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Looking at Cleveland's new starting 5 with Garland, Mitchell, Hunter, Mobley and Allen has got me thinking – who has the best starting 5 in the league right now? Because that's a damn good one without any apparent flaws. Yet there are also some other really strong starting line-ups around the NBA right now.

The obvious candidates besides Cleveland are Boston and OKC (whoever you put in there). Other candidates I could see are the Knicks and Denver who are good teams on the backs of their starters. Houston, Memphis and Indiana have also been very successful with their starting line-ups though I personally would put them more in the ‘fringe candidates’ category. The Clippers with Kawhi are in the conversation, too, and who knows what the Lakers will look like. The 76ers with healthy Embiid might be a candidate, too, but it's difficult to anticipate a ‘healthy Embiid’ at this point.

So, who's wearing the crown right now?

Note: The poll only allows for 10 options and since I like to always have an ‘other’ option, I could only include 9 teams and decided to not include the Pacers and 76ers. Don't come at me – just vote ‘other’ if you truly believe they have the best starting 5 and post it in the comments. Note that I personally also do not think of the Lakers as a real candidate right now but I assumed a team with Luka and LeBron is going to have its believers already.

The Lakers getting so many votes is amusing to.me

doogie_hauser wrote:The Lakers getting so many votes is amusing to.me

1? (At time of posting)

SGA/Dort/JDub/Chet/Hartenstein

I voted Cavs, because I am obligated to but I think it is the Celtics, until proven otherwise. They have 5 guys who can shoot from deep, 5 guys who can defend, and 4 of the 5 can handle the ball to some degree.

3 starting lineups statistically jump out

Best overall Boston
Best Defense OKC
Best Offense Denver

It's probably Boston but I homered the Nuggets. A healthy Nuggets starting five is still nearly elite.

Wigginstime wrote:3 starting lineups statistically jump out

Best overall Boston
Best Defense OKC
Best Offense Denver

Knicks and Cavaliers rank 1 and 2 in OFF RTG. So statistically, Cavaliers are in their own tier.

Optms wrote:

Wigginstime wrote:3 starting lineups statistically jump out

Best overall Boston
Best Defense OKC
Best Offense Denver

Knicks and Cavaliers rank 1 and 2 in OFF RTG. So statistically, Cavaliers are in their own tier.

You are looking at team rankings not lineup rankings
Nuggets starting lineup is the best offense in the league and it isn’t close

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?CF=MIN*G*200&GroupQuantity=5&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=OFF_RATING

.

Dr Aki wrote:

doogie_hauser wrote:The Lakers getting so many votes is amusing to.me

1? (At time of posting)

Was more than they deserved.

Wingy wrote:

Dr Aki wrote:

doogie_hauser wrote:The Lakers getting so many votes is amusing to.me

1? (At time of posting)

Was more than they deserved.

They have as many votes as OKC and Cleveland right now!!

doogie_hauser wrote:The Lakers getting so many votes is amusing to.me

The Lakers are instantly an elite team with Luka now. Enjoy being amused for now.

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I voted Boston.
People continue to underestimate them, while much hasn't changed, and I still see the same hungry Celtics.

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Wigginstime wrote:

Optms wrote:

Wigginstime wrote:3 starting lineups statistically jump out

Best overall Boston
Best Defense OKC
Best Offense Denver

Knicks and Cavaliers rank 1 and 2 in OFF RTG. So statistically, Cavaliers are in their own tier.

You are looking at team rankings not lineup rankings
Nuggets starting lineup is the best offense in the league and it isn’t close

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?CF=MIN*G*200&GroupQuantity=5&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=OFF_RATING

.

Your minimum minutes qualifier literally removes every single Cavs 5 man line-up lol they have not had any 5 man unit play 200 minutes together yet.

JujitsuFlip wrote:

Wigginstime wrote:

Optms wrote:
Knicks and Cavaliers rank 1 and 2 in OFF RTG. So statistically, Cavaliers are in their own tier.

You are looking at team rankings not lineup rankings
Nuggets starting lineup is the best offense in the league and it isn’t close

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?CF=MIN*G*200&GroupQuantity=5&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=OFF_RATING

.

Your minimum minutes qualifier literally removes every single Cavs 5 man line-up lol they have not had any 5 man unit play 200 minutes together yet.

