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Who wins a best of 7 with everyone in their prime and healthy. Modern era Play-In Tournament rules.

1990 Cavaliers (Eastern Conference No. 7 seed; 42-40)
PG: Mark Price / Steve Kerr
SG: Craig Ehlo / John Morton
SF: Chucky Brown / Derrick Chievous / Winston Bennett
PF: Larry Nance Sr. / Hot Rod Williams
C: Brad Daugherty / Tree Rollins / Paul Mokeski
Coached by: Lenny Wilkens

1990 Pacers (Eastern Conference No. 8 seed; 42-40)
PG: Vern Fleming / Rickey Green
SG: Reggie Miller / Randy Wittman
SF: Chuck Person / George McCloud / Mike Sanders
PF: LaSalle Thompson / Detlef Schrempf / Calvin Natt
C: Rik Smits / Greg Dreiling
Coached by: Rich Versace

1990 Hawks (Eastern Conference No. 9 seed; 41-41)
PG: Spud Webb / Kenny Smith / Haywoode Workman
SG: Doc Rivers / John Long / John Battle
SF: Dominique Wilkins / Duane Ferrell
PF: Moses Malone / Cliff Levingston
C: Kevin Willis / Jon Koncak
Coached by: Mike Fratello

1990 Bullets (Eastern Conference No. 10 seed; 31-51)
PG: Darrell Walker / Steve Colter
SG: Jeff Malone / Ledell Eackles
SF: Bernard King / Tom Hammonds
PF: Harvey Grant / Mark Alarie / Ed Horton
C: Hotplate Williams / Melvin Turpin / Charles Jones
Coached by: Wes Unseld

1990 Nuggets (Western Conference No. 7 seed; 43-39)
PG: Michael Adams / T.R. Dunn
SG: Fat Lever / Todd Lichti
SF: Alex English / Walter Davis / Bill Hanzlik
PF: Danny Schayes / Jerome Lane / Tim Kempton
C: Joe Barry Carroll / Blair Rasmussen
Coached by: Doug Moe

1990 Rockets (Western Conference No. 8 seed; 41-41)
PG: Sleepy Floyd / John Lucas II
SG: Mitchell Wiggins / Mike Woodson / Vernon Maxwell
SF: Buck Johnson / Lewis Lloyd / Anthony Bowie
PF: Otis Thorpe / Larry Smith
C: Hakeem Olajuwon / Tim McCormick
Coached by: Don Chaney

1990 SuperSonics (Western Conference No. 9 seed; 41-41)
PG: Nate McMillan / Dana Barros / Avery Johnson
SG: Dale Ellis / Sedale Threatt
SF: Derrick McKey / Quintin Dailey
PF: Xavier McDaniel / Shawn Kemp
C: Michael Cage / Steve Johnson / Olden Polynice
Coached by: Bernie Bickerstaff

1990 Warriors (Western Conference No. 10 seed; 37-45)
PG: Tim Hardaway / Kelvin Upshaw
SG: Terry Teagle / Sarunas Marciulionis
SF: Mitch Richmond / Marques Johnson / Rod Higgins
PF: Chris Mullin / Tom Tolbert
C: Alton Lister / Jim Petersen / Manute Bol
Coached by: Don Nelson

Scheduled Play-In Tourney Matches that i've booked:

1: '90 Pacers vs '90 Cavs - at Richfield Coliseum (winner gets the Eastern Conference's 7th seed to take on the '90 Sixers, while the loser has to face the winner of the elimination game between the '90 Bullets v '90 Hawks)

2: '90 Bullets vs '90 Hawks - at Omni Coliseum (losing team of this game is eliminated and the winner gets to face the loser of the Pacers-Cavs game for the 8th and last playoff seed in the Eastern Conference to take on the 1st seeded '90 Pistons)

3: '90 Rockets vs '90 Nuggets - at McNichols Sports Arena (winner gets the Western Conference's 7th seed to take on the '90 Spurs, while the loser has to face the winner of the elimination game between the '90 Warriors v '90 Sonics)

4: '90 Warriors vs '90 SuperSonics - at Seattle Center Coliseum (losing team of this game is eliminated and the winner gets to face the loser of the Rockets-Nuggets game for the 8th and last playoff seed in the Western Conference to take on the 1st seeded '90 Lakers)

Great thread but I would also love if you would put their regular season seed next to each team and also their regular season record if you want!

Homer38 wrote:Great thread but I would also love if you would put their regular season seed next to each team and also their regular season record if you want!

Thanks for the feedback, and much appreciated. I just fixed it to where you can see their actual regular season seed and regular season win-loss record. Just thought i'd put all those players on each of those teams in their primes so that the following teams from back then could duke it out for the No. 7 and 8 seeds in both the Eastern and Western conferences (much like how the league today incorporate their current Play-In rules).

As the '90 Hawks and '90 Bullets were the 9th and 10th place teams in the East, I thought i'd give one of them the opportunity to try to make the '90 Playoffs at the expense of either the '90 Cavs or '90 Pacers squads. Same thing with the '90 Sonics and '90 Warriors being the 9th and 10th place teams in the West, and so I'd give one of these two teams a chance to try to make the playoffs at the expense of either the '90 Nuggets or '90 Rockets squads.

Some of those rotations are exceedingly strange if the idea is “in their prime” across the board.

Rockets are not well spaced, do not have a legitimate starting small forward, and have a bad coach. With peak Hakeem that might be a title regardless, but if we are just taking an estimated prime average, they fall short.

The Cavaliers have a proven core for regular season success if we take them all in their primes, with probably the best bench of the group. I also absolutely cannot trust them in a postseason setting. Similar for the Sonics.

The Pacers have the best collection of starters: Rickey Green, Reggie Miller, Calvin Natt, Detlef Schrempf, and Rik Smits. But there is a reason they benefitted from trading Detlef for the less talented McKey, and that reason is a severe defensive imbalance.

So I think my answer might be the Hawks, because prime Moses is the second-best player here and they have strong depth and overall talent on both ends of the court.