I was born in 1987, so I'm a little fuzzy through the early to mid 90's. Here we go though, my 15 man team... STARTING LINEUP: C: S. O'Neal. No question about it. Next to MJ with the Bulls, Shaq with the Lakers was the single most dominant player I've ever seen. PF: L. James. Just an unbelievable athlete, and an unbelievable talent. Not a PF, but he could be, and he deserves to be in this starting lineup for sure (even though I hate him). SF: K. Durant. A hair under 7-feet tall and he might be the best shooting-guard in the league right now. A truly remarkable athlete with truly remarkable talent (remember, I missed Bird). SG: M. Jordan. Hate to say it, but the single best player I ever saw (remember, I missed the Kareem days). PG: K. Bryant. Not a PG - I've got several out of position here - but he could handle it. Probably the third best player I've ever seen (remember, I missed Magic).
ROTATION: C: H. Olajuwon. Best defensive player I ever saw (sorry Ben). The leader of two NBA championship teams. PF: T. Duncan. Never exciting. But the best player on several championship teams. PF: K. Garnett (I've got two SF's in the starting lineup, so I'll go with two PF's here). Incredibly, incredibly excitng and talented player in his prime in Minnesota. PG: C. Paul. This might turn some heads. Best and smoothest distributor I've ever seen on the court in his prime - which might be passed. PG: D. Rose (again, two SG's in the starting lineup). Most incredible athlete I ever saw at the PG position. Sad that his prime was so, so short.
RESERVES: PF: D. Nowitzki. I thought about going with him over Garnett, even Duncan. Just an incredible, incredible basketball player (at seven feet tall, he can be the third center). PF: K. Malone. Ugh. My least favorite pick of the team. He was good enough for long enough though, I suppose. I've been trying to think of someone else I'd rather go with and can't. Didn't see much of Barkley in his prime. Not sure that D. Robinson or Ewing were better. Don't like Dwight that much. Hopefully the replies will help me replace him. SF: T. McGrady. This is an odd one. Such a short, short prime. But he was just so phenomenal while he was in it. I'll never forget it. I liked watching him more than Grant HIll in his prime. Pippen, gag. Mullin, gag. SG: A. Iverson. How he took that terrible sixers team to the finals still resonates with me. He's a reserve for a reason, however. I thought he was more impactful in his prime than Wade. And I never got to see much of Drexler, unfortunately. PG: S. Nash. Again, this will be controversial. I saw a lot of great PG's...Stockton, Payton, Kidd, T. Hardaway, Price, P. Hardaway (not Zeke, unfortunately). But I've gone with Paul, Rose and Nash, the most recent three. Could just be a matter of who I've seen the most of. I just never really saw any of those other guys I mentioned be THE stars of big games, on good teams.
PG: Magic Johnson - Isaiah Thomas - Jason Kidd SG: Michael Jordan - Kobe Bryant - Julius "Dr. J" Erving SF: Lebron James - Larry Bird - George "The Iceman" Gervin PF: Tim Duncan - Charles Barkley - Karl Malone C: Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon - Kareem Adbul Jabar - Moses Malone
PG - Magic Johnson - Steve Nash - Rajon Rondo/CP3 SG - MJ (of course) - Kobe - and someone else? I don't really have a definitive 3rd SG, maybe DWade/RMiller SF - LBJ ->>>>>Durant PF - Tim Duncan - Josh Smith (don't shoot me) - Nowitzki (Couldn't fit Jonas Jerebko on here unfotunately) C - Shaq - Garnett - Big Ben Wallace
I'll go with your list dude. However: I'd prolly drop the Iceman and stick Durant in there. ...I'd also replace Moses with Darko.
I'm going to with "players I've seen". PG: Zeke/Magic (nobody else comes close to these two); honorable mention: Stockton SG: Jordan/Kobe SF: James/Durant/Pippen PF: Duncan/Karl Malone C: Shaq/Olajuwon/D. Robinson
We must be about the same age, because this is pretty much my list too. I would add Iverson in hist prime. That guy was phenominal. Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2
I agree with you guys. Stockton or Iverson instead of J. Kidd. NOT sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2
I'd put Darko on a separate list..."Who are the Best warmup players you have ever seen". I was fortunate enough to see him shooting 3 pointers during warmups once.
PG Magic, Isiah SG Jordon, Kobe SF Bird, James PF Duncan, Barkley, Rodman C Kareem, Hakeem, Shaq Hate to have one on this list... but got to give him his dues, and Rodman could guard anybody else on that list... and probably did guard all those that he played against except maybe Isiah (just guessing here, no evidence).
As physically dominant as Shaq was, I leave him off. He could easily be stopped by any NBA journeyman with a simple foul.
Obviously, you guys are all under 50. PG: Cousey, Magic, Isaiah, and the kid from Louisiana SG: Robertson (he averaged a triple/double for the whole season), Jordan SF: Bird, Erving, Havlachek, Yardley :-) PF: Duncan, Pettit, C: Chaimberlin, Russell, Olajuwon, Jabar, Shaq, Lanier
I thought hard about my 3rd Center and almost went with 4 PF's... I missed alot of the great Centers of the game.
PG - Magic Johnson, Bob Cousy SG - The big "O", Jerry West SF - Larry Bird, LeBron James PF - Elvin Hayes, Dolph Schayes C - Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain
I'm under 50. ...But for the record, I knew who you meant by "the kid from Louisiana". Whenever I see highlights of that guy on TV, I will stop whatever I'm doing to watch 'em. Maravich is proof that Basketball IS an artform.
Nemo, I really like your list! I would add Jordan to the SG list, and Bill Russell to the Centers. Now, THAT would be a team!!!
