NBA Big 3's That FAILED Miserably

in 2007 the Celtics formed a big three and immediately won the NBA Championship become the Holy Grail of every general manager but despite having multiple All-Stars Big Trees don't guarantee success in fact most of the big threes failed spectacularly and even the great Kobe Bryant could make it work Kobe's first attempt to form a big three got screwed over by commissioner David Stern who Knicks the trade that was supposed to get Chris Paul to the Lakers So to avoid the truth so for the players involved and it's always tough 2012 Kobe did get an All-Star point guard but the only problem was that he was 38 years old still with Pau Gasol and the newly acquired Nash and Dwight Howard the Lakers starting lineup featured four All-Stars and a former defensive player of the year before the season started Metta World Peace said that they would go 73-9 and have the best regular season in history he couldn't have been more wrong Steve Nash may have been an All-Star in 2012 but in 2013 he could barely walk Dwight was still recovering from the brutal back surgery that decreased his explosiveness by 30 percent and the Lakers had a losing record coming into the All-Star break seeing that they might not even make the playoffs Kobe went ballistic in March Brian averaged over 40 minutes per game and he carried the Lakers on his shoulders to a playoff spot but then in the 80th game of the season Kobe paid the price as his 34 year old body couldn't handle that wear and tear going to work falls down again he's struggling his Achilles was broken and so was the Lakers dream of another championship and as soon as the Lakers super team collapsed the Nets decided to have a go with their own the Nets already had a big three of Darren Williams Joe Johnson and Brooke Lopez but their new billionaire owner felt he needed to introduce himself with a bang so the Nets added Kevin Garnett Paul Pierce Jason Terry and one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history when you talk about championships the Brooklyn Nets are officially in the conversation on paper things should have been perfect every member of the Nets starting lineup had been an All-Star either in 2012 or 2013. so naturally the Nets assume they would dominate in 2014 but that assumption was the mother of all mistakes the Nets didn't have a true leader and those who came over from Boston had a combined age of over 100 years Brooklyn finished the regular season as the sixth seed and in the first round they narrowly escaped a defeat in Game 7 against the Raptors five second flowers Williams the tight defense here is Lowry on the deck crew two Lowry put it up it's by Pierce and the Nets win the series but in the second round they ran into a 280 pound LeBron James who bullied them like they were small children in the schoolyard after the season curse left Garnett got traded and Brooklyn's title dreams were over after one season the Nets were stuck between a rock and a hard place with no Superstars and no draft picks their Fiasco proved that money can't buy everything and that you need chemistry to win basketball games chemistry was the biggest problem with our next big three which surprisingly formed on the wrong side of La the Clippers had been the NBA laughing stock for decades but when they drafted Blake Griffin and traded for Chris Paul nobody was laughing anymore because it seemed like Chris Paul could just throw the ball up in the sky and that Blake or DeAndre Jordan would slam it home [Applause] but despite all the highlights and wins in the regular season something was always missing in the the playoffs after a honeymoon period and jokes and press conferences it was clear that this team doesn't have the X Factor to go all the way they lost early in the playoffs each year most painfully in 2014 against Houston when they choked and blew a 3-1 lead after that either Chris or Blake or both were injured in the playoffs and finally after six years CP3 got traded lob city was officially dead while the Clippers had a lot of time to disappoint us this next big three never even got a proper chance to play together when it became clear to James Harden that he was not going to win a title in Houston the beard asked for a trade Landing in BK with his good friends Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving the three best isolation scores in the game were suddenly on one team and the NBA World Was preparing for another Dynasty with Hardin on board the Nets could constantly play with at least one Superstar on the floor and were absolutely Unstoppable when all three played together with a big three on the court the Nets were literally the greatest offense in NBA history scoring 120 points per 100 possessions in the first round of the playoffs against the Celtics the Nets steamrolled past Boston in five games averaging an absurd 124 points in the series The Superstar Trio of KD Hardin and Kyrie averaged 85 points per game which was the most points by a trio in any playoff series in NBA history however that's when the bad luck started Hardin pulled his hamstring and would play half of the Bucks series on one leg