Who would you like as Teammates?

[jojo4341]

Consider different scenarios on who would you want to play with either currently and/or throughout history? Try to limit it to superstar/HOF players. Below are my answers. You can repeat answers if it's applicable.

1. You're a superstar. You and this teammate are 1A and 1B:

Steph Curry - As a superstar, I'd have more pull on the style of offense we play and I'd prefer a more free-flowing offense with a PG who was not ball-dominant. I imagine myself to be a combo-guard (so no, I'm not KD) and Steph can also play either. I do want to win as a superstar, but I also want to have fun. Jokic was up there too but the prospect of having a lethal backcourt was too good to pass up.

2. You're a borderline allstar. You defer to the superstar but you're at least Robin or the 3rd option:

Magic Johnson - I would still like to win but more importantly, I like to have fun. Though he's ball-dominant, the offense does run through him and I could learn a lot...so I'd be okay with that. Magic could provide both as he's more of motivator than intimidator (MJ, Bird, KG, Kobe). Lebron would also be a great pick as well since he's very lighthearted behind the scenes it appears. I don't need THAT much intensity.

3. You're a rotational player. Never an allstar, might come off the bench but get solid minutes:

Shaq - Since I'm constantly proving myself to get mid-level contracts, winning takes a back seat to having fun and being comfortable. Shaq simplifies the offense for me as I can get open with less effort and when in doubt, feed Shaq down low. Shaq is known to have fun outside of the game and though he does like winning, he's not obsessed with it like Kobe, or example.

4. You're fighting every year to stay in the league. Most minutes come from garbage time or injuries to rotational players:

Steve Nash - I could care less about winning (not to say Nash doesn't, but he helps me in this scenario) and I could care less about having fun. I have a family to feed! But Nash is one of the best floor raisers for his teammates. I don't mind running, so the SSOL offense works well for me if that means I can pad my stats. Jokic was a close 2nd and he's probably the BEST floor raiser. But Nash allows me to pad my stats more with the side-effect of actually having fun.

[Saints14]

1. Curry. Least ball dominant superstar ever
2. Jokic. He'd make me look good and happily defer to me when I'm hot
3. LeBron. Other stars have been marginalized playing next to LeBron but he's made plenty of role players look good
4. Jokic again, given how he made borderline NBA players look decent a few years ago

[Jaivl]

1. Tim Duncan. Yeah, I'll take the spotlight, the FMVPs and the money, thank you very much.
2. LeBron James. Surefire title contention + Media will ensure I'm never at fault for anything.
3. Jaylen Brown. Gotta talk a lot of ****, upstage him as a faux star, earn myself a 300 M contract.
4. Ricky Rubio. With any luck his units supercharge my +/-, my transition buckets, my defense, and nobody notices it was him all along.

[ronnymac2]

Dennis Rodman is my answer to every single one of these questions, as he is applicable.

1. We have me; we don't need another chucker. Rodman sets screens for me and grabs offensive rebounds. We have a great defender on the other end. Perfection.

2. Rodman makes the least sense here, but I'm still picking him. Throughout NBA history, 95% of the players could be 20 PPG scorers if need be. I'm not worried about scoring. We'll have more possessions with Rodman anyway.

3 and 4: This is the best case scenario. I more than likely get to pad my scoring numbers since Rodman doesn't shoot, thus earning a contract I shouldn't be getting. I also get to party with Rodman, and none of the headlines will be about me. If I'm fighting to stay in the league and I end up getting cut, I at least get to tell some awesome stories about chilling with the coolest dude who ever played ball, a real-life Forrest Gump.

[penbeast0]

Since I based my game on Kareem and would never make the NBA unless I was at least 7' tall, I'm assuming the closest model of a real NBA player to my style growing up. So, a traditional back to the basket pivot scorer with a decent hook shot, a couple of counters, some ability to move out to the 3 point line, mediocre foul shooting, poor handles, decent passing skills, and scrappy (okay, dirty) defense limited by slow feet and mediocre core strength.

Superstar 1A, 1B, I'll go with Curry for pass in and kick out since I'm not mobile enough to take advantage of a Stockton and Magic and Nash tend to be sort of all over the floor. Alternative, give me Jerry West.

All-Star with a superstar, give me Magic. He works well with a star center but can do it all, and he's got a great personality. Alternative, give me Curry.

