After the Shawn Kemp thread brought back to me some memories of old players, I thought that it might be fun to look at some of the league's "storied" teams, and put down who we would have as their all-time starting five, plus a sixth man. Here are the teams I'm picking from: Sixers, Celtice, Lakers, Knicks, and just for fun, I'll go with the Rockets too. You can list whatever team or teams you want. NOTE: Remember that we're talking about the players when they played for their respective teams... So while Rick Barry was the better player, Rudy certainly had a better career as a Rocket. My teams - Sixers G - Mo Cheeks G - Hal Greer F - Dr. J F - Moses Malone (Had to fit him into the starting lineup) C - Wilt Chamberlain 6th Man - Charles Barkley Lakers G - Magic G - Jerry West F - Elgin Baylor F - Vern Mikkelsen C - Kareem 6th Man - Shaquille O'Neal Celtics G - Cousy G - Havlicheck F - Larry Legend F - Kevin McHale C - Bill Russell 6th Man - Cowens Knicks G - Walt Frazier G - Earl Monroe F - Bernard King F - Dave DeBusschere C - Willis Reed 6th Man - Patrick Ewing Rockets G - John Lucas G - Clyde Drexler F - Rudy F - Big E C - Dream 6th Man - Calvin Murphy Agree? Disagree? Think this is dumb? What do you guys think?
I really like all your list...I think it is funny you think of Barkley as a SUN or a 6'er, but Clyde as a Rocket I do the samething..
Spurs C - Robinson PF - Duncan SF - Elliott SG - Gervin PG - A. Johnson (Parker should pass him up very soon) 6th - Mike Mitchell
Even though he won an MVP with Phoenix, I really think Chuck's best years came as a Sixer. Back in the days when he was the one-man fast break. I don't know, I just detested how he would just post his man up for twenty seconds at a time later in his career.
Clippers (because I am bored) C- Bob McAdoo (1975: 34 pts, 14.1 rb, 2.1 blk) PF- Danny Manning (1994: 23.7 pts, 4.2 ast, 7 rb, 1.3 stl, 1.4 blk) SF- Dominique Wilkins (1994: 29.1 pts, 7 rb) SG- World B Free (1980: 30.2 pts, 4.2 ast, 3.5 rb) PG- Mark Jackson (1993: 14.4 pts, 8.8 ast, 1.7 stl) 6th- Lamar Odom Honorable mention: Bill Walton, Randy Smith, Ron Harper. This list is totally up for debate. Although who would debate Clipper basketball is beyond me.
mine is PG - MAGIC SG - WEST SF - KOBE PF - SHAQ C- JABBAR 6TH MAN - BAYLOR Talk about an over kill. This is the best first five plus sixth man ever and considering that i didnt include wilt who was still a dominant force during his waning years with the lakers. James Worthy too comes into my mind. The lakers are truly the greatest basketball team of all time.
86-87 Lakers would have destroyed any team in history: C Kareem F Worthy F Green G Scott G Magic Mikkelson at forward does not even come close to BIG GAME JAMES!
Okay, here's one just for you: St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks >>>>> C: Tree Rollins PF: Dan Roundfield SF: Dominique Wilkins SG: Lou Hudson PG: Pete Maravich SUB: Bob Pettit
I'd probably want Pettit starting. His career averages (26ppg, 16rpg) were much better than Roundfield's. Obviously they played in different eras, but I don't think the talent gap between the 50s/60s and the 70s was so great that Pettit would come off the bench.
Yeah, I almost went that way. I never saw Pettit play and Roundfield was awesome for short time. I'd love to have him in his prime line up next to Yao! Another thing: one of my all-time favorite oldies was Walt Bellamy. He spent most of his career with Detroit, but I also seem to recall him as a Hawk. The Atlanta website has no all-time roster than I could find. Do you remember if Bells played for the Hawks? I might elevate him to starter over Rollins if he did.
For a relatively young franchise the Magic would be pretty damn good... for about 10 minutes until Grant Hill gets injured again: C - Shaq PF - Horace Grant SF - Grant Hill SG - TMac PG - Penny Sub - Eh, take your pick, Garrity, Armstrong, Howard, Mike Miller. They're all decent bench players. This team wouldn't be so bad. It'd still have TMac and Penny at their best. And to be honest I've always preferred the slimmer Shaq to the "pear-shaped" Shaq of recent years. If we're allowing Steve and Cuttino into this discussion, then the bench would get an even bigger boost.
What about the former Big 3 in Big D. Kidd, Jackson and Mashburn. That would boost up the team a lot.
Orlando Magic: 1) Penny Hardaway 2) Nick Anderson 3) Tracy McGrady 4) Horace Grant 5) Shaquille O'neal bench: grant hill i'm too tired to think of more...though i'm sure there's a better list out there.
Mine is a Rockets 12 man roster assuming every player is still in their prime. C- Hakeem Olajuwon PF- Moses Malone SF- Glen Rice SG- Clyde Drexler PG- John Lucas Bench Ralph Sampson (pre injury) Rudy T Calvin Murphy Elvin Hayes Sam Cassell Kenny Smith Yao Ming
Knicks: PG: Clyde SG: Earl the Pearl SF: Debusch PF: Reed (out of position, but he was only 6'9") C: Ewing 6th man: Starks BENCH: Oakley, Bradley, Houston, Sprewell, LJ, Michael Ray Richardson, Marbury
Not bad, but I'd start Rudy over Rice, swap Hakeem and Moses and replace The Jet with Big Sexy. This list -- especially if you add Barkley to it -- really points up how blessed the Rockets have been with big men.
