Stockton
Jordan
Pippen
Malone
Shaq
Jordan
Pippen
Malone
Shaq
my top 5 beats your top 5
- Thread starter FabTrey
- Start date
But if you're relying on Jordan to be a lockdown perimeter scorer (and you better because in your lineup Magic ain't defending shyt), then you can't rely on him to be the primary scorer too or you're exhausting him on both ends.
Plus teams are going to be stacking the paint like hell against you, because Magic at the 1, Pippen at the 3, Hakeem at the 4, and Kareem at the 5 giving you 4/5 guys in your lineup who aren't going to scare the defense into spreading the floor.
Against a packed paint, 2 of your 5 guys are going to be good scorers but not great, and a third is straight mediocre. Your only great scorers are MJ and Kareem. And your ONLY great shooter is MJ. And your ONLY great driver is MJ.
Your team is simply too imbalanced. You can't rely on MJ to be one of the top 2 primary perimeter defenders AND the secondary ball handler AND your only elite perimeter scorer AND the only serious shooter and driver.
Slot in Lebron instead. He's playing just about as good a defense as Scottie when he doesn't have to carry the whole load. But on offense, he can be your second elite perimeter scorer, your third elite ballhandler/distributor, your second elite driver, and the 2nd-best shooter on the team (possibly best three-point shooter). He literally does every one of those things at a higher level than Pippen. Now you have Jordan/Lebron sharing the load on defense AND offense, so neither one is going to get burned out.
Actually, I only did that lineup to be obvious, because Lebron over Pippen is a clear upgrade that's necessary across the board. But Magic is a bit redundant on that team because Jordan/Lebron are already elite ballhandlers/distributers and you have to hide Magic on defense. And if Lebron is your 2nd-best shooter, then you definitely don't have enough shooting yet. If you really want a devastating lineup:
Lebron
Jordan
Durant
Hakeem
Kareem
Now you've upgraded your shooting a ton and can actually spread the floor, you've upgraded your defense and are long as hell, there's no fighting over the ballhandling because Jordan/Lebron can take turns dominating the ball, and you've created a fukkload of mismatches all over the court.
Can you imagine Magic trying to guard Lebron and Scottie thinking he could shut down Durant?
THAT lineup would burn down stadiums.
Although that seems like a great team on paper, i think having two big men who clog the lane would be detrimental to lebron (especially) AND jordan. The most optimal team to take advantage of the rim rocking caused by lebron and jordan would be Duncan and Garnett because of there ability to hit shots from 15-18 feet out. They also provide the same length and arguably better defense than Hakeem and Kareem.But if you're relying on Jordan to be a lockdown perimeter scorer (and you better because in your lineup Magic ain't defending shyt), then you can't rely on him to be the primary scorer too or you're exhausting him on both ends.
Plus teams are going to be stacking the paint like hell against you, because Magic at the 1, Pippen at the 3, Hakeem at the 4, and Kareem at the 5 giving you 4/5 guys in your lineup who aren't going to scare the defense into spreading the floor.
Against a packed paint, 2 of your 5 guys are going to be good scorers but not great, and a third is straight mediocre. Your only great scorers are MJ and Kareem. And your ONLY great shooter is MJ. And your ONLY great driver is MJ.
Your team is simply too imbalanced. You can't rely on MJ to be one of the top 2 primary perimeter defenders AND the secondary ball handler AND your only elite perimeter scorer AND the only serious shooter and driver.
Slot in Lebron instead. He's playing just about as good a defense as Scottie when he doesn't have to carry the whole load. But on offense, he can be your second elite perimeter scorer, your third elite ballhandler/distributor, your second elite driver, and the 2nd-best shooter on the team (possibly best three-point shooter). He literally does every one of those things at a higher level than Pippen. Now you have Jordan/Lebron sharing the load on defense AND offense, so neither one is going to get burned out.
Actually, I only did that lineup to be obvious, because Lebron over Pippen is a clear upgrade that's necessary across the board. But Magic is a bit redundant on that team because Jordan/Lebron are already elite ballhandlers/distributers and you have to hide Magic on defense. And if Lebron is your 2nd-best shooter, then you definitely don't have enough shooting yet. If you really want a devastating lineup:
Lebron
Jordan
Durant
Hakeem
Kareem
Now you've upgraded your shooting a ton and can actually spread the floor, you've upgraded your defense and are long as hell, there's no fighting over the ballhandling because Jordan/Lebron can take turns dominating the ball, and you've created a fukkload of mismatches all over the court.
Can you imagine Magic trying to guard Lebron and Scottie thinking he could shut down Durant?
THAT lineup would burn down stadiums.
Hakeem isn't a lane-clogger - he's just fine from 15-18 feet out. Neither Duncan nor Garnett are lighting it up from three-point range, so it ain't like they're moving their defenders out much more than Hakeem is. And a good center, even one who works inside, doesn't really clog the lane because you still have to stay stuck to him when great passers like Jordan and Lebron are driving.
On the other side, Hakeem is definitely a better defender than even prime Duncan or Garnett.
I like the idea of keeping Kareem because his height poses such a problem. I can see some of the wisdom of going for a more versatile player. But I don't think it's necessary - prime Kareem was a monster in the middle on both ends, and with Jordan-Lebron-Durant-Hakeem out there it's not like you need to worry about their shooters causing problems.
The one thing I like about Duncan that puts him up at the level of the all-time greats is he's such a smart fukking player on both ends. He would know how to make that shyt work and know what he had to do. The passing that team could have with Lebron/Jordan/Duncan/Hakeem would be incredible. If you were talking about a Lebron-Jordan-Durant-Duncan-Hakeem lineup, I could get behind that too.
I side with KG at the 4 and duncan at the 5 specifically for versatility, Pick n roll defense(KG can guard perimeter players better than Hakeem, where as hakeem is better at post and help defense) and more range setting up the pick n pop and drive n kick offense. KG had more range than Hakeem and can spread the defense just a bit more. Jordan and lebron only need a split second to finish. And duncan definitely has more range than Kareem.
Against a guy like curry, you need all 5 positions to be decent on the perimeter. I know its only one guy, but a versatile defensive lineup can deal with more wrinkles in the opponents offense than a run of the mill, one-on-one defense. And curry can absolutely break apart a standard defense.
Against a guy like curry, you need all 5 positions to be decent on the perimeter. I know its only one guy, but a versatile defensive lineup can deal with more wrinkles in the opponents offense than a run of the mill, one-on-one defense. And curry can absolutely break apart a standard defense.