Irving sprained his ankle landing on on tentacumpo's foot and he was out after game four but thanks to Katie's heroics the Nets forced game seven and it seemed like they Advanced after Durant hit a three-point buzzer beater Durant there is Durant moving on Tucker turns he shoots however Kitty's giant foot stepped on the line and the three which would have been a serious clenching point was just a two-pointer and then in overtime Brooklyn lost the game and the series before the next season started 72 percent of NBA general managers answered that the Nets would win the title and Katie was the leading vote getter for MVP but then drama started to unravel first it was only Kyrie Irving who stance on the coronavirus vaccine many can't play games in New York he didn't want to comply and take the vaccine despite all of his teammates who did take it problem number two was James Harden who couldn't come to terms with Irving not being willing to sacrifice for the better of the team and take the vaccine James lost trust in the franchise and their ability to win the championship so he publicly asked for a trade just one year after they paid a king's ransom for his Services the Nets were forced to trade hardened in exchange for Ben Simmons Seth Curry and two first-round picks out of the 113 possible games in which KD Irving and Harden could have played together all three were active in only 16 of them their record in those games was 13-3 and it's extremely disappointing how they blew up before really giving themselves a chance Charles Barkley often hated on the Nets and other super teams and said that Superstars shouldn't be in cahoots or join forces I just hope they lose he had a season High 27. I just hope they lose but Charles must not have a good memory or just doesn't want to admit that he did the exact same thing after he failed to win a title in Phoenix Chuck decided to chase titles elsewhere and he chose Houston which was a year removed from winning a championship Sir Charles was 32 years old at the time and was at the back end of his prime but he was still a force inside the paints and he first formed a big three with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler Barkley knew he secured himself another date with Michael Jordan in the NBA Finals but Stockton and Malone went instead beating the rockets in six games in the Western Finals over three Stockton sends the Utah Jazz to the NBA finals the next season Utah defeated the Rockets again after which Clyde Drexler retired however after the last dance with the bulls Scottie Pippen was searching for a new team and he decided to join Chuck and Hakeem in Houston with a six-time champion on their roster next to two League MVPs the Rockets veteran Superstars looked like they were ready for one last hurray but when Scottie Pippen finally got out of Jordan's Shadow he wanted to be the boss that didn't sit too well with the chalkster when you're an old team you need chemistry to make it work and the rockets had none Barkley and Pippin clashed constantly and Houston got kicked out of the playoffs in the first round one season and a first round playoff exit is also the result of another big three that formed in Oklahoma City but unlike Houston they were all in their Prime Paul George was a four-time All-Star and all NBA Defender and Carmelo Anthony made 10 all-star teams in a row in 2017 Dean they decided to team up with Russell Westbrook who was the reigning NBA MVP it seemed like Russ had enough Firepower to shoot down KD and the Warriors and showed Durant that he should have stayed in Oklahoma but he only managed to shoot himself in the foot because most of his shots at the basket didn't find their target even though he averaged 29-12 in days and George had 24 6-3 the Thunder's big three shot less than 40 percent from the fields and 30 percent from three and that's not how you win in the playoffs mellow left after that season while George stuck around for one more year before he also left Russ to play with a better player and when Carmelo Anthony was in his absolute prime he formed the first big three of his career Anthony joined the Knicks in 2011 to team up with Amare Stoudemire the best offensive big man in the game at the time after winning a title with Dirk Center Tyson Chandler also arrives and in his first season in New York Chandler won the defensive player of the year but despite their big three and linsanity in the 2012 playoffs the Knicks weren't a match for LeBron James in the Miami Heats and they lost in the first round next year Jason Kidd joined Carmelo won the scoring title and the Knicks won their first playoff series since 2000. however they would lose right after and wouldn't make the playoffs again for the next seven years amari's knees deteriorated faster than tires on a Formula One car and he was soon out of the league while Chandler got traded in 2014. Carmelo stuck around until 2017 with four consecutive seasons of missing the playoffs and scoring meaningless points but there is nothing more frustrating than scoring a lot of points on a losing team and Jimmy Butler knows this well because after he became an All-Star