copy-paste one player 5x to make a good team

[AdamSSSlither]

give me 5 wembys and i'll deal w/ blow by's on defense w/ 2 wembys rotating to rim protect.

[Lockdown504090]

Giannis could seriously win a CHIP.

First guy I thought of.

giannis has kinda struggled with ball dominant guards, I dont think giannis 5x would be ideal given how bad the spacing would be.

[Sixers in 4]

Imagine a whole team, including a bench, of Draymonds. They’d beat the snot out of you and if one gets ejected for it, he is just replaced by another Draymond.

I'd like to see a team of 5 westbrooks and 5 draymonds go at it just once not because it would make a good team or even a good game just because the misses would be entertaining.

[BadWolf]

Giannis would be hard to score against

[Fencer reregistered]

give me 5 wembys and i'll deal w/ blow by's on defense w/ 2 wembys rotating to rim protect.

Yeah. These teams need to be considered in conjunction with the schemes they'd play.

Wemby needs a special defensive scheme. And offense that doesn't depend much on handle.

KG has better man defense on the perimeter but lesser defense in other ways. He also has better handle on offense but less proven shooting range. So perhaps conventional schemes work for him in more matchups, with Wemby schemes as a fallback.

Lebron, Tatum et al. could just play Heatles schemes, or modern schemes in general.

[Billl]

lebron is obvious, but he's old. I'll throw out Cade cunningham currently. PG skills and shooting with enough size and strength to rebound and guard a lot of frontcourt players.

[kwajo]

Scottie Barnes might potentially work in this role, but the team would suck at floor spacing given his 3 point shot hasn't become good enough yet.

[7seventynine9]

KD would be pretty disgusting, too. All that length, and shooting.

TMac would also be nasty. The team might struggle to guard Cs but who is stopping a team of TMac?

I'd guess almost any SF/PFwho are 6'8+ wingspan warriors that can handle the ball would all fair well. (TMac, KD, KG, Jalen Johnson, LeBron etc) They'd might struggle against the bigger centers but there are so few in the league. I think there would be enough winspan and length where they'd be able to maintain the De'Aaron Foxes of the world with good team defense.

[nate33]

The premise of this thread is undermined by the scenario.

It's one thing to try and clone a guy in order to face a normal NBA team. In that scenario, somebody like Lebron would make sense because I know I need a guy strong enough to defend centers but also a guy who can shoot pass and dribble enough to run an offense and space the floor.

But in the OP's scenario, he is cloning a guy to face other 5-clone teams. That changes the equation entirely. I now know that my opponents are facing the same concerns I am. Nobody is going to try and clone Shaq's because they know 5 Shaq's can't space the floor or run effective offensive sets. So now I don't have to worry about my own clone squad defending a guy like Shaq. Now I can think about cloning somebody a little smaller than Lebron because the biggest guy I will face is probably a guy like Lebron, not a behemoth. So maybe I go with 5 Jordans or 5 Durants.

[brutalitops]

Naz Reid

[mastermixer]

Going the role player route, how would five Prime Danny Greens do?

Or five AK-47s?

Or five Shawn Marions?

[TheGeneral99]

It's Lebron.

Can guard every position...can dribble, pass, shoot at a high level...insane athleticism, crazy strong in the post, great rebounder etc.

Not sure how you ever stop that.

[Beethoven]

Adam Morrison

[UcanUwill]

Currently, I'd go J.Dub or Tatum. Only guys who give you enough handles, shooting, perimeter and backline defense.
I'd also think of Siakam, Ant, and Cade.

All-time?
KG, Lebron, Jordan, Larry Bird, KD, Kawhi.
Maybe Kobe or Havlicke.

I am aurprised to see so little Tatum mentions, he was first guy that came ro mind, guy who plays point and center and is a superstar .. Of course LeBron is poster boy for this question, always has been, but honestly, when I saw someone mention 5 Victors, I think thats the answer right here.

[UcanUwill]

Going the role player route, how would five Prime Danny Greens do?

Or five AK-47s?

Or five Shawn Marions?

5 AKs would be great, but he is a bit better than a "role player" imo.

I do not see much appeal in 5 Danny Greens.

[KayDee35]

The premise of this thread is undermined by the scenario.

It's one thing to try and clone a guy in order to face a normal NBA team. In that scenario, somebody like Lebron would make sense because I know I need a guy strong enough to defend centers but also a guy who can shoot pass and dribble enough to run an offense and space the floor.

