Top-10 NON-champion NBA teams since 2000: Durant's Thunder, Webber's Kings, Lob City Clippers & more
September 17, 2025 • 24 mins
Jason continues Top-10 Week on the channel by breaking down the top-10 non championship NBA teams of the last 25 years including Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook's OKC Thunder, Chris Webber's Sacramento Kings who lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, James Harden's Houston Rockets, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin's Los Angeles Clippers, Jason Kidd's New Jersey Nets, LeBron James's Cleveland Cavaliers, and more.
#Volume
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops to night here
at the Volume Heavy Wednesday. Everybody, hope all you guys
are having a great week. We are continuing our Top
(00:21):
ten week today with the top ten non champions of
the last twenty five years. This has been the funnest list,
the most fun list I've done to this point in
the week. It's been really fun just to dig back
their NBA history and try to find teams that never
won the title but that were particularly memorable and particularly great.
A couple rules here. The team cannot have won a
(00:44):
championship in a different season, So for instance, it can't
be like the twenty seventeen Calves because they're just the
twenty sixteen Calves. They are the champions. They beat the
same team with Harrison Barnes instead of KD just one
year prior. I don't feel like it's really worth it
to shout them out. I didn't even include teams like
the two thousand and seven MAVs because Derkovitski and Jason
(01:04):
Terry and a different group of role players ended up
winning the title just a few laters a few years later.
So the goal here today is to call attention to
teams specific iterations of teams that never won the title.
You guys are the joll before we get started to
subscribe to the Hoops and I YouTube channels so you
don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter,
underscore jsn LT so you guys don't miss show announcements.
(01:26):
Don't forget about a podcast feed wherever you get your
podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you
leave a rating in a review on that front. Jackson's
doing great work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
and TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us over there.
In the last, but not least, if you want to
get mailbag questions into our mail bags, just drop him
in our full episodes on YouTube. In the comments, put
mail bag with a Cohen and write your question and
we'll get to them weekly throughout the remainder of the season.
(01:49):
All right, let's talk some basketball so again. Iterations of
teams that never won the title. Number ten, the Chris
Paul and Blake Griffin Clippers. They were perennially near the
top of the Western Conference in the mid twenty tens.
They finished with the top four seed five consecutive years
(02:09):
twenty thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen and seventeen. They were the
number one offense in the league in twenty fourteen. In
twenty fifteen, fueled by a devastating pick and roll attack
with Chris Paul and two unbelievable vertical spacers and Blake
Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Blake Griffin also had become one
of the best forwards in the league at this point
in time. He finished second team All NBA three seasons
(02:30):
in a row, including finishing third in MVP voting in
twenty fourteen. But Blake Griffin and Chris Paul had some
pretty significant playoff struggles over their careers for different reasons.
Blake's some inconsistent scoring, Chris Paul weird game management stuff
in big spots, and like Chris Paul in particular, had
some spectacular blow ups and some big spots, and so
(02:51):
they just never made it out of the second round.
A couple close calls, a bad blown lead against the
Oklahoma City Thunder in a game where Chris Paul really
fell apart. Closest they got was probably twenty fifteen, in
a series where they literally had the Rockets beat so
bad that James Harden was on the bench before the
(03:12):
bench players for the Rockets ended up sparking a comeback
and the Rockets ended up going on to win that series.
But this was an excellent regular season team for the
better part of the half decade with some excellent top
end talent. They just couldn't get it done on the
biggest stage. Number nine the Kawhi Spurs, to be clear,
not the Duncan Parker Genobili Spurs. I'm referring to twenty sixteen.
(03:36):
In twenty seventeen, this team was built around Apex Kawhi,
the guy who logged back to back top three MVP
finishes in twenty sixteen. In twenty seventeen, they were also
built around LaMarcus Aldridge, who they brought over from Portland.
LaMarcus actually ended up making an All NBA team in
twenty sixteen with the Spurs. Parker and Genobili were less
involved at this point, although Tony Parker did have himself
(03:58):
one hell of a throwback playoff run in the twenty
seventeen playoffs if you guys remember, But this was one
of the most successful regular season teams to not win
the title. They won sixty seven games in twenty sixteen,
and nobody even noticed because the Warriors happened to one
win seventy three that year. They ended up losing to
a team that's above him on this list, the Kevin
(04:18):
Durant Westbrook Thunder who were this close to knocking out
both the sixty seven wins Spurs and the seventy three
win Warriors, a team that you will see later on
this list. As we mentioned, we'll talk about them when
we get there. But the Spurs ended up going on
to win sixty one games in twenty seventeen before losing
to the Warriors in a weird series. They came out
as a super bizarre game where they came out and
(04:39):
just started really kicking the shit out of the Warriors
in Game one. But then, as you guys all remember,
Zaza Petulia runs up underneath Kawhi Leonard on a little
baseline jumper on the left side of the floor sprain's ankle,
and we never saw pex Kawhi and a Spurs jersey
ever again. After that, he took the floor a few times,
but just never looked like the same guy until he
was in a Raptors jersey. To be clear, I think
(05:03):
it's foolish to say that the Spurs just would have
won the series if Kawhi didn't get hurt. Blowouts happened
in the NBA. Sometimes you just get punched in the
mouth and it's what you need. I think even if
Kuhi didn't get hurt and the Spurs would have won
that game, I think the Warriors would have won that
series in five or six games anyway. I mean, I
think that's the greatest team ever assembled that they were
going against there. But it doesn't change the fact that
(05:24):
this was one of the great non championship teams in
NBA history, again, winning one hundred and twenty eight games
over the course of two seasons, a truly elite defense
anchored by Kawhi Leonard. They were first in defensive rating
each of those two years. Number eight, the young Lebron Calves.
We saw several different iterations of them over the years.
