Greatest Starting 5... ever?

[LilRip]

Dumars, Jordan, Bird, KG, Shaq



three off the bench would be DJ, Pippen, Olajuwon.

just when it seemed everyone was picking Magic-Jordan-Bird, you come out with a Dumars-MJ-Bird troika. wow! haha. i don't say i agree but hey, to each his own



- LilRip

[ACF]

Magic,Bird,MJ,Malone,Russell

Moses or Karl (or Jeff)? 

[xmuscularghandix]

Dumars, Jordan, Bird, KG, Shaq



three off the bench would be DJ, Pippen, Olajuwon.

just when it seemed everyone was picking Magic-Jordan-Bird, you come out with a Dumars-MJ-Bird troika. wow! haha. i don't say i agree but hey, to each his own



- LilRip

I figured if MJ is gonna have the ball the whole time... you might as well have somebody who can hit the open three AND shut down the other teams PG.

I’m not just saying “he’s the best PG, he’s the best SG...” I’m actually trying to think about if they were actually all out there.

[wdleehi]

I have to agree with the


Magic
Jordon
Bird
Duncan
Russel.

[BballTim]

Dumars, Jordan, Bird, KG, Shaq



three off the bench would be DJ, Pippen, Olajuwon.

just when it seemed everyone was picking Magic-Jordan-Bird, you come out with a Dumars-MJ-Bird troika. wow! haha. i don't say i agree but hey, to each his own



- LilRip

I figured if MJ is gonna have the ball the whole time... you might as well have somebody who can hit the open three AND shut down the other teams PG.

I’m not just saying “he’s the best PG, he’s the best SG...” I’m actually trying to think about if they were actually all out there.

  Without coming up with a lineup (yet), I'd have gone the other way, maybe Oscar or Jerry West instead of MJ.

  A more interesting exercise might be a lineup of "greats" that would struggle to get to the conference finals. Something like Iverson/Jordan/Nique/Moses/Amare.

[RebusRankin]

Magic, Jordan, Bird, KG, Russell

Although you could argue that a
Robertson,Pippen, Baylor Duncan, Abdul Jabbar would give the first team a good battle.

[MF Doom]

I find it interesting that everyone is leaving out Chamberlain. Im far from old enough to of ever seen him play but the numbers he put up were ridiculous. I'd have to go with
Magic
Jordan
Bird
Garnett
Chamberlain/Russel

with a 2nd team of

Robertson
Kobe
Pippen
Malone
Hakeem/Shaq

Cant decide at the center positions. lol All of them were just too good to choose over. And I didnt even mention Jabbar yet

[LilRip]

Dumars, Jordan, Bird, KG, Shaq



three off the bench would be DJ, Pippen, Olajuwon.

just when it seemed everyone was picking Magic-Jordan-Bird, you come out with a Dumars-MJ-Bird troika. wow! haha. i don't say i agree but hey, to each his own



- LilRip

I figured if MJ is gonna have the ball the whole time... you might as well have somebody who can hit the open three AND shut down the other teams PG.

I’m not just saying “he’s the best PG, he’s the best SG...” I’m actually trying to think about if they were actually all out there.

  Without coming up with a lineup (yet), I'd have gone the other way, maybe Oscar or Jerry West instead of MJ.

  A more interesting exercise might be a lineup of "greats" that would struggle to get to the conference finals. Something like Iverson/Jordan/Nique/Moses/Amare.

lol. I'd go with... Iverson and Vince Carter at the guard spots, T-Mac at the small forward. I can't think of any bad "great" big men right now though.



- LilRip

[BballTim]

Dumars, Jordan, Bird, KG, Shaq



three off the bench would be DJ, Pippen, Olajuwon.

just when it seemed everyone was picking Magic-Jordan-Bird, you come out with a Dumars-MJ-Bird troika. wow! haha. i don't say i agree but hey, to each his own



- LilRip

I figured if MJ is gonna have the ball the whole time... you might as well have somebody who can hit the open three AND shut down the other teams PG.

I’m not just saying “he’s the best PG, he’s the best SG...” I’m actually trying to think about if they were actually all out there.

  Without coming up with a lineup (yet), I'd have gone the other way, maybe Oscar or Jerry West instead of MJ.

  A more interesting exercise might be a lineup of "greats" that would struggle to get to the conference finals. Something like Iverson/Jordan/Nique/Moses/Amare.

lol. I'd go with... Iverson and Vince Carter at the guard spots, T-Mac at the small forward. I can't think of any bad "great" big men right now though.



- LilRip

  I wasn't going for bad superstars, just stars that could never co-exist. Put Jordan, Nique and AI on the same team and they literally might try and steal the ball from each other.

[housecall]

Magic,Bird,MJ,Malone,Russell

Moses or Karl (or Jeff)? 

After thinking it over a little longer,not any of the Malone's im going with KG,yes the Big Ticket.

[More Banners]

Best starting 5 is tough, partly because the team would need balance to be good, i.e. offense/defense, inside/outside, and balanced scoring among the players.

'86 C's and the 72-win Bulls proved to be the best of their time, even if each player wouldn't make a best-5 on their own merits (e.g. Danny Ainge, any Bull not name Jordan or Pippen).

I gotta say, if they choose to play the regular season like it means something, Rondo, Ray, Pierce, KG, and J.O'Neal have the potential to come together like those squads did, and I think may have similar postseason success.

[oldmanspeaks]

To those who didn't see Chamberlain play and think he should be included, the topic was the best team. I saw him play many times and he was the most dominant player I ever saw. However basketball is a team game and for that reason, I would rather much rather have Bill Russell and actually a number of other centers. Wilt could have been the greatest but he didn't become a great passer until late in his career when he wasn't the super scoring threat. Again you don't give the spot based upon potential.
Oscar Robertson, Bird, Malone, Magic and Bill Russell could all play the team game as well as be stars.

[More Banners]

To those who didn't see Chamberlain play and think he should be included, the topic was the best team. I saw him play many times and he was the most dominant player I ever saw. However basketball is a team game and for that reason, I would rather much rather have Bill Russell and actually a number of other centers. Wilt could have been the greatest but he didn't become a great passer until late in his career when he wasn't the super scoring threat. Again you don't give the spot based upon potential.
Oscar Robertson, Bird, Malone, Magic and Bill Russell could all play the team game as well as be stars.

TP, oldman. 

I never saw them play (but have a DVD of old C's footage with Russell), yet the Chamberlain vs. Russell is a straight-up legendary best player vs. best team player matchup, and one has only to count the rings to see which orientation (or mentality) leads to the most success.

It seems, though, that it's easier to build a team around one dominant player (and win a lot of games/sell tickets/make money) than to get a whole team of players to play together and win championships.

[DavorCroatiaFan]

First team:
Magic Johnson
Michael Jordan
Larry Bird
Bill Russell
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Sixth & seventh man:
John Havlicek
Kevin McHale
Rest of team:
Oscar Robertson
Jerry West
Julius Erving
Tim Duncan
Wilt Chamberlain

Almost there: Cousy, Kobe, Barry, Baylor, Malone, Garnett, Shaq...

[Jon]

I think we're under-utilizing great centers by even including a power forward on the list.  Since Russ was only 6-9, 220, I'd go:

Magic
Jordan
Bird
Russell
Chamberlain

Duncan was great and all, but he doesn't beat any of those 5.