what would be the durant/curry warriors equivalent in other eras?

[falcolombardi]

for example as in a team that has the semi consensus second and third best players of their generation ar their peaks + a dpoy defender, one of the best "specialists" of all time (klay) and a former all star level platger still playmaking at a great level plus elite defense (iguodala) all with excelent fit with each other

for example the 90's equivalent of that talent wise would be somethingh like hakeem + karl malone, with... dunno dell curry? (for klay) or maybe hornacek for a closer impact comparision

along with pippen (for draymond) and... mookie blaylock? (for iguodala defense)

how good would a team like that be? what about a 2000's, 80's or 70's equivalent?

[Statlanta]

2000’s
Duncan/Garnett/Ginobili/Pierce/Ray Allen

1990’s
Hakeem/Barkley/Anthony Mason/Dennis Rodman/Eddie Jones

1980’s
Erving/Abdul-Jabbar/Moncrief/Lever/Roberson

1960’s
Chamberlain/West/Thurmond/Sam Jones/Arizin

[70sFan]

If you give West/Baylor pair someone like Nate Thurmond, they could form comparable superteam along with Dick Barnett. Of course, they would all have to be in their primes - so you'd have to transport peak Baylor to 1968 or something like that.

[Doctor MJ]

for example as in a team that has the semi consensus second and third best players of their generation ar their peaks + a dpoy defender, one of the best "specialists" of all time (klay) and a former all star level platger still playmaking at a great level plus elite defense (iguodala) all with excelent fit with each other

for example the 90's equivalent of that talent wise would be somethingh like hakeem + karl malone, with... dunno dell curry? (for klay) or maybe hornacek for a closer impact comparision

along with pippen (for draymond) and... mookie blaylock? (for iguodala defense)

how good would a team like that be? what about a 2000's, 80's or 70's equivalent?

Well my immediate thought would be Wilt Chamberlain joining Jerry West's team, which of course made them unstoppable and led to a dynasty because all Wilt needed was better teammates.

[70sFan]

for example as in a team that has the semi consensus second and third best players of their generation ar their peaks + a dpoy defender, one of the best "specialists" of all time (klay) and a former all star level platger still playmaking at a great level plus elite defense (iguodala) all with excelent fit with each other

for example the 90's equivalent of that talent wise would be somethingh like hakeem + karl malone, with... dunno dell curry? (for klay) or maybe hornacek for a closer impact comparision

along with pippen (for draymond) and... mookie blaylock? (for iguodala defense)

how good would a team like that be? what about a 2000's, 80's or 70's equivalent?

Well my immediate thought would be Wilt Chamberlain joining Jerry West's team, which of course made them unstoppable and led to a dynasty because all Wilt needed was better teammates.

Almost like James joining the Wade team

[Doctor MJ]

for example as in a team that has the semi consensus second and third best players of their generation ar their peaks + a dpoy defender, one of the best "specialists" of all time (klay) and a former all star level platger still playmaking at a great level plus elite defense (iguodala) all with excelent fit with each other

for example the 90's equivalent of that talent wise would be somethingh like hakeem + karl malone, with... dunno dell curry? (for klay) or maybe hornacek for a closer impact comparision

along with pippen (for draymond) and... mookie blaylock? (for iguodala defense)

how good would a team like that be? what about a 2000's, 80's or 70's equivalent?

Well my immediate thought would be Wilt Chamberlain joining Jerry West's team, which of course made them unstoppable and led to a dynasty because all Wilt needed was better teammates.

Almost like James joining the Wade team

Almost. It would have been more similar if the Heatles hadn't gotten to the finals every year and won titles half those years.

[70sFan]

Well my immediate thought would be Wilt Chamberlain joining Jerry West's team, which of course made them unstoppable and led to a dynasty because all Wilt needed was better teammates.

Almost like James joining the Wade team

Almost. It would have been more similar if the Heatles hadn't gotten to the finals every year and won titles half those years.

I mean, Wilt/West team went to 4 finals in 5 years and the only time they didn't was because West was injured (and Wilt got injured in the second year together and he was never the same after). Miami won "only" one ring more and James was closer to his best than Wilt.

[Doctor MJ]

Almost like James joining the Wade team

Almost. It would have been more similar if the Heatles hadn't gotten to the finals every year and won titles half those years.

I mean, Wilt/West team went to 4 finals in 5 years and the only time they didn't was because West was injured (and Wilt got injured in the second year together and he was never the same after). Miami won "only" one ring more and James was closer to his best than Wilt.

In fact they made the finals in 7 straight years when West was healthy.

[Colbinii]

1990s would be the 1990 Pistons acquiring Jordan after 1989.

The 1980s would be the 1986 Celtics acquiring
Dominique Wilkins.

The 1970s would be the 1974 Celtics adding Rick Barry.