(05:45):
Surrounding Lebron and then a front court of zidronas Olgowskis
and Anderson Verjaw. We had kind of like a Larry Hughes,
Drew Gooden, Sasha Pavlovitch, Daniel Marshall version that ended up
making it to the finals in two thousand and seven,
but they got absolutely crushed. That was kind of luki
off of a truly heroic Lebron performance against the Pistons
in Game five, really his first truly great playoff performance
(06:07):
of his career. The version I want to call attention
to is more the two thousand and nine twenty ten
versions of the team. They won one hundred and twenty
seven games in two years. Through a series of trades
and signings, they flipped the supporting cast to include a
legit secondary ball handler in Mo Williams and a really
nice two guard in Delonte West, as well as a
new group of role players like Wally Sherbiak and Joe Smith,
(06:29):
and eventually in twenty ten, on Antoine Jamison to provide
some scoring in the front court in Shaquill O'Neal. This
was the first peak of Lebron James. It kind of
reminds me of like a better version of the Yiannis
that we saw in twenty nineteen in twenty twenty, where
he was just clearly far and away the best regular
season player in the league, but not as polished of
(06:51):
a playoff performer as like Kobe Bryant. Was during those years,
but Lebron went back to back MVPs and the closest
they got to winning the title was actually the two
nine team that lost to Orlando, to their credit, to
the Magic's credit, they managed to steal home court advantage
with a couple of huge shots at the end of
those two games. Rashard Lewis hit like this weird jab
step hesitation three from the top of the key, and
(07:14):
then in game one, and then Hedo Turku Glu hit
like a little mid range pull up jump shot going
to his right at the end of game two, and
each of those shots put the Calves up against it.
Lebron happened to steal one back with that buzzer beating
game winner off the top of the key, but the
Magic stole home court and then the home teams held
serve the rest of the series, and the Magic ended
up going on to win that series in six. So
(07:37):
that was probably the closest that the early Lebron Calves
got to win in the title, but ultimately not close
enough to be further up on this list. They were
a really fun regular season team. They defended at a
super high level. Lebron was musty television in those days
because of the highlight reel he was putting up every night.
But they just didn't have the scoring juice that they needed,
especially down the roster, to make a legitimate title run.
(07:58):
With a flawed, at younger version of Lebron James Number seven,
the Jason Kidd Nets. They were built around Jason Kidd,
Kenyon Martin, and Richard Jefferson. They were the best defense
in the league during their two finals runs in two
thousand and two and two thousand and three. Kind of
similar to what we think of the Thunder as now.
Is like this super elite defense that was hyper athletic
(08:21):
and forced a bunch of turnovers and the classic like
defense to transition team consistently near the top of the
league and steals and forcing turnovers and fast break points
and points off of turnovers and all that kind of stuff.
They got swept by the Lakers in two thousand and two,
but they were pretty close in two thousand and three.
They lost just two games in the entire East playoff
run that year, and they pushed the Spurs to six
(08:42):
in the finals. Their best chance was in Game three.
They had stolen home court in Game two and they
were in a close game down the stretch in Game three,
but Parker, Jenobili and Duncan just killed them down the
stretch and they never regained control from there. Number six,
these seven seconds or less suns, they were built around
the back to back MVP of the league, Steve Nash,
(09:03):
a perfect pick and roll partner for him and Amari Stodemeyer,
in a deep group of good role players, guys like
Sean Marry and Rajah Bell, Boris di al Leandro Barbosa,
and they were the best offense in the league during
their era. They made several playoff runs, two Western Conference
Finals runs in two thousand and five and in two
thousand and six, but in those years it kind of
felt like they lost to better teams. They kind of
just got handled by the Spurs and five, and it
(09:25):
felt like the MAVs were better in two thousand and six.
The one that they'll be kicking themselves about for years
is the two thousand and seven second round series against
the Spurs. They ended up losing in six and it
was heartbreaking. They lost home court in Game one, but
they won it back in Game four on a masterpiece
game from Steve Nash. But in that game, he ended
(09:45):
up getting shoved into the scorers table, and in the
ensuing kind of like scrum, there were three players that
were suspended, Boris Diao, Amaro Stodemeyer, and Robert Horri, an
arrangement that very clearly favored San Antonio. And so the
Spurs were able to win a very close game in
Game five in Phoenix with Stottamron d out And I
(10:07):
think there's a good chance that the Spurs end up
losing that series and the Suns advance if those suspensions
don't occur occur, And like the Jazz team waiting in
the finals, the Suns were gonna beat them, and we
all know that Cavs team was just not ready right. So,
like that semi final series between the Spurs and the
Suns was basically the NBA Finals and it ended up
swinging on a questionable set of suspensions. The seven seconds
(10:31):
or Less Suns are pretty high on this list among
the great non champions in NBA history. Number five the
Dwight Howard Magic. They were built around Dwight Howard at
the absolute peak of his powers. The roster was one
of the really great early spacing teams right a lot
of like spread pick and roll was shooting, and spread
post ups was shooting. Some good ball handlers, guys like
(10:54):
Keo Turk Glue is one of the old school, like
big body pick and roll players, and Jami Or Nelson
was very good pick and role player as well, and
then they just had a ton of spot up shooting.
They were the best three point shooting team in the
league during this timeframe, and that presented a huge problem
on both ends of the floor for teams with Dwight
Howard's rim protection and all of that shooting that they
(11:15):
had him spaced with. On the other end of the floor,
they were the best defense in the league in two
thousand and nine, and they were top five in both
offense and defense in twenty ten. But two thousand and
nine is the year they'll always look back at as
their best opportunity. Those of you guys who remember Courtney
Lee ended up smoking a wide open layup at the
end of Game two that would have stolen home court
in the series. And then if you guys remember, Derek
(11:37):
Fisher hit a transition pull up three along the right
wing that tied Game four and sent it to overtime.
