BUILDING A ONE DIMENSIONAL TEAM

[penbeast0]

Pick your players. The key is that they must be outstanding at this one named skill and not appreciably above average at anything else. So Bill Russell -- defense and rebounding -- is not eligible.

PG playmaking (non scoring playmaker who wasn't a good defender)
SG 3 point shooting (efficiency and volume from 3 count)
SF Pure scoring (efficiency and volume, can have a great foul draw if desired)
PF Offensive rebounding (can be a good defensive rebounder too)
C Shot blocking

[penbeast0]

I will go with

PG Muggsy Bogues
SG Kyle Korver
SF Adrian Dantley
PF Jayson Williams
C Manute Bol

bench

PG Brevin Knight
SG Wayne Ellington
SF Michael Beasly
PF Charlie Edge
C George Johnson

[70sFan]

I'd change Porter to John Lucas or Guy Rodgers and Adrian Dantley to Kiki Vandeweghe.

I think that Dantley is too good to be here and Porter is better scorer than Guy and John.

[penbeast0]

Changed him to Brevin Knight as the others were starters throughout their careers while Knight was often a reserve. What does Dantley do well other than score?

[70sFan]

Changed him to Brevin Knight as the others were starters throughout their careers while Knight was often a reserve. What does Dantley do well other than score?

Decent passer and not terrible man defender (though weak in P&R).

[Najee12]

Changed him to Brevin Knight as the others were starters throughout their careers while Knight was often a reserve. What does Dantley do well other than score?

Adrian Dantley: Elite scorer, historically high field goal percentages for a non-center/non-power forward, great at drawing fouls. Solid to average at most other aspects of the game. Pretty much the Carmelo Anthony of his time (perennial all-star, occasional all-NBA player).

I wouldn't call Dantley one-dimensional (which I always associated with players with severe limitations to major liabilities), especially one as decorated as Dantley. If you want a one-dimensional small forward, I recommend the player for whom Dantley was traded -- Kelly Tripucka. Tripucka was known for scoring but was not particularly good at anything else and porous on defense.

BTW, who is Charlie Edge (your reserve power forward)? Are you talking about the former ABA player?

[penbeast0]

Yes, former ABA combo forward, could have used Manimal or Junkyard Dog if I'd thought of them then.

Using them and subbing in Mark Eaton for George Johnson, how far would this team go in 1995 in the East (MJ in retirement)?

C Eaton / Bol
PF Faried / JWilliams (either Jayson or Jerome)
SF Dantley / Beasley
SG Korver / Ellington
PG Bogues / Knight

[Najee12]

Yes, former ABA combo forward, could have used Manimal or Junkyard Dog if I'd thought of them then.

They may be better options. Charlie Edge only played two seasons and he was a marginal contributor on a bad Memphis team and then a spot player on the 1974-75 Indiana team.

[Najee12]

Using them and subbing in Mark Eaton for George Johnson, how far would this team go in 1995 in the East (MJ in retirement)?

C Eaton / Bol
PF Faried / JWilliams (either Jayson or Jerome)
SF Dantley / Beasley
SG Korver / Ellington
PG Bogues / Knight

The 1993-94 East was weaker than the 1994-95 East, in my opinion. The 1993-94 East saw not just Chicago's Michael Jordan retire, but Atlanta (Dominique Wilkins traded), Boston (Kevin McHale retired and Reggie Lewis' death), Charlotte (Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning miss significant time to injuries), Cleveland (Brad Daugherty and Larry Nance suffered career-ending injuries) and Detroit (Isiah Thomas suffered career-ending injury) all lost marquee players in a chaotic season.

If you put your team in the 1993-94 East, I can see them making the playoffs. A prime Adrian Dantley would have been no worse than the third best player in the East behind Patrick Ewing and Scottie Pippen. Muggsy Bogues was in his prime during that period and a prime Mark Eaton would have been a factor in the more physical, halfcourt 1990s NBA (particularly against Ewing, who could not post up the massive shot-blocker).

Cleveland finished 47-35 and the No. 6 seed with a starting lineup of Rod Higgins, Bobby Phills, Mark Price, Gerald Wilkins and Hot Rod Williams, with Tyrone Hill and Chris Mills as the top bench players. It's possible your team would have beaten out the Cavs for the No. 6 seed; your team is better than No. 7 New Jersey and No. 8 seed Miami, but you may want the No. 8 seed so you can face a weak Hawks team in the first round (Atlanta was the No. 1 seed in the East) and have a better chance at advancing (New York was No. 2 and Chicago was No. 3).

[Alfred]

Pick your players. The key is that they must be outstanding at this one named skill and not appreciably above average at anything else. So Bill Russell -- defense and rebounding -- is not eligible.

