2019 Historical: How Does My Team Look Thread

[Who]

On Wilt Chamberlain,

I feel like there some misperceptions about Wilt Chamberlain. I made a post earlier today but it compared players so I'll try to rewrite that now the draft is over.

Shaquille O'Neal is the most closely compared player to Wilt Chamberlain in NBA history. They both have a lot in common. Incredible size & strength combined with high levels of quickness and athleticism. Both were also dominant low post players and really were low post only players. They didn't venture outside the paint much. But while they have a lot in common, they are not the same player. Especially not at Wilt's peak in 1967 which is the season I have chosen.

So Wilt's career went through 3 main stages. The initial stage of his career, Wilt was a scoring machine who rarely passed the ball (leading the league in scoring 7 straight years). In the middle stage of his career, Wilt became more of a facilitator with a good scoring threat. In the final stage of his career, Wilt became a low scoring center that focused almost solely on non-scoring contributions.

I have chosen 1967 which is in that middle stage of Wilt's journey because I feel it was the year he had the best balance between scoring and passing -- something that I feel was an issue for him throughout his career.

In 1967, Wilt averaged 24ppg but he played 45.5mpg to get those 24ppg. So to look at his scoring rate (points per minute), Wilt was averaging 19 points per 36 minutes. A good rate but not a prolific. The league also played a faster pace back then. About 20% more possessions than today's league which takes Wilt's scoring down closer to around 15ppg in relative number of possessions & minutes to a star center in today's league.

In 1967, Wilt led his team with 24ppg but he also led the team in assists with 7.8apg (3rd in the league). Philadelphia had a loaded team (perhaps the best of all time) and had 3 other scorers average between 18-22ppg (Chet Walker, Hal Greer, Billy Cunningham). They also had two more double digit scorers (starting PF Luke Jackson and PG Wali Jones). Philly posted the highest offensive rating in league history up until this period of time.

Bill Russell had a quote at the time about how Wilt played that season - I don't have the exact quote but it was along the lines of "Wilt played like me this season, only he did it better than me".  To ruther illustrate Wilt's style of play.

Wilt Chamberlain transformed from a prolific scorer into more of a facilitator. Someone who dominated games by concentrating on being a dominant defensive player & rebounder and concentrating more on team offense than individual offense.

In doing so, Wilt became a player more comparable to Bill Russell or Bill Walton in terms of how they looked to impact games (elite non-scoring contributions with differing levels of scoring). Whereas Shaquille O'Neal was a prolific scorer with above average non-scoring contributions more like a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (similar mindset, just finesse vs power).

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So when looking at my team. Wilt's job is to be a facilitator. To be that dominant defender & rebounder. To enable ball movement with passing skills and distribution from the low post. And to provide good scoring punch although not necessarily be the leading scorer and certainly not by much of a margin if he is the leading scorer.

I see my team's offense being one more of parity. I do not think we have that dominant scorer (like a Jordan or a LeBron) that we want to be a dominant offensive figure. We want more of a shared load that will be keyed by Wilt's facilitation.

Wilt also had this success in 1967 playing in a Triangle type system under Alex Hannum. And won his 2nd title under Bill Sharman in a system like the Triangle as well. Both coaches were college teammates of Tex Winters (who later developed the Triangle further to how I better understand it) and played under coach Sam Barry (originator of the Triangle).

Main idea of the Triangle is decentralized playmaking. The team does not revolve around a PGs playmaking. It is a shared load throughout the team. And it is a post-centric offense.

Which is how I see my team's offense working and what Wilt's role in the offense will be. So in order to maximize Wilt's offense, I wanted to have guys who can score the ball around him. Not just get Wilt the ball and try to get Wilt to score 25-30ppg like you would with Shaquille O'Neal (who had a different approach).

It is not that one approach is right and one is wrong. It is just a different way of accomplishing the same goal - winning. Wilt in 1967 tried to accomplish that goal by providing dominant non-scoring contributions and above average scoring. Shaq in 2000 (his whole career really) tried to do so by being a dominant scorer with above average non-scoring contributions (defense, rebounding, passing). Different ways of getting to the same end point.

Sorry about the length. My head is fried.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Alright, this is the Detroit Pistons after the end of the draft.

PG: John Stockton / Derek Harper

SG: John Havlicek / Michael Cooper / Pete Maravich

SF: Kawhi Leonard / Jimmy Butler

PF: Elvin Hayes / Larry Nance / Hedo Turkoglu

C : Alonzo Mourning / Dikembe Mutombo

------------------------------

Did you know, in the history of the NBA, only four teams have won the NBA Championship without having an MVP winner on their team? One is the '18-'19 Toronto Raptors. The other three? 

'88-'89 Detroit Pistons
'89-'90 Detroit Pistons
'03-'04 Detroit Pistons

The biggest factor to that Raptors win was Kawhi Leonard. The biggest factor to those three title winning Detroit teams was intense, suffocating, tough, hard nosed defense.

We have combined both to form a single entity. This is the CStrong Historical Draft Detroit Pistons! This team, from top to bottom (apart from the two end of bench guys), features players who have been an All-NBA Defender, with some of them winning the Defensive Player of the Year in their own rights. I built this team with one identity in mind, and it's defense, and I'm proud to say that we at Detroit have accomplished that.

The Starters:

PG: John Stockton - '88-'89:
(All-Star, All-NBA 2nd team, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, League leader in AST and STL per game)

SG: John Havlicek - '71-'72:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defensive 1st team, League leader in Minutes per game, 4th in MVP voting)

SF: Kawhi Leonard - '15-'16:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defensive 1st team, Defensive Player of the Year, 2nd in MVP voting)

PF: Elvin Hayes - '74-'75:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defense 2nd Team, 3rd in MVP voting)

C: Alonzo Mourning - '98-'99:
(All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defensive 1st Team, Defensive Player of the Year, League leader in Blocks per game, 2nd in MVP voting)

From the PG spot to the Center spot, this team boasts a tough defensive unit. Two DPOY winners, all making All-Defensive teams, this is one of, if not the best defensive starting 5 in the league. Along with the defense, comes the talent. All but John Stockton made All-NBA 1st teams, with three of them ranking within the top 3 in NBA MVP votings.

Defense, talent, and more importantly, there's a great deal of balance within this team. Everybody are capable on their own, but all are willing to play within a team, and there are no overwhelming presence. There are playmakers within the team with Stockton and Hondo. Great one on one scoring in Kawhi Leonard. There's inside scoring with the Big E and Zo on board. Floor spacing wouldn't be a problem as all are capable shooters in their own rights, with our bigs being able to extend their offensive game within 18-20 feet.

Just like the title winning Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors, this team is not loaded with top end, recognized name talents, but they are as talented, and are also relentless and tough, that could dominate on either ends of the court.

Bench mob:

PG: Derek Harper - '89-'90:
(All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, League leader in games played)

SG: Michael Cooper - '86-'87:
(NBA Champion, All-NBA Defensive 1st Team, Defensive Player of the Year, League leader in games played)

SF: Jimmy Butler - '17-'18:
(All-Star, All-NBA 3rd Team, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team)

PF: Larry Nance - '88-'89:
(All-Star, All-NBA Defensive 1st Team)

C: Dikembe Mutombo - '94 - '95:
(All-Star, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, Defensive Player of the Year, League leader in BLK per game and games played)

Coming off our bench are another bunch of hard nosed, defense oriented, team players. This bench unit sports TWO DPOY winners, and all of them, like the starters, have made All-Defensive teams. Simply put, there's ZERO days off on opposing teams' offense when they play us. When one or two of our starters sit, the guys that will replace them will give as much effort on defense and toughness as they are. Jimmy Butler will be our main scoring option off the bench, while Larry Nance and Derek Harper provide some added scoring punch. Michael Cooper will shut down any perimeter player when he comes in, and Dikembe Mutombo will protect the rim. As with the starters, this bench mob sports excellent balance, with team oriented players capable of fitting in with just about any lineup we can put out.

Deep Bench:

"Pistol" Pete Maravich - '76-'77:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, Scoring Champion, League leader in minutes played per game)

Hedo Turkoglu - '07-'08:
(NBA Most Improved Player)

It's almost blasphemous to suggest that a talent of Pistol's caliber will be nothing more than an end of bench guy coming off the bench. We value his scoring, shooting and playmaking, and on certain situations where we need more points, he's certainly going to come in and drop buckets. Unfortunately, his lack of defensive effort has made him nothing more than a specialist for this team.

With all due respect to Hedo Turkoglu, but the only reason he's in this team is to bring in Jimmy Butler. He won't see any minutes on this squad, unless there's foul trouble with the bigs.

------------------------------

Defense, top talent, balance. That's your Detroit Pistons.

(And just for fun, imagine this for one second.

