Join Ovie, Mo and Jaydee for the latest episode of Heatcheck on Wednesday night (8pm) on Sky Sports Arena
Wednesday 27 May 2020 14:52, UK
The 2002 Sacramento Kings, led by Chris Webber, Vlade Divac and Mike Bibby, were the best team not to win an NBA championship, says Heatcheck’s Mo Mooncey.
In a segment of this week's show, available to watch in full on Sky Sports' YouTube channel or on Sky Sports Arena on Wednesday night at 8pm, Mooncey and fellow analyst Ovie Soko were asked if they thought the Utah Jazz teams led by John Stockton and Karl Malone, beaten by Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals, were the greatest squad not to taste NBA title glory.
Both Mooncey and Soko disagreed and offered alternatives.
"I have the 2002 Sacramento Kings as the best team never to win a championship. I don't count the 73-win Golden State Warriors in this as they won titles either side of that record-breaking season." said Mooncey. "The '02 Kings lost to Kobe and Shaq's Lakers in Game 7 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals. The Kings had come first in the West that regular season. They were a 61-win team.
"For me, they were ahead of their time in the way they played basketball. They didn't focus on an isolation-heavy style featuring one or two stars. They played basketball by committee. Everyone on that team had a very high basketball IQ. They moved the ball well and moved off-ball extremely well.
"They were a real problem for any opponent they came up against. It took the Lakers being (granted a multitude) of free throws in the fourth quarter of Game 6 to stay in that series. Obviously, the Lakers went on to win the series in Game 7.
"The Kings' run was cut short the following season when Webber suffered a terrible ACL injury. That tear in his knee cut short his prime and he remains one of the game's most underrated players."
Soko offered a selection of what he described as "what if" teams he believes were as good as Stockton and Malone's late 90s Jazz teams.
"I think Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway's Orlando Magic squads of the mid-nineties have got to be one of the best teams never to win a championship," he Soko. "(Shaq getting traded to the Lakers and Hardaway's injuries mean) that Magic team are one of the NBA's biggest 'what ifs'.
"Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming's Houston Rockets are another huge 'what if' team.
"Oklahoma City Thunder's 'Big Three' era with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden is another huge 'what if', especially when you think about what all three players have gone on to do. All three players went to become MVPs and are possibly all future Hall of Famers. It must go through their heads, 'what if we stuck together'.
"There are plenty of teams (who could have won a title but missed out) and I wouldn't say the 1997/1998 Utah Jazz are head and shoulders above any of them. You could legitimately pick three or four who are all right there.
Mooncey agreed: "The Jazz had enough chances. It isn't like injuries derailed them. They were there in those Finals. They could have won a championship if they were really good enough."
"It's true," added Soko. "In both situations (the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals), we got to see their talent play out at the highest level. (With the other teams mentioned), there were so many things that we never got to see."
Join Ovie, Mo and Jaydee for the latest episode of Heatcheck on Wednesday night (8pm) on Sky Sports Arena
