The Team USA disaster & his years playing alongside Melo.
I'm too lazy to look it up but I'm pretty sure Iverson averaged a bit over 7 APG on the Nuggets. Plus, I recall him playing off the ball a lot alongside guys like Anthony Carter and Steve Blake. Iverson never needed the ball in his hands to be effective, dude dominated the basketball at times because he didn't trust his scrub teammates imo.
60s and 70s before my time
80s team looks good but the 90s and 00s big men would take them easy. Another problem with the 80s team, Isiah wasn't a good 3pt shooter (under 30% from 3) Magic barely shot over 30%. Not quite enough shooting on that team other than Larry.
90s has some weird choices. Only 1 good 3 point shooter on the team? Yes all 5 are good players but that's not a well-balanced 5. You have to cut either Chuck or Malone and add a 3pt wing who can defend because the spacing would suck. Insert, Pippen, Hill, Rice, Miller instead.
00s replace AI with a higher % 3pt shooting PG for spacing and nobody is touching that team. AI shot like 42% from the field and only 30% for downtown. Replace him with constant triple double threat JKIDD who developed a 3pt shot into the 40% some seasons or Nash, despite his defensive woes was 49% from the field and 43% from downtown. No disrespect for AI, just need a more balanced squad. It’s not like the other 4 have any problem putting the ball in the basket.
10s has the opposite problem to the 80s team. All good 3pt shooters but only 1 player in Anthony Davis gives a about defense on that team.
Ill choose 00s with a different PG, once again no disrespect to AI, just need a better fit. It's not like that team is lacking in offensive firepower and they don't need AI scoring 30pts with terrible percentages, insert Kidd or Nash. Probably go with JKIDD as he made 3 All defensive teams, developed a 3PT shot and made all his team-mates better. A more rounded player than Nash.
Shaq
Duncan
LeBron
Kobe
Kidd
Last edited by Russo21; 10-15-2015 at 04:48 AM.
Magic wasnt prine in 1990
terribly made teams, the 2014 spurs would sweep all of them fairly easily. the 00 team would be amazing, but that backcourt just smells like cancer, ebola and stds all in one.
Iverson is lucky pedo didn't body slam him the next game, giving him 40 s ches and a concussion.
that said, Stockton, as much as I loved watching him pay (despite how dirty he was) was at least slightly overrated as a defender. he had issues with those really quick point guards. KJ, Thomas and Hardaway would give Stockton some trouble due to their quickness, and as dirty as Stockton played, those players were sometimes just too quick for him to handle.
Iverson is as quick, if not quicker than any of them.
Iverson actually did decently in the Olympics. he deferred a lot during the game. Iverson seemed to have no problems sharing the ball when he has another player he trusts. That is a small list, but he did decently there. His time with the Nuggets was more around him refusing to take a bench role.
That said, Iverson and Kobe in the same backcourt would be a disaster, they would be stealing the ball from each other, launching ill-advised, low percentage fade away 20 footers all day, while Duncan and Shaq are down low wondering what the is going on (well, maybe not Shaq, he's used to it).
90s just bc they have teh GOAT
If going by the proposed team, it really depends on matchups, but I would rank them:
90s - Jordan and Hakeem would be unstoppable, Stockton would distribute perfectly, Barkley and pedo can play the midrange game.
Weakness - pedo, Hakeem and Barkley all require a lot of space to operate, and would take out the driving lanes for Jordan, outside shooting is suspect, at best. I would have a team of Stockton, Jordan, Drexler, Robinson, Hakeem
00s - Huge lineup, Lebron doesn't really belong in this group as he's more of a 10. Lebron can handle most of the playmaking responsibilities with Kobe, while Iverson plays his natural SG position on offense. Duncan can take the high post while Shaq bully his way in the low post.
Weakness - Kobe / Iverson backcourt is a disaster, and Shaq takes up so much space down low that it will limit Iverson's drives. I would love to have Lebron here, but he really is a 10 guy. In that case, it would be Kidd, Kobe, Artest/Bowen/Prince, Garnett, Shaq. The SF position was just for defensive purposes. There are enough scorers on this team. No Shaq actually opens up the middle, and having Garnett there with Duncan will make this a monster defensive frontline.
60s - People sleep on this lineup because it was from so long ago, but Wilt and Russell will eat people alive. Baylor was really ahead of his time athletically, and West can score with the best of them, and can switch O/D roles with Oscar. The only question is really how athletic this team is. They were uber athletic in their days, but not sure if that holds true when compared to the other greats.
Weakness - small lineup. Their SF is 6'5", their SG is 6'2". Players like Jordan, Kobe, Lebron, Barkley, Westbrook will just destroy them.
80s - Bully ball in the middle, Moses and McHale will feast on the 10s and 70s teams inside, while noone can check Bird and Isiah. Three supreme playmakers on offense, and Magic can post up if need be. Thomas can play off guard like he did sometimes with Dumars with Magic handling the ball.
Weakness - Magic and Isiah requires the ball in their hands a bit, outside shooting is shaky outside of Bird, and he wasn't THAT good. Magic would be the weak link defensively, and Moses wasn't THAT great of a defender either. I'd probably go with a team of Magic, Moncrief, Bird, McHale and Moses
70s - Kareem never really matched up well with bully centers (see Moses and Hakeem), and every single team had one except the 10s team. Shaq will just bowl over Kareem. An old as dirt Wilt played Kareem well, a prime Wilt will likely have an advantage. Moses already proved he can take out Kareem by himself. Hayes was a scorer and not much else. Dr. J was great, but he is better served as a beta, Maravich was basically Jason Williams in the 70s, but Frazier is pretty much their only saving grace. Strong defensively and a great playmaker, almost like a mix between Payton and Nash. However, this team has NO outside shooting.
