Can our historic best beat other team's historic bests? Field our historic best 10 man roster and pick the historic best coaching staff to boot. Now can this team beat the other bests? My choice: Dame/Porter Roy/Petrovic Drexler/Kersey Aldridge/Sheed Walton/Sabas I think this crew would give other teams a run for their money. Lakers and Boston would be the teams I would worry about.
Bill Russell was the ultimate defender of his generation. Plus, the Celtics also had one of the greatest clutch shooters in Larry Bird and one of the great post players in McHale. That would be a fearsome starting front court. They also had Dave Cowens, Reggie Lewis, and The Chief!
Does SEA/OKC get one team? If so, I think they win: Payton/McMillan Westbrook/Schrempf Ray Allen/Harden/Rashard Lewis Durant/Ibaka Kemp/Sikma That's 11 and leaving off some greats still. That team would kick our's ass
We need an "enforcer" in there with that group. Lucas was a very good all around player. Make room for him.
You'd want Detlef at SF and Harden at SG. That team would be good, but I don't think it's necessarily better than Portland's. I'd take Portland's in a series. Speaking of all time great teams, I think the Phoenix Suns have had a ridiculous amount of talent over the years. Nash/Johnson/Kidd Hornacek/Johnson Marion/Nance/Marjerle Barkley/Chambers/Hawkins Stoudamire/Andrew Lang
What about Miami? Can't think of their PG but their talent pool was epic Wade, Mourning, Shaq, LBJ, Smith, Bosh,
I know we beat them in '77, but add Wilt, Barkley, Iverson, Moses, Mutombo, Hal Greer and Billy Cunnigham to Dr. J., McGinnis, World B. Free and PHI's all time team kicks our asses. PG: Iverson, World B. Free, Mo Cheeks SG: Hal Greer, Andrew Toney, Doug Collins SF: Dr. J., Billy Cunningham, Bobby Jones PF: Barkley, George McGinnis, Dolph Shayes C: Wilt, Moses, Mutombo BNM
HOU also looks pretty tough: PG: Calvin Murphy, Steve Francis, Kenny Smith SG: Clyde, James Harden, Tracy McGrady SF: Pippen, Rudy T., Robert Horry PF: Barkley, Elvin Hayes, Ralph Sampson C: Hakeem, Moses, Yao Ming, Dwight Howard BNM
Offhand I think the best of the Lakers, Spurs, Celtics, and Bulls would mop the floor with our best. The easiest way to predict this is look at which teams have the most hall-of-famers. (FYI, the Celtics have 27 according to basketball-reference.com and the Blazers have 6).
Both only had 3 good years in HOU. In those three seasons, Barkley accumulated 25.8 WS to Sampson's 17.2. BNM
Although it's now 19 years old, the 50 Greatest Players list that the NBA published in 1996 is also a good metric. PHI had 7 players on that list to our 2. BNM
The Rockets don't get Clyde Drexler. He was a Blazer for 12 seasons and Rocket for what three and half. I don't care if he went won a stinkin' championship and was part of Phil Slamma Jamma. The bulk of his career he was a Trail Blazer and you can't list him as one of your all time players. This is a judgement call and I am making it. It's bad enough that San Antonio got their slimey f-ing hands on LMA but you DON'T GET TO QUALIFY GLYDE. End of argument.
Clyde never played SF here, and Drazen barely played for us. My Blazers all time team would be: Dame, Porter, Stickland Clyde, Roy, Petrie Kiki, Kersey, Pippen Aldridge, Buck, Sheed Walton, Sabonis, Duckworth BNM