Good bench player, give me Draymond Green. Can cover my defensive deficiencies, plays most of the end games at center but there should be a lot of minutes left against the other ultra big monsters of the league even if those you worry about are better than I am.

Marginal NBA player, give me Bill Walton. His health issues will give me a lot of job security, and when he goes down, as he always does, I will move up from 3rd string to 2nd string and get minutes.

[jojo4341]

3. Jaylen Brown. Gotta talk a lot of ****, upstage him as a faux star, earn myself a 300 M contract.
4. Ricky Rubio. With any luck his units supercharge my +/-, my transition buckets, my defense, and nobody notices it was him all along.

I was thinking Jaylen isn't a superstar but then the 300mil kinda says he is. I regrettably drafted him in my Fantasy league with the assumption he's going to show his worth. Who would be your HoF equavilent of Rubio? Jason Kidd?

3 and 4: This is the best case scenario. I more than likely get to pad my scoring numbers since Rodman doesn't shoot, thus earning a contract I shouldn't be getting. I also get to party with Rodman, and none of the headlines will be about me. If I'm fighting to stay in the league and I end up getting cut, I at least get to tell some awesome stories about chilling with the coolest dude who ever played ball, a real-life Forrest Gump.

I hadn't thought about Rodman, especially for his off-court antics. That would be a great consolation prize for a scrub.

Since I based my game on Kareem and would never make the NBA unless I was at least 7' tall, I'm assuming the closest model of a real NBA player to my style growing up.

So you also used Skyhooks playing basketball? That's awesome! I grew up watching and Magic and Kareem (final year) and thought Skyhooks were the norm, so I copied them. I'm only 5'8.

[penbeast0]

I started with the skyhook but also shot a lot of Cliff Hagan style running hooks down the right side of the lane (and worked on the left handed hook both as a post counter and for the left side of the lane but it was never as consistent). My version was more early 70s Kareem where he did it from all over the floor rather than the more stationary 80s version.

[parsnips33]

1. Anthony Davis - if I don't get a shot I like I can just throw it towards the rim and odds are he'll dunk it

2. LeBron - He can take all the blame if we lose. Would definitely make a burner account to argue with his Stans all day

3. Ja Morant - low expectations, good vibes plus we can go to target practice after normal practice

4. Steph Curry - guaranteed court side seats to the greatest show on earth every night. Plus I'm sure I can trick Kerr into giving me minutes by passing to Steph every time/screening hard

[Texas Chuck]

Top 3 all seem like Timmy Duncan. 4 might be as well honestly. But I'll homer up and pick Dirk for that one. We are going to win and my superstar is going to make it super fun.

[jojo4341]

Top 3 all seem like Timmy Duncan. 4 might be as well honestly. But I'll homer up and pick Dirk for that one. We are going to win and my superstar is going to make it super fun.

Timmy is another I may have overlooked at least for scenarios 2 and 3. It's pretty much established that he's a big nerd and gamer. I mean he had his teammates play Starcraft in the midst of the 1999 NBA Finals! They were way ahead of their time in terms of E-Sports and "streaming."

Watch on YouTube

Doesn't get any nerdy and fun than that...

[MacGill]

1. Shaq
2. Bird
3. Magic
4. Russell

[Jaivl]

3. Jaylen Brown. Gotta talk a lot of ****, upstage him as a faux star, earn myself a 300 M contract.
4. Ricky Rubio. With any luck his units supercharge my +/-, my transition buckets, my defense, and nobody notices it was him all along.

I was thinking Jaylen isn't a superstar but then the 300mil kinda says he is. I regrettably drafted him in my Fantasy league with the assumption he's going to show his worth. Who would be your HoF equavilent of Rubio? Jason Kidd?

Yeah every time I talk about Ricky just assume I mean a hybrid of a more handsome, nicer-with-the-ladies Jason Kidd, Mookie Blaylock and Magic Johnson, coupled with Westbrook's irrational confidence.

[SilentA]

Fun post.

Based on my own game, the fantasy universe, fully committed to basketball, athletic and taller NBA version of me would be a classic pass first point guard that tries on defense (even if not exceptional), decent but not spectacular shooting, thinks alot about tactics, and can run really fast.

1. As a Chris Paul/Isiah/Stockton type star, I'd probably want a defensive anchor, paint protector, P&R partner, and post scorer (occasional lob threat) in one. I'll say Tim Duncan for now, also because of good culture.

