Would Lebron, Durant, and Kawhi...

[Pennebaker]

win the NCAA? The topic was inspired by the Alabama game. Could this trio win the NCAA with Jordan Bell as their only substitute, coached by Pop? I would love to hear your thoughts on this one.

Yeah I think so.

[Alatan]

Having kids cherry pick on offense allows the NBA trio to have one guy resting on the defensive end while the 2 other superstars mop the floor with 2v4, 2v3 or 1v2. Who will stop KD from shooting over everybody like chairs or LeBron dunking on everybody? I seriously doubt that any college team has the players capable of guarding any NBA superstars even 3v1. The superstars dont even need to play seirious D, they can just crowd the paint and let the kids shoot themselves out of the games while contesting a few shots just to keep them on edge. 3 college players had a good game agains 5 college players where one of those 3 was completely gassed and still put on 40 points.

[yesh]

no way, one of the teams would eventually figure out that they can just cherry pick the entire time and still play 4 on 3 like Minnesota stupidly didnt think to do.

[mixerball]

obviously people who would say yes are the ones without RL basketball exp. extra man is huge. 2 extra men is not a brainer.

And obviously that experience wouldn't apply here because we aren't talking junior varsity or pickup basketball, but giants who posses unbelievable skill and athleticism.

To 15 year old kid a 21 year old is like lebron to college kid.
But forget about my exp. You theory men dont realize this is just an example how bball works. It applies to all tiers. You cant play 5 on 3.
Now if those 5 players were female we would have a debate.

[Andy123]

Honestly, if fatigue wasn't an issue probably.

I don't think people realize how big the gap is between Lebron, Durant and other elite NBA players and even the best college players.

Obviously a huge disadvantage defensively, but unless they other team is able to consistently hit jump shots they still will have trouble scoring. Not like they'll be able to shut down them offensively either, can only double two of them.

If you even gave them a 4th player on the level of Bell I don't even think the games would be close.

There's a big gap but curry is not that far from them, plus Lebron is aging and Durant is breaking down health wise ( due to playing so hard for OKC ) which he get zero gratitude for near 10 years of back breaking work.

[Peja Stojakovic]

3 nba superstars versus a high school team is fair, vs a top ncaa squad hell no

[Domejandro]

I feel comfortable in saying those three would dominate college teams, for the most part. Put Durant in the paint and LeBron and Kawhi on the wings defensively, and they would disrupt enough to keep scoring totals low. On the other end, they would convert at an ungodly rate.

[mowcrowbar]

obviously people who would say yes are the ones without RL basketball exp. extra man is huge. 2 extra men is not a brainer.

And obviously that experience wouldn't apply here because we aren't talking junior varsity or pickup basketball, but giants who posses unbelievable skill and athleticism.

To 15 year old kid a 21 year old is like lebron to college kid.
But forget about my exp. You theory men dont realize this is just an example how bball works. It applies to all tiers. You cant play 5 on 3.
Now if those 5 players were female we would have a debate.

That was pretty hard to understand, but if I read you correctly, I disagree once again. To a 15 year old, a 21 year old is like LeBron? Hold up... That is a false assumption. NBA players are the elites of the world, and superstar NBA players are elites of the elites. Most 21 Year old college players cannot shoot like NBA players nor drive to the paint with relative contact. That fact alone is pretty prevalent. These 3 allstar players do not have to play man to man defense, and play extremely lose zone defense, as to not even guard the 3 point line. You can live with the college guys shooting semi contested 3's all day. Because on offense, the all stars can just post anyone up, shoot over or just overpower them. Now I dont think they can keep this up for the whole season because of fatigue and injury. Not to mention a team like UCLA will have a stacked team, which will be hard even for a perfectly fresh trio. But I do believe they will have a somewhat successful season, just not a championship-leveled season.

[mixerball]

And obviously that experience wouldn't apply here because we aren't talking junior varsity or pickup basketball, but giants who posses unbelievable skill and athleticism.

To 15 year old kid a 21 year old is like lebron to college kid.
But forget about my exp. You theory men dont realize this is just an example how bball works. It applies to all tiers. You cant play 5 on 3.
Now if those 5 players were female we would have a debate.

That was pretty hard to understand, but if I read you correctly, I disagree once again. To a 15 year old, a 21 year old is like LeBron? Hold up... That is a false assumption. NBA players are the elites of the world, and superstar NBA players are elites of the elites. Most 21 Year old college players cannot shoot like NBA players nor drive to the paint with relative contact. That fact alone is pretty prevalent. These 3 allstar players do not have to play man to man defense, and play extremely lose zone defense, as to not even guard the 3 point line. You can live with the college guys shooting semi contested 3's all day. Because on offense, the all stars can just post anyone up, shoot over or just overpower them. Now I dont think they can keep this up for the whole season because of fatigue and injury. Not to mention a team like UCLA will have a stacked team, which will be hard even for a perfectly fresh trio. But I do believe they will have a somewhat successful season, just not a championship-leveled season.