And those are two games that very easily could have
gone the other way. That very easily could have been
a three to two Orlando Magic lead heading back to
Los Angeles with the Magic having two chances to steal
one game. This was a scary good team that was
(11:58):
way ahead of its time and way closer to hoisting
the trophy than people realize. I'm gonna cheat a little
bit with number four. We are extremely excited to announce
our new presenting sponsor, hard Rock Bet. Everyone knows and
loves the hard Rock hotels and casinos, and now you
can use the top rated hard Rock Bet sports book
(12:18):
to place all of your bets all NFL season and beyond.
Hard Rock Bet is the only legal sports book in
the state of Florida and is also available in Arizona, Ohio,
New Jersey, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois, and Colorado, with more
states launching all the time. You can also play on
hard Rock Bets online casino if you're in New Jersey.
(12:39):
So from here on out, you're gonna see us use
betting lines from hard Rock Bet, especially as we get
into the NBA season. It'll be a big part of
our coverage from there, and as we gear up for
the NFL season. Sign up for hard Rock Bet and
make a five dollars bet and you'll get one hundred
and fifty dollars in bonus bets if you win. Head
over to hard Rock Bet and sign up and make
(12:59):
your first deposit today. Payable and bonus bets not a
cash offer offered by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. In Florida,
offered by Seminal hard Rock Digital LLC. In all other states.
Must be twenty one plus in physically present Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana,
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia to play. Terms and
conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call one eight
(13:23):
eight eight admit it. In Indiana. If you are someone
you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call
one eight hundred and nine with it. Gambling problem called
one eight hundred gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee,
and Virginia. The Reggie Miller pacers, I'm cheating because technically
(13:43):
their best chance was in the year two thousand, which
was more than twenty five years ago. But they had
another really close call in two thousand and four with
an old Reggie Miller. At this point, the team was
built around Jermaine O'Neil, who was third in MVP voting
that year, and run Our Test, who won Defensive Player
of the Year that particular season. They were one of
the great defenses of that era that just kind of
(14:04):
ended up falling behind the way we view the Detroit Pistons,
because the Detroit Pistons happened to win their defensive slug
Fest and they happened to be the team that upset
the Lakers, but they ended up losing to the Pistons
in six in one of the craziest defensive slugfest series
in the history of the NBA, and the whole series
might have flipped if it wasn't for one of the
(14:26):
greatest defensive plays in the history of the league, Tayshawn Prince.
After Chauncey Phillips got stripped in a late shot clock
situation up to the Pistons were up to quick outlet pass,
Reggie Miller looks wide open running the floor, and Tayshawn
Prince comes out of absolutely nowhere to block that shot
and secure a Pistons win that could have gone to ot.
(14:49):
Pacers win that game. They go up two to OHO
in the series. NBA history tells us you go up
two oh, you usually win. And as we know, that
older Lakers team that was waiting in the finals was
pretty shaky and ripe for upset, So like that, that
was one of those big what ifs. An NBA history
Tayshaun Prince doesn't block that shot, Maybe the Pacers go
up two to Zhero. That's also one of the great
(15:10):
defenses in the league. Maybe they end up being the
team that upsets the Lakers and having the memory of
being the great defensive team of that era. But since
we have two thousand and four as the framework, we
can take a minute to show some appreciation to the
Regi Miller Pacers as a whole. They made five conference
finals runs with Reggie, including three in a row in
the late nineteen nineties, culminating in a very close attempt
(15:32):
in the year two thousand that left them just two
wins away from the trophy, and that series swung on
Kobe's first big playoff moment. If you guys, the first
big NBA Finals moment, I should say, either in ot
shack fouls out, Kobe gets three buckets right down the
stretch of overtime and that ends up stealing Game four,
and then in Game six of that series, the Pacers
(15:53):
were within one with one and a half minutes left.
So definitely one of the great teams the Regi Miller
Pacers over the course of that decade from the early
nineties to the early two thousands, one of the great
teams to never win the title. Number three the Harden
Chris Paul Rockets, also known as the team that was
built to beat the Warriors. The Warriors were this team
(16:15):
that was built on the offensive principle of ball in
player movement, and they would just put you in the
blender and chew you up and spit you out. And
the Rockets thought, well, what if we switch everything that way,
we can always be waiting on the other end of
the screen. We might be able to shut down these
screening actions and potentially stagnate them and make them play
ISO ball, which is not Warriors basketball. And so they
spent all season becoming really the first great switching defense.
(16:41):
And on the other end of the floor, after acquiring
Chris Paul, they built a masterful offense on the idea
of kind of like your turn, My turn, spread pick
and roll. Chris Paul and James Harden were two of
the best pick and roll players in the league at
that point, and they were both very good at beating
switches in ISO, so they would just space the floor.
Chris Paul and James Harden would run pick and roll.
They got a switch, they would attack an ISO. They
(17:03):
would look for you know, Chris Paul would take some
mid range jump shots, but he was really the only
guy on the team taking mid ranges. It was a
lot of threes, a lot of kickout threes, step back
threes for James Harden. They had a vertical spacer and
Clint Capella, a bunch of three and D guys, guys
like Trevor Riza, PJ. Tucker, Lucashard, and Bob Mute who
had a shoulder injury during that playoff run. They were awesome.
They won sixty five games. They were the best offense
(17:25):
in the league. Again, they were I think they were
like seventh or eight and eighth in defense, but it
was a defensive concepts that was constructed for giving the
Warriors issues and their plan worked well. They managed to
stagnate the Warriors offense by switching and baiting them into
running a ton of ISO, and they scored just enough
in some super ugly games to take a three to
two lead in that series. But then, as we know,
(17:48):
Chris Paul ends up getting injured a hamstring pull down
the end of that Game five. Now I'm of the
opinion that the Warriors would have won that series even
if Chris Paul was healthy. I think they go home
in Game six and win to extend the series, and
then a Game seven in Houston is a coin flip,
but I'll go. I'll go with the greatest roster ever
assembled versus a James Harden led team. But last we
(18:08):
did not get to see that. We got to see
them try to beat the Warriors without Chris Paul. They
actually did an admirable job. They lost Game six, but
they actually jumped off to a great start in Game seven.