PG playmaking (non scoring playmaker who wasn't a good defender)
SG 3 point shooting (efficiency and volume from 3 count)
SF Pure scoring (efficiency and volume, can have a great foul draw if desired)
PF Offensive rebounding (can be a good defensive rebounder too)
C Shot blocking

Jose Calderon
Kyle Korver
Corey Maggette
Reggie Evans
Shawn Bradley

[Najee12]

STARTERS:

PG: Avery Johnson
SG: Dale Ellis
SF: Glen Rice
PF: Popeye Jones
C: Caldwell Jones

RESERVES:

PG: Ennis Whatley
SG: Dell Curry
SF: Rashard Lewis
PF: Reggie Evans
C: Tree Rollins

[Owly]

Fun and all, so it doesn't matter but are people going for the best team that fits the description, the most extreme examples, or just teams that amuse them.

Brevin Knight might not fit the "who wasn't a good defender", he's at 1.25 career DRAPM, a very healthy number for a point guard (cf: https://sites.google.com/site/rapmstats/97-14-rapm-2).

Calderon is probably too good a shooter for "not appreciably above average at anything else." Career .407 from 3, .873 from the line and three seasons where he's both .400 or better from three and .900 or better from the line (only once, '08, is fg% above .500, though it's barely below in the other two years).

George Johnson, 59th in NBA career rebound percentage (though this doesn't include older players), might arguably be too good a rebounder (https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/trb_pct_career.html). Perhaps hence the shift to Eaton.

[NbaAllDay]

I'm wondering if Melo fits the bill? Outstanding volume scoree in his prime and I can't think of any other facet of his game that was above average.

[Tim Lehrbach]

I'm switching SG and SF

Jason Williams
Kevin Martin
Jason Kopono
Danny Fortson
Shawn Bradley

[Texas Chuck]

Dre Miller
Dell Curry
Tom Chambers
Jerome Williams
Joel Pryzbilla

Not going for best. Just a fun team that fits the bill.

[Colbinii]

Dre Miller
Dell Curry
Tom Chambers
Jerome Williams
Joel Pryzbilla

Not going for best. Just a fun team that fits the bill.

JJ Barea is a one dimensional player. He is good in the "Dallas Dimension " and somewhere between YMCA Dad and rubbish on every other team.

[Texas Chuck]

Dre Miller
Dell Curry
Tom Chambers
Jerome Williams
Joel Pryzbilla

Not going for best. Just a fun team that fits the bill.

JJ Barea is a one dimensional player. He is good in the "Dallas Dimension " and somewhere between YMCA Dad and rubbish on every other team.

to be fair he's really really good for Puerto Rico, he was great in college and high school. I think the narrative that Barea can only play for Rick Carlisle needs to be erased and replaced with man Minnesota was a mess and when Kevin Love wasn't much interested in PNR and the other big was Pekovic--a good player but not a PNR guy so much that maybe the issue was with that roster/coaching in Minny.

Plus I remember reports where he rubbed a lot of Wolves the wrong way because he refused to accept losing whereas clearly losing wasn't something that seemed to bother the organization or its players.

Because sure Barea benefits from Rick and from Dirk, but he's also made a number of really spare bigs extremely effective--Brandon Wright and Dwight Powell in particular.

[Colbinii]

Dre Miller
Dell Curry
Tom Chambers
Jerome Williams
Joel Pryzbilla

Not going for best. Just a fun team that fits the bill.

JJ Barea is a one dimensional player. He is good in the "Dallas Dimension " and somewhere between YMCA Dad and rubbish on every other team.

to be fair he's really really good for Puerto Rico, he was great in college and high school. I think the narrative that Barea can only play for Rick Carlisle needs to be erased and replaced with man Minnesota was a mess and when Kevin Love wasn't much interested in PNR and the other big was Pekovic--a good player but not a PNR guy so much that maybe the issue was with that roster/coaching in Minny.

Plus I remember reports where he rubbed a lot of Wolves the wrong way because he refused to accept losing whereas clearly losing wasn't something that seemed to bother the organization or its players.

Because sure Barea benefits from Rick and from Dirk, but he's also made a number of really spare bigs extremely effective--Brandon Wright and Dwight Powell in particular.

The interesting part about JJ in Minnesota is that he was fine his first two seasons and was a good fit next to Rubio.

[Texas Chuck]

The interesting part about JJ in Minnesota is that he was fine his first two seasons and was a good fit next to Rubio.

yeah he was really good next to Kidd a similar player--I guess a better 3-pt shooter than Rubio at that point, but another really high-IQ ball mover and a guy who could help protect JJ defensively a bit.

I still really love Rubio. I get he's never going to be what we hoped, but I'm a big fan. Shame he's a good defender so I couldn't take him in this.

[freethedevil]

Durant and Kawhi.