Your team is down one, with less than 5 seconds left, and you're going against Detroit. This is the lineup you're going against.

Cooper - Havlicek - Leonard - Hayes - Mutombo.

That would be fun, eh?)

[Moranis]

Here are you Portland Trailblazers aka the Best Team .

The Blazers plan on running everyone to death.  We intentionally drafted players from high scoring teams and several real life teammates.  We also focused heavily on the same era to add a big level of familiarity and cohesion. 

Starters
PG - #4 All Time - Ervin"Magic" Johnson 1986-87 - MVP, Finals MVP, league leader APG
SG - #36 All Time - Clyde "the Glide" Drexler 1991-92 - 2nd in MVP, 2nd Finals appearance
SF - #43 All Time - "Big Game" James Worthy 1987-88 - Finals MVP, Lakers leading scorer in playoffs
PF - #18 All Time - "Sir" Charles Barkley 1989-90 - 2nd in MVP. led league in 2PT%
C - #15 All Time - "Chairmen of the Boards" Moses Malone 1982-1983 - MVP, Finals MVP, led league in rpg by nearly 3 a game

Bench

Bigs
#33 All Time - George Mikan 1949-50 - 2nd of his 5 titles as the World's best player, led league in scoring
4-Time DPOY - Ben Wallace 2001-02 - 1st of his 4 DPOY, led league in RPG and BPG
Brad Daugherty 1992-93 - led league in TS%

Smalls
#58 All Time - Tony Parker 2006-07 - Finals MVP
#84 All Time - Dennis Johnson 1978-79 - Finals MVP
All Time Leader in SPG & DPOY - Alvin Robertson 1985-86 - DPOY, MIP, led league in spg

Wing
#62 All Time - Alex English 1982-83 - led league in scoring, 2nd in PER


We are led by Magic, the 4th best player in NBA history per ESPN.  He is a 3-time MVP and 5-time champion. We utilizing Magic at his best during the 87 season when he was MVP, Finals MVP, led the league in apg, and upped his scoring to 24 a game.  He was also an elite rebounder, making him the perfect man to build around.

We surround Magic with real life teammates ranked 15 and 18 all time.  Like Magic, Moses is a 3-time MVP and his 1st season in Philly led what many consider the greatest team ever to play.  The 83 Sixers were unstoppable and it was basically all because of the addition of Moses.  He was a monster that year and the 12-1 playoff run was to that point the best in history.  That year Moses also led the league in rebounding by nearly 3 a game, making it one of the best rebounding seasons in history when compared to the league.

Sir Charles joined Moses a couple of seasons later and they had a tremendous chemistry together.  As we want a fast break team, we selected the 89-90 season when Barkley was still an athletic monster.  That year he finished 2nd in MVP voting to Magic (more 1st place votes), but led the league in 2 point % and essentially averaged 25/12/4 along with 2 steals (which was good enough for 15th in the league along with his 3rd in rpg and 6th in ppg).

Rounding out the starting 5 we have 36th ranked Clyde Drexler and 43rd ranked James Worthy.  Clyde showed great versatility throughout his career.  Easily serving as the #1 player on 2 finals team and also gladly stepping into the 2nd man role on his way to winning a title in Houston.  For this exercise we selected 92 when Clyde finished 2nd in MVP voting leading the Blazers to their 2nd Finals (with him), earning a slot on the Dream Team and generally just being awesome.

James Worthy joins his Showtime Lakers teammate on the squad and in the starting lineup.  The Blazers wanted to add someone on the wing who could defend, run, and didn't need the spotlight.  There are few better than Worthy in filling that description.  People also forget that James was the 1st pick in the draft and won a Finals MVP.  His talent was immense and real. The Blazers will use 88 when he won the Finals MVP and was the Lakers leading scoring throughout the playoffs, showing his unique ability to step up when called upon.

For the bench, the Blazers wanted to keep to the theme of great rebounders and fast breakers but also wanted to grab some defensive toughness.  We accomplished this goal and then some.  With our first bench selection we grabbed the 33rd greatest player of all time.  A man that essentially played 6 seasons and won 5 titles as the best player in the world (there were no MVP or Finals MVP awards then but he certainly would have several of each).  Mikan was a monster on offense, defense, and rebounding.  He led the league in defensive win shares 5 times.  He has the 3rd highest win share season in NBA history and has the 2nd, 7th, and 10th best offensive win share seasons in history.  He played long ago, making him harder to translate to the modern game, but Mikan was an absolute monster and we are happy to have him anchoring our bench.  We have selected his 2nd year, 1950, for this exercise.

Joining him in the paint, is a 4-time DPOY and when adjusting for pace one of the greatest rebounders the league has ever seen.  Big Ben Wallace provides everything you would want on your bench.  We selected his 1st DPOY season, 02, when he led the league in both rebounds and blocks.  Brad Daugherty rounds out the big man rotation.  He was the Cavs best player on the late 80's early 90's Cavs teams that were the best in franchise history before Lebron.  Sadly, Brad's career ended at age 28 when he suffered a devastating back injury he could not return from.  Prior to that, you could pencil him in for 20/10/4 on superb efficiency, as evidenced by him leading the league in TS% for the selected season of 93.

On the bench and in the backcourt, the Blazers add Finals MVP, Tony Parker, ranked 58; uber versatile Finals MVP, Dennis Johnson, ranked 84; and DPOY and the all time leader in Steals Per Game, Alvin Robertson.  We like the hard nosed nature of all 3 of the backcourt players.  DJ and Tony also add the element of multiple championships with varying roles and responsibility, making them perfect complimentary pieces who can thrive under pressure and when called upon.  For DJ we selected his Finals MVP winning season of 79, when he was just entering his prime.  For Tony, we also selected his Finals MVP season of 07 when his shooting was superb and he was still in his athletic prime.  We selected Alvin's DPOY season 86, just his 2nd in the league, when he also won Most Improved Player and of course led the league in steals per game.

Rounding out our bench is one of the most underrated scorers in league history Alex English, the 62nd best player of all time.  Alex was the offensive anchor of the most explosive scoring team in league history (even surpassing the output of Wilt's Warriors).  Over the span of his prime 5 seasons English basically averaged 28/5.5/4.5 with uber efficient scoring.  We needed some top tier scoring pop for our bench and thus were happy Alex fell to us. We selected his best season of 83 when he led the league in scoring.

As indicated, we believe we will run teams into the ground and have crafted the team most capable of winning shootouts.  While the starting 5 may not be the best defensive team, we believe we make up for it by having the best offensive team, the best rebounding team, and the team with most unique positional challenges for every other team to guard, especially when we swap out Worthy for English.  In that scenario, the team has elite level offense and rebounding at all 5 spots on the floor.  When we need a defensive stop we can go with the defensive unit of Mikan, Wallace, Worthy, Johnson, and Robertson and apply immense defensive pressure. 

All teams in this our great, but we believe we are the greatest collection of talent coupled with the best chemistry and thought of actual team building.  We purposefully chose real life teammates and players that thrived playing with other great players.  We focused heavily on selecting players with extensive time in the 80's.  It is no accident that we have 3 members of the greatest team ever assembled i.e. the Dream Team.

We are Portland and we are the best.

[tazzmaniac]

Here are you Portland Trailblazers aka the Best Team .

The Blazers plan on running everyone to death.  We intentionally drafted players from high scoring teams and several real life teammates.  We also focused heavily on the same era to add a big level of familiarity and cohesion. 

Starters
PG - #4 All Time - Ervin"Magic" Johnson 1986-87 - MVP, Finals MVP, league leader APG
SG - #36 All Time - Clyde "the Glide" Drexler 1991-92 - 2nd in MVP, 2nd Finals appearance
SF - #43 All Time - "Big Game" James Worthy 1987-88 - Finals MVP, Lakers leading scorer in playoffs
PF - #18 All Time - "Sir" Charles Barkley 1989-90 - 2nd in MVP. led league in 2PT%
C - #15 All Time - "Chairmen of the Boards" Moses Malone 1982-1983 - MVP, Finals MVP, led league in rpg by nearly 3 a game

Bench

Bigs
#33 All Time - George Mikan 1949-50 - 2nd of his 5 titles as the World's best player, led league in scoring
4-Time DPOY - Ben Wallace 2001-02 - 1st of his 4 DPOY, led league in RPG and BPG
Brad Daugherty 1992-93 - led league in TS%

Smalls
#58 All Time - Tony Parker 2006-07 - Finals MVP
#84 All Time - Dennis Johnson 1978-79 - Finals MVP
All Time Leader in SPG & DPOY - Alvin Robertson 1985-86 - DPOY, MIP, led league in spg

Wing
#62 All Time - Alex English 1982-83 - led league in scoring, 2nd in PER


We are led by Magic, the 4th best player in NBA history per ESPN.  He is a 3-time MVP and 5-time champion. We utilizing Magic at his best during the 87 season when he was MVP, Finals MVP, led the league in apg, and upped his scoring to 24 a game.  He was also an elite rebounder, making him the perfect man to build around.

