Who's your all time NBA/ABA starting 5

[AGEE11]

Can you imagine Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, or Michael Jordan not having HOF teammates? How many titles are they winning when Mo Williams is the second best player on the team?

Bird and flipped the Cs from 29 wins to 61 wins as a rookie. They didn't get Parrish until the next year and drafted McHale afterwards as well. The team was built around him and they won.

Jordan stayed with the Bulls and they built a team around him that won.

Neither jumped to the Lakers to win. They didn't call Barkley and Ewing and say let's get together on a team so I can win. They had teams built around them and won.

 

[TopCatCal]

Shaq
Jokic
Lebron
MJ
Curry

Bird would be an 8th or 9th man in todays NBA imo.

Yeah, you're probably right. The 67 year old Larry Bird of today, would probably be an 8th or 9th man on a current NBA team.

 

[Catzman]

Players to consider: Wilt, Kareem, Shaq, Olajuwon, Duncan, Dirk, Malone, Elgin Baylor, Bird, LeBron, Durrant, Jordan, Kobe, West, Big O, Magic, Curry. Some may add Russell, Garnett, Barkley.

I'll go:
Wilt
Bird
Kobe
Jordan
Curry

No Dr. J?!

 

[storm1507]

Traditional 5-Position Roster:
Wilt/Kareem
Duncan
Bird
Jordan
Oscar/Magic

My team would be:

Wilt
Duncan
Bird
Jordan
Magic

Subs

Lebron
Steph (shooter)

 

[JonathanW]

A couple days ago, I turned on tv and a sports channel was showing an 8-team "draft" of 80 greatest all-time players (well 75, and then 5 wildcards). Jerry West was one of the people drafting a team. Their computer analysis rated West's team as 2nd best.
Barkley, K.Smith & Shaq shared a team. D.Wade had a team, as did Domonique Wilkins (he picked himself #1, I don't think anyone else drafted themself).

 

[JonathanW]

My team would be:

Wilt
Duncan
Bird
Jordan
Magic

Subs

Lebron
Seth

"Seth Curry"??
I hope you mean his brother Steph Curry.

 

[storm1507]

"Seth Curry"??
I hope you mean his brother Steph Curry.

lol, glad I could give you a laugh. And, of course. I was already thinking people would laugh at that choice, but I needed some shooting on my team. I'll edit.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Hard to pick.

Kareem
Lebron
Bird
Jordan
Magic

I'm clearly biased towards a certain era.

 

[Jamal Sunburn]

Magic
Jordan
Durant
Duncan
Kareem

 

[JonathanW]

I still need a “small” forward, but here are mine:

PG: Calvin Murphy
SG: Iverson
SF:
PF: Barkley
C: Unseld

 

[shadowman4]

I agree that the above selections are worthy of being one of the top five players at their positions in the NBA or NBA. If you were looking at a second string starting five I would definitely have to put Dr. J in there .

 

[Zissou87]

Bird and flipped the Cs from 29 wins to 61 wins as a rookie. They didn't get Parrish until the next year and drafted McHale afterwards as well. The team was built around him and they won.

Jordan stayed with the Bulls and they built a team around him that won.

Neither jumped to the Lakers to win. They didn't call Barkley and Ewing and say let's get together on a team so I can win. They had teams built around them and won.

LeBron was nineteen his rookie year. Also, the Cavaliers couldn't build anything around him because the management sucked and no one wanted to play for the organization. Let's be honest, Dan Gilbert isn't Jerry Krause, Jerry West(+Jerry Buss), or Red Auerbach.

 

[Hoskins91]

Opinions are like armpits. We all got em and most stink. Variety is the spice of life. Look at the thread above, he's not on a lot of peoples top 5. He is on others.

I watched 80s basketball then and now. Full games. Miss that era desperately. Thank the Lord we have YouTube. I know the NBA numbers are better than ever and good for them, I don't like it. Still watch because I love this game, but I do prefer the 80s.

When talking about top ten players, using championship results is a measuring stick. It's not stupid because it throws your guy in a negative light. Going 4-6 when Jordan went 6-0, Bird was 3-2, Duncan 5-1; will knock you down the level. The ultimate goal is winning titles. Was Golden State really good, yes. So were the Jazz, Suns, and Lakers teams.

Jordan, Kareem, Wilt, Magic, Bird, Big O, Bill Russell, Duncan are 8 people I think rank over LeBron. That leaves people like Curry, Jerry West, Malone, The Dream, and many others LeBron is competing against for the final 2 spots.

As I said before, guy is super talented and a really good basketball player. Just in my opinion and many others, not top 5

Wilt and Oscar didn’t win anywhere close to enough to warrant being in the conversation based on your standards. LeBron has had a better career than Bird. The only case you have is Bird was better at his peak, and as you said, that is just an opinion. I try to be logically consistent. Apparently you don’t.

 

[Hoskins91]

Bird and flipped the Cs from 29 wins to 61 wins as a rookie. They didn't get Parrish until the next year and drafted McHale afterwards as well. The team was built around him and they won.

Jordan stayed with the Bulls and they built a team around him that won.

Neither jumped to the Lakers to win. They didn't call Barkley and Ewing and say let's get together on a team so I can win. They had teams built around them and won.

You’re all over the place. Bird didn’t have to leave Boston cuz they got him hall of famers to play with. Who was the best player LeBron played with in that first Cleveland run?

 

[Zissou87]

You’re all over the place. Bird didn’t have to leave Boston cuz they got him hall of famers to play with. Who was the best player LeBron played with in that first Cleveland run?

A 23-year old dragged this team to the NBA finals with a mediocre coach. Neither Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, nor Magic Johnson are getting a ring with these guys:
-Shannon Brown
-Daniel Gibson
-Drew Gooden
-Larry Hughes
-Zydrunas Ilgauskas
-Damon Jones
-Dwayne Jones
-Donyell Marshall
-Ira Newble
-Sasha Pavlović
-Scot Pollard
-Eric Snow
-Anderson Varejão
-David Wesley

 

[L.O.D.]

Magic (bestcall around pg to play ball)
Michael (greatest will)
LeBron ( next to Wiltvin terms of natural talent)
Russell ( greatest winner ever)
Wilt (greatest natural talent ever still)

HM. West, Bird, Oscar, Kareem, curry, Shaq, Dr J, Duncan, Malone.

 

[L.O.D.]

Dwight Howard
Robert Horry
John Starks
Caitlin Clark
Reggie Miller

Honestly even with Caitlin that team wpuld win some games and 2 of games greatest big shot makers in Miller and Horry. Starks was a big moment player as well. Clark wpuld struggle if at all physical but girl can pass n shoot - plenty of defense to off set.. maybe not a title but that team as a core I bet makes playoffs more years than not.

 

[ccukuk]

Dwight Howard
Robert Horry
John Starks
Caitlin Clark
Reggie Miller

Indiana screwing up your brain? I lived there a bit so I know it happens.