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Construct the best team possible using anyone you want in the NBA

spycam1

spycam1

Well-Known Member
If you could put together a starting lineup of any five players in the NBA, who would you choose?

My team:

Stephen Curry
Paul George
Kevin Durant
LeBron James
Marc Gasol

I think you obviously have to build a team around LeBron. This means you need to surround him with 3 point shooters which I obviously have with Curry, George, and Durant. I also think Miami is at its best when they have three perimeter players playing with LeBron instead of two bigs in order to spread the floor and open up driving lanes. And LeBron is certainly capable of guarding PFs, and Durant also acts as a stretch 4 at times, so they can switch off guarding the other team's PF/SF.

Another thing to keep in mind is how much LeBron plays PG. To me, this means you need a PG who can effectively play off the ball when LeBron is running the show, and what superstar PG in the league is better at this than Curry? I think Curry is a perfect PG for LeBron to play with.

So I've got 4 guys on the court shooting over 40% from 3 to spread the floor, and all of them can also drive the ball in iso situations (which will be very easy since the driving lanes are wide open due to the spacing of this team), and then I've got a giant down low in Gasol who the team can dump it down to and say, "here, go score", and he's also an incredible passer.

Then there's defense. LeBron is obviously a world class defender; George is also an All-NBA defender; Durant isn't an elite defender, but he's good; Gasol was DPOY, and even if you disagree with that award, it certainly says something.

What's your team, bishes?
 
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I like this idea

So I got

Lebron
Durant
Melo
George
Hibbert

I agree with Spy in that you have to build around Lebron. I have no problem with George or Lebron guarding anyone, and if anyone gets into the lane Hibbert is there protecting the rim. Would gladly switch all screens except in Hibbert's case.

The shooting is pretty dope around Lebron. Melo and Durant are elite players off of the ball (they just don't get many opportunities to show it), especially when Lebron is driving it to the rack. Hibbert doesn't hurt the floor spacing at all because he hits the lane for offensive rebounds after a Lebron drive.

Not only is this team impossible to stop from scoring, they have tremendous size and everyone is a great rebounder.
 
Stephen Curry
Kevin Durant
LeBron James
Tim Duncan
Roy Hibbert

Defense
Good luck trying to score inside over the twin towers of Duncan and Hibbert. They'll prevent low post scoring as well as any dribble drive in the paint. On the perimeter you have athletic lengths in LeBron and Durant guarding you. Curry isn't the best defender, but when going up against athletic PGs/SGs, the likes of Derick Rose, you would just simply put LeBron on him.

Offense
GREAT 3pt shooting in Curry, Durant and James. Dump the ball down to Hibbert and Duncan in the low post all day long. Got double team? Swing-swing and it's an open 3pter by one of Curry, Durant or James. Curry isn't the best passing PG, but James will be initiating a lot of the offfense anyway so Curry will be playing off the ball most of the time. His role as the PG would be bringing up the ball.
 
LazyD said:
I like this idea

So I got

Lebron
Durant
Melo
George
Hibbert

I agree with Spy in that you have to build around Lebron. I have no problem with George or Lebron guarding anyone, and if anyone gets into the lane Hibbert is there protecting the rim. Would gladly switch all screens except in Hibbert's case.

The shooting is pretty dope around Lebron. Melo and Durant are elite players off of the ball (they just don't get many opportunities to show it), especially when Lebron is driving it to the rack. Hibbert doesn't hurt the floor spacing at all because he hits the lane for offensive rebounds after a Lebron drive.

Not only is this team impossible to stop from scoring, they have tremendous size and everyone is a great rebounder.
Click to expand...

I'd put Melo at the 4 instead of George. He has a better post game and is bigger...and stuff.
 
spycam1 said:
I'd put Melo at the 4 instead of George. He has a better post game and is bigger...and stuff.
Click to expand...

Word

I would too. Was just kinda putting down the players and not really putting them in a position

I don't know who would win between our teams, but both of ours would surely destroy Hotttnickkk's
 
Hotttnickkk said:
Stephen Curry
Kevin Durant
LeBron James
Tim Duncan
Roy Hibbert

Defense
Good luck trying to score inside over the twin towers of Duncan and Hibbert. They'll prevent low post scoring as well as any dribble drive in the paint. On the perimeter you have athletic lengths in LeBron and Durant guarding you. Curry isn't the best defender, but when going up against athletic PGs/SGs, the likes of Derick Rose, you would just simply put LeBron on him.

Offense
GREAT 3pt shooting in Curry, Durant and James. Dump the ball down to Hibbert and Duncan in the low post all day long. Got double team? Swing-swing and it's an open 3pter by one of Curry, Durant or James. Curry isn't the best passing PG, but James will be initiating a lot of the offfense anyway so Curry will be playing off the ball most of the time. His role as the PG would be bringing up the ball.
Click to expand...

You obviously have to build a team around LeBron, and I don't think the twin towers method is ideal for that. I think it's pretty clear Miami plays best with three perimeter players in addition to LeBron. They start Chalmers/Wade/Battier/LeBron/Bosh. The more 3 point shooters LeBron can suddenly kick it to the better, and it opens up his driving lanes; having Duncan and Hibbert seems too crammed in the paint to me and would make it more difficult for LeBron to attack the basket.

Even if you were to go with twin towers, I don't think you have the right ones.

