Think of how many great teams came and went at the height of the ‘90s Chicago Bulls.
How many legends of basketball stepped into the ring with Michael Jordan’s best teams and left bloodied and empty-handed. How many of the era’s brightest superstars never even got that far.
There were the Shawn Kemp/Gary Payton Sonics. The Shaquille O’Neal/Penny Hardaway Magic. The Charles Barkley Suns, Reggie Miller Pacers, Alonzo Mourning Heat, Clyde Drexler Blazers, Patrick Ewing Knicks.
More high-profile and heartbreaking than all the rest, there were the twice-Finals-losing Karl Malone/John Stockton Jazz.
It is a veritable murderer’s row of NBA greats who were simply great at the wrong time. And it is a time in basketball history that just may be repeating itself in front of our eyes.
Across the NBA, some of the best players of this era are entering the play-offs, which start on Saturday, at a crossroads.
Or, maybe, it is more correct to say the best players of the last era.
Throughout the league, the history-making Golden State Warriors (and, if not them, the almost-as-good San Antonio Spurs) are fundamentally altering the outlooks at a number of top teams. Come up short in these play-offs – a near-certainty for all in the face of the Golden State and San Antonio juggernauts – and it could trigger a reckoning from Los Angeles to Oklahoma City to Houston to Memphis to Dallas to Atlanta to, maybe, even Cleveland.
"I'm a believer that teams can get stale," Clippers coach Doc Rivers told ESPN's Zach Lowe before the season. "After a while, you don't win. It just doesn't work."
Let’s examine some teams who may be taking their last shot with cores that once, to varying degrees, offered the hope of a championship – and might now be best characterised by the dread of stagnation.
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Los Angeles Clippers: "We're right on the borderline," Rivers said back in October. "We're right at the edge."
And, still, that’s where the Clips seem to be. Where they have been throughout the entire tenure of the team led by Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.
Los Angeles enter the post-season as the fourth seed, marked for a second-round exit against Golden State. A year ago they triumphed over San Antonio in a taxing first-round bout and then fell to Houston. They lost at the same stage the year before, to Oklahoma City, and in 2012 too, against the Spurs (they were first round losers in 2013). It just isn’t working for this team.
Come up empty against the Warriors, and Rivers’ pre-season tone suggested Los Angeles are ready to accept a new direction is necessary.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Did you know Kevin Durant is a free agent this summer? It's a pretty big deal. Durant and Russell Westbrook have been the bedrock behind title promise for over half a decade in OKC. They went to the 2012 Finals, where they lost to LeBron James' first title-winning Miami Heat team, and haven't reached such heights since. If they cannot finally deliver on long-held potential, they may see a frustrated Durant leave and an era end.
Houston Rockets: West finalists a year ago, this season the Rockets crumbled and only just barely backed into the play-offs, practically against their will. The Dwight Howard-James Harden partnership, having led this team for three years, feels like it has run out of juice.
Memphis Grizzlies: There is little to no expectation Memphis have any chance of doing anything meaningful in these play-offs, and it should signal the effective end of the Zach Randolph-Marc Gasol-Mike Conley era which saw the Grizzlies in the post-season the last six successive seasons and included a trip to the 2013 West Finals. Where they go from here is anyone's guess.
Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks have been going to the play-offs uninterrupted for nearly a decade, peaking last year with a trip to the East Finals. They've undergone reinvention and rejuvenation a couple times, transitioning from the Joe Johnson era to the Josh Smith moment to the current Al Horford- and Paul Millsap-led iteration. But Horford is an impending free agent, and if they fall short of the NBA Finals and he leaves, it probably means a rebuilding is finally in order.
Dallas Mavericks: It should be a short stay in the play-offs for Dirk Nowitzki and Co, and afterward it would not come as a surprise if the legendary German big man retired. Dirk already got his title though, in 2011, so the end of his time in Dallas certainly won't feel empty.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Finally, the team that in theory should be the most stable but where under the surface there seems to be some volatility bubbling up. LeBron has sounded his displeasure at different times and at varying volumes this season about what he probably sees as a Cavs team not living up to the promise of title contention he expected to deliver on his return before last season. If the Cavaliers do not capture the title this year – and make no mistake, they are longshots – all kinds of scary scenarios come into play for Cleveland this summer.
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