In 2008, we hated the Boston Celtics. We did. They assembled a masterful team in one day, and instantly went from total crap to bragging beasts of the East. It was unfair; they basically bought the conference and eventually won the title.

But now that Boston is a shell of its former self and circling the drain as the East’s eighth seed, I realize that I kind of miss Boston.

Teams in today’s NBA come and go. Free agency and explosive trade deadlines lend themselves toward a quickly evolving and developing league. So when a great team is put together, you had better cherish it because it won’t last long. Here are some teams of the past 15 years that I miss.

*The 2008 Boston Celtics*

They were fun to hate. What’s more, they were fun to watch and fun to root against — a pure-bred basketball team featuring the massive and developing Kendrick Perkins in the middle, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in Hall-of-Fame forms and Ray Allen’s deadly shooting, all wrangled by Rajon Rondo’s scintillating if occasionally erratic point guard play. With Doc Rivers needing to prove himself and Boston titleless since the ‘80s, there was something fun to watching the Celtics thrive, even if they had merely signed greatness rather than built it themselves.

*The 2007 Golden State Warriors*

Monta Ellis was a pup buried beneath the mass of guards Golden State had: Jason Richardson, Baron Davis, Mickael Pietrus, Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, all five of whom are plain ballsy, Al Harrington and Troy Murphy at power forward to stretch the floor, with Andris Biedrins to fill out Golden State underneath. Watching this gang of spark plugs explode offensively against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the ‘07 playoffs was seriously one of the most entertaining basketball experiences of the past 10 years. It’s too bad they weren’t even properly assembled until that year’s trading deadline and were disassembled that offseason. That’s three months of pure gold for the Warriors. Gone too soon.

*The 2004 Detroit Pistons*

I may be the only one who misses more defense, but these guys were stacked. Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace — that’s a solid lineup if I’ve ever seen one. This team, the lankiest at the 1-through-4 spots in the league’s history, was something to marvel at. After watching them smother fools in the Eastern Conference (going to the EC Finals for 10 straight years!) in their prime, it’d be cool to see where they’d fit into the picture now. Too bad the Pacers fought their crowd and their city started to fall apart at the seams.

*The 2002 Sacramento Kings*

As I became sentient, the Chicago Bulls became worthless. Naturally, I gravitated toward the Kings in the early ‘00s because the Kings were awesome. Mike Bibby, Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Doug Christie and Peja Stojakovic made for a starting lineup full of playmakers. With Hedo Turkoglu and Bobby Jackson coming off the bench, the Kings played a fast-paced game that had highlights of every sort. They were awesome to play as in NBA 2k2, with a point guard that could shoot 3-pointers and Peja’s practically automatic 3-point slinging. Their loss in the conference finals to the Lakers and their loss in the previous year’s semis to the Jazz were two of my toughest moments as a basketball fan (a tier below the Bulls’ playoff exits to the Heat and Celtics and Illinois losing the ‘05 title game). Then the team broke up and the Kings have strayed from those awesome days of busting out the decibel-meter at Arco Arena and are now spiraling toward relocation.

*The 1998 Los Angeles Lakers*

I loved this team before it got Phil Jackson and became unfairly good.

With Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones holding off second-year pros Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant in the backcourt and Rick Fox and Robert Horry timesharing the small forward position to make way for Elden Campbell and Shaquille O’Neal in the middle, the Lakers played a cool brand of basketball. I can’t say I watched this group perform, but I watched these players perform over the next decade as their careers grew (with the exception of Campbell) and admired all their individual games.

*Any Miami Heat team from before July 8, 2010*

Give us the NBA back.

_Eliot is a sophomore in Media. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @EliotTweet._