Geno Auriemma should just shut up

Geno Auriemma the coach of the UConn women's basketball team let loose on a rant after his win this Sunday over 10th ranked Ohio State, tying the all-time consecutive win's record for Div. 1 Basketball with John Wooden's UCLA teams of the late 70s.

He exclaimed: "I just know there wouldn’t be this many people in the room if we were chasing a woman’s record.The reason everybody is having a heart attack the last four or five days is a bunch of women are threatening to break a men’s record, and everybody is all up in arms about it."

And: "Because we’re breaking a men’s record, we’ve got a lot of people paying attention. If we were breaking a women’s record, everybody would go, ‘Aren’t those girls nice, let’s give them two paragraphs in USA Today, you know, give them one line on the bottom of ESPN and then let’s send them back where they belong, in the kitchen.”

Bull crap, Auriemma. You're getting a lot of attention because you're breaking an iconic number in college sports. You're getting attention because you're team hasn't lost in years, and you're getting attention mostly because the largest sports enterprise in the world is 20 miles from your campus.
No one is suggesting women should be in the kitchen or anything else. But the truth is, people don't care about women's basketball. It's not as exciting as men's basketball. You are at one of two schools where women's basketball is a priority (Tennessee).
Be a gentlemen, not an idiot. Appreciate that you've had some great talent. Now I am rooting against you, because John Wooden never would have acted this way.
Also, there is no reason to compare the two streaks. The men's field is deeper than the women's field in basketball, therefore the streak is more impressive in my mind, but I don't think anyone wants to see failure. It's not like college basketball fans will now look back at John Wooden, Bill Walton and Abdul-Kareem Jabbar and the 10 consecutive UCLA titles with less admiration.
Geno you are an idiot and just shut up.

Erick Dampier could be the secret to the Miami Heat's success

The Miami Heat may their championship push on November 23. Not with LeBron bumping Coach Spoelstra, or the anonymous (Maverick Carter) leaked reports of players being unhappy with the coaching staff, but rather the signing of journeyman center Erick Dampier.
For those of you who've watched the heat or who have linked to his stat page above, are asking the obvious question:

Can a guy who shoots 26%, and averages 13 minutes, 1.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.3 assists a game really make a difference.

The answer is yes, otherwise, I wouldn't have written this.
Since his first game against Dallas on Nov. 27, Dampier became the fourth center in the 10-man rotation pushing Eddie House out of the playing rotation. By moving the rotation by replacing a scoring guard with a center it forced the Heat to use their smaller players in other positions.
Chris Bosh never plays center anymore. The heat can go with offensively challenged/defensive minded bangers Erick Dampier and Joel Anthony, or "spread the floor centers, because we're too old and our hips will break if we have too much contact" centers in Zildrudas Ilgauskas and Juwan Howard. Howard can also back up Bosh at Power Forward.
By having Bosh at PF full time moves sharp-shooting James Jones, and soon Mike Miller (once he returns next week from his thumb injury) to playing a lot of small forward and shooting guard. This in turn moves LeBron to his real position of "large as hell" point guard.
Wade stays at scoring guard and this has all the stars at their best positions.

Earlier in the season (the 9-8 start) the Heat kept trying to force conventional logic by having Mario Chalmers and Carlos Arroyo be traditional point guards, but it works much better for LeBron to play point and have these players spread the floor looking for wide open 3-pointers.

The Dampier signing allowed for these roster shifts and we can see a difference in the team and the players stats.
 After the Dampier signing:
Dwyane Wade's scoring have jumped from 19.56  to 27.25  points per game
LeBron James's efficiency rating has jumped by 15%
Chris Bosh's scoring raised from 17.6 to 18.3 and rebounding 7.2 to 8.7
Overall the team's defense has improved holding opponents to 86.6 points after Dampier than 93.8 before.

While the media will concentrate on the game in Cleveland as a catalyst, the shifting of personnel to better positions, I believe has a much larger impact. The catalyst there was the moving of Erick Dampier into the rotation.

A Few Good Men – The Heisman Trophy winners and the NFL over the last 50 years.

