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How would you rank those duos in terms of a pair to build around?

* edit: one year peak

For a single season in their prime? In today's game or 20+ years ago?

For a single prime season today:

1. KG/Steph
2. Bird/Wade
3. Duncan/Kobe

Duncan and Kobe, by far the best longevity, health and consistency. I see no reason to believe they'd struggle in any era either.

KG and Curry are also a good choice, but I don't love Curry's durability problems and the fact that it took a lot of time for him to become great.

Wade and Bird are distant last, as they struggled with health a lot.

70sFan wrote:Duncan and Kobe, by far the best longevity, health and consistency. I see no reason to believe they'd struggle in any era either.

KG and Curry are also a good choice, but I don't love Curry's durability problems and the fact that it took a lot of time for him to become great.

Wade and Bird are distant last, as they struggled with health a lot.

What about a one year peak?

I’d take Duncan and Kobe for a one year peak.

70sFan wrote:Duncan and Kobe, by far the best longevity, health and consistency. I see no reason to believe they'd struggle in any era either.

KG and Curry are also a good choice, but I don't love Curry's durability problems and the fact that it took a lot of time for him to become great.

Wade and Bird are distant last, as they struggled with health a lot.

I generally agree from a career perspective (I’d go KG/Curry for peak, but any pairing is a decent choice there).

I would say I don’t think Curry really took any longer to get going than Kobe (better his first two seasons, that ‘98 AS selection is a joke, worse in 3rd due to missed time, and then similar/better from there on out).

eminence wrote:

70sFan wrote:Duncan and Kobe, by far the best longevity, health and consistency. I see no reason to believe they'd struggle in any era either.

KG and Curry are also a good choice, but I don't love Curry's durability problems and the fact that it took a lot of time for him to become great.

Wade and Bird are distant last, as they struggled with health a lot.

I generally agree from a career perspective (I’d go KG/Curry for peak, but any pairing is a decent choice there).

I would say I don’t think Curry really took any longer to get going than Kobe (better his first two seasons, that ‘98 AS selection is a joke, worse in 3rd due to missed time, and then similar/better from there on out).

I agree about Curry. His year 2 is .128 WS/48, 3.0 OBPM, 124.6 TS+, Best +/- [and ON/OFF] and a hilarious 49.5% on Deep 2's on 294 Attempts [Dirk-like numbers] and shows an ability to be resilient in the post-season.

But Curry wasn't great until 2013 [Year 4]. The same can be said for Kobe [though you could argue he wasn't great until 2001--year 5].

1. Kobe/Duncan
2. Steph/KG
3. Wade/Bird

durantbird wrote:

70sFan wrote:Duncan and Kobe, by far the best longevity, health and consistency. I see no reason to believe they'd struggle in any era either.

KG and Curry are also a good choice, but I don't love Curry's durability problems and the fact that it took a lot of time for him to become great.

Wade and Bird are distant last, as they struggled with health a lot.

What about a one year peak?

Probably the same order, though it's closer - KG and Curry sound like a scary combination.

eminence wrote:

70sFan wrote:Duncan and Kobe, by far the best longevity, health and consistency. I see no reason to believe they'd struggle in any era either.

KG and Curry are also a good choice, but I don't love Curry's durability problems and the fact that it took a lot of time for him to become great.

Wade and Bird are distant last, as they struggled with health a lot.

I generally agree from a career perspective (I’d go KG/Curry for peak, but any pairing is a decent choice there).

I would say I don’t think Curry really took any longer to get going than Kobe (better his first two seasons, that ‘98 AS selection is a joke, worse in 3rd due to missed time, and then similar/better from there on out).

Fair point regarding Curry vs Kobe, though Duncan has a substantial edge at the beginning over KG as well.

Duncan and Kobe as a superstar duo ends around 17th season (2013 Kobe + 2014 Duncan), though some may argue it ends around 13th season (2009 Kobe and 2010 Duncan). We don't know where Curry ends being superstar, so far he's been in his 14th season (2022 Curry + 2009 KG).

70sFan wrote:

eminence wrote:

70sFan wrote:Duncan and Kobe, by far the best longevity, health and consistency. I see no reason to believe they'd struggle in any era either.

KG and Curry are also a good choice, but I don't love Curry's durability problems and the fact that it took a lot of time for him to become great.

Wade and Bird are distant last, as they struggled with health a lot.

I generally agree from a career perspective (I’d go KG/Curry for peak, but any pairing is a decent choice there).

I would say I don’t think Curry really took any longer to get going than Kobe (better his first two seasons, that ‘98 AS selection is a joke, worse in 3rd due to missed time, and then similar/better from there on out).

Fair point regarding Curry vs Kobe, though Duncan has a substantial edge at the beginning over KG as well.

Duncan and Kobe as a superstar duo ends around 17th season (2013 Kobe + 2014 Duncan), though some may argue it ends around 13th season (2009 Kobe and 2010 Duncan). We don't know where Curry ends being superstar, so far he's been in his 14th season (2022 Curry + 2009 KG).

Those "some" were very harsh on Kobe (2010-2013, 4x consecutive 1st team all-nba and 4x consecutive top 5 MVP voting, including one championship Finals MVP). Also Curry and KG both took quite a while to become superstars together with Curry's missing seasons.

Duncan/Kobe >> Bird/Wade > KG/Steph

dygaction wrote:

70sFan wrote:

eminence wrote:
I generally agree from a career perspective (I’d go KG/Curry for peak, but any pairing is a decent choice there).

I would say I don’t think Curry really took any longer to get going than Kobe (better his first two seasons, that ‘98 AS selection is a joke, worse in 3rd due to missed time, and then similar/better from there on out).

Fair point regarding Curry vs Kobe, though Duncan has a substantial edge at the beginning over KG as well.

Duncan and Kobe as a superstar duo ends around 17th season (2013 Kobe + 2014 Duncan), though some may argue it ends around 13th season (2009 Kobe and 2010 Duncan). We don't know where Curry ends being superstar, so far he's been in his 14th season (2022 Curry + 2009 KG).

Those "some" were very harsh on Kobe (2010-2013, 4x consecutive 1st team all-nba and 4x consecutive top 5 MVP voting, including one championship Finals MVP). Also Curry and KG both took quite a while to become superstars together with Curry's missing seasons.

It was more about Duncan down season in 2011 than Kobe really, though I certainly wouldn't rave about 2011-12 Bryant either.

Duncan/Kobe would be amazing. Timmy would be the defensive anchor, and Kobe would run the offense, and get Timmy involved plenty. They would work very well together I'd imagine.

Bird/Wade at 2nd. Larry Bird would be the main play maker there, and would open the floor up for Wade more than anyone ever did. Plus Wade would have a field day getting the ball to Bird too for buckets all around the court. The two of them and whoever they'd have with them should be able to win a lot of games together.

KG and Steph can work well together but I don't see them being as good. It would depend on who the rest of the roster is around them.