2. At this point I become more of a Rondo probably. In which case, I'll play around someone who I can just throw the ball to a lot more to make stuff happen, even if I may initiate plays, dribble the ball up, or score myself time to time. Give me Larry Bird.

3. As a rotational backup pass first PG, I suppose I'll just take a wing or big who can draw defenders, score, and let me rack up assists. I'll go with Kevin Durant here as a pure scorer, though I can see the case for Dirk or Shaq.

4. If I was fighting for minutes, I'd probably go for Nikola Jokic. I'd just run around and cut all the time, try on defense, practice alot of corner 3s, and hope for the best.

In each case I'd prefer a 3&D-like backcourt partner if possible.

[penbeast0]

3. Jaylen Brown. Gotta talk a lot of ****, upstage him as a faux star, earn myself a 300 M contract.
4. Ricky Rubio. With any luck his units supercharge my +/-, my transition buckets, my defense, and nobody notices it was him all along.

I was thinking Jaylen isn't a superstar but then the 300mil kinda says he is. I regrettably drafted him in my Fantasy league with the assumption he's going to show his worth. Who would be your HoF equavilent of Rubio? Jason Kidd?

Yeah every time I talk about Ricky just assume I mean a hybrid of a more handsome, nicer-with-the-ladies Jason Kidd, Mookie Blaylock and Magic Johnson, coupled with Westbrook's irrational confidence.

Mookie is a HOF equivalent? Has to be Kidd pretty much; would say KC Jones but despite his HOF status, that's a bit unfair to Rubio. Rubio was a playmaker as well as a defender.

[Jaivl]

I was thinking Jaylen isn't a superstar but then the 300mil kinda says he is. I regrettably drafted him in my Fantasy league with the assumption he's going to show his worth. Who would be your HoF equavilent of Rubio? Jason Kidd?

Yeah every time I talk about Ricky just assume I mean a hybrid of a more handsome, nicer-with-the-ladies Jason Kidd, Mookie Blaylock and Magic Johnson, coupled with Westbrook's irrational confidence.

Mookie is a HOF equivalent? Has to be Kidd pretty much; would say KC Jones but despite his HOF status, that's a bit unfair to Rubio. Rubio was a playmaker as well as a defender.

Mookie is not a HOF of course, but in a hybrid he has certain qualities that would improve Kidd and Magic.

[Rishkar]

I think the answer for me is Tim Duncan in scenarios one-three and Jokic for the fourth

[jojo4341]

As of this post, here are results for each scenario with players receiving more than 1 vote:

1. Duncan x4, Curry x3
2. Duncan x2, Magic x2, Lebron x2, Bird x2
3. Duncan x2
4. Jokic x3


It appears that Tim Duncan makes a very good teammate all-around.

[rk2023]

Consider different scenarios on who would you want to play with either currently and/or throughout history? Try to limit it to superstar/HOF players. Below are my answers. You can repeat answers if it's applicable.

1. You're a superstar. You and this teammate are 1A and 1B:

2. You're a borderline allstar. You defer to the superstar but you're at least Robin or the 3rd option:

3. You're a rotational player. Never an allstar, might come off the bench but get solid minutes:

4. You're fighting every year to stay in the league. Most minutes come from garbage time or injuries to rotational players:

1. Bill Russell
2. Magic Johnson or Stephen Curry
3. LeBron James
4. Nikola Jokic

Unrelated P.S. - the NFC North is indeed Blue

[jojo4341]

Consider different scenarios on who would you want to play with either currently and/or throughout history? Try to limit it to superstar/HOF players. Below are my answers. You can repeat answers if it's applicable.

1. You're a superstar. You and this teammate are 1A and 1B:

2. You're a borderline allstar. You defer to the superstar but you're at least Robin or the 3rd option:

3. You're a rotational player. Never an allstar, might come off the bench but get solid minutes:

4. You're fighting every year to stay in the league. Most minutes come from garbage time or injuries to rotational players:

1. Bill Russell
2. Magic Johnson or Stephen Curry
3. LeBron James
4. Nikola Jokic

Unrelated P.S. - the NFC North is indeed Blue

I'll admit, I'm a casual fan for sports outside basketball but I do hope the Lions make it back to the playoffs. I was hoping they'd win a playoff game when they had Megatron/Stafford/Suh. And Joker notches another vote for the scrubs!