Was challenged to defeat this Team:

[mdonnelly1989]

PG: Curry
SG: MJ
SF: Kobe
PF: Lebron
C: Shaq (Lakers)

My Team:


PG: Magic
SG: KD
SF: Bird
PF: KG
C: Hakeem

Right out of the gate, I think I clearly dominate this team in size. Have better perimeter shooting with Bird and KD. Better defense in the post. Also think I'll be a better passing team too.

Where I think this team is better is that the offense can run through MJ/Curry, Kobe/Curry, Lebron/Curry and or Shaq/Curry.

Having Curry on this team opens up this whole offense. What I would be curios to see is how MJ/Kobe and Lebron do in terms of sharing the ball. They all dominate the ball so that would be interesting.

[DraymondGold]

Hmm, interesting teams!

Their team: I love the combination of Curry and Shaq. That could absolutely mess up a defense!
Not a big fan of Jordan and LeBron together (especially without better fitting pieces around them). Both are pretty ball-dominant and would want the ball in their hands. LeBron in particular wouldn't benefit from being off-ball while MJ was going at it. Both are also very rim-oriented, so I fear there might be some diminishing returns against a good rim-protecting team like yours. Add Shaq to the two GOATs, and you get a great team, sure -- but the opponents stack up on all-time big man defenders (like you did with Hakeem and KG!), it might allow another all-time Dream Team to make up for the talent gap with better fit.
Also not sure about the Kobe choice. If I had to build a Dream Team and had Jordan, LeBron, and Kobe, I'd hesitate to choose two, much less three.
Defensively, it's also a little sub-optimal. You'd definitely want to have great defenders if you're picking both Shaq and Curry, and while the other 3 are all great defenders for their position, I still would prefer taking out one of the 3 for a better-fitting more defensively-focused player.

Your team:
Love the choice of KG and Hakeem. Just a perfect counter to their team defensively. I also like your choice to have 3 all-time spacers in KD/Bird/KG (who's all-time relative to position), and Magic/Hakeem definitely provide more spacing than their 4th/5th worst spacers. Like you say, you also have a nice mix of passing (Magic, Bird, KG) with good finishers (KD, Hakeem).

If I were to make a suggestion, I'm not sure I love the idea of Magic/KD/Bird guarding Curry and MJ in man defense. Man defense tends to be overrated, but it's still nice to have. Curry/MJ are so speedy and none of those 3 are exactly perfect with horizontal mobility. I might suggest trading one of those three (Magic/KD/Bird) for someone a little more defense-focused, provided they still fit on offense.
Maybe switch in Kawhi (~16 or 17 when he was still near his defensive peak) or Jerry West? WIth Kawhi, you'd absolutely lose value in passing, but you'd definitely gain on defense, and he's still pretty good off ball and as a spacer. Jerry West doesn't have quite the defensive value of Kawhi, but of course improves as a passer, and is probably a defensive upgrade over peak Magic/KD/Bird.

Regardless, I think I like your team more! I just see too many diminishing returns with their offense (too rim-oriented, not enough spacing or off-ball) and I'm not crazy about their defense. You fill in both those gaps pretty well, so even with less talent, I think your fit makes up for it!

[PistolPeteJR]

My Team:

Kidd
Leonard
Pippen
Garnett
Robinson

Not one weak defender, interchangeable, and will slug it out and win with physicality.

[f4p]

Kawhi
KD
KG
Duncan
Hakeem

Good luck guarding Duncan and KG with Lebron and Kobe or one of Kawhi or KD with Curry. Also, all 3 bigs can drag Shaq outside if necessary. KD and Kawhi are better shooters than the other team's 2nd best shooter. I don't have an ideal Curry chaser but Kawhi isn't going to be easy to shake, and the combined effect of the length of my team with the ability to sag off of Lebron and even MJ/Kobe from 3 makes me less worried. Stepping inside the arc against my team's length seems pretty impossible. KD has shown himself to be an adequate rim protector and here he's the 5th best defender.

[penbeast0]

Kawhi
KD
KG
Duncan
Hakeem

Good luck guarding Duncan and KG with Lebron and Kobe or one of Kawhi or KD with Curry. Also, all 3 bigs can drag Shaq outside if necessary. KD and Kawhi are better shooters than the other team's 2nd best shooter. I don't have an ideal Curry chaser but Kawhi isn't going to be easy to shake, and the combined effect of the length of my team with the ability to sag off of Lebron and even MJ/Kobe from 3 makes me less worried. Stepping inside the arc against my team's length seems pretty impossible. KD has shown himself to be an adequate rim protector and here he's the 5th best defender.

I'm pressing the ballhandlers full court; you have Kawhi or Durant as your primary handlers against pressure you are going to have some problems.

[Dr Positivity]

PG: Stockton
SG: Wade
SF: Bird
PF: Kawhi
C: Kareem

We hit them with some good team basketball

[ardee]

With an unlimited player pool, IMO that's not too hard to beat. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Curry can play offball but I wouldn't want more than 2 of Kobe, Jordan, LeBron and Shaq. That team will have real chemistry concerns.

I would go:

PG: Stockton (physical uncompromising defender who can make Curry work and also punish him on the other end)
SG: Reggie (we want someone who is absolutely not intimidated by Jordan and can run him ragged around screens)
SF: Kawhi (perfect player for this sort of team)
PF: Dirk (one of the few 4s all time that LeBron can't guard)
C: Wilt (Lakers version. He'll be happy to take a backseat on offense while basically being the only guy in history who is big and strong enough to give Shaq a taste of his own medicine)

The goal here is to pick 5 guys who will not be intimidated by the big names and starpower on the other side. All these guys are proven Playoff performers who will have a chip on their shoulders going up against the team in the OP. They'll also function very
effectively as a unit with clearly defined roles.

