What would be the 1990s version of the Warriors super team?

I appreciate a well reasoned post, but that team would wreck Golden State.

You're giving Curry and Durant too much credit. Shaq and Hakeem are top 6 to 8 players all time while Curry and Durant are maybe top 15. I understand that all four were MVPs and perennial candidates, but not at the same level. The first two dominated.

Payton was the best player on 60 win teams something neither Thompson or Green have or will ever do. And I'm a big Reggie fan, but I think he compares favorably to those two Warriors.

I think only Curry and Durant stand alone as great players. While Thompson and Green would not distinguish themselves as much on other teams if they were the best players on their teams. I admit that I can't know that, but we all know that Miller and Payton actually led teams to near greatness.


I think a better comparison would be Robinson as Durant, Barkley as Curry, Richmond as Thompson, and Mooky Blaylock as Green. Robinson was thought to have lacked toughness, but was complete otherwise, just like Durant; Barkley was a defensive liability, but dominant on offense, just like Curry; Richmond was an awesome all-around two-guard, just like Thompson; and Mookie was great defensively and very solid offensively, just like Draymond. Maxwell is okay as a Zaza, but he did reach higher heights as a player. For my hypothethetical team that needs another forward I would go with Matt Bullard or someone like that.

F - Bullard
F - Barkley
C - Robinson
G - Richmond
G - Blaylock

That's still an awesome team and just goes to show how good the Warriors are. Constructing a 90s Cavaliers team you would get something like:

F - Starks
F - Kemp
C - Dale Davis
G - Jordan
G - Kevin Johnson

You would still have to favor the Warriors. The only chance the 90s Cavaliers would have is if Robinson and Barkley don't play up to their potential, Starks takes advantage of Bullard, Kevin Johnson has a great series, and Jordan has an all-time great series.

 

Mid 90s Super team for me would be Grant Hill, Penny, Shaq, Hakeem, Payton. That team destroys the Warriors imo.

 

Reggie Miller (Klay)
Dennis Rodman (Dray)
Penny Hardaway (Durant)
John Stockton (Steph)
Alonzo Mourning (Defensive Big)

Stayed away from Jordan or Dream due to the ball dominating nature of both. Team would have to play similar style as the Warriors to compete. I do think this Warriors team would run Jordans Bulls off the floor.

 

Was watching open court and Kenny mentioned in a half joking way that Karl Malone was the Kevin Durant of the 90s. So when you think about talent level PLUS the fact he had Stockton and was on contenders without a ring for so long(much like KD having Westbrook) compared to chuck who didn't have 55-60 win teams every year, and the warriors all being established championship contenders with a ring. I guess the 90s version of the Warriors would be like Karl Malone joining the 95-96 Rockets? Even then, Hakeem and Drexler were already trending down from their prime unlike Steph and Klay and you don't have the Draymond level player.

 

It was good until Zo. Zaza is more like Seikaly.

 

I see that point made a lot but what do we have today? A bunch of offense only perimeter players and a few 2 way. I think 90s had more all around perimeter talent IMO.

Michael Jordan - self explanatory
Gary Payton - self explanatory
John Stockton - self explanatory
Scottie Pippen - self explanatory
Dominique Wilkins - self explanatory
Clyde Drexler - self explanatory
Anfernee Hardaway - self explanatory
Grant Hill - self explanatory
Jason Kidd - self explanatory
Reggie Miller - self explanatory
Chris Mullin - 26/5/4
Mitch Richmond - 26/4/4
Tim Hardaway - 20 and 9
Kevin Johnson - 22 and 11
Glen Rice - 27ppg with 47% from 3
Alan Houston - 20ppg 43% from 3
Isaiah Rider (JR) - 20/5/3
Jerry Stackhouse - 24/4/4
Damon Stoudamire - 20/4/9
Mark Price - 18 and 8
Drazen Petrovic - 22ppg on 45% from 3
Allen Iverson - 27/5/5
Jamall Mashburn - 24/4/4
Terrell Brandon - 20 and 6
Joe Dumars - 24 and 4
Latrell Sprewell - 24/5/6
Shareef Adur-Rahim-(SF for 4 years) - 23 and 7
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf - 19 and 7
Steve Smith - 20/4/4
Mookie Blaylock - 17/5/6/3stl
Ron Harper pre injury - 20/6/5
Detlef Schrempf - 19/10/6
Ray Allen - 20/5/4
Glenn Robinson - 23/5/3
Jeff Hornacek - 20/5/5
Hersey Hawkins - 20/4/4
Dan Majerle - 17/6/4
Sam Cassell - 20 and 8
Eddie Jones - 20/5/4/3spg
Jim Jacksn - 26/5/4
Nick Van-Exel - 17 and 8
Rick Fox - 15/5/4
Steph Marbury - 21 and 9
Mark Jackson - 14 and 11
John Starks - 19/3/6
Jeff Malone - 20ppg
Nick Anderson - 20/6/3
Dennis Scott - 20ppg
Brent Barry - 12/5/4
Rex Chapman - 18ppg
Michael Adams - 26 and 10
Muggsy Bogues - 10 and 10
Kendall Gill - 22/6/4
Danny Ainge - 18 and 6
Wesley Person - 15ppg 43% from 3
Cedric Ceballos - 22 and 8
Cliff Robinson - 21 and 6
Avery Johnson - 13 and 10
Sean Elliott - 20/5/3
Chuck Person - 18/5/5
Vinny Del Negro - 14/3/4
Kenny Smith - 17 and 7
Doug Christie - 16/5/4
Tracy Murray - 16ppg
Young McGrady
Young Kobe
Young Nash

