Best NBA players of all time 2020 NBA starting Point Guards Best Overall NBA players Right Now Starting Pg's 2020-21 NBA City Jerseys NBA Teams 2019-20 (Made For KOT4Q) PAREJAS NBA 2020 - … KG was the vocal middle linebacker who managed everything, and everyone on the roster appeared committed to their assignments. Once I said that, I thought he kind of exhaled a little bit.". This was nothing new for the Mavs. Both had skill sets that were ahead of their time. In six games against the Indiana Pacers, O'Neal averaged 38.0 points, 16.7 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 2.3 assists. He's been the heart and soul of the franchise for the better part of the past eight After sweeping the New York Knicks in the first round, the Sixers went up 3-0 against the Milwaukee Bucks, who stole Game 4 before losing the series three days later. Every NBA team’s all-time starting five, ranked from 30 to 1 Andrew Lynch @andrewlynch Oct 20, 2016 at 4:33p ET The 1971-72 Lakers were led by 4 different hall-of-famers, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Gail Goodrich. And though Leonard would go on to miss around a quarter of the season due to "load management," he finished ninth in MVP voting. King a nice royalty check, because one of his hits is the theme song for this season. At the time, Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum wondered if that was a good thing: "The NBA should write B.B. Cousy contributed 20.0 points, 8.6 assists and 5.5 rebounds. "I'm one of those players who can just turn the scoring on and off.". Hall of Famer Jamaal Wilkes added another 21.1 points. Manu went for 22.2 points, 4.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game. The length and athleticism of Jordan, Pippen, Rodman and Kukoc allowed the Bulls to play something of a positionless game akin to today's. He was undeniably the best player in the NBA that season. Of course, all of their Hall of Fame resumes are more than buoyed by the fact that they won multiple titles behind Russell's leadership, but most of those players were instrumental in 1958-59. In that series alone, Wade averaged 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.7 steals and 1.0 blocks. LeBron James (three times), Larry Bird and Tim Duncan are the only players in league history to pile up more wins over replacement player in a single playoffs. Led by the balanced scoring of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Magic Johnson, as well as the inspired floor generalship of Magic, the 1984-85 Los Angeles Lakers cruised to 62 wins in the regular season and a 15-4 record in the playoffs. The Lakers have had many superb teams over the years but in my opinion, this was their best one. "When The Captain was lying on the floor in pain, I wasn't sure if he could return or not.". And Vinnie Johnson put up 9.8 off the bench. The experts were split 50/50 on whether they'd get out of the first round. And, as seems to be the case with the modern Rockets, they were ahead of the analytical curve, leading the NBA in three-point attempts per 100 possessions. And of course, they won the title. "You may not put him at the top of your list," William C. Rhoden wrote for The Undefeated. "On" is something of an understatement when describing Magic's own offense in 1986-87. Kyrie Irving had a higher average game score than any Warrior in the series. L.A.'s offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) was 6.2 points better than the 1984-85 average. They deserve the fourth place in our list of the top 10 best teams in NBA history. No. With time winding down in Game 6 and Chicago in possession (thanks to Jordan stealing the ball from Malone a few seconds earlier), Jordan isolated on Bryon Russell on the left wing. "...but if Abdul-Jabbar is not part of the discussion, you're having the wrong conversation.". 1. The team also featured Hall of Famers Sam Jones, Tom Heinsohn, Tom Sanders, Frank Ramsey, K.C. On the other end of Allen's historic shot was a devastated loser. "He's the best player ever," Don Nelson, then coaching the Milwaukee Bucks, said in 1986. Some teams, meanwhile, do their damage over the long run instead of having any one standout season. The 1963-64 and 1964-65 Celtics, the 2019-20 Milwaukee Bucks and the 2003-04 San Antonio Spurs are the only teams in league history with better relative defensive ratings. "I was ready to become a scorer," he said, per Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum. Near the twilight of their careers, Tony Parker (16.7) and Tim Duncan (15.1) were still the team's leading scorers. This team also featured Glen Rice, who most know as a Charlotte Hornet (understandable since his three All-Star appearances came with that team). Leonard averaged 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.3 threes and 1.7 steals in the postseason. Against the venerable Russell, Chamberlain averaged 32.0 rebounds, 21.6 points and 10.0 assists in dispatching the Celtics in five games. San Antonio's so-called Twin Towers boasted Tim Duncan and David Robinson, two defensive juggernauts with plenty of offensive skill to boot. And the Celtics annihilated the rest of the NBA on the way to 67 wins in the regular season and a 15-3 romp to the championship. He had nearly as many wins over replacement player as the rest of L.A.'s roster combined. He's a winner. Jordan included.". Meta.reviews compiled its ranking of the best players, which takes into account not only sports records, but also achievements in public life, the film