Is a Superstar Team Needed To Win Championships?

    While listening to the Michael Kay Show yesterday, there was an interesting topic that was brought up by Don La Greca and Dave Rothenberg. Do you need to have a "Superstar Team" to win a championship in sports? Honestly, in most instances, I do not think so. It has shown throughout sports history that most times you don't need too. Most teams may have a superstar, like the Bulls had with Michael Jordan, the Yankees with Mickey Mantle, or the Patriots with Tom Brady, but they themselves did not win the championships. They all had one thing in common, Great Supporting Role Teammates. That's why its called "Team Sports."


     Granted the Miami Heat in 2012 and  2013 won with star studded lineups, they did lose to Dallas in 2011, who's lone superstar, Dirk Nowitzki, had supporting characters around him to win. Last year, the Miami Heat narrowly beat the San Antonio Spurs, who did outplay them and are outplaying them this year. San Antonio is a great example of "Team Play" they have stars in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli(none that fall under the "Superstar" category), and great supporting roles with Danny Green, Khawi Lenard, and Boris Diaw just to name a few.


     Teams can be anchored by one or two Superstar athletes or unbelievable players, like Lebron James, but the rest of the team needs to step up. The 1996 Yankees did not have any superstars on their time(yes they had Wade Boggs but he was in the twilight of his career) and they won it all that year. You need key players to win your championships. The '96 Yankees had John Wettland as their closer, Mariano Rivera(at that time not the elite closer we know) as setup man, Andy Pettite and Jimmy Key anchoring their starting rotation, and the likes of Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, Tino Martniez, Joe Girardi, and some rookie named Derek Jeter, anchoring their everyday lineup.


    The main thing any team needs to win is have chemistry. If the team plays together and works together well, then they will start to believe. When you believe and have confidence, then you play well and things start to clique. Look at the 2007 New York Giants, they started playing well towards the end of the season, had more and more confidence after every playoff win and bam they made the Patriots 18-1 that year not 19-0! Things need to work together in order to win!