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James Harden
Jeremy Lin
Chandler Parsons
Marcus Morris
Omer Asik

Greatest starting 5 ever

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Defino or GTFO.

I am surprised that so many of you are choosing the 6'9" 220lb Bill Russell as the all-time center.

So a couple questions for those who say he's the best...

1) Have you actually seen him play?

2) Why did you select him over Kareem, Wilt, Shaq, Hakeem, etc? Do you think he would outplay any of these guys?

I picked players based on the context of their eras. Wallace was small by today's standards, but he averaged 15.1 points, 22.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game for his CAREER. They didn't keep block stats at that time, but he got a bunch. He also anchored a great defense and has a double handful of championship rings as the anchor of the team. It's not just the stats; Wilt had stats. Russell was 100% effort, well-rounded, smart, a good team mate, a defensive stalwart, and a leader on the court who didn't require a ton of touches and shots.

Yes, 2003 Shaq would bulldoze 1959 Russell. If Shaq had played in 1959 or Russell in 2003, I think Russell would come out ahead.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 1/9/2013 2:47p).]

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I picked players based on the context of their eras.

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I thought this was always understood when discussing and comparing players of different eras at least in the context of this thread.

Tim Tebow would be in the Hall of Fame if he played in the 1950's.

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I picked players based on the context of their eras.

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I thought this was always understood when discussing and comparing players of different eras at least in the context of this thread.

Tim Tebow would be in the Hall of Fame if he played in the 1950's.

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This.

Bill Russell was one of the most dominant players in the history of sports IN HIS ERA.

PG- Magic Johnson
SG- Michael Jordan
SF- Bird
PF- Duncan
C- Wilt <---- There is no doubt on this. He owned Kareem (I know, I was a Kareem fan and saw it). Russell had the better team (Celts), but individually Wilt was the better of the two in their match-up. Go watch the tape and look at the stats.

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PG: Magic Johnson
SG: Michael Jordan
SF: Larry Bird
PF: Tim Duncan
C: Bill Russell


Defense: Jordan is one of the best perimeter defenders of all-time. While Johnson and Bird weren't elite defenders, they both have enough basketball IQ and size to cause problems. Either way, if anything gets past that line, Duncan and Russell are two of the best low post defenders in NBA history. Russell probably the best defensive player ever.

Offense: Jordan and Duncan would provide inside/outside scoring. Most of the load obviously fall on Jordan. Bird would act as the G.O.A.T. glue guy offensively. Russell with clean-up help and offensive rebounding. Magic sets it all up.

Intangibles: All guys have multiple rings as the best players on those teams. All five have elite basketball IQ. Only Jordan and Magic absolutely need to touch the ball every time on offense since everyone is capable of being effective without the ball. Every player has a killer instinct mentality.

I'd probably have Phil Jackson coach them. No need to call plays with this group.

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I'd sign off on that. I'd have no problem swapping Bron for Bird (better defense if needed) or Hakeem or Robinson for Russell (both better offensively, still among the best ever defensively.)

Unmentioned in your analysis is that Magic/Jordan/Bird/Duncan/Russell were all fantastic passers.

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I agree with all of that, except both of you left out Wilt. That's like going on a honeymoon and forgeting your wife.

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Mavs All Time:
PG - Derek Harper
SG - Ro Blackmon
SF - Mark Aguirre
PF - Dirk Nowitzki
C - Tyson Chandler (by default)

To be fair James Donaldson was a very very good center who had a much longer career with the Mavs. It's kind of ridiculous to claim a guy who played one season is the very best player at that position the franchise has ever had. But considering what he did in that one season, it's pretty much true.

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I agree with this with the exception of replacing Harper with Kidd. Kidd had some triple doubles. Don't remember Harper doing that. I actually saw Derek in the gym a few years back. Great guy.

[This message has been edited by AgBeliever (edited 1/10/2013 3:14p).]

On the Wilt versus Russell thing, they played against each other 142 times. That's pretty incredible. The stats are clearly on Wilt's side.

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Chamberlain averaged exactly 28.7 points and 28.7 rebounds a game during those 142 games, the point totals brought down a bit by his late-in-career transformation from relentless scoring machine to more well-rounded player. In the early years Wilt scored 50 or more points seven times against Russell, including a high of 62 on January 14, 1962. By the time we could start referring to these men as "aging warriors," the numbers were a bit more back to earth. Wilt's high game in their final year was 35, and three times he scored in single figures.

Russell's totals against Wilt were 14.5 points and 23.7 rebounds per game. His highest-scoring game against his arch rival was 37.

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http://hoopedia.nba.com/index.php?title=Russell_vs._Wilt

I don't care what Wilt's stats were against Russell. Russell consistently beat WIlt's team when it mattered most. There isn't a doubt in my mind Russell let Wilt put up his numbers while the rest of Wilt's team stood around and watched. You can't win a game of basketball playing 1 on 5.

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You can't win a game of basketball playing 1 on 5.

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Well, Russell was playing with a half dozen other HOFers and Wilt was not.

Bill Simmons makes a case in the Book of Basketball that Russell let Chamberlain rack up ungodly stats in the regular season, then really clamped down on him in the playoffs. I don't know how much of it is based on stats and how much of it was anecdotes in support of Simmons' admitted Celtics bias though.

Either way, Chamberlain does not annihilate Russell as a complete player, so on a team where everyone is good I'm going to take the consistent, professional, heady, unselfish player over Chamberlain.

I take Wilt over Russell every time. He was a total monster. A monster in the post, a monster on the glass, a monster defensively, and a GREAT passer.

If you read Jerry West's autobiography he was a great person and teammate as well. Painfully shy, but all heart.

Red Auerbach told Bill Russell that he would never discuss scoring when they negotiated his contracts. When Wilt became the first player to hit $100,000, Red called Russell in, tore up his contract and gave him a new one for $100,001.

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You can't win a game of basketball playing 1 on 5.

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Well, Russell was playing with a half dozen other HOFers and Wilt was not.

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Exactly.

And even then Wilt's team won over 40% of the time when playing Russell's.

Are you going to tell me Barry Sanders wasn't as good as Emmitt Smith due to the fact Emmitt had three Super Bowl rings and Barry none?