Player that played with most talent?

[durantbird]

Westbrook had the chance to play with Durant, Harden, LeBron, Davis, George, Melo, Kawhi, Beal - and all in good versions of them.

Who is the star (let's say a player with All Star appearances in his record) that had the chance to play with most cumulative talent? Shape of players when he played with them counts

[frica]

Shaq, Westbrook, Durant are all good mentions I'd wager.

[eminence]

Most different talent, or most cumulative talent? So are 1 season of two guys the same as 2 seasons with one guy (assuming similar level)?

Pippen played most of his career with some guy most consider pretty good, and wasn't exactly talent starved in Houston or Portland either.

[MoreyWins]

96 Penny*
06 Wade*
03 Kobe*
10 Lebron*
11 Garnett*

08 Nash*
11 Allen*
11 Pierce*
08 Stoudimire*
95 Grant

11 Rondo*
06 Mourning

*All-Star selection

EDIT: For clarification, the answer is obviously Shaq.

[AussieBuck]

Make a list of the stars with the most rings and you have your answer

[Jaivl]

Make a list of the stars with the most rings and you have your answer

Make a list of the secondary stars with the most rings*

[Colbinii]

Westbrook had the chance to play with Durant, Harden, LeBron, Davis, George, Melo, Kawhi, Beal - and all in good versions of them.

Who is the star (let's say a player with All Star appearances in his record) that had the chance to play with most cumulative talent? Shape of players when he played with them counts

Do we take into account the fact Westbrook was past his prime with Beal, LeBron, AD and Davis?
Melo wasn't in his prime when he played with Westbrook.
Is Kawhi really considered a good version of himself at this point?

[The Explorer]

Bill Russell

[Jaivl]

I think due to the nature of the exercise Chamberlain beats Russell pretty handidly.

West, Baylor, Goodrich, Greer, Cunningham, Walker, Thurmond, Arizin >> Cousy, Sharman, Jones, Havlicek, Heinsohn, Howell

[Narigo]

Danny Green and Robert Horry

[durantbird]

Danny Green and Robert Horry

I excluded role players by definition

[Squared2020]

.

[Owly]

Most different talent, or most cumulative talent? So are 1 season of two guys the same as 2 seasons with one guy (assuming similar level)?

Pippen played most of his career with some guy most consider pretty good, and wasn't exactly talent starved in Houston or Portland either.

This is crucial ... at it's simplest are we talking longest list of "star" names or remove each all-star candidate for this question one at a time, replacing them with an average starter and how would their teams do without them and the highest SRS is the guy playing with most talent. There are further shades of complexity, such as that alluded to in OP - regarding is it about the specific version that played with our all-star or more about name value.

But there's different exercises going on between listing star names (which would tend to reward moving around) and best support (where a good stable roster is more likely to retain the player and accumulate better average support than a player moving or being moved about).

In terms of the latter question I recall Trex did a post on it using various measures for a number of elite players, but I haven't saved it so can't link here.

[frica]

Most different talent, or most cumulative talent? So are 1 season of two guys the same as 2 seasons with one guy (assuming similar level)?

Pippen played most of his career with some guy most consider pretty good, and wasn't exactly talent starved in Houston or Portland either.

This is crucial ... at it's simplest are we talking longest list of "star" names or remove each all-star candidate for this question one at a time, replacing them with an average starter and how would their teams do without them and the highest SRS is the guy playing with most talent. There are further shades of complexity, such as that alluded to in OP - regarding is it about the specific version that played with our all-star or more about name value.

But there's different exercises going on between listing star names (which would tend to reward moving around) and best support (where a good stable roster is more likely to retain the player and accumulate better average support than a player moving or being moved about).

In terms of the latter question I recall Trex did a post on it using various measures for a number of elite players, but I haven't saved it so can't link here.

Best support would be Isiah Thomas.

[Owly]

But there's different exercises going on between listing star names (which would tend to reward moving around) and best support (where a good stable roster is more likely to retain the player and accumulate better average support than a player moving or being moved about).

In terms of the latter question I recall Trex did a post on it using various measures for a number of elite players, but I haven't saved it so can't link here.

Found it (had looked for it on previous occasions and failed): viewtopic.php?p=48128783

[coastalmarker99]

I think due to the nature of the exercise Chamberlain beats Russell pretty handidly.

