It has happened only once, and perhaps you recall: The 1975 Warriors, led by Rick Barry, were the only team in history to win an NBA title with just one established superstar. Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls are looking to be the second, and don't put it past them as they host Miami tonight in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. Rose is just that good, the Bulls' team concept that sharp ... Just to refresh the memory, those '75 Warriors had Keith (later Jamaal) Wilkes and Phil Smith on their way to stardom, but both were rookies that year ... The 1977 Portland Trail Blazers built everything around center Bill Walton, but they had one of the all-time great power forwards in Maurice Lucas ... The 2004 Detroit Pistons were the only champion without a future Hall of Famer on their roster, but they got it done with three reliable stars: Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace ... So, did the Heat celebrate a little too joyously after beating Boston? Not at all, it says here. That was pure vindication for LeBron James, an emotional moment to which few could relate, and Dwyane Wade felt it in his soul. "I've never seen a team so heavily criticized in my life," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, "and a guy (LeBron) criticized for doing what was legal." ... Credit James and Wade, by the way, for remaining the best of friends through a lot of turmoil and external scrutiny this season. They weren't above reprimanding each other, but they always had each other's back - not so easy in difficult times, as the Lakers just proved. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/15/SP091JG3T7.DTL
The Bulls remind me of the recent Jazz teams, too. It doesn't hurt that we have three of those Jazz players, and Rose does Deron's role but more of a threat.
All of these championship comparisons are a little silly to begin with. There are a ton of ways to win a championship and very few champions. I still remember the knocks on the '90s Bulls: You can't win a championship if your best player averaged 30 points. Now the pendulum has shifted and people think you can't win a championship without one or multiple alpha scorers. It's all a little bit silly.
