The veterans last dance: After the 06 Heat and the 11 Mavericks, it s the 26th turn of the Clippers?

In history, there are only a handful of people who have truly won the championship by relying on veterans.

Removed stars with super personal abilities such as Russell, 69, Chamberlain/West, and 98, Jordan. In history, only the 06 Heat and 11 Mavericks were the ones who succeeded in the end by accumulating a group of old men?

The Heat's 2006 championship looked like Sharks are old and stronger and Wade was born, but behind them were actually a bunch of veterans bursting out the last glory of their careers.

37-year-old Gary Payton (the best point guard in the 1990s and even the best defense position in NBA history),

30-year-old Antoine Walker (the early swinger in the league, known as the Celtics Gemini with Pierce),

31-year-old "White Chocolate" Williams (the most gorgeous defender before Irving),

35-year-old Alonzo Mooning (the fifth center outside the four major centers in the 1990s, Wade's previous Heat history GOAT)

31-year-old Derek Anderson (the Spurs Pan discovered by Popovich, who declined in 2001 after being injured).

These people won the first and only championship trophy in their careers that year.

and the Mavericks in 2011 are the same. In addition to Dirk, who is already 32 years old, Jason Kidd, 37, (the best point guard after the Magic), Jason Terry, 33, (one of the best backcourt pitchers and bench killers in the first decade of the 21st century), Sean Marion, 32, (one of the representatives of the all-round forward), Caron Butler, 30, (two-time All-Star forward),

, also had no championship before this, and what's worse was that before the playoffs that year, Butler was also reimbursed for the season due to injury.

and even these two teams have deep connections.

In the 2006 finals, he defeated the Heat 52, facing the second and third in the West, 60-winning Mavericks, and was behind 0-2, winning four consecutive games with Wade's god-level performance, and finally won the first championship in team history 4-2.

And the Mavericks in 2011 were not a favorite to win the championship in the West at that time. The Lakers, who are striving for three consecutive championships, the Spurs, the league's No. 1 Spurs, and even the third youngest rising Thunder all look more promising than the Mavericks who just lost No. 2 scorer Butler before the start of the playoffs.

Then there is Nowitzki's legend's playoff journey. They defeated the Trail Blazers, Lakers and Thunder in a row, and finally won three consecutive games when they were behind 1-2 in the first three games of the finals.

In 2006, 24-year-old Wade destroyed the 27-year-old Nowitzki's plan to win the championship.

Five years later, 32-year-old Dirk broke the 29-year-old Wade's dream of winning again.

And in 2019, 40-year-old Dirk and 37-year-old Wade retired.

In 2023, the two were also inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame at the same time.

is actually a good story. The similarity between these two veteran teams is not only about overcoming difficulties and winning the championship, but also quickly falling apart after winning the championship.

In the 06-07 season, the Heat only had 44 wins and 38 losses, the Sharks were getting older, and veterans such as Walker and Payton were in much worse form. The Bulls were swept 4-0 directly in the playoffs, and became the first defending champion to be swept at the time. Before the 11-12 season began, the Mavericks boss Cuban, who completed his dream of winning the championship, began to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Chandler, Barria, Stevenson, etc., who made great contributions last season, all ran away, scoring 36 wins and 30 losses (that year was a reduced season). He was perfectly revenged by the Thunder 4-0 in the first round, and then he was pulled further and further by the Thunder and Spurs and other Western Conference first-tier teams.

Let's talk about the Clippers. It can be said that the series of operations this year's offseason are not only pragmatic and meticulous, but also fill their feelings all at once.

Freeke market started, it won the former Bucks championship center and 37-year-old Lopez with 18 million in two years.

Then he sent away Powell, who was in the year of contract and was clamoring to renew his contract, and sold him at a high position and got the Jazz's 27-year-old large forward Collins (which the Clippers have been missing after Ibaka left).

Then they signed the buyout Bradley Bill and Ye Luo's return to their roots.

Based on the complete framework of the main lineup last season, it is equivalent to one exchange for four and upgraded the rotation lineup.

We can already see how comprehensive and length of the lineup are for the team that will win four series in a row.

The Thunder and Pacers who finally entered the finals can still take out ten people to rotate even when they reach the division finals.

And some of the new players have obvious flaws in lineups (Lakes, Bucks), some are due to core injuries (Celtics, Warriors), and some are due to too short rotation (Knicks, Nuggets).

The Clippers lost to the Nuggets 3-4 in the first round, which can be said to be the most regrettable loser in this round.

If you can grasp several more rounds, if the referee can be relatively fair in some games, maybe they will be the ones who sniped the Thunder in the semi-finals.

But fortunately, they did not feel complacent and stagnant because of their regrets. After targeted reinforcements this summer, they may have become the team with the most complete lineup and the fewest shortcomings in the entire league, even no one.

There is a top ball holder (Harden/Paul) at any time on the court, including an offensive team with accurate projections (Bill/Bogdan) and a defensive expert in dismantling bombs (Jones/Dunn).

Can not only play the center in the game to play 15 pick-and-roll, but also let Collins play 5-player team.

They have sufficient player configuration (up to 11 players rotate) to fully demonstrate their tactical imagination, and can also make targeted changes to the opponent and on-the-spot situation. The only problem with

is that they are too old.

Harden 36 and Leonard 34, they are already 70 years old.

We are not saying that the elderly duo cannot win the championship. For example, Jordan and Pippen in 1998 are already 35 and 33, but Brother Deng’s condition in recent years, especially his personal offense, is too far from his peak period. Leonard has also exploded intermittently in the playoffs. It is too difficult to rely on them to lead the team.

The Clippers' idea is that if a veteran doesn't work, then take a chance.

Batum, who is also 37 years old, yelled to retire two years ago (what my wife said), but this year he renewed his contract with the team. In addition, Paul, 40, and Bill, who has few athletic skills left at the age of 32, have suffered from injuries in recent years. The average age of the

team has reached an exaggerated 33.2 years old, making it the oldest team in the league in record.

The Clippers may go to two extremes next season:

If the coach is properly debugged and the players' physical condition is stable, then they are likely to be smooth sailing in the Western Conference and even the entire league. Although they may not have much advantage over the Thunder, Rockets, and Nuggets, they can only play 12 games at most with these three "first echelons". Their tactical system and lineup thickness have advantages of large or small when facing most of the opponents in the league today.

At the same time, their biggest advantage over many elderly teams is that three "young men" who are in their prime, including Zubac, Collins, Derek Jones, and three "young men" who are in their prime, occupy the most physically consuming positions in the lineup (inside frame protection + outside leader).

Today's Clippers are a team with full experience and skills, but also lacking youth and strength.

Of course the bad situation is that they are once again defeated by injuries and fatigue.

The Clippers have been favored over the years.

From the 19-20 season of Kajiao's "Contemporary Jordan Pippen combination" + Lu Wei/Harrell "bench superstar duo",

to the 20-21 season, Rondo, Kennard, and Cousins' comprehensive upgrade after joining,

to the past two years, top defenders such as Wall, Harden, and Westbrook have been shot one after another, but they either fell in the injury wave or were eliminated in a confused manner (the day before the George play-offs in 222) and so on.

Under the final analysis, this is still the team of Harden, Leonard and even Zubac. Only these three people can always stand firm will the Clippers have the confidence to compete in the Western Conference in the new season.

As for whether to become a legend like the 06 Heat and the 11 Mavericks, or a laughing stock like the 14 Nets and the 22 Lakers, let's wait and see.