When asking someone if they could assemble the greatest team ever, they usually randomly spew out names "Jordan, Magic, Lebron, Malone, Shaq", with no thought they just shout out big names, I mean you can include those guys on your teams, but put a little thought into it, don't just compile the greatest players ever, choose great players that compliment each other. My Wine Cellar Team (inspired by Bill Simmons "Wine Cellar" chapter in The Book of Basketball) is 12 of the greatest players I ever saw (In Bill Simmons rules he says only players he saw, even if I didn't use certain years I saw close enough right?) who compliment each other as seamlessly as I could find (and no MJ due to the fact I only saw his Wizards games which don't count because I'm trying to forget those ever happened). So I challenge you to bring a Wine Cellar Team that could beat 12 ATLiens in a 48 minute game with the world on the line! Without further ado TheGlove_20's Wine Cellar Team!
1. Tim Duncan '03
No power forward was ever better than Tim Duncan, he needed to be double teamed at all times, could work with anyone, could play center or power forward, and could even pass well for a big, he made his teammates and better not to mention one of the top 6 greatest defenders ever.
2. Kobe Bryant '01
1. Tim Duncan '03
No power forward was ever better than Tim Duncan, he needed to be double teamed at all times, could work with anyone, could play center or power forward, and could even pass well for a big, he made his teammates and better not to mention one of the top 6 greatest defenders ever.
2. Kobe Bryant '01
Since I cannot have MJ why not go with the next best thing, Kobe in '01 was not trouble with being the alpha dog, knew when his team needed major buckets, dish 5 assists a game, and killed himself defensively. In 2001 he peaked all-around, and he could take games over. One reason we had to choose '01 Kobe over say '06 Kobe is the fact that '01 Kobe could handle playing with LeBron, handle not being the focal point during the first 43 minutes and '01 Kobe would embrace it.
3. Shaquille O'Neal '00
Shaq had character which can always help bring a team together and get their chemistry up, the whole Shaq Vs Kobe thing hadn't started so they would still be the hardest combo to guard and not to mention the fact that his goofiness went away when they needed to win.
4. LeBron James '08
LeBron had just singlehandedly taken his team to the NBA Finals, thrashed the Pistons, didn't start worrying in the clutch, could play point forward, my choice of his peak so far, and have you seen him play? The guy routinely made his teammates better and took teams that should be winning between 15-30 wins to 50 and 60 wins.
5. Gary Payton '98
The greatest perimeter defender ever, had the defensive prowess of 1996 and the offensive prowess of 2000. Not only was Payton unselfish he knew when to turn it on and off taking over games that needed to be won and taking a team that had no business winning 60 games to a 61-21 record. Could pick and roll and lob (two important aspects of the teams game, he is the greatest lob thrower ever), in 98' especially (as well as the rest of his career) he wanted to make his team better, and his trash talk would have made the ATLiens cry.
So our starting 5 is
1. Gary Payton
2. Kobe Bryant
3. LeBron James
4. Tim Duncan
5. Shaquille O'Neal
No other starting five I can think of would be a better two way team, but now to fill out our bench.
Dwyane Wade '09
Now for my first man off the bench why don't I grab an MJ impersonator as a backup for my MJ impersonator, Wade might arguably be a better MJ impersonator than Kobe, so they might would battle for minutes, but Wade would come off the bench, would fit in with anyone, can pass the rock, he could handle the point, give us a blocker in the backcourt, as well as a theif, a blur at the 2 or 1, an athletic specimen as well as the fact he can take a beating get up and do it all over again.
Chris Paul '09 (I almost went with Kidd but CP3 added better scoring and shooting)
CP3 would be shooting three's, clutch, hit go ahead buckets using his quickness, has excellent defense (except not the best jump shot defender), an otherworldly crossover and he's the evolutionary Isiah. Don't forget that he could hit clutch free throws and keep leads in the fourth.
Kevin Garnett '03
Very similar to Duncan, with better defense but less 4th quarter and even getting to the rim prowess, but we could use his intimidation factor too, would you want to play him and Payton at the same time? Talk about nervous and mental breakdowns.
Scottie Pippen '92
One of the three greatest defenders ever, a very athletic wing who could also play point forward, if any player on any of the teams we play to keep the earth alive is getting hot it'll be either Payton, Pippen, or Garnett on them, Pippen and Payton would spearhead our defensive lineup.
Paul Pierce '06
A smart passing, solid defending, great shooting, good rebounding, great ball-handling wing who will give up shots to win? Why not?
Reggie Miller '91
One of the most clutch players ever (Along with most of this team but still), greatest three-point shooter, one of the greatest free throw shooters and one of the best talkers ever, if you even tried to foul reggie or left him open automatic points.
