RealGM

2nd and maybe even third options as well.

Who you got?

Chris Paul (Harden)
Klay Thompson (Curry)
Scottie Pippen (Jordan)
Kevin Durant (Curry)
Nate Thurmond (Barry)

Just today's league has a bunch of very interesting sidekicks to choose from (I assume this refers to second best player, not second scoring option).

James Harden
Paul George
Jaylen Brown (probably)
Draymond Green (probably still)
LeBron James or Anthony Davis
Karl-Anthony Towns or Rudy Gobert
Devon Booker or Chris Paul
Kyrie Irving
Darius Garland or Donovan Mitchell
Jrue Holiday (arguably)
Bam Adebayo
Brandon Ingram (probably)

Those would be the primary players I'd be looking at purely from a talent-level although for team-building purposes I could see other options becoming intriguing as well (high-level role players like Mikal Bridges, Klay Thompson, or Jarrett Allen) if the player doesn't have to be the second best player but can also be the 3rd or 4th best.

But a line-up of – to just give one of many examplees – Harden/Holiday/George/Davis/Towns is absolutely frightening on both ends.

This one feels wrong...when you can put Durant, Barkley, Thurmond (Duncan/Robinson???) on a team of "sidekicks"

henshao wrote:This one feels wrong...when you can put Durant, Barkley, Thurmond (Duncan/Robinson???) on a team of "sidekicks"

True, because we have to define what “sidekick” means, just like in the other thread we have to define what “underrated” means.

Duos I'm inclined to mine include:

Magic/Kareem
Bird/McHale
Jordan/Pippen
LeBron/Wade
West/Wilt
Erving/Moses
Curry/Durant
Stockton/Malone
Russell/Havlicek
Russell/Jones
Russell/Cousy
Shaq/Kobe
Garnett/Pierce

Kareem, Durant, Pippen, Kobe, Wade isn't ideal for outside shooting, but would be a hell of a starting lineup even so.

Stockton/Klay/Kobe/Pippen/Robinson would be lethal.

Magic (KAJ)
Klay (Curry)
Pippen (Jordan)
Durant (Curry)
Kareem (Magic)

This exercise is pretty silly because a player isn't a sidekick simply because they aren't the best player on a team.

Magic / KAJ were a duo, Jordan / Pippen were a duo. They are a package deal, relevant in a historic sense ny their proximity to each other.

Stockton (Malone) I understand who choose Magic, but he was not better than peak Stockton when he was the sidekick of Kareem, he was better, of course, later.
Wade (James)
Erving (Moses)
Stoudemire (Nash) I don't think KD was a sidekick at all... he was winning the FMVPs.. one was not better than the other one. Neither Garnett with Pierce and so.. very close.
Robinson (Duncan)

Jaivl wrote:Chris Paul (Harden)
Klay Thompson (Curry)
Scottie Pippen (Jordan)
Kevin Durant (Curry)
Nate Thurmond (Barry)

This, except I'd put 1971 Oscar ahead of 2018 Paul and I'd try to find someone else in Klay's spot.

FJS wrote:Stockton (Malone) I understand who choose Magic, but he was not better than peak Stockton when he was the sidekick of Kareem, he was better, of course, later.

I don't know, to me Magic was clearly better than peak Stockton in 1983 already and he was Kareem's sidekick then. Of course, peak Stockton wasn't Malone sidekick either - Malone's offensive role grew as he got older in the 1990s.

Tony Parker
Joe Dumars
Sean Elliot
Horace Grant
Rik Smits

bench: Jalen Rose, Richard Jefferson, Charles Oakley

picko wrote:Magic (KAJ)
Klay (Curry)
Pippen (Jordan)
Durant (Curry)
Kareem (Magic)

This exercise is pretty silly because a player isn't a sidekick simply because they aren't the best player on a team.

Magic / KAJ were a duo, Jordan / Pippen were a duo. They are a package deal, relevant in a historic sense ny their proximity to each other.

Pretty sure Pippen was a sidekick

Stalwart wrote:

picko wrote:Magic (KAJ)
Klay (Curry)
Pippen (Jordan)
Durant (Curry)
Kareem (Magic)

This exercise is pretty silly because a player isn't a sidekick simply because they aren't the best player on a team.

Magic / KAJ were a duo, Jordan / Pippen were a duo. They are a package deal, relevant in a historic sense ny their proximity to each other.

Pretty sure Pippen was a sidekick

Sidekicks generally don't make three All-NBA first teams. They don't have multiple top five MVP years. Calling Pippen a sidekick is a complete bastardisation of the word.

Someone isn't a sidekick because they aren't the best player on the team. That's not how it works.

picko wrote:

Stalwart wrote:

picko wrote:Magic (KAJ)
Klay (Curry)
Pippen (Jordan)
Durant (Curry)
Kareem (Magic)

This exercise is pretty silly because a player isn't a sidekick simply because they aren't the best player on a team.

Magic / KAJ were a duo, Jordan / Pippen were a duo. They are a package deal, relevant in a historic sense ny their proximity to each other.

Pretty sure Pippen was a sidekick

Sidekicks generally don't make three All-NBA first teams. They don't have multiple top five MVP years. Calling Pippen a sidekick is a complete bastardisation of the word.

Someone isn't a sidekick because they aren't the best player on the team. That's not how it works.

A sidekick is a slang expression for a close companion or colleague (not necessarily in fiction) who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to the one they accompany.

Its you trying to redefine the word. Pippen was absolutely a close colleague who was and is universally regarded as subordinate to Jordan. Tell me again how sidekicks work.

Noun

sidekick (plural sidekicks)

1) (informal) An assistant to another person, especially to a superior or more important person.

2) (authorship, figuratively) In literature, theatre/theater, etc., a good foil of the protagonist, a character who helps emphasize the traits of the main character.

Robin is Batman's sidekick, however when teamed up Batman is not Superman's sidekick

henshao wrote:Noun

sidekick (plural sidekicks)

1) (informal) An assistant to another person, especially to a superior or more important person.

2) (authorship, figuratively) In literature, theatre/theater, etc., a good foil of the protagonist, a character who helps emphasize the traits of the main character.

Robin is Batman's sidekick, however when teamed up Batman is not Superman's sidekick

Pippen was subordinate to Jordan. That makes him a sidekick. If you want to see a Batman/Superman duo look at Kobe/Shaq and Curry/Durant. Jordan/Pippen are the quintessential Batman and Robin. Just stop guys.

Opinions vary. Pippen is a unique case because we got to see exactly what he looks like without his costar, and though Jordan was the better player, Pippen established he was a top 10 NBA talent on his own, top 5 by some measurements.

Kobe was also subordinate to Shaq lol. But he played like Jordan, so obviously that is impossible.

It's clear that Jordan was far better player than Pippen, it's also clear that Pippen was a superstar and consistent top 5-7 player in the league.