We surround Magic with real life teammates ranked 15 and 18 all time.  Like Magic, Moses is a 3-time MVP and his 1st season in Philly led what many consider the greatest team ever to play.  The 83 Sixers were unstoppable and it was basically all because of the addition of Moses.  He was a monster that year and the 12-1 playoff run was to that point the best in history.  That year Moses also led the league in rebounding by nearly 3 a game, making it one of the best rebounding seasons in history when compared to the league.

Sir Charles joined Moses a couple of seasons later and they had a tremendous chemistry together.  As we want a fast break team, we selected the 89-90 season when Barkley was still an athletic monster.  That year he finished 2nd in MVP voting to Magic (more 1st place votes), but led the league in 2 point % and essentially averaged 25/12/4 along with 2 steals (which was good enough for 15th in the league along with his 3rd in rpg and 6th in ppg).

Rounding out the starting 5 we have 36th ranked Clyde Drexler and 43rd ranked James Worthy.  Clyde showed great versatility throughout his career.  Easily serving as the #1 player on 2 finals team and also gladly stepping into the 2nd man role on his way to winning a title in Houston.  For this exercise we selected 92 when Clyde finished 2nd in MVP voting leading the Blazers to their 2nd Finals (with him), earning a slot on the Dream Team and generally just being awesome.

James Worthy joins his Showtime Lakers teammate on the squad and in the starting lineup.  The Blazers wanted to add someone on the wing who could defend, run, and didn't need the spotlight.  There are few better than Worthy in filling that description.  People also forget that James was the 1st pick in the draft and won a Finals MVP.  His talent was immense and real. The Blazers will use 88 when he won the Finals MVP and was the Lakers leading scoring throughout the playoffs, showing his unique ability to step up when called upon.

For the bench, the Blazers wanted to keep to the theme of great rebounders and fast breakers but also wanted to grab some defensive toughness.  We accomplished this goal and then some.  With our first bench selection we grabbed the 33rd greatest player of all time.  A man that essentially played 6 seasons and won 5 titles as the best player in the world (there were no MVP or Finals MVP awards then but he certainly would have several of each).  Mikan was a monster on offense, defense, and rebounding.  He led the league in defensive win shares 5 times.  He has the 3rd highest win share season in NBA history and has the 2nd, 7th, and 10th best offensive win share seasons in history.  He played long ago, making him harder to translate to the modern game, but Mikan was an absolute monster and we are happy to have him anchoring our bench.  We have selected his 2nd year, 1950, for this exercise.

Joining him in the paint, is a 4-time DPOY and when adjusting for pace one of the greatest rebounders the league has ever seen.  Big Ben Wallace provides everything you would want on your bench.  We selected his 1st DPOY season, 02, when he led the league in both rebounds and blocks.  Brad Daugherty rounds out the big man rotation.  He was the Cavs best player on the late 80's early 90's Cavs teams that were the best in franchise history before Lebron.  Sadly, Brad's career ended at age 28 when he suffered a devastating back injury he could not return from.  Prior to that, you could pencil him in for 20/10/4 on superb efficiency, as evidenced by him leading the league in TS% for the selected season of 93.

On the bench and in the backcourt, the Blazers add Finals MVP, Tony Parker, ranked 58; uber versatile Finals MVP, Dennis Johnson, ranked 84; and DPOY and the all time leader in Steals Per Game, Alvin Robertson.  We like the hard nosed nature of all 3 of the backcourt players.  DJ and Tony also add the element of multiple championships with varying roles and responsibility, making them perfect complimentary pieces who can thrive under pressure and when called upon.  For DJ we selected his Finals MVP winning season of 79, when he was just entering his prime.  For Tony, we also selected his Finals MVP season of 07 when his shooting was superb and he was still in his athletic prime.  We selected Alvin's DPOY season 86, just his 2nd in the league, when he also won Most Improved Player and of course led the league in steals per game.

Rounding out our bench is one of the most underrated scorers in league history Alex English, the 62nd best player of all time.  Alex was the offensive anchor of the most explosive scoring team in league history (even surpassing the output of Wilt's Warriors).  Over the span of his prime 5 seasons English basically averaged 28/5.5/4.5 with uber efficient scoring.  We needed some top tier scoring pop for our bench and thus were happy Alex fell to us. We selected his best season of 83 when he led the league in scoring.

As indicated, we believe we will run teams into the ground and have crafted the team most capable of winning shootouts.  While the starting 5 may not be the best defensive team, we believe we make up for it by having the best offensive team, the best rebounding team, and the team with most unique positional challenges for every other team to guard, especially when we swap out Worthy for English.  In that scenario, the team has elite level offense and rebounding at all 5 spots on the floor.  When we need a defensive stop we can go with the defensive unit of Mikan, Wallace, Worthy, Johnson, and Robertson and apply immense defensive pressure. 

All teams in this our great, but we believe we are the greatest collection of talent coupled with the best chemistry and thought of actual team building.  We purposefully chose real life teammates and players that thrived playing with other great players.  We focused heavily on selecting players with extensive time in the 80's.  It is no accident that we have 3 members of the greatest team ever assembled i.e. the Dream Team.

We are Portland and we are the best.

A very impressive starting lineup. Maybe the best although the defense would be an issue.  Don't like the bench as much but everyone you chose fits in this league.  DJ and Robertson are redundant.  Also don't see Daugherty adding much to the team. 

Overall it is an impressive 80s team but how well does it translate to the modern era?  Top defensive teams will be able to limit your fastbreak opportunities.  Top defensive teams will be able to protect the paint in the half court to limit opportunities at the basket.  Where's the 3pt shooting going to come from?  How are you going to win shootouts or make comebacks without it?     

[Somebody]

Here are you Portland Trailblazers aka the Best Team .

The Blazers plan on running everyone to death.  We intentionally drafted players from high scoring teams and several real life teammates.  We also focused heavily on the same era to add a big level of familiarity and cohesion. 

Starters
PG - #4 All Time - Ervin"Magic" Johnson 1986-87 - MVP, Finals MVP, league leader APG
SG - #36 All Time - Clyde "the Glide" Drexler 1991-92 - 2nd in MVP, 2nd Finals appearance
SF - #43 All Time - "Big Game" James Worthy 1987-88 - Finals MVP, Lakers leading scorer in playoffs
PF - #18 All Time - "Sir" Charles Barkley 1989-90 - 2nd in MVP. led league in 2PT%
C - #15 All Time - "Chairmen of the Boards" Moses Malone 1982-1983 - MVP, Finals MVP, led league in rpg by nearly 3 a game

Bench

Bigs
#33 All Time - George Mikan 1949-50 - 2nd of his 5 titles as the World's best player, led league in scoring
4-Time DPOY - Ben Wallace 2001-02 - 1st of his 4 DPOY, led league in RPG and BPG
Brad Daugherty 1992-93 - led league in TS%

Smalls
#58 All Time - Tony Parker 2006-07 - Finals MVP
#84 All Time - Dennis Johnson 1978-79 - Finals MVP
All Time Leader in SPG & DPOY - Alvin Robertson 1985-86 - DPOY, MIP, led league in spg

Wing
#62 All Time - Alex English 1982-83 - led league in scoring, 2nd in PER


We are led by Magic, the 4th best player in NBA history per ESPN.  He is a 3-time MVP and 5-time champion. We utilizing Magic at his best during the 87 season when he was MVP, Finals MVP, led the league in apg, and upped his scoring to 24 a game.  He was also an elite rebounder, making him the perfect man to build around.

We surround Magic with real life teammates ranked 15 and 18 all time.  Like Magic, Moses is a 3-time MVP and his 1st season in Philly led what many consider the greatest team ever to play.  The 83 Sixers were unstoppable and it was basically all because of the addition of Moses.  He was a monster that year and the 12-1 playoff run was to that point the best in history.  That year Moses also led the league in rebounding by nearly 3 a game, making it one of the best rebounding seasons in history when compared to the league.

Sir Charles joined Moses a couple of seasons later and they had a tremendous chemistry together.  As we want a fast break team, we selected the 89-90 season when Barkley was still an athletic monster.  That year he finished 2nd in MVP voting to Magic (more 1st place votes), but led the league in 2 point % and essentially averaged 25/12/4 along with 2 steals (which was good enough for 15th in the league along with his 3rd in rpg and 6th in ppg).