They were up eleven at the half, but the Warriors
finally kind of snapped out of it against the switching.
Steph and Kad both caught fire in the second half
of that game, and they kind of just crushed the
Rockets in the second half and ended up going on
(18:29):
to the finals and here's really where I start to,
you know, kind of solidify my take that I think
the Warriors would have won anyway. The basketball gods just
gift wrapped the Rockets the opportunity of the of a
lifetime to get revenge in the following season. Chris Paul
was healthy, Kevin Durant was hurt, He had an opportunity
to win that series against just a Steph Curry, Klay Thompson,
(18:52):
Draymond Green led Warriors team, and they just got absolutely
annihilated by Steph Curry and James Harden completely fled out.
He was awful down the stretch of that series. It's
kind of just more reinforcing for me in that opinion
that I think the Warriors would have won even if
Chris Paul didn't get hurt. But it's worth mentioning that
this is obviously one of the great non champions ever
(19:13):
because schematically they gave the greatest team ever some issues,
and to put it simply, they were one win away
from going to the finals, and in the finals there
was an extremely flawed one man show Cavs team waiting,
a Cavs team that, like, even with Lebron playing arguably
the best basketball that's ever been played. They were barely
squeaking by the Pacers and barely squeaking by the Celtics,
(19:36):
So I think that Rockets team was incredibly close to
winning the title. The two thousand and two Sacramento Kings
come in at number two. Super deep team built around
Chris Weber and Mike Bibbie and Pagestoyakovic. They had Lotti Devots,
Doug Christie, a young he Turkle Glue at that point,
Bobby Jackson. They were a great team. They had lost
to the Lakers twice before, but everything came together for
(19:58):
them and o two best record in the NBA by
decent margin. They were three games ahead of the Lakers,
who were in second place that year. They quickly dispatched
of the Jazz and the MAVs in the first two rounds,
and then they dropped game one to the Lakers, looking
like years past. But then they bang bang come back
and win the next two games and take home courtback.
They're up to one. They split a couple of crazy
(20:19):
games in game four. In Game five, they have a
three to two lead going back to Los Angeles, and
they had the Lakers on the rope down the stretch
of Game six, but the Lakers attempted twenty seven free
throws just in the fourth quarter of a game that
is widely regarded as the worst officiated game in the
history of the NBA, and they ended up going on
(20:41):
to lose in heartbreaking fashion. Now, I'm not a conspiracy guy,
as you guys know, but Kings fans truly believe they
got robbed of the title this season, and they were
certainly as close to getting it done as anyone else
on this list. Nothing more heartbreaking than from the start
of the season just clearly being the best team and
conkering your demons and being right there at the finish
(21:02):
line and then you lose on some free throws. There's
nothing that sucks more than that. Number one was an
easy one for me. I think this team got so
close so many times that they have to be number one.
And if anybody remembers rooting against this team at any
point in time, they were so physically imposing and so
scary to play against. To me, the best team to
(21:24):
never win a title is of the last twenty five
years is the Kevin Durant Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder,
also known as the team that blew a three one
lead to the team that blew a three one lead.
The KD Westbrook Thunder were a problem for like a
half decade in the NBA. They were top two seed
in twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, and twenty fourteen. They had
(21:47):
several super close calls. They made the finals in twenty
twelve and the Heat won that series in five, but
every single game was a close game outside of the
end of Game five, and there was even a questionable
no call on a KD iso along the left baseline
at the end of Game two in twenty thirteen. Russ
gets hurt, but in twenty fourteen they're right back, and
they end up losing to the Spurs in the conference
(22:08):
finals in game six. That was one of the great
Spurs teams they were. They made our list yesterday, if
you guys remember, and Game six was in overtime, So
the Thunder were pretty I mean, Game seven in San Antonio,
the Spurs probably win, but they came closer to beating
that Spurs team than anyone else did. Katie gets hurt
in twenty fifteen, and then in twenty sixteen they have
yet another close call. In my opinion the best version
(22:30):
of the Thunder. They beat a sixty seven win Spurs
team and they were up three to one on the
seventy three win Warriors. Predictably, the Warriors end up winning
Game five at home, as you would expect the team
that good at home to do in a closeout game.
But in Game six in Oklahoma City, they come out
guns blazing, play extremely well for the most part, but
(22:52):
a combination of some hero ball from Russell Westbrook down
the stretch, some key mistakes from him, and probably the
greatest game Klay Thompson ever played, the remarkable Game six
Clay moment ended up being enough to send that to
Game seven, where Steph was fantastic in Game seven, and
the Warriors ended up winning the series. Had they won
that series, I know it was Lebron waiting in the
(23:13):
next round and Kyrie and all that, but like you'd
be foolish to think that they didn't at least have
a very good chance. They came this close to beating
one hundred and forty wins worth of teams in the
Spurs in the in the Thunder in the previous round,
so one hundred and thirty wins worth of teams, I
should say, no, it was one hundred and forty. I'm
(23:34):
doing my math right, So yeah, like they they you'd
be foolish to think they didn't have a very good chance, right.
So they were physically overwhelming on defense. They were absolutely massive,
strong athletic. They had Andre Roberson on the wing, Serge
Baka and Steven Adams. They really wore teams down physically
over the course of series, and Kevin Durant wasn't his
(23:56):
most efficient playoff run, but he scored enough when he
needed to to keep the thing, keep the team chugging along,
and they were led by two of the all time
greats several near misses with the trophies. I think they're
clearly the best non champion of the last twenty five years.
