Can you create an 'unbeatable' NBA team?

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T

tynopik

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2004
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1) You can pick any 5 players from history and any coach.

2) Your opponent can examine your roster and then pick any remaining players with the sole purpose of defeating your team

Is it possible to pick a team that can win 'consistently' (at least 51% of the time) against any other possible team?

Or is this a case of rock/paper/scissors, where no matter what you choose, there is always some combination out there than can exploit your weaknesses and beat you?

Some parameters:
- current NBA rules and refs
- you have time for the coach to ingrain his 'system' and for the players to get to know each other
- you can only choose 5 players, the rest of your bench is replacement-level NBA bench players


What's your best stab at an 'unbeatable' team? How do you balance offense and defense, driving and 3-pt shooting, ball handling and finishing? Remember this isn't about career achievement, and there are always questions about how players from further back would handle the modern game. And don't forget chemistry issues. Some superstars might not play well with others . . .

And who would you choose as coach? Popovich? Coach K for his 'dream team' experience? Phil Jackson, because duh?

Then, what are the weaknesses of your team and what players would have the best chance of exploiting them?
 
IndyColtsFan

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
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In their primes, I give you his starting lineup:

Jordan
Magic Johnson
Barkley
Karl Malone
Ewing
 
MagnusTheBrewer

MagnusTheBrewer

IN MEMORIAM
Jun 19, 2004
24,122
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In their prime,
Bird
Magic
Wilt
Cousy
Jordan
we'll not only out shoot you, we'll beat you up and steal your lunch money.
 
M

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
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51% win rate is easy, LikeLinus's answer probably qualifies and that's not even a fictitious team.

IndyColtsFan said:
In their primes, I give you his starting lineup:

Jordan
Magic Johnson
Barkley
Karl Malone
Ewing
Click to expand...
lol did you purposely leave off some of the greatest centers and have 2 power forwards?
 
IndyColtsFan

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
688
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manly said:
51% win rate is easy, LikeLinus's answer probably qualifies and that's not even a fictitious team.


lol did you purposely leave off some of the greatest centers and have 2 power forwards?
Click to expand...

Ewing was the only one I hesitated with, but he had power and distance on his shot so I think that gives him an edge. Don't like my forwards? I can swap one with Bird in his prime if you want. :)

The point you'll see here is that none of the current "stars" will make the cut. Just pick any5 players you want from the 92 Dream Team as your starters and they win 51% consistently.
 
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BudAshes

BudAshes

Lifer
Jul 20, 2003
13,990
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Michael Jordan
Lebron James
Larry Bird
Bill Russel

Don't even need a 5th guy.
 
justoh

justoh

Diamond Member
Jun 11, 2013
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not very creative, i know.

Taliban-Dream-Team.jpg
 
M

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
13,303
4,081
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IndyColtsFan said:
I'd like to see Wilt matched up against star NBA centers from the 80s or against Shaq.
Click to expand...
Are you kidding? Personally I have Wilt as the greatest center ever, although I never saw him play. Yes he was called skinny when he was young, but that's relatively speaking. I think he was still listed at 270ish pounds. He was an absolute beast compared to his contemporaries, which is why his stats are so redonkulous.

IMO Wilt could absolutely take Shaq as long as they played with rules from any era except the peak years of Shaq when barreling into defenders was not considered charging. Dennis Rodman was able to guard Shaq very well, and he easily gave up 100 pounds. Of course the Worm was a phenomenal defender.

I'd probably swap out of one of your 2 power forwards and put in Larry Bird at the #3. Most would take out both and install Tim Duncan at the #4, although you can't really argue against Karl Malone either (except in the rings department).
 
IndyColtsFan

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
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manly said:
Are you kidding? Personally I have Wilt as the greatest center ever, although I never saw him play. Yes he was called skinny when he was young, but that's relatively speaking. I think he was still listed at 270ish pounds. He was an absolute beast compared to his contemporaries, which is why his stats are so redonkulous.