Rounding out the starting 5 we have 36th ranked Clyde Drexler and 43rd ranked James Worthy.  Clyde showed great versatility throughout his career.  Easily serving as the #1 player on 2 finals team and also gladly stepping into the 2nd man role on his way to winning a title in Houston.  For this exercise we selected 92 when Clyde finished 2nd in MVP voting leading the Blazers to their 2nd Finals (with him), earning a slot on the Dream Team and generally just being awesome.

James Worthy joins his Showtime Lakers teammate on the squad and in the starting lineup.  The Blazers wanted to add someone on the wing who could defend, run, and didn't need the spotlight.  There are few better than Worthy in filling that description.  People also forget that James was the 1st pick in the draft and won a Finals MVP.  His talent was immense and real. The Blazers will use 88 when he won the Finals MVP and was the Lakers leading scoring throughout the playoffs, showing his unique ability to step up when called upon.

For the bench, the Blazers wanted to keep to the theme of great rebounders and fast breakers but also wanted to grab some defensive toughness.  We accomplished this goal and then some.  With our first bench selection we grabbed the 33rd greatest player of all time.  A man that essentially played 6 seasons and won 5 titles as the best player in the world (there were no MVP or Finals MVP awards then but he certainly would have several of each).  Mikan was a monster on offense, defense, and rebounding.  He led the league in defensive win shares 5 times.  He has the 3rd highest win share season in NBA history and has the 2nd, 7th, and 10th best offensive win share seasons in history.  He played long ago, making him harder to translate to the modern game, but Mikan was an absolute monster and we are happy to have him anchoring our bench.  We have selected his 2nd year, 1950, for this exercise.

Joining him in the paint, is a 4-time DPOY and when adjusting for pace one of the greatest rebounders the league has ever seen.  Big Ben Wallace provides everything you would want on your bench.  We selected his 1st DPOY season, 02, when he led the league in both rebounds and blocks.  Brad Daugherty rounds out the big man rotation.  He was the Cavs best player on the late 80's early 90's Cavs teams that were the best in franchise history before Lebron.  Sadly, Brad's career ended at age 28 when he suffered a devastating back injury he could not return from.  Prior to that, you could pencil him in for 20/10/4 on superb efficiency, as evidenced by him leading the league in TS% for the selected season of 93.

On the bench and in the backcourt, the Blazers add Finals MVP, Tony Parker, ranked 58; uber versatile Finals MVP, Dennis Johnson, ranked 84; and DPOY and the all time leader in Steals Per Game, Alvin Robertson.  We like the hard nosed nature of all 3 of the backcourt players.  DJ and Tony also add the element of multiple championships with varying roles and responsibility, making them perfect complimentary pieces who can thrive under pressure and when called upon.  For DJ we selected his Finals MVP winning season of 79, when he was just entering his prime.  For Tony, we also selected his Finals MVP season of 07 when his shooting was superb and he was still in his athletic prime.  We selected Alvin's DPOY season 86, just his 2nd in the league, when he also won Most Improved Player and of course led the league in steals per game.

Rounding out our bench is one of the most underrated scorers in league history Alex English, the 62nd best player of all time.  Alex was the offensive anchor of the most explosive scoring team in league history (even surpassing the output of Wilt's Warriors).  Over the span of his prime 5 seasons English basically averaged 28/5.5/4.5 with uber efficient scoring.  We needed some top tier scoring pop for our bench and thus were happy Alex fell to us. We selected his best season of 83 when he led the league in scoring.

As indicated, we believe we will run teams into the ground and have crafted the team most capable of winning shootouts.  While the starting 5 may not be the best defensive team, we believe we make up for it by having the best offensive team, the best rebounding team, and the team with most unique positional challenges for every other team to guard, especially when we swap out Worthy for English.  In that scenario, the team has elite level offense and rebounding at all 5 spots on the floor.  When we need a defensive stop we can go with the defensive unit of Mikan, Wallace, Worthy, Johnson, and Robertson and apply immense defensive pressure. 

All teams in this our great, but we believe we are the greatest collection of talent coupled with the best chemistry and thought of actual team building.  We purposefully chose real life teammates and players that thrived playing with other great players.  We focused heavily on selecting players with extensive time in the 80's.  It is no accident that we have 3 members of the greatest team ever assembled i.e. the Dream Team.

We are Portland and we are the best.

A very impressive starting lineup. Maybe the best although the defense would be an issue.  Don't like the bench as much but everyone you chose fits in this league.  DJ and Robertson are redundant.  Also don't see Daugherty adding much to the team. 

Overall it is an impressive 80s team but how well does it translate to the modern era?  Top defensive teams will be able to limit your fastbreak opportunities.  Top defensive teams will be able to protect the paint in the half court to limit opportunities at the basket.  Where's the 3pt shooting going to come from?  How are you going to win shootouts or make comebacks without it?   

Isn't Daugherty what they needed? From what I remember from tapes he was a mobile big man who could rough it up inside. He'd be the guy they play against more mobile frontcourts I think.

[Moranis]

Here are you Portland Trailblazers aka the Best Team .

The Blazers plan on running everyone to death.  We intentionally drafted players from high scoring teams and several real life teammates.  We also focused heavily on the same era to add a big level of familiarity and cohesion. 

Starters
PG - #4 All Time - Ervin"Magic" Johnson 1986-87 - MVP, Finals MVP, league leader APG
SG - #36 All Time - Clyde "the Glide" Drexler 1991-92 - 2nd in MVP, 2nd Finals appearance
SF - #43 All Time - "Big Game" James Worthy 1987-88 - Finals MVP, Lakers leading scorer in playoffs
PF - #18 All Time - "Sir" Charles Barkley 1989-90 - 2nd in MVP. led league in 2PT%
C - #15 All Time - "Chairmen of the Boards" Moses Malone 1982-1983 - MVP, Finals MVP, led league in rpg by nearly 3 a game

Bench

Bigs
#33 All Time - George Mikan 1949-50 - 2nd of his 5 titles as the World's best player, led league in scoring
4-Time DPOY - Ben Wallace 2001-02 - 1st of his 4 DPOY, led league in RPG and BPG
Brad Daugherty 1992-93 - led league in TS%

Smalls
#58 All Time - Tony Parker 2006-07 - Finals MVP
#84 All Time - Dennis Johnson 1978-79 - Finals MVP
All Time Leader in SPG & DPOY - Alvin Robertson 1985-86 - DPOY, MIP, led league in spg

Wing
#62 All Time - Alex English 1982-83 - led league in scoring, 2nd in PER


We are led by Magic, the 4th best player in NBA history per ESPN.  He is a 3-time MVP and 5-time champion. We utilizing Magic at his best during the 87 season when he was MVP, Finals MVP, led the league in apg, and upped his scoring to 24 a game.  He was also an elite rebounder, making him the perfect man to build around.

We surround Magic with real life teammates ranked 15 and 18 all time.  Like Magic, Moses is a 3-time MVP and his 1st season in Philly led what many consider the greatest team ever to play.  The 83 Sixers were unstoppable and it was basically all because of the addition of Moses.  He was a monster that year and the 12-1 playoff run was to that point the best in history.  That year Moses also led the league in rebounding by nearly 3 a game, making it one of the best rebounding seasons in history when compared to the league.

Sir Charles joined Moses a couple of seasons later and they had a tremendous chemistry together.  As we want a fast break team, we selected the 89-90 season when Barkley was still an athletic monster.  That year he finished 2nd in MVP voting to Magic (more 1st place votes), but led the league in 2 point % and essentially averaged 25/12/4 along with 2 steals (which was good enough for 15th in the league along with his 3rd in rpg and 6th in ppg).

Rounding out the starting 5 we have 36th ranked Clyde Drexler and 43rd ranked James Worthy.  Clyde showed great versatility throughout his career.  Easily serving as the #1 player on 2 finals team and also gladly stepping into the 2nd man role on his way to winning a title in Houston.  For this exercise we selected 92 when Clyde finished 2nd in MVP voting leading the Blazers to their 2nd Finals (with him), earning a slot on the Dream Team and generally just being awesome.

James Worthy joins his Showtime Lakers teammate on the squad and in the starting lineup.  The Blazers wanted to add someone on the wing who could defend, run, and didn't need the spotlight.  There are few better than Worthy in filling that description.  People also forget that James was the 1st pick in the draft and won a Finals MVP.  His talent was immense and real. The Blazers will use 88 when he won the Finals MVP and was the Lakers leading scoring throughout the playoffs, showing his unique ability to step up when called upon.

For the bench, the Blazers wanted to keep to the theme of great rebounders and fast breakers but also wanted to grab some defensive toughness.  We accomplished this goal and then some.  With our first bench selection we grabbed the 33rd greatest player of all time.  A man that essentially played 6 seasons and won 5 titles as the best player in the world (there were no MVP or Finals MVP awards then but he certainly would have several of each).  Mikan was a monster on offense, defense, and rebounding.  He led the league in defensive win shares 5 times.  He has the 3rd highest win share season in NBA history and has the 2nd, 7th, and 10th best offensive win share seasons in history.  He played long ago, making him harder to translate to the modern game, but Mikan was an absolute monster and we are happy to have him anchoring our bench.  We have selected his 2nd year, 1950, for this exercise.