All right, guys, it's all I have for today is
always to sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and
supporting the show. We will be back tomorrow. We have
(24:18):
two more top ten lists this week. I will see
you guys then.
The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops to night here
at the Volume Heavy Wednesday. Everybody, hope all you guys
are having a great week. We are continuing our Top
(00:21):
ten week today with the top ten non champions of
the last twenty five years. This has been the funnest list,
the most fun list I've done to this point in
the week. It's been really fun just to dig back
their NBA history and try to find teams that never
won the title but that were particularly memorable and particularly great.
A couple rules here. The team cannot have won a
(00:44):
championship in a different season, So for instance, it can't
be like the twenty seventeen Calves because they're just the
twenty sixteen Calves. They are the champions. They beat the
same team with Harrison Barnes instead of KD just one
year prior. I don't feel like it's really worth it
to shout them out. I didn't even include teams like
the two thousand and seven MAVs because Derkovitski and Jason
(01:04):
Terry and a different group of role players ended up
winning the title just a few laters a few years later.
So the goal here today is to call attention to
teams specific iterations of teams that never won the title.
You guys are the joll before we get started to
subscribe to the Hoops and I YouTube channels so you
don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter,
underscore jsn LT so you guys don't miss show announcements.
(01:26):
Don't forget about a podcast feed wherever you get your
podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you
leave a rating in a review on that front. Jackson's
doing great work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
and TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us over there.
In the last, but not least, if you want to
get mailbag questions into our mail bags, just drop him
in our full episodes on YouTube. In the comments, put
mail bag with a Cohen and write your question and
we'll get to them weekly throughout the remainder of the season.
(01:49):
All right, let's talk some basketball so again. Iterations of
teams that never won the title. Number ten, the Chris
Paul and Blake Griffin Clippers. They were perennially near the
top of the Western Conference in the mid twenty tens.
They finished with the top four seed five consecutive years
(02:09):
twenty thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen and seventeen. They were the
number one offense in the league in twenty fourteen. In
twenty fifteen, fueled by a devastating pick and roll attack
with Chris Paul and two unbelievable vertical spacers and Blake
Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Blake Griffin also had become one
of the best forwards in the league at this point
in time. He finished second team All NBA three seasons
(02:30):
in a row, including finishing third in MVP voting in
twenty fourteen. But Blake Griffin and Chris Paul had some
pretty significant playoff struggles over their careers for different reasons.
Blake's some inconsistent scoring, Chris Paul weird game management stuff
in big spots, and like Chris Paul in particular, had
some spectacular blow ups and some big spots, and so
(02:51):
they just never made it out of the second round.
A couple close calls, a bad blown lead against the
Oklahoma City Thunder in a game where Chris Paul really
fell apart. Closest they got was probably twenty fifteen, in
a series where they literally had the Rockets beat so
bad that James Harden was on the bench before the
(03:12):
bench players for the Rockets ended up sparking a comeback
and the Rockets ended up going on to win that series.
But this was an excellent regular season team for the
better part of the half decade with some excellent top
end talent. They just couldn't get it done on the
biggest stage. Number nine the Kawhi Spurs, to be clear,
not the Duncan Parker Genobili Spurs. I'm referring to twenty sixteen.
(03:36):
In twenty seventeen, this team was built around Apex Kawhi,
the guy who logged back to back top three MVP
finishes in twenty sixteen. In twenty seventeen, they were also
built around LaMarcus Aldridge, who they brought over from Portland.
LaMarcus actually ended up making an All NBA team in
twenty sixteen with the Spurs. Parker and Genobili were less
involved at this point, although Tony Parker did have himself
(03:58):
one hell of a throwback playoff run in the twenty
seventeen playoffs if you guys remember, But this was one
of the most successful regular season teams to not win
the title. They won sixty seven games in twenty sixteen,
and nobody even noticed because the Warriors happened to one
win seventy three that year. They ended up losing to
a team that's above him on this list, the Kevin
(04:18):
Durant Westbrook Thunder who were this close to knocking out
both the sixty seven wins Spurs and the seventy three
win Warriors, a team that you will see later on
this list. As we mentioned, we'll talk about them when
we get there. But the Spurs ended up going on
to win sixty one games in twenty seventeen before losing
to the Warriors in a weird series. They came out
as a super bizarre game where they came out and
(04:39):
just started really kicking the shit out of the Warriors
in Game one. But then, as you guys all remember,
Zaza Petulia runs up underneath Kawhi Leonard on a little
baseline jumper on the left side of the floor sprain's ankle,
and we never saw pex Kawhi and a Spurs jersey
ever again. After that, he took the floor a few times,
but just never looked like the same guy until he
was in a Raptors jersey. To be clear, I think
(05:03):
it's foolish to say that the Spurs just would have
won the series if Kawhi didn't get hurt. Blowouts happened
in the NBA. Sometimes you just get punched in the
mouth and it's what you need. I think even if
Kuhi didn't get hurt and the Spurs would have won
that game, I think the Warriors would have won that
series in five or six games anyway. I mean, I
think that's the greatest team ever assembled that they were
going against there. But it doesn't change the fact that
(05:24):
this was one of the great non championship teams in
NBA history, again, winning one hundred and twenty eight games
over the course of two seasons, a truly elite defense
anchored by Kawhi Leonard. They were first in defensive rating
each of those two years. Number eight, the young Lebron Calves.
We saw several different iterations of them over the years.
