Sad News: The head coach of the Sixers just reviewed three players who will not play again for the…..
Sad News: The head coach of the Sixers just reviewed three players who will not play again for the…..
Paul George completes Sixers’ Big 3. But it’s a Big 5 League now
The Philadelphia 76ers landed the biggest fish of free agency, agreeing to terms with former L.A. Clippers star Paul George on a reported four-year, $212 million pact in the opening hours of free agency. It represents probably the most impactful free agent signing in Philly’s 75-year franchise history. The Sixers’ faithful should be thrilled with their new Big 3 of George, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid.
But the last two teams to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy — the 2022-23 Denver Nuggets and the 2023-24 Boston Celtics — were built upon the belief that the Big 3 era is dead. Welcome to the era of the Big 5.
More so than ever, the NBA has become a war of attrition, with injuries dictating postseason outcomes. And to survive it, you can’t have all of the team’s hopes hinging on just three players.
While sports talk shows spent countless hours debating where the Celtics’ Big 2 of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown stacked up against the rest of the league’s star duos, Brad Stevens and the Celtics’ front office were busy building a Big 5. Yes, as I wrote in the aftermath of their championship, the Celtics’ title is a crowning confirmation that three (points) is more than two.
But it also proved that five (stars) is more than three.
Rather than breaking up the Tatum-Brown duo, the Celtics went in the other direction and upgraded the supporting cast. Before last season, the Celtics boldly cut bait on Marcus Smart and traded him for a former All-Star in Kristaps Porziņģis, who had been coming off a year in which he averaged 23.2 points and 8.4 rebounds in Washington. Not only that, they flipped Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams III and two first-round picks for two-time All-Star Jrue Holiday, who had been traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for Damian Lillard.
Counting Tatum, Brown and Al Horford, those monster deals gave the Celtics five players who had been an All-Star in the previous six seasons. Add Derrick White, who just agreed to a contract worth a reported $30-plus million in annual dollars, and that’s six star-caliber players on the roster.
The Celtics effectively made a bet that the sheer depth of star-caliber players would overwhelm top-heavy opponents who might be acutely vulnerable to injury or incongruity with their star players. And looking at their playoff run, they were right on the money.
Against the Miami Heat, the Celtics didn’t have to play against their Big 2 of Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler because the latter hurt his knee. Done in five games.
In the conference semifinals, the Cavaliers’ Big 3 of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen didn’t even take the floor together due to injuries to Allen, who missed the entire series with a rib injury, and Mitchell, who missed Games 4 and 5 nursing a calf injury. Dispatched in five games.
And the Indiana Pacers led by Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam? Same story. Haliburton came up limp in Game 2 and missed the final two games of the Celtics’ sweep with a hamstring injury.
In the NBA Finals, it was a strength in numbers story. Prognosticators across the media landscape (like yours truly) thought that the Celtics would be defeated because Dallas seemingly presented a more formidable duo in Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. As it turned out, the Celtics proved again that having two stars (or three) is great in theory, but having an elite starting five is better.
Look at the contender graveyard in the Eastern Conference. The Milwaukee Bucks tried to upgrade their Big 3 of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Holiday by trading for Lillard — and they broke at the seams. With physical ailments to Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle (and seemingly half the roster), the New York Knicks almost ground themselves into dust trying to make it through the playoffs. In Philadelphia, Embiid was laboring on one leg throughout much of their first-round series against the Knicks.
They say the best ability is availability and the Celtics employed that in spades. To win it all, you need star bodies, and the Celtics possessed the most of any.
It would be a misnomer to suggest that all of the injury luck fell on the Celtics’ side en route to a championship. Not when Porziņģis missed the entire conference semifinals and conference finals dealing with a calf injury himself.
The Celtics didn’t seem to miss a beat without Porziņģis. And guess what — that’s because they were built that way. When other teams lost a star player, or a player of Porziņģis’ stature, they weren’t able to stay afloat. The Celtics were prepared.
Porziņģis out? No problem. Welcome back to the starting lineup, five-time All-Star Al Horford. Tatum going through a cold spell? Not a worry; here comes Jaylen Brown, who ended up winning Eastern Conference finals and Finals MVP awards. A glowing testament to the C’s depth: Holiday and White each led the Celtics in scoring in at least one playoff game.
In the previous season, the Nuggets were a shining example of the power of the starting five. The Nuggets never had a Big 2, much less a Big 3. Nikola Jokić remains the only MVP to have never had a star co-pilot; he has never been afforded a player who has earned an All-Star, All-NBA or All-Defense award alongside him. As good as Jokić is, it’s a team sport. Though it was Embiid who won MVP in the 2022-23 season, it was the Nuggets’ starting five that posted the best plus-minus of any five-man unit in the regular season, per NBA.com/stats. (They were the best in the playoffs, too). Like this year’s Boston squad, that was a collective superteam, emphasis on team.