Historic collapses the last two postseasons will do that

Also most regular season wins in this decade. Also most playoff wins in this decade.

exactly. this is the parity era, being the best team doesn’t look like it used to

(edit) even in our “gap” year we were still a 2 seed

I mean by this logic the 2000s Indianapolis colts were dominant? Because that’s basically what we are we lose in the playoffs to big underdogs after having a great regular season except for the one time.

That is literally explaining the coltd situation almost exactly. We’re more like the Aaron Rodgers Packers or the Indianapolis colts with Peyton Manning than we are like the Patriots

And unlike the colts can’t really chalk it up to just having to face a dominant team like the Patriots in the playoffs all the time. I mean Golden State stop being invincible many years ago.

One could argue “the best” teams make it to the finals or deep into the playoffs to support being “one of the best teams”, Guess our definition of being the best is different.

Of course that would have been nice, they are still the team of the decade and haven’t been eliminated with a healthy Tatum since 2022

everyone thinks that about their team tho. in every sport

Wemby is 22.

i usually agree with you. the only reason a day that with the spurs is because they’re all so young and cheap so they can keep the team together for a while. also wemby is a freak of nature that barring some injury or other unforeseen interruptions to his career will be one of if not the best players in the league for a while

4 conference finals, 2 finals, 1 championship

the best winning percentage in regular season

thats better than any other team, though we could use a bit more, i would like 2 more conference finals and 1 more chip hopefully

yes we are the only team that has made the finals more than once and also won a ring

Which team has accomplished more in that timespan?

Semantics, but OP said most dominant. Compared to any other team, we’ve won the most and that’s a fact despite what the doomers might think

No team this decade has been very dominant, we are as good as it gets for now

The spurs and thunder might have things to say but they not there yet

This should be receiving upvotes not down votes

Yeah, “dominant” is the wrong word to use.

Have we been successful so far this decade? Yes. You can’t complain about winning a championship.

Have we been the MOST successful of any NBA team? Arguable. Depends on how you measure success. We have the best regular season winning percentage so far since 2020, sure. But we only have one championship this decade to show for it, same as everyone else. And how many of those other teams blew a 3-1 lead to a lower seed in the first round of the playoffs? Are we set up for the rest of the decade? Not the way OKC and San Antonio are.

I’d say we’ve been SUCCESSFUL and have had a good decade so far, but DOMINANT? No, not dominant in the way Bird and Magic dominated the 80s, Jordan dominated the 90s, and the Warriors dominated the 2010s.

Here’s a hot take: we’ve overachieved.

In the history of the NBA, nearly every single multi-time championship core has had an MVP level player in his prime

2015-2022 Warriors - obviously they had prime Steph Curry for the first 3 and added Kevin Durant, those first 3 aren’t even a question. In 2021 Curry was still at the top of his game finishing 3rd in MVP voting, then they added Klay as a 2nd option so he didn’t have to carry as hard and ended up 8th. Still a top 5-10 player, and was very much still in his prime considering his 50 point game 7 came in 2023 and his 2024 Olympic showing was some “best in the world” type performance. He absolutely still had it in 2022.

2012-2013 Heat - Prime LeBron James, not even a question

1999-2014 Spurs - 1999 was sort of isolated but Tim Duncan already finished 3rd in MVP voting that season and you could make an argument he was ready day 1 and his prime was this early, but we can argue over semantics, but he stamped it with back to back MVP’s in 2002 and 2003, so their 3 from 2003-2007 was absolutely his prime. 2014 is a bit of an edge case since he, Manu, and Parker were older, but you’re also adding Kawhi Leonard to this one. Kawhi still young and never won an MVP or considered best in the world, so I’m willing to concede this one and it was Pop’s beautiful game that put an experienced group over the top

2009-2010 Lakers - Kobe’s MVP came in 2008 and from 2007-2010 he finished top 3 in MVP voting. LeBron was probably best in the world but Kobe was right there and this was very much his prime

2000-2002 Lakers - Shaq won an MVP in 2000, this was very obviously his prime and the best version of him as one of the most dominant players ever

1991-1998 Bulls - Michael Jordan never left his prime as soon as they had Pippen, he just retired and came back 4 years later to the Wizards to show what him out of his prime looked like

1994-1995 Rockets - Hakeem won an MVP in 1994 and his only top 2 finishes were in 1993 and 1994, this was absolutely his prime. He was on the tail end of it in 1995 but he led the 95 playoffs in scoring, he absolutely still had it

1989-1990 Pistons - this is the 1 exception I’m willing to concede, they obviously did not have an MVP level player.

