Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael [edit]: or Kevin)

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Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael [edit]: or Kevin) 

Post#1 » by trex_8063 » Mon Jan 9, 2023 7:28 pm

Low-content thread, perhaps, but this idea came to me after penbeast0's All-time Skinny Team (noting how many skinny guys named Reggie have come thru the league).

Rules:
*Make a 12-man roster using no more than TWO first names; no restrictions on how many/few of each of the two names there are (e.g. it could be six guys named John, and six named George; or it could be 11 guys named Reggie and just one guy named Bob; as long as you use only two first names).

**We'll assume the quality of the player you name is equal to an amalgamation of his best 3 years (so "near-peak", basically).

***Alternate spellings [as long as it's PRONOUNCED basically the same] and shortenings of a name are allowed to be used as only one name (e.g. Dewayne and Dwyane, or Charles and Chuck).

****No use of Michaels/Mikes (or Micheal/Mychal). It's just too much: having a legit GOAT candidate plus being a super-common name in general. Just gives that one to much strength: in addition to MJ, there's Conley, Finley, Bibby, Cooper, Adams, Redd, Cage, Brown, Mike Mitchell; if allowing the alternate spellings there's Thompson, Ray Richardson, and Williams, too........it's just way to much. So no Mikes.

EDIT: *****Also no Kevins; just too stacked: Kevin Garnett, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Kevin McHale, Kevin Johnson, Kevin Martin, Kevin Porter, Kevin Huerter, Kevin Duckworth, Kevin Loughery.


OK, go!
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#2 » by Dutchball97 » Mon Jan 9, 2023 7:53 pm

PG - Kevin Johnson / Paul Westphal / Kevin Porter
SG- Paul George / Paul Pressey
SF - Kevin Durant / Paul Pierce / Paul Arizin
PF - Kevin McHale / Paul Millsap
C - Kevin Garnett / Kevin Love
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#3 » by AEnigma » Mon Jan 9, 2023 7:55 pm

Remember doing this exercise years back (not here) and yeah Kevin was the consensus best name.

Bill used to get you pretty far.

C: Walton
PF: Russell
SF: Cunningham
SG: Knight
PG: Sharman

… with a nice defensive bench.
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#4 » by MyUniBroDavis » Mon Jan 9, 2023 8:02 pm

trex_8063 wrote:Low-content thread, perhaps, but this idea came to me after penbeast0's All-time Skinny Team (noting how many skinny guys named Reggie have come thru the league).

Rules:
*Make a 12-man roster using no more than TWO first names; no restrictions on how many/few of each of the two names there are (e.g. it could be six guys named John, and six named George; or it could be 11 guys named Reggie and just one guy named Bob; as long as you use only two first names).

**We'll assume the quality of the player you name is equal to an amalgamation of his best 3 years (so "near-peak", basically).

***Alternate spellings [as long as it's PRONOUNCED basically the same] and shortenings of a name are allowed to be used as only one name (e.g. Dewayne and Dwyane, or Charles and Chuck).

****No use of Michaels/Mikes (or Micheal/Mychal). It's just too much: having a legit GOAT candidate plus being a super-common name in general. Just gives that one to much strength: in addition to MJ, there's Finley, Cooper, Adams, Redd, Cage, Brown, Mike Johnson; if allowing the alternate spellings there's Thompson, Ray Richardson, and Williams, too........it's just way to much. So no Mikes.

OK, go!


Chris paul/Kevin Johnson
Chris Mullin/Kevin porterJr
Kevin durant/Kevin Martin/
Kevin mchale/Kevin love/Chris webber
Kevin garnett/Chris Bosh

Chris jent as player coach lol

Kevin love
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#5 » by Colbinii » Mon Jan 9, 2023 8:07 pm

Chris/Kevin

This team is big-man heavy but has a plethora of spacing from their bigs. The wings are talented in Mullin/Durant/Middleton with two dynamic point guards in CP3 and Kevin Johnson. Wing defense is a weakness as is having a legitimate, old-school center in certain match-ups.

