We have no basketball season, so we must fantasize. 1. What starting 5, using only peak years for each player, would be the most unbeatable team ever assembled? 2. Could they go 82-0 over the course of an NBA season? Rules 1. You are using players at their peak - i.e. Michael Jordan from 1990, Lebron from 2008, etc. 2. You assume no injuries 3. Forget about a bench for now My Starting 5 PG: Steph Curry: 2015 (3-point shooting at a .450 clip, 8 assists per game) (considered 2005 Steve Nash, but defense held me back) SG: Michael Jordan: 1988 (truly a complete player: points, defense, steals, assists) SF: Kevin Durant 2013 (Shooting, defense, height lets you go a little smaller at the PF position) PF: Lebron James: 2008 (similar argument to 1988 Jordan - complete player) C: Hakeem Olajuwon 1990 (need the defense, 2000 Shaq was considered but the free throws and conditioning could hurt) Could a team with Shaq at C, Tim Duncan at PF, and 3 sharpshooters (2005 Steve Nash, Larry Bird or Kawhi Leonard, 2002 TMac) beat this team? Could a team with a great facilitator like 2005 Steve Nash, paired with competitors like Kobe, Barkley, and Kevin Garnett beat this team?
Not sure about best team, but creating an 82-0 team would go like this, for me. Take the 73-9 Warriors, and make the following tweaks Put prime Bill Walton in starting lineup, instead of Bogut ... cut Speights Bench Harrison Barnes for Pippen ... cut Brandon Rush I think that would do it. Those two changes would not affect proven 73-win chemistry. Walton is an HOFer version of Bogut ... better passer, too. And Pippen would fit right in, and fill holes they had in the games when Iggy and/or Barnes were out. Oh, and I'd sign Larry Bird to a 10-day contract for the 2 games Curry was out in December ... covering one of the nine losses. Or maybe Prime Steve Kerr would work ...
no team in the nba can go 82 and 0 . With the level of talent that its avaible it only takes a hot night from team and a cold one from another and you lost to the kings. Thats why only 2 team in nba HISTORY have ever gone 70 or more wins. And a Duncan, Shaq team plus shooters will beat them at least 35 % of the time.
Gary Payton Michael Jordan Kawhi Leonard Kevin Garnett Hakeem Olajuwon That's basically the best defensive team ever while also having an elite offensive team as well. To even possibly go 82-0, you would have to be an all-time great defensive team, because you're gonna have nights where you struggle offensively and you're gonna need to clamp down defensively to come out with a W when you should lose.
Dunno about year but current top 5 if everyone is healthy: Steph Curry-James Harden-LeBron James-Kevin Durant-Anthony Davis
I don't have any sort of stats to back me up or anything, but I feel like Lebron's peak defense rivals Kawhi's peak defense. And because Lebron is better than Kawhi all-around, I'd slot him in over Kawhi in that lineup.
Stockton Miller Bird Duncan Shaq If that team goes against the OP's team, it would win half the time. The immediate question is how does Duncan defend LeBron, but if he isn't playing in the LeBron offense his impact would be minimized. In that way, Duncan's defensive assignment could actually be the easiest. On the other end, LeBron would have no answer to Duncan. Stockton would make life hell for a softy like Curry and Curry would not be able to stop him from doing what he does best. Miller never beat Jordan, he couldn't defend Jordan, but he was never scared of him and is someone who doesn't need the ball to succeed. Hakeem beat Magic Shaq who gave Dream way too much respect and wasn't ready anyway. Even then, Shaq didn't fold against him. Bird would have his way against Durant and would make Duncan and Shaq even more lethal much like he did with McHale and Parish.
I'd say LeBron is a better all around player but isn't as defensively locked in (had the capability to be better) as Kawhi. Kawhi is a better complimentary player who can be extremely effectively on any team and can play off the ball significantly better than LeBron can. Defense and 3pt shooting is in Kawhi's favor while LeBron dominates in everything else, if you want a LeBron who can play along side some other ball dominating players you have to pick the Miami Heat LeBron over the early Cavalier's one.
1967-68 Wilt Chamberlain 2015-16 Draymond Green 1970-71 John Havlicek 2015-16 Klay Thompson 1994-95 John Stockton
That's an interesting approach. Not ignoring the existing chemistry of an already proven team. Would you still go with that lineup if your team had to compete against, let's say, the rules and teams of 1988?
Some interesting commentary and I do think in my original post, I focused too much on superstars and not enough on chemistry and roles of each player. You don't need 30ppg scorers at every position... but you do want efficiency at every position. And the posters who have emphasized defense are quite smart. In the statistical work I have done on NBA over/unders, the influence of defense is highly overlooked by the gambling community (and by fans at large). Offense is more memorable and more exciting, but when a good defense team plays a good offense team, more times than not, the good defensive team controls the pace of the game. In looking at defensive win shares, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain dominate, but I believe strongly that the quality of play has improved dramatically over time, making it difficult to include them on the team. Prime Hakeem, prime Dwight Howard (pre-mental problems), Tim Duncan, 2003 Ben Wallace, prime Patrick Ewing, and Kevin Garnett all deserve consideration. Larry Bird is one of the all time defensive greats as well, as measured by defensive win shares. Other highly rated defensive wings include Scottie Pippen and Shawn Marion. A potential revision might be: PG: Stockton SG: Jordan SF: Durant PF: Duncan C: Olajuwon A potential weakness with this lineup is that you've only got two 3-point shooters (Stockton and Durant)... but the defense would be lockdown. D'Antoni's 150 points/game lineup PG: 2005 Steve Nash SG: 2018 James Harden SF: 1988 Larry Bird PF: 2005 Dirk Nowitzki C: 2013 Kevin Durant
You realize theres only 1 ball right? and that backcourt alone needs 2. Teams need to make sense in order to function, is not only about the individual talent of each guy.
My lineup is pretty close to your revision. I would just replace Duncan with Bird. Surrounding Dream and MJ with 3 snipers is my reasoning. The defense would drop off some but not enough to offset what Bird could stretching the floor and playmaking on the other end. Stockton MJ KD Bird Dream
Of course not. Harden is a great scorer. But his to to assist ratio is not impressive. He doesn't run an offensive set, like, cp3 for example. He runs iso, breaks the D and then either he scores or pass to an open teammate, wich he is good, coz he's got great vision. He doesn't play off the ball, and him and kobe would be a terrible pairing. He is got a scorer mentality, not a pass first mentality and kobe is exactly the same. Imagine being Duncan on this team and waiting for the ball, just never get to touch it haha.