Of the last 50 Heisman winners 23 have been quarterbacks,  24Running backs , and 3 receivers (including Charles Woodson). Obviously it is no indication of future pro success. While we shouldn’t judge the winners based on their pro careers, because the Heisman is a college award, I wanted to look at how good or bad Heisman winners have done. I broke the winners into six groups. All-Time Greats, Good, OK, Busts, Didn’t make it, Too Early to Judge. The results are interesting and mixed. I ranked:

·         9 as Greats (2 QB, 5 RB, 2 WR/CB),

·         8 as Good (3 QB, 5 RB),

·          9 as OK (9 RB),

·         13 as Busts (10 QB, 2 RB, 1 WR),

·         6 as Did Not Make its (5 QB, 1 RB via Leukemia)

·         4 as Too Early to Judge (3 QB, 1 RB)

From this we can learn, don’t draft Heisman quarterbacks. The two greats are Staubach and Testaverde, not in the echelon of best of all time discussions. 15 out of 20 quarterbacks never played significantly in the NFL. And to think Ryan Leaf didn’t make the list.

All-Time Greats:

1.      Roger Staubach – Navy – 1963 – 2x Super Bowl Champ, 6 Pro-Bowls

2.      OJ Simpson – USC – 1968 – 5 Pro Bowls and 11,236 yds and great 1973 season.

3.      Tony Dorsett – Pittsburgh – 1976 – 1x Super Bowl Champ, 4 Pro Bowls – 12,739 yds and 92 TDs

4.      Marcus Allen – USC – 1981 – 16 yrs – 6x Pro Bowl, 12,243 rushing yds and 142 TDs. (most ever at time)

5.      Herschel Walker – Georgia – 1982 – Best USFL player ever with over 5,600 rushing yds in 3 yrs. 11 yrs pro had 8,225 rushing yds. Got name besmirched in the horrible trade by Cowboys to Vikings in 1989. Never played well again.

6.      Vinny Testaverde – Miami – 1986 – This is a tough one because Vinny never won the big games in the playoffs, but he ranks 7^th all time in passing and touchdowns with 46,223 yds and 275 TDs. Those are some pretty impressive stats.

7.      Tim Brown – Notre Dame – 1987 – The second greatest receiver ever behind Jerry Rice and played with some lesser quarterbacks until Rich Gannon. 100 TD catches and 14,934 yds.

8.      Barry Sanders – Oklahoma State – 1988 – He made the Lions relevant for 12 years. Forget stats with him just youtube.

9.      Charles Woodson – Michigan – 1997 – 6x Pro Bowler, 2009 Defensive Player of the Year. One of the best shut down corners of last 30 years. 47 Career Interceptions.

Good:

1.      Jim Plunkett – Stanford – 1970 – Career as starter 72-72, but won 2 Super Bowls as Raider.

2.      Earl Campbell – Texas – 1977 – 8 yrs – 9,407 yds and 74 TDs and awesome highlights.

3.      George Rogers – South Carolina – 1980 – 7 yrs, 7176 rushing yds and 54 TDs

4.      Mike Rozier – Nebraska – 1983 – 2 years in USFL with 3,171 rush yds. 7 yrs in NFL with 4,462 yds and 30 TDs.

5.      Doug Flutie – Boston College – 1984 – Played in Canada too long to rank as really an impact NFL player, but played well with Bills. NFL career 14,715 yds and 86 TDS and punted an extra point.

6.      Eddie George – Ohio State – 1995 – Shortened NFL career because the Oilers/Titans rode him to over 300 carries a year for 8 years. 10,441 yds and 78 TDs. Never injured.

7.      Ricky Williams – Texas -1998 – Has his career on track after the whole running to India to study holistic weed incident. To date 9,740 rushing yds and 72 TDs. A really great career considering the guy lost his marbles for a few years in the middle.

8.      Carson Palmer – USC -2002 – 21,911 passing yds and 149 TDs. Looked like he was going to be much better prior to the knee injury in the 2005 playoffs. Is playing worse as time goes on, but has been starter for Bengals for 7 years.

OK:

1.      Mike Garrett – USC – 1965 – 9 years – 52.7 rush yds/gm for total of 5481 yds and 35 TDs.

2.      Steve Owens – Oklahoma – 1969 – 5 yrs – Fullback in NFL – 2451 yds and 20 TDs.

3.      John Cappelletti – Penn State – 1973 – 9 yrs – Fullback in NFL – 4184 total yds and 28 TDs

4.      Archie Griffin – Ohio State – 1974/1975 – 7 years – 4415 total yds and 13 TDs (could be a bust)

5.      Billy Sims – Oklahoma – 1978 – 5 yrs with Lions – 4515 rushing yrds and 42 TDs (could be moved up to good, but so short on playing time)

6.      Charles White – USC – 1979 – 8 yrs, 3,075 yds and 23 TDs

7.      Bo Jackson – Auburn – 1985. Bo knows, injuries suck.

8.      Ron Dayne – Wisconsin – 1999 – 7 yrs (6 times cut), 28 TDs and 3722 yds

9.      Reggie Bush – USC – 2005 – Has played decently, but never became the difference maker everyone expected him to be. 35 total TDs and 4000+ yds from line of scrimmage.

