Team Zero Threes in 2024 Western Conference

[rand]

Team Zero Threes
Magic Johnson / Kevin Johnson / Andre Miller
Sidney Moncrief / Adrian Dantley / Tony Allen
Dennis Rodman / Alex English
Karl Malone / Horace Grant
Dwight Howard / Joakim Noah / Chris Andersen

Team gets its pick of coaches and is formed from these players dropped from their prime a month before training camp in August 2023. With an extended training camp and preseason under their belt, how would they do in the 2024 NBA Western Conference?

[jojo4341]

A month of adjustment would be a tall task, but this team has so much talent in scoring and defense, that I feel they can win the championship once they hit their stride mid-season. They've got:

- Magic and Malone PNR
- Dantley, English and Miller midrange. Malone, Moncrief and Magic weren't bad either.
- Malone and Howard post-game
- slashing with KJ and Magic
- amazing rebounding (Rodman, Howard, Malone and Noah)
- fast breaks with Magic/Malone/KJ perhaps off a Rodman outlet pass
- perimeter and post defense

Even if they didn't shoot a single 3 and the defense knew it, they could score everywhere else. If they need a stop in the clutch, imagine a lineup of:

Moncrief
Allen
Rodman
Malone (underrated as a defender) / Noah
Howard

Dantley, English and Malone were capable of dropping 30 any given night in their primes. They'll have to share touches this time, but with Magic handling the point, I see no problem there. Yeah, I'd say this team is capable of winning it all. Spacing in today's league is obviously the meta but if you maximize a team's strength elsewhere, you should be able to be just as successful. And of course, this team is 12 deep.

[RCM88x]

If you had to use that starting lineup and rotation there would probably be a lot of struggles. So I would probably run something a little different:

Magic/Miller
K. Johnson/Allen
Moncrief/English
Malone/Grant
Rodman/Howard/Noah

Don't really see much of a use for Dantley on this team. Magic, Johnson and Moncrief can all be acceptable shooters with some practice. Regardless this team would be a defensive monster and still decent enough on offense with Magic and Malone + depth. Not worried about Moncrief at the 3 since Magic would probably guard those guys anyways.

[penbeast0]

If you had to use that starting lineup and rotation there would probably be a lot of struggles. So I would probably run something a little different:

Magic/Miller
K. Johnson/Allen
Moncrief/English
Malone/Grant
Rodman/Howard/Noah

Don't really see much of a use for Dantley on this team. Magic, Johnson and Moncrief can all be acceptable shooters with some practice. Regardless this team would be a defensive monster and still decent enough on offense with Magic and Malone + depth. Not worried about Moncrief at the 3 since Magic would probably guard those guys anyways.

I strongly agree with this. You clearly start Magic, Moncrief, and Karl Malone; Sid gives you a secondary playmaker, excellent scoring, and great defense as well. You have plenty of scoring with those three so you look for defense and midrange spacing; any of KJ, English, or Dantley gives you good midrange scoring so you look for the one that provides the best defense on small quick guards and with Magic playing big wings, that is probably KJ. If Rodman starts rather than a traditional center, I'd prefer the Detroit version of him that hustles and defends rather than the SA/Chi version that cheats off his man looking for rebounds but he played smaller there so Karl Malone would be your 5.

[The-Power]

I don't think a virtually complete lack of 3s can be overcome in today's NBA over the course of an entire season (and even more so in playoff series). That team would need a lot more time to adjust to compete, IMO.

[eminence]

I'll say they turn themselves into a good team, but probably get beat in the 2nd/CFs. They'll be consistent, but the high end variance of a good modern team will likely take them out.

Magic can at least kind of shoot 3s relative to the others. 100% agreed on starting Moncrief.

[penbeast0]

I'll say they turn themselves into a good team, but probably get beat in the 2nd/CFs. They'll be consistent, but the high end variance of a good modern team will likely take them out.

Magic can at least kind of shoot 3s relative to the others. 100% agreed on starting Moncrief.

If they have a modern coach, probably several of them can develop a 3 point shot. Magic shot them in his last 3 years (one good year) and his partial comeback year, KJ developed a 3 in his 2nd and 3rd to last seasons shooting above .350 both years (not counting 6 games in 00), Sid was a .342 and .328 his final two years after multiple knee surgeries. Guys with a good midrange and good FT shooting could probably develop a .350 level 3 ball if their coaches ran an offense to use it.

[NbaAllDay]

I'll say they turn themselves into a good team, but probably get beat in the 2nd/CFs. They'll be consistent, but the high end variance of a good modern team will likely take them out.

Magic can at least kind of shoot 3s relative to the others. 100% agreed on starting Moncrief.

If they have a modern coach, probably several of them can develop a 3 point shot. Magic shot them in his last 3 years (one good year) and his partial comeback year, KJ developed a 3 in his 2nd and 3rd to last seasons shooting above .350 both years (not counting 6 games in 00), Sid was a .342 and .328 his final two years after multiple knee surgeries. Guys with a good midrange and good FT shooting could probably develop a .350 level 3 ball if their coaches ran an offense to use it.

Although this is true, and this is a simplification of what would be required, however having a 3pt shot in the 80,90s etc is different to having one now.

Far more 3s are taken contested today (obviously far more are taken in general) and they requirements (off a screen, darting to a corner, backtracking to recieve, off the dribble etc etc) are requirements to be a decent 3pt shooter. At the very least you need a player in the team to be more than capable of just spotting up.

So the team would not be able to apply the pressure required to actual be a competent 3pt team as a lot of that is inbuild into how a player grows up these days, and most need a lot more than a month/year to develop.

[Dr Positivity]

If none of them actually have 3pt range it doesn't work. If they can get English's ATG midrange to translate into 3, Magic and KJ being ok, Malone hitting them once in a while, then I think they could win just based on talent alone.