lefty

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Pretty easy for me.

FIRST TEAM
1-Guard: Magic
2-Guard: Jordan
3-Forward: Bird
4-Forward: Malone
5-Center: Bill Russell

SECOND TEAM
1-Guard: Oscar Robertson
2-Guard: Jerry West
3-Forward: Julius Erving
4-Forward: Elgin Baylor
5-Center: Chamberlin


And for all the critics, Shaq isn't on the map yet until fouth or fifth team.

Stumpy

Malone - Karl or Moses? Either way, I'd flip them with Dr. J and pretty much agree with the rest of your top two teams.

lefty

Karl, only because Moses played the 5 most of his career.

I really tried to be true to the positions and not cheat like most lists. If the guy was a small forward, like Dr. J, I tried to judge him only as a 3.

Stumpy

I know, I know the 3, the 4, but the forward position wasn't as defined and regimented back in the day either, y'know? Plus Bird was 6-10 - I think he coulda handled the 4. And opened up the O-fence.

lefty

I loved Larry Legend. I grew up in Indiana and got to see him play in college. He was just incredible. I saw him play against Evansville his senior year and three guys fouled out trying to guard him. He ball faked one guy and, no kidding, the guy fell flat on his ass. Larry popped for 40 that night and was unstoppable. For the record, if anyone doubts Bird's greatness, here's the starting five he led to the Final Four his senior year.

G - Carl Nicks
G - Steve Reid
F - Alex Gilbert
F - Larry Bird
C - Brad Miley

Never has one man carried so little talent so far. Once Larry went to Boston, it was all fate. He was the perfect guy for that franchise.

Adonde?

Boy, I think I'll get flamed for this:

PG - Dave Bing
SG - Sam Jones
SF - Magic Johnson
PF - Bill Russel
C - Shaquille O'Neal

I would take that starting five against anyone if they were in their prime.

lefty

I won't flame you. I love the old school. I'd leave Shaq out (Russel would bitch slap him if he got lazy on D!), but that's me.

Dave Bing! Dave Bing! Damn, I loved watching Dave Bing play. Everything about Dave Bing was smooth.

Adonde?

That's the exact point, you always need a leader of the team and Russel would get the respect from Shaq and you'd have two dominant people in the paint....Really dominant.

Stumpy

But can you really have two people in the paint that dominant? The Russell/O'Neal pairing seems to lend itself to one playing on one end of the floor and the other on the other end, and creating an overall imbalance. Russell's defense was far superior to anything Shaq has shown, but Shaq's O is unstoppable, free throw line be damned.

Magic at the 3 intrigues me though. It creates so many mismatches and possibilities ...

jackal12

Posts: n/a/0

Threads:

1 magic
2 mj
3 bird
4/5 wilt
4/5 shaq

Adonde?

Zone defense -- Creative offense.

And dont think that Shaq in his prime wasn't a defensive nightmare for opponents. It's just that between him and Russel, no one will ever grab any rebounds other than them.

Plus Magic could be your pretty much point gaurd and you'd be wearing down whomever is covering him at the SF position with all the movement he will make with the ball.