This is a take off on the baseball thread. Use your initials. Or use some other set of initials that you find interesting.
Way easier to build a basketball team.
My actual initials:
G- Pete Maravich
G- Patty Mills
F- Pace Mannion
F- Paul Milsap
C- Paul Mokeski
6th man- Pete Myers. He replaced Michael Jordan in 1993-94 and they won two fewer games.
Coach - Press Maravich so I assume Pistol Pete will average 55 ppg
I'm not a huge NBA guy, so maybe I'm missing some people that I would know if I had followed the game the way I do MLB, but there are 15 guys on Cesar Crespo's list with my initials and I don't recognize a single one of them.
It may not be the best team, but it is likely the best passing team we'll come up with:
PG: Lonzo Ball
SG: Lamelo Ball
SF: Len Bias (I know, too soon)
PF: Larry Bird
C: Lonny Baxter
Bench: Luke Babbitt, Leandro Barbosa, Leandro Bolmaro, (for hack-a-shaq purposes only) Lizzie Borden
Coach: Larry Brown
Not invited: LiAngelo Ball
On the one hand I get The Pearl and Easy Ed, but it’s slim pickings after that. Evan Mobley is the third best person. Eddie Mikan maybe? Eric Montross? As for the backcourt? Eric Murdock? Eric Maynor?
F Ed MacCauley
F Evan Mobley
C Eric Montross
G Earl Monroe
G Eric Murdock
Bench
F/C Ed Mikan
G Eric Maynor
G Emmanuel Mudiay (yes, the pickings are that bad)
I'm struggling to do better than this. JaVale at C doesn't bother me that much, but McDaniels is rough. I'll go with Jamaal Magliore to mix it up. Love the guards at least.
Some interesting findings down the BBR and Google rabbit holes tonight: Wilt and Bill Russell had so many more rebounds than anyone else in the 1960s, that the #3 guy (Baylor) had a little more than half of Russell's #2 total. Also, Jason Maxiell's BBR page has the following nicknames listed: J-Max, Darkness, and (personal favorite) "The Baby Eater". Never would have known that if not for this exercise.
I remember well the site sponsoring ARod's BRef page back in the day.
My teams really gonna suck. I may just tank and make Gary Coleman my diminutive point guard.
Edit: Shit, I may not even be able to field a team!
Edit2: Can we play one-on-one? Only guy I can find so far is George “Dirty Dingus” Carter who played all of ONE game in the NBA with the rest of his career in the ABA. Can’t make this up…..Dirty Freakin Dingus!!
Edit: Ok this roster is really coming together now.
Gerry Calvert - 5-11 Pg out of St Bonnie’s. Never played a game but was drafted in the 10th round in the 1957 draft.
Gerry Calabrese - We have our scorer! 6-1 guard from St Johns and the Syracuse Nationals put up 492 career points over two NBA seasons in ‘51 & ‘52.
Greg Cavener - He adds a lot to my team despite never playing an NBA game (2nd round draft pick). One, he’s actually a guy I remember on that great Missouri team with Stipanovich and Sundvold (I beat Sundvold in a FT shooting contest in ‘88 when he was with the Heat but that’s another story for another day). Two, he’s the only player on my team who is still alive. We’d finally found our center to build around!
Greg Cleuss - Another dead guy who never played in the league. He was a 6th round pick in ‘72 by the Knicks out of St John’s. Lot of Johnnies in my locker room.
Greg Cook - More Knicks draft picks who never played in the league and died young. Coincidence? I think not.
Much better top end talent than my corresponding baseball team, but still thin. I can't remember much about David, but he did come from Hungary at age 27 so I'll just claim his NBA stats don't reflect the dominance of his game.
G Kris Dunn
G Keyon Dooling
F Kornel David
F Kevin Durant
C Kevin Duckworth
Ben Gordon
Brian Grant
Blake Griffin
Bob Gross
Ben Gillery
Brandon Goodwin
Bud Grant (yeah, THAT Bud Grant!)
Bill Garner
Bill Garnett
Billy Garrett
Bill Green honorable mention (Celts first draft pick in 1963; drafted in football, basketball and baseball; never played professional anything as he had a fear of flying)
Baseball was rough with KJ
But great point guard play, and Kareem, I have a shot.
Kevin Johnson
Kevin Joyce (one good year as an ABA starter at the 2)
KC Jones
Kris Joseph (good Canadian kid)
Keldon Johnson
Kareem Abdul Jabbar (I know but I am taking him)
John Abramovic (56 career games in the '40s)
Jaylen Adams (41 career games this decade)
Jordan Adams (32 career games last decade)
Jeff Adrien (153 career games last decade)
Josh Akognon (3 career games last decade)
Joe Alexander (67 career games in the '00s)
Jarrett Allen (ALL STAR!!!)
Jerome Allen (117 career games in the '90s)
John Amaechi (294 games, 6.2 ppg...roster this man)
James Anderson (247 games, 5.8 ppg...I'm in!)
Jerome Anderson (49 games in the '70s)
Justin Anderson (232 games, 5.2 ppg, still in the NBA...kinda)
Joel Anthony (490 games! 2.2 ppg...)
Jim Ard (431 games in the '70s between NBA & ABA...4.4 ppg)
Joe Arlauckas (9 games in the '80s)
Jesse Arnelle (31 games in the '50s)
Jay Arnette (114 games in the '60s)
John Arthurs (11 games in the '60s)
Jamel Artis (15 games last decade)
James Augustine (27 games in the '00s)
John Austin (45 games in the 60s)
Jeff Ayres (237 games...2.9 ppg)
Yikes...
