Which decade could put together the best starting 5

If that's the case, the 80's sucked! Basically it was just Magic and Bird except for the first 2 years of the decade where Moses won 2 straight MVP.

 

Lol wot?

 

Fair enough.

 

Give me the team with MJ and Hakeem, and we can figure out the rest of the lineup. Oh, I get Larry, Magic, Barkley, and McHale as throw-ins? Cmon guys, easy game.

 

I'll take a '90s team of:

P. Hardaway
Jordan
Pippen
Malone
Olajuwon
6th: Shaq

I picked Hardaway over Stockton, Payton, etc. because I wanted a team with length. I can also put Olajuwon at the 4 with a young Shaq.

 

Your classification of era's makes no sense. Here are my lineups:

60's
PG - Bob Cousy
SG - Jerry West
SF - Elgin Baylor
PF - Bob Petit
Center - Wilt Chamberlain / Bill Russell
6th Man - Wilt Chamberlain / Bill Russell

70's
PG - Walt Frazier
SG - Pete Maravic
SF - Julius Erving
PF - Elvin Hayes
Center - Kareem Abdul Jabbar (Lew Alcindor for 1 year in the 70s)
6th Man - Rick Berry

80's
PG - Magic Johnson
SG - George Gervin
SF - Larry Bird
PF - Kevin McHale
Center - Moses Malone
6th Man - Isaiah Thomas

90's
PG - Stockton
SG - Michael Jordan
SF - Scottie Pippen
PF - Karl Malone
Center - Hakeem Olajuwon
6th Man - Charles Barkley / David Robinson (I can't decide)

00's
PG - Jason Kidd (better defense than Nash but with the same playmaking skills)
SG - Kobe Bryant
SF - Paul Pierce
PF - Tim Duncan
Center - Shaquil O'Neal
6th Man - Kevin Garnett

10's
PG - Chris Paul
SG - James Harden
SF - Lebron James
PF - Anthony Davis
Center - Demarcus Cousins
6th Man - Kevin Durant

Comments:
I was very surprised to see the 00 Team actually looks very good.
For me, it's between the 80's and 90's but the 00's are very close too.

Between 80s/90s/00s, they all have one weak position. For the 80s, it's Gervin at SG, for 90's and 00's, it's their SF (Pippen and Pierce).
When you look at the remaining 4 starters + 6th man, the 80's have the deeper talent, but the 90's have the more elite top 2 guys (MJ/Hakeem). Also, the 80's best player in Magic has replicated skills in Stockton anyway.
The 00 team surpised me after I put that lineup together. Again, Kidd is like Stockton lite, Kobe like MJ lite and Duncan most definitely is better than Karl. BUT, Pippen and Bird beat Pierce. which I think keeps them from the conversation of top 2 decades.
I love Hakeem, but really MJ is the difference maker that makes me think the 90's is the best team by a hair. Moses was just extremely dominant that he is not far from Hakeem anyway. Gervin is clearly the weakest of all the players in the 80s and 90s lineups.

 

Now if we change the rules of making these hypotheticals and say we can duplicate players to multiple decades, be more fluid with positions like the current NBA, and assume all teams played in the current NBA, it would look more like this. Keep in minI am leaving out incredible centers of the past because they wouldn't fit into todays game (eg. KAJ).
(I'll only go from 80's onwards as I know how those players play. I can't judge 60/70s players in the current NBA).

80's
PG - Magic Johnson
SG - Michael Jordan
SF - Dominique Wilkens
PF - Larry Bird
Center - Hakeem Olajuwon
6th Man - Isaiah Thomas

90's
PG - Stockton
SG - Michael Jordan
SF - Scottie Pippen
PF - Charles Barkley (typical tweener for todays NBA like Dray Green)
Center - Hakeem Olajuwon
6th Man - Penny Hardaway

00's
PG - Steve Nash
SG - Kobe Bryant
SF - Lebron James
PF - Dirk Nowitzki
Center - Tim Duncan
6th Man - Kevin Garnett / Dwayne Wade (tough to choose)

10's
PG - Chris Paul
SG - James Harden
SF - Kevin Durant
PF - Lebron James
Center - Anthony Davis
6th Man - Steph Curry

 

70s: Clyde Frazier, Pete Maravich, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, John Havlicek, David Thompson, Ice Man Gervin, Dr. Julius Erving, Connie Hawkins, Elgin Baylor, Rick Barry, Elvin Hayes, Lew Alcindor, Bill Russell, and Wilt Chamberlain.