Joining him in the paint, is a 4-time DPOY and when adjusting for pace one of the greatest rebounders the league has ever seen.  Big Ben Wallace provides everything you would want on your bench.  We selected his 1st DPOY season, 02, when he led the league in both rebounds and blocks.  Brad Daugherty rounds out the big man rotation.  He was the Cavs best player on the late 80's early 90's Cavs teams that were the best in franchise history before Lebron.  Sadly, Brad's career ended at age 28 when he suffered a devastating back injury he could not return from.  Prior to that, you could pencil him in for 20/10/4 on superb efficiency, as evidenced by him leading the league in TS% for the selected season of 93.

On the bench and in the backcourt, the Blazers add Finals MVP, Tony Parker, ranked 58; uber versatile Finals MVP, Dennis Johnson, ranked 84; and DPOY and the all time leader in Steals Per Game, Alvin Robertson.  We like the hard nosed nature of all 3 of the backcourt players.  DJ and Tony also add the element of multiple championships with varying roles and responsibility, making them perfect complimentary pieces who can thrive under pressure and when called upon.  For DJ we selected his Finals MVP winning season of 79, when he was just entering his prime.  For Tony, we also selected his Finals MVP season of 07 when his shooting was superb and he was still in his athletic prime.  We selected Alvin's DPOY season 86, just his 2nd in the league, when he also won Most Improved Player and of course led the league in steals per game.

Rounding out our bench is one of the most underrated scorers in league history Alex English, the 62nd best player of all time.  Alex was the offensive anchor of the most explosive scoring team in league history (even surpassing the output of Wilt's Warriors).  Over the span of his prime 5 seasons English basically averaged 28/5.5/4.5 with uber efficient scoring.  We needed some top tier scoring pop for our bench and thus were happy Alex fell to us. We selected his best season of 83 when he led the league in scoring.

As indicated, we believe we will run teams into the ground and have crafted the team most capable of winning shootouts.  While the starting 5 may not be the best defensive team, we believe we make up for it by having the best offensive team, the best rebounding team, and the team with most unique positional challenges for every other team to guard, especially when we swap out Worthy for English.  In that scenario, the team has elite level offense and rebounding at all 5 spots on the floor.  When we need a defensive stop we can go with the defensive unit of Mikan, Wallace, Worthy, Johnson, and Robertson and apply immense defensive pressure. 

All teams in this our great, but we believe we are the greatest collection of talent coupled with the best chemistry and thought of actual team building.  We purposefully chose real life teammates and players that thrived playing with other great players.  We focused heavily on selecting players with extensive time in the 80's.  It is no accident that we have 3 members of the greatest team ever assembled i.e. the Dream Team.

We are Portland and we are the best.

A very impressive starting lineup. Maybe the best although the defense would be an issue.  Don't like the bench as much but everyone you chose fits in this league.  DJ and Robertson are redundant.  Also don't see Daugherty adding much to the team. 

Overall it is an impressive 80s team but how well does it translate to the modern era?  Top defensive teams will be able to limit your fastbreak opportunities.  Top defensive teams will be able to protect the paint in the half court to limit opportunities at the basket.  Where's the 3pt shooting going to come from?  How are you going to win shootouts or make comebacks without it?   

Several of my players were league average shooters from 3 point range (Parker was well above average and would be even better today).  the league average today is 35.5%.  Even if you just moved them to league average in the modern era, I have enough shooting.  However, I think someone like Barkley or Magic, would have been a pretty darn good shooter translating to the modern game.  They would have grown up bombing 3's, and would have been very good to great at it.  Drexler and Robertson would both be an upper 30's to low 40's shooter today.  Worthy, English, Johnson all would have been solidly above league average.  I don't have any super elite shooters, but I have enough shooting.

As for Daugherty, he was by far the best player available.  I think he'd be not quite the shooter but a much better defender than someone like Towns.  He was mobile, he was tough.  He was quite simply a great player and I was surprised he was still on the board (especially when 2 of his teammates had been picked when he was clearly the Cavs best player). 

[Who]

Historical Draft - Portland Trailblazers
PG - Magic Johnson, Tony Parker
SG - Clyde Drexler, Dennis Johnson, Alvin Robertson
SF - James Worthy, Alex English
PF - Charles Barkley, Ben Wallace
C - Moses Malone, George Mikan, Brad Daugherty

The 3 point shooting question is an interesting one. I don't think we'll get any consensus on players. It will be more of an individual expectations sort of thing. So here are mine:

* Magic Johnson = Very accurate and would take a good number of 3s per game. Maybe 5 per game on 39% shooting. Something like that.
* Clyde Drexler = I thought he was an average shooter during his career and I would expect him to be the same today. So around 36% from 3. I do think he would take a high number of 3s though so that would help. Anywhere from 5-7 per game.
* James Worthy = I always thought his perimeter skills (shooting, handles, passing) were below average for a SF. He was devastatingly effective inside of 15 feet (especially as a scorer but also a good passer). So I have trouble considering him a three point shooter. I believe he'd be an undersized quick four in today's game. Maybe low volume low accuracy three point shooter. Say 2-3 per game on 32%.
* Charles Barkley = Barkley took a lot of 3s in his career. Generally 2-4 attempts a game for best part of 10 years. A total of 2,000 attempts over his career at 27% accuracy. He clearly did work on that part of his game. Would he work on it more today? Yes. But how much of a bump do you give him? I am not giving him much of a bump. 30-31% sort of accuracy and taking more 3s than you want him to take (3-4 attempts per game).

* Tony Parker = his career overlapped too much today's league for me to give him much a bump. Largely a non-threat from 3 (edit: low threat I should say = very small volume).
* Dennis Johnson = Marcus Smart the bad years level 3 point shooter
* Alex English = Great midrange shooter and interior shooter. Good outside shooter. I think he'd have a reliable three point shot. Lower volume three with average to slightly above average accuracy.
* Alvin Robertson = low volume shooter (never the most skilled or comfortable shooter). Slightly below average accuracy but decent enough.

[Who]

G: Walt Frazier, Terry Porter, Kevin Johnson
G: Paul Westphal, George Gervin
F: Grant Hill, Marques Johnson
F: Dirk Nowitzki, Ralph Sampson, Tom Chambers
C: Wilt Chamberlain, Robert Parish

I have a few older players on my roster so here are my expectations for their 3 point shooting:

* Walt Frazier = better shooter than most people realize. Made his living in that 14-18 feet zone like Oscar Robertson did. A threat from further out but did not take them often (unlike say Jerry West or Gail Goodrich). I think Frazier would have a 3 but wouldn't use it that much. To put a number on it, say league average shooting on 3 attempts per night sort of thing.
* Paul Westphal = more of a scorer than a shooter but a very good shooter. Not quite up their with the best but only one rung below them. He scored from all over the court, had a huge variety of shots and made a number of outside shots as well during his career. I think he'd be an above average 3 point shooter in terms of both accuracy (37-39%) and volume (4-6 attempts per game).
* Grant Hill = showed signs of developing a 3 in Phoenix late in his career but it disappeared when he went to the Clippers. I am happy to consider him either a non-shooter from 3 or a low volume low accuracy 3 point shooter.

* Terry Porter was a highly accurate 3 point shooter but took a large number of 3s for his era (3rd, 5th and 6th in total attempts for a 3 year period in early 90s). I expect that continue and for him to increase his volume even more in today's game.
* George Gervin = I think he'd have a 3 but I am unsure how much he'd use it. In interviews, Gervin says he wouldn't take 3s. He hates them. He likes 2s. They go in more often. So low volume but accurate 3 point shooter is my guess.
* Marques Johnson = very well rounded offensive player. He had a good outside shot and I believe he'd be a good but unexceptional 3 point shooter in today's league. Say 35-37% on average to a bit below average volume wise.

* Ralph Sampson = the guy wanted to do everything that guards did so I have no doubt he wouldn't be able to resist shooting a few 3s. How good would be at it? No idea. I never figured it in my plans. He was a very good outside shooter for a 7 footer. Actually, he'd probably be pretty useful from 3.
* Tom Chambers = he was developing a little bit of a 3 in the late 80s. Only took around 1 attempt per game on 32% shooting. But there was something there that I think he could work on. Chambers played a lot on the perimeter. Had a good mix of driving and outside shooting. I believe he'd work heavily on developing that 3 more in today's league (to open up his driving) and be a good 3 point shooting PF. Say 36% on 3-4 attempts.  Maybe better but that should be manageable.

