Ranking the Championship Teams of the 2010s
What was the best championship team from the 2010s? Was it a dynasty team like one of the Warriors’ years? Was it a stand out team like the Mavericks? Was it a team that was at the end of an era like the Lakers? I’m here to find out. I was originally going to do this list just by instinct and me looking at their basketball reference pages, but I thought of a better idea. I wanted to account for regular season success, playoff success, and level of competition. Therefore, I devised a ranking system based on five categories. I then took the teams’ average ranks in these categories, averaged it out, and completed my list of the teams in order. I ranked them in said categories using my personal opinion, actual statistics, and the good people at basketballreference.com. The categories I chose to use were regular season point differential, regular season record, postseason point differential, postseason record, and postseason strength of opponents. For most of these, there is a statistical number to back up the 1-10 ranking, but for the categories of strength of opponent and overall roster talent, I will be using my personal judgement to put the teams in order. Below you will find the lists in order.
Regular Season Point Differential
1. 2017 Warriors: 11.6
2. 2015 Warriors: 10.1
3. 2013 Heat: 7.9
4. 2014 Spurs: 7.8
5. 2012 Heat: 6
5. 2016 Cavaliers: 6
5. 2018 Warriors: 6
5. 2019 Raptors: 6
9. 2010 Lakers: 4.7
10. 2011 Mavericks: 4.2
Regular Season Record
1. 2017 Warriors: 67-15 (.817)
1. 2015 Warriors: 67-15 (.817)
3. 2013 Heat: 66-16 (.805)
4. 2014 Spurs: 62-20 (.756)
5. 2018 Warriors: 58-24 (.707)
5. 2019 Raptors: 58-24 (.707)
7. 2012 Heat: 46-20 (.697)
8. 2010 Lakers: 57-25 (.695)
8. 2011 Mavericks: 57-25 (.695)
8. 2016 Cavaliers: 57-25 (.695)
Postseason Point Differential
1. 2017 Warriors: 13.5
2. 2018 Warriors: 10
3. 2014 Spurs: 9.3
4. 2016 Cavaliers: 8.7
5. 2015 Warriors: 7.8
6. 2012 Heat: 7
7. 2013 Heat: 6.4
8. 2011 Mavericks: 5.7
9. 2019 Raptors: 5.5
10. 2010 Lakers: 3.8
Postseason Record
1. 2017 Warriors: 16-1
2. 2015 Warriors: 16-5
2. 2011 Mavericks: 16-5
2. 2016 Cavs: 16-5
2. 2018 Warriors: 16-5
6. 2010 Lakers: 16-7
6. 2012 Heat: 16-7
6. 2013 Heat: 116-7
6. 2014 Spurs: 16-7
10. 2019 Raptors: 16-8
Postseason Strength of Schedule (Wins/Team)
1. 2014 Spurs (49 Mavericks, 54 Trailblazers, 59 Thunder, 54 Heat)
2. 2011 Mavericks (48 Trailblazers, 57 Lakers, 55 Thunder, 58 Heat)
3. 2016 Cavaliers (44 Pistons, 48 Hawks, 56 Raptors, 73-9 Warriors)
4. 2010 Lakers (50 Thunder, 53 Jazz, 54 Suns, 50 Celtics)
5. 2015 Warriors (45 Pelicans, 55 Grizzlies, 56 Rockets, 53 Cavaliers)
6. 2019 Raptors (42 Magic, 51 76ers, 60 Bucks, 57 Warriors)
7. 2012 Heat (36(44) Knicks, 42(52) Pacers, 39(48) Celtics, 47(58) Thunder)
8. 2018 Warriors (47 Spurs, 48 Pelicans, 65 Rockets, 50 Cavaliers)
9. 2017 Warriors (41 Trailblazers, 51 Jazz, 61 Spurs, 51 Cavaliers)
10. 2013 Heat (38 Bucks, 45 Bulls, 49 Pacers, 58 Spurs)
So that was a lot of data to take into consideration. Originally I was going to include a category based on how talented I thought the teams’ overall rosters were, but I figured that a roster can have all the talent in the world, but how good they are as a team is solely based on how well they play. Now it’s time to add up their ranks, divide it by five, and find out who is truly the best championship team of the 2010s. (P.S. Let me state once again that this is based somewhat on my own opinion, so these rankings could be different for everyone.) Also, in the case of a tie, I determined who belonged above the other based on my personal opinion.
10. 2010 Los Angeles Lakers
This by no means is meant to disrespect Kobe in any way. Even though I am a Celtics fan I have, and always have had, the utmost respect for Kobe Bryant and everything he has done. It just turns out that by the numbers this is not one of the better championship teams this decade. In my personal rankings before I looked at the numbers at all, I had them sixth, but this is where they landed in the final rankings.
9. 2019 Toronto Raptors
This team was pretty low on my personal list, and I agree with this ranking overall as well. They were a solid team, and Kawhi was insane, but when compared to the teams of championship past they don’t really stack up well. You have pairs of D-Wade and LeBron, Kobe and Pau Gasol, Steph and KD, and then Kawhi and… Kyle Lowry? Maybe a young Pascal Siakam? It just doesn’t compare well.
8. 2012 Miami Heat
I had this team super high up in my personal rankings of the ten teams, so I was a bit surprised when the numbers had them so low. I mean, I guess it was only the second year the big three had played together, and they were coming off a super tough loss to an underdog Mavericks team that everyone expected them to beat. It turns out that all that affected them a bit.
7. 2011 Dallas Mavericks
Speaking of the Mavericks, they landed seventh in these rankings much to my surprise. They were considered a huge underdog throughout the playoffs, and faced some of the hardest competition out of all ten of these teams. Dirk’s championship will forever go down as one of the most clutch and legacy-impacting rings in all of NBA history.
6. 2013 Miami Heat
Turns out that both of the Miami teams are lower in these rankings than I thought they would be. What really ended up doing them in was the fact that, in my opinion, they did not have to go through as many super good teams as those teams out west did. I mean, the super young Bulls teams and the super young Pacers teams were definitely solid, but don’t really compare to say the early 2010s Thunder for example. Then they also faced poor first round opponents like the thirty eight win Bucks. They were an amazing team, but this is where the numbers put them.
5. 2018 Golden State Warriors
This team actually tied with the next one, but I decided that they were the lesser team in my personal opinion. That’s not saying much though, as this team effectively signified the end of one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history. A team that had two of the greatest players ever, and won three titles in four years. There’s not many bad things that can be said about this team.
4. 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers
This is LeBron’s greatest accomplishment ever on the basketball court. They were so close to losing it all, and then managed to bring it back from down 3-1. Not to mention, they took down the single greatest regular season team in all of NBA history in the process. That’s just plain greatness. There’s no other way around it.
3. 2014 San Antonio Spurs
In my opinion, this team had the hardest road in terms of competition on the way to winning the Finals. Although the core of Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili was on the back end of their careers, adding a young Kawhi Leonard to the mix just made this team infinitely better. As we all know, he ended up winning Finals MVP, and led the Spurs to a championship.
2. 2015 Golden State Warriors
This team was tied with the 2014 Spurs overall, but it’s hard to argue against the talent of the 2015 Warriors. What they did and the way they did it was so amazing. Stephen Curry had to go through each of the other four members of the All-NBA First team in order to win his first ring. He beat Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol, James Harden, and then LeBron James. Wow.
1. 2017 NBA Warriors
One of the greatest teams, if not the greatest team, of all time. They won every game by an average of over thirteen points in the playoffs and only lost one game in the entirety of the postseason. Adding Kevin Durant to a team that already won seventy three games the previous season is bound to be a recipe for success.
