No. 1: Los Angeles Lakers

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Andrew D. Bernstein./ NBAE/ Getty ImagesThe Lakers are the greatest franchise ever because of their incredible collection of trademark stars.

1. LOS ANGELES LAKERS: 78.71 POINTS PER SEASON (1947-2009)

Wins: 2,970 Playoff wins: 397 Series wins: 102 Titles: 15 All-Stars: 125

Best player: Magic Johnson Best coach: Phil Jackson Best team: 1971-72 (69-13, won NBA title) Intangibles: +150. Endless stream of superstars -- on the court and in the seats.

And those big names won, too. Although the Celtics have more championships, the Lakers have more of everything else -- wins, playoff wins, playoff series wins and conference titles. About the only thing that hurts L.A. in the all-time rankings is the penalty for relocating from Minnesota to Los Angeles in the 1950s.

The story begins with the Mikan years up north, where he led Minneapolis to five championships in six seasons in the formative years of the NBA. As the league's first dominant big man, he established something of a tradition.

About the only thing the Lakers haven't been able to do is best the Celtics head-to-head. In 11 meetings against Boston in the Finals, L.A. has prevailed just twice -- both coming with Magic and Kareem's teams under Pat Riley in the 1980s. In that regard, Baylor's Minneapolis team got the ball rolling in 1958-59 in the team's last season before heading west, and in the '60s, Chamberlain and West were foiled by the Celtics five times.

Ultimately, those Lakers broke through with a 69-13 season in 1971-72 that featured a 33-game winning streak -- still a record for North American pro team sports -- to win the team's first title in L.A.

After a brief lull in the late '70s, they would get five more rings when Magic arrived to join forces with Kareem. Although there was one more painful loss to Boston interposed -- a seven-game defeat in 1984 -- L.A. avenged it by becoming the first team in nearly two decades to repeat as champs, winning in 1987 and 1988. A hamstring injury to Magic Johnson in the Finals the next year derailed the Lakers' quest for a three-peat, but they would get one a decade and a half later after Phil Jackson came to Tinseltown to guide Shaq and Kobe.

That team provided plenty of last-second excitement -- most notably the alley-oop from Kobe to Shaq that cemented a Game 7 conference finals comeback win over Portland in 2000 -- and produced one of the most dominant playoff runs in history with a 15-1 romp through the field in 2001.

Amazingly, the franchise has missed the playoffs only five times in its 61 years -- for some perspective, the Bobcats have needed just five years to match L.A.'s total. The Lakers, who have played in six Finals in the past decade, are now only two titles behind the hated Celtics after winning the 2009 Finals against the Magic.

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