My All-Time NBA Team

So it I know this post is way passed due, but here it goes. I sent Nate the question, "What would your all-time NBA team look like", but I don't want my team to be just a list of obvious choices. Nate's team is pretty good and he didn't quite do that, but my team is going to be a little more obscure. I want to put in players that actually could have played together, not just on the court, but in the locker room, etc. So I am going to limit myself to two all-timers and then I am going to try and put in the role players like a real team, one of which has to be a current NBA player and I have to name a sixth man that actually is a sixth man. I am not sure how this will go, but I have an hour or so to burn before class, so here it goes.

Point Guard: Earvin "Magic" Johnson
Anyone who knows me will see this as no big surprise, and I don't think this pick needs a whole lot of justification. Magic is one of the greatest NBA players of all time (I think he is a close second to MJ) and he may be the greatest of all time if you take into account the whole body of work (High School, College, and the whole NBA career). He averaged 19.2 ppg, 11.2 apg (all-time career leader), and 7.2 rebounds per game. He was a 12 time all-star, 10 time All-NBA player, 3 time NBA MVP, and 3 time Finals MVP. Yet after all of this, he may be best known for what did that didn't appear on the stats sheet. He just won and he did it on every level for his entire career. He made 9 finals appearances in 13 years and won 5 of those in the hyper-competitive NBA of the 1980's. There will never be a better floor general, so he is my pick to run my team.

Shooting Guard: Dennis Johnson
This pick was a tough one for me. It was between Dennis Johnson and Sidney Moncrief AKA "The Squid". I wanted to choose a 2 guard that wasn't a reliability on offense and that could check the oppositions best perimeter player night in and night out. Both of these guys fit that description as they were tenacious defenders that made their livings disrupting the other teams perimeter play, but both were decent offensive players too. Moncrief actually has better offensive stats than DJ, but three things made me choose DJ anyway. First, he was an All-NBA defensive selection 9 times. To me that means he sustained his high level of D for longer than Moncrief. Second, he was listed as an inch taller which would allow him to bother some players Moncrief couldn't. And lastly, DJ was the NBA Finals MVP in 1978-1979, so he showed up to play on big stages. Not to mention, Larry Bird AKA "Basketball Jesus" called DJ, "the smartest guy he played with". High praise for DJ and a good fit next to a guy who created like Magic.

Small Forward: Michael Cooper
This was another tricky position. I didn't want to just put Larry Bird, because I wanted to try and avoid predictability. I was really tempted to put down Josh Howard or Tayshaun Prince and call him my current player because I think they are guys who can do a little of everything, are great defenders, and who don't need the ball a ton. Then I started thinking about Coop. He is what Howard and Prince shoudl aspire to be. He shot the 3 ball decently well (he was in the top 10 in the league a few years), he ran the floor extremely well, was one of the best finishers in the league, and was another absolutely lock down defender. He was an All-NBA defensive team selection 8 times and won the defensive player of the year award in 1986-87. He understood the game very well (as evidenced by his success in coaching) and was a winner of five NBA championships. In short, he wins, he can spread the floor, finish the break, and lock down the opposition.

Power Forward: Karl Malone
I never like Karl much as a player (I think it has to do with the whooping he and the Jazz put on the Lakers in the mid/late 90's), but he was an amazing 4. The dude averaged 25 ppg and 10 rpg. He was a walking double-double. He was a 14 time All-Star, a 14 time All-NBA player, a 4 time All-NBA defensive team selection, and a 2 time NBA MVP. People forget how good he was at running the floor for a big man (something important on this team) and how many times he went to the foul line. He is arguably the best player in NBA history to never win a title. I realize that is something I have been big on in selecting my other players, but I am thinking they can help compensate for this chink in Malone's otherwise super-shiny armor. He can be the guy to carry the scoring load for this team and he doesn't need to eat up the paint to do so. He also doesn't have to be the guy to come through in the clutch as Magic and DJ can take care of much of that.

Center: Dwight Howard
This may be cheating because Howard may go down as an All-Timer eventually, but he isn't so right now. I love this kid. His game has grown so much over the past few seasons and his athleticism is scary. Although that athletic ability is a big plus for this team as I envision they would run a lot, I put him here because of his defense and his rebounding. There are times when Howard doesn't defend to the best of his ability, but I think a lot of that has to do with the energy he puts in at the offensive end to get shots because his team is just mediocre. They have no real creator on their team and on this team he has the best ever, so I think he could focus his energies on the defensive end and continue to add to his career averages of 12 rpg and 2bpg. He has already lead the league in total rebounds for three seasons. He is a monster inside and he has no ego to speak of, a great quality for a center that we need to hit boards and shut down the lane.

Sixth Man: Steve Kerr
I think my team is loaded defensively, so I am going to take a guy who may be a liability and use him as my sixth man. Also, I have some decent shooters, but to bring Kerr in off the bench would be sweet. This little day-walker is the second leading 3-point shooter in NBA history at .454%. He could spread the floor so well on this team and with the focus having to be on so many other guys on the offensive end, he could eat teams up by drifting to open spots and nailing shots. Another interesting stat, according to basketball-reference.com he is the all-time leader in offensive efficiency. In toher words, he is perfect to come in and make an impact without touching the ball much. On top of all of that, he won championships with two teams and played an active role in that. Remember the shot?

That is my team. Let the debate begin.