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Asked By: ojekeme1


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Which team could least afford to lose its star player for an entire season.
Which team could least afford to lose its star player for an entire season. Photo

In all sports there is always the constant threat of a season ending injury. Athletes push their bodies beyond the physical limits in pursuit of fun, recreation and in the case of the NBA's Elite, greatness.

What would happen if your team lost its star player? Would your team still be a playoff contender? A championship contender?

Although far more often than not it is the  role players who are lost to serious injury there have been occasions when a team lost its star.

The Lakers only had Magic for 37 games during the 80-81 season.

Jordan played less than 20 games during two NBA seasons. (1985-86 18 gms. injury & 1994-1995 17 gms. 1st retirement)

Chamberlain only played 12 games during the 1969-1970 season.

Bird only suited up for six games in 1988-89.

The Knicks missed Patrick Ewing for all but 26 games during the 1997-98 season.

So the question is...

Which team could least afford to lose its star player for an entire season.

*** This question assumes that each team would have every other player listed on their current roster available for the season in question. ***

For Current rosters please log on to NBA.com
| Closed on 08/28/10 at 12:00AM
FanIQ Pts? No | NBA, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers | Multiple Choice Opinion Poll
Teams:  Dallas Mavericks | Oklahoma City Thunder
Team Breakout:
65 Fans 
3%a. Carmelo Anthony - Denver Nuggets
6%b. Dirk Nowitzki - Dallas Maverics
2%c. Dwight Howard - Orlando Magic
6%d. Dwyane Wade - Miami Heat
3%e. Joe Johnson - Atlanta Hawks
12%f. Kevin Durant - Oklahoma City Thunder
14%g. Kobe Bryant - Los Angeles Lakers
52%h. LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers
2%i. Other

 &nbp;
TOP COMMENT * * * * * * * * * * * *
#1 | 1146 days ago

 Cav's are nothing without him
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  
4

  
21 Comments | Sorted by Most Recent First | Red = You Disagreed
Vote for your favorite comments. Fans decide the Top Comment (3+ votes) and also hide poor quality comments (4+ votes).
#1 | 1146 days ago

 Cav's are nothing without him
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  
4

#2 | 1146 days ago

 easiest poll all year
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  
2

#3 | 1146 days ago

 Heat would also blow w/o D-Wade
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  
2

#4 | 1137 days ago

 Dwayne Wade, they are definetly not playoff team without him.
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  
1

#5 | 1137 days ago

 The way Lebron has been playing all year and for him to miss the playoffs now, will be devastating for the team. Without him they will not even win their conference title let alone the NBA title..
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  
2

#6 | 1136 days ago

 Lebron is leading scorer because he's team depends on him more,cavs need him,if he go's down they go down,and wade is Miami....heat has no chance with out him!!!
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  
2

#7 | 1136 days ago
ArmyStrong212 (+)

there are 3 though choices.... LeBron James, D-Wade, Kevin Durant

James- is the only threat
Wade- There is not another player that could points/assist up like he can. If they dont get him help this off season he is gone
Durant- Westbrook is on the come up, but thats it... its 2 vs 5, every night when they play
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  
1

#8 | 1136 days ago

 ArmyStrong212 wrote:
there are 3 though choices.... LeBron James, D-Wade, Kevin Durant

James- is the only threat
Wade- There is not another player that could points/assist up like he can. If they dont get him help this off season he is gone
Durant- Westbrook is on the come up, but thats it... its 2 vs 5, every night when they play

really? what about Jeff Green and James Harden.. they always put up numbers, Thunder never look like its 2 vs 5 they play great team ball. They just put up big numbers, Jeff Green is most underrated player in league

LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  
1

#9 | 1135 days ago
ArmyStrong212 (+)

Mr_Front_Page wrote:

really? what about Jeff Green and James Harden.. they always put up numbers, Thunder never look like its 2 vs 5 they play great team ball. They just put up big numbers, Jeff Green is most underrated player in league

Green is a HALF way decent player... and Harden... he is not that good dont give him to much credit. I do see Harden picking up his game over the next couple season's and will turn out to be a very good player, but right now its just KD and Westbrook
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  