[Who]

On Walt Frazier,

Bill Russell had a comment during an All-Star game that he thought Frazier was not as good of a defender as most people thought but also that Frazier was a better offensive player than most people thought.

I think that was a fair and accurate judgement. Frazier didn't hound guards defensively the way KC Jones or Don Chaney did. Instead he preferred to sit back off them and use his size and length to both shooting & passing lanes. Then pounce on them with his quickness and superb hands to create turnovers. This meant Frazier gambled more than you would like a top defender to do. And also meant he was more of an above average man defender than great one in my eyes.

I also think this helps him in some ways when relating to today's league because he did not rely on hand-checking as much as some other big defensive guards did (like Gary Payton) which would allow him to better adapt and succeed defensively under today's defensive rules.

Rebounding wise, Frazier was very good. He pulled down 6-7 rebounds per game as a guard. Pace was about 10% higher or less than today's league. So small drop but still a very high number for a PG. He was very good at helping his big men on the boards.

Offensively, Frazier was smooth. He was also highly efficient. In his best years he shot around 50% from the field, got to the FT line at a high clip (FTr in mid 40s - 7 FTAs to 16 FGAs). Add a small bump with the three point line to what was already very efficient scoring relative to his era. He kinda had a scoring arsenal like Oscar Robertson but on a lower volume. Frazier loved to use his size to back down, spin around and shoot over smaller defenders from midrange if he couldn't get to the basket.

Frazier was also a good passer. What I liked most about his passing was his ability to play within a system where there PG didn't have the ball all the time. Those Knicks teams had phenomenal team passing with Frazier showing adaptability to play both with and without the basketball. He was also able to adapt again when Earl Monroe came in who was more of a high usage ball-handler in Baltimore and played PG there. No issue for Frazier or Earl Monroe. Both adapted to each other and worked well together and within the framework of the Knicks offense. I wanted a PG who could work well without needing to dominate the ball / offense which is something I feel Frazier did well.

[Who]

I loved the Brad Daugherty pickup for Portland for two reasons (1) Daugherty was a very good player (2) I wasn't sure what to do with Mikan.

Daugherty rates as a quality backup center in his own right so it doesn't matter to if Mikan is not rated highly. So even without Mikan (who I still have no idea how to evaluate relative to today's league and was uncomfortable with), Portland has good quality at center in Moses and Daugherty.

[Silky]

Starters: Defense, scoring, toughness, heart, hustle, determination

PG: Gary :The Glove" Payton (95-96 DPOY year)
DPOY, multiple all defensive 1sts, argued as one of the greatest defensive guards of all time. Also able to hold his own offensively, shooting high percentages, driving the lane, and setting up teammates with beautiful creative passes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfS8lEzIVSo

SG: Kobe "Bean" Bryant (07-08 MVP Year)
Mutliple all defensive 1sts, mvps, finals mvp, scoring champ. the second best shooting guard of all time. could dominate on both sides of the ball.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T06yJR-Xzd4

SF: Bob Dandridge. (72-73) A great teammate. could score, rebound, pass and was an outstanding defender. A truly underrated player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFMLvv1mJMQ

PF: Dave "The Big D" Debusscherre (67-68 All NBA defense)
Multiple all defensive nods. 6 straight to be exact (after having seasons where the award didnt exist) An absolute hound. Unanimously named as one of the top 5 defenders at both SF and PF of all time. man was a dog out there with range on his shot and the ability to somehow slip into open spots backdoor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5GytthwEa0

C: Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwan. (93-94 MVP, DPOY, FMVP year)
DPOY, MVP, FMVP. only player to ever do that all in the same season. The man was a beast defensively and unstoppable offensively. as an Anchor on both offense and defense he is close to unmatched. People tend to understate just how much of a force Hakeem was. He is one of the top 5 players of all time in terms of dominance. His speed, agility and size was never seen, nor has it been since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH-uHgdzpXQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m8OeZWbcOE


****My Starting lineup has out of this world defense. No team can boast the defense that mine has from the top position down.
I have the top defensive Center and Pointguard in the game. My SG is the second best SG defender of all time, By PF is top 3 or 4 PF defenders of all time, and my SF is a brilliant hard nosed defender on the wing who can guard several position. He was credited with being the reason the Bullets won the championship back in the 70s.

My offense from the bench will be started by alot of defensive stops. My team will get steals, grab boards after forcing missed shots and will run out on the break with great outlets from Hakeem and Dave. Once Payton gets the ball in the open floor it will result in either a lob to Kobe or Bob or he will hit a trailing Hakeem for a post up at the top of the key. Offensively the trio of Payton, Kobe, Bob and Hakeem will prove to be one of the most difficult to defend in the half court as all are capable of creating offense for themselves and for others. Dave will be the recipient of multiple backdoor layup cuts.****


Bench:
Scoring and mismatches

My main bench will consist of defense, microwave scoring and mismatches. I have many options here but will most likely see

PG - Penny Hardaway (94-95). A do it all player. Defend PG-SF and score at a highly efficient rate.
SG: Bernard King (83-84). One of the greatest scorers the game has ever seen. He can get points in a hurry.
SF: Carmelo Anthony. (13-14) Scoring, rebounding passing and floor spacing.
PF:  Al Horford (17-18) Excellent defense, intelligent, great teammate, great passer out of the high post, able to knock down long shots at a high percentage. Perfect fit in my front court
C: Karl Anthony Towns. (17-18) A Center who can block shots, post up, rebound and shoot threes/ play a face up game on high efficiency. Idolizes Horford and will learn some trick from the vet.

***Main objectives of bench is to make room for King and Melo to score. Horford and KAT both bring opposing centers and power forwards OUT. They cannot leave such good three point shooters out in the open. So they are forced to cover, that leaves room for King and Melo to post up and score, Penny is the man that makes it all happen. He can post up opposing small pgs and get lots of easy points, once the switches happen its a field day for the others.***

Deep Bench
Dale Ellis (88-89) - sharp shooter off the bench
Yao Ming (02-03)- a Giant who scored highly efficiently and could also move the ball.

[Silky]

Historical Draft - Portland Trailblazers
PG - Magic Johnson, Tony Parker
SG - Clyde Drexler, Dennis Johnson, Alvin Robertson
SF - James Worthy, Alex English
PF - Charles Barkley, Ben Wallace
C - Moses Malone, George Mikan, Brad Daugherty

The 3 point shooting question is an interesting one. I don't think we'll get any consensus on players. It will be more of an individual expectations sort of thing. So here are mine:

* Magic Johnson = Very accurate and would take a good number of 3s per game. Maybe 5 per game on 39% shooting. Something like that.
* Clyde Drexler = I thought he was an average shooter during his career and I would expect him to be the same today. So around 36% from 3. I do think he would take a high number of 3s though so that would help. Anywhere from 5-7 per game.
* James Worthy = I always thought his perimeter skills (shooting, handles, passing) were below average for a SF. He was devastatingly effective inside of 15 feet (especially as a scorer but also a good passer). So I have trouble considering him a three point shooter. I believe he'd be an undersized quick four in today's game. Maybe low volume low accuracy three point shooter. Say 2-3 per game on 32%.
* Charles Barkley = Barkley took a lot of 3s in his career. Generally 2-4 attempts a game for best part of 10 years. A total of 2,000 attempts over his career at 27% accuracy. He clearly did work on that part of his game. Would he work on it more today? Yes. But how much of a bump do you give him? I am not giving him much of a bump. 30-31% sort of accuracy and taking more 3s than you want him to take (3-4 attempts per game).

* Tony Parker = his career overlapped too much today's league for me to give him much a bump. Largely a non-threat from 3 (edit: low threat I should say = very small volume).
* Dennis Johnson = Marcus Smart the bad years level 3 point shooter
* Alex English = Great midrange shooter and interior shooter. Good outside shooter. I think he'd have a reliable three point shot. Lower volume three with average to slightly above average accuracy.
* Alvin Robertson = low volume shooter (never the most skilled or comfortable shooter). Slightly below average accuracy but decent enough.

I think Magic would be a fine 3pt shooter. Above league average there. But I dont think he would have shot alot from there. Instead using his size in postups.

Clyde I think would have a game similar, yet obviously better than, Demar Derozans. He wouldnt take many 3s, nor would he make that many. I think he would stick with long 2s, fadeaways and scoring on drives. I do think he would have gotten to the line more in todays game.

Most of the rest would be below league average at best.

[Silky]

Alright, this is the Detroit Pistons after the end of the draft.

