Best starting 5 of all time

[Cavsfansince84]

There's so many ways you can do these teams but I tend to agree that you don't want too many scorers. So I'll take
92 Robinson
16 Green
16 Kawhi
91 MJ
16 Steph

4 players who won dpoy plus one of the goat offensive peaks.

[LesGrossman]

There's so many ways you can do these teams but I tend to agree that you don't want too many scorers. So I'll take
92 Robinson
16 Green
16 Kawhi
91 MJ
16 Steph

4 players who won dpoy plus one of the goat offensive peaks.

Just to be sure, is that Draymond Green?

[Cavsfansince84]

There's so many ways you can do these teams but I tend to agree that you don't want too many scorers. So I'll take
92 Robinson
16 Green
16 Kawhi
91 MJ
16 Steph

4 players who won dpoy plus one of the goat offensive peaks.

Just to be sure, is that Draymond Green?

Yes it is.

[ShotCreator]

Trying to avoid diminishing returns on both ends as much as possible.

Very hard to build a lineup without peak KG and LeBron for that reason.

Peak Jordan is a very easy pick to instantly have severe dimishing returns. Jordan wasn’t a top 5 player on the dream team despite shot jacking. He is not all that scalable.
Some of my picks, no final pick so far:

16 Curry
90 Miller
09 LeBron
04 Garnett
00 Shaq

LeBron and Shaq pretty much feast off Miller/Curry sneezing.

LeBron and KG give enough flexibility to enable a variety of defensive schemes with flaws but good defenders in Curry, Miller, Shaq. Though Curry and Miller are really fine.

17 Paul
90 Miller
13 LeBron
04 Garnett
22 Jokic

Elite passing at every 4/5 positions. Smartest lineup of all time. Elite shooting at every position. Greatest post up and roll man lineup of all time and Miller and Paul to play screen games with.

3 elite defenders + Jokic who is an insane defensive presence on the glass and as a help guy with amazing hands and good post D. Flabby KG essentially.

16 Curry
90 Jordan
16 Kawhi
04 KG
22 Jokic

Jordan and Kawhi spacing would be clunky at times because they like the same spots of the floor and use passing as a utility option but KG and Jokic would ease everything.


PG and the front court have amazing options. Not many if any SG seasons scale with other players amazingly other than Miller. I wanted to put 08 Kobe in a couple lineups too.

Edit: Forgot about Jerry West. Tsk tsk. Would change things. Possibly the most complete SG ever.

[An Unbiased Fan]

G-Curry
G-Kobe
F-MJ
F-KG
C-Hakeem

This gives me long range, mid-range, and post play. Defensively, 2-5 are elite, and also great in transition after getting stops. In crunctime there are four great options to go to.

I don't see any team matching up with these 5.

let me try

pg-magic
sg-DPOY kawhi
sf-2016 lebron
pf- bird
C-russel

Nice team, but how does Magic and LeBron play together? Lebron has never been able to play off ball. So you're either diminishing his or Magic's impact.

I also don't know who running aorund guarding Curry. Magic is too slow. Ideally you have Magic on KG, but that leaves mismatches elsewhere. If Kawhi is on MJ, and Bird on KG, you would have Lebron guarding Kobe, no beuno.

Defensively Curry is a liability, but you can help since Russell is an offensive liability.

[falcolombardi]

G-Curry
G-Kobe
F-MJ
F-KG
C-Hakeem

This gives me long range, mid-range, and post play. Defensively, 2-5 are elite, and also great in transition after getting stops. In crunctime there are four great options to go to.

I don't see any team matching up with these 5.

let me try

pg-magic
sg-DPOY kawhi
sf-2016 lebron
pf- bird
C-russel

Nice team, but how does Magic and LeBron play together? Lebron has never been able to play off ball. So you're either diminishing his or Magic's impact.

I also don't know who running aorund guarding Curry. Magic is too slow. Ideally you have Magic on KG, but that leaves mismatches elsewhere. If Kawhi is on MJ, and Bird on KG, you would have Lebron guarding Kobe, no beuno.