in Chicago in 2015 Derrick Rose and Joe Kim Noah were destroyed with injuries and Jimmy was left to fight alone so when his former coach Tom Thibodeau asked him to join Carl Anthony towns and Andrew Wiggins in Minnesota Jimmy was beyond excited however his excitement was short-lived Wiggins and Cat were both selected first overall in the 2014 and 2015 NBA drafts and they were talented but they were also nonchalant youngsters who didn't care much about winning or at least they weren't as serious about it as Jimmy was and that drove Jimmy berserk Butler did carry the Timberwolves to their first playoffs in 14 years but they immediately bounced out of the first round the next year when Jimmy realized these kids were singing and joking in the locker room after losses he realized he can't stay in Minnesota anymore and Jimmy Butler and Carl Anthony towns arguing with one another as they so he asked for a trade and publicly mocked his teammates until he was finally moved to Philadelphia after his short stint in Philly Jimmy moved to Miami where he immediately made the 2020 finals against the Lakers unfortunately for Jimmy the Lakers won and in 2021 they were looking like a sure bet to win again with Alex Caruso and kcp La had the best perimeter defense in the NBA which enabled LeBron to play defensive safety and preserve energy and when the opponents did get past the first line of defense they were greeted by Anthony Davis his long arms of the law which blocked everything in sight Frank vogel's team had the number one defense in the NBA despite LeBron and A.D missing 50 percent of regular season games but just when they got healthy for the playoffs the injury bug bit them again and the Lakers lost in the first round against the Suns so what do the Lakers do they decided to completely dismantle their team which just won a championship and would have likely gone to another finals they remained healthy but they stupidly refused to resign Caruso and traded kcp along with kuzma for a superstar who was famous for his numbers but also his inefficiency when Russell Westbrook and his 44 million dollar contract joined the team the Lakers had zero cap space and were forced to add old veterans on minimum deals and when the season started they crashed and burned like the Hindenburg Russ played some of the worst defense we've ever seen in the end NBA LeBron and A.D were battling injuries and with a bunch of old geezers on the roster there was nobody who could do the dirty work with the same coach the Lakers defensive rating sink from number one to number 21 and their offense wasn't any good either it was the first time since 2005 that LeBron missed the playoffs and the Lakers fired Vogel but they couldn't fire their salary cap with three Superstars making over 130 million in 2023. the moves they could make in the off season were extremely limited luckily after some maneuvering they managed to find some pieces of gold in the mud players like Austin Reeves Lonnie Walker and Thomas Bryant are proving to be great in their role the biggest story is Westbrook after he started the 2023 season shooting less efficiently than villains and James Bond movies Russ looked like he would be out of the league then after all the criticism he finally embraced that he can't shoot and that he should be a role player and a few viewers us is a role player that will provide hustle and rebounding and he's fine as he is but when you were paying him 47 million dollars making him one of the highest paid players in the league you have a problem the Lakers finally traded Westbrook at the trade deadline and have instantly transformed from a lottery team into a title Contender proving that Russ was one of the biggest mistakes in their recent history but the Lakers are not the only current team that had a big three underperforming because the Chicago Bulls have one too when Zach Levine emerged as an All-Star and proved to be a building block for the future the Bulls brought him an All-Star sidekick it was Nikola vuchevich a two-time All-Star Center who averaged 23 points 12 rebounds and four assists in his last two seasons in Orlando but when vouch arrives Levine got hurt and Chicago didn't even make the playoffs for the 2022 season they added a four-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan into the mix together with Caruso and Lonzo ball with three All-Stars in their Prime and great young role players the Bulls hope to contend for the title the Rosen and Levine combined for over 50 points a game and both made the All-Star team when the playoffs came around Levine got hurt again the Bulls lost in the first round in 2023 this big three has been mostly healthy but Lonzo ball ended up missing the whole season and while their defense was decent thanks to Caruso and Pat Beverly Bull's offense was atrocious and they became the epitome of mediocrity they didn't even make the playoffs this year and with three All-Stars on the roster that's unacceptable foreign

Channel: Nonstop

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Id: EmOIMupclv8

Length: 15min 24sec (924 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 28 2023