All Time Team

[jmmagicfan]

So, I was reading the Aaron Gordon twitter about his five man team (his was a little bizarre), and I thought, most coaches go with a 8 or 9 man rotation; so wouldn't it be interesting to see what you could come up with for an All-time Team using that as your criteria. So, here are the rules -

 

1) No more than eight (8) players

2) Assume each player is in their prime, and has access to today's medical, weight training, etc.

3) This must be a team - so you may like 5 centers and 3 power forwards; but whose going to handle the ball and play the perimeter?

 

My biggest challenge was picking my power forward/center combinations - having to leave out guys like Kevin McHale, Karl Malone, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal. Here is my eight-man team, who is yours?

 

Magic Johnson - most versatile point guard ever

Michael Jordan - a great scorer, and one of the best defensive players at the position as well

Larry Bird - the Legend, proved it didn't take great athleticism to dominate; just the drive, dedication, and just plain cussedness

Tim Duncan - the most fundamentally sound big man ever?! Or does that honor go to:

Hakeem Olajuwan - a post monster on both ends of the floor.

 

Coming off the bench I have to go with multi-positional coverage, so I am going with:

 

Oscar Robertson backing up 1/2 - only player to AVERAGE a triple double for an entire season

Lebron James backing up 3/4 - the second best player of all time(?)

Bill Russell backing up 4/5 - defensive monster with 11 Championship rings in 13 seasons, including 2 as player-coach

[Mauro Pedrosa]

Alright, here's my team and the explanation

STARTING FIVE

 

Stephen Curry

Michael Jordan

LeBron James

Anthony Davis

Hakeem Olajuwon

 

BENCH

 

Magic Johnson

Larry Bird

Tim Duncan

 

---

 

Starting Five

 

Curry is probably the best 3 pt shooter of all time and while he is not a great defender, Jordan or LeBron could take care of the toughest matchup.

 

Jordan and LeBron need no explanation.

 

Picking Anthony Davis so early in his career is a reach, but I think he has all the tools to be the most versatile PF of all-time and also one of the best 2 way players of all-time.

 

Hakeem is possibly the best overall Center of all-time, with great athleticism and shooting touch.

 

Bench

 

Had to put the best PG of all-time here because LeBron and Jordan would already command the ball too much and my team needed more 3 pt shooting.

 

Almost went with Kevin Durant but chose Bird because of his known accolades.

 

Tim Duncan switches between PF and C seamlessly.

 

--

 

My team could play a lot of different styles and adapt to every circumstance, with Curry being able to play SG or LeBron playing PF or maybe even two towers with Duncan and Olajuwon.

[CTMagicUK]

Magic

Jordan

Lebron

Duncan

Olajuwon

 

Bird

Dirk

Reggie Miller

 

Starting 5 features 5 guys who all work in the post so I figured my bench ought to include some great shooters to help that spacing.

[Natesroom]

Just Curious CT... Are you under 40? I think a persons age actually plays a part of their perception when selecting a team.

 

Mauro above posted that his all time starting 5 would include 2 players who are under 27 and currently active so i would think he might be under 30.

 

I could be wrong but that's my perception.

[Fultz4thewin]

Just Curious CT... Are you under 40? I think a persons age actually plays a part of their perception when selecting a team.

 

Mauro above posted that his all time starting 5 would include 2 players who are under 27 and currently active so i would think he might be under 30.

 

I could be wrong but that's my perception.

 

They aren't listing the 5 best players at their position. They're building the best functional team.

 

For instance, you might think LeBron is the best sf and magic Johnson is the best pg but both guys need the ball constantly so wouldn't that diminish their effectiveness? Why not give LeBron the play making duties and stick a better shooter/defender at the point guard slot.

[Fultz4thewin]

One way to discuss this is through PER. While it sucks in comparing players in different roles it's actually pretty good when comparing historic seasons and has sort of a natural benchmark of a 30 to distinguish historically great seasons.

 

There have been 18 seasons from 8 players with a PER over 30. 19 and 9 if you round up Chris Paul's 29.96.

 

Those players are wilt, Jordan, LeBron, Anthony Davis (holy crap his year was underrated), Robinson, shaq, wade, mcgrady, Chris Paul.

 

I'm going to dismiss wilt because the early 60's were not that far removed from the days of staring at the ball while you dribble and no real offensive plays.

 

So my lineup is Paul-Jordan-LeBron-Anthony Davis-Robinson with wade-mcgrady-shaq on the bench.

[Mauro Pedrosa]

Just Curious CT... Are you under 40? I think a persons age actually plays a part of their perception when selecting a team.

 

Mauro above posted that his all time starting 5 would include 2 players who are under 27 and currently active so i would think he might be under 30.

 

I could be wrong but that's my perception.

Yes, I am 21. And P4TW got it right, I don't think Curry is the best PG of all-time and I obviously don't think Anthony Davis is the best PF (yet?) but the lineup that I suggested would be amazing and would give any other a lot of trouble.

[CTMagicUK]

Just Curious CT... Are you under 40? I think a persons age actually plays a part of their perception when selecting a team.

 

Mauro above posted that his all time starting 5 would include 2 players who are under 27 and currently active so i would think he might be under 30.

 

I could be wrong but that's my perception.

 

Im 21.

[My 6th Rebuild]

PG Magic

SG Jordan

SF Bird

PF Russell

C Wilt

 

Bench

Stockton

Shaq

Pippen

[Skywise316]

STARTERS:

 

PG. Stephen Curry

SG. Michael Jordan

SF. LeBron James

PF. Tim Duncan

C. Wilt Chamberlain

 

BENCH:

 

1. Magic Johnson

2. Larry Bird

3. Bill Russell

 

Starters explanation:

 

No matter what era we're talking about, there's Wilt and there's everyone else. Too much of a force on both ends of the floor to ignore. This team is unstoppable from his offensive rebounding alone!

 

I feel like Curry and LeBron would be a deadly force, especially in transition. LeBron is best used at point-forward, but Curry is so good off the ball he may already be one of the best PGs ever without needing to dominate the basketball all the time. Tim Duncan in his prime could pretty much fit in with anyone on both ends of the floor. Jordan is Jordan, on both ends of the floor. The team's only slight weakness is LeBron's streaky outside shooting, and at times Jordan could also be streaky from deep. But the team is too dominant at both ends of the floor for me to care too much.

 

Bench explanation: Shooting a bit lacking outside of Curry now and then? Magic & Bird off the bench. Done deal. I barely went with Russell over Olajuwon for defensive purposes, I don't think this rotation would lack in offense much whatsoever!

 

(Just missing cut: 1. Olajuwon 2. Kobe 3. Shaq 4. CP3 5. Karl Malone 6. Kareem)

[Justin Jaudon]

STARTERS:

 

PG. Stephen Curry

SG. Michael Jordan

SF. LeBron James

PF. Tim Duncan

C. Wilt Chamberlain

 

BENCH:

 

1. Magic Johnson

2. Larry Bird

3. Bill Russell

 

 

vs team:

 

PG- John Stockton

SG- Dwyane Wade

SF- Scottie Pippen

PF- Kevin Garnett

C- Shaquille O'Neal

 

Bench:

1. Gary Payton

2. Ray Allen

3. Hakeem Olajuwan

 

Your team has better players, but I like my team's chances.

[Fultz4thewin]

Chris Paul

McGrady

Paul George

Draymond green

David Robinson

 

Penny

Barkley

Kareem