If I drop it to 50 which enables a ton of noise Denver is still one.
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?CF=MIN*G*50&GroupQuantity=5&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=OFF_RATING

There is no better offense in the league that one ran by Jokic.

Wigginstime wrote:

JujitsuFlip wrote:

Wigginstime wrote:
You are looking at team rankings not lineup rankings
Nuggets starting lineup is the best offense in the league and it isn’t close

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?CF=MIN*G*200&GroupQuantity=5&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=OFF_RATING

.

Your minimum minutes qualifier literally removes every single Cavs 5 man line-up lol they have not had any 5 man unit play 200 minutes together yet.

If I drop it to 50 which enables a ton of noise Denver is still one.
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?CF=MIN*G*50&GroupQuantity=5&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=OFF_RATING

There is no better offense in the league that one ran by Jokic.

If you find a happy medium of 115, then it gets rid of the noise but it drops the Nuggets to 3rd.

HMFFL wrote:

doogie_hauser wrote:The Lakers getting so many votes is amusing to.me

The Lakers are instantly an elite team with Luka now. Enjoy being amused for now.

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using RealGM mobile app

Yes but is a very limited window for them with Luka and LeBron (say this season and next)

The other 3 starters on the Lakers are scrubs that's the problem

I went with Denver. I think if Jamal wasn't such an injury prone player in the PO, this Nuggets core would be legendary. They are like the 08 Celtics starters at this point, no one beats them if healthy (but they never are).

I think they still have the best player in the NBA by a mile, who in and of himself is an elite offense. Murray and Porter are two 20 ppg scorers that can play off the ball and stretch the floor, and they have solid do everything role guys in AG and Braun. That unit works well together, and all can shoot, rebound, play on or off the ball, and pass. Braun is shooting almost 60% from the field this year, that is wild for a guard that also shoots from distance, and that stat should tell you just how much space that unit provides for each other. They are the best offensive group in my opinion.

I think having a team that can slow the game down and execute at the highest level is so important, and everyone in this starting 5 can do that. If their was 2 minutes left in a tie game, the DEN starting 5 is the team I would trust the most to execute and finish plays.

Boston, CLE, and OKC have the most talent, but they have more overlap than Denver. We all know how the media has been trying to break up Brown/Tatum and Garland/Mitchell Allen/Evan because of that overlap and the times it wasn't so smooth. You don't really have to worry about that with DEN, their is no overlap, everyones talent is maximized.

OKC on the other hand, has a clear weakness, which is experience and lack of elite 2ndary play making. We'll see if Williams can get there, but I have to see it first in the post season, and he didn't come through fully last year. I also need to see how they deal with the pressure of the later rounds. I don't have that question about any of the other teams except CLE.

Lakers would be on here if they had a better option than Hayes atm, or if we were talking about closing lineups, as it seems they are bringing DFS off the bench. Again, having 3 dudes that can tear defenses to pieces off the bounce, and 2 actual Big 3D wings is insane. People keep under rating the Lakers, but that closing 5 is the best in the L in my opinion. Again, that team will be elite at executing down the stretch of games when the talent and stakes are at the highest, and that matters.

Celtics starting 5 is on another level from Denver's.

The Celtics haven't even really been playing that well and they've had guys resting and in and out of their lineup all year and it's still that obvious.

Denver? **** outta here.

There's a reason why the Celtics would wipe the floor with the Nuggets in a 7 game series. It's not like Boston has a ton of depth this season. Their starting 5 is the difference.

California Gold wrote:Celtics starting 5 is on another level from Denver's.

The Celtics haven't even really been playing that well and they've had guys resting and in and out of their lineup all year and it's still that obvious.

Denver? **** outta here.

There's a reason why the Celtics would wipe the floor with the Nuggets in a 7 game series. It's not like Boston has a ton of depth this season. Their starting 5 is the difference.

there's a reason celtics were very happy not to have to play denver and it's exactly the starting fives and how they match up.

i'd certainly pick denver over celtics starting five, there's not even a doubt in my mind. murray just has to semi show up (20/5/5 on decent TS) and jokic is the best player on earth and will get the other 3 going.

the problem a defense oriented team like celtics or OKC will always have with this denver team is that they don't have a superstar creator like lebron or luka who can abuse denver's defensive shortcomings consistently. so they will have some moments where their stars shine but also moments when their offense grinds to a halt. so winning requires shutting down denver's offense. and you know what they say: great offense wins over great defense

(obviously not always as we've seen last season)