Busts:

1.      Terry Baker – Oregon State – 1962 – 0-1 Career record as Quarterback in 3 years.

2.      John Huarte – Notre Dame – 1964 – 19-48 career passing, 1 TD and 5 Int in 6 years.

3.      Steve Spurrier – Florida – 1966 – Career record as starter 13-24-1, 40 TDs and 60 Ints

4.      Desmond Howard – 1991 Michigan – Had one good Super Bowl with the Packers. Overall, 10 years, 15 total TDs.

5.      Pat Sullivan – Auburn – 1971 – Career record as starter 0-5, Career 5 TDs and 16 Int.

6.      Johnny Rodgers – Nebraska – 1972 – 2 years, 283 total yds and 0 TDs.

7.      Andre Ware – Houston – 1989 – 1,112 Passing yds, 5 TDs 8 Int, 3-3 record.

8.      Ty Detmer – BYU -1990 – 6,351 yds, 34 TDs, 35 Ints, over 9 seasons as a back up

9.      Rashaan Salaam – Colorado -1994 – 1,000 yds as rookie only 5 games after that. Ended up in the XFL.

10.  Danny Wuerffel – Florida – 1996 – Career pro highlight. MVP of World Bowl 2000 NFL Europe Championship with the Rhein Fire. He beat those damn Scottish Claymores.

11.  Chris Weinke – Florida State -2000 – 5 yrs – 2-18 as a starter.

12.  Matt Leinart – USC – 2004 – Seriously, you got cut from a team when the starter retired, so Derek Anderson and two undrafted rookies could start. You pretty much suck.

13.  Troy Smith – Ohio State – 2006 – Couldn’t beat out Kyle Boller in Baltimore, and just got replaced by Alex Smith in San Francisco. It doesn’t go up from there.

Did Not Make It:

1.      Ernie Davis – Syracuse – 1961 – Drafted #1, but got diagnosed with leukemia before game 1. One of the saddest stories ever. Would have been first black player for Redskins, last non-integrated team.

2.      Gary Beban – UCLA – 1967 – threw one pass in the NFL, I’ll count that as not making it.

3.      Gino Torreta – Miami – 1992 – Played in NFL Europe for Three Years.

4.      Charlie Ward – Florida State – 1993 – Played for the Knicks (who knows how NFL would have gone.) On a positive note, he started the Mourning/Jeff Van Gundy fight in the 97 playoffs.

5.      Eric Crouch – Nebraska – 2001 – played in NFL Europe for a while.

6.      Jason White – Oklahoma -2003 – We all knew he wasn’t going pro on those knees.

Too Early to Judge:

1.      Tim Tebow – Florida – 2007 – Assuming bust

2.      Sam Bradford – Oklahoma – 2008 – Assuming Good to Great

3.      Mark Ingram Jr. – Alabama – 2009 – Still in College

4.      Cam Newton – Auburn – 2010 – Less annoying black Tebow???

How crazy is it for TCU to join the Big East, Geographically speaking?

Everyone claimed money grab when TCU joined the Big East earlier this month. It makes perfect sense for both the Big East and TCU in terms of money/prestige. TCU needed an BCS automatic qualifying conference to get to a BCS bowl with the regularity of Florida, Bama, OU, Texas, and Ohio State like they wanted. The Big East needed TCU to give it a legitimate BCS contender so they could stop being laughed at. (ACC fans, Virginia Tech is saving your butt on this one.)

However, it seems preposterous for a team in Texas to be in the Big East, especially in college sports with classes and travel. In the pros the Dallas Cowboys are in the NFC East and the Atlanta Braves were in the NL West for years, but those travel budgets don't come from college campuses and cost students GPA points.

So the question is how much worse is it for TCU's travel schedule. I'll be looking at it from both a football and other sport (notably Basketball) base, since the Big East will only have 9 football members, but now 17 basketball members. All numbers are based on direct distance, not actual travel distance. Hawaii's a bitch to get to by car.

