RealGM

How do you think this roster would perform today if all players are 38 y.o.? Assume no ego issues, i.e. everyone just wants to win. Who would you start?

Kareem
Karl Malone
LeBron
MJ
Stockton
Dirk
Duncan
Horford
Reggie
Ginobili
Chris Paul
Kidd

A bunch of would-be top 3 bigs, next to prime-adjacent LeBron... They should win.

Would probably start

Stockton
Reggie
Ginóbili
LeBron
Duncan

Reggie and Manu cause this team desperately needs shooting. With heavy minutes on Jordan, Kareem and Malone.

I was gonna replace Duncan with Kareem but I think Duncan is important to sure up a somewhat vulnerable defense. So I echo Jaivl's lineup with CP3, Kidd, Malone and Kareem as key bench contributors

I'll give Parish a shout out but not enough minutes to go around between Duncan/Kareem

As for the poll, I chose Championship. The BBIQ, complementary skillsets and Championship pedigree would be too much to overcome

I'd probably run a core rotation of

Stockton / CP3
Ginobili / Jordan
Lebron
Duncan / Malone
Kareem

where Horford and Reggie may get some extra minutes. Lebron being his 2023 self is no longer capable of running without an All-NBA level scoring option, so either Malone or Kareem needs to play a lot - and Kareem seemed to be better. I don't think they would win it all, but probably they would not be far from it.

I'd probably start:

Stockton
Reggie
LeBron
Malone
??? at C

Was initially going to say Kareem (I do think he's the best C, in a vacuum). But I could see starting Duncan at C, too, going for more defensive presence; which would then leave Kareem as a nice offensive lead-option for the 2nd unit.

Reggie is diminished, but I like the spacing he provides around LeBron and a strong pnr/pnp game with Stockton/Malone or LeBron/Malone. Honestly, for the same reason you could pop Al Horford into the starting line-up at C. Gives you more switchability on defense, too (though much less rim protection).
I'm telling Stockton to be prepared to shoot more outside when LeBron has the reins.

I'm telling Jordan he's coming off the bench, and to either go at the basket or give the ball up, and generally just focus more on defense and rebounding (and because there are no egos here, he actually listens ). He can maybe look to do more cutting off-ball when Kareem gets it in the post, too.
What I DON'T want him to do is what he actually did at 38 years old: be a ball-stopper who takes a huge proportion (almost 63%) of his ample shot-load in a range where he only made 41% of them.

Ginobili provides a nice multifaceted utility guy off the bench. I could see a Kareem/Jordan/Ginobili core with maybe Horford as a stretch-4 being a strong anchor for the 2nd unit (Kareem I think gets ample minutes, playing with both 1st and 2nd units).

As much I think of Chris Paul, I sort of feel like he's going to get the least playing time on my team. He's just lost too much by this age, and guys like LeBron and Ginobili can take some PG duties, too. He's unlikely to get in the game much.

EDIT: Forgot about Kidd. He plays more than Paul; probably rounds out my full 2nd unit (Kareem/Horford/Jordan/Ginobili/Kidd).

Kidd was still a big minute player on a champion at 38. Defending the best wings in the world, hitting 3's and running an offense. And a guy who kept starting over prime Paul on Olympic teams because of his leadership/peer respect.

I get on paper he's way underloved here because he was never a great scorer, but he's carving out a role on that team absolutely. And probably a key one.

Even with egos not a factor, I'm not sure about 38-year-old MJ on this team. What does a scaled-down version of his game even look like?

Seriously, no bunch of 38 year old's will make it to the play offs in today's game. The league average pace, speed and movement is higher than even the average 38 year old today can handle. Normally they rely on younger guys to make up for it. But putting 4 other 38 years old on court with them overdoing minutes, pace, speed and movement (anyone remember Curry's last full game before he pulled his hammy) will kill those old legs, injuries will be their part. They might not even make the end of the season with a 12 man roster, probably need at least 15, but more like 18 of them.

Here a list of the Pace, distance and pace for the selected at 38, as well as the league average and low.

I also added the only 4 other 38-year old who managed to play at least 24 minutes in the past 12 seasons as an extra reference

Offensively I think a group of 38 year olds with guys like Lebron, Manu, Reggie, Duncan etc would be extremely effective. Enough b-ball IQ and shooting to really make it work IMO.

Defensively the SGAs of the world would run absolute circles around them though. It's not going to be a good defensive team. Duncan is still a decent anchor point but the perimeter guys are going to get run ragged.

Fadeaway_J wrote:Even with egos not a factor, I'm not sure about 38-year-old MJ on this team. What does a scaled-down version of his game even look like?

Lots of inefficient volume, coupled to weak defense.

Fadeaway_J wrote:Even with egos not a factor, I'm not sure about 38-year-old MJ on this team. What does a scaled-down version of his game even look like?

Yes, MJ is the biggest reason I mentioned no egos. Nobody knows, but I personally think a 38 year old Jordan with a fraction of the offensive responsibility, probably much fewer minutes, is sort of like 98 MJ with less scoring. So he can be okayish at everything: rebound, pass, defend acceptably, take care of the ball. I think on this team he'd be at least a good fill in player.

An entire roster of athletically limited old players is going to run into issues on defense, there's no way around it. You can talk about reputations, but almost all of these players are negative defenders at this age. 38 year old Kidd with busted knees is your best perimeter defender and all of your bigs are slow footed. They'd probably have to play small ball.