Which Would You Choose?

I have lived in Utah most of my life and I have been a fan of the Utah Jazz for as long as I have watched professional sports. I have known one coach, Jerry Sloan, and one type of offensive system, the pick 'n roll. Up until last year, there was one owner, Larry H. Miller, and one commentator, Hot Rod Hundley. You could say that I at least know what to expect when I watch the Jazz. I know that they will win more than 40 but less than 60 games. I know that they will be in the division race most of the year. I know that they will sometimes frustrate me with their steadiness and I will often clamour for change when I become frustrated. But in all of the this, I know that they will have moments of brillance where they will leave me feeling as if they could beat any team on the planet. What I life we lead as fans.

I recently was in a discussionwith a co-worker where the discussion inevitable came around to the fact that the Jazz had never won a Championship. We came close two years, being stopped by Jordan both times, but we have never won it. In researching something else though, I came across a statistic that peaked my interest. Over the last 25 years, from 1984 - 2009, what teams are the winningest teams during the regular season? I was slighlty shocked by what I discovered. The usual teams bounced around in my head, the Lakers and the Bulls were the top of my list, but I was surpised by two of the top three.

1. Los Angeles Lakers - 65%
2. San Antonio Spurs - 61%
tie - Utah Jazz 61%

That is right! Over the last 25 years, the Jazz are the second winningest team in the league. In fact if I include the game fom this season so far, the Jazz have taken over sole possession of second place. Then I realized just how fortunate I have been. Now before you try to criticize this, I do understand that they haven't won the ultimate prize, but for nearly my entire life, I have had the opportunity to watch an amazing franchise go to work and consistently be one of the top in the league. And as I thought about it more, not too many franchises have won a title during that same time period. Here is the list of teams that have won.

Chicago - 91, 92, 93, 96, 97, 98
Los Angeles - 84, 87, 88, 00, 01, 02, 09
Houston - 94, 95
Boston - 86, 08
Detroit - 89, 90, 04
San Antonio - 99, 03, 05, 07
Miami - 06

That is all! Only seven teams have won the NBA championship during that span, and one of those teams and a one year peak where they won (Miami) and nearly didn't make the playoffs in the years surrounding it. That leaves 23 teams that have not won the championship. Of the teams that have won, San Antonio had a couple years where they were down right awful. The Bulls have not been able to come close to greatness since Michael or even during his baseball hiatis. The Celtics, even though they are one of the games greatest franchises probably would wish to forget the 22 years in between their championship years. Detroit had 2 good teams that each spanned a couple of years, and were fortunate to win as much as they did, but they still had a rough run in the late 90's. Los Angeles was not relevant until Shaq graced them with his present and they were forutnate to land of the most talented shooting guards ever in the game. Miami has certainly had it's fair share of miserable seasons.

During that span, the Jazz have experienced 24 winning season. Their only losing season consisted of a roster of role players and was during the years after Stockton and Malone retired. That is pretty incredible!

So how do you feel? Would you want the teams that wins but never wins it all, or the team that might come close, but then doesn't for many years. I think that I'll stick with my Jazz!