Minnesota Sports Forum

Imagine you possess a time machine that allows you to assemble a team of NBA greats in the prime of their respective careers - all around age 27. Who would you have as your 5-man team. As I see it, it's not necessarily the best five players of all time. I see it as five great players who would fit really well together and stand the best chance of beating someone else's best five. Here's mine:

PG: John Stockton: Great defender and facilitator who was also an elite 3-point shooter. Imagine an elite S. Kerr.
SG: Michael Jordan: Greatest scorer of all time, probably best player of all time and possibly best defender as well.
SF: Scottie Pippen: Great defender and great all-around player. Already know he fits well with MJ
PF: LeBron James: 2nd greatest player of all time. Also great facilitator, so he could play well with MJ
C: Hakeem Olajuwon: Great at everything. Best C of all time in my view. Averaged nearly 4 blocks per game in prime.

I can't imagine another group of five who could beat this team in a 7-game series.

Note that I didn't select what I could consider the best player at each position. For example, there's no doubt in my mind that Magic Johnson was the greatest PG of all time. I don't think I'd even rate Stockton #2. But he seems like such a perfect fit with MJ. If I chose the best SF of all time, it would be LeBron in my view. But sliding him to PF allowed me to include Pippen who we know was a great fit with MJ.

What I love about this group of five is how tremendous they would be defensively.

lipoli390 wrote:Imagine you possess a time machine that allows you to assemble a team of NBA greats in the prime of their respective careers - all around age 27. Who would you have as your 5-man team. As I see it, it's not necessarily the best five players of all time. I see it as five great players who would fit really well together and stand the best chance of beating someone else's best five. Here's mine:

PG: John Stockton: Great defender and facilitator who was also an elite 3-point shooter. Imagine an elite S. Kerr.
SG: Michael Jordan: Greatest scorer of all time, probably best player of all time and possibly best defender as well.
SF: Scottie Pippen: Great defender and great all-around player. Already know he fits well with MJ
PF: LeBron James: 2nd greatest player of all time. Also great facilitator, so he could play well with MJ
C: Hakeem Olajuwon: Great at everything. Best C of all time in my view. Averaged nearly 4 blocks per game in prime.

I can't imagine another group of five who could beat this team in a 7-game series.

Note that I didn't select what I could consider the best player at each position. For example, there's no doubt in my mind that Magic Johnson was the greatest PG of all time. I don't think I'd even rate Stockton #2. But he seems like such a perfect fit with MJ. If I chose the best SF of all time, it would be LeBron in my view. But sliding him to PF allowed me to include Pippen who we know was a great fit with MJ.

What I love about this group of five is how tremendous they would be defensively.

I this Kareem deserves the spot as much as Hakeem but hard to go wrong with either guy. :)

I think a Chris Paul, kobe, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson (or maybe KG), Kareem team would be competitive vs the group you assembled. I'm not saying they would win a 7 game series but it would be absolutely incredible to see something like this.

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Imagine you possess a time machine that allows you to assemble a team of NBA greats in the prime of their respective careers - all around age 27. Who would you have as your 5-man team. As I see it, it's not necessarily the best five players of all time. I see it as five great players who would fit really well together and stand the best chance of beating someone else's best five. Here's mine:

PG: John Stockton: Great defender and facilitator who was also an elite 3-point shooter. Imagine an elite S. Kerr.
SG: Michael Jordan: Greatest scorer of all time, probably best player of all time and possibly best defender as well.
SF: Scottie Pippen: Great defender and great all-around player. Already know he fits well with MJ
PF: LeBron James: 2nd greatest player of all time. Also great facilitator, so he could play well with MJ
C: Hakeem Olajuwon: Great at everything. Best C of all time in my view. Averaged nearly 4 blocks per game in prime.

I can't imagine another group of five who could beat this team in a 7-game series.

Note that I didn't select what I could consider the best player at each position. For example, there's no doubt in my mind that Magic Johnson was the greatest PG of all time. I don't think I'd even rate Stockton #2. But he seems like such a perfect fit with MJ. If I chose the best SF of all time, it would be LeBron in my view. But sliding him to PF allowed me to include Pippen who we know was a great fit with MJ.