At younger age every year is a huge difference. But forget this story/exp of mine. Some things just are. And 3 vs 5 is just one of those things.
Forget the whole season, holly 3 can barely keep this up all game. When you are describing defense and offense it seems like you are forgeting there are 2 extra men in there. Just play zone, just post up, just overpower... there are 2 extra men.
My opinion hasnt changed. This is a fantasy debate for the theorists.

[AdagioPace]

If it's only a problem of durability,Lebron,Durant,Kawhi need at least another superstar on the bench (Giannis) who can replace them when one of them rests. It's still a 3 vs 5 game but those 3 need to always be 3 great players at the same time

Jordan bell is basically a college player.

Defensively: it's a team-wide effort so it follows that playing with less men brings a disadvantage
Offensively: "field day"

the MVP-level trio needs to absolutely slow the game down. They can do it because they have skill and size.

[bmurph128]

Yes, they would.

The ability to play zone defense in NCAA makes this one pretty easy for me. One of either KD or LeBron roam the middle, Kawhi chase on top, KD plays one side of the court.

I don't think fatigue is a factor here. Games are only 40 minutes, and the shot clock is 35 seconds which means FAR less possessions than each of these guys would have, even in an NBA game where they're only playing 38 minutes.

The only way they lose is if they run into a team that hits 3s at an amazing rate, which could happen - but on the flip side, how would they ever stop LeBron or KD from getting to the rim? There would be so many fouls that personnel would actually be an issue for the college teams.

[Raskolnikov]

Any guesses on how the NBA trio would deal with 40 minutes of full court press?

[slothrop8]

The correct answer here is obviously not. Duke, who didn't even win last year, had Jayson Tatum and Luke Kennard who are in the NBA now, Harry Giles and Frank Jackson who will be playing in the NBA when they get healthy, Matt Jones and Amile Jefferson who are both in the GLeague, Grayson Allen who will play professionally somewhere, and then some former McDonald's All American bigs like Chase Jeter and Marques Bolden - who haven't had big collegiate impacts - but can surely stand wide open under the hoop, catch a pass and dunk it - or put back misses. You've got 6 or so NBA or fringe NBA calibre players to throw at the superstar trio while playing 5 on 3. You can put Allen and Kennard in either corner, have Tatum and Jackson handle out high, and run PnR with the big and either get a layup or an open 3 out of either corner basically every possession - and that doesn't even count the many, many wide open transition baskets that would result.

[SlowPaced]

How about adding 2 average Rec League guys next to them who can't be taller than 6'3 and were scurbs on a NCAA Division 2 college team.

Would that be enough help to win it all?

They'd torch the NCAA even if you gave them two YMCA players.

[jason bourne]

Fun question. I would think the college team would need more help with a couple rookie NBA players to make it fair such as Ben Simmons and Jayson Tatum. LeBron, KD and Kawhi would dominate inside on both defense and offense. They could take control of the transition game, too, because not only are they bigger and stronger, but faster. Fatigue may not be a factor even against a fast college squad as they could slow the pace down on offense. The college stars would have to hit 3s or have someone who can put offensive pressure on them inside. The college squad could alley oop, but it could be dangerous like what happened to Gordon Hayward. I'm not sure how else they could do it. Make it the best 2 out of 3 one game after another?

[Harry Garris]

Well, they would have to completely give up guarding the 3 point line and just focus on shutting everything inside the arc completely down. On offense they could just give the ball to whoever isn't double teamed and that guy could shoot at least 60-65%. They would dominate the offensive boards. The only way I see them losing honestly is if the college kids get hot from 3 because they'd get a lot of open looks. As someone who watches a lot of college basketball it just depends on the team. There really aren't a lot of elite shooting teams in college basketball but if the trio ran into one on the way to the national championship they could potentially lose.

[Woodsanity]

I lean towards yes. They would score with extreme ease. On defense they can opt to pack the paint and dare the other team's worst jump shooters to shoot.

Fatigue should not be an issue, this is college ball not the nba.

[I_Like_Dirt]

Its not, when you consider you can park a guy at the other end for a layup every single possession and STILL play 4 v 3 then its not a debate at all.

It isn't as easy as that. You need guys who can make that baseball pass, too, without having it picked off, which is dangerous with the quickness and long arms of the superstars we're talking about. And if it was really a problem, the 3 stars could simply park one of them on defense to steal any attempt at a cross court pass, slowly walk the ball up the floor on offense to allow their team to catch their breath, and then begin things anew. I think the NBA stars would pick up various changes better, too, in-game. One player makes a big difference when the competition is close, but the talent levels matter, too. Conditioning would be a huge issue for the NBA stars - maybe too big to overcome. There are actually a lot of interesting considerations here.

[2Mas]

obviously people who would say yes are the ones without RL basketball exp. extra man is huge. 2 extra men is not a brainer.

I've never played a rl game with 1 or 2 extra men? Why have you?

[mixerball]

obviously people who would say yes are the ones without RL basketball exp. extra man is huge. 2 extra men is not a brainer.

I've never played a rl game with 1 or 2 extra men? Why have you?

i explained it in this topic.

and dont lie. you have played with 1 or 2 extra man before. except if you dont play at all.
have you ever been on a 2vs1 or 3vs1 fast break?