.L. Carr, who blanched at the the -17, outscored hrough the playoffs, losing only one game to Milwaukee in the East finals before spanking the Lakers.... The Sixers averaged 55 victories over the next three seasons but got stopped by the Nets, the Celtics and the Bucks in the spring.... eason, Erving was on his way out -- he did a farewell tour in a final lap -- and stress fractures in prolific shooting guard Andrew management.... Meanwhile, the front office decided Malone was in decline. The big man was sent to Washington in a deal that brought back Jeff Ruland and Cliff Robinson; besides, Philadelphia already had burly young Charles Barkley. Of course, Malone lasted another nine seasons, averaging 16.2 points and 9.3 rebounds Houston Rockets Super stars: Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen LearningLeaders All Rights Reserved - 9/5/17 31