10s - Only reason the 70s team didn't finish last. Curry, Westbrook and Harden are all ball- dominant, so is KD, so unibrow will just be his Pelicans self, underused. Curry and
KD opens up the court and would rain threes all day, but they would be overmatched by every other team on defense. Other unibrow, there isn't one strong, or even above average defender amongst this group. Lebron in place of Harden will help quite a bit.
Oh, andno the OKC Thunder, had three of the five 10s team players, and got nothing out of it.
The ?
Why do you think Iverson went to so damn quickly? 'cause once his skills and physical atributes started to decline he wasn't able to adapt to a lesser role (meaning, he wasn't able to play without the ball in his hands).
Besides, it's not like he was so effective during his prime either. I love AI but he never played winning basketball.
LoL, Magic was the MVP of the league for the 89-90 season
Iverson was good enough to be an All-NBA point guard the issue was his game wasn't suited to be an off-guard. He could dominated the ball & give you 35/10 in his prime every time he stepped on the floor but he needed the ball in his hands along w/ being a high usage/high volume scorer. Iverson was also an excellent defender in college but his role tremendously changed in the NBA ala Westbrook. Someone like Ray Allen is better suited to play w/ other ball dominant players.
Well it all depends on who's coaching this team.
80's with Riley
90's with Phil
00's with Pop
10's with ?
I'd go with the 00's.
Rather than cherry picking a series, let's look at all their stats.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...1&p2=paytoga01
Stockton has gotten the better of Payton in their matchups both in the regular and postseasons statistically, though they were 2-2 in their series matchups. Speaking of the postseason, Payton's stats vs Stockton are heavily skewed due to the 2000 series where Stockton was old (had already been playing sub 30 mins for 2 years) and Payton was literally having his peak season. Despite that, look at how Stockton still got the better of him on average (notably doubling up his assist totals). Prior to that 2000 series where Payton fluffed up his averages vs an old John Stockton by a lot, he was much closer in PPG and scoring efficiency too.
Payton was a better leader? I disagree. Better scorer? Depends on your definition. I would gladly take Stockton's 13 PPG on 60.8% TS% over Payton's 16 PPG on 52.8% TS%. He's wasting a lot less possessions to get his points and is getting nearly double the assists with about the same turnovers. Better "post up player" is a useless fluff trait to compare. Who cares? He's a ing PG. I'd rather those post touches go to Hakeem, Barkely, Jordan, and Malone/DRob/Ewing than a ing PG. Stockton scored noticeably more efficiently, so Payton's post scoring doesn't really do anything to make up for that. Stockton not only scored efficiently himself but also made it easy for his teammates. Payton was nothing special as a playmaker compared to any upper tier PG and even some mid tiers.
Wade isn't a PG so no I don't think so. You also don't want a team loaded with mediocre 3pt shooters which is exactly what you'd have with Wade and Kobe. Chris Paul balances that team. Wade does not. Now if you wanna argue Wade over Kobe, feel free. It would make more sense.
I'm not really underrating GP, it's more the matter of Stockton being more useful on most teams (especially that one) due to good shooting and stellar playmaking in addition to being a pretty good defender (underrated imo). If I were to select one for most NBA teams now, I think Stockton would be the better choice in most cases. For that team specifically, also Stockton. Very underrated player imo.
And yeah I agree, Isiah and Magic should not be there together (Magic over Isiah ofc). Young MJ or aging Gervin are better 80's choices for SG.
LoL, you do understand Stockton was already an All-NBA point guard when Payton came into the league? Payton came into the league as a defensive stopper & developed into a complete point guard eventually becoming a All-Star in his 4th season. Stockton/Payton had already faced each other twice in the postseason before Payton was ever an all-star so Stockton as an All-NBA point guard was supposed to get the better of him. Fast forward to 96 when they were BOTH All-NBA point guards & Payton destroyed him on both ends, it's not cherry picking but a fact that doesn't fit your narrative. In 2000, Payton's wing-man was 20 year old Rashard Lewis meanwhile Stockton was playing w/ Malone who was still a top 10 player but Payton still pushed the Jazz to the brink.
Stockton's assist totals were a result of them running PnR sets every time down the floor (ala Steve Nash w/ the Suns), to his credit Stockton put the ball on the money to the greatest roll player to play the game (Malone). Deron Williams was able to replicate it playing in the same system w/ none other than Carlos Boozer playing the roll man
Payton's ability to post-up was what created match-up headaches because he would bully smaller guards (most point guards) & blow by big guards.
-LoL @ Malone or Robinson being better post-up players than Payton when they were mediocre post-up players
-LoL @ PGs posting up not being valuable when that was Magic's main offensive arsenal (he killed Jordan on post-ups in the 91 Finals before Pippen switched on to him)
Just throw a 90s line-up of Payton/Jordan/Pippen/Hakeem/Robinson, to dominate a game Payton could just take out the opposing point guard & throw lobs all day to Hakeem/Robinson. I would like to see a guard get the ball past mid-court w/ Jordan/Payton/Pippen hounding him then being confronted by Hakeem/Robinson if he slipped through the cracks. We all saw how last season DPOY single handily wrecked last season Champs/MVP when they were on a roll by prevent him from running their sets:
Imagine having 5 Kahwis on the floor w/ Payton/Jordan/Pippen/Hakeem/Robinson. If you can't run your sets then you can't score.
Last edited by Kawhitstorm; 10-16-2015 at 04:29 AM.
conference was terrible. Still shouldn't have made it tonthenfinals with those horrible offensive sets and practically every one on their squad who mattered injured. Had me saying "who the is raja bell?"
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