(05:45):
Surrounding Lebron and then a front court of zidronas Olgowskis
and Anderson Verjaw. We had kind of like a Larry Hughes,
Drew Gooden, Sasha Pavlovitch, Daniel Marshall version that ended up
making it to the finals in two thousand and seven,
but they got absolutely crushed. That was kind of luki
off of a truly heroic Lebron performance against the Pistons
in Game five, really his first truly great playoff performance
(06:07):
of his career. The version I want to call attention
to is more the two thousand and nine twenty ten
versions of the team. They won one hundred and twenty
seven games in two years. Through a series of trades
and signings, they flipped the supporting cast to include a
legit secondary ball handler in Mo Williams and a really
nice two guard in Delonte West, as well as a
new group of role players like Wally Sherbiak and Joe Smith,
(06:29):
and eventually in twenty ten, on Antoine Jamison to provide
some scoring in the front court in Shaquill O'Neal. This
was the first peak of Lebron James. It kind of
reminds me of like a better version of the Yiannis
that we saw in twenty nineteen in twenty twenty, where
he was just clearly far and away the best regular
season player in the league, but not as polished of
(06:51):
a playoff performer as like Kobe Bryant. Was during those years,
but Lebron went back to back MVPs and the closest
they got to winning the title was actually the two
nine team that lost to Orlando, to their credit, to
the Magic's credit, they managed to steal home court advantage
with a couple of huge shots at the end of
those two games. Rashard Lewis hit like this weird jab
step hesitation three from the top of the key, and
(07:14):
then in game one, and then Hedo Turku Glu hit
like a little mid range pull up jump shot going
to his right at the end of game two, and
each of those shots put the Calves up against it.
Lebron happened to steal one back with that buzzer beating
game winner off the top of the key, but the
Magic stole home court and then the home teams held
serve the rest of the series, and the Magic ended
up going on to win that series in six. So
(07:37):
that was probably the closest that the early Lebron Calves
got to win in the title, but ultimately not close
enough to be further up on this list. They were
a really fun regular season team. They defended at a
super high level. Lebron was musty television in those days
because of the highlight reel he was putting up every night.
But they just didn't have the scoring juice that they needed,
especially down the roster, to make a legitimate title run.
(07:58):
With a flawed, at younger version of Lebron James Number seven,
the Jason Kidd Nets. They were built around Jason Kidd,
Kenyon Martin, and Richard Jefferson. They were the best defense
in the league during their two finals runs in two
thousand and two and two thousand and three. Kind of
similar to what we think of the Thunder as now.
Is like this super elite defense that was hyper athletic
(08:21):
and forced a bunch of turnovers and the classic like
defense to transition team consistently near the top of the
league and steals and forcing turnovers and fast break points
and points off of turnovers and all that kind of stuff.
They got swept by the Lakers in two thousand and two,
but they were pretty close in two thousand and three.
They lost just two games in the entire East playoff
run that year, and they pushed the Spurs to six
(08:42):
in the finals. Their best chance was in Game three.
They had stolen home court in Game two and they
were in a close game down the stretch in Game three,
but Parker, Jenobili and Duncan just killed them down the
stretch and they never regained control from there. Number six,
these seven seconds or less suns, they were built around
the back to back MVP of the league, Steve Nash,
(09:03):
a perfect pick and roll partner for him and Amari Stodemeyer,
in a deep group of good role players, guys like
Sean Marry and Rajah Bell, Boris di al Leandro Barbosa,
and they were the best offense in the league during
their era. They made several playoff runs, two Western Conference
Finals runs in two thousand and five and in two
thousand and six, but in those years it kind of
felt like they lost to better teams. They kind of
just got handled by the Spurs and five, and it
(09:25):
felt like the MAVs were better in two thousand and six.
The one that they'll be kicking themselves about for years
is the two thousand and seven second round series against
the Spurs. They ended up losing in six and it
was heartbreaking. They lost home court in Game one, but
they won it back in Game four on a masterpiece
game from Steve Nash. But in that game, he ended
(09:45):
up getting shoved into the scorers table, and in the
ensuing kind of like scrum, there were three players that
were suspended, Boris Diao, Amaro Stodemeyer, and Robert Horri, an
arrangement that very clearly favored San Antonio. And so the
Spurs were able to win a very close game in
Game five in Phoenix with Stottamron d out And I
(10:07):
think there's a good chance that the Spurs end up
losing that series and the Suns advance if those suspensions
don't occur occur, And like the Jazz team waiting in
the finals, the Suns were gonna beat them, and we
all know that Cavs team was just not ready right. So,
like that semi final series between the Spurs and the
Suns was basically the NBA Finals and it ended up
swinging on a questionable set of suspensions. The seven seconds
(10:31):
or Less Suns are pretty high on this list among
the great non champions in NBA history. Number five the
Dwight Howard Magic. They were built around Dwight Howard at
the absolute peak of his powers. The roster was one
of the really great early spacing teams right a lot
of like spread pick and roll was shooting, and spread
post ups was shooting. Some good ball handlers, guys like
(10:54):
Keo Turk Glue is one of the old school, like
big body pick and roll players, and Jami Or Nelson
was very good pick and role player as well, and
then they just had a ton of spot up shooting.
They were the best three point shooting team in the
league during this timeframe, and that presented a huge problem
on both ends of the floor for teams with Dwight
Howard's rim protection and all of that shooting that they
(11:15):
had him spaced with. On the other end of the floor,
they were the best defense in the league in two
thousand and nine, and they were top five in both
offense and defense in twenty ten. But two thousand and
nine is the year they'll always look back at as
their best opportunity. Those of you guys who remember Courtney
Lee ended up smoking a wide open layup at the
end of Game two that would have stolen home court
in the series. And then if you guys remember, Derek
(11:37):
Fisher hit a transition pull up three along the right
wing that tied Game four and sent it to overtime.
