Spartans

Spencer Davies tells the complex story of Eban Hyams, the first Indian-born international professional basketball player.

Setbacks and bouncebacks: On Eban Hyams, India's first pro ballplayer

A list of 12 of the top talents in modern NBA history to have never appeared in an All-Star Game.

The 12 best modern-history players to never make an NBA All-Star team

The GOAT argument has heated up in recent years, with a growing contingent claiming LeBron James over the incumbent greatest of all-time, Michael Jordan. But no matter if it&rsquo;s Jordan, James, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, championships are a prerequisite.
Of course, team success is predicated on talent, and in basketball, one player impacts outcomes more so than in football or baseball. Still, the idea that the best player ever should inevitably be a decorated champion is oversimplified.&nbsp;
Ultimately, I posit that great players can achieve only so much on their own. A great supporting cast is also necessary. And if you examine the GOAT list, it becomes clear that great supporting casts are also a prerequisite. And with that being said, let&rsquo;s identify the best supporting casts of all time.
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5. Boston Celtics, 1980-1988
Key role players: Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Cedric Maxwell, M.L. Carr, Danny Ainge, Nate &ldquo;Tiny&rdquo; Archibald, Dennis Johnson
Championships: 3 (1980-81, 1983-84, 1985-86)
These teams saw some turnover, but the core remained mostly intact throughout the '80s &ndash; Bird, McHale, Parish and Archibald or Johnson. The 1983-84 and 1985-86 iterations had five players average 30 or more minutes per game, and all three championship teams featured five players averaging double figures in points per game. They were incredibly role-oriented and players were intimately familiar with those roles. But ultimately, the main case for the Celtics is that they boasted three of the 50 greatest players ever for their entire run in the '80s.
Side note: Despite having a reputation for being banged up, Bird missed very few games in his prime, making it incredibly difficult to examine how the Celtics fared in his absence. In fact, between the 1980-81 and 1985-86 seasons, Bird missed only five regular-season games. While that&rsquo;s clearly a ridiculously small sample size, the Celtics were 5-0 in those games without Bird. It&rsquo;s not enough to make the case that the Celtics&rsquo; supporting cast achieved anything significant in his absence, but it&rsquo;s something.
4. Miami Heat, 2012-2016
Key role players: Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, Udonis Haslem, Mike Miller
Championships: 2 (2011-12, 2012-13)
The Heat were a surprisingly deep team. All we really remember is the Big Three and Ray Allen&rsquo;s clutch three-pointer in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals. But there was far more depth in Miami than we care to remember. Udonis Haslem, Shane Battier, Mike Miller, Mario Chalmers, Chris Anderson and Norris Cole all played big roles for the Heat. While there was a high degree of turnover in Miami in the 2010s, the key contributors were mostly the same. And they utilized lots of players; the 2011-12 team played 12 guys for 13 or more minutes per game, and the 2012-13 squad did so with 11 players.&nbsp;
But clearly nothing was more important for Miami than the Big Three. James was obviously the team&rsquo;s engine, but Wade and Bosh were crucial to Miami&rsquo;s success. Wade averaged more than 21 points per game in both championship seasons, whereas Bosh averaged slightly less than 20 points per game while taking on significantly more defensive responsibilities than in Toronto. Wade and Bosh combined to make the best one-two punch of any of the supporting casts on this list, making their inclusion here obvious.&nbsp;
3. Golden State Warriors, 2014-2018
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Key-role players: Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Ande Iguodala, Shaun Livingston