industry, and even the fight for human rights. The 96-97 Chicago Bulls team looked very similar to the 95-96 squad which is probably why they were just as successful. That level the rest of the Celtics played on wasn't bad, either. "Here is a player who guards Larry Bird like no one else," Sports Illustrated's Ralph Wiley wrote of Cooper shortly before he was named Defensive Player of the Year. Not every NBA franchise has an MJ or a LeBron, but every team has their own GOAT. For his career, Thomas is 16th in NBA history in playoff box plus/minus. "Thomas, at 6 feet, is the only small man in the league who can make the game his," Michael Wilbon wrote in June of 1990. The 1969-70 Los Angeles Lakers, which featured Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, won a Game 6 Reed missed by 22 points, forcing a Game 7. But in 1967, he and the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers broke through. And it reached its zenith in the Finals, when they got a rematch against LeBron's Heat. And Dennis Rodman was still one of the game's best rebounders and a versatile defender. I can't imagine this team without him.". This team also featured a post-prime version of Hall of Famer Spencer Haywood, multi-time All-Star Norm Nixon and defensive stalwart Michael Cooper. You're the best player in the world. But there was talent and laser-focused execution up and down this roster that lasted well beyond the 72-win regular season. Heinsohn went for 18.8 points and 9.7 rebounds. With those two to attack from the perimeter while DeBusschere (16.3 points per game) and Bradley (16.1) did damage inside, the Knicks had the third-best offense in the league. I don't want another scoring title. With a star-studded starting five and a deep and dedicated defense, Boston ran roughshod through the NBA and capped a championship season with a 4-2 win over Kobe, Pau and the Lakers in the Finals. The spacing provided by Dallas' modern pick-and-roll attack left the middle of the floor open for Tyson Chandler's dives to the rim or Nowitzki's mid-range clinics. To this day, his wire-to-wire accomplishments as a rookie are hard to believe. With five seconds to go and the Celtics up by one, Philadelphia's Hal Greer attempted to inbound the ball from the baseline toward the wing. His vision, unselfishness, passing ability and desire to get the ball quickly up and down the floor made this one of the most dynamic offenses in league history. Over the course of 17 playoff games, Barry put up 28.2 points, 6.1 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 0.9 blocks. This particular Houston squad featured Hakeem's lone MVP season and his second-best individual campaign by box plus/minus. He led the team in points (27.5), rebounds (11.0), assists (5.9) and steals (2.3) per game. For one, 2014-15 was arguably the best season of Klay Thompson's career. "He's the best player in the league, and there's nothing you can do with him.". As a rookie, Ginobili was second on the Spurs in playoff wins over replacement player. Walton was certainly the main attraction, but this was a well-rounded team with a defense that stifled opponents through the playoffs. They finished the season 68-13 and defeated the San Francisco Warriors 4-2 in the NBA finals. The Lakers had entered the "cruise control during the regular season" portion of the dynasty, but O'Neal (who only played 67 games) and Bryant finished the season fifth and ninth, respectively, in wins over replacement player (first and third in the playoffs). And had Green been able to refrain from carrying out his infamous mid-Finals retaliation, which led to a Game 5 suspension, the Warriors would have had a much better shot at avoiding the meltdown that now mars this team's legacy. And, as seems to be the case with the modern Rockets, they were ahead of the analytical curve, "This went way beyond just passing the torch," ESPN's, "If you talk to people who have been around the league," longtime Portland play-by-play announcer, In 1976-77, Walton averaged 18.6 points, 14.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.2 blocks and 1.0 steals. The Pistons lost to the Lakers in seven games. Fans may remember certain Bulls teams more than others. While they certainly didn't have anyone on the level of Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal or Tim Duncan, a handful of these Pistons played at or near a star level (even if only one, Ben Wallace, was named an All-Star). He posted career highs in assists per game (2.9), offensive box plus/minus (4.5) and defensive box plus/minus (minus-0.1). He put up a team-leading 25.9 points. NBA Finals Champions Boston Celtics 1985-86 67-15 Larry Bird (25.8 PPG) NBA Finals Champions Chicago Bulls 1996-97 69-13 Michael Jordan (29.6 PPG) NBA Finals Champions Philadelphia 76ers 1966-67 68-13 NBA Finals And Maurice Cheeks was the steady hand at the wheel, with averages of 12.5 points, 6.9 assists and 2.3 steals. Grant was a defensive anchor and solid finisher. "But with that said, OK, fine, you can have that. It accompanied much of the Golden State Warriors' three seasons with Kevin Durant. "Well, you said the one word that it was about, it was about a 'team,'" Barry said. He won his first title in 1957 and his 11th in 1969. And his production looks tame in comparison to 2015-16 in part because of this squad's depth. The subject of The Last Dance, the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls may have missed Pippen for much of the season and been mired in drama for most of it, but they still