ESPN INSIDER:John Hollinger compares NBA dynasties

SAN ANTONIO -- Now that the San Antonio Spurs have won their second championship in three years with the Duncan-Ginobili-Parker crew, it's time to begin assessing their legacy. If the mini-dynasty ended right here, where would San Antonio rank among recent champions?

To assess that, I compared this year's champions with eight other multiple winners (defined as having at least two titles in three seasons) of recent vintage. Let's meet our contestants:

• The Shaq-era Lakers of 2000-02
• The Jordan-Pippen-Rodman Bulls of 1996-98
• The Rockets of 1994-95
• The Jordan-Pippen-Grant Bulls of 1991-93
• The Bad Boy Pistons of 1989-90
• The Magic-Scott-Worthy Lakers of 1985-88
• The Celtics of 1984-86
• The Magic-Kareem-Wilkes Lakers of 1980-82

Similar to my previous exercise ranking Shaquille O'Neal's championship teams, I used three criteria: Wins, margin of victory, and playoff wins and losses. I slightly modified the system since we're using multiple seasons. First, because we're dealing only with championship teams, I doubled the emphasis on playoff wins and losses -- effectively, it's only the losses that matter, since everyone has the same number of wins. (I prorated the team's playoff winning percentage to end up with 15 playoff wins, the amount needed to win a title for most of this era).

Coaches To Win At Least 3 NBA Titles, All-Time
Phil Jackson 9
Red Auerbach 9
John Kundla 5
Pat Riley 4
Gregg Popovich 3

Second, I took the average score of the team's championship seasons and then gave five additional points for each title. That way, a two-time champ would only out-rank a three-time champ if it had been particularly dominant.

And now, in reverse order, here are the rankings:

No. 9: 1994-95 Rockets
This team is certainly the weakest two-time champion in NBA history. Before I get any nasty letters from Texas, the key here is "two-time champion." Somebody has to be the worst, and none of the others went 47-35, or failed to register a 60-win season, and only one other lost a combined 15 playoff games in two seasons. Despite sweeping the Finals to win their second title, these Rockets lost seven playoff games and were on the ropes in elimination games in the first two rounds.

No. 8: 2003-05 Spurs
San Antonio would outrank the Magic-Kareem-Wilkes Lakers of the early '80s if it hadn't struggled so much in the playoffs. The Spurs lost two games in every round en route to the championship in 2003, and they dropped seven games while taking their second title this year. Otherwise, San Antonio is very similar to that Laker club -- two titles in three years behind a great player to build around (Duncan, Magic), a great center nearing the end (David Robinson, Kareem), and a franchise that looks set to win several more titles if nobody gets hurt.

No. 7: 1980-82 Lakers
Magic Johnson won two titles in his first three seasons with a cast that included Kareem, Jamaal Wilkes and Norm Nixon, but this was just the tip of the iceberg for America's most well-known theater owner. While these Lakers look good compared to our current champs, their 60- and 57-win seasons were relatively unimpressive compared to the top five champions.

No. 6: 1989-90 Pistons
The '89 version of the Bad Boys was especially potent, losing only two playoff games en route to Detroit's first-ever championship. But Detroit was very strong in both seasons, averaging 61 wins and 3.5 playoff losses in the two campaigns to put it near the top of the two-time champs.

No. 5: 1984-86 Celtics
The 1986 Celtics were the second-best team of the past quarter-century. Featuring four Hall of Famers in the frontcourt -- Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Bill Walton -- that club plowed through the regular season at a 67-15 clip and blew through a 15-3 postseason. Boston would rate ahead of the Shaq-era Lakers if its '84 champions had been anywhere near as strong, but that team lacked Walton and McHale and was just starting to blossom. In fact, that team lost eight playoff games and was the lowest-rated champion between 1980 and 1993.

No. 4: 2000-02 Lakers
Despite the extra title, the Shaq-era Lakers barely outranked the Celtics. L.A. had one great regular season (in 1999-2000), and one great playoff run (in 2001) but never did both in the same campaign. L.A. still might not have beaten out Boston had it faced a tougher opponent in the 2002 Finals, but the Nets of that season were one of the weaker finalists in recent memory.

No. 3: 1985-88 Lakers
This edition of the Lakers included one truly great team, the 1986-87 club that won 65 games and lost only three times in the playoffs. However, a year later they barely scraped by. Los Angeles won three consecutive series in seven games, including a nail-biting second round series against Utah and a Game 7 of the Finals against Detroit that went right down to the wire.

No. 2: 1991-93 Bulls
These Bulls made their mark early, sweeping the defending champion Pistons in the conference finals on their way to a 15-2 march through the postseason. Chicago won 67 games the next season, with a whopping 10.4-point victory margin, but the third season wasn't nearly as impressive. Chicago won "just" 57 games and had to fend off a strong challenge from Phoenix in the Finals to claim its first three-peat.

No. 1: 1996-98 Bulls
As if there were any doubt. The 1995-96 Bulls were simply the greatest team of all time, rampaging to a record 72 wins in the regular season and losing only three times in the playoffs -- twice after taking a 3-0 lead in the Finals. Their opponent was no slouch, either -- Seattle won 64 games and swept defending champion Houston in the second round. Overall, those Sonics were probably better than several teams that won a title, but chose the wrong year to put it all together.

Jordan's Bulls didn't slack off much the next two seasons, winning 67 and 62 games and facing only one Game 7 in the three seasons. Overall, the Bulls lost fewer playoff games in winning three titles than the Spurs did to get two.

Not that the Spurs care, of course. That ring feels just as good on your finger whether you went 72-10 or 47-35. Now, can they make it three out of four?

 

he might have a point. We had heart but he's comparing us to the best teams in basketball history. Even being in the same breath as those other teams is pretty nice.

(if only the 97 team could of taken on the bulls )