Championships: 3 (2014-15, 2016-17, 2017-18)
This team is the hardest to write about, mainly because calling Durant a role player feels like it's backwards. Durant has half as many MVP awards as Curry and more scoring championships. But the premise of the article is that the great teams have supporting casts and that great supporting casts support starts &ndash; and Curry is that star. He was in Golden State for their first championship without Durant, and he remains there following Durant&rsquo;s departure. In total, Golden State won three championships in a relatively short amount of time, and in the one year which they did not win the championship, they set a new single-season NBA win record (73).&nbsp;
But however you view this team, it accomplished a great deal &ndash; and it was not predicated on one star. On the contrary, the Warriors spread the wealth. The 2017-18 Warriors, for example, averaged 113.5 points per game, 73 of which came from Curry, Durant and Thompson. And everyone on this team felt like part of the supporting cast at times. Further, 14 players averaged 13 or more minutes per game &ndash; which is more than any other team on this list.&nbsp;
2. Chicago Bulls, 1995-1998
Key role players: Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Ron Harper, Toni Kukoc, Steve Kerr, Luc Longley
Championships: 3 (1995-1996, 1996-1997, 1997-1998 &mdash; six in total, but the teams and supporting casts are distinctly different, separated by Jordan&rsquo;s retirement)
Eras make a difference. And the 1990s Bulls, featuring Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, were just flat-out better than every other team in the NBA in the 1990s. Want proof? The Bulls were one of only five teams with two starters in the All-Star games in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Oh, and their second All-Star, Pippen, was second runner-up for MVP in 1993-94, leading the Bulls to the third-best record in the Eastern Conference in 1993-94 without Jordan. Ironically, Pippen was probably the most equipped to go head-to-head with Jordan.
Jordan, Pippen and Rodman brought unmatched defensive versatility, and Jordan and Pippen were unstoppable, thanks to an unprecedented combination of size and skill. Add in a 6-foot-6 point guard (Harper), a big, ultra-skilled wing (Kukoc) and a dead-eye shooter (Kerr), and it was just too much for teams in the 90s to handle. Bottom line: Jordan was obviously unstoppable. But one player can&rsquo;t do everything on his own, and the fact that this team is still arguably the best team ever more than 30 years since they were dismantled speaks to just how great their supporting cast really was.
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1) Los Angeles Lakers 1979-1988
Key role players: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Byron Scott, James Worthy, Mychal Cooper, A.C. Green and Mychal Thompson.
Championships: 5 (1979-80, 1981-82, 1984-85, 1986-87, 1987-88)
The Showtime Lakers are about as unique a team as you&rsquo;ll come across in basketball history. Their most important player was unquestionably their point guard, Magic Johnson, evidenced by his leading the Lakers to a championship as a rookie while filling in as center in a decisive game. Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer and arguably, at his peak, the best player ever. James Worthy is also an all-time great, having been named a member of the NBA at 50&rsquo;s top 50 players of all time.&nbsp;
But nothing speaks to the team&rsquo;s versatility more than this &ndash; Byron Scott led the Lakers in scoring in 1987-88 (21.7 points per game) despite the presence and health of Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar and Worthy.&nbsp;
Great players are clearly the building blocks on which great teams are built. But great supporting casts are a necessary part of all dynasties, too. Without them, teams run out of gas and get out-maneuvered by complicated defensive schemes. At the end of the day, you need both &ndash; and sometimes more &ndash; to win championships in the NBA.

