Your all time NBA starting 5

[Chupacabra]

Simple thread. It makes for interesting basketball conversation so why not. List your all time NBA starting five and give a brief explanation for each selection.

C - Hakeem Olajuwon
At a time when the NBA was rich with dominant centers, Olajuwon dominated all of them. He beat Ewing in the 94 finals. Dominated David Robinson in the 95 WCF and did whatever he pleased against Shaq in the sweep of the Magic in the 95 finals.

PF - Kevin Garnett
For myself, this is the hardest position to choose from. In my opinion, Garnett is the most well rounded player ever at his position. He is a true leader that brings his best effort every game for the entire game. Much like Olajuwon, Garnett is proficient in every category.

SF - Lebron James
I cant justify putting any player ahead of Lebron. He currently dominates everyone else at his position. He makes all of his teamates better. With Lebron, Cleveland is a top 5 team in the league. Without Lebron, I firmly believe Cleveland is one of the worst teams in the league. He has the unique combination of being a dominant scorer with excellent passing ability. Hes a true freak athlete.

SG - Michael Jordan
The best player ever. The best clutch performer ever. The best current player in the NBA (Kobe) mimics Jordans every move. Enough said.

PG - John Stockton
Stockton is the Definition of a point guard. He is a GREAT 2 way player. Hes the all time leader in steals as well as assists. Stockton makes all of his teammates better. If it wasnt for Michael Jordan, Stockton would have won at least 2 championships.

List your top 5 and lets all argue with eachother!

 

[Gargamel]

Magic - Stockton doesn't hold a candle to him to be honest, and I like Stockton's game tremendously. Best passer ever, clutch, smart as hell, good rebounder, good scorer, total package. Oscar is ahead of Stock as well, perhaps interchangeable w/ Mag.

MJ - explanatory.

Bird - All around best player in the league for a number of years, clutch, smart, great passer, great shooter. Heart. AI hasn't got a clue what it is.

Russell - So what if he played in the 50s and 60s, he was by the accounts of all those with white hair the best defensive F/C in history. He had great teams, but he was a wall to 90% of the league.

Wilt - DOMINANCE. Kareem rates closest. Hakeem had a couple of periods of dominance w/ relatively soft spots in between. By 95, he was clearly the best player in the league, but I remember 90-92 as well. He wasn't omnipresent then, the stats can go fly a kite.

 

[SacKings7]

C - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - I can't justify putting Wilt here, because for the most part he only played against people like a foot shorter than him. Even still his numbers are impressive, but he overshadows other guys who put up great stats against people their own size, like Mr. Alcindor here.

PF - Tim Duncan - The greatest PF of all time. Period. Mr. Fundamental

SF - Larry Bird - Choosing Bird over LeBron for now. We'll see how LeBron does in the coming years before I put him ahead of Bird

SG - Michael Jordan - If for some reason he isn't in somebody's lineuo, then you need to re-think your lineup

PG - Tyreke E-er...Magic Johnson - A matchup nightmare, and the best PG of all time. I like Stockton as a more "pure" point, but Magic was too good not to include.

 

[PurpleHaze]

Oscar Robertson - Incredibly multi-talented, unbelievable stoic player who averaged TRIPLE DOUBLE for entire NBA season - 'nuff said!

Michael Jordan - Was best offensive player of modern era but more telling was best defensive player at same time.

Wilt Chamberlain - Best big man ever by a TALL margin if going by pure mind boggling stats. Olajuwaon, Kareem, Russell, Moses Malone are about only ones in Wilt's league.

Larry Bird - Winning 3 consecutive league MVP plus 3 titles w/ all those epic battles facing Lakers in finals - tops! Magic Johnson is the runner up here even though it's a coin flip with his 5 titles.

Julius 'Dr J' Erving - I include his ABA career, stats and titles won there. The battle with Denver Nuggets (David Thompson) was epic in 1976. Won NBA title in 1982 w/ Philadelphia 76ers and was THE NBA before Magic and Bird.

Besides handful of other players honorably mentioned, wish I could include even a few more like Steve Nash, John Stockton, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Tim Duncan, plus Pete Maravich and Bill Walton if also considering their remarkable collegiate careers. All these guys on NBA list of "50 greatest players." Kobe and LeBron not on that list since still active, but clearly worthy.

 

[dbfish]

Wilt Chamberlain- The most dominant big man period. Impossible to stop. Dunks, dipper dunks, fade away jumper, 50ppg season, 100 points in one game. Nuff said....Bill Russell would be next.

Larry Bird- Mr. Clutch. Seemingly never missed with the game on the line. Great rebounder and passer for a SF... Dr. J right behind.

Tim Duncan- One of the most fundamentaly sound players to ever play the game. I have to give him the nod over Karl Malone only because he has the rings.

