I was thinking B Ball and who would I pick for an all time NBA allstar team. I realized I wouldn't have a single active player on my team! My how the game has changed

Anyway , I would go with

Wilt at center
Bill Russel at power forward
Larry at shooting forward
Michael and Magic as the guards

No Lebron , no Kobe

I think this group could beat any other team ever assembled.

Any opinions?

hard to argue with those picks. There are so many greats and you could probably come up with several teams that would be hard to beat.

How about a
Shaq, Kobe, Havlicek, Cousy, West
Duncan, Dr. J, Human highlight film, Pistol Pete, Isiah Thomas
Kareem, McHale, Malone, Iverson, The Pearl
Cowens, Sam Jones, E. Baylor, Oscar R., Iceman

so many great players but yours would be pretty hard to top, but sure would be fun to see some of them play each other.

Nice ProfessorM! Love your teams. But I'll say this, the NBA is loaded with talent right now. Those guys you both mentioned are almost all HOF'ers. But I'd take a team like this against those guys any day. (and I hate lebron) Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Lebron, Wade, Derek Rose. Lebron's suckitude in any clutch situation may make me wish I subbed him out, but those 5 will compete with anyone you can throw out there.

And just to get Lebron out of there you could play Durant at the 3 and throw Blake Griffin in there at PF. That is an athletic freakshow.

What is basketball?

Two players I was really torn about were West and Havlicek. But who you gonna sit down to play West, Jordon or Magic? Jordan all time scoring leader along with Wilt and Magic , all time Assist leader. Tough to trade either of those guys for West but its a difficult question. With West instead of Jordan or Magic you still beat any other team IMO. Havlicek , one of my favorite Celtics ever...ever. But again who sits down, Larry or Russel. Larry was probably the best all around shhoter in the league in clutch situations. With a three point line nobody was a better shooter. He also made everyone around him better with assists. Russel was simply indominable. I don't care who he was playing , past or present guys , Russel would beat them, that's what he did.

yes todays guys seem very athletic but same as ever , it boils down to beating the guy in front of you. To me nobody beats Wilt for size or strength. yes there have been faster but he's a center and once he sets up its all over for any other center. Russel does not know how to be beaten. Simple as that , he wins against everyone , best player the game has ever seen. Michael outscores anybody on the floor , old or new players , nobody could or can score like him. Magic runs the offense and therefore every player on your team gets the ball when he's open. Larry and Magic are both B Ball geniuses and so with 5 seconds left and you need some points , somehow that ball gets from Magic to Larry and Larry throws it through the hoop from anywhere on the court.

Of course we need a bench so West , Havlicek , Robertson , all make the second team. :)

Fun to dream.

Russel was a center. Period. He couldn't handle the ball, or face up and shoot from outside, well enough to be a power forward. You play him at center, or not at all. He'd be a fish out of water at forward.

Jerry West was a better guard than Magic. He averaged 50 points for a play-off series, one year. He was a complete guard---he could shoot, be a playmaker, and play defense. They didn't keep track of assists, as an official stat, for most, if not all, of West's career. Before Wilt was traded to the Lakers, West almost single handedly got the Lakers to the Finals every year, and took the Celts to 7 games. It was him, Elgin Baylor, and a bunch of guys named Darrel Imhoff, LOL. There was no "