What I love about this group of five is how tremendous they would be defensively.

I this Kareem deserves the spot as much as Hakeem but hard to go wrong with either guy. :)

I think a Chris Paul, kobe, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson (or maybe KG), Kareem team would be competitive vs the group you assembled. I'm not saying they would win a 7 game series but it would be absolutely incredible to see something like this.

Yes, that would be a heck of a team also. It would be fun to see Hakeem v. Kareem head-to-head in their prime. I'd tweak your team and put Magic at PG instead of Chris Paul. I don't think he could stay healthy for a 7-game series. :) Then I'd choose between KG, Tim Duncan and Karl Malone at PF.

But my team would still win the series in 5 games. :)

Magic
Jordan
Prime KG at Sf
Bird
Wilt

Magic
Jordan
Lebron
Bird
Wilt

lipoli390 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Imagine you possess a time machine that allows you to assemble a team of NBA greats in the prime of their respective careers - all around age 27. Who would you have as your 5-man team. As I see it, it's not necessarily the best five players of all time. I see it as five great players who would fit really well together and stand the best chance of beating someone else's best five. Here's mine:

PG: John Stockton: Great defender and facilitator who was also an elite 3-point shooter. Imagine an elite S. Kerr.
SG: Michael Jordan: Greatest scorer of all time, probably best player of all time and possibly best defender as well.
SF: Scottie Pippen: Great defender and great all-around player. Already know he fits well with MJ
PF: LeBron James: 2nd greatest player of all time. Also great facilitator, so he could play well with MJ
C: Hakeem Olajuwon: Great at everything. Best C of all time in my view. Averaged nearly 4 blocks per game in prime.

I can't imagine another group of five who could beat this team in a 7-game series.

Note that I didn't select what I could consider the best player at each position. For example, there's no doubt in my mind that Magic Johnson was the greatest PG of all time. I don't think I'd even rate Stockton #2. But he seems like such a perfect fit with MJ. If I chose the best SF of all time, it would be LeBron in my view. But sliding him to PF allowed me to include Pippen who we know was a great fit with MJ.

What I love about this group of five is how tremendous they would be defensively.

I this Kareem deserves the spot as much as Hakeem but hard to go wrong with either guy. :)

I think a Chris Paul, kobe, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson (or maybe KG), Kareem team would be competitive vs the group you assembled. I'm not saying they would win a 7 game series but it would be absolutely incredible to see something like this.

Yes, that would be a heck of a team also. It would be fun to see Hakeem v. Kareem head-to-head in their prime. I'd tweak your team and put Magic at PG instead of Chris Paul. I don't think he could stay healthy for a 7-game series. :) Then I'd choose between KG, Tim Duncan and Karl Malone at PF.

But my team would still win the series in 5 games. :)

I was assuming your premise was based on everyone staying healthy. :) I think a healthy Chris Paul brings a lot of the same stuff Stockton does but with even more of an edge. At PF I was looking for someone who would match up against Lebron. I thought about Duncan but wasn't sure if it would be possible to punish Lebron in the post enough to make up for Timmy having to chase him around. A young Malone was pretty athletic that might be interesting but I think I'd pick KG over him...I'm biased. Lol it would be really fun to see Barkley and Lebron match up against each other.

I think another fun exercise would be to pick a team that could play truly position less basketball on both ends of the floor. Lebron KG and Magic are quick picks. I think someone like a Ben Wallace or Rodman should be at least considered. Anthony Davis would be another current player to consider but I feel like there needs to be more shooting. Who am I forgetting?

I'm going with Wilt (30/23/4), James (27/7/7), Durant (27/7/6), Jordan (30/6/5) and Oscar (26/10/8) and I'll destroy your teams!

Pg Magic
Sg Jordan
Sf James
PF Russell
C Shaq (Shaq gets a lot of flack but at 27 no one could have stopped peak Shaq)

Curry
Jordan
Lbj
Durant
Duncan

kekgeek1 wrote:Curry
Jordan
Lbj
Durant
Duncan

That team could score 200. Like the creativity.