Chris Paul / Kevin Johnson
Chris Mullin / Kevin Martin
Kevin Durant / Khris Middleton
Kevin McHale / Chris Webber / Kevin Willis
Kevin Garnett / Chris Bosh / Kevin Love
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#6 » by wojoaderge » Mon Jan 9, 2023 8:12 pm

I like this team quite a bit

C - Mikan/Johnson
PF - McGinnis/Niang/Wilson
SF - Yardley/Lynch
SG - Gervin/Thompson/McCloud
PG - Hill/Lehmann
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#7 » by eminence » Mon Jan 9, 2023 8:15 pm

Trying to do a deeper dive here.

Walter/Walt and Andre/Andrei

Walt Frazier/Andre Miller/Walt Hazzard
Walter Davis/Andre Roberson
Andre Iguodala/Walt Williams
Andrei Kirilenko/Walter Berry
Walt Bellamy/Andre Drummond/Walter Dukes

I'm hoping Walt Williams can handle some minutes at the 4 in the modern era, as I don't want to play Berry too much.

I like the defensive punch of my lineup quite a lot.
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#8 » by Owly » Mon Jan 9, 2023 9:20 pm

As well as Bill, Bob also works for older era (especially as perceived closer to the time). Bobs Pettit and Cousy being the stars. Bob Boozer, Bob Love, Bob Houbregs has a nice (outlier, limited minutes) production peak just otoh.
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#9 » by SHAQ32 » Mon Jan 9, 2023 9:37 pm

Chris Paul / Chris Jackson aka Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf / Chris Childs
Penny Hardaway / Anthony Edwards / Anthony Peeler
Chris Mullin / Chris Morris
Anthony Mason / Chris Webber
Anthony Davis / Chris Bosh
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#10 » by AEnigma » Mon Jan 9, 2023 9:54 pm

I really like the Walt and Anthony (Anfernee) pulls. Combining those two, you get a strong (by pre-modern standards) 7-man rotation of Frazier/Penny/WDavis/Mason/ADavis, with Edwards and Bellamy off the bench.
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#11 » by SeattleJazzFan » Mon Jan 9, 2023 9:56 pm

Lebron and Kevin

Kevin Johnson
Kevin Durant
LeBron James
Kevin McHale
Kevin Garnett
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#12 » by Amare_1_Knicks » Mon Jan 9, 2023 10:05 pm

Steve/Stephen & David/Dave

Steve Nash/Steve Francis/Dave Bing
Stephen Curry/David Thompson
Steve Smith/Stephen Jackson/Steve Jones
Dave Debuscherre/David West
David Robinson/Dave Cowens
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#13 » by Heej » Mon Jan 9, 2023 11:29 pm

Why no Michael? Are there really that many OP Michaels in league history?
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#14 » by trex_8063 » Tue Jan 10, 2023 12:15 am

The idea only just came to me, I hadn't brain-stormed very far........didn't realize how strong the names Kevin and Chris would be (would you believe I've never personally known a single "Kevin" in my life?).
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#15 » by trex_8063 » Tue Jan 10, 2023 12:33 am

Heej wrote:Why no Michael? Are there really that many OP Michaels in league history?


Didn't I answer this in the OP?
I mis-labeled a "Mike Johnson" (it was Mike Mitchell I was thinking of; will edit); and I also forgot about Mike Conley and Bibby.


So, aside from the obvious GOAT candidate by that name, we could choose:

Michael Cooper (8x All-Defensive, 1x DPOY)
Mike Conley (1x All-Star, but obviously worthy of it more than that; 1x All-Defensive; 20.5 ppg/6.2 apg/only 2.0 topg thru three best years)
Mike Bibby (never an All-Star, but was one of the featured "big" players on a damn good team, averaging pretty close to 20/6 thru his three best seasons)
Michael Finley (2x All-Star, 5 consecutive seasons >20 ppg, adapted well to smaller role on title team later in career)
Mike Mitchell (had mis-called him Mike Johnson in OP [edited]; 1x All-Star who averaged 22.3/6.3 over a 7-year span in the 80s [some of that for decent teams])
Michael Redd (1x All-Star, 6 consecutive seasons >20 pgg [two >25 ppg])
Micheal Ray Richardson (3x All-Star, twice led league in steals, once led league in assists)
Micheal Williams (averaged 14.6 ppg/8.1 apg/2.3 spg over his three best seasons [albeit for mediocre-poor teams])
Mychal Thompson (was once nearly a 21/12/4 player for a fair-decent team, transitioned well to a lesser but solid contributor to a contender later)
Mike Brown
Michael Cage
Michael Adams
Michael Carter-Williams
Michael Olowokandi
Micheal Beasley


You don't see that as overly loaded compared to other names (again, considering we can stack Michael Jordan on top)?
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#16 » by Colbinii » Tue Jan 10, 2023 1:35 am

trex_8063 wrote:
Heej wrote:Why no Michael? Are there really that many OP Michaels in league history?


