Carmelo Anthony thinks superteams don’t relate to Big Threes, arguing the LeBron James-era Miami Heat weren’t a superteam.
After the mid-2000s, most competitive NBA teams started to look for three star players to construct their team around, after the success of the 2008 Boston Celtics. LeBron James took that to the next level with the Heat, teaming up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Carmelo Anthony feels that, contrary to popular opinion, LeBron’s Heat weren’t superteams rather teams like the ’08 Celtics and the ’04 Lakers were superteams owing to having four major talents.
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“Like USA was a superteam. Those were superteams. The ’04 Lakers were a superteam, even if it didn’t work out but they were a superteam, on paper – Shaq, Kob, Gary Payton, Karl Malone, like that’s a superteam. Boston was a superteam. It wasn’t any Big 3, like, they were a superteam – Paul Pierce, KG, Ray Allen, Rondo. Anything more than three is a superteam. Miami didn’t have a superteam. They had a Big 3 and a strong team.”
Melo may have a good argument about his definition of a superteam. A superteam should be an outlier group picked with star talent, you can’t have a superteam every season in the NBA just because they have three high-profile stars. The Suns from this year feature Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, but they’re not a superteam.
In comparison, the Warriors from 2017 to 2019 were a superteam since they featured KD along with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green.
LeBron’s Heat had superteam mystique because LeBron in his heyday was an absolute monster, but it’s crucial to note that Bosh and Wade in particular started fading quickly after creating the Big Three in Miami, dropping out of being title favorites in 2014 and James departing them immediately after.
Carmelo Anthony Thinks The Clippers Are The Only Superteam In The NBA Right Now
Melo’s concept of a superteam aligns up with the traits of the one team he thinks can name themselves a superteam this season, the LA Clippers. He mentioned them on his podcast as well, concentrating on how former colleague Russell Westbrook plays into the scenario.
“It’s hard enough for a duo to make it work, now you talking about a big 3 and then you talking about bringing a 4th, now it’s god damn. That’s why great teams always beat superteams. You have to truly want to accomplish it. They drove Russ into that role but Russ also learnt though because I was in that circumstance with him in OKC. You gotta truly f**k with each other for that crap to work”.
‘Great teams usually beat superteams’ is a critical remark, as we’ve seen many such gatherings of outstanding talent fail because they couldn’t work as well as a team. That’s an issue the Clippers had initially after the James Harden deal, losing their first five games with Harden in the lineup.
In the 14 games since their 0-5 start with Harden, the Clippers are 11-3, among the best records in the NBA over that time. They’re currently on a six-game win streak after building chemistry over the early difficult stretch.
If they continue playing at this level, it’ll be impossible to say that this version of the Clippers isn’t among the best in the West. They’re presently the 7th seed in the West with a 14-10 season record, predicted to be one of the strongest threats in the NBA.
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