Every champion is a snowflake

There's no building a new Nuggets, because there's no one quite like Nikola Jokic out there.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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Dido Building Carthage, or The Rise of the Carthaginian Empire; J.M.W. Turner; 1815

When a team builds a strong enough foundation to climb the ladder and eventually win a championship, analysts tend to try to spin that team forward as a model for other future ladder-climbing potential champions. That might work in other sports. I think it’s a fool’s errand in the NBA.

It’s well-known that NBA superstars are more responsible for their teams’ success or failure than superstars in other team sports. Part of that is smaller roster sizes. Part of that is smaller on-field teams. Part of that is a sheer share of offensive and defensive responsibility each player has in basketball vs. in football, soccer, baseball or hockey. Soccer is the most analogous, but with twice as many players on the field (plus a keeper).

At the same time, the NBA is consistently evolving in interesting ways. We went through nearly a decade in which the traditional center was considered a dead concept, replaced by size on the wings and the need for pivots who could switch onto guards on defense (and maybe protect the rim) and finish at the rim on screen-roll action. Now two of the best three players in the league for the last three seasons are Very Large Centers who do tons more than the 2010s model would assign. There are others.

This has been a constant, too: there is a really diversity of superstars. Ball-dominant guards with size? Yes, we have Luka Doncic. Sinuous shot-making scorers with the height of centers and fluidity of guards? Yes, we have Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum. Athletically dominant anomalies with great vision and finishing ability? Yes, there’s Giannis Antetokounmpo. Irrepressible off-ball terrors with undefeatable shooting strokes? Yes, there’s Stephen Curry. Enormous point guards with killer moves from the ranges of 2 feet to 23 feet? Yes, there’s Nikola Jokic. Classic two-way centers who are as likely to sink an 18-foot fadeaway as they are to give you a baseline shiver? Yes, there’s Joel Embiid.

And soon, there will also be however you describe Victor Wembanyama.

Put all this together.

• The NBA paradigm is constantly shifting and evolving.

• Superstars are an enormous determining factor in how teams perform.

• There is a rich diversity among superstars in how they play.

How are you supposed to create a championship model out of that?