emerged from the playoffs as champions. And in that particular postseason, he averaged 20.5 points, 8.2 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.2 steals. "He appears to be a robot built to destroy the NBA," Ben Cohen and Andrew Beaton wrote for the Wall Street Journal. On paper, the 1970-71 Bucks stand with the 1995-96 Bulls as one of the most dominant teams ever. And he did much of his damage in Portland while rocking a beard, mop of red hair and outspoken politics that were all thoroughly '70s. And he was the conductor of "Showtime." The Lakers were plus-10.4 points per 100 possessions with Shaq on the floor and minus-0.5 with him off. This Warriors team went 67-15 and ran through teams in the playoffs going 16-1 en-route to an NBA championship. And that postseason, MJ averaged 35.1 points and 6.0 assists while shooting 38.9 percent from deep and connecting on a playoff career-high 28 threes. His biggest postseason honor was being the only player to win Finals MVP in a losing effort (he's still alone on that front). After Phil Jackson led the Chicago Bulls to multiple NBA championships he turned his attention to the Los Angeles Lakers. Chicago was plus-29.1 points per 100 possessions when those four were in the game, the best mark in the league among four-man lineups with at least as many minutes. This wasn't a one-man show, though. It was clear he was on the way to a dominant career, but he certainly wasn't a one-man show on this team. In the 559 minutes those two played together in the postseason, Dallas was plus-12.3 points per 100 possessions. That season, Russell won his fifth and final MVP award behind averages of 24.1 rebounds, 14.1 points and 5.3 assists. And Kawhi Leonard (12.8) was starting to emerge as the heir apparent to the Big Three. Stephen Curry had the Warriors' highest average game score during those Finals, and Bird led the '81 Celtics in that same number. This is another placement that may be somewhat difficult to believe. The Thrill Is Gone, baby, and it's been gone for quite a while, probably since Michael Jordan laced 'em up in training camp. The Spurs scored 118.6 points per 100 possessions in that series, and the Big Three was predictably stellar. 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers: Considered one of the greatest offensive teams of all-time, the 76ers took off after a new coaching staff made the shrewd tactical decision for Wilt Chamberlain to be much taller and better than everyone they played against. Those three, along with Andre Iguodala, Andrew Bogut, Harrison Barnes and the rest of the roster, put together quite possibly the greatest regular season of all time. Whenever you look back on a team and they had 4 hall-of-famers, Wil Chamberlain, Larry Costello, Hal Greer, and Chet Walker, in the starting lineup you know they were a hard team to beat. He was the engine for a team loaded with talent. Their two-man net rating that postseason was plus-19.3. "A coach once speculated that he bleeds anti-freeze.". "I couldn't ask for a better situation," Garnett said after the trade. The 2006-07 San Antonio Spurs featured the legendary Big Three of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker at or near the peak of their powers. PointAfter took that discussion 11 steps further by pegging each NBA franchise’s best 12-man roster of all time. It wasn't until Robinson, who entered that campaign trailing only MJ in career box plus/minus, took something of a backseat that things started to click. In the playoffs, Chicago was nearly as dominant, outscoring teams by 12.1 points per 100 possessions (the fourth-best playoff net rating of all time) and going 15-3 on the way to the title. There was a Jedi-like balance between those three throughout the season and into the playoffs. That season, they led the NBA in simple rating system (their 11.8 is the second-best mark in NBA history), offensive rating and defensive rating. And their averages ranged from 22.6 points to 18.1, demonstrating Boston's balanced attack. Seven weeks remain in the regular season, but is there any reason the engravers should not get started on the championship trophy right now?". Keith Langlois of the team's website explained the lead-up to a trade that shocked the league and its fans: "The body language of the Bad Boys was worrisome. In his age-37 season, Allen averaged 10.9 points and 1.8 threes off the bench while shooting 41.9 percent from deep. Small ball took on new life thanks to Curry, Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green. But these Pistons were much more than a one-man show. The first Shaq-and-Kobe title, won by the 1999-00 Los Angeles Lakers, came in large part due to the big fella. His lockdown defense led in part to a massive postseason net rating swing of plus-15.9. And their 25.2 assists per contest led the NBA. In 1999-00, he was 12th in the league in BPM, but his 22.5 points per game suggested he was a clear No. The previous offseason was filled with fireworks for the Celtics. "It's a joke how good he is," Indiana Pacers president Donnie Walsh said ahead of the 1994 Finals. Jon McGlocklin and Greg Smith both averaged double figures, as well. remains one of the widely known calls in NBA history. In Game 4 of San Antonio's second-round series against the Phoenix Suns, Robert Horry hit Steve Nash with a "hockey-style" check that drew Amar'e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw off the bench to defend their point guard. The regular season doesn't really count from here on out.".