So in summary I think these are probably the best teams
63 Celtics - Cousy, S. Jones, Hondo, Heinsohn, Bill, Lovellette, Sanders, Ramsey, KC Jones
71 Lakers - West, Goodrich, Baylor, Hairston, Wilt, McMillian
85 Lakers - Magic, Cooper, Worthy, McAdoo, Kareem, Scott, Rambis, Wilkes
86 Celtics - DJ, Ainge, Bird, McHale, Walton, Parish
86 Sixers - Cheeks, Toney, Dr. J, Barkley, Moses, McAdoo, B. Jones
97 Bulls - Harper, Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, Parish, Kukoc, Kerr, Longley
09 Suns - Nash, Dragic, Hill, Amar'e, Shaq, Richardson, Barbosa, Barnes, R. Lopez, Dudley (or prior year with Marion instead of Dragic/Lopez)
11 Celtics - Rondo, Allen, Pierce, KG, Shaq, JO, West, J. Green, Big Baby, Krstic
11 Heat - Bibby, Wade, James, Bosh, Big Z, Stackhouse, Howard, Magloire, Miller, Chalmers, Haslem
12 Thunder - Westbrook, Harden, Durant, Ibaka, Perkins, R. Jackson, Sefolosha, Mohammad, Fisher
13 Spurs - Parker, Manu, Kawhi, Diaw, TD, Jackson, Green, Milles, Baynes (TMac didn't play in the regular season, so I had a hard time counting him, though he did play in 6 post season games)
20 Lakers - Rondo, Bradley, James, Davis, Howard, Green, McGee, Smith, Morris, KCP, Kuzma, Caruso
21 Nets - Irving, Harden, Durant, Griffin, Jordan, Harris, J. Green, M. James, Claxton (and maybe Dinwiddie and/or Aldridge)
20 Lakers over the 22 Lakers and the 18 Cavs?
18 Cavs without question. You are right, I should have done 22 Lakers. I keep forgetting they signed Carmelo, though can you imagine them trying to make that work with Russ, Melo, LBJ, Davis even Gasol and Dwight got their touches. It would be an interesting thought experiment to make that work. Still the talent is there.
Yeah, they would probably need an additional basketball or two.
Now that they've signed Rondo and with Jordan coming (assuming they keep Gasol), I think the 22 Lakers could contend for the all time best team despite being awful at SG (though can you imagine the match-up nightmare that a starting backcourt of Rondo and Westbrook would cause for opposing teams).
PG - Westbrook, Rondo, Nunn
SG - Monk, Bazemore, THT, Ellington
SF - James, Anthony, Ariza
PF - Davis
C - Howard, Gasol, Jordan
Big Dog Robinson was on the 05 Spurs team, but that one didn't have Robinson, so that is not a good exchange. The best Spurs team is probably 03 (TD, Parker, Manu, DRob, S. Smith, SJax, Bowen, Willis, Kerr, Ferry, M. Rose, S. Claxton) or 13 (TD, Parker, Manu, Kawhi, McGrady, Diaw, Splitter, Baynes, P. Mills, Bonner, Neal). So that really comes down to would you rather have Robinson, Smith, Jackson, Willis or Kawhi, McGrady, Diaw, Baynes. I think you could make arguments for either, though I like the balance better of the 03 team, especially when needing to match-up with teams stacked at center.