[Fonkey123]

Conclusion: Case Closed

Put another way, in the past 50 years there have been 200 final four teams that have made it to the conference finals in the NBA:

-- 26 of those 200 teams -- a measly 13 percent -- have been led by a player not on the list of top 84 players, and only one of those 26 advanced, where it then lost in the finals.

-- 25 of those 200 teams --12 percent --have been led by Bronze Medal Superstars; i.e. players ranked between 53 and 83 on the best players list. They produced only two of the past 50 NBA champions: Seattle 79 and Detroit 04.

-- 41 of those 200 teams -- 20 percent -- have been led by Silver Medal Superstars; i.e. players ranked 21-52 on the best players list. They produced eight of the past 50 NBA championships.

-- 108 of those 200 final four NBA teams -- 54 -- percent have been led by one of the 20 best players in NBA history based upon regular season performance. These players led 40 of the 50 past NBA championship teams. Nine of the top 20 players were multiple champions and these 9 players accounted for 36 of the past 50 NBA titles, or nearly three-quarters of all NBA championships.

-- 44 of 50 NBA champions had at least two players from the top 84 list in their starting line-up or serious rotation.

-- 19 of 50 NBA champions had at least three players from this list in their starting line-ups or serious rotation.

-- 12 of 50 NBA champions had at least four players from this list in their starting line-ups or serious rotation.

-- 5 of 50 NBA champions had fully five players from this list in their starting line-ups or serious rotation. (Who are these dynamos? Celtics in 86, 63, 61, 60, 59.)

The evidence is now overwhelming: teams need Gold Medal Superstars to win titles, or, with a great deal of luck, two Silver Medal Superstars. If a team does not have a Gold Medal Superstar, or someone on the way to becoming a Gold Medal Superstar, and at least two top 84 caliber players, or two players en route to joining the top 84 club on its roster, it has little chance of winning an NBA title.

This radically alters the perception of who the legitimate contenders are for an NBA titles, and what a smart GM should do if he is serious about winning a title. That will be the subject of my next article, which will appear in the next two weeks.