And those are two games that very easily could have
gone the other way. That very easily could have been
a three to two Orlando Magic lead heading back to
Los Angeles with the Magic having two chances to steal
one game. This was a scary good team that was
(11:58):
way ahead of its time and way closer to hoisting
the trophy than people realize. I'm gonna cheat a little
bit with number four. We are extremely excited to announce
our new presenting sponsor, hard Rock Bet. Everyone knows and
loves the hard Rock hotels and casinos, and now you
can use the top rated hard Rock Bet sports book
(12:18):
to place all of your bets all NFL season and beyond.
Hard Rock Bet is the only legal sports book in
the state of Florida and is also available in Arizona, Ohio,
New Jersey, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois, and Colorado, with more
states launching all the time. You can also play on
hard Rock Bets online casino if you're in New Jersey.
(12:39):
So from here on out, you're gonna see us use
betting lines from hard Rock Bet, especially as we get
into the NBA season. It'll be a big part of
our coverage from there, and as we gear up for
the NFL season. Sign up for hard Rock Bet and
make a five dollars bet and you'll get one hundred
and fifty dollars in bonus bets if you win. Head
over to hard Rock Bet and sign up and make
(12:59):
your first deposit today. Payable and bonus bets not a
cash offer offered by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. In Florida,
offered by Seminal hard Rock Digital LLC. In all other states.
Must be twenty one plus in physically present Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana,
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia to play. Terms and
conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call one eight
(13:23):
eight eight admit it. In Indiana. If you are someone
you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call
one eight hundred and nine with it. Gambling problem called
one eight hundred gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee,
and Virginia. The Reggie Miller pacers, I'm cheating because technically
(13:43):
their best chance was in the year two thousand, which
was more than twenty five years ago. But they had
another really close call in two thousand and four with
an old Reggie Miller. At this point, the team was
built around Jermaine O'Neil, who was third in MVP voting
that year, and run Our Test, who won Defensive Player
of the Year that particular season. They were one of
the great defenses of that era that just kind of
(14:04):
ended up falling behind the way we view the Detroit Pistons,
because the Detroit Pistons happened to win their defensive slug
Fest and they happened to be the team that upset
the Lakers, but they ended up losing to the Pistons
in six in one of the craziest defensive slugfest series
in the history of the NBA, and the whole series
might have flipped if it wasn't for one of the
(14:26):
greatest defensive plays in the history of the league, Tayshawn Prince.
After Chauncey Phillips got stripped in a late shot clock
situation up to the Pistons were up to quick outlet pass,
Reggie Miller looks wide open running the floor, and Tayshawn
Prince comes out of absolutely nowhere to block that shot
and secure a Pistons win that could have gone to ot.
(14:49):
Pacers win that game. They go up two to OHO
in the series. NBA history tells us you go up
two oh, you usually win. And as we know, that
older Lakers team that was waiting in the finals was
pretty shaky and ripe for upset, So like that, that
was one of those big what ifs. An NBA history
Tayshaun Prince doesn't block that shot, Maybe the Pacers go
up two to Zhero. That's also one of the great
(15:10):
defenses in the league. Maybe they end up being the
team that upsets the Lakers and having the memory of
being the great defensive team of that era. But since
we have two thousand and four as the framework, we
can take a minute to show some appreciation to the
Regi Miller Pacers as a whole. They made five conference
finals runs with Reggie, including three in a row in
the late nineteen nineties, culminating in a very close attempt
(15:32):
in the year two thousand that left them just two
wins away from the trophy, and that series swung on
Kobe's first big playoff moment. If you guys, the first
big NBA Finals moment, I should say, either in ot
shack fouls out, Kobe gets three buckets right down the
stretch of overtime and that ends up stealing Game four,
and then in Game six of that series, the Pacers
(15:53):
were within one with one and a half minutes left.
So definitely one of the great teams the Regi Miller
Pacers over the course of that decade from the early
nineties to the early two thousands, one of the great
teams to never win the title. Number three the Harden
Chris Paul Rockets, also known as the team that was
built to beat the Warriors. The Warriors were this team
(16:15):
that was built on the offensive principle of ball in
player movement, and they would just put you in the
blender and chew you up and spit you out. And
the Rockets thought, well, what if we switch everything that way,
we can always be waiting on the other end of
the screen. We might be able to shut down these
screening actions and potentially stagnate them and make them play
ISO ball, which is not Warriors basketball. And so they
spent all season becoming really the first great switching defense.
(16:41):
And on the other end of the floor, after acquiring
Chris Paul, they built a masterful offense on the idea
of kind of like your turn, My turn, spread pick
and roll. Chris Paul and James Harden were two of
the best pick and roll players in the league at
that point, and they were both very good at beating
switches in ISO, so they would just space the floor.
Chris Paul and James Harden would run pick and roll.
They got a switch, they would attack an ISO. They
(17:03):
would look for you know, Chris Paul would take some
mid range jump shots, but he was really the only
guy on the team taking mid ranges. It was a
lot of threes, a lot of kickout threes, step back
threes for James Harden. They had a vertical spacer and
Clint Capella, a bunch of three and D guys, guys
like Trevor Riza, PJ. Tucker, Lucashard, and Bob Mute who
had a shoulder injury during that playoff run. They were awesome.
They won sixty five games. They were the best offense
(17:25):
in the league. Again, they were I think they were
like seventh or eight and eighth in defense, but it
was a defensive concepts that was constructed for giving the
Warriors issues and their plan worked well. They managed to
stagnate the Warriors offense by switching and baiting them into
running a ton of ISO, and they scored just enough
in some super ugly games to take a three to
two lead in that series. But then, as we know,
(17:48):
Chris Paul ends up getting injured a hamstring pull down
the end of that Game five. Now I'm of the
opinion that the Warriors would have won that series even
if Chris Paul was healthy. I think they go home
in Game six and win to extend the series, and
then a Game seven in Houston is a coin flip,
but I'll go. I'll go with the greatest roster ever
assembled versus a James Harden led team. But last we
(18:08):
did not get to see that. We got to see
them try to beat the Warriors without Chris Paul. They
actually did an admirable job. They lost Game six, but
they actually jumped off to a great start in Game seven.