Umm...
PG Jordan Adams (elite Mexican league player, putting up 25.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.2 steals per game last year)
SG James Anderson (once scored 10.1 ppg in a season)
SF Justin Anderson (once scored 7.1 pgg in a season)
PF John Amaechi (once scored 10.5 ppg in a season)
C Jarrett Allen (ALL STAR!!!)
C Joel Anthony (started 54 games in seasons where his team won the NBA championship)
SF Joe Alexander (top 10 pick, made over $5m in the NBA?)
PF-C Jim Ard (played 81 games for a Celtics championship team)
PF Jeff Ayres (40% career 3 point shooter...on 5 career attempts)
PF Jeff Adrien (put up a 11/8 in 28 games with the Bucks one season)
PG Johnny Austin (career averages of 7.6 points & 1.4 assists in the NBA & ABA...went to Boston College & was drafted in the 4th round by the Celtics...38th overall)
PG Jaylen Adams (recently did this...)
That's only 12...let's round out our roster with 2 current players:
PG Jose Alvarado (23 y/o rookie putting up 14/4/6 per 36 for the Pels)
SG Joel Ayayi (21 y/o French rookie has scored 2 points in 20 NBA minutes for the Wiz this season...but I assume, based on the rest of my roster, that only great things are ahead of him)
That is surprisingly good. Couple players but otherwise slim picking, also wasn't sure I'd be able to field a team.
G - Calvin Fowler (played 78 games in 69-70 but shot over 40% from 3!)
G - Carrick Felix (played 7 games in 2013, like I said slim picking)
G - Chris Ford
F/C - Channing Frye
F/C - Cristiano Felicio
My DJ initials are surprisingly bad in both baseball and hoops (with the notable exception of ... DJ). But I'm more interested in the question of whether any hoops initials team can beat the MJ team.
On the face of it, Jordan + Magic plus Marques Johnson plus anyone should beat all comers. But after those three the MJ pickins get slim. The best remaining MJ is Mark Jackson, a fine player who's a poor fit with Magic and Jordan. And after that, there's no one of note; and they need a big. For lack of names, they get former Warrior mediocrity Marc Jackson.
So: Mark Jackson, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Marques Johnson, Marc Jackson. Can anyone take them?
Ten contenders:
AD — Antonio Daniels, Adrian Dantley, Antonio Davis, Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond. Way too big-man heavy. But it's not like the MJ team has great perimeter shooting; and the AD team would pummel them inside. Dantley and the Brow would be a killer scoring combo; and the Drummond/Antonio combo would beast on the glass.
BR — Brandon Roy, Brandon Rush, Bill Robinzine, Bob Rule, Bill Russell. Makes no sense positionally, but they have Russell, and a big enough backcourt to at least not get totally steamrolled by Magic and Michael.
CB — Chauncey Billups, Caron Butler, Charles Barkley, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer. A pretty sensibly-constructed team, with a good balance of skills, and talent at every position. No way a Jordan team ever loses to Barkley team, but other than that, this might be my choice.
DR — Derrick Rose, Duncan Robinson, Dennis Rodman, Dan Roundfield, David Robinson. Probably not enough overall talent, but I like this team's balance and fit.
GA — Greg Anthony, Gilbert Arenas, Grayson Allen, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Greg "Cadillac" Anderson. Meh. Interesting enough, but no real chance unless Grayson Allen succeeds in injuring Magic or Michael.
JH — Jrue Holiday, Jeff Hornacek, James Harden, John Havlicek, Juwan Howard. I really like this team, possibly the best of the bunch. Shooting, scoring, defense, toughness. A bit small upfront, but then so is the MJ team.
JS — John Stockton, Jerry Sloan, Jerry Stackhouse, Josh Smith, Jack Sikma. Nice squad, and a white boy's dream team, with Jerry Sichting on the bench for good measure. (Note: could also switch out Josh Smith for Joe Smith).
JW — Jerry West, JoJo White, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy, Jayson Williams. Lots of Celtics/Lakers championship pedigree, if not quite enough overall star power to take down the MJs.
KM — Kyle Macy, Khris Middleton, Karl Malone, Kevin McHale, Kenyon Martin. Huge team that would beast inside v. the MJs but would ultimately be undone by having only one wing, plus Kyle Macy (or Kendall Marshall) at PG.
WC — Wardell (Steph) Curry III, Wardell (Dell) Curry Jr., Wilson Chandler, Wendell Carter, Jr., Wilt Chamberlain. As long as Seth and Dell get to use their birth names, their shooting plus Wilt gives them a shot.
They might be slightly better than my baseball team, but really small:
F - Gordon Hayward (1x AS, 17.4 PER, 60.2 WS)
F - Gar Heard (13.1 PER, 27 WS)
F - Grant Hill (HoF, 7x AS, RoY, 19 PER, 99.9 WS)
G - Gerald Henderson Sr (13.4 PER, 32.1 WS)
G - George Hill (14.8 PER, 69 WS)
Bench
C - Geert Hammink (7'0", 262 lb, his career lasted 27 minutes, but at least he gives us a big man)
G - Gerald Henderson Jr (13.4 PER, 18.3 WS)
G - Gary Harris (12.5 PER, 20.3 WS)
Heard can double up as the coach with his 23-74 career record.
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