Mountain West Conference Members (this is membership as of 2012) and Distance from Fort Worth, TX.

Air Force - Colorado Springs, CO - 592 miles
Colorado State - Ft. Collins, CO - 688 miles
New Mexico - Albuquerque, NM - 588 miles
San Diego State - San Diego, CA - 1151 miles
UNLV - Las Vegas, NV - 1047 miles
Wyoming - Laramie, WY - 745 miles
Boise State University - Boise, ID - 1266 miles
Fresno State - Fresno, CA - 1304 miles
Nevada - Reno, NV - 1337 miles
Hawaii (football only) - Honolulu, HI - 3761 miles

Average miles away football - 1247.9 miles
Average miles away other - 968.7 miles

Big East Members distances (non-football marked with "N")

Cincinnati - Cincinnati, OH - 842 miles
Connecticut - Storrs, CT - 1509 miles
Louisville - Louisville, KY - 754 miles
Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh, PA - 1098 miles
Rutgers - New Brunswick, NJ - 1374 miles
South Florida - Tampa, FL - 946 miles
Syracuse - Syracuse, NY - 1352 miles
West Virginia - Morgantown, WV - 1079 miles
DePaul (N) - Chicago, IL - 821 miles
Georgetown(N) - Washington D.C. - 1214 miles
Marquette(N) - Milwaukee, WI - 875 miles
Notre Dame(N) - South Bend, IN - 865 miles
Providence (N)- Providence, RI - 1551 miles
St. John's(N) - Queens, NY - 1403 miles
Seton Hall (N)- South Orange, NJ - 1389 miles
Villanova (N)- Villanova, PA - 1320 miles

Average Miles away for Football - 1119.3 miles
Average Miles away for other - 1149.5 miles

So in fact the average distance to travel to stay in the Mountain West for Football is greater than joining the Big East, though the other sports get screwed a little bit. Though in both conferences they do not have a conference rival within 588 miles of them. So the move to the Big East is not that big of a deal geographically, it just sounds extreme.
A better option for everyone most likely would be for the Big 12 with its ten members to invite TCU and another Texas school (SMU, UTEP, Houston (my vote)) into the Big 12. This would move the two Oklahoma schools to the North Division and Texas would have its own 6 team division. Find a way to keep the Texas-OU game every year, and then you could potentially have a rematch as the Big 12 championship. This would also have the five biggest conferences have 12 schools each and they could finally dump the Big East from the BCS equation in football. Or we could just have a playoff, but that's a debate for another day.

Where does Urban Meyer rank against All-Time Great College Football Coaches

Where does Urban Meyer rank in terms of best college football coaches?

With Urban Meyer’s retirement this past week from the University of Florida, it is time to ask the obvious question. Where does he rank in terms of the all-time best college football coaches?

First, Urban is hard to judge, because of the small sample size. Judging his career is like trying to compare Sandy Koufax to Nolan Ryan or Pedro Martinez to Greg Maddux. The question there is what is the worth of dominant seasons vs. career achievement? Urban was merely a flash in the pan, in terms of longevity, but nonetheless a bright and powerful flash.

So, I checked the statistics and read up on some of the best college football coaches in history and compiled a top fifteen college coaches list. Urban Meyer ended up farther down the list than I first thought he would (11^th), but it is hard to compare the early coaches against the more modern era.

1. Paul “Bear” Bryant –Maryland (1945), Kentucky (1946-1953), Texas A&M (1954-1957), Alabama (1958-1982)
Bryant won 6 National Championships (61,64,65,73,78,79) and posted winning records in 37 of 38 seasons. He won 13 SEC Championships and finished with a career record of 323-85-17. At Alabama he finished in the top 10 in 18 out of 25 seasons, and went to a bowl in 24 of the 25 years. He also coached Forrest Gump, so that is a plus as well.

2. Tom Osborne –Nebraska (1973-1997)
Osborne coached the Nebraska of 25 years, with 25 winning seasons, 25 bowl games, 25 seasons of being ranked at the end of the year and never winning less than 9 games and never losing more than 3. His career numbers of 255-49-3 are the highest winning percentages of any college football coach and he won 3 National Championships (94,95,97) and 13 Conference Championships. In terms of consistency, no one can match Osborne, but Bryant gets the nod because of the wins and additional National Championships.

