All Primes: 2013 Spurs vs 2004 Lakers

[rand]

Who wins a best of 7 with everyone in their prime and healthy. 2004 refs/rules/coaching.

2013 Spurs
Tony Parker / Patty Mills
Manu Ginobili / Danny Green
Tracy McGrady / Stephen Jackson
Kawhi Leonard / Boris Diaw
Tim Duncan / Tiago Splitter

Coach: Gregg Popovich

2004 Lakers
Gary Payton / Derek Fisher
Kobe Bryant / Byron Russell
Rick Fox / Devean George
Karl Malone / Luke Walton
Shaquille O'Neal / Horace Grant

Coach: Phil Jackson

[Rapcity_11]

Can I bench Parker for Danny Green? If so, that Spurs team crushes it.

[DirtyDez]

McGrady seems like cheating since he wasn’t in the playoff rotation but with him this is clearly the Spurs. Without him it still might be.

Peak Payton/Malone around Shaq/Kobe isn’t a waste of their talents but the Spurs parts fit better and get the most out of each other.

[Silvie Lysandra]

Honestly, Lakers in 6-7. As great as Kawhi is, he's 6'7 (and while he's not skinny for the modern game, he's absolutely not a 2004 power forward) playing PF in a 2004 NBA metagame against prime Shaq and prime Malone. They're going to have to play Splitter a lot (so less minutes for Manu/Parker/McGrady) just to have the size to compete, and even then they are going to give up a LOT of offensive boards. Obviously, Duncan can match even peak Shaq, but that takes energy, and because they're coaching like it's 2004, the strategies that could allow the Spurs to exploit the Lakers aren't really in play. Having a 6'7 PF is just too much of a liability in this kind of metagame.

With that said, Duncan is the best player in the series, though peak Shaq/Kobe are a good deal above peak Kawhi/TMac.

Modern or even 2013 (we already started to see the modern NBA metagame in 2013, less size, more switchability, with Jackson, Leonard and Diaw being perfect fits) ruleset and I'd go Spurs in 5.