Probably even more that i'm overlooking. By comparison, there aren't many "great" perimeter players today either, just the 5-7 superstar perimeter players and a bunch of near all-star guys. The guys I listed are peak seasons in the 90s(rounded to highest) and would all have all star caliber stats for today.

The reality here is the dominant bigs of the 90s overshadowed the perimeter talent depth. The PG position is probably the strongest it has ever been today overall like the C position in the 90s but look at todays SG's. Majority are average players.

 

Interesting topic.
Rules were different, so it has to be a team that's good inside, to reflect the era.
You need to start with a couple of top 5, MVP caliber players who fit great with the era. One of them has to be not very good at D. If it's ~1993, we could take Barkley and Hakeem.
Add a couple B level stars who compliment them well and are pretty well rounded. Mitch Richmond, Joe Dumars.
Add a good respected defensive player off the bench. For example, Charles Oakley. Fill the rest with solid role players. Give them a good coach.

Dumars
Richmond
role player
Barkley / Oakley
Hakeem

1996 could be something like

Kenny Smith
Mitch Richmond
Latrell Sprewell / Dan Majerle
Karl Malone
Shaq

 

At first glance that looks like a list of a decade or close, though. Many of those players were good for a few years or had a great peak season, or were at the end of their primes in early 90s / just entering their primes in late 90s. in a particular year, I'd say today we have definitely more perimeter talent.
Or at least our current rules expose and nourish perimeter talent much better.

1996 especially seemed tough. i tried to come up with a perimeter oriented team that would have two Durant/ Curry caliber players, but i couldn't find anybody who wasn't on the Bulls. Payton maybe, but he's not quite there.

 

There's absolutely no need for an anti-Bulls 'super team' when you have the back-to-back, Clutch City champs.

Anyone who doubts it never watched those 90s mismatches at the Summit.

 

For specifically a score first pg and a pure scoring machine SF, you'd probably have to go to the 80s with Isiah and Nique, but 90s had different pure PG's that were great defensively and their SF's were all around as well over just pure scoring. But, as far as caliber and quality of player, i don't see why Pippen or Grant Hill could be equal to Durant and Stockton or Payton or Kidd being Curry level. Sure, none have MVPs, but how many would Durant or Curry have playing in the 90s as well? Different players due to their era, but all equally as good on an All-Time scale. We'll never know due to different rules and the way the 3 point shot was seen back then..who knows if Glen Rice would have been as good as Durant and Abdul-Rauf as good as Curry had they played with the same rules. Probably not, but fun to think about.

I do however like the idea of Karl Malone being the Durant of the 90s. Played with Stockton(Westbrook) and could never get over the hump with some great teams. Both have similar Win Shares. Both scoring Machines in different ways.

Funny enough John Stockton is the closest to Steph Curry in terms of impact and Win Shares as well. Who knows how good John Stockton would be offensively if he shot more in today's league with green light.

The full Warriors team 90s equivalent based on WS similarity scores from basketballreference.com:

C: Olden Polynice
PF: Karl Malone
SF: Scottie Pippen
SG: Latrell Sprewell
PG: John Stockton

Bench
Michael Finley
Clifford Robinson
Calbert Cheaney
Benoit Benjamin
Sam Mitchell
Kevin Ollie

Swap Sprewell for Mitch Richmond and ill take that team with todays rules.

 

durant, paul goerge, and kawhi alone are better than 99% of that list.

lmao 12/5/4 brent barry. talk about reaching.

jim jackson who averaged over 20 only once in his career and that was a year he only played 51 games on a team that didn't even make the playoffs.

come on now.......

