Submitted by Greg Kite, Aug 9, 2007 13:33

Phil Jackson did it with the Kobe-Shaq teams, the Bulls added a mid-40's Robert Parish---these are the players that you want the ball in their hands at crunch time and late in the third quarter of a tight game, not the young journeymen. You want the 3 best starters, the bench ESTABLISHED CLUTCH 3 point specialist and the guard with the most steals on the floor in the last 3 minutes of a tight game. Miller will not average huge minutes, but if the team happens to be down by 3 with 2.6 seconds and the ball at midcourt, I want him on the floor. Another thing people often forget is that journeymen and rooks/young players surrounded by greatness step up. Celtic lore is full of these, and I bet some of the players that slugged it out over the lean years and deemed weak will step up with greater play time. Greg Kite never would have made an NBA roster, but he filled a void--provide 12 minute relief for the Chief. Same with Gerald Henderson, who was considered a joke in the pre-Bird years. He built himself to the point when he single handedly stole a championship from the Lakers. People that want to build for the future are fools. The time to win is now. If your superstar can't singlehandedly take you into the playoffs year one or two and add 30 wins to your season (like Duncan, Jordan, Bird, Johnson), than he is a mediocre superstar and not of championship level (ahem Lebron will never win it with another superstar). The cap makes it impossible to add prime players to a 60 million dollar payroll, but to add slightly better 3-5 year journeymen to a thin bench given the close proximity of talent in the league in the bottom half seems to me like it's not the way to go. Toronto and Chicago will never make it past the semi-finals. Boston is shooting for all the way or nothing.

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