Golden Season of Each Position

[slightly biased bias fan]

In your opinion, what was the best year for each position in NBA history?

An example would be that 1992-93 had an amazing depth of talent for shooting guards.

Clyde Drexler
Joe Dumars
Ron Harper
Jeff Hornacek
Michael Jordan
Reggie Lewis
Dan Majerle
Reggie Miller
Drazen Petrovic
Mitch Richmond
Byron Scott
Steve Smith
Latrell Sprewell
John Starks

[slightly biased bias fan]

But in my opinion the best NBA season for shooting guards would be 2003-04.

Ray Allen
Kobe Bryant
Vince Carter
Richard Hamilton
Larry Hughes
Allen Iverson
LeBron James
Joe Johnson
Tracy McGrady
Paul Pierce
Michael Redd
Jason Richardson
Dwyane Wade

[ChillyWilly]

Drazen was the most efficient bucket getter I ever seen. Image what his career would have been coming into his prime. I loved his style of play was probably my favorite player at the time.

[Who]

Drazen was the most efficient bucket getter I ever seen. Image what his career would have been coming into his prime. I loved his style of play was probably my favorite player at the time.

He would be amazing in today's league. There is nobody like him today. True shooter. Gunner. Quick release. Effortless looking shot.

Durant is the closest but such a different physical package at 7 feet with a 7-4 wingspan. It was fun seeing a 6-5/6-6 guy attack. And because he lacked that physical height, Drazen was taking far more long jumpers. It was a thing of beauty watching him shoot the ball.

Steph and Lillard are probably close in terms of volume of long distance jump shots more so than Durant. But both are different than Drazen as well. The three point shooting leads to more misses. Less makes. Lillard does a lot of the dribble. Steph is closer with more off-ball movement.

[snively]

Wally Z a forgotten swing from that early 2000s era. Listed at SF but I remember him playing a lot at the 2 (and inexplicably shutting down Ray when he was washed in 08).

[Who]

Wally Z a forgotten swing from that early 2000s era. Listed at SF but I remember him playing a lot at the 2 (and inexplicably shutting down Ray when he was washed in 08).

That was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. I have no idea how Ray wasn't able to cook Wally. Wally couldn't cover Ray when he was in physical prime. Never mind when his body was broken down. I rewatched that series about a year ago. Shocking. I kept looking at Ray and wondering how he wasn't getting more open and why he kept missing whenever he did get open. Cleveland took him out of that series. And Wally did most of the work. 

Then they had Delonte West the following do a great job on Ray as well. After defending Rondo well in the 2008 playoffs. Then Cleveland replace Delonte (and Wally) to replace them with Anthony Parker. Good player but Ray always cooked Anthony Parker when Parker was in Toronto and he continued to cook Parker when he moved to Cleveland. Talk about not looking at how your new players matchup with your main rival.

They did the same with Jamario Moon. Another import from Toronto. He was too skinny at SF to ever cover Pierce. Pierce would overpower him easily. Another matchup advantage given to the opponent.

That 2010 Cavs team was hilarious in how badly they matched up against Boston. Also brought in Antawn Jamison who couldn't cover KG one-on-one or provide any level of team defense. They had Shaq at center who lacked the mobility to cover on help defense. Then they had Mo Williams who was one of the worst defensive PGs in the league. So Rondo had an easy one-on-one matchup + bad screen and roll defensive bigs (Shaq, Jamison) with matchup advantages for all the Big Three (A Parker, J Moon, Jamison - except for whoever LeBron was covering) and allowed Rondo to pick them apart with his dribble penetration, playmaking and floor leadership.

That was a fun series in 2010. Cleveland got everything wrong with that team. You could see what they were trying for but none of it work for them. Jamison acquired at the trade deadline hurt almost immediately (1st game for CLE?). No chemistry for the playoffs. No defensive understanding between them. And matchup disadvantages all over the floor.

[Moranis]

Center is interesting.  Do you take a year in the mid 60's with Bill, Wilt, Thurmond, Bellamy, Reed,  etc.

Or a year in the early mid 90's with Hakeem, Robinson, Shaq, Ewing, Mutumbo, Mourning, Divac, and even very old Moses.

Obviously more teams and thus more options in the 90's, but it seemed like every team in the 60's had a HOF center.