PG: John Stockton / Derek Harper

SG: John Havlicek / Michael Cooper / Pete Maravich

SF: Kawhi Leonard / Jimmy Butler

PF: Elvin Hayes / Larry Nance / Hedo Turkoglu

C : Alonzo Mourning / Dikembe Mutombo

------------------------------

Did you know, in the history of the NBA, only four teams have won the NBA Championship without having an MVP winner on their team? One is the '18-'19 Toronto Raptors. The other three? 

'88-'89 Detroit Pistons
'89-'90 Detroit Pistons
'03-'04 Detroit Pistons

The biggest factor to that Raptors win was Kawhi Leonard. The biggest factor to those three title winning Detroit teams was intense, suffocating, tough, hard nosed defense.

We have combined both to form a single entity. This is the CStrong Historical Draft Detroit Pistons! This team, from top to bottom (apart from the two end of bench guys), features players who have been an All-NBA Defender, with some of them winning the Defensive Player of the Year in their own rights. I built this team with one identity in mind, and it's defense, and I'm proud to say that we at Detroit have accomplished that.

The Starters:

PG: John Stockton - '88-'89:
(All-Star, All-NBA 2nd team, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, League leader in AST and STL per game)

SG: John Havlicek - '71-'72:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defensive 1st team, League leader in Minutes per game, 4th in MVP voting)

SF: Kawhi Leonard - '15-'16:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defensive 1st team, Defensive Player of the Year, 2nd in MVP voting)

PF: Elvin Hayes - '74-'75:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defense 2nd Team, 3rd in MVP voting)

C: Alonzo Mourning - '98-'99:
(All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defensive 1st Team, Defensive Player of the Year, League leader in Blocks per game, 2nd in MVP voting)

From the PG spot to the Center spot, this team boasts a tough defensive unit. Two DPOY winners, all making All-Defensive teams, this is one of, if not the best defensive starting 5 in the league. Along with the defense, comes the talent. All but John Stockton made All-NBA 1st teams, with three of them ranking within the top 3 in NBA MVP votings.

Defense, talent, and more importantly, there's a great deal of balance within this team. Everybody are capable on their own, but all are willing to play within a team, and there are no overwhelming presence. There are playmakers within the team with Stockton and Hondo. Great one on one scoring in Kawhi Leonard. There's inside scoring with the Big E and Zo on board. Floor spacing wouldn't be a problem as all are capable shooters in their own rights, with our bigs being able to extend their offensive game within 18-20 feet.

Just like the title winning Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors, this team is not loaded with top end, recognized name talents, but they are as talented, and are also relentless and tough, that could dominate on either ends of the court.

Bench mob:

PG: Derek Harper - '89-'90:
(All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, League leader in games played)

SG: Michael Cooper - '86-'87:
(NBA Champion, All-NBA Defensive 1st Team, Defensive Player of the Year, League leader in games played)

SF: Jimmy Butler - '17-'18:
(All-Star, All-NBA 3rd Team, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team)

PF: Larry Nance - '88-'89:
(All-Star, All-NBA Defensive 1st Team)

C: Dikembe Mutombo - '94 - '95:
(All-Star, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, Defensive Player of the Year, League leader in BLK per game and games played)

Coming off our bench are another bunch of hard nosed, defense oriented, team players. This bench unit sports TWO DPOY winners, and all of them, like the starters, have made All-Defensive teams. Simply put, there's ZERO days off on opposing teams' offense when they play us. When one or two of our starters sit, the guys that will replace them will give as much effort on defense and toughness as they are. Jimmy Butler will be our main scoring option off the bench, while Larry Nance and Derek Harper provide some added scoring punch. Michael Cooper will shut down any perimeter player when he comes in, and Dikembe Mutombo will protect the rim. As with the starters, this bench mob sports excellent balance, with team oriented players capable of fitting in with just about any lineup we can put out.

Deep Bench:

"Pistol" Pete Maravich - '76-'77:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, Scoring Champion, League leader in minutes played per game)

Hedo Turkoglu - '07-'08:
(NBA Most Improved Player)

It's almost blasphemous to suggest that a talent of Pistol's caliber will be nothing more than an end of bench guy coming off the bench. We value his scoring, shooting and playmaking, and on certain situations where we need more points, he's certainly going to come in and drop buckets. Unfortunately, his lack of defensive effort has made him nothing more than a specialist for this team.

With all due respect to Hedo Turkoglu, but the only reason he's in this team is to bring in Jimmy Butler. He won't see any minutes on this squad, unless there's foul trouble with the bigs.

------------------------------

Defense, top talent, balance. That's your Detroit Pistons.

(And just for fun, imagine this for one second.

Your team is down one, with less than 5 seconds left, and you're going against Detroit. This is the lineup you're going against.

Cooper - Havlicek - Leonard - Hayes - Mutombo.

That would be fun, eh?)

you have a very solid starting lineup defensively, but I believe mine trumps yours.

The advantage I have is speed and the ability to switch. Hakeem can defend anyone PG-Center, Payton PG or Sg, Kobe PG-SF, Dandridge PG-SF, and Dave sg-c.

That, I believe, makes my lineup stronger defensively as some of your guys are limited to their postions, like Mourning and Stockton.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Alright, this is the Detroit Pistons after the end of the draft.

PG: John Stockton / Derek Harper

SG: John Havlicek / Michael Cooper / Pete Maravich

SF: Kawhi Leonard / Jimmy Butler

PF: Elvin Hayes / Larry Nance / Hedo Turkoglu

C : Alonzo Mourning / Dikembe Mutombo

------------------------------

Did you know, in the history of the NBA, only four teams have won the NBA Championship without having an MVP winner on their team? One is the '18-'19 Toronto Raptors. The other three? 

'88-'89 Detroit Pistons
'89-'90 Detroit Pistons
'03-'04 Detroit Pistons

The biggest factor to that Raptors win was Kawhi Leonard. The biggest factor to those three title winning Detroit teams was intense, suffocating, tough, hard nosed defense.

We have combined both to form a single entity. This is the CStrong Historical Draft Detroit Pistons! This team, from top to bottom (apart from the two end of bench guys), features players who have been an All-NBA Defender, with some of them winning the Defensive Player of the Year in their own rights. I built this team with one identity in mind, and it's defense, and I'm proud to say that we at Detroit have accomplished that.

The Starters:

PG: John Stockton - '88-'89:
(All-Star, All-NBA 2nd team, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, League leader in AST and STL per game)

SG: John Havlicek - '71-'72:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defensive 1st team, League leader in Minutes per game, 4th in MVP voting)

SF: Kawhi Leonard - '15-'16:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defensive 1st team, Defensive Player of the Year, 2nd in MVP voting)

PF: Elvin Hayes - '74-'75:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defense 2nd Team, 3rd in MVP voting)

C: Alonzo Mourning - '98-'99:
(All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defensive 1st Team, Defensive Player of the Year, League leader in Blocks per game, 2nd in MVP voting)

From the PG spot to the Center spot, this team boasts a tough defensive unit. Two DPOY winners, all making All-Defensive teams, this is one of, if not the best defensive starting 5 in the league. Along with the defense, comes the talent. All but John Stockton made All-NBA 1st teams, with three of them ranking within the top 3 in NBA MVP votings.

Defense, talent, and more importantly, there's a great deal of balance within this team. Everybody are capable on their own, but all are willing to play within a team, and there are no overwhelming presence. There are playmakers within the team with Stockton and Hondo. Great one on one scoring in Kawhi Leonard. There's inside scoring with the Big E and Zo on board. Floor spacing wouldn't be a problem as all are capable shooters in their own rights, with our bigs being able to extend their offensive game within 18-20 feet.

Just like the title winning Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors, this team is not loaded with top end, recognized name talents, but they are as talented, and are also relentless and tough, that could dominate on either ends of the court.

Bench mob:

PG: Derek Harper - '89-'90:
(All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, League leader in games played)

SG: Michael Cooper - '86-'87:
(NBA Champion, All-NBA Defensive 1st Team, Defensive Player of the Year, League leader in games played)

SF: Jimmy Butler - '17-'18:
(All-Star, All-NBA 3rd Team, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team)

PF: Larry Nance - '88-'89:
(All-Star, All-NBA Defensive 1st Team)

C: Dikembe Mutombo - '94 - '95:
(All-Star, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, Defensive Player of the Year, League leader in BLK per game and games played)

Coming off our bench are another bunch of hard nosed, defense oriented, team players. This bench unit sports TWO DPOY winners, and all of them, like the starters, have made All-Defensive teams. Simply put, there's ZERO days off on opposing teams' offense when they play us. When one or two of our starters sit, the guys that will replace them will give as much effort on defense and toughness as they are. Jimmy Butler will be our main scoring option off the bench, while Larry Nance and Derek Harper provide some added scoring punch. Michael Cooper will shut down any perimeter player when he comes in, and Dikembe Mutombo will protect the rim. As with the starters, this bench mob sports excellent balance, with team oriented players capable of fitting in with just about any lineup we can put out.

