if you got one guy from any era to start a team with today, who is it?
my knee jerk is Duncan(don't give me that crap. timmy is freaking good and you know it), but that post that jimi just put up about quad doubles got me thinking...
and i gotta go with Olajuwon.
what about you?
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If my objective is to have the team that wins the most championships it has to be MJ. I mean, I really don't even need to explain this.
hakeem. best center ever. can't do wrong centering a team around a center. i mean..thats why they call it center right?
First off Patrick, no. That was terrible.
I would also have to say Jordan. He forced his teammates to be better and Richard is right, he knows how to win. There's probably never been a better all around player. Although Magic Johnson is intriguing too. The guy was an assist machine and could play almost any position.
This is tough! Can we go with a top five or something? I would also like to nominate KG.
It's too bad we're so young or else we'd probably be throwing out names like Bird, Oscar Robertson, Kareem and Dr. J. I've only seen some of their stat lines and very little playing time so I really can't say how good they were.
For instance. You know how people nowadays go off on how many triple-doubles Jason Kidd has? Well he has 87. Magic had 138 and Oscar racked up 181!
This wikipedia article has the list of the 50 greatest players ever: NBA 50th Anniversary Team
As for Oscar Robertson, it should be noted that the NBA didn't start tracking blocks or steals until about '73 so it's entirely feasible that he had a few others peppered in there that were not noted. (see also 'Quadruple Double' entry)
As for 'the guy' picks. If I HAD to stick w/ one (which luckily I don't :) as it's all hypothetical anyhow) I'd go w/ MJ... though as each season passes, I realize how incredibly vital the head coach is. Without PJ & his assistants, MJ may have gone down in history as a slightly better AI or Dominique. I mean, what if MJ had landed in Dallas (the team drafting after the Bulls in '84)? Or what if he'd been traded at the wrong time (for him), say '86 or '87 to ATL or the Clips? He'd look like Kobe does these days :)
Tied for number 2 in my book are 3 guys and all for the same reasons. First, they're all centers (I do believe Patrick had that much correct). I mean look at the percentage of champions with a big time center (or a PF playing a center's game - TDunc [sorry Jake]). Jordan's Bulls are the only ones that stand out in recent memory of having continued success and even they had sum clutch defense by role players at that position. The second major factor I've got is only one one that I could find that takes the quality of the coach out of the picture (a little at least). All 3 of these guys made it to the finals with at least 2 different teams and at least 1 of those trips was with an slightly better-than-average coach: Wilt, Kareem, & Shaq. Shaq even made it with 3 different teams.
So... I guess assuming that I've got a pretty satisfying coach, MJ, otherwise, one of the Big Boys.
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