1980-1988 Lakers - Kareem won MVP in 1980 and was still at the top of his game. Magic won MVP’s in 1987-90, so the last 2 aren’t really in question either. You could argue 82 where the torch was passed, but I think Kareem and Magic were still producing at a high enough level that they had 2 guys at the beginning and tail end of their primes and that was enough.

1981-1986 Celtics - Bird won 3 MVP’s from 84-86 and he was a top player from day 1, not even a question.

1974-1976 Celtics - Pretty clearly Dave Cowens prime

1970-1973 Knicks - Willis Reed was an MVP in 1970, but 73 I’m willing to concede this didn’t have an MVP caliber player since Frazier never got there.

1957-1969 Celtics - they had Bob Cousy and Bill Russell, not really a question

1949-1954 Lakers - MVP didn’t exist then, but George Mikan was clearly one of the best players in the league and even going back this far doesn’t matter to prove my point.

So basically besides the Bad Boys Pistons, and maybe a couple exceptions with multiple HOFers like the 73 Knicks, 2014 Spurs, or anyone else you want to argue, every team in history that has won at least 2 has had an MVP level player at the peak of their powers.

I love Tatum and Brown, but it’s clear Brown has never been an MVP level player (this was his best season a tier below the top 4), and for Tatum it’s kind of been the same where he’s never quite been at the level of Jokic, peak Giannis, or what SGA has done the last 2 years.

We won 1 which is a great accomplishment and many teams in history have won a single championship, but for a core to win 2, you need that best in the world type player. The fact that we’ve been knocking on the door this long, had another opportunity in 2022, and are still discussing more in the future just shows how great they’ve already been as a team without the individual dominance.

Looking through the lens of NBA history, the Jays have overachieved with the playoff runs they’ve gone on, the expectations are just unfairly high for fans who have had the luxury of making winning look easy, when it is very, very hard.

Franchises last 2 most recent finals appearances with the same core/leaders in this 3P era

Celtics 2022 and 2024

Heat 2020 and 2023 (did not win)

Warriors 2019 and 2022

Cavaliers 2017 and 2018 (did not win)

Maybe dominant is not the right word, but the Celtics have absolutely been successful. If you view getting close and losing as failure, then I understand how you can say the Celtics failed all those years they went to the ECF. If you take a step back and realize we’ve gotten it done without the best player in the world in the context of all this, you can appreciate the success they’ve had.

If Tatum and Brown win another without an MVP level player on the roster, it’s basically them and the Bad Boys Pistons as the outliers. I don’t think it’s controversial to say if Tatum becomes an MVP type player (an actual conversation where he’s on Jokic/Wemby/SGA’s level) then he can lead us to another championship. If he isn’t ever that kind of player, the expectation should never, ever be multiple championships. No matter how good you think they should be. A LOT of great players only won 1 or never won at all.

You are spoiled if your comparison is the Celtics historical success and Larry Bird, a top 5-10 player of all time, and not their contemporaries where the Nuggets with a generational talent in Jokic have 1, Bucks with a generational talent in Giannis have 1, and Embiid and Luka have 0.

never said it was, 2020s is 6 years not 1. cry harder

very true. are you in favour of keeping the jays together?

was just a thought experiment looking into a potential future, and i didn’t say “dominated” i said “most dominant” meaning “more dominant than everyone else” (saying this because a bunch of people are mixing my words)

you’re right about the spurs, however the 2022 finals the celtics were ahead of schedule as well and 2018 we would’ve made it if we hadn’t ran into arguably the best version of lebron, the jays still are just entering their primes, hopefully we can build a good roster around them! i think we need a mobile center. a bruiser who can be physical with wemby but also quick enough to keep up with him on the perimeter (i like the idea of jaylin williams from okc)