Detroit Pistons:
PG: John Stockton / "Pistol" Pete Maravich
SG: John "Hondo" Havlicek / Michael Cooper
SF: Kawhi Leonard / Bernard King
PF: Elvin "The Big E" Hayes / Al Horford
C : Alonzo Mourning / Dikembe "Mount" Mutombo
I have really dabbled back and forth with who to start. In a perfect world, I could have drafted players that can do it all, but such is life. In the end, I decided to start Hondo and Kawhi together on the wings. Their two-way play is just too good to not start with. Hondo's playmaking skill set also adds to the team's ball movement play. I'm just going to have to convince everyone that Kawhi can be a #1 scoring option, and I'm starting to compile some evidence to do just that. And with Alonzo Mourning being on the starting lineup instead of Dikembe Mutombo, scoring wouldn't be much of a issue compare to where the team was after five rounds. I envision him on the pick and roll/pop role with John Stockton, as his good mid-range game will cause issues against opposing bigs. Big E will be our #1 post scoring option.
Bernard King moves to the bench in a "microwave" role. If I will need more scoring, he will come in and shoot the lights out.
It might be blasphemous to say, but I really have NO IDEA what to do with Pistol. I have him as a backup PG for now, as a playmaker instead of a scorer, as King has that role. I would really want a backup PG who can make plays, defend, and not a heavy usage guy, so we'll see if I can find that within the last two rounds. God, what a luxury to have a Hall of Fame talent like Pete Maravich and tell the whole world that you have no idea how to use him. LOL.
Lastly, I am proud to say that this team can defend.
I don't know how people will look at this team, and where they will rank it, but I'm extremely happy about how I was able to build my squad. I wanted a defensive team that will gel together, and I think I was able to do that.
I think your best starting 5 would be Stockton-Hondo-Kawhi-Horford-Alonzo. People may think that Horford can't guard the great PFs of the past, but that's just romanticising the past imo. Horford has shown that he's a top level defender in the modern NBA when it comes to players with bodies and/or skillsets like a traditional 4 (eg. he was our "Giannis stopper" in the past couple of seasons, he guarded more traditional 4s like Thaddeus Young and Sabonis effectively in our sweep of the Pacers, and he's our designated go to guy when guarding guys like AD/KAT, who would be 4s in the old NBA). His skillset is great for your team-low usage big man who can stretch the floor and pass to allocate the bulk of shots to Kawhi/Hondo/Alonzo and a good defender to help out Alonzo when the latter is matched up against the behemoths of the league.
Yeah, it's really very tempting to start Al, but at the risk of losing a vote or two, I'd start Big E. He's just too talented not to be starting. His defense is probably better than Al's would be against traditional, power style bigs. He gobbles rebounds like a mad man.
Yes, the downside to that is he's a high usage, high volume player to be effective on the offensive end. But I think I can make the case that if I use his 78-79 season, the year after he wont the title, I think he would fit in well. He had the most minutes played that year, but had the second most usage for the team. This is an Elvin Hayes that knows how to co-exist with other superstars at this point, having already won a title too, all while he's still be a force on both ends.
That was a fairly efficient year for him too, shooting close to 49% from the field, with a 52%TS rate. He still managed to average 21 points, 12 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 2.3 blocks, and 1 steal per game. He also led his team in Defensive Win Shares that year. He was a 1st team All-NBA that year, and ranked 3rd in the MVP race.
He is kind of a hard fit, but he is a top 10 PF of all time. I have to find a way to fit him, or I'm wasting his value.