Big 3 synergy

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

By synergy I mean when the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Which big 3 had the best and worst synergy?

I was just thinking about how well Curry, Klay and Draymond Green fit together. The fact that Draymond can play point guard from the forward position is huge because teams try to get the ball out of Curry's hands and Klay is better as a scorer than as a play maker.


I thought KG, Pierce and Allen complimented each other well.

Duncan, Ginobili and Parker seemed to fill Well together and be more than the some of the parts. All 3 players liked to score inside but that was not much of a problem because all 3 could score from outside or at least mid range.

Mj, Pippen and either Rodman or Grant created defensive mayhem together. It was good that Pippen could handle the ball and give Jordan a break on teams that did not have true point guards.

Kareem could not run with Magic and Worthy. When the fast break failed having Kareem in the half court game was a nice option. Kareem may have slightly clogged the space for Worthy's drives.

I don't think the Synergy was all that good between Bird, McHale and Parish. Bird was a natural power forward which took McHale who was a great shot blocker away from the paint because McHale had to defend the small forwards that Bird could not defend. Parish and Bird were both good inside scorers but McHale was a better inside scorer which somewhat wasted the inside scoring skills or Parish and Bird.


Bosh and James complimented each other on defense. I don't think the synergy on offense between Wade, James and Bosh was all that good. They were never as dominant as many of us thought they would be when they joined up. Part of that may have been a decline in Wade's health but they never seemed to fully integrate their talents with each other.

[NO-KG-AI]

KG/Pierce/Allen fit well theoretically on paper, but they really weren't utilized to their full potential on offense at all. All of these guys led top offenses on their own, and together they never really reached the kind of peaks they should have. I think part of it was that they just didn't need to because of the teams high level of play defensively, so it never necessitated a change, and part was that Doc and the Celtics management really wanted Rondo to grow, which isn't really wrong. Winning a title while trying to develop a young guy into a superstar is probably the best outcome you can ask for, for the present and future.

Still, I think had they featured the big 3 dominating the ball a little more, with a pure shooter at point, they'd have been a lot better offensively than they were. I used to love the Pierce/KG pick and pop, that would result in KG getting rushed by a late rotation, and almost always freed up Ray Allen for an open 3 from the side. That's 3 guys that can create and finish at a high level, and 3 guys that are awesome spot up shooters. Didn't they top out at like 6/7 offensively? Not bad, but they certainly could have done a lot more there IMO.

Maybe at their age it was asking too much for them to go balls to the walls at both ends like the Warriors, I dunno.

James/Wade/Bosh was never as good as the sum of the parts on offense, because they all kind of excelled at the same thing, and none was really that comfortable off the ball on offense to really flourish. Pierce, Allen, and Garnett were all really really comfortable catching and shooting without touching the ball for a long time.

[cpower]

Big 3 means each player is a franchise player. Warriors do not have a big three.
KG, Pierce and Allen is the definition of big three, Bosh Wade James is big three. Duncan, Ginobili is big two.

The celtics trio is the best fit.

[BullBearBidness]

Underrated big three we never got to see healthy: McGrady, Artest, Yao

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Big 3 means each player is a franchise player. Warriors do not have a big three.
KG, Pierce and Allen is the definition of big three, Bosh Wade James is big three. Duncan, Ginobili is big two.

The celtics trio is the best fit.

You have a point there. You have to draw the line somewhere. Otherwise Ben Wallace, Billups and your choice of Rasheed or Hamilton gets called a big 3.

On the other hand,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Celtics
The Celtics rose again after struggling through the 1990s to win a championship in 2008 with the help of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen in what was known as the new "Big 3" era, following the original "Big 3" era of the 1980s that featured Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish.

http://theodysseyonline.com/east-carolina/original-big-3-san-antonio-spurs/82030
The Original Big 3: The San Antonio Spurs
Before Lebron, Bosh and Wade their was Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili
Jake Keator in Sports on Dec 30, 2014

I was in Boston for Parish, McHale and Bird and I don't remember the origin of "the big 3" phrase. It might have had something to do with them all being big as well as them all being future hall of famers. I was probably just that they were all very good.

The other big 3 was GM, Ford and Chrysler before Toyota kicked their butts.

Did Magic, Kareem and Worthy get called "the big 3" or the "Lakers big 3". I think those Lakers were called "the Lakers Big 3" but it might have been a way of talking in Boston that never caught on nationally.

I remember national TV guys talking about "the Celtics big 3" meaning Bird, McHale and Parish. That is not the same as just plain the Big 3.

How much better than Klay was peak Ray Allen in Seattle? Klay may not be done getting better.
Bosh scored more than Parish but I would rather have Peak Parish than Peak Bosh even though Parish was never a "franchise player".

Were Jordan, Pippen and Grant called "big 3"? I don't remember them being called a big 3. Jordan was so much better than Grant.

http://fans.heat.nba.com/community/topic/15766-espn-ranks-top-10-big-3-of-all-time-currently-and-emerging/
ESPN ranks Top 10 Big 3 of All Time, Currently and emerging..........July 2012

10. 1968-69 Los Angeles Lakers, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor
9. 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Bobby Dandridge
8. 1986-87 Boston Celtics, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish
7. 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc
6. 1996-97 Utah Jazz, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Jeff Hornacek
5. 2011-12 Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden
4. 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich
3. 2004-05 Phoenix Suns, Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion
2. 2010-11 Miami Heat, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh
1. 1991-92 Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant

TOP 10 CURENT BIG 3
3. San Antonio Spurs
Manu Ginobili: 24.2 | Tim Duncan: 22.6 | Tony Parker: 22.0
Combined PER: 68.8 (22.9 average)
Let there be no doubt, this generation's original big three can still bring it. Although the youthful Thunder ran away with the Western Conference title, the Ginobili-Duncan-Parker trio spearheaded

Hey, where is KG, Pierce, Allen on their list? Why are the disrespecting Rodman
Nash, Marion, Amare were not better than Bird, McHale Parish
Draymond is as good as Marion

Whether the Warriors have a big 3 depends on what your standard for a big 3 is. Ray Allen was pas his peak in Boston. Boston Ray Allen was not necessarily a better player than Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. The difference is that Green and Klay have never been the best player on any NBA team that they were on.

The only player on the first Bulls 3peat that were on the second Bulls 3peat were Jordan and Pippen. If Curry, Green and Klay stay healthy they also could win a championship with all new teammates except for the core of Curry, Green and Klay.

2009 Parker is not much worse than peak Ray Allen.
Parker was Finals MVP in 2007 and has been better than Ginobili many years.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Underrated big three we never got to see healthy: McGrady, Artest, Yao

That would have been interesting.

Hakeem talks about a big 3 that never was in his book. He said the Rockets turned down a trade of Ralph Sampson for a draft pick that would have been Michael Jordan + Clyde Drexler and Fat Lever.

They would have had Jordan, Hakeem and Drexler plus some other good players.