Ranking the Top 5 Man Units in the League

[PhoSita]

Rule: Only one 5 man unit per team



The Cream

Warriors: Curry, Thompson, Iggy, Barnes, Draymond

Spurs: Parker, Ginobili, Kawhi, Aldridge, Duncan

Thunder: Westbrook, Morrow, Durant, Ibaka, Adams

Clippers: Paul, Redick, Pierce, Griffin, Jordan

Grizzlies: Conley, TA, Barnes, Randolph, Gasol

Cavaliers: Irving, Shumpert, LeBron, Love, Thompson


The Sub-Contenders

Rockets: Beverley, Harden, Ariza, Jones, Howard

Hawks: Teague, Hardaway, Korver, Millsap, Horford

Heat: Dragic, Wade, Deng, Bosh, Whiteside

Pelicans: Holiday, Gordon, Tyreke, Davis, Asik


The Middle

Jazz: Burke, Burks, Hayward, Favors, Gobert

Bulls: Rose, Butler, Dunleavy, Mirotic, Gasol

Wizards: Wall, Beal, Dudley, Nene, Gortat

Suns: Bledsoe, Knight, Tucker, Markieff, Chandler

Bucks: MCW, Middleton, Parker, Giannis, Monroe

Raptors: Lowry, Derozan, Carroll, Patterson, Valanciunas

Pacers: Hill, Ellis, Miles, George, Mahinmi


The Sub-Middle

Hornets: Kemba, MKG, Batum, Kaminsky, Jefferson

Kings: Rondo, Belinelli, Gay, Cousins, WCS

Nets: Jack, Joe, Bogdanovic, Young, Lopez

Pistons: Jackson, Johnson, Marcus Morris, Ilyasova, Drummond

Celts: Thomas, Smart, Crowder, Lee, Johnson

Mavs: Harris, Matthews, Parsons, Dirk, Pachulia


The Trash Heap

Knicks: Calderon, Afflalo, Melo, Kristaps, Lopez

Magic: Peyton, Oladipo, Harris, Gordon, Vucevic

Wolves: Rubio, Martin, Wiggins, Towns, Dieng

Lakers: Deangelo, Young, Kobe, Randle, Hibbert

Nuggets: Lawson, Mudiay, Chandler, Faried, Nurkic

Blazers: Lillard, McCollum, Henderson, Aminu, Leonard

Sixers: Wroten, Thompson, Covington, Noel, Okafor


What do you think?  The best of the best?  The worst of the worst?


I care a lot more about 5 man units than depth.  I think that says a lot more about who the best teams really are. 

Which 5 man groups have the most talent and experience playing together? 

Which teams have a really great unit they can fall back on when everything is on the line?

[BigDogPitbull]

We belong in the trash heap.  Right in-between the Lakers and the nuggets.

[jambr380]

This is an awful thread if you're a Cs fan. We have perhaps one of the worst starting five in the league, but some of the best depth, as it could be argued that our third best player at each position could start over our first.

List looks good, though.

[Evantime34]

I think we belong more in the middle. I don't see Indiana as having a better lineup than us considering they are playing their star coming back from injury out of position, and will get brutally outrebounded in that lineup. The Magic are also too low and I think the Suns are too high.

That being said, since Stevens got here we are a better than the sum of our parts type of team. We probably have the deepest bench in the league and play harder than just about any other team. Which is why this team will win a lot more than where it is grouped.

[Who]

I think Phoenix will be up another level to sub-contender if that Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight backcourt works out. That Tyson Chandler & Markieff Morris big man pairing one of the most under-rated in the league.

[smicker16]

That is definitely a pretty good list.  I would probably swap out the Grizzlies with the Rockets.  Beverley over Terry would be a pretty serious upgrade for that team now.  And I love the Grizz, but I think they take a step back next year without making a trade at some point.

I would also swap out the Heat for the Bulls.  Not sure what the Heat will be with those guys always being banged up.  And I think the Bulls are going to get better with Rose having a healthy offseason and Butler continuing to improve just will be interesting to see how they respond with a new coach.

I would also drop the Pacers as well.  George is still a bit overrated in my mind as he really hasnt been amazing for very long and now coming back off of that injury we will have to see what kind of player he is. 