3. Knute Rockne – Notre Dame (1918-1930)
Rockne’s career is also very short, but his is due to his death in plane crash in 1931. He ran up a career record of 105-12-5 over 13 seasons and won 3 or 5 National Championships (19,20,24,29,30). The 1919 and 1920 are disputed and despite all the winning, his career was before the establishment of the full bowl system and he took Notre Dame to just a sing bowl game in 1924. He never had a losing season and went undefeated 5 times.

4. Joe Paterno – Penn State (1966-Present)
Paterno is the opposite of Rockne. His career is the never ending anomaly that has produced consistently good teams. He has two national championships (82,86) and has won 3 Conference championships. Penn State was not affiliated with a conference until 1996. He has a winning record in 38 of his 45 seasons, and has gone to 36 bowls and won a record 23 of them. His career record of 401-134-3 is the most wins of any FBS coach. He also gets bonus points for arguing for a playoff since the 1980s.

5. Bud Wilkenson – Oklahoma (1947-1963)
Wilkenson’s 17 seasons at OU featured 14 Big Eight Championships. He went a creer 145-29-4 and won 3 National Championships (50,55,56). He had one losing season, and finished in the top 20 in 15 seasons. He is most famous for the 47 game winning streak that his never been matched.

6. Brigadier General Robert Nese Neyland – Tennessee (1926-1934, 1936-1940, 1946-1952)
Neyland gets a serious upgrade for taking WWII off from coaching to go be a general and fight Nazis. I don’t see Urban Meyer or Nick Saban doing that. He won 4 National Championships (38,40,50,51) and six SEC Championships. He finished his career with a record of 173-31-12. He never had a losing season, and finished in the top 10 in 7 of his 14 seasons. He also never lost to Bear Bryant and invented the study of game film.

7. Bobby Bowden – Howard (1959-1962), West Virginia (1970-1975), Florida State (1976-2009)
Bowden is a poor man’s Joe Paterno, lots of years, lots of good years, but he is docked for three separate NCAA violations that vacated a total of 18 games. He did win 2 National Championships (93,99) and 12 ACC Championships. His run of at least 10 wins a season from 1987 to 2000 is one of the most impressive in the history of college football. He held a career record of 377-129-4.

8. Woody Hayes – Miami (OH) (1949-1950), Ohio State (1951-1978)
Hayes famously ended his career by punching an opposing player in the throat after an interception during the fourth quarter of a bowl game is one of the great personalities of college football. Many of his greatest moments came against Michigan, Ohio State’s chief rival who Woody Hayes held a 16-11-1 record. When beating them by five touchdowns in 1961, he went for two after a touchdown. When asked why, he responded with “Because I couldn’t go for three.” In 30 years as a coach he won 3 National Championships (54,57,68) and 14 Conference titles. He did not however have the greatest consistency outside of a run from 1968-1977.

9. Glenn “Pop” Warner – Georgia (1895-1896), Cornell (1897-1898, 1904-1906), Carlisle Indian (1899-1903, 1907-1914), Pittsburgh (1915-1923), Stanford (1924-1932), Temple (1933- 1938)
Warner coached for over 45 years. He won 3 National Championships with Pitt (15,16,18) and 1 National Championship with Stanford (26). He compiled a career record of 319-106-32. Warner is tough to judge against many of the other coaches, because he coached in the games infancy. His best teams were the Carlisle Indian School (a school to assimilate the Red men) with Jim Thorpe. He brought about a lot of changes to football, including pads (a relatively good idea). He also invented the modern punt and the screen pass. He won 33 straight games over 4 years at Pitt. He also fathered the first youth leagues and that is why we still call it Pop Warner football.

10. Howard Jones – Syracuse (1908), Yale (1909), Ohio State (1910), Yale (1913), Iowa (1916-1923), Duke (1924), USC (1925-1940)
Jones is best known for his work at bringing USC to national prominence. He won 4 National Championships (28,31,32,39) and 5 Rose Bowls at USC. He also won a National Championship at Yale in 1909. He comprised a career record of 194-64-21. He managed winning seasons in 24 of his 29 seasons. I am interested to learn more about Howard Jones and why he only stayed one year at so many of his stops. Is he the Larry Brown of early college football?

