This 90s NBA “Superteam” Failed, and Was Forgotten
Jordan’s Bulls weren’t the only ones with historic star power in the 90s, they were just the best
Since the induction of the NBA — which is to say, since the NBA became sanctioned as a profitable League that encouraged franchises to win in 1946 — smart team owners have been scrambling to build the most competitive rosters possible to hoist as many championships as they could get their greedy fingerprints on.
But what exactly is a “superteam”? It’s a term that has recently soared in usage (after LeBron’s move to Miami and KD’s jump to Golden State) to describe a rare — if not, unfair — level of NBA excellence. Lending itself to many intense debates among basketball nerds like me, it has fostered the creation of entire websites just to understand the metrics of the term. But the definitions are inconsistent, at best, and limiting. A quick Google search reveals that one source generically describes it as “Any well-respected or highly successful team” while another more specifically declares it as “any team who adds an All-NBA level player via trade or free agency and — including the new player — has a roster with at least three All-Star players during the season or partial season following the acquisition.”
