Who's your all time NBA/ABA starting 5

[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.

 

[3Eye]

Wilt
Bird
Jordan
Lebron
Oscar

 

[bthaunert]

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.

It's such a worn out argument. Take a look at the 2nd and 3rd best players on their respective teams when Bird was on the Celtics and Lebron was on the Cavs:

Larry Bird
1980 - Conference Finals - Nate Archibald (All Star) and Dave Cowens (All Star)
1981 - NBA Champions - Nate Archibald (All Star) and Robert Parish (All Star)
1982 - Conference Finals - Nate Archibald (All Star) and Robert Parish (All Star)
1983 - Conference Semifinals - Kevin McHale and Robert Parish (All Star)
1984 - NBA Champions - Kevin McHale (All Star) and Robert Parish (All Star)
1985 - NBA Runner Up - Dennis Johnson (All Star) and Robert Parish (All Star)
1986 - NBA Champions - Kevin McHale (All Star) and Robert Parish (All Star)
1987 - NBA Runner Up - Kevin McHale (All Star) and Robert Parish (All Star)
1988 - Conference Semifinals - Danny Ainge (All Star) and Kevin McHale (All Star)
1989 - Lost in First Round - Bird played 6 games - Kevin McHale (All Star) and Robert Parish
1990 - Lost in First Round - Kevin McHale (All Star) and Robert Parish (All Star)
1991 - Lost in Conference Semifinals - Kevin McHale (All Star) and Robert Parish (All Star)
1992 - Lost in Conference Semifinals - Reggie Lewis (All Star) and Robert Parish

13 season - 23 all stars played with him. Only 3 seasons did not have 2 all-stars playing with Bird (all 3 had 1)

Lebron James
2004 - No playoffs - Carlos Boozer and Big Z
2005 - No playoffs - Big Z (All Star) and Drew Gooden
2006 - Conference Semifinals - Big Z and Larry Hughes
2007 - NBA Runner Up - Larry Hughes and Big Z
2008 - Conference Semifinals - Larry Hughes and Big Z
2009 - Conference Finals - Mo Williams (All Star) and Big Z
2010 - Conference Semifinals - Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison
2015 - NBA Runner Up - Kyrie Irving (All Star) and Kevin Love
2016 - NBA Champions - Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love
2017 - NBA Runner Up - Kyrie Irving (All Star) and Kevin Love (All Star)
2018 - NBA Runner Up - Kevin Love (All Star) and Isaiah Thomas

11 seasons - 6 all stars played with him. Only 1 season, he had 2 all stars.

Now you tell me, with the guys the Cavs put around him, why he wanted to go somewhere else both times?

 

[Titpwhami2014]

PG - Magic
SG - MJ
SF- Bird
PF - LeBron
C - Russell