It is basically proven that it is best to have teamwork if you want to win. If you want to win you must have good teamwork but to have good teamwork you may have to sacrifice some things you may not want to give up.
Teamwork in basketball is much more than just passing the ball. Teamwork is doing your job on the court, cheering on your teammates, letting your teammate know when they did something good, helping them up when they are down, not having a huge ego, passing up a somewhat open shot for a shot that is completely wide open for your teammate, and playing as hard as you can so your team has a better chance of winning the game. Teamwork is the key to winning and past teams have shown that it is.
Now to show some past teams that had great teamwork. First up the Detroit Pistons back in the late 80's and early 90's. This team was good to start but they needed more people that were team players. So this team gave up one of their best players (who was good at scoring but was not willing to play less minutes so his teammates could play more) Adrian Dantley for players who were willing to play less and do more than just score. After they traded away Dantley the Pistons were able to win 2 championships. Now the Chicago Bulls of the 90's. During the 80's this team lost to the great teams because Michael Jordan did not figure out yet that you must have good teamwork to win. Once he learned that being a good team player would get him past the hump that he had yet to get over the Chicago Bulls won 3 championships in a row not once but twice. Lastly a more recent team the Boston Celtics in 2008. This team was able to acquire Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to go along with Paul Pierce which they already had. All three of these players were all-stars that scored over 20 points per game every year. They all got pretty close to winning a championship by themselves when they were younger but now that they were older they wanted to win a championship. That year all three of their statistics dropped a little but just by sacrificing that little stat they were able to have the best record in the NBA. This team was also able to win an NBA championship over the Los Angeles Lakers in just their first year together. So just little things like sacrificing points or playing time are all part of teamwork and help you win.
I will now show you players and teams that did not give up anything to try to be good teammates or did not have good teamwork. First up a player that has yet to win a championship and be good team player, Lebron James. He has not won yet because he has not sacrificed anything yet and he basically feels he has to carry most of the load by himself for his team. I'm sure had he sacrificed some of his statistics and his ego he would have already had a championship by now but he does not. Next up is a really good team that just lost its magic the Los Angeles Lakers of 2004. This team had previously won three championships in a row. They had Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'neal along with more star players. This was possibly one of the most talented teams in the NBA of all time but the big egos of Bryant and O'neal could not be on a team any more. The whole year they butted heads and made storylines of how they completely hated each other. This very talented team was able to make it to the NBA finals despite all the negatives. They would eventually lose to the much more team oriented Detroit Pistons. After the season the Los Angeles Lakers had no choice but to break up most of the team.
This just goes to show you that teamwork is needed to be good and if you don't it probably won't end up to good and that if you sacrifice a few little things it will most likely be for the better.