[falcolombardi]

Baylor at the time of wilt joining seemed really diminished (looking mostly at stats) compared to his peak so k dont know if he had ddray level impact at the time (maybe he did?) and i dont know if their other guys would be as good as klay and iguodala (maybe they were)

consider the injury issues and it helps explain. why they didnt win more with wilt/west (also even the durant/curry warriors were really close to going 1/3 because of injuries to iguodala and durant )

[70sFan]

Baylor at the time of wilt joining seemed really diminished (looking mostly at stats) compared to his peak so k dont know if he had ddray level impact at the time (maybe he did?) and i dont know if their other guys would be as good as klay and iguodala (maybe they were)

consider the injury issues and it helps explain. why they didnt win more with wilt/west (also even the durant/curry warriors were really close to going 1/3 because of injuries to iguodala and durant )

Baylor wasn't on Dray level by 1969, injuries diminished his value by significant margin.

1969 Lakers didn't have anyone on Klay or Iggy level outside of West/Baylor/Wilt.

[Stalwart]

'83 76ers

[trex_8063]

Baylor at the time of wilt joining seemed really diminished (looking mostly at stats) compared to his peak so k dont know if he had ddray level impact at the time (maybe he did?) and i dont know if their other guys would be as good as klay and iguodala (maybe they were)

consider the injury issues and it helps explain. why they didnt win more with wilt/west (also even the durant/curry warriors were really close to going 1/3 because of injuries to iguodala and durant )

Baylor wasn't on Dray level by 1969, injuries diminished his value by significant margin.

1969 Lakers didn't have anyone on Klay or Iggy level outside of West/Baylor/Wilt.

Well, since you're mentioning it yourself: I wanted to say something similar in response to your initial jibe at the Heatles.

They didn't have anyone Klay or Iggy level outside of Bron/Wade/Bosh. 4th-best was......Mario Chalmers.


That's the thing that really separates the Durant/Curry W's of those first couple years from damn near anyone else in recent memory. It wasn't just a Big Three......it was a Big FOUR, and then they still had good depth beyond that (Iggy, Livingston, David West, JaVale, Looney, etc). It wasn't until '19 that their depth was just a bit faded.

[falcolombardi]

Baylor at the time of wilt joining seemed really diminished (looking mostly at stats) compared to his peak so k dont know if he had ddray level impact at the time (maybe he did?) and i dont know if their other guys would be as good as klay and iguodala (maybe they were)

consider the injury issues and it helps explain. why they didnt win more with wilt/west (also even the durant/curry warriors were really close to going 1/3 because of injuries to iguodala and durant )

Baylor wasn't on Dray level by 1969, injuries diminished his value by significant margin.

1969 Lakers didn't have anyone on Klay or Iggy level outside of West/Baylor/Wilt.

Well, since you're mentioning it yourself: I wanted to say something similar in response to your initial jibe at the Heatles.

They didn't have anyone Klay or Iggy level outside of Bron/Wade/Bosh. 4th-best was......Mario Chalmers.


That's the thing that really separates the Durant/Curry W's of those first couple years from damn near anyone else in recent memory. It wasn't just a Big Three......it was a Big FOUR, and then they still had good depth beyond that (Iggy, Livingston, David West, JaVale, Looney, etc). It wasn't until '19 that their depth was just a bit faded.

2011 was the big 3 and barren besides that

2012 the fourth best player was probably battier who was pretty impactful imo, equivalent to their iguodala although maybe a bit worse at that stage of his career and the bench got better

2013 had those four but wade regresare hard in the playoffs cause injury

2014 wade bounced back a bit but far from big star status and the rest of heat was older and probably wore down by those finals runs

so other than 2012 i dont think any of those heat rosters got close to 2017 warriors level of talent (and even that heat lacked a fifth player of iguodala/klay caliber)

[penbeast0]

Superteams in history:

Mikan era Lakers (Mikkelson, Pollard, Martin were among best of era though our knowledge of that era much more limited).

Russell Celtics early (top 10 players -- Russell, Cousy 00 though he didn't play like it in the playoffs, Sharman, plus Heinsohn, defensive specialist Lotscutoff)
Russell Celtics 65-67 era (top 10 players -- Russell, Sam Jones, Havlicek, defensive specialists KC Jones and Satch Sanders, then added Bailey Howell who was their second best offensive player)
Wilt Sixers (Wilt, Greer, Walker plus one of "best defensive forward" candidates in Luke Jackson and Wali Jones, great depth with Cunningham and Costello) -- injury issues in 68
Wilt Lakers (Wilt, Baylor West but little depth) then (Wilt, West, Goodrich with strong two way forwards in Hairston, McMillan though again, not great depth) -- injury issues again

Showtime Lakers -- Magic Kareem plus (early on -- Nixon, Wilkes, Cooper as All-Stars though below the top 10 level), then later on (Worthy plus Scott, Green, and some solid bench guys)
Bird Celtics -- Bird, McHale, Parish, plus Dennis Johnson for big 4. Ainge, Wedman, even Bill Walton as 6th man for a year.
Moses Sixers -- Moses, Erving, Toney, plus Cheeks, Bobby Jones as ATG defenders plus some other solid role players.

Jordan era Bulls -- EARLY Jordan, Pippen, Grant, then BJ, etc. as filler. LATE Jordan, Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Harper as great defenders, then Longley, Kukoc, PAxson or Kerr for strong depth.

That's probably the best of the 20th century in terms of really stacked at the top teams.

