Yeah, Karl Malone is probably my most controversial pick, and not only because of the homerific biases here. Tim Duncan would be a good alternative but the fact that many also consider him to be a center and the fact that he really hasn't finished his career yet, makes it premature. This is in essence the hall of fame of the hall of fame, or the top 5 of the greatest 50. And so you really can't be an active player to make the list. Additionally one may argue for Bill Russell or Kareem over Wilt. I agree, it just depends on your taste, but at this level of GOAT level talent, unstoppable offense beats stellar defense everytime. Wilt's 100pts is more impressive than Russell's championships because Russell always had better teammates. Who in their right mind would pick Rodman over Karl Malone or Pippen over Larry Legend? That's like preferring Chuck Hayes over Luis Scola!
You know nothing about Scola, why are you so adamant about it? Not at all. You could at least make a case for Stockton, but Pippen over Bird? Please...
Defense wins championships. Don't need Bird, plenty of offense already just with Jordan and Olajuwon. Pippen in his prime would give Bird fits. It all comes to a question in coaching philosophy I guess.
Bah. First, Dream's a center. Period. He is not and never was a 4. Second, if you have a great center like Olajuwon or Chamberlin, why screw them up with secondary post players like Duncan and (shudder) Malone? On an all-time team where you have great scoring centers, you don't dilute their effectiveness. Even KG would be a better fit on a GOAT Team given the givens at the other positions. In fact, you could make a strong argument that there is not a true 4 that is among the Top Ten GOAT. So, here's mine... Dream: Great offense, demands double team, even if it's Russell trying to guard him. Great defense... in clutch siuations he can guard any of the other greats by himself, allows teammates to overplay for steals and create fastbreak opportunities. Bird: Put him at the 4. He's scrappy enough to get rebounds, a great passer and scorer and great at playing help defense/passing lanes, so he would benefit from Dream's defense. Jordan at 2. Obviously. Magic at 1. Obviously. Again, on D, they have Dream behind them so they can take chances and play even more aggressively. Plus, you get rebounding from the 1 and he can guard everyone 1-4. Now, at the 3, I go back and forth between several player's but it comes down to who would I want to see on the wing with Magic in the middle and Jordan on the opposite. The obvious choice is Dr. J, but I'll be a homer and go with Clyde because I want to see him dunk on people after being set up by Magic or Bird... good defense, great in transition. Zeke and AI types would cause problems on the perimeter, but who cares as they wouldn't be able to do much on D. Plus, you have two of the game's greatest psych masters in Bird and MJ. Bring on Duncan, Malone, or especially guys like Nowitzki... Bird would be in their head before the tip off.
I believe that Jordan often said he thought of Dream as a 4. I don't have the quote to prove it, though.
Here's my team (with people in proper positions): C - Wilt Chamberlain: Shaq calls himself the MDE, Chamberlain is the real MDE. Has anyone thought about how amazing he would be if he benefited from modern sports medicine? The dude could bench more than anyone else, ever, and was a track champion in college, specifically in HIGH JUMP. PF - Tim Duncan: It's a contest between he and Malone. Duncan has 4 rings, Malone has 0. SF - Larry Bird: I would like to put Robertson or KG here, but that would be out of position. SG - Michael Jordan: Self-Explanatory. PG - Magic Johnson: Ridiculous court vision, could play all 5 positions, multiple championships. How great would he have been if he didn't get HIV?
I don't get your question. He's already one of the greatest to play the game and the greatest at his position. He was on the downward arc of his career when he made the announcement. It's not like he played only a couple of years.
I think if his career weren't cut short at 31, he may have won another championship, and he would have GOAT consideration. The year before he was forced to retire (1990-1991), he averaged 19.4/7.0/12.5 and averaged 21.8/8.0/12.6 in the playoffs. He still had plenty left.
Damn I like this one, Magic on the break with Jordan and Julius running the wings. This team would fastbreak the hell out of people. Barkleys rebounding and Dreams blocks.....
This is mine too. Lots of people loose sight of how good Barkley was because of his current profession as a Rockets hater. He was a beast of a PF.
This is technically true. That said the team below is better with Dream at the PF than Duncan. Dream is more exceptional in the skills needed to be a power forward than Duncan is. So my best team, not being confined to their listed positions, is -Kareem -Dream -Bird -Jordan -Magic But I could make a case for Barkley or Oscar taking Bird's spot and either having Jordan or Barkley man the 3 spot. If I recall Barkley played a lot or perhaps primary as a 3 early in his career at Phily--and he is a lot better than Pippen, Clyde or Dr. J at their primes. Barkley in his prime is better than KG too.
1st Team --------------------- Shaq-C Duncan-PF Lebron-SF Jordan-SG Magic-PG 2nd Team ---------------------- Kareem-C Malone-PF Bird-SF Kobe-SG Robertson-PG 3rd Team ----------------------- Russell-C McHale-PF Barkley-SF West-SG Stockton-PG
put Dream next to Wilt, that'd be my team. there's no reason Dream couldn't play PF and be a better player at it than Malone or Duncan.
I agree that Dream would be a better 4 than anyone who actually played the position but I made my team based on what position guys actually played and not what they could have played. I see no problem, however, with some putting Dream at PF on the list. I was also torn between putting TD over Barkley in the lineup. I finally went with Duncan due to his superior defense. This probably does not matter, but I do feel that if Duncan and Barkley met in their primes Chuck would have eaten Duncan alive. Barkley was THAT GOOD for about 3-4 years.
C-Hakeem PF-Malone SF-Bird SG-Jordan PG-Kidd + Cut Malone for Chuck Hayes the day before they win the championship .
C: Shaq- nobody can stop him and he draws tons of fouls on opposing centers PFream- quick and strong enough to play the 4 postion, he's the defensive stopper SF: Bird- arguably the greatest shooter to play the game SG:Michael Jordan: what can I say, it's Mike! PG:Magic- unteachable height for a PG, great passing skills, can play multiple positions Bench: C:Wilt PF:Russell SF:LeBron James SG:Jerry West PG:Oscar Robertson