 

94 rockets team will beat the warriors

 

Paul George? Better than 99% on that list? haha yeah, and you're not reaching. He'd be around middle of the pack in that group. But, just like i said in the post itself. It's no different today. You've got like 10 legit perimeter players and the rest are average guys like 12/5/4 Brent Barry numbers(in the 90s..his peak is 14-5-5 with 61% eFG% just under 10 shots, low usage at a 19 PER) and instead you give me a couple of guys as if that's so deep.


Yeah. What a ****ing bum white boi! 6-6 guy with PG skills and high IQ and one of the best 3 pt shooters ever. Yeah dawg. He wouldn't make it in this league where JJ Reddick, Sean Kilpatrick, Avery Bradley, Justin Holiday, TJ McConnell, Dion Waiters, Evan Fournier, Tony Snell DAWG? CJ Miles?!? Andre Roberson all start in the backcourt? Man it don't end. These backcourts too deep with talent for Brent Barry to even crack a D-League team!

I swear...people act like every player playing today is LeBron James and Westbrook level of athleticism. Majority of the players in any era are just average athletes.

 

who said anything about race?

 

You damn well why you specifically picked on him.

 

i also singled out a black player too.

 

Sorry if i'm being a dick. Just so tired of having to defend all the past generations all the way back to the pioneers from fans of today with no respect for the past. I hate it b/c it makes me in turn start to trash todays game and players. I'm so used to having to defend white players too and im not even white. Tired of seeing them trashed.

No excuse for the tone i used though, and i apologize.

 

I think you missed the point. I wasn't listing "superstars.' I was listing backcourt players that are well known names that all have had at least 1 all-star like season(statistically at least). Brent Barry's name was more of a throw in, but he was no bum and would be a perfect fit on any team today and would absolutely start on over half the teams in the NBA today.

I can compile a similar list for today's backcourt players and it would look similar. That was pretty much the point i was going for and was actually going to make that list horizontally with the most similar players on the 90s list and have todays players peak seasons listed as well, but i tired out.

I do think the odd thing about the 90s (other than 2 of their biggest future stars that were supposed to take the mantle being injured) was that it saw a transition from the greats of the 80s end their careers just as the 90s was kicking off. I dont think theres another generation where you can see so many greats retiring from old age and then 3 of the stars retiring at such a young age(magic-HIV/Bird-back,Isiah-ankle). Even Nique tore his Achilles. I suppose the early 2k's was similar with the 90s players retiring as well or being old.

 

i'm talking about legit stars, not role players.

i never said brent barry was a bad player but he's not a superstar / franchise player like durant, paul george, or kawhi. legit number 1 options that have lead teams deep in the playoffs.

the 90's had a lot of good perimeter players but it was more of a big man era.

 

Yeah, i got ya. I was just listing backcourt talent, not just stars.

I think there were plenty of stars as well. NOT COMPARING: Just trying to list a backcourt allstar and match with a backcourt all star from today to prove the point that there were just as many:

Jordan: Many see as the GOAT / LeBron?
Pippen: Poor mans LeBron / Durant?
Hill: Poor mans LeBron / Paul George?
Stockton: All time leader in assists and steals and extremely efficient shooter / Curry?
Payton: DPOTY with great all around 6'4 PG skills including posting up smaller PGS. / CP3?
Kevin Johnson: Super underrated. From 89 to 97, his averages were 20 and 10 with 50%fg. 23.7 PER in 91 / John Wall?
Tim Hardaway: From 90-98 averaged 20 and 9. Not the most consistent shooter or finished, but very aggressive esp. b4 knees gave out: OG crossover / Kyle Lowry?
Penny Hardaway: speaks for himself / Demar Derozan?
Clyde Drexler: Top 5 SG ever / James Harden?
Mitch Richmond: 10 year run of 23/4/4 / Klay Thompson?
Reggie Miller: One of the most clutch and purest shooters / Kawhi?
Jason Kidd: triple double machine pure pg / Westbrook?
Dominique Wilkins: more 30 ppg seasons than Kobe / Jimmy Butler?
Chris Mullin: Dream team poor mans Bird / Giannis Ant?
Glen Rice: 7 year run of 22ppg on over 41% from 3 / Hayward?

Miss anyone? I'm starting to run out of both 90s and todays all star backcourt players...it's really not different at all IMO but i have the advantage of using the decade while all those players are playing right now at the same time so they have that + DRose and BRoy injuries.

Forgot Kyrie...i dunno Price at one point? Iverson mid decade?