Duncan has lost a step this season. Last season he averaged 18 points while shooting 50% on 14 FGA, and this season he's averaging 14 points while shooting 46% on 12 FGA. I think you can argue that Duncan was better than Gasol in the summer (not totally sure I agree), but I don't think the Duncan of this season is as good as what Gasol was doing in the playoffs.

Then there's Hibbert. I think he's been the DPOY so far this season, and while he isn't bad offensively, he isn't great either. The only reason he scored so much against the Heat was because they're one of the smallest teams in the league. It's quite obvious, just ask Barkley.

Hibbert was the second or third best player for the Pacers. Gasol was the best palyer and #1 option for that Memphis team he led to the Conference Finals this past summer. He destroyed the OKC front line, which is quite possibly the best defensive team down low with Ibaka and Perkins, and averaged 17 PPG during the post season as a whole. That's not even factoring in Gasol's incredible passing. Offensively, Gasol is far superior to Hibbert, and defensively he's not THAT far behind.

Gasol, imo, is the best two way center in the game.
 
LazyD said:
I like this idea

So I got

Lebron
Durant
Melo
George
Hibbert

I agree with Spy in that you have to build around Lebron. I have no problem with George or Lebron guarding anyone, and if anyone gets into the lane Hibbert is there protecting the rim. Would gladly switch all screens except in Hibbert's case.

The shooting is pretty dope around Lebron. Melo and Durant are elite players off of the ball (they just don't get many opportunities to show it), especially when Lebron is driving it to the rack. Hibbert doesn't hurt the floor spacing at all because he hits the lane for offensive rebounds after a Lebron drive.

Not only is this team impossible to stop from scoring, they have tremendous size and everyone is a great rebounder.
Click to expand...

While LeBron is obviously perfectly capable of playing PG, I don't think you're fully utilizing his abilities by not having someone else on your team that can run the point. He needs to play off the ball, and be given the ball from different spots on the floor to operate from besides the top of the 3 point line (where a PG most often initiates the offense from) in order to score all the points that he does. This is one reason why having Wade is so perfect for him in Miami.

As far as Hibbert goes, I've already addressed him in my post about nickkk's team.
 
Hibbert did it against Udonis Haslem and Chris Bosh. Gasol did it against defensive jaugernats in Ibaka and Perkins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1LpsIKJRFI
 
spycam1 said:
While LeBron is obviously perfectly capable of playing PG, I don't think you're fully utilizing his abilities by not having someone else on your team that can run the point. He needs to play off the ball, and be given the ball from different spots on the floor to operate from besides the top of the 3 point line (where a PG most often initiates the offense from) in order to score all the points that he does. This is one reason why having Wade is so perfect for him in Miami.

As far as Hibbert goes, I've already addressed him in my post about nickkk's team.
Click to expand...

I think Durant is a guy very capable of handling the ball and can get it to Lebron on the elbow or post if necessary. Hibbert doesn't need to do anything except stand by the basket and finish an open layup/dunk if his defender goes to help. He's simply there to be big on both ends of the floor. Not saying he's a superstar player, but an excellent guy to have on a team.
With Hibbert standing by the bucket I feel this team is impossible to stop from scoring on every possession. With Lebron at the top of the key, elbow, or post, no one can help off of Durant or Melo, and if helping off Hibbert there would just be an easy layup or a kickout for an open shot after a rotation. Most likely strategy would be double off George since he's the weakest offensive player I have on the perimeter.
The one thing I can see in my advantage if the teams were to go head-2-head, obviously impossible because they contain many similar players, is that Hotttnickkk has two players that would be unable to guard anyone on my team at all in Duncan and Curry (assuming Hibbert defends Hibbert), and Curry would be scored upon every time down the floor by whoever he's matched up against (probably George). Yes, I am aware that Melo is a relatively weak defender, but I think he could handle George better than Curry could.
 
Paul
Durant
LeBron
Love
Hibbert

Similar to everybody else, I think you have to take LeBron and build around him. Paul is the best PG in the game. He'll hit the open three, which of course you need with LeBron, but most importantly, you can take LeBron off the ball and let Paul create for him and for the other scorers/shooters out there. Hibbert is the premier rim protector in the league and with Love you get a great rebounder and one more shooter for Paul or LeBron to kick out to. The drawback to Love is that he doesn't defend, but with Hibbert, LeBron and Durant, you have three of the best defenders at their positions in the league and they can protect him. And Paul is a playmaker on defense.
 
Hibbert is EONS ahead of every other defending big this season. Indiana is absolutely nothing without him. Nothing.

Paul
Durant
James
Love
Hibbert

Plenty of spacing, great passing, athleticism, good defense.
 
Actually I would build around Durant instead of Lebron. Instead of Hibbert I would choose Dwight that would give more spacing to the team. Westbrook, Curry and Lebron would follow.
 
addictionary said:
Actually I would build around Durant instead of Lebron. Instead of Hibbert I would choose Dwight that would give more spacing to the team. Westbrook, Curry and Lebron would follow.
Click to expand...

No LeBron =

images
 
dalamon said:
Hibbert is EONS ahead of every other defending big this season. Indiana is absolutely nothing without him. Nothing.

Paul
Durant
James
Love
Hibbert

Plenty of spacing, great passing, athleticism, good defense.
Click to expand...

I actually quite like this team. Nicely balanced. Plenty of shooting with Love & Durant. Paul will get the ball to Durant & LeBron in scoring positions.
 
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