Chris Webber '02
C-Webb could run the floor, board, post up, defend (in a very crafty way), and was a very good passer, as long as we kept him off the floor for the final two-five minutes we would have him as an excellent force off the bench. Plus he could play the 4 or 5 and would be the key piece if we played a princeton offense.
Shaq had character which can always help bring a team together and get their chemistry up, the whole Shaq Vs Kobe thing hadn't started so they would still be the hardest combo to guard and not to mention the fact that his goofiness went away when they needed to win.
4. LeBron James '08
LeBron had just singlehandedly taken his team to the NBA Finals, thrashed the Pistons, didn't start worrying in the clutch, could play point forward, my choice of his peak so far, and have you seen him play? The guy routinely made his teammates better and took teams that should be winning between 15-30 wins to 50 and 60 wins.
5. Gary Payton '98
The greatest perimeter defender ever, had the defensive prowess of 1996 and the offensive prowess of 2000. Not only was Payton unselfish he knew when to turn it on and off taking over games that needed to be won and taking a team that had no business winning 60 games to a 61-21 record. Could pick and roll and lob (two important aspects of the teams game, he is the greatest lob thrower ever), in 98' especially (as well as the rest of his career) he wanted to make his team better, and his trash talk would have made the ATLiens cry.
So our starting 5 is
1. Gary Payton
2. Kobe Bryant
3. LeBron James
4. Tim Duncan
5. Shaquille O'Neal
No other starting five I can think of would be a better two way team, but now to fill out our bench.
Dwyane Wade '09
Now for my first man off the bench why don't I grab an MJ impersonator as a backup for my MJ impersonator, Wade might arguably be a better MJ impersonator than Kobe, so they might would battle for minutes, but Wade would come off the bench, would fit in with anyone, can pass the rock, he could handle the point, give us a blocker in the backcourt, as well as a theif, a blur at the 2 or 1, an athletic specimen as well as the fact he can take a beating get up and do it all over again.
Chris Paul '09 (I almost went with Kidd but CP3 added better scoring and shooting)
CP3 would be shooting three's, clutch, hit go ahead buckets using his quickness, has excellent defense (except not the best jump shot defender), an otherworldly crossover and he's the evolutionary Isiah. Don't forget that he could hit clutch free throws and keep leads in the fourth.
Kevin Garnett '03
Very similar to Duncan, with better defense but less 4th quarter and even getting to the rim prowess, but we could use his intimidation factor too, would you want to play him and Payton at the same time? Talk about nervous and mental breakdowns.
Scottie Pippen '92
One of the three greatest defenders ever, a very athletic wing who could also play point forward, if any player on any of the teams we play to keep the earth alive is getting hot it'll be either Payton, Pippen, or Garnett on them, Pippen and Payton would spearhead our defensive lineup.
Paul Pierce '06
A smart passing, solid defending, great shooting, good rebounding, great ball-handling wing who will give up shots to win? Why not?
Reggie Miller '91
One of the most clutch players ever (Along with most of this team but still), greatest three-point shooter, one of the greatest free throw shooters and one of the best talkers ever, if you even tried to foul reggie or left him open automatic points.
Chris Webber '02
C-Webb could run the floor, board, post up, defend (in a very crafty way), and was a very good passer, as long as we kept him off the floor for the final two-five minutes we would have him as an excellent force off the bench. Plus he could play the 4 or 5 and would be the key piece if we played a princeton offense.