Drew Maresca takes a look at some of the best supporting casts around NBA GOAT candidates.

Which NBA teams had the best supporting casts of all time?

Team USA handled Spain by overcoming a slow start and riding Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum. They are in the Olympic semifinals against Australia, and like the Spanish, it's another team the Americans have a history against.
Ironically, the Team USA's games are being called on NBC by Vince Carter, who was the designated villain 21 years ago when the American federation got its first taste of what defeat might look like when the Games were held in Sydney.&nbsp;
During a pre-Olympic stop in Melbourne for an exhibition game against the Boomers, the Aussie crowd was relentless in its heckling of Carter, the Durant of his time.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Carter is a wanker,&rdquo; fans chanted in unison, as Andrew Gaze and Shane Heal and Luc Longley put up quite a good fight before succumbing. The Americans eventually got a scare from Lithuania in the semifinals before winning the gold medal, and it was the first time a U.S. team with NBA players had ever been tested.
The latest version of Australians advanced by dismantling the remnants of what was once a powerhouse Argentina team, scoring the first 19 points of the fourth quarter in an 97-59 victory &mdash; the most lopsided of the four quarterfinals. It&rsquo;ll be Australia-USA at 12:15 a.m. ET Thursday, followed by France-Slovenia at 7 a.m. as the Olympics begin to wind down. France dispatched Italy by 9 and Slovenia, making its first men&rsquo;s basketball appearance, defeated Germany by 24 to make it to the Final Four.
Australia already <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/what-is-going-on-with-the-usa-mens-national-team-in-exhibition-play" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeated the United States in a friendly played in Las Vegas</a>. A second glorified scrimmage between the teams was canceled because of COVID concerns, and the Americans have changed dramatically since those games were played last month prior to the conclusion of the NBA Finals.
Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker are now major pieces to the puzzle for Gregg Popovich, who was caught smiling on camera during the game against Spain after Tatum knocked a ball off the rim (goaltending in the NBA, but not under FIBA rules) during a fourth-quarter surge.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The further you move in the tournament, the more difficult it gets. That's pretty obvious,&rdquo; Popovich said.
&ldquo;The game is about buckets,&rdquo; said Durant, whose American team opened the third quarter by hitting five three-pointers and stifling Spain with zero field goals in that stretch. &ldquo;When you see the ball go in the rim, everybody&rsquo;s got more energy &mdash; coaches, players, trainers, everybody. We started making shots, made some threes and guys calmed down and made some stops.&rdquo;
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KD, SOARING DOWN THE LANE. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TokyoOlympics</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamUSA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TeamUSA</a> Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/usabasketball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USABasketball</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/peacockTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@peacockTV</a>: <a href="https://t.co/f0j91aoEXP">https://t.co/f0j91aoEXP</a> <a href="https://t.co/mOklwQh2XH">pic.twitter.com/mOklwQh2XH</a>
&mdash; #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1422419395058491392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Ricky Rubio scored 38 points for Spain, the 2019 FIBA World Cup champions and a team the U.S. has beaten in two of the past three Olympic gold-medal games. Sergio Rodriguez added 16 points, and Willy Hernangomez had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
&ldquo;I didn't expect anything less,&rdquo; Holiday said. &ldquo;Ever since he (Ricky) was, what, like 12, he&rsquo;s been doing this. So for him to come out here and just display the type of talent that he has is really cool to be a part of and to see.&rdquo;
Team USA rallied after trailing 39-29 in the second quarter. The difference was much better ball movement in the second half; they stopped settling for the quick-trigger three-point attempts that they were taking and missing so often in the first half, when they were 4-for-17 from long distance. Durant was the star with 29 points, but Tatum was the closer with 10 of his 13 points in the final frame.
&ldquo;I think the potential of this team is endless,&rdquo; said Draymond Green, who had four points and two assists. &ldquo;Unfortunately, we (only) got two games left. So, we need to make sure that we&rsquo;re continuing to get better each and every time we step on the floor, and I think that&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;ve done it.
&ldquo;I think we're holding up pretty good. And we're really not worried about [teams taking advantage in the paint], you know. If that&rsquo;s where teams want to go, that's fine. At the end of the day, we're going to battle. We battled. We battled and teams have tried that each game now. We let the first one (a loss to France in the opener) get away, but we&rsquo;ve answered that bell and we&rsquo;re going to continue to answer that bell.&rdquo;
The United States men's team is 8-0 against Australia in Olympic history, but this is the strongest team the Aussie federation has ever put together. They steamrolled Argentina with a 28-4 surge at the start of the fourth quarter last night. The Boomers were led by Patty Mills with 18 points, Matisse Thybulle with 12, Joe Ingles with 11 and Dante Exum with 9 points on 4-for-4 shooting. Exum had a plus-minus of +31 in just under 22 minutes, as Australia likely ended the international career of 41-year-old Luis Scola.
Argentina, Spain, Italy and Germany now must return home, while the four finalists are all worthy medal contenders.&nbsp;
But make no mistake about it: Australia-USA is the better of the two semifinal matchups. And whoever gets through will either have to face a stoked Luka Doncic or reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert in the gold-medal game Sunday.
This thing is far from over, and the Americans appear to be peaking. Will that be good enough to get them out of Saitama with gold medals around their necks? Stay tuned.
Perhaps the next game will actually make it onto live TV in the United States.

Chris Sheridan recaps the Americans' win over Spain and previews a matchup against the game Australian Boomers in the Olympic semis.

Kobe