[70sFan]

Baylor at the time of wilt joining seemed really diminished (looking mostly at stats) compared to his peak so k dont know if he had ddray level impact at the time (maybe he did?) and i dont know if their other guys would be as good as klay and iguodala (maybe they were)

consider the injury issues and it helps explain. why they didnt win more with wilt/west (also even the durant/curry warriors were really close to going 1/3 because of injuries to iguodala and durant )

Baylor wasn't on Dray level by 1969, injuries diminished his value by significant margin.

1969 Lakers didn't have anyone on Klay or Iggy level outside of West/Baylor/Wilt.

Well, since you're mentioning it yourself: I wanted to say something similar in response to your initial jibe at the Heatles.

They didn't have anyone Klay or Iggy level outside of Bron/Wade/Bosh. 4th-best was......Mario Chalmers.


That's the thing that really separates the Durant/Curry W's of those first couple years from damn near anyone else in recent memory. It wasn't just a Big Three......it was a Big FOUR, and then they still had good depth beyond that (Iggy, Livingston, David West, JaVale, Looney, etc). It wasn't until '19 that their depth was just a bit faded.

Just to be clear - I was sarcastic about the Heatles. 2011 Heat and 1969 Lakers teams are built similary - very strong top 3 and weak depth.

[trex_8063]

2011 was the big 3 and barren besides that

2012 the fourth best player was probably battier who was pretty impactful imo, equivalent to their iguodala although maybe a bit worse at that stage of his career and the bench got better

2013 had those four but wade regresare hard in the playoffs cause injury

2014 wade bounced back a bit but far from big star status and the rest of heat was older and probably wore down by those finals runs

so other than 2012 i dont think any of those heat rosters got close to 2017 warriors level of talent (and even that heat lacked a fifth player of iguodala/klay caliber)

Basically agree. They got some better depth as things went along [well, up until '13 anyway], but the "big 3" were steadily declining throughout. I'm not sure I consider it a "big 3" [in the manner it's typically cited] beyond '12, actually: Wade was clearly out of his prime by '13 [and generally diminished with nagging injury by the playoffs].

So it always feels disingenuous to me when [generally while trying to disparage Lebron] mention he "had four years with Wade and Bosh, but only went 2/4", or similar.
As far as I'm concerned, the '13 and '14 Heat "had Lebron, Wade, and Bosh" in only a slightly more real way than the '10 Cavs "had Lebron and Shaq."

[trex_8063]

To answer OP, the teams to pop to mind for me were a lot of your short-list GOAT-level teams.....

'72 Lakers: a "Big 3" of Wilt/West/Goodrich, though more or less extending into a "Big 4 [or 5??]" with Happy Hairston and Jim McMillian. The ONLY other team in the league at that time that had a starting five that could remotely challenge that was the '72 Bucks (the Knicks might have if it wasn't an injury year for Reed).
And then on top of that the Lakers had Flynn Robinson coming off the bench (who I'd liken to recent Jordan Clarkson for the Jazz): likely would have been 6MOY in '72, if the award had existed at that time.
They also had Leroy Ellis---->an entirely decent NBA player for the time, who'd been a starter averaging 16/12 for a bad Portland team the year before. Ellis was a decent rebounder and shot-blocker who also had a little shooting range.
Pat Riley [scrappy backcourt defender] and John Trapp [reasonably athletic combo forward] as 8th and 9th men off the bench.

That team was just loaded.


'71 Bucks: Kareem, late-prime Oscar, young Dandridge.......it was a helluva "Big 3", considering Kareem was [perhaps handily] the best player in the league. Starting five rounded out by sharp-shooting Jon McGlocklin and the under-sized [but way athletic] combo forward Greg Smith [good rebounder and finisher]. Top to bottom, it's at least close the the starting five for the '72 Lakers. Aging Bob Boozer and a young Lucius Allen off the bench. They didn't consistently go beyond that 7-man rotation, but it's a helluva good 7-man roster [again: especially given Kareem at the top].


'86 Celtics: Come on--->that crazy a** frontcourt of Bird/McHale/Parish, and then a fairly nice backcourt of DJ and Ainge......and then the 6MOY off the bench. THat's pretty killer.


'96 Bulls: Jordan/Pippen/Rodman [Rodman actually still kinda in his prime], with a nice role-player in Ron Harper. Luc Longley was at least an improvement over Bill Cartwright in the first 3peat. And then they basically had the league's 6MOY and 7MOY in Toni Kukoc and Steve Kerr [who benefited hugely from the shortened 3pt line], plus a couple other decent bench players in Jud Buechler and Randy Brown.


Maybe the '83 Sixers: Moses/Dr J/Cheeks makes a nice "Big 3", which practically extends into a "Big 5" with Bobby Jones and Andrew Toney. 2-3 other guys worthy of minutes too.

But [at least on paper], I'm not sure any of them can truly top the '17 Warriors. Curry/Durant/Green/Thompson/Iggy??!?!
And then let's give 'em another 5-6 entirely decent NBA players (Pachulia, Livingston, aging David West, Ian Clark, JaVale...).

^^Those are the teams that come to mind that could potentially rival them, though.