If You Could Pick 5 NBA Players, Past or Present, To Create One Starting Lineup...

Mmmmm, I don't know about that...

LBJ is a couple inches taller, and, much more athletic than Barkley was...

That's not to discredit Barkley, just stating facts...

 

At 6-4 Charles Barkley ,dominated people teller than he was, and out jump most of them.I don't no if you're old enough to remember the Charles i'm talking about.The young Charles Barkley was a monster.

 

Just to throw my 2 cents in. "Sir Charles" is certainly one of the top 5 small forwards in the history of the game, IMO. Despite his 6-4 size, he would have his way inside with just about anybody. I think his post game is superior to LBJ. But for overall game, I think LBJ is better then Barkley. It's just my opinion.
I think an in his prime Barkley vs. LBJ one on one match up would be highly entertaining.

 

I watched Barkley throughout his career, and, like I said, I'm not trying to discredit Chuck's skill...

I'm just talking overall...

Chuck was a beast, but, as far as overall skill set, LBJ has him beat...

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I think Chuck was a 4, but, seeing as how he was so small in comparison to other PF's, overall, your point still stands...

But, yeah, LBJ vs. Chuck in their respective primes would be a damn good show, for sure...

 

Thank's arjay,that's what I was trying to say.

 

I laugh when people compare current stars to those from the dream team era. You show me one center in todays game with a legit turn around fade away, and I will crap myself.

Charles Barkley was a shut down defender. Jordan was a shut down defender. Both had mid range jump shots that have all but disappeared in today game.

Is Lebron a better athlete? Of course, but i will take a John Stockton, over a Chris Paul any day of the week.

My point here is that everything in todays game is built around athleticism, where I will take my 30 rebounds and 20 points from old chuck anyday of the week over lebron's 28, 10, 10, 6.

 

My picks would be:

PG - Magic Johnson
SG - Michael Jordan
SF - Larry Bird
PF - Tim Duncan
C - Wilt Chamberlin

 

I'm with ya on Magic, Michael and LeBron, but I'm going with The Mailman at PF and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar edging out Wilt the Stilt at center.

 

Legit squad...

Malone was a monster...

One of those guys who could've won a ring, but, just played in the wrong era...

 

Yeah, if it weren't for Jordan and the Bulls I think Malone and his crew would have won a championship. I don't remember there being another team in the East that could have beaten the Jazz in their prime...

 

Nope...

No one else could've beaten them...

They were too good...

 

Malone was the Marino of the NBA. sad to see such great players do so much work and have so little to show for it.

 

starting line up
PG:Magic Johnson
SGistol pete
SF:Larry Bird
PF:Tim duncan
C: David robinson
Jordan was an incredible player individually but not as good a team player as Larry Pistol or Magic.

 

How so?

He definitely made his teammates better when he was on the court...

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Absolutely...

 

I'll just have my Chicago Bulls back please! Complete with Dennis Rodman!

Swop out Luke Longley and stick Larry Bird in there. I know Bird's a FW but I always thought he could be an awesome center.

The other thing I wanted during these times was Steve Kerr on the starting lineup instead of Ron Harper. So front to back I have:

Scottie Pippin
Dennis Rodman
Larry Bird
Steve Kerr
Michael Jordan

Tony Kucoc to remain chief bench warmer.

 

he made his team mates better because when they played the opposition focused on MJ because as he was miles better than all of his teammates and by drawing attention he freed up his teammates to do good stuff while the opposition always had "what's Jordan going to do?" in the back of their mind. on this "dream team" that would not be the case because they 4 other players on the same level the opposition would have to worry about. the way to make the team better would be by knowing the court passing and team strategy. Bird Maravich and Johnson were better at that than Jordan. Their court awareness and Highlight reel of passes are amazing.

 

You do know that MJ had an assist average equal to Maravich, and, only trailed Bird by 1 APG for his career, right?

 

That is sad. Makes me think of Barry Sanders, too. Ya gotta love a player of that caliber who is willing to stick with his team and town no matter what.

 

Just who was Maravich passing to all those years. I can't remember one of his teammates, so his assists were more valuable because they indicated that he could identify when less talented teammates had clear shots. Anyone MJ passed to by about 1989 was likely to score.

 

That doesn't demean the value of the assists...

Jordan played in a better era, so, of course he had more avenues to pass the ball off to...

 

I wouldn't overlook Jordan's contributions on the other side of the ball. In my book, defense is the ultimate team effort in basketball and Jordan and the Bulls played great defense. Furthermore, the Bulls didn't get really good until they surrounded MJ with other good players to play with him - obviously, he couldn't do it alone.

 

Also, as far as Jordan, consider the fact the he's the ONLY NBA player to ever get MVP & DPOY in the same season...

 

No, he played on a better team. How many assists did Jordan average at the start of his career when his teammates were terrible? The assist is overrated. In hockey it's arbitrarily given by scorekeepers paid by the home team. That's why Wayne Gretzky's assists were inflated as opposed to Gordie Howe's.
I'm not sure about basketball though. Do you automatically get an assist everytime the man you pass to scores, even if it's a 40-foot shot for no good reason, or can the scorer not credit the assist on the grounds that the shooter should have passed or that he got a random pass on the perimeter and penetrated all the way through a crowd for a layup with no help from the passer? All assists are not equal.
Dave Stockton seemed scared to shoot sometimes, so he took the easier path and passed to Karl Malone, who was certain to score, giving Stockton more assists and Malone more points when they could have been equally successful.

 

Yes.I know he had a high APG but like I said him being miles better than everyone on his team caused the opposition to leave other players open his passes were more to wide open people where as bird a maravich had much more impressive and dificult to make.

For example if you watch the hilight reels Maravich and bird's are full of impressive passes MJ was more of him scoring.

In short the passes of bird and Maravich were higher quality passes.

 

Also when comparing Maravich to jordon you need to take into account is if i am not mistaken he didn't have a 3 point line in his prime and his prime was cut short because of a knee injury which would have multiplied his points