Deep Bench:

"Pistol" Pete Maravich - '76-'77:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, Scoring Champion, League leader in minutes played per game)

Hedo Turkoglu - '07-'08:
(NBA Most Improved Player)

It's almost blasphemous to suggest that a talent of Pistol's caliber will be nothing more than an end of bench guy coming off the bench. We value his scoring, shooting and playmaking, and on certain situations where we need more points, he's certainly going to come in and drop buckets. Unfortunately, his lack of defensive effort has made him nothing more than a specialist for this team.

With all due respect to Hedo Turkoglu, but the only reason he's in this team is to bring in Jimmy Butler. He won't see any minutes on this squad, unless there's foul trouble with the bigs.

------------------------------

Defense, top talent, balance. That's your Detroit Pistons.

(And just for fun, imagine this for one second.

Your team is down one, with less than 5 seconds left, and you're going against Detroit. This is the lineup you're going against.

Cooper - Havlicek - Leonard - Hayes - Mutombo.

That would be fun, eh?)

you have a very solid starting lineup defensively, but I believe mine trumps yours.

The advantage I have is speed and the ability to switch. Hakeem can defend anyone PG-Center, Payton PG or Sg, Kobe PG-SF, Dandridge PG-SF, and Dave sg-c.

That, I believe, makes my lineup stronger defensively as some of your guys are limited to their postions, like Mourning and Stockton.

Eh, IDK about that. I might give you Elvin Hayes, but he was a mobile and active dude in the 70s as well, one could assume that his mobility would translate in the modern game full of switches. Same goes with Zo, who is one of the more mobile Centers in the 90s. He could easily adjust to the switching.

We already know Kawhi can do it. He won two DPOY's playing the defense he does in the modern game.

Hondo can run until the lights burn out. Speed won't be a problem for him.

And John Stockton? He's more of a disruptor and smarts on defense that a one on one guy. I'm not concerned about him as much as speed, because he would know where he'd position himself on defense to disrupt anything. John Stockton, the man who your guy himself said is "more difficult to guard" than Michael Jordan.

The other thing that separates our teams is the bench. Our bench unit would continue on the barrage of tough, hard nosed, All-NBA level defense, with TWO DPOY winners coming off of it. There's no rest for the wicked against the Detroit Pistons, whether you're going against the starters or not.

[Silky]

Alright, this is the Detroit Pistons after the end of the draft.

PG: John Stockton / Derek Harper

SG: John Havlicek / Michael Cooper / Pete Maravich

SF: Kawhi Leonard / Jimmy Butler

PF: Elvin Hayes / Larry Nance / Hedo Turkoglu

C : Alonzo Mourning / Dikembe Mutombo

------------------------------

Did you know, in the history of the NBA, only four teams have won the NBA Championship without having an MVP winner on their team? One is the '18-'19 Toronto Raptors. The other three? 

'88-'89 Detroit Pistons
'89-'90 Detroit Pistons
'03-'04 Detroit Pistons

The biggest factor to that Raptors win was Kawhi Leonard. The biggest factor to those three title winning Detroit teams was intense, suffocating, tough, hard nosed defense.

We have combined both to form a single entity. This is the CStrong Historical Draft Detroit Pistons! This team, from top to bottom (apart from the two end of bench guys), features players who have been an All-NBA Defender, with some of them winning the Defensive Player of the Year in their own rights. I built this team with one identity in mind, and it's defense, and I'm proud to say that we at Detroit have accomplished that.

The Starters:

PG: John Stockton - '88-'89:
(All-Star, All-NBA 2nd team, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, League leader in AST and STL per game)

SG: John Havlicek - '71-'72:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defensive 1st team, League leader in Minutes per game, 4th in MVP voting)

SF: Kawhi Leonard - '15-'16:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defensive 1st team, Defensive Player of the Year, 2nd in MVP voting)

PF: Elvin Hayes - '74-'75:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defense 2nd Team, 3rd in MVP voting)

C: Alonzo Mourning - '98-'99:
(All-NBA 1st Team, All-NBA Defensive 1st Team, Defensive Player of the Year, League leader in Blocks per game, 2nd in MVP voting)

From the PG spot to the Center spot, this team boasts a tough defensive unit. Two DPOY winners, all making All-Defensive teams, this is one of, if not the best defensive starting 5 in the league. Along with the defense, comes the talent. All but John Stockton made All-NBA 1st teams, with three of them ranking within the top 3 in NBA MVP votings.

Defense, talent, and more importantly, there's a great deal of balance within this team. Everybody are capable on their own, but all are willing to play within a team, and there are no overwhelming presence. There are playmakers within the team with Stockton and Hondo. Great one on one scoring in Kawhi Leonard. There's inside scoring with the Big E and Zo on board. Floor spacing wouldn't be a problem as all are capable shooters in their own rights, with our bigs being able to extend their offensive game within 18-20 feet.

Just like the title winning Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors, this team is not loaded with top end, recognized name talents, but they are as talented, and are also relentless and tough, that could dominate on either ends of the court.

Bench mob:

PG: Derek Harper - '89-'90:
(All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, League leader in games played)

SG: Michael Cooper - '86-'87:
(NBA Champion, All-NBA Defensive 1st Team, Defensive Player of the Year, League leader in games played)

SF: Jimmy Butler - '17-'18:
(All-Star, All-NBA 3rd Team, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team)

PF: Larry Nance - '88-'89:
(All-Star, All-NBA Defensive 1st Team)

C: Dikembe Mutombo - '94 - '95:
(All-Star, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, Defensive Player of the Year, League leader in BLK per game and games played)

Coming off our bench are another bunch of hard nosed, defense oriented, team players. This bench unit sports TWO DPOY winners, and all of them, like the starters, have made All-Defensive teams. Simply put, there's ZERO days off on opposing teams' offense when they play us. When one or two of our starters sit, the guys that will replace them will give as much effort on defense and toughness as they are. Jimmy Butler will be our main scoring option off the bench, while Larry Nance and Derek Harper provide some added scoring punch. Michael Cooper will shut down any perimeter player when he comes in, and Dikembe Mutombo will protect the rim. As with the starters, this bench mob sports excellent balance, with team oriented players capable of fitting in with just about any lineup we can put out.

Deep Bench:

"Pistol" Pete Maravich - '76-'77:
(All-Star, All-NBA 1st Team, Scoring Champion, League leader in minutes played per game)

Hedo Turkoglu - '07-'08:
(NBA Most Improved Player)

It's almost blasphemous to suggest that a talent of Pistol's caliber will be nothing more than an end of bench guy coming off the bench. We value his scoring, shooting and playmaking, and on certain situations where we need more points, he's certainly going to come in and drop buckets. Unfortunately, his lack of defensive effort has made him nothing more than a specialist for this team.

With all due respect to Hedo Turkoglu, but the only reason he's in this team is to bring in Jimmy Butler. He won't see any minutes on this squad, unless there's foul trouble with the bigs.

------------------------------

Defense, top talent, balance. That's your Detroit Pistons.

(And just for fun, imagine this for one second.

Your team is down one, with less than 5 seconds left, and you're going against Detroit. This is the lineup you're going against.

Cooper - Havlicek - Leonard - Hayes - Mutombo.

That would be fun, eh?)

you have a very solid starting lineup defensively, but I believe mine trumps yours.

The advantage I have is speed and the ability to switch. Hakeem can defend anyone PG-Center, Payton PG or Sg, Kobe PG-SF, Dandridge PG-SF, and Dave sg-c.

That, I believe, makes my lineup stronger defensively as some of your guys are limited to their postions, like Mourning and Stockton.

Eh, IDK about that. I might give you Elvin Hayes, but he was a mobile and active dude in the 70s as well, one could assume that his mobility would translate in the modern game full of switches. Same goes with Zo, who is one of the more mobile Centers in the 90s. He could easily adjust to the switching.

We already know Kawhi can do it. He won two DPOY's playing the defense he does in the modern game.

Hondo can run until the lights burn out. Speed won't be a problem for him.

And John Stockton? He's more of a disruptor and smarts on defense that a one on one guy. I'm not concerned about him as much as speed, because he would know where he'd position himself on defense to disrupt anything.

The other thing that separates our teams is the bench. Our bench unit would continue on the barrage of tough, hard nosed, All-NBA level defense, with TWO DPOY winners coming off of it. There's no rest for the wicked against the Detroit Pistons, whether you're going against the starters or not.

Fair enough, I dont belive your starting lineup has the defensive switchability as vast as mine.

Mourning I dont think would be able to guard PGs.
Hayes I dont think could guard SGs.
Stockton was a good team defender, but if isolated can be exposed.

You probably have the tops bench defense though. Not much offense on it, but great defense.