Didn't I answer this in the OP?
I mis-labeled a "Mike Johnson" (it was Mike Mitchell I was thinking of; will edit); and I also forgot about Mike Conley and Bibby.


So, aside from the obvious GOAT candidate by that name, we could choose:

Michael Cooper (8x All-Defensive, 1x DPOY)
Mike Conley (1x All-Star, but obviously worthy of it more than that; 1x All-Defensive; 20.5 ppg/6.2 apg/only 2.0 topg thru three best years)
Mike Bibby (never an All-Star, but was one of the featured "big" players on a damn good team, averaging pretty close to 20/6 thru his three best seasons)
Michael Finley (2x All-Star, 5 consecutive seasons >20 ppg, adapted well to smaller role on title team later in career)
Mike Mitchell (had mis-called him Mike Johnson in OP [edited]; 1x All-Star who averaged 22.3/6.3 over a 7-year span in the 80s [some of that for decent teams])
Michael Redd (1x All-Star, 6 consecutive seasons >20 pgg [two >25 ppg])
Micheal Ray Richardson (3x All-Star, twice led league in steals, once led league in assists)
Micheal Williams (averaged 14.6 ppg/8.1 apg/2.3 spg over his three best seasons [albeit for mediocre-poor teams])
Mychal Thompson (was once nearly a 21/12/4 player for a fair-decent team, transitioned well to a lesser but solid contributor to a contender later)
Mike Brown
Michael Cage
Michael Adams
Michael Carter-Williams
Michael Olowokandi
Micheal Beasley


You don't see that as overly loaded compared to other names (again, considering we can stack Michael Jordan on top)?


Isn't Kevin better?

Kevin Garnett
Kevin Durant
Kevin Love
Kevin McHale
Kevin Johnson
Kevin Martin
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#17 » by rrravenred » Tue Jan 10, 2023 3:57 am

Walt Bellamy
Larry Nance
Larry Bird
Wally Szczerbiak
Walt Frazier
______
Larry Johnson
Larry Sanders
Larry Hughes
Walter Davis

A team heavy on beef and playmaking. Arguably a bit light on shooting outside Bird and The Mayor, and not the world's greatest perimeter defence (though Frazier offers good point-of-attack D) and can't see them winning in a footrace game. Still think they'd be pretty entertaining.
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#18 » by KobesScarf » Tue Jan 10, 2023 10:28 am

Jason Kidd
Jayson Tatum
Larry Bird
Larry Johnson
Larry Nance

Bench: Jason Terry, Jayson Williams, Jason Richardson

You can close the thread now because I win.
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#19 » by MyUniBroDavis » Tue Jan 10, 2023 10:33 am

Colbinii wrote:Chris/Kevin

This team is big-man heavy but has a plethora of spacing from their bigs. The wings are talented in Mullin/Durant/Middleton with two dynamic point guards in CP3 and Kevin Johnson. Wing defense is a weakness as is having a legitimate, old-school center in certain match-ups.

Chris Paul / Kevin Johnson
Chris Mullin / Kevin Martin
Kevin Durant / Khris Middleton
Kevin McHale / Chris Webber / Kevin Willis
Kevin Garnett / Chris Bosh / Kevin Love



Ain’t no way you used khris
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Re: Make the Best Team from just TWO first names (NOT Michael) 

Post#20 » by MyUniBroDavis » Tue Jan 10, 2023 10:33 am

KobesScarf wrote:Jason Kidd
Jayson Tatum
Larry Bird
Larry Johnson
Larry Nance

Bench: Jason Terry, Jayson Williams, Jason Richardson

You can close the thread now because I win.


My team killing yours lol

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