Reply With Quote
Walt Frazier & Earl Monroe
Jerry West & Gail Goodrich
The other day, I was watching something on the Celtics, and someone in the show said that they had the greatest frontcourt ever (Bird, McHale, Parish). It made me think of other great frontcourts as well as backcourts. Who's frontcourt and backcourt would you pair together to form the most unstoppable team?
I would put the Spurs frontline of Elliott, Duncan, Robinson with the Pistons backcourt of Dumars and Thomas.
ing beastly defensive team, with an explosive guard that facilitates the offense as well as anyone (Thomas), a lockdown defender that can also score efficiently and hit 3s (Dumars), a smart and well rounded role player who can score 20 any given night (Elliott), the best PF ever who dominates on both ends, as well as having a dominant low-post game (Duncan), and a center who has everything you need... size, strength, athleticism, shotblocking, rebounding, smarts, scoring inside, a short jumper to keep defenses more on their toes (Robinson).
and the best thing, aside from the PG (who is SUPPOSED to have the ball the majority of the time), no one constantly needs the ball in their hands to be effective.
thoughts? any other dominant frontcourts and backcourts that come to mind?
Walt Frazier & Earl Monroe
Jerry West & Gail Goodrich
nice choice by the way
i love elliott and he was a very fine player, but he just doesn't compare with Bird. McHale and Parrish more than compare with Timmy and DRob.
Bynum, Gasol, Ariza
I'll take the aforementioned frontcourt, and Jordan and Pippen if you let me use Pippen as a guard.
Other possible frontcourt candidates: Havlicek/Heinsohn/Russell, Dr J/Moses Malone/Barkley, D. Robinson/T. Duncan/Any other guy, Drexler/Barkley/Hakeem
Tough to say with backcourt candidates... not very many legendary PG/SG combos it seems, besides the aforementioned Dumars/Thomas. Billups and Hamilton aren't bad either as a combo.
Honestly, I haven't checked the stats, but you might be right. Strange how frontcourts can be packed, but most teams seem to have had only one star at a time in the backcourt.
The 80s Celtics had the most ridiculous frontcourt ever, can't really argue with that one.
The Wallace, Wallace and Prince Pistons frontcourt was actually quite strong. Doesn't have the names of the other two you mentioned, but they compliment each other very well, and is amazing defensively as well.
Moses Malone, Dr. J & Bobby Jones/Barkley was great too even though none of them were in their absolute primes other than Malone.
As for backcourt, Magic and Norm Nixon was a great pair, but Magic and Scott was even better.
Payton and Hawkins was pretty good, Stockton and Hornacek/Jeff Malone, Rolando Blackman/Fat Lever were some great backcourts as well. Not as great as those mentioned above, but great nonetheless.
I think it has more to do with dominating the ball. Imagine Nash and MJ on the same team for example. Yeah, its great on paper, but a guy like Nash needs the ball too much for MJ to be MJ. You can switch the two, and/or insert pretty much any two truly dominant backcourt players at different positions for the same results.
There's exceptions to every rule, but I think premiere perimeter players generally need the ball in their hand to be most comfortable, while a frontcourt can be packed with talented players who want little time with the ball in their hands except when primed for scoring opportunities.
Last edited by z0sa; 06-23-2009 at 11:02 AM.
mchale and parrish = overrated
the celtics line could score points, but couldnt shut anyone down. the spurs front line can score points, and can also completely shut people down.
oh, I agree Tim and DRob > Mchale/parrish, just its not the no-contest elliott vs bird would be. Elliott was strong both offensively and defensively, but Bird was just way stronger in every facet of the game.
Which is why its very hard to include the 99 spurs frontcourt. Tim and DRob wouldn't bring a whole lot more, statistically, to the table than McHale and Parrish. Bird and Elliott, well there's nowhere to begin. Bird is a true all-time great, Elliott is one of an era's many all-stars.
Last edited by z0sa; 06-23-2009 at 11:08 AM.
Nash would change the way he plays and become the best spot up shooter of all time.
not on defense
which is my issue with the entire front line of the Celtics when compared to the Spurs.
both front lines can score points pretty efficiently, almost at will. but only the spurs front line can be counted on to shut down opposing teams offenses (and any style of offense at that) on a nightly basis.
OMG nash would average 20 ppg just on open jumpshots alone beacuse of jordan
nash is the best jumpshooter ive ever seen. there isnt a single type of jumper he cant hit. runner. hand in face. pull-up. spot-up. fading left/right/back. off balance. short. mid-range. 3 pointer. he hits everything.
in a 3v3 with bird/mchale/parrish with drob/tim/elliott, bird scores as many points as he wants ... and I think he could stop elliott just fine. If Parrish could keep DRob at bay, Tim is the only one who sets up a torture chamber on offense against that team... its a tough decision is all I'm saying.
Bird played strong defense... I don't know where you're getting the idea that he couldn't from.
Billups/Hamilton
Being young, I didn't get to watch him play live, but from the many games I've seen up to now, he has always struck me as a very intelligent defender, either helping or defending. Never in the wrong spot, always with a hand in the face, great on the defensive boards.
That team's backcourt was particularily good when they had Sharman, Cousy, Sam Jones and KC Jones.
Shaq, Fox, Horry
how bout the Denver Nuggets: Billups/jr smith/melo
And honestly the best backcourt I can think of is Monroe and Frazier as mentioned earlier.....LnGrrrR makes a great point about not seeing a frequent amount of stud PG's and SG's paired together.
Frazier/Monroe
Hakeem/Barkley/Drexler (96-97) - they didn't win a championship and all three had already started their decline, but they were still a great front court that just couldn't put it together enough to get past the Jazz. Still had explosive scoring and Hakeem was still a great, though not as dominant, defender. They combined for 60 ppg, 29 rpg, and 13 apg. Health was obviously a concern though.
Yeah Jamstone I forgot about them.....it's not their fault they couldn't get past Utah, Matt Maloney just got eaten alive by Stockton.
McHale was actually an excellent defender.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
