History smiles warmly upon the champions who have etched themselves in legend, those who conquered the league by achieving the ultimate goal, winning an NBA title. 

Unfortunately, for every winner, there is a loser. Throughout NBA history we find embryos of potential dynasties, champions that never came to be, players and teams that were special if not elite for a time in their own right, but couldn't quite get over that final hump. 

Join Calvan and Josh as they look back specifically at the 1980-87 Bucks, 1991-96 Sonics and the 2011-15 Bulls as a few of the teams who were a couple bounces away from a different ending... teams who were "so close, but no cigar".

Part 1 of a continuing series.