Michael Jordan- Refuse to lose! Nuff said. Most driven player ever...After MJ I have the NBA poster boy Jerry West. For those of you not old enough to have seen him play, he never seemed to miss a shot and was an incredible defender.

Magic Johnson- The single most versitile player to ever play. Eyes in back of his head. If you think Tyreke is a matchup nightmare, try guarding him if he was 6'9". If I was starting a team he would be my first pick (and I hate the Lakers)... John Stockton- more assists than any player in NBA history.

6th man- I had to add this to my team.
Oscar Robertson- perrenial all-star. Averaged nearly a triple double for the season one year. Phenominal scorer... After him would be John Havlicek of the 60's Celtics. A true 6th man. Great motor. Imediately changed games when he came in. Relentless energy. Think Casspi that can defend and shoot better.

 

[AyeCarly]

Couple guys out of natural position, but you didn’t specify whether we can do this or not. This would be my all time starting 5, and my subs for fun.

C – Shaquille O’Neal
PF – Dwight Howard
SF – Lebron James
SG – Kobe Bryant
PG – Michael Jordan

Just because.

Bench (Triple-Double Mob)
C – Wilt Chamberlin
PF – Magic Johnson
SF – Larry Bird
SG – Oscar Robertson
PG – Jason Kidd

 

[stevetaebo]

Magic - Stockton doesn't hold a candle to him to be honest, and I like Stockton's game tremendously. Best passer ever, clutch, smart as hell, good rebounder, good scorer, total package. Oscar is ahead of Stock as well, perhaps interchangeable w/ Mag.

MJ - explanatory.

Bird - All around best player in the league for a number of years, clutch, smart, great passer, great shooter. Heart. AI hasn't got a clue what it is.

Russell - So what if he played in the 50s and 60s, he was by the accounts of all those with white hair the best defensive F/C in history. He had great teams, but he was a wall to 90% of the league.

Wilt - DOMINANCE. Kareem rates closest. Hakeem had a couple of periods of dominance w/ relatively soft spots in between. By 95, he was clearly the best player in the league, but I remember 90-92 as well. He wasn't omnipresent then, the stats can go fly a kite.

Can't argue, great choices. Different styles that would blend together.

This would be my team with a swap of Magic for Lebron James.

 

[Superman]

These lists always show the difference between younger fans and older ones.

 

[Chupacabra]

Its hard for me to consider players who played before the 3pt line era. It was a different game. Freak athletes were few and far between.

 

[Löwenherz]

Here it is, my slightly homerfied, "No-Lakers-Allowed" All-Time Starting Five:

C: Bill Russell - Put the "D" in "Dominance" before they even tracked stats for the former and has more rings than fingers. Special nod to The Dream and the Lakers greats Wilt, Kareem and Shaq in that order.

PF: Kevin Garnett - My favorite Non-Kings player of all time. Plays/played with an aggressive intensity normally reserved for Dobermans and spent most of his career excelling at a superstar level while essentially playing 5-on-1. I was ecstatic when the Celtics rescued him from purgitory and gave him a real chance to erase the "But he's never won anything" ridiculousness. Also gives me another Celtic in my anti-Laker squad. And even with all the aforementioned, it was still hard to put him in over Duncan.

SF: LeBron James - There is no sound reason for me to pick LeBron over Bird here. At this stage, Bird's legacy is basically having played as LeBron 2.0 (kind of backward "hindsight history" there ... and yes I just made that term up). And yet, I still went with King James out of little more than personal affinity (having been subjected to ESPN LBJ highlights since his high school days) and the fact that while Bird played with the likes of Parish and McHale and was coached by Red Auerbach ... LeBron has been clawing his way to the Eastern and NBA finals with, shall we say, lesser support - a true irony for a player whose strength is getting his teammates involved. LeBron edges out Bird purely on the promise of unfathomable excellence with some actual help.

SG: Michael Jordan - I wanted to be different. Honestly I did. I think the cannonization and almost unqeustioned anointment to Greatest Ever status MJ receives is a bit overdone. And while I can argue against him being the best the NBA has ever seen ... the best at his position I cannot. Especially with a pair of Lakers in The Logo and Kobe (not to dismiss the amazing talents of both) being the closest competition.

PG: Oscar Robertson - Greatest King of all-time, blah blah ... averaged a triple double, yaddy yada. And although Magic transcends my irrational and unrequited animosity toward a fanbase and franchise that thinks my favorite NBA team plays hockey, I still went with the Big O.

-Additionally, this line-up gives me three of the only four men to ever average 20/5/5 during their rookie campaigns ...

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Can I get away with:
Oscar
MJ
Magic
Russell
Wilt

 

[VF21]

Magic - Stockton doesn't hold a candle to him to be honest, and I like Stockton's game tremendously. Best passer ever, clutch, smart as hell, good rebounder, good scorer, total package. Oscar is ahead of Stock as well, perhaps interchangeable w/ Mag.

