re: Make Your Own All Time Best NBA Roster

John Stockton
Michael Jordan
Bill Russell
Chris Webber
Tim Duncan

PG - Kidd - One of the best passers ever in the NBA along with killer defense.
SG - Jordan - Yea.
SF - LeBron - Creates space along with very good passing and elite defense.
PF - Dirk - One of the most unguardable shots ever. Has huge height advantage with jumpshot and one of the all time best closers.
C - Bill Russell - Dominant rebounder. Scoring not needed with other players and gives dominant defense inside.

Bench:
PG - Oscar, Magic
SG - Kobe
SF - Bird, Pippen
PF - Duncan
C - Hakeem

I'd go 3 guard with the starting lineup, and have a more traditional bench. Say you have 15 slots and 12 actives for any game--

PG: John Stockton
SG: MJ
Swing/3rd G: Big O
SF: Bird
PF/C: Russell

2nd unit:

PG: Magic
SG: Elgin Baylor
SF: LeBron
PF: Duncan
C: Wilt

End of Bench/rotating actives

Kareem
Kobe
Hakeem Olajuwan
Kevin Garnett
Logo

PG: Jason Kidd
SG: Michael Jordan
SF: LeBron James
PF: Tim Duncan
C: Hakeem Olajuwon

2nd Team:

PG: Magic Johnson
SG: Ray Allen
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Kevin Garnett
C: Shaquille O'Neal



Why these picks? The starting 5 is very well rounded. Every player is good on defense. Kidd can defend, pass, and shoot the 3. Jordan and James can do it all, and James is unselfish, so he can play with Jordan. Hakeem over Shaq because he is better on defense, and Shaq's dominant presence isn't needed when Jordan and James are on the floor.

Why the 2nd team? Magic Johnson is very versatile on offense when you need more scoring from the PG position. I put Ray Allen over Bryant because there already enough go-to scorers on the team. Ray Allen is needed for his fantastic 3-point shooting and intelligent defense. Paul Pierce is well rounded and better than Bird straight-up. Bird may have been better for his time period, but I'd rather Pierce if building the best basketball team ever. Garnett's well-rounded and is a great defender. He is unselfish so scoring doesn't have to go through him. And Shaq can completely take over a game down low.

This team isn't just a collection of the best individual players at their position. It is a team of fantastic players who would work well together. And they can all play defense... a trait people often overlook in these kinds of threads.

There are a few dominant scorers who demand the ball, but most others are very well rounded who can score when needed, but can work well with the main scorers because they don't need to demand the ball.

Magic, MJ, Bird, Duncan, & Russell. And I'm the Coach.

C- KAJ
F-Bron bron
G-Jordan
G- Robertson
G- Magic

i agree with all 10 except id replace shaq with kareem

I didn't realize I did that until after I posted.

But in their primes, they were all fantastic players. I'm talking prime Pierce, 92-02 Magic/Lakers Shaq, Seattle Ray Allen, and 03-04 Minnesota Garnett.

Yeah, they all played on the Celtics, but I didn't have their Celtics persona in mind when I picked them.

I wouldn't play them all together, but they are great at fitting in with other stars.

Jordan with a PG like Kidd Stockton or Magic would never work

quote:

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Hakeem Moses T-Mac Drexler Murphy Sampson Hayes Yao Lucas Harden Francis Tomjanovich

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No Barkley?