The Millennials would fall down in a faint.

 

Oh crap, how did I forget the Big O in my lineups.

 

Only seen 3 of those guys played and I'm almost 50 years old. Iceman, Dr J, and Kareem. Way before my time and I'm old!!!

 

And why isn't Moses on that list??? He won 3 MVP! 2 with the Rockets! And no Bob McAdoo? That guy dominated in the 70's!!! I only seen him in the early 80's when he was on his downside. The guy averaged 30 points 14 rebounds, 2 blocks , etc etc in his prime year.

 

I'm ancient, almost 60. Those dudes introduced me to basketball, along with guys like Bo Peep Lamar, Calvin Murphy, Bob Mcadoo, Fly Williams, Earl the Pearl Evans, Ernie Digregorio... I think back to those guys, and I think how great they were, and I wonder how much greater some of them would've been if they weren't drug addicts. Man, the 70s were a mess.

 

Alzheimer's running its course, I reckon.

 

The Iceman was my favorite back then!

LOL. yea. I laugh when I hear how "pure" the game was back then and everyone was "clean." But in reality, a lot of them were drug addicts.
Who knows what Michael Ray Richardson and Ray Tarpely would have been.


Those A's baseball team in the 70's that dominated baseball were full of drug addicts but the game was supposely "pure" back then.

 

My vision on how it would look

1960s
---
PG Jerry West (27.5 PPG 5.7 APG 5.6 RPG)
PG Oscar Roberson (29.7 PPG 10.5 APG 8.7 RPG)
SF Elgin Baylor (28.1 PPG 13.8 RPG)
C Bill Russell (14.8 PPG 22.6 RPG)
C Wilt Chamberlain (34.4 PPG 24.3 RPG)

1970s
---
PG Walt Frazier (20.0 PPG 6.1 APG 6.0 RPG)
SG John Havlicek (21.9 PPG 5.8 APG 6.4 RPG)
SF Bob Dandridge (19.0 PPG 7.0 RPG)
PF/C Elvin Hayes (23.2 PPG 14.2 RPG)
C Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (28.6 PPG 14.8 RPG)

1980s (adjusted for 100 possessions)
---
PG Isiah Thomas (25.9 PPG 12.5 APG)
PG Magic Johnson (24.7 PPG 14.2 APG 9.4 RPG)
SF Larry Bird (30.9 PPG 12.6 RPG 7.6 APG)
PF Kevin McHale (27.6 PPG 11.3 RPG)
C Moses Malone (31.6 PPG 17.0 RPG)

1990s (adjusted for 100 possessions)
---
PG John Stockton (22.1 PPG 17.6 APG)
SG Michael Jordan (41.5 PPG 8.5 APG 6.8 APG)
PF/SF Charles Barkley (30.8 PPG 15.9 RPG)
C/PF Hakeem Olajuwon (31.8 PPG 15.5 RPG)
C David Robinson (33.6 PPG 15.9 RPG)

2000s (adjusted for 100 possessions)
---
PG Steve Nash (24.4 PPG 13.7 APG)
SG Kobe Byrant (37.0 ppg 7.7 rpg 6.9 apg)
SF Paul Pierce (32.1 PPG 8.6 RPG 5.5 APG)
PF Dirk Nowitzki (32.9 PPG 12.3 RPG)
PF/C Tim Duncan (31.5 PPG 17.3 RPG)

2010s (adjusted for 100 possessions)
---
PG Chris Paul (27.4 PPG 14.8 APG 6.3 RPG)
PG Stephen Curry (32.4 PPG 9.7 APG 6.2 RPG)
SF Kevin Durant (38.4 PPG 10.3 RPG 5.6 APG)
SF Lebron James (37.2 PPG 10.4 RPG 10.1 APG)
PF/C Anthony Davis (33.3 PPG 15.1 RPG)

 

Great thread idea but what about doing it for the rockets? 80s vs 90s vs 00s vs 10s???

Does it deserve its own thread? @os

 

Since I remember watching him play on our black-and-white Zenith, I just assumed that was the early 70s. I am an old fool now-- but a happy one, to have watched so much basketball.