IMO Wilt could absolutely take Shaq as long as they played with rules from any era except the peak years of Shaq when barreling into defenders was not considered charging. Dennis Rodman was able to guard Shaq very well, and he easily gave up 100 pounds. Of course the Worm was a phenomenal defender.

I'd probably swap out of one of your 2 power forwards and put in Larry Bird at the #3. Most would take out both and install Tim Duncan at the #4, although you can't really argue against Karl Malone either (except in the rings department).
Click to expand...

Wilt was a beast compared to his contemporaries for sure, but would his game translate against the superior athletes of the NBA's golden era of the 80s and 90s? That is my question. I fully admit that I am biased and believe the NBA of the 80s and 90s was the best ever so my view is colored by that bias.
 
T

tynopik

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2004
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IndyColtsFan said:
Just pick any5 players you want from the 92 Dream Team as your starters and they win 51% consistently.
Click to expand...

You could pick 2 teams from the dream team as it had 12 members (11 not counting Laettner), and they can't both win 51% of the time against each other, so your premise is flawed
 
dave_the_nerd

dave_the_nerd

Lifer
Feb 25, 2011
16,994
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tynopik said:
I'm not talking about unbeatable compared to a regular NBA team, I'm talking about compared to a hand-picked team of superstars.
Click to expand...

First of all, with the payroll caps they have and the effort they go to recruit - all NBA teams are handpicked teams of superstars. At least compared to the other 99.99% of the population.

As for the '95 Bulls specifically, Jordan, Pippin, and Rodman* were all on that team. So it's already more star power than most.

*Rodman's apparently an insufferable fame-whore, and while he may be overshadowed by others, he was a damn good basketball player.
 
T

tynopik

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2004
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dave_the_nerd said:
First of all, with the payroll caps they have and the effort they go to recruit - all NBA teams are handpicked teams of superstars. At least compared to the other 99.99% of the population.
Click to expand...

No NBA team past or present has ever five in-their-prime top-10 all-time players on it.

Please stop thread crapping
 
WT

WT

Diamond Member
Sep 21, 2000
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IndyColtsFan said:
Ewing was the only one I hesitated with, but he had power and distance on his shot so I think that gives him an edge.
Click to expand...

I am a huge Georgetown fan, but even I would probably drop Ewing and go with Olajuwon due to more flexibility with him both on offense and defense. Ewing was a great lane defender but Hakeem was VERY athletic for his size.
 
L

LikeLinus

Lifer
Jul 25, 2001
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tynopik said:
I'm not talking about unbeatable compared to a regular NBA team, I'm talking about compared to a hand-picked team of superstars.
Click to expand...

Um yeah, I know how to read. I still say the 95-96 team is about as unbeatable as you can get. I'd take that team with 3 Hall Of famers, thee first team defensive players, the leagues all time greatest and top scorer, the leagues top rebounder...I could go on and on.

Also, this is a stupid thread. This was done weeks ago with 15$. This is just riding the coat tails of much better thread. At least there you had to use your money wisely. Completely unoriginal, unlike the other one.
 
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T

tynopik

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2004
5,245
500
126
LikeLinus said:
Um yeah, I know how to read. I still say the 95-96 team is about as unbeatable as you can get. I'd take that team with 3 Hall Of famers, thee first team defensive players, the leagues all time greatest and top scorer, the leagues top rebounder...I could go on and on.
Click to expand...

You would rather have Kukoc than LeBron?

LikeLinus said:
This was done weeks ago with 15$. This is just riding the coat tails of much better thread. At least there you had to use your money wisely.
Click to expand...

Only because you're missing the point.

The point isn't just to assemble an all-time roster.

It's once you've done that, to analyze that roster, find its weak spots and build a roster specifically to attack them.

Every roster has weaknesses. Maybe a 3-pt specialist roster would be too difficult to defend? Maybe some bigger players would clog the lane? No 5 players can be equally strong in all areas of the game.

Rock-Paper-Scissors

So if you had to pick 5 players to beat the 95-96 Bulls, could you do it?
 
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