Defensively Curry is a liability, but you can help since Russell is an offensive liability.

lebron in 2016 stint is a really strong defender when engaged, a solid shooter and a big lob/cutting threat, also having all time great on ball players is not a bad problem to have

i get your point about defending curry tho, so i could consider a more defensive player instead of magic

i wanted to have a team full of walking mismatches who can taje advantage of smaller guards

i dont thinl curry defending a roll man russel or offensive rebounding russel wpuld work out too well

[jdzimme3]

After much thought:

Curry
Jordan
Pippen
Bird
Duncan

Elite defenders on the wing and in the post. Great passers all around. Multiple deadly shooters. A couple of alpha dogs and a few guys who impact the game without needing the ball on their hands. I don’t see how this team loses.

[LAL1947]

Kobe (kills all Starting 5s with Steph Curry in them. )
Jordan
Lebron
Bird
Hakeem

[SNPA]

A thread where Bird is getting the respect he earned.

This thread shows a main reason why Bird should be at the top end of the top ten all time. Portability. Bird is a master of the game in any context.

[scrabbarista]

After much thought:

Curry
Jordan
Pippen
Bird
Duncan

Elite defenders on the wing and in the post. Great passers all around. Multiple deadly shooters. A couple of alpha dogs and a few guys who impact the game without needing the ball on their hands. I don’t see how this team loses.

Almost my team! I love going through these threads and seeing how there are lots of teams that match four out of five guys, but practically no one has the same team. No one has posted my five players yet.

PG - '91 Jordan
SG - '16 Curry
SF - '13 James
PF - '86 Bird
C - '03 Duncan

I think all five of these guys are technically "out of position" based on where they played durung the year in question, but such things are determined by need more than people realize (and sometimes the official designations can be a bit arbitrary).

All I have different than you is LeBron for Pippen.

A massively better shooter, scorer, and creator, and you don't lose much on defense, except against the quickest PG's, which Jordan can handle just fine. In any case, MJ and James are head and shoulders above all other peaks, imo, and if you're going through four rounds of a postseason, you ought to start with those two: the closest thing to "no weakness" players that we've seen.

I think my five gives the best possible balance of defense, spacing, scoring, passing, IQ, rebounding, creation... I'd put this five against any other. I basically have at least two guys who are historically elite at almost every aspect of the game.

I could see Antetokoumpo breaking into this group over maybe Bird some day if/when his shooting develops to average or close to it.

EDIT: I guess '84 Bird would work, too. Played PF, rebounded more, All-Defense, and just as good all around.

EDIT2: I checked a similar thread from a few years ago, and I had the same five, but with Garnett edging Hakeem for Bird's spot (I also listed Bird as a sixth man, so I haven't changed that much). And now I have Bird, but saying Antetokounmpo could take that spot some day. I guess it goes to show that MJ, LeBron, Duncan, and Curry are solidly in my five, but that last spot is where things get flexible.

[uberhikari]

PG: Steph Curry (2017)
SG: Kawhi Leonard (2016)
SF: LeBron James (2016)
PF: Larry Bird (1986)
C: Bill Russell (1962)

[dcstanley]

PG: 2012 CP3
SG: 1991 Jordan
SF: 2017 Kawhi
PF: 1986 Bird
C: 2003 Duncan

or

PG: 2016 Curry
SG: 1990 Miller
SF: 2016 Lebron
PF: 2004 KG
C: 1992 Robinson

[Max123]

Maybe I should go smaller but here is what I got now:
Curry
Jordan
Bird
Garnett
Russell

[ardee]

2016 Curry
1990 Jordan
2013 LeBron
2011 Dirk
1977 Walton

OR

2015 Paul
1990 Jordan
2013 LeBron
2004 Garnett
1993 Hakeem

[ccameron]

I'm shocked at all the Kwahi mentions

[letskissbro]

2016 Curry
2015 Klay
2016 Kawhi
2014 LeBron
2004 KG

Creating a "beautiful game", spurs/warriors type motion offense where everyone can shoot, pass, and make quick decisions off the ball is tempting (I probably would've subbed in Bird and Jokic for Klay and Kawhi in that scenario) but LeBron + Curry + KG taking turns running spread PnR and 5-out would be better for generating efficient shots consistently with significantly less steps. The defense would be relatively impenetrable too

[falcolombardi]

I'm shocked at all the Kwahi mentions

Elite perimeter defense with strong offense and shooting makes him a very ideal piece in any ultra stacked team

kinda like the people who mention klay thompson in all time teams but a lot better