11. Urban Meyer – Bowling Green (2001-2002), Utah (2003-2004), Florida (2005-2010)
Meyer’s short tenure is one of the most impressive in football history. He has two national championships (06,08) and 4 conference championships. His career record is an impressive 103-23. His worst season is 2010 with only a 7-5 mark and has gone to bowls and been ranked at the end pf every year since 2003. His short tenure marks him down, as his first 10 years are only more impressive than Bob Stoops and Mack Brown due to winning the second National Championship game. There is no guarantee that he is done coaching, and it will be interesting to see how his career progresses from here.

12. Nick Saban – Toledo (1990), Michigan State (1995-1999), LSU (2000-2004), Alabama (2007-Present)
Saban has compiled a 133-53-1 record across 15 seasons. He has never had a losing season. He is ranked lower than Meyer because of a lack of success at Michigan State prior to his great run starting in 2001. He has won 2 National Championships (01 LSU, 09 Alabama) and has gone to four BCS games. Obviously if Saban continues to win at Alabama he will climb the chart.

13. Barry Switzer – Oklahoma (1973-1988)
Switzer won 3 National Championships (74,75,85) and 12 Big Eight Championships in 17 seasons. He finished rank in the top 20 in 16 of 17 years. He never finished below second place in the conference. He held a career record of 157-29-4. He loses some points because he took over a great team and was forced to resign in 1988 after a multitude of NCAA investigations discovered a number of scandals including players selling cocaine. He perfected the wishbone offense. He also loses points for taking a loaded pistol to the airport in 2003. (As a lifetime Oklahoma State fan, I f***ing hate Barry Switzer.)

14. Walter Camp – Yale (1888-1892) Stanford (1893-1895)
Camp was the dominant coach of early American football earning a 67-2 record in 5 season winning 3 National Championships (1888,1891,1892). Camp is hard to rank much like Warner, because of the era. Camp is more important because he developed the scoring system (6 for touchdowns, pat, field goals) and the down system. He became the “father of American football” writing over 30 books on the subject and articles in numerous boys magazines. He is given credit for greatly increasing the popularity of the game.

15. Jock Sutherland – Lafayette (PA) (1919-1923), Pittsburgh (1924-1938)
Sutherland is credited with 1 Championship at Lafayette (21) and 4 at Pittsburgh (29,31,36,37) although in 1929 they lost the Rose Bowl. He finished his career with a record of 144-28-14. It is hard to rank him as an all-time best because he only had 2 undefeated seasons, but his consistency is hard to match. He also replaced “Pop” Warner at Pitt, so he didn’t really have to rebuild that program.

The Celtics Could be Starting All Hall-of-Famers

Take the time this season to watch at least one Boston Celtics game. The starting line-up could potentially be only the third team to feature five future Hall-of-Famers. The 61-62 Celtics started five hall-of-famers, and the 85-86 Celtics had five hall-of-famers. In addition, I can only find two teams that started even four hall-of-famers (not including the Celtics of the 60’s). Every player who has scored more than 20,500 points in their careers has made the Hall-of-Fame or will make it (Gary Payton, Allen Iverson). Seven active players have reached that plateau, and four play on this year’s Celtics. Shaq, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett. They have more 20,000 point scorers than the rest of the league combined (Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant). Rajon Rondo is the fifth starter and is often considered the team’s best player right now. He is too young to project as a Hall-of-Famer, but his numbers have consistently gone up and this year he is averaging 11.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 14.1 apg, 2.2 steals a game, and shooting over 50% from the field. Also he is already 1^st-Team All Defensive player. At 24 years old, barring injury or a sever regression in skill over the next eight years, Rajon Rondo could join the rest of the starting line-up in Springfield, MA someday. So do yourself a favor and watch a Celtics game, because while they may not bring about the buzz like the Heat or Lakers this year, the talent is extraordinary, even if Shaq, Allen, and Garnett are well past their primes.

Here is a look at the other Hall-of-Fame loaded teams

The 1961-62 Celtics (there were only 9 teams in the NBA)

Bill Russell, John Havelicek, Frank Ramsey, Tommy Heinsohn, Bob Cousy

The 1985-86 Celtics

Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson and Bill Walton (6^th man, did not start, injuries)

The 2004 Lakers (Lost to Pistons in Finals)

Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Gary Payton, Karl Malone

Teams with Three: Lakers in the 80s (Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Bulls 96-98 (Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman), Miami Heat 06 (Dwyane Wade, Gary Payton, Shaquille O’Neal), Lakers of the late 60’s (Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain)… and I’m sure there are others as well.