West, Baylor, Goodrich, Greer, Cunningham, Walker, Thurmond, Arizin >> Cousy, Sharman, Jones, Havlicek, Heinsohn, Howell

Arizn was past his prime when Wilt joined him while Nate was only a rookie.


Walker and Cunningham were young as well.


Baylor was past his prime.


West was at his peak same with Hal and Goodrich


All things considered I would take Russells teammates over Wilt.

As they all played together in their primes.


1959 3 1st team All NBA players Russell, Cousy, and Sharman...when else has that ever happened?

1960 Cousy 1st team All NBA, Russell, Sharman 2nd team

1961 Cousy 1st team All NBA, Russell, Heinsohn 2nd team

1962 Cousy, Russell, Heinsohn 2nd team All NBA...

4 Celtics made the All-Star Team Cousy, Russell, Heinsohn, and Jones

1963 Russell 1st team All NBA, Cousy, Heinsohn 2nd team...Havlicek Rookie team

1964 Havlicek, Russell, Heinsohn All NBA 2nd team.... Sam Jones also made the All-Star team

1965 Russell 1st team, Sam Jones 2nd team

1966 Russell, Jones, Havlicek All NBA 2nd team

1967 Russell, Jones All NBA 2nd team

1968 Russell, Havlicek All NBA 2nd team

1969 Havlicek All NBA 2nd team


As for Wilt he had zero All NBA teammates with the Warriors and only one with the 76ers In Greer.


It wasn’t until L.A that Wilt clearly had the talent edge over Russell

[dygaction]

I think due to the nature of the exercise Chamberlain beats Russell pretty handidly.

West, Baylor, Goodrich, Greer, Cunningham, Walker, Thurmond, Arizin >> Cousy, Sharman, Jones, Havlicek, Heinsohn, Howell

Arizn was past his prime when Wilt joined him while Nate was only a rookie.


Walker and Cunningham were young as well.


Baylor was past his prime.


West was at his peak same with Hal and Goodrich


All things considered I would take Russells teammates over Wilt.

As they all played together in their primes.


1959 3 1st team All NBA players Russell, Cousy, and Sharman...when else has that ever happened?

1960 Cousy 1st team All NBA, Russell, Sharman 2nd team

1961 Cousy 1st team All NBA, Russell, Heinsohn 2nd team

1962 Cousy, Russell, Heinsohn 2nd team All NBA...

4 Celtics made the All-Star Team Cousy, Russell, Heinsohn, and Jones

1963 Russell 1st team All NBA, Cousy, Heinsohn 2nd team...Havlicek Rookie team

1964 Havlicek, Russell, Heinsohn All NBA 2nd team.... Sam Jones also made the All-Star team

1965 Russell 1st team, Sam Jones 2nd team

1966 Russell, Jones, Havlicek All NBA 2nd team

1967 Russell, Jones All NBA 2nd team

1968 Russell, Havlicek All NBA 2nd team

1969 Havlicek All NBA 2nd team


As for Wilt he had zero All NBA teammates with the Warriors and only one with the 76ers In Greer.


It wasn’t until L.A that Wilt clearly had the talent edge over Russell

It is laughable people keep trying to downplay other Celtics. Perennial 3x 1st or 2nd team all-nba selections (3 out 10 players out of a 8-team league) when each team should have averaged 1. ..

[DCasey91]

I think due to the nature of the exercise Chamberlain beats Russell pretty handidly.

West, Baylor, Goodrich, Greer, Cunningham, Walker, Thurmond, Arizin >> Cousy, Sharman, Jones, Havlicek, Heinsohn, Howell

Continuity/injury >>> though especially for 12 years. Maybe 4 out of the 12 years that Wilt had the more talented team. The rest it’s Russell and by a decent margin too I may add. The accolades overall not including Wilt/Russell team vs team for the duration don’t stack up well in the end. Posters above have already mentioned. Russell’s teams were stacked and the deepest in the league for the majority for over a decade lol.

[CharityStripe34]

Robert Horry.

[NW BBALL]

On reflecting on this post, Terry Porter certainly played with a lot of talent. I know this post is directed at stars and not role players (which Porter mostly fell into), but those are some legends.

Drexler (1985/86-94/95)
Garnett (1995-96) - rookie season
Mourning (1998-99)
Duncan/Robinson (1999/00-2001/02)