But in the OP's scenario, he is cloning a guy to face other 5-clone teams. That changes the equation entirely. I now know that my opponents are facing the same concerns I am. Nobody is going to try and clone Shaq's because they know 5 Shaq's can't space the floor or run effective offensive sets. So now I don't have to worry about my own clone squad defending a guy like Shaq. Now I can think about cloning somebody a little smaller than Lebron because the biggest guy I will face is probably a guy like Lebron, not a behemoth. So maybe I go with 5 Jordans or 5 Durants.

You should assume a few of the other 29 teams are willing to gamble with a 5x Steph or 5x Shaq and that your team might have to play them in the postseason.

Mobile bigs with range aren't getting enough love. 5x Wemby would be pretty tough to play against.

[morosis]

The premise of this thread is undermined by the scenario.

It's one thing to try and clone a guy in order to face a normal NBA team. In that scenario, somebody like Lebron would make sense because I know I need a guy strong enough to defend centers but also a guy who can shoot pass and dribble enough to run an offense and space the floor.

But in the OP's scenario, he is cloning a guy to face other 5-clone teams. That changes the equation entirely. I now know that my opponents are facing the same concerns I am. Nobody is going to try and clone Shaq's because they know 5 Shaq's can't space the floor or run effective offensive sets. So now I don't have to worry about my own clone squad defending a guy like Shaq. Now I can think about cloning somebody a little smaller than Lebron because the biggest guy I will face is probably a guy like Lebron, not a behemoth. So maybe I go with 5 Jordans or 5 Durants.

ah ha. that's fair, but i would counter that several people have already picked 5x wemby or 5x giannis as their guy. some have suggested 5x jokic or 5x olajuwon. i think the premise is doing its job tbh as a silly hypothetical, which is to get knowledgeable basketball people to think about the overall package of a given players game. it does somewhat cut out the more one-dimensional dominant guys like shaq but there would still be plenty of guys who it would feel conceptually difficult for a guy like MJ to guard. and who knows, maybe someone just wants to watch the world burn, picks shaq, and they end up in your bracket. lol. it would just take one sicko to ruin your run

more seriously, in my headspace the "best" guy for this hypothetical tournament would have to get through a variety of clone teams. i.e. he would have to be able to dribble, score, pass, rebound, and defend well enough against a team of tracy mcgradys and a team of jokics and a team of stephs to make a deep run. and that's the point of the thought exercise. the guy who can perform best in all aspects of the game against a variety of opponents with only his own skillset would be the most "complete" player we've seen.

i think its a fun, different way to think about players that is helping me appreciate how crazy talented some of the guys we've seen over the past 40 years really are.

[LeBronSpaghetti]

I want to watch five Dillon Brooks’ play against five Draymond Greens

[Sixers in 4]

give me 5 wembys and i'll deal w/ blow by's on defense w/ 2 wembys rotating to rim protect.

Yeah. These teams need to be considered in conjunction with the schemes they'd play.

Wemby needs a special defensive scheme. And offense that doesn't depend much on handle.

KG has better man defense on the perimeter but lesser defense in other ways. He also has better handle on offense but less proven shooting range. So perhaps conventional schemes work for him in more matchups, with Wemby schemes as a fallback.

Lebron, Tatum et al. could just play Heatles schemes, or modern schemes in general.

For 5 Wemby's you space them out out on defense blowby and kick it. Can five Wemby's defend their guys one on one? And on offense they are going to have problems floor spacing.

Remember the guys they are going against are going to be all stars and likely be able to all hit knock downs 3's. I'm pretty confident a healthy Kawhi would be quick enough to consistently get by Wemby at that point the defense is collapsed and it's finding the open guy.

[AdamSSSlither]

give me 5 wembys and i'll deal w/ blow by's on defense w/ 2 wembys rotating to rim protect.

Yeah. These teams need to be considered in conjunction with the schemes they'd play.

Wemby needs a special defensive scheme. And offense that doesn't depend much on handle.

KG has better man defense on the perimeter but lesser defense in other ways. He also has better handle on offense but less proven shooting range. So perhaps conventional schemes work for him in more matchups, with Wemby schemes as a fallback.

Lebron, Tatum et al. could just play Heatles schemes, or modern schemes in general.

For 5 Wemby's you space them out out on defense blowby and kick it. Can five Wemby's defend their guys one on one? And on offense they are going to have problems floor spacing.

Remember the guys they are going against are going to be all stars and likely be able to all hit knock downs 3's. I'm pretty confident a healthy Kawhi would be quick enough to consistently get by Wemby at that point the defense is collapsed and it's finding the open guy.