The Best ORGANIZATIONS in basketball.

[j.23]

i'd put the spurs at the very top. the next 7-8 teams are pretty much a tossup

[Indy]

As long as we aren't talking about classiness of an organization, I'll swallow my pride and do a list...

1.) Detroit Pistons- I should just kill myself, I don't want to go in to this any further.
2.) San Antonio Spurs- Any explanation needed?
3.) Indiana Pacers- Did you really think I'd rank them lower then this?
4.) Houston Rockets- I CANNOT believe nobody else ranked Houston in the top 5.
5.) Dallas Mavericks- Texas has a knack for basketball

[EGarrett]

Indy, why do you have San Antonio below Detroit?

Detroit makes the better trades...but San Antonio pulls the better free agents, and well...we won't get into comparing their draft picks...it wouldn't be pretty.

Plus the championships are on San Antonio's side. I can see Detroit at #2 though.

[Indy]

Indy, why do you have San Antonio below Detroit?

Detroit makes the better trades...but San Antonio pulls the better free agents, and well...we won't get into comparing their draft picks...it wouldn't be pretty.

Plus the championships are on San Antonio's side. I can see Detroit at #2 though.

Because drafting Duncan was the one move that completely saved the franchise. Had they not won the lottery, they wouldn't be in that position, it was somewhat of an easy fix. Detroit has nobody that was a significant lottery pick for them, they have the same mentality in scrappiness and hard work in the managment as they do on the court. Not to mention how consistently good they've been for so long.

[putodelagoa]

BEST

Well, there's no doubt San Antonio ranks first on that list, managing to strike gold in late draft picks, picking guys that fly under the radar only to come to the league with a BanG. Their starting 5 features only one lottery guy. They sure know what they're doing.
No stupid contracts,Great coach, Great system, consistently solid, and a class-act as a team. The perfect NBA embassadors.

2. Detroit. If the Darko selection was debatable, Prince on the other hand became a steal. Great eye on trades nobody could quite understand back then, (Wallace for Hill, Stack for Rip...).They picked all the right pieces and they've stayed competitive through 3 coaching changes, with the same nucleus. And they just seem to gather the grace of the Bball gods, because no injury bug has bit them.Frightening team, top to bottom

3.Phoenix. Awesome draft picks in the last decade, good common sense on the trades and the contracts they made, resulting on a team where everybody seems to play over their abilities.

4.Denver. 3 Years ago Vincent Yarbrough was starting for them. Kiki was a genius by finding suckers to get the stupidly overpriced players they once had. They have sucked on the draft, (Skita? Hodge? Nene?), could have done better than Carmelo, but still they became respectable and competitive.

5.Dallas. You could argue they let important pieces walk, only to get overpriced underperformers in return, but people want to play for them, they built half of that team through the draft, (jackpot with the 29th pick in Josh Howard), and are probably more dangerous than ever before, and Cuban does seem to learn from his past mistakes. They became solid on the defensive end, while remaining offensively potent. Just couldn't get the Doug Christie experiment.

WORST

5.NY Knicks. Not sure what they're tryng to do. As always, everything they do is short-sighted. Humongous contracts, bad players, selfish players, loose cannons, stiffs, Big Names... On the bright side they finally got one draft right, and Layden is long gone.

4.Orlando. They look clueless. Got lucky with DH, but how long will he stay there? Bad Karma all over the place... And the Spanish guy with the 12th choice? Precious.

3.Lakers. Any franchise dumb enough to let Shaq go deserves to be this low. At least they kept Bryant. And Bynum with the 10th choice?

2.Atlanta. They have been lucky with their draft picks, to bad they're all small forwards.

1.Toronto. Once they were promissing. Now they're pathetic. Chris Bosh will be so out of there...

[Andrew]

The best...

1. San Antonio. It's already been said, but they've won three of the last seven titles, have the best record in US pro sports leagues during that span and not only manage to put together good teams year in and year out, they've managed to hold on to their best players while continuing to improve their roster at low risk and they've even come through losing a key player to retirement without really losing a step. They don't have much trouble attracting free agents either.

2. Detroit. Made all the right moves, with the only one that could be considered questionable (Darko's selection) being a non-factor. Two straight trips to the Finals, a championship and still atop the East. They know what they're doing.

3. Indiana. Like Detroit, have made a habit of putting the right group of players together and have continued to be successful even after trades they "lost". I remember when Brad Miller was traded, that was supposed to be a big blow. Not to take anything away from him but it's been "so far, so good" for Indiana since.

4. Dallas. Could be higher but they let Nash go and their blueprint for success - loading up the team with offensive weapons - hasn't worked out as well as they'd hoped. That said they still manage to attract free agents since Cuban looks after his players and they've made some nice draft selections. There's tinkering to be done if the Mavs are ever to be successful but the front office pretty much has the right frame of mind. At the very least they know how to be very good, even if they aren't great.

5. Chicago Bulls (tie). The team is back to respectability, last year's draft brought them some good fortune and they're above .500 with a roster that can work despite having no "star power". I know my opinion is very biased but I don't think Pax gets enough credit for what he's done thus far.

And since bottom has been done too...

3. Los Angeles (Clippers). I know, they're winning. They're 13-5, atop the Pacific and second seed in the West. It's the end of the world as we know it. But they've been the NBA's Hell with so many disappointments to their name for so long I just can't rank them as a great organisation. Yet. But take nothing away from what Dunleavy and his players are doing so far this season.

2. Toronto Raptors. Botched the Vince Carter situation by allowing his stock to fall so low they couldn't get a respectable deal in return and seem to have alienated even the most loyal fans with their decisions. And when I say "they" and "their", I mean Babcock.

1. Atlanta Hawks. Internal bickering and a blueprint that's become a running gag around these parts (and no doubt elsewhere too).