Pretty cool to look at this though and I agree this decides who can really contend as depth only matters amongst those teams at the top really.

[PhoSita]

I should note that when I do a list like this I don't worry too much about the ordering within each group, it's mostly about separating the teams into the different groups.

[action781]

Rule: Only one 5 man unit per team

Warriors: Curry, Thompson, Iggy, Barnes, Draymond, Bogut

Bulls: Rose, Butler, Dunleavy, Mirotic, Gasol, Noah

I think you're underrating the 5 man lines of Miami, Chicago, and Sacramento

I don't see why Celtics belong above Nuggets

[GreenCoffeeBean]

I think you are underrating the Bulls, Wizards and Wolves and overrating Grizzlies and Jazz.

[PhoSita]

I think you are underrating the Bulls, Wizards and Wolves and overrating Grizzlies and Jazz.

The Bulls are tough because Noah, when healthy, is one of their best players, but they are not at their best when Gasol and Noah are playing together.

I just don't see how the Wolves are going to be that much better this year just because they added a raw talent like Towns.

The Grizz and Jazz are tough teams to rate.  On offense, they're not very good, but are tough on opponents with their size.  On defense, they make life miserable for opponents.  Basically, they're miserable to play against, but also struggle so much just to score.

[celticsclay]

I don't disagree with some of these tiers, but I kind of have to ask what the point of is listing a  best starting 5. The NBA is actually moving away from valuing this with an increased value placed on depth. If you looked at the matchup between the Heat and the Spurs the last two times they played in the finals, it was completely swung by the Spurs depth. If you look at how the warriors were dominant all season a lot of it came from having a dominant bench. Their series with Memphis was a pretty good example of this. Memphis definitely had some injuries that contributed to it, but even in their games during the regular season when they were bringing in ancient vince carter, benu udro and calethes they were getting absolutely steam rolled by iggy, livingston, barbosa and others.

The Heat had some great starting players last year (Deng, Wade, Whiteside, Bosh for most of the season), but they were terrible when they had to go to a bench that included chalmers, a 36 year old birdman, napier, beasely and assorted riff raff. By the same token, it is part of the reason the Celtics were very successful in the second half of the season.

With respect your list I agree with it overall but it seems pretty inconsistent. The pacers have one star (George), one near star (ellis) an average point guard and two below average starters in Mahimi and Miles. How is that two levels better than Kings starting unit that features a legit superstar in Cousin, a near star in Gay  and three average to below average players (Koufas would probably start over WCS)? It seems like those two units should be at least equal not tiers apart. Sixers and Portland probably deserve a separate category all on their own.

Timberwolves would seemingly start Pek over Dieng and that group along with the Magic should be in the next tier with the nets.

[Robb]

Rule: Only one 5 man unit per team

Warriors: Curry, Thompson, Iggy, Barnes, Draymond, Bogut

I think you're underrating the 5 man lines of Miami, Chicago, and Sacramento

I don't see why Celtics belong above Nuggets

Correction: Curry, Thompson, Barnes, Green, Bogut

The Warriors have one of the best starting fives in the league in addition to probably the most depth and flexibility.

[PhoSita]

I don't disagree with some of these tiers, but I kind of have to ask what the point of is listing a  best starting 5.

Depth matters in the regular season, but when it comes to a do-or-die playoff matchup, it's all about your best 5 man unit.

[celticsclay]

I don't disagree with some of these tiers, but I kind of have to ask what the point of is listing a  best starting 5.

Depth matters in the regular season, but when it comes to a do-or-die playoff matchup, it's all about your best 5 man unit.

Isn't this kind of the opposite of what we have seen in the playoffs the last few years? Over 7 game series teams get worn down, and the depth is the difference maker if teams have similar starting 5s. Warriors and Spurs have survived the last few seasons to win championships to having depth and pieces to move around for different matchups. The fact that you saw the Warriors benching their starters in the finals shows just how much bigger a part of the game this is becoming.

[Csfan1984]

I prefer 8 man as every playoff team needs some depth but goo idea for a thread TP.

Heat are under-rated they should be in the upper-contender group unless you are indeed factoring injury probability.