[Celtics4ever]

I think 86 was a great year for centers.

https://blog.nbatopshot.com/posts/run-it-back-positional-guide-1986-87-centers

[Celtic Fan Forever]

PF around 04 was pretty stacked

Tim Duncan
Kevin Garnett
Dirk Nowitzki
Jermaine ONeal
Pau Gasol
Rasheed Wallace
Chris Webber
Elton Brand
Shareef Abdur Rahim
Carlos Boozer
Zach Randolph
Kenyon Martin
Antwan Jamison
Antoine Walker

[Who]

PF around 04 was pretty stacked

Tim Duncan
Kevin Garnett
Dirk Nowitzki
Jermaine ONeal
Pau Gasol
Rasheed Wallace
Chris Webber
Elton Brand
Shareef Abdur Rahim
Carlos Boozer
Zach Randolph
Kenyon Martin
Antwan Jamison
Antoine Walker

Good call. The 00s were the golden period for PFs.

[Who]

The early 90s were sneaky good for PGs.

Here is 1990:

Magic Johnson
Isiah Thomas
John Stockton
Kevin Johnson
Mark Price

Tim Hardaway
Terry Porter
Derek Harper
Rod Strickland
Mark Jackson
Doc Rivers
Jay Humphries
old Dennis Johnson
Nate McMillan
Kenny Smith
Sleepy Floyd

The top 5 players all franchise guys. Magic a top 2 player in the league. The other 4 all candidates for top 10 players in the league at the time.

Top 10 Player Candidates in 1990 = 2 SGs in M Jordan & C Drexler. 0 SFs. 2 PFs in C Barkley & K Malone. 3 Cs in Hakeem, Ewing, D Robinson. So 5 of the top 12 players were PGs.

[Moranis]

PF around 04 was pretty stacked

Tim Duncan
Kevin Garnett
Dirk Nowitzki
Jermaine ONeal
Pau Gasol
Rasheed Wallace
Chris Webber
Elton Brand
Shareef Abdur Rahim
Carlos Boozer
Zach Randolph
Kenyon Martin
Antwan Jamison
Antoine Walker

Good call. The 00s were the golden period for PFs.

late 80's pretty solid as well with Malone, Barkley, McHale, Rodman, Nance, Chambers, Willis, Detlef, Oakley.

[Who]

The SF position has had 2 Golden Eras. This current / recent era and the 1980s. The 80s was loaded at SF.

Larry Bird
Julius Erving (early to mid 80s)
Alex English
Bernard King (early to mid 80s)
Dominique Wilkins (mid to late 80s)
Mark Aguirre
Adrian Dantley
Marques Johnson (early to mid 80s)
James Worthy

Chris Mullin (late 80s)
Kiki Vandeweghe
Mike Mitchell
Robert Reid
Rodney McCray
Larry Nance
John Drew (early 80s)
Calvin Natt
Jamaal Wilkes (early to mid 80s)
Cedric Maxwell (early to mid 80s)
Thurl Bailey
Paul Pressey (mid to late 80s)
Xavier McDaniel (mid to late 80s)

Eddie Johnson
Orlando Woolridge
Dennis Rodman (mid to late 80s)
Kelly Tripucka
Jerome Kersey (mid to late 80s)
Purvis Short
Chuck Person (late 80s)
Albert King (early to mid 80s)
Cliff Robinson (Bullets, 76ers one - not Blazers one)
John Williams (late 80s)

I don't which specific year would give you the best assortment of these guys. So many different options to chose from. The entire decade WAS the Golden Period for SFs until this most recent era rose to challenge it.

[Who]

The mid to late 90s had a strong showing at PF. There were a bunch of talented PFs who came in during the 1995 & 1996 drafts to add to a quality crop of veteran PFs. The position had impressive depth down to about 20 players.

I will pick 1998 to get Tim Duncan as well

Tim Duncan
Karl Malone

Vin Baker
Shawn Kemp
Chris Webber
Kevin Garnett
Charles Barkley
Tom Gugliotta
Antonio McDyess

Charles Oakley
Horace Grant
Tyrone Hill
Dale Davis
Antonio Davis
Brian Grant

Clifford Robinson
Shareef Abdur-Rahim
Keith Van Horn
Christian Laettner
Antoine Walker

Chris Gatling
Larry Johnson (post-injury Knicks era LJ)
Marcus Camby (2nd year)
Kevin Willis
Robert Horry
Derrick Coleman

Rodney Rogers
Tony Battie
Alan Henderson
LaPhonso Ellis
AC Green
Billy Owens
Donyell Marshall
Armen Gilliam
Toni Kukoc (SF/PF)
Joe Smith