#10 | 1135 days ago

 Jeff Green is halfway decent? look at his stats, how he pulls out the opposing power forwards. Green does so much for that team. Harden is too passive aggresive right now, if he wants to score he will, but he never turns ball over, plays good D and gets job done. Dont forget Thabo because he is best 1-on-1 defender in league
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  
1

#11 | 1135 days ago

 by the way, I am watching Thunder play against Suns.. Jeff Green just did up-and-under on Stoudemire and then dunked on him as he recovered
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  

#12 | 1133 days ago

 Where are the Spurs with Manu Ginobili for this list? He was out for one game and the Spurs lost to the NETS.  They don't need Tony (in fact the Spurs seem to do better when he's not playing) when they have George Hill (who is only in his second year and is playing better than some of the more experienced point guards in the league) and once Dejuan Blair rounds off a few rough edges of his game Tim won't be needed either. Nobody currently on the roster could make up for Manu's play-making abilities. The Spurs are nothing when Manu isn't doing good.
Other  
1

#13 | 1133 days ago

 LBJ makes everyone on the Cavs better. His leadership and unselfishness can't be replaced. Look what has happened this past week while he is being rested for the playoffs.
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  
1

#14 | 1132 days ago

 (Edited by ojekeme1)
You point to the CAVS record over the past week. Lets look at those games a little more closely before writing off the efforts of the team.

The Chicago game Shaq, LBJ and Red were all on the bench in suits, and Chicago unlike the CAVS are fighting to make the playoffs result: a 1 point loss.

The Indiana game Mo, Shaq, LBJ and Jamison were all on the bench in suits, Red got tossed in the third quarter and the CAVS still only loss by 3 points.

Orlando a team trying to wrest the second overall record in the NBA from the Lakers, got a whopping 6 point victory at home with Shaq and LBJ on the bench in suits and all 12 men who dressed seeing at least 6:30 mins. of action.

This Cleveland team has enough talent not named LeBron James, that it would still be a home playoff team in the East this season if LBJ had suffered a major injury.

The style of play would be very slow much like it was during the 2007 run to the finals. The CAVS attempted to dump the ball in to Z  and play inside out as much as possible because the offense was not developed and the team was still learning the nuances of Mike Browns defense. With LeBron out the team would be forced to use Shaq's presence in the middle in the same type offensive scheme (albeit with Shaq much better results than Z). 

The addition of Jamison gives the team some options as he is capable of playing either the 3 or the 4 and because the team is loaded with athletic wing players (Moon, West, Telfair, J. Williams). The loss on the defensive end is where this club will suffer the most. Even with LeBron in a suit there are three other guys on the roster capable of giving the CAVS 20 pts. a night every night (M. Williams, Jamison and Shaq).

From the aspect of trying to win a championship the loss of LBJ for a season would be a major blow but in terms of what the fans would see on a nightly basis The CAVS are in a better position than most of the teams on this list.
Kevin Durant - Oklahoma City Thunder  

#15 | 1122 days ago

 If Lebron leaves the Cavs after this season, the Cavs will be drawing a lottery pick in 2011!!
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  
1

#16 | 1108 days ago

 derms33 wrote:
Heat would also blow w/o D-Wade
The heat blow anyway. Wade is a great player but like all other superstars, everyone on that poll list, has a great supporting cast.
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  

#17 | 1082 days ago

 Kobe Bryant is easily the best player in the NBA, losing him would be devastating for the Lakers!
Kobe Bryant - Los Angeles Lakers  

#18 | 1082 days ago

 Who does joe got?????
Joe Johnson - Atlanta Hawks  

#19 | 1070 days ago

 desertrat wrote:
Kobe Bryant is easily the best player in the NBA, losing him would be devastating for the Lakers!
not really, guys like cavs depend on lebron to win but lakers already have a strong team. so losing kobe wont make a big impact like it will if cavs lose james
LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers  

#20 | 1067 days ago

 Lakersfan1997 wrote:
not really, guys like cavs depend on lebron to win but lakers already have a strong team. so losing kobe wont make a big impact like it will if cavs lose james
Losing Kobe would end the Lakers,  both teams would suck without their star player but the Lakers would be losing a 4 time(soon to be 5 time) champion with 7 trips to the NBA Finals on his resume.
Kobe Bryant - Los Angeles Lakers  

#21 | 1021 days ago

 LeBron is no longer at Cleveland so..............what's up?
Dirk Nowitzki - Dallas Maverics  


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