zxcvzvxc wrote:
This year:
Jokic, Giannis, Embiid, LeBron, Doncic (in this order//Doncic showed up out of shape but the thing about this kid is that he listens and takes responsibility for his actions--he got in shape and carried the team, and then when his defense was exposed by Phoenix early on in the series, he took responsibility and actually played real defense and if the best young player in the league plays defense, everyone on the team is going to do it).
The narrative for years now has been that the three ball and outside players are king, and it's true that the three was long under-exploited, because you can pretty much match a top shooting team (usually a bit under 50% overall) merely by shooting 35-6% on threes. And you can't have a big man who can't guard on the perimeter to face opposing big shooters. However, this whole narrative goes way too far. When you look at the leading NBA players by PER, they are almost all centers and power forwards. Those two positions dominate the rebounding and shot blocking and fg percentage numbers. So, they are offensively very important, and we know their defense is extremely important. Having Giannis, Embiid, and Jokic (all three of whom are, however, out of the playoffs already) the three MVP leaders was appropriate this year. The league still runs on centers and power forwards, but you're done if you don't have good perimeter defenders and shooters or great midrange shooters and drivers, and good perimeter defense. It will be fun to see what Memphis can do if the team stays together and Ja can be healthy while playing that kind of skywalking game.
All-time:
Magic, Jordan, LeBron, Russell, Wilt. There you have three unselfish guys who will play without the basketball, plus Jordan and Wilt. Wilt to carry the load, then Jordan to shoot clutch shots when you need someone who can hit free throws. Four out of the five play great defense.
Second: Stockton, West, Bird, Duncan, Kareem. Tim Duncan is more of a winner than the Mailman and I'm ignoring the scoring numbers here. Kareem was an absolute monster in the post in the 1970s and into the 1980s, which we forget because we remember him when he was in his late 30s.
Nice post - yeah impossible to have an issue with Lebron vs Durant. Neither team was very good this year, Lebron had good numbers but was clearly focused on them once he realized his team sucked. I feel like right now in their careers I would still maybe prefer Durant but again, Lebron is one of the five best ever so all good with that.
I like your all-time teams, especially showing some love to Russell, West and Stockton who is almost certainly the most underrated player in NBA history. The "all-time" team is an interesting one - is it a collection of best at position, or actual team chemistry- or some kind of compromise of that? I always think about Pippen. Not many people would put him in their all-time lineup but his skill-set is so unique and such a perfect compliment to strong offensive players how could he not be. Same with Stockton. Like how does a Stockton, Jordan, Pippen, Duncan, Olajuwon lineup really get beaten? Always great theoretical stuff