The NBA has provided fertile ground for the “Super Team” concept.
The Houston Rockets collected four future Hall of Famers in 1996-97 – Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen.
The Boston Celtics brought together Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to win a championship in 2008.
The Miami Heat went to four consecutive Finals (winning twice) when Lebron James brought his talents together with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh starting in 2010-11.
The Golden State Warriors were coming off a 73-win season with NBA MVP Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green when Kevin Durant joined them to win back-to-back championships.
And the Lakers already have one title thanks to the high-powered pairing of James and Anthony Davis.
As the most talented roster in MLB begins arriving at Camelback Ranch in Arizona on Wednesday, the Dodgers might have as close to a “Super Team” as you’re likely to see in baseball’s luxury-tax era. According to Elias Sports, when each of them appears in a game for the Dodgers this season, the Dodgers will become the first team to have three former MVP winners (Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger) and three former Cy Young winners (Kershaw, Trevor Bauer and David Price) on the field for them.
“I think on paper it’s certainly a ‘Super Team.’ You can’t run from that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, praising the organization’s ability to keep young, “controllable” talent coming from the farm system – and ownership’s willingness to pay for talent at a time when pandemic finances have many teams throttling back.
“I think on the surface you look at the salaries, it’s certainly a ‘Super Team.’ This is where ownership feels that with the fan base, what we’ve accomplished to support our club like this, certainly we’re very excited about it. Now the fun part for me is seeing how all these pieces work together.”
They don’t always work. You could make a strong argument that the Dodgers have had the most talented roster in the National League (if not the majors) three or four times during their current run of eight consecutive division titles – 2013, 2017, 2019 and 2020. Only two of those teams made the World Series – and only last year’s captured a championship.
“First off, we’ve taken the high road and I will continue – but we were cheated in ’17. That’s a fact,” Roberts said. “But I think the great thing about baseball is the best team doesn’t always win. That’s the beautiful thing about baseball. It’s been proven over the years.”
It doesn’t feel that beautiful when your season ends in early October at the hands of, say, a hot wild-card team that started the season by losing 31 of its first 50 games but had three elite-level starting pitchers – as the Dodgers did against the eventual champion Washington Nationals in 2019.
But it has indeed been proven over the years that the most talented team, even the winningest team in the regular season doesn’t always come through the October wars to claim a World Series championship. The 43-17 Dodgers last season were only the fourth team in the past 22 years to have baseball’s best record during the regular season and then win the World Series (two others won after tying for the best record during the regular season).
Hey – those four Hall of Famers never won an NBA title for the Houston Rockets, either.
No manager in baseball has managed more talent than Roberts over the past six seasons and he acknowledges it presents a unique challenge.
“When you’re asking a talented roster, a bunch of superstars to come together and ultimately to sacrifice for the best interests of the ballclub, that sounds easy. That sounds simple. But the day-to-day is not as easy as it sounds,” Roberts said, adding that he has learned the importance of “hearing” players.
“When you’re first trying to create a culture as a manager, you want your players to play for one common goal. You have a vision of how it’s supposed to be. But I think you also have to leave room and give latitude for players to voice their thoughts and concerns. And also let them know when they do share these thoughts, this is not selfish on their part. I have to kind of take it and try to apply it and at the bare minimum hear them out because they all have individual needs. It has to work both ways. I have to give. They have to give. It’s a give and take.
“With a talented roster, like anything, communication is paramount. But I still think making each guy feel valued in their own right is really important.”
As spring training begins with Thursday’s first workout, the most significant questions facing the Dodgers are:
Can they do it again?
After waiting 32 years for another championship and then splurging on the 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner to send their payroll skyrocketing past the $250 million mark, anything short of a repeat title will be a disappointment. MLB hasn’t had a repeat champion since the New York Yankees won three in a row, 1998-2000 – and the Dodgers haven’t had a challenger in their division as threatening as the San Diego Padres during their eight-year run of NL West titles.
Is Kenley Jansen’s run in the closer role over?
Nearly over? Yes. Jansen’s contract ends this year. But both President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and Roberts have said the Dodgers’ 2021 bullpen is best if Jansen is the closer and he will get every opportunity to show he can still be effective in the role. However, their lack of trust in Jansen was obvious during the postseason run last October and he will be under a microscope in 2021.
What do you do with seven starting pitchers?The addition of Bauer to a group that already includes Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Julio Urias, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin and will finally get Price gives the Dodgers an embarrassment of riches at a time when teams around the major leagues are worried about how pitching staffs will handle the return to a 162-game schedule this year. It’s a good bet the Dodgers’ talented seven will all start games for the team at some point this season. But best utilizing all of them will take flexibility and creativity.
How do you replace Joc Pederson and Kiké Hernandez?
The duo might have chafed in their part-time roles with the Dodgers – but they were very productive in those roles over the past six seasons. With Pederson off to the Cubs and Hernandez to Boston, the Dodgers will find it more difficult to pursue the platoon advantages those players gave them. Zach McKinstry, Matt Davidson and Sheldon Neuse will compete to fill their roles – or players like A.J. Pollock, Chris Taylor or Gavin Lux might have to become every-day options.
Can they stay healthy in Pandemic Season Two?
It’s the question hanging over every MLB team this spring. The Dodgers got all the way through to the last game of the World Series before a negative coronavirus test impacted them on the field. Third baseman Justin Turner had to be removed from Game 6 and then sparked controversy by returning to the field during the post-game celebration. The challenge of following health and safety protocols remains elemental in 2021.
February 17, 2021 at 06:43AM
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Dodgers take ‘Super Team’ label into spring training - OCRegister
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