They were up eleven at the half, but the Warriors
finally kind of snapped out of it against the switching.
Steph and Kad both caught fire in the second half
of that game, and they kind of just crushed the
Rockets in the second half and ended up going on
(18:29):
to the finals and here's really where I start to,
you know, kind of solidify my take that I think
the Warriors would have won anyway. The basketball gods just
gift wrapped the Rockets the opportunity of the of a
lifetime to get revenge in the following season. Chris Paul
was healthy, Kevin Durant was hurt, He had an opportunity
to win that series against just a Steph Curry, Klay Thompson,
(18:52):
Draymond Green led Warriors team, and they just got absolutely
annihilated by Steph Curry and James Harden completely fled out.
He was awful down the stretch of that series. It's
kind of just more reinforcing for me in that opinion
that I think the Warriors would have won even if
Chris Paul didn't get hurt. But it's worth mentioning that
this is obviously one of the great non champions ever
(19:13):
because schematically they gave the greatest team ever some issues,
and to put it simply, they were one win away
from going to the finals, and in the finals there
was an extremely flawed one man show Cavs team waiting,
a Cavs team that, like, even with Lebron playing arguably
the best basketball that's ever been played. They were barely
squeaking by the Pacers and barely squeaking by the Celtics,
(19:36):
So I think that Rockets team was incredibly close to
winning the title. The two thousand and two Sacramento Kings
come in at number two. Super deep team built around
Chris Weber and Mike Bibbie and Pagestoyakovic. They had Lotti Devots,
Doug Christie, a young he Turkle Glue at that point,
Bobby Jackson. They were a great team. They had lost
to the Lakers twice before, but everything came together for
(19:58):
them and o two best record in the NBA by
decent margin. They were three games ahead of the Lakers,
who were in second place that year. They quickly dispatched
of the Jazz and the MAVs in the first two rounds,
and then they dropped game one to the Lakers, looking
like years past. But then they bang bang come back
and win the next two games and take home courtback.
They're up to one. They split a couple of crazy
(20:19):
games in game four. In Game five, they have a
three to two lead going back to Los Angeles, and
they had the Lakers on the rope down the stretch
of Game six, but the Lakers attempted twenty seven free
throws just in the fourth quarter of a game that
is widely regarded as the worst officiated game in the
history of the NBA, and they ended up going on
(20:41):
to lose in heartbreaking fashion. Now, I'm not a conspiracy guy,
as you guys know, but Kings fans truly believe they
got robbed of the title this season, and they were
certainly as close to getting it done as anyone else
on this list. Nothing more heartbreaking than from the start
of the season just clearly being the best team and
conkering your demons and being right there at the finish
(21:02):
line and then you lose on some free throws. There's
nothing that sucks more than that. Number one was an
easy one for me. I think this team got so
close so many times that they have to be number one.
And if anybody remembers rooting against this team at any
point in time, they were so physically imposing and so
scary to play against. To me, the best team to
(21:24):
never win a title is of the last twenty five
years is the Kevin Durant Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder,
also known as the team that blew a three one
lead to the team that blew a three one lead.
The KD Westbrook Thunder were a problem for like a
half decade in the NBA. They were top two seed
in twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, and twenty fourteen. They had
(21:47):
several super close calls. They made the finals in twenty
twelve and the Heat won that series in five, but
every single game was a close game outside of the
end of Game five, and there was even a questionable
no call on a KD iso along the left baseline
at the end of Game two in twenty thirteen. Russ
gets hurt, but in twenty fourteen they're right back, and
they end up losing to the Spurs in the conference
(22:08):
finals in game six. That was one of the great
Spurs teams they were. They made our list yesterday, if
you guys remember, and Game six was in overtime, So
the Thunder were pretty I mean, Game seven in San Antonio,
the Spurs probably win, but they came closer to beating
that Spurs team than anyone else did. Katie gets hurt
in twenty fifteen, and then in twenty sixteen they have
yet another close call. In my opinion the best version
(22:30):
of the Thunder. They beat a sixty seven win Spurs
team and they were up three to one on the
seventy three win Warriors. Predictably, the Warriors end up winning
Game five at home, as you would expect the team
that good at home to do in a closeout game.
But in Game six in Oklahoma City, they come out
guns blazing, play extremely well for the most part, but
(22:52):
a combination of some hero ball from Russell Westbrook down
the stretch, some key mistakes from him, and probably the
greatest game Klay Thompson ever played, the remarkable Game six
Clay moment ended up being enough to send that to
Game seven, where Steph was fantastic in Game seven, and
the Warriors ended up winning the series. Had they won
that series, I know it was Lebron waiting in the
(23:13):
next round and Kyrie and all that, but like you'd
be foolish to think that they didn't at least have
a very good chance. They came this close to beating
one hundred and forty wins worth of teams in the
Spurs in the in the Thunder in the previous round,
so one hundred and thirty wins worth of teams, I
should say, no, it was one hundred and forty. I'm
(23:34):
doing my math right, So yeah, like they they you'd
be foolish to think they didn't have a very good chance, right.
So they were physically overwhelming on defense. They were absolutely massive,
strong athletic. They had Andre Roberson on the wing, Serge
Baka and Steven Adams. They really wore teams down physically
over the course of series, and Kevin Durant wasn't his
(23:56):
most efficient playoff run, but he scored enough when he
needed to to keep the thing, keep the team chugging along,
and they were led by two of the all time
greats several near misses with the trophies. I think they're
clearly the best non champion of the last twenty five years.
All right, guys, it's all I have for today is
always to sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and
supporting the show. We will be back tomorrow. We have
(24:18):
two more top ten lists this week. I will see
you guys then.
Host
Jason Timpf
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!