ESPN.com NBA Franchise Rankings (all-time)

The Spurs deserve to be exactly where they are. It is remarkable how successful the Spurs have been the past fifteen years.

Losing Tim Duncan, arguably the best power forward to ever play the game, will no doubt hurt the Spurs and the entire game of basketball. No team can lose a once in a generation future Hall of Famer without consequence. But the Spurs front office, management, and coaching staff have demonstrated that they aren't going to fade away. So long as the Spurs maintain their philosophy, they will be a force in the West for years to come.
 
Rockets are much better than Indiana who has only been to the Finals once or Portland who is 1-2 in the finals or utah who only had malone/stockton.

had the Rockets not run into Larry Bird twice in the 80s Finals, they too could have had 4 titles.

I'd put Houston at 6 or 7.

Spurs are on the decline and won't be a force until they get lucky and get another top big man.
 
I would really like to believe that the Spurs are not on the decline, but im afraid that they are.
The front office will keep them competitive but not title contenders.

Duncan is on the decline. Manu is oft injured,but great when healthy.
But i think dealing Scola and not being able to sign Splitter will hurt them a lot in the coming years when Duncans game declines even more.
 
The Bulls were utter garbage prior to Jordan, and have been okay, at best, post Jordan. The Spurs normally had a playoff contender in their history, then Duncan put them over the top.
 
Chicago was the best team for a decade and had 6 titles in the 90s. They have to be top 3 or 4 just for that.

SA seemingly tanked a few seasons to get their high drafts picks which worked out quite well for them. Had fortune gone another way and Robinson or Duncan not been there who knows how their franchise would have looked. I agree they are up there though due to their consistency over the past decade and a half.

Also amazing how many teams/franchises that Jordan kept from taking higher places.

I would rank it:
1. LA
2. Boston
3. Chicago
4. 76ers
5. SA

Phoenix doesn't even crack my top 10. The Pistons have to be top 10.
 
^
Hornpharmd is extraordinarily biased when it comes to Detroit. It's so extreme that it's beyond the point of reason.
 
The opinions suggesting the Spurs tanked anything are just speculation.

On balance, their front office has been outstanding scouting, signing, and keeping talent. The Scola and Splitter scenarios have more to do with market forces, such as lucrative offers from international clubs and the value of a contract dollar compared to other currencies, than anything the Spurs did "wrong." They have been frugal in their spending while keeping Duncan, Parker and Ginobli in the stable. And, they have done an excellent job of surrounding these superstars with potent talent.
 
No post Jordan titles count either. After all, teams are able to win now only because Jordan aged and retired. Perhaps pre Jordan title teams are just lucky Jordan wasn't born earlier, so their titles don't count either. Just fold the league already. Only 6 real NBA titles have ever been awarded.
 
The 99 Spurs title has to have an asterisk too then. Jordan only retired then because Pippen wanted to be traded. If that doesn't happen, you have the full strength Bulls, including a healthy Jordan coming off a title from the year before. Not unlike 1994, Jordan chooses to "retire". No way the Spurs can compete with that right? So maybe Pippen should get one of those 99 Spurs rings?

Really, though. You play against the players and teams that are in the league. There's no "if Jordan" because Jordan wasn't playing. It doesn't matter if he quit or if he blew out his knee. Its as simple as that. There's no "if Colt McCoy" was healthy against aTm in 2006. We lost. There's no "if Michael Vick" didn't torture dogs. There's no "if Len Bias" lives, the Celtics would continue their reign, and Jordan would have fewer, if any, titles.
 
Chicago is debatable. Yeah, they have 2 more championships and 2 more conference titles. That's all they have on the Spurs. They do not have the all-time winning percentage (that's even more lopsided in the Spurs favor than it is with the 76ers), they have fewer playoff appearances (though it's fairly even at 29-28), and the Spurs have more than twice the division titles (16-7). To argue that the world championships stat is an automatic trump card would be quite like the claim that Austin Reagan or Midland Lee, up until 2005, had better football programs than Highland Park. Such an argument would be nonsensical. I'll give you that the Bulls' stretch in the 1990's was better than the Spurs' stretch of the 2000's, but that's a mere fraction in looking at total body of work.
 
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