Who wins this? Team MJ or Team Magic/Bird

[mdonnelly1989]

Team MJ

PG: John Stockton
SG: 1992 MJ
SF: Pippen
PF: Karl Malone
C: Patrick Ewing

Team Magic/Bird 5

PG: Magic Johnson
SG: Clyde Drexler
SF: Larry Bird
PF: Charles Barkley
C: Hakeem Olajuwon

[Cavsfansince84]

Team MJ

PG: John Stockton
SG: 1992 MJ
SF: Pippen
PF: Karl Malone
C: Patrick Ewing

Team Magic/Bird 5

PG: Magic Johnson
SG: Clyde Drexler
SF: Larry Bird
PF: Charles Barkley
C: Hakeem Olajuwon

Close. I'd favor Bird/Magic 6/10. Offense would be too dynamic imo. Guessing all players at peak.

[Dutchball97]

Relative to position, Karl Malone is the worst defender on team MJ but he'd be the second best defender behind Hakeem on the other team. Even though the Magic/Bird team has an arguably better offense, it's not nearly enough to overcome the defensive difference imo.

[henshao]

This is going to be an absolute bloodbath on the scoreboard, as neither team can defend the other very reliably. In such case I lean towards the firepower of Team 2

[mdonnelly1989]

This is going to be an absolute bloodbath on the scoreboard, as neither team can defend the other very reliably. In such case I lean towards the firepower of Team 2

One thing I wonder is if Team 2 would have too much ball to go around...

Team #1 seems like it would be a lot more cohesive...

[henshao]

This is going to be an absolute bloodbath on the scoreboard, as neither team can defend the other very reliably. In such case I lean towards the firepower of Team 2

One thing I wonder is if Team 2 would have too much ball to go around...

Team #1 seems like it would be a lot more cohesive...

Depending on which versions of Team 2, they're all willing passers with dependable jump shots. Somewhat amazingly I don't really see any compositional issues

[Stan]

Magic/Bird has the better player at 4/5 positions, and a SUBSTANTIAL advantage at PG/SF/C. The poll results don't lie lol.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Team MJ

PG: John Stockton
SG: 1992 MJ
SF: Pippen
PF: Karl Malone
C: Patrick Ewing

Team Magic/Bird 5

PG: Magic Johnson
SG: Clyde Drexler
SF: Larry Bird
PF: Charles Barkley
C: Hakeem Olajuwon

Bird’s natural position is power forward. It bugs me that fans don’t know the position of a top ten player of all time.
It bugged me that sports writers on Bird’s day got Bird’s position wrong. Offense is a question of how do 5 guys fit together and creating mismatches for the opposing team is good. On defense everybody should be able to defend a position and the position you defend best is your position. The position Burd defended best was power forward. McHale although clearly not a small forward, mcHale defended small forwards better than Bird defended small forwards. Maxwell defended small forwards better than Bird defended small forwards.
70 oercent of the time on defense Bird was defending a power forward;15 percent of the time Bird was playing team defense defending nobody and much of that time Bird coukd have been called for an illegal defense; @and 15% of the time Bird defended a small forward.

Wgat you do on offense is not your position. Forget about what Bird did in offense. Bird was very good at low post scoring as well as what Bird did further from the hoop. Low post scoring skills have declined. Bird might be the 3rd best low post scorer in the NBA after Embiid and Jokic if Bird played in the current NBA. Giannis finishes near the rim but so much of his offense starts outside and is small forward style drives.


I woukd replace Barkley with 1984 playoff run Bernard King. Neither Barkley who is faster than Bird nor Bird really have the foot speed to defend Pippen but I am not sure that Pippen can turn up his volume enough to exploit the defensive weakness, so I still take the Magic Bird team.

Another option is to turn Magic into a small forward on defense and have Norm Nixon replace Barkely. Magic did not defend people like Stockton and Clyde also did not defend people like Stockton. I don’t want Magic defending Jordan but I am fine with Clyde defending Jordan. Cooper, Nixon and later Byron Scott defended the small fast point guards, not Magic.

1982 Lakers with Norm and Magic had the best fast break. Clyde could play the roles of Wilkes and Cooper. Bird would be a super upgraded Rambis. Barkley is a better player than Nixon but I think replacing Barkley with Nixon improves the team.

On the other hand Bird and Magic as smalls could lead to dominant offensive rebounding. As good as Malone Ewing Pippen Jordan are at defensive rebounding Hakeem, Barkley, Bird Magic, Clyde would be too much for them. Malone can’t Box out Bakley, and Pippen can’t box out Bird and Magic will go over the back of stockton.

Lets even this out. Parish Bird, Magic Cooper, Nixon vs Hakeem, Karl Malone, Pippen, Jordan Stockton.

[dygaction]

You call it Bird/Magic team when peak Hakeem has a strong argument over both… Team 2 easily have 2/3/4 best players