Superteam concept good for NBA?

If you were to list the 10 greatest ever to play the game, most would include Wilt, West and Elgin Baylor. They played together for four or five years and never won a championship. You can’t start talking about people being better than those three. There are none out there better than those. The X factor was the Celtics, who had quantity. Only one would be in the conversation of a top-10 all-time great, Bill Russell. Yet the Lakers couldn’t beat them. It comes down to chemistry and people accepting their roles.

It’s easy to say during [the regular season] that someone else might get the ball in the last three minutes. In the playoffs, because of worldwide attention, there becomes a question of will they all still accept their roles? They might do that, but then can they match the four through eight of other teams. That’s where the old Celtics would equal the old Lakers’ production night in and night out.

I’d say the chances of that happening are way below 50 percent. No one knows anything yet. What it’ll come down to is what it always comes down to, and that is money. [Chris] Bosh is saying it now. Others will, too.

Glenn

I think it would be very good for the league and for the fans. Just having that idea positioned in the minds of the public has been such a positive. There has been increased attention on the NBA. A lot of people are asking me that very thing on the street. We’re stealing some thunder from baseball -- is there an all-star game coming up? -- and from football. People are paying more attention to basketball.

They are interested to see who would sacrifice his game, can it work, can our team beat them. Tickets would sell out across the country, and ticket offices would take that game, package it with other games, and sell those ones out, too. That creates new fans. I remember the Lakers combining Wilt, West, and Elgin and all of the excitement generated by those three, who were three of the greatest players in history. To some extent, Wilt sacrificed his points; certainly he did the next year when Gail Goodrich led the team in scoring.

But even if a team lands James, [Dwyane] Wade and Bosh, they will have some work to do. Somebody is going to have to make a conscious decision that they are not going to score their points. Who’s going to take last shot? Who’s not going to average 30? I cannot see James sacrificing his game. Not sure Wade could either. It’d be like a soap opera. A lot of interest would spill out outside of the court, that’s for sure.