Best NBA Team All-Time

[GeoffM]

I made some errors in the original post, but some things I have heard are crazy.

Forward, I would take Garnett and Duncan 11 times out of 10 over Malone and Olajuwon. They are better, period. Malone and Olajuwon were good in their prime, but I have to wonder if Garnett and Duncan, given their ages, have even hit their prime yet. Regardless I would go with them based on their talent today.

Centre, Shaq, enough said. Jabbar may have had more skill but Shaq is the most dominant force of all-time.

The guards, ya, gotta go with the Bird-Jordan combo. But whoever said Iverson was better than Kidd, HUH? Iverson shoots like 20% most of the time, and Kidd is better all-around and better at distributing the ball.

All in all, the new team is a thousand times more athletic overall and bigger. IMO today's team would crush the team of decades ago.

PS- James shits on people now too, and he is 19 . Wait 4 years until he is better still, and more mature. I think he will eventually surpass Jordan as the best of all-time.

[eddo31]

i too would take duncan and kg over malone and olajuwon, but i dont think that is the correct comparison. bird should be the small forward, and everyone else can fight over the power forward spot. that makes the backcourt of the old team significantly better, and it also puts everyone in their correct positions on the floor. upgrading from malone at the small forward, which wasnt his position, to magic at the point is a big gain for the old timers.

i think that frontcourt play would be better by the new guys, by a little bit, and that backcourt play would be dominated by the older players.

[GeoffM]

Yeah, so 2 guys in the backcourt vs. 3 guys in the front court. And remember, no bench=no "hack a Shaq". He'd be dunking all day, I don't care who the hell is guarding him.

Today's NBAers are just too damn athletic, too well conditioned, and freakish at that, there's 3 guys over 7 feet tall and 1 can play all 5 positions on the court effectively. I may even reconsider putting Nowitzki on the floor but I couldn't figure out where to put him. Think he could pull off a SG. I personally do, but I know there will be arguments to the contrary. He certainly has the shooting range, and adding a fourth 7 footer would make this team unbeatable on the boards. And height can often also make up for lack of defensive ability too. But even without that fourth 7 footer, who is going to pull down the boards for the old-timers? Garnett would probably have 40 rebounds in this game.

[eddo31]

i agree that the current team has a significant advantage in the frontcourt, but i dont think that you can make a basic "3 vs 2 advantage" argument here. big men dont touch the ball as much, so having the better backcourt makes up for this disadvantage a little.

the other major difference between the two teams is that the older players were better fundamental players. they could all shoot, and for the most part they could pass and rebound. this also cuts into the advantage in athleticism that the new guys have.

my big question is what do the new guys do against magic. lets not forget, he was 6'9", and played center in the nba finals his rookie year. none of the point guards today could handle him on the low post. and if you take kg to guard him (probably the most likely of the big men to be able to handle him), that probably puts kidd on bird and kobe on jordan. magic is the big wild card here.

the big if here is officiating. you are definitely right that the hack a shaq couldnt work here, but at the same time, if he got called for some of his numerous offensive fouls (and the calls would probably come because the old guys would have some respect from the refs), then he wouldnt be close to as effective.

this would be a tremendous matchup, and i am really torn as to who would win. the big argument to me is does the athleticism and size advantage of the new guys beat the fundamentals and magic of the old school guys.

[2Tone]

How many have we heard that about? Penny H? Vince C? Kobe? Lebron is a phenomenal, but god forbid one play away from tearing a tendon and never being the same. To say he’ll surpass MJ at this point strikes me as heresy.

[GeoffM]

Anyone catch the phenom score 43 yesterday against the defending champs? Cleveland looks to be heading towards possible, dare I say home court advantage.

I realize he'd have to stay healthy, but at his age young bodies tend to be more flexible and able to deal with more stress. Man, it's just amazing that the guy is only 19 years old and he's dropping 43 against a team that beat the Lakers for the title last year.