So we're running a line-up of:
Starters:
1. Gary Payton '98
2. Kobe Bryant '01
3. LeBron James '08
4. Tim Duncan '03
5. Shaquille O'Neal '00
Bench:
6. Dwyane Wade '09
7. Chris Paul '09
8. Kevin Garnett '03
9. Scottie Pippen '92
10. Paul Pierce '06
11. Reggie Miller '91
12. Chris Webber '02
Now we'll go through different situations (with the 6th man)
Crunch-Time Line-Up:
1. Gary Payton
2. Kobe Bryant
3. LeBron James
4. Kevin Garnett
5. Tim Duncan
6. Reggie Miller
Best Defensive Line-Up (Small):
1. Gary Payton
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Scottie Pippen
4. LeBron James
5. Tim Duncan
6. Dwyane Wade
Best Defensive Line-Up (Big):
1. Gary Payton
2. LeBron James
3. Scottie Pippen
4. Kevin Garnett
5. Tim Duncan
6. Kobe Bryant
Best Smallball Line-Up:
1. Chris Paul
2. Gary Payton
3. Kobe Bryant
4. LeBron James
5. Chris Webber
6. Paul Pierce
Best Bigball Line-Up:
1. Scottie Pippen
2. LeBron James
3. Kevin Garnett
4. Tim Duncan
5. Shaquille O'Neal
6. Chris Webber
Best Fastbreak Line-Up:
1. Chris Paul
2. Dwyane Wade
3. LeBron James
4. Chris Webber
5. Tim Duncan
6. Scottie Pippen
Best Three-Point Line-Up:
1. Chris Paul
2. Reggie Miller
3. Paul Pierce
4. LeBron James
5. Kevin Garnett
6. Gary Payton
Best Princeton Line-Up:
1. Gary Payton
2. Reggie Miller
3. Paul Pierce
4. LeBron James
5. Chris Webber
6. Chris Paul
Best Lob-City Line-Up:
1. Gary Payton
2. Dwyane Wade
3. Scottie Pippen
4. LeBron James
5. Shaquille O'Neal
6. Kobe Bryant
Best Cooler Line-Up:
1. Chris Paul
2. Reggie Miller
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Chris Webber
5. Kevin Garnett
6. Gary Payton
Best Murderous-Press Line-Up (Small):
1. Gary Payton
2. Dwyane Wade
3. Scottie Pippen
4. LeBron James
5. Tim Duncan
6. Kobe Bryant
Now that we have the team and line-ups let's choose our coaches:
Head Coach: Phil Jackson '03
Phil is a great coach and proven with veterans like this, not to mention that he knows great mind games and can get Kobe to stay unselfish but to also get him to take games over at the helm, but we are not letting him run a triangle!
Assistant Coaches: George Karl '98 (Jackson's secret helper on our team, especially since Jackson won't have his triangle), Tom Thibodeau '10 (defensive genius), and Mike D'Antoni '05 (was anyone better offensively).
Starters:
1. Gary Payton '98
2. Kobe Bryant '01
3. LeBron James '08
4. Tim Duncan '03
5. Shaquille O'Neal '00
Bench:
6. Dwyane Wade '09
7. Chris Paul '09
8. Kevin Garnett '03
9. Scottie Pippen '92
10. Paul Pierce '06
11. Reggie Miller '91
12. Chris Webber '02
Now we'll go through different situations (with the 6th man)
Crunch-Time Line-Up:
1. Gary Payton
2. Kobe Bryant
3. LeBron James
4. Kevin Garnett
5. Tim Duncan
6. Reggie Miller
Best Defensive Line-Up (Small):
1. Gary Payton
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Scottie Pippen
4. LeBron James
5. Tim Duncan
6. Dwyane Wade
Best Defensive Line-Up (Big):
1. Gary Payton
2. LeBron James
3. Scottie Pippen
4. Kevin Garnett
5. Tim Duncan
6. Kobe Bryant
Best Smallball Line-Up:
1. Chris Paul
2. Gary Payton
3. Kobe Bryant
4. LeBron James
5. Chris Webber
6. Paul Pierce
Best Bigball Line-Up:
1. Scottie Pippen
2. LeBron James
3. Kevin Garnett
4. Tim Duncan
5. Shaquille O'Neal
6. Chris Webber
Best Fastbreak Line-Up:
1. Chris Paul
2. Dwyane Wade
3. LeBron James
4. Chris Webber
5. Tim Duncan
6. Scottie Pippen
Best Three-Point Line-Up:
1. Chris Paul
2. Reggie Miller
3. Paul Pierce
4. LeBron James
5. Kevin Garnett
6. Gary Payton
Best Princeton Line-Up:
1. Gary Payton
2. Reggie Miller
3. Paul Pierce
4. LeBron James
5. Chris Webber
6. Chris Paul
Best Lob-City Line-Up:
1. Gary Payton
2. Dwyane Wade
3. Scottie Pippen
4. LeBron James
5. Shaquille O'Neal
6. Kobe Bryant
Best Cooler Line-Up:
1. Chris Paul
2. Reggie Miller
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Chris Webber
5. Kevin Garnett
6. Gary Payton
Best Murderous-Press Line-Up (Small):
1. Gary Payton
2. Dwyane Wade
3. Scottie Pippen
4. LeBron James
5. Tim Duncan
6. Kobe Bryant
Now that we have the team and line-ups let's choose our coaches:
Head Coach: Phil Jackson '03
Phil is a great coach and proven with veterans like this, not to mention that he knows great mind games and can get Kobe to stay unselfish but to also get him to take games over at the helm, but we are not letting him run a triangle!
Assistant Coaches: George Karl '98 (Jackson's secret helper on our team, especially since Jackson won't have his triangle), Tom Thibodeau '10 (defensive genius), and Mike D'Antoni '05 (was anyone better offensively).
No comments:
Post a Comment