Stockton is here for his defense, shooting and distribution. Reggie will be run off screens constantly and leave MJ/Kobe tired on the other end. Wilt will shove and push Shaq and make him feel like he has made so many others feel, while dominating the boards and cleaning up misses. Kawhi and Dirk are two of the best Playoff isolation scorers in history.

I think despite all this, the main reason we will win is that the OP team will beat itself. We have seen time and time again in real life that teams with a ton of talent but without clearly defined roles will fail against teams that do. This matchup will be like the 11 Mavs vs Heat series but with better players.

[RCM88x]

Stockton
Magic
KG
DRob
Kareem

Exploit their size, and with the lack of perimeter shooting you can sag off enough to play big. Play two low and crash the boards with the 3rd guy. Stockton can bring some outside shooting off of screens and run PnR, Magic can be a PnR god and is a solid spot up guy. Specifically chose these two for their ability as entry passers too, critical for playing outside-in offense. All three bigs are good enough passers to not bog down offense either.

[f4p]

Kawhi
KD
KG
Duncan
Hakeem

Good luck guarding Duncan and KG with Lebron and Kobe or one of Kawhi or KD with Curry. Also, all 3 bigs can drag Shaq outside if necessary. KD and Kawhi are better shooters than the other team's 2nd best shooter. I don't have an ideal Curry chaser but Kawhi isn't going to be easy to shake, and the combined effect of the length of my team with the ability to sag off of Lebron and even MJ/Kobe from 3 makes me less worried. Stepping inside the arc against my team's length seems pretty impossible. KD has shown himself to be an adequate rim protector and here he's the 5th best defender.

I'm pressing the ballhandlers full court; you have Kawhi or Durant as your primary handlers against pressure you are going to have some problems.

i will just tell kawhi to do that thing where he sticks his off arm out and the second the defender brushes up against it, he snaps his head back and gets 2 free throws for some reason. problem solved.

[Stan]

Stockton
Wade
Kawhi
KG
Hakeem

[lilroddyb]

To be honest there is barely any way to win this team but I think the team has two weaknesses that I can attack. The team is overall kind of small outside of Shaq and Shaq and Curry are not going to be good guarding the pick and roll imo

C: Nikola Jokic
Pf: Kevin Garnett
Sf: Kevin Durant
Sg: Kawhi Leonard
Pg: Magic Johnson

Shaq had trouble vs Stockton/Karl Malone pick and rolls so I think he will have a hard time dealing with Magic/KG/Jokic pick and rolls. Jokic will drag Shaq out of the paint and with screens Magic can hunt favorable missmatches in the post. Curry, Kobe and Jordan are to small to deal with magic in the paint.

Magic and Jokic will run a goat level offense with KG's illegal Screens the team will get bunch of easy points

I know my team has it flaws as well with Jokic not being the ideal defender vs Shaq and the others

[henshao]

Wilt + Dream: My twin towers will make it a nightmare for anyone trying to finish at the rim. Wilt is strong enough to trouble Shaq in all phases of the game. Olajuwon with his length and quickness is about as good of a compromise as you'll get for the problem that is Lebron. On offense, either still has a workable-to-favorable matchup.


For my "back court" I am of two minds:
Pippen + Kawhi + Kidd: basically just duke it out

Bird + Magic + Nash: Fight fire with fire. ~Anything you can score I can score higher~

[mdonnelly1989]

Lmfaooo I knew everyone would try to defeat this team!! loooool

[countryboy667]

Starters:
Wilt Chamberlain
Karl Malone
Larry Bird
Reggie Miller
John Stockton

Bench:
Arvydas Sabonis (not NBA, but Euro prime)
Nate Thurmond
Rick Barry
John Havlicek
Walt Frazier

[TT8198]

PG: Magic Johnson
SG: John Havlicek
SF: Klay Thompson
PF: LeBron James
C: Wes Unseld

My team is a big, versatile, pass first-defensive oriented team that would be a nightmare on the fastbreak and in constant motion in the half court with playmakers all over the floor finding the open the man through driving, cutting, and spacing the floor. With Unseld's goat level bone crushing pick setting and high post playmaking, Havlicek and Thompson wrecking havoc off ball, and the two most versatile players of all time this team would be difficult to stop and a joy to watch. Imagine Unseld grabbing the rebound and throwing outlet passes to Magic and Bron on the fastbreak.

Defensively Havlicek and Thompson would make life difficult for Curry and im not sure where you hide Curry on the other end my whole team is over 6'5. And there's 3 elite wing defenders for Kobe and Jordan at any given moment. Bron is a wash obviously and nobody is stopping Shaq but Unseld is not somebody Shaq can push around and will be able to stand his ground and stay under Shaq making life difficult for him and just giving him a long night with his physicality. On the other end Unseld would operate in the hight post keeping Shaq out of the paint and routinely putting him in the pick & roll. I'm attacking Curry and Shaq all game forcing them to guard somebody.

I think the sheer physicality and constant motion in the half court and fastbreak would wear any team down not mention having to constantly bang with such a big team it would be a long day for most.

Sent from my SM-G975U using RealGM mobile app

[CharityStripe34]

PG: West
SG: Wade
SF: Kawhi
PF: Giannis
C: Wilt

All super-athletes and two-way players. The most fun transition team, especially when Logo and D-Wade will have two 7ft superfreaks running the break.