MJ - explanatory.

Bird - All around best player in the league for a number of years, clutch, smart, great passer, great shooter. Heart. AI hasn't got a clue what it is.

Russell - So what if he played in the 50s and 60s, he was by the accounts of all those with white hair the best defensive F/C in history. He had great teams, but he was a wall to 90% of the league.

Wilt - DOMINANCE. Kareem rates closest. Hakeem had a couple of periods of dominance w/ relatively soft spots in between. By 95, he was clearly the best player in the league, but I remember 90-92 as well. He wasn't omnipresent then, the stats can go fly a kite.

Totally agree. And the idea of seeing Magic and Bird play together gives me goosebumps.

 

[Superman]

Can I get away with:
Oscar
MJ
Magic
Russell
Wilt

I didn't see any rules against it, but I think that's cheating.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I didn't see any rules against it, but I think that's cheating.

I'm inclined to agree, however that's pretty much my top 5 all time and I think that lineup would work in the modern NBA.

Plus it gets me nicely out of my Jordan conundrum since my feelings might be similar to Löwenherz.

 

[Superman]

If we made it really interesting and axed the top ten guys like Wilt, Kareem, Magic, MJ, Bird, Robertson, Russell, Dr. J, Jerry West, ... you know, the guys that make everyone's list, then what would we come up with? I think that would really provoke some discussion.

 

[captain bill]

I'll play some guys out of position to make this work:
PG: Jason Kidd
SG: Tyreke Evans
SF: Chris Webber
PF: Bill Walton
C: Arvydas Sabonis

With all 5 guys health and in their primes, the passing on this team would be amazing. Extremely high efficiency, players who could buy into a system and compensate against more talented opponents. Obviously some problems with small-ball line-ups but that's what you have a bench full of midgets for.

 

[Jespher]

PG John Stockton/Magic Johnson
SG Michael Jordan/Mitch Richmond/Kobe Bryant
SF Larry Bird/LeBron James/Scottie Pippin
PF Bill Russell/Karl Malone/Tim Duncan
C Kareem Abdul-Jabbar/Hakeem Olajuwon

Offense + (Passing/Shooting/Chemistry/Cohesion/Slashing)
Defense + (Blocks/Steals/Rebounding/Hustle/Heart/Consistency)
Leadership +
Clutch/Winners +

 

[hoopsfan]

Magic - Stockton doesn't hold a candle to him to be honest, and I like Stockton's game tremendously. Best passer ever, clutch, smart as hell, good rebounder, good scorer, total package. Oscar is ahead of Stock as well, perhaps interchangeable w/ Mag.

MJ - explanatory.

Bird - All around best player in the league for a number of years, clutch, smart, great passer, great shooter. Heart. AI hasn't got a clue what it is.

Russell - So what if he played in the 50s and 60s, he was by the accounts of all those with white hair the best defensive F/C in history. He had great teams, but he was a wall to 90% of the league.

Wilt - DOMINANCE. Kareem rates closest. Hakeem had a couple of periods of dominance w/ relatively soft spots in between. By 95, he was clearly the best player in the league, but I remember 90-92 as well. He wasn't omnipresent then, the stats can go fly a kite.

That's exactly who I would have picked...even before I saw your list.

 

[Jespher]

Taking away those players the next tier would be:

PG Gary Payton/Jason Kidd
SG Dwayne Wade/Manu Ginobili
SF Julius Erving/Charles Barkley
PF Chris Webber/Kevin Garnett/Dirk Nowitzki
C Shaquille O'Neal/David Robinson/Dwight Howard

Not sure where to put Wilt as he was statistically very dominant, but was playing midgets...

 

[VF21]

I'll play some guys out of position to make this work:
PG: Jason Kidd
SG: Tyreke Evans
SF: Chris Webber
PF: Bill Walton
C: Arvydas Sabonis

With all 5 guys health and in their primes, the passing on this team would be amazing. Extremely high efficiency, players who could buy into a system and compensate against more talented opponents. Obviously some problems with small-ball line-ups but that's what you have a bench full of midgets for.

IMHO that's against the whole initial concept. If this was a voting thread, I'd have to vote against you for not choosing players who actually played each position for your starting 5.

 

[Telemachus]

C - Wilt Chamberlain - Simply the most dominating player to ever step on the court.

PF - Bob Petit - He is the proto-type for the position IMO. Did it all, but most probably don't remember. (Kevin McHale was close, had more moves under the basket than anyone else I have ever seen)

SF - Larry Bird - There have been many great SFs, but there is only one Bird. Magic Johnson said it best -- No lead ever felt safe until the buzzer sounded with Bird on the court.

SG - Micheal Jordan - Was there really any doubt?

PG - Oscar Robertson - The Big O might be considered the best to ever play instead of MJ if he had played in this era. He simply played in a time when there wasn't as much exposure back when he played. (Magic is a close second for this role for obvious reasons)

 

[Emma]

Mine:

PG: Isiah Thomas - Bad boy.
SG: George Gervin - The Ice Man could score points tomorrow - today!
SF: John Havlicek - This is the guy Omri should watch tape of. Hondo= Beast.
PF: Tim Duncan - Gets my vote for best PF ever.
C: Moses Malone - Shot pass = Assist AND the bucket!

Reserves:

PG: Rajon Rondo - DE-FENSE!
SG: Pistol Pete Maravich - For a spark. And mustard.
SF: Rick Barry - He goes in when the game turns into a chess match.
PF: Dennis Rodman - You have to have a guy who will get dirty.
C: Vlade Divac - I want to see Divac play with the rest of these guys. Just for fun .

My team is nasty.

 

[Gargamel]

PG: Rajon Rondo - DE-FENSE!

Balalahhlllaaaahhhhhhhuuuuuuuhhhaaaaauuuhhhh...

C'mon, can't you go Dennis Johnson at least?

 

[dbfish]

C - Wilt Chamberlain - Simply the most dominating player to ever step on the court.

PF - Bob Petit - He is the proto-type for the position IMO. Did it all, but most probably don't remember. (Kevin McHale was close, had more moves under the basket than anyone else I have ever seen)

SF - Larry Bird - There have been many great SFs, but there is only one Bird. Magic Johnson said it best -- No lead ever felt safe until the buzzer sounded with Bird on the court.

SG - Micheal Jordan - Was there really any doubt?

PG - Oscar Robertson - The Big O might be considered the best to ever play instead of MJ if he had played in this era. He simply played in a time when there wasn't as much exposure back when he played. (Magic is a close second for this role for obvious reasons)

Good call on Pettit. I was going to put him down but figured nobody would know who he was or how great he was.

 

[Emma]

Balalahhlllaaaahhhhhhhuuuuuuuhhhaaaaauuuhhhh...

C'mon, can't you go Dennis Johnson at least?

I almost picked Dumars. I was just impressed by Rondo's performance in last years playoffs.

 

[Entity]

Wilt, Walton, Robertson..........all these guys played in an era of no double teams. Could you Imagine Kobe, Lebron without the double team. Todays athletes are quicker stronger faster.

Give me
Shaq
Garnett
Lebron
Kobe/MJ
Kidd

against any combo pre 1990's players.

 

[Chupacabra]

Wilt, Walton, Robertson..........all these guys played in an era of no double teams. Could you Imagine Kobe, Lebron without the double team. Todays athletes are quicker stronger faster.

Give me
Shaq
Garnett
Lebron
Kobe/MJ
Kidd

against any combo pre 1990's players.

AHEM! Im not going to start that arguement.

 

[Chupacabra]

I firmly believe that my team (Olajuwon, Garnett, Lebron, Jordan, Stockton) would wipe the floor with every all time starting 5 team that has been mentioned in this thread. Olajuwon in his prime is going to have his way with everyone and anyone. Garnett will rebound the hell out of the ball while defending the paint as well as possible. Hell also put up 20 ppg. Lebron is Lebron. He scores at will, has GREAT court vision, and is the most athletic small forward EVER...EVER. Jordan is the Greatest basketball player ( best professional athlete ever) ever. Stockton is the all time leader in assists. The all time leader in steals. He has no problem defering to other players, whatsoever.

 

[Jespher]

I firmly believe that my team (Olajuwon, Garnett, Lebron, Jordan, Stockton) would wipe the floor with every all time starting 5 team that has been mentioned in this thread. Olajuwon in his prime is going to have his way with everyone and anyone. Garnett will rebound the hell out of the ball while defending the paint as well as possible. Hell also put up 20 ppg. Lebron is Lebron. He scores at will, has GREAT court vision, and is the most athletic small forward EVER...EVER. Jordan is the Greatest basketball player ( best professional athlete ever) ever. Stockton is the all time leader in assists. The all time leader in steals. He has no problem defering to other players, whatsoever.

I'd take Kareem over Olajuwon. He could score at will with the sky hook and his length at 7'3" would severely effect the 6'9" Olajuwon's game. As for the PF spot, I'd take Bill Russell and his 11 championships, crazy defense, rebounding, and post scoring over Garnett anyday...

 

[Chupacabra]

I'd take Kareem over Olajuwon. He could score at will with the sky hook and his length at 7'3" would severely effect the 6'9" Olajuwon's game. As for the PF spot, I'd take Bill Russell and his 11 championships, crazy defense, rebounding, and post scoring over Garnett anyday...

6'9"? Olajuwon is a 7 footer. David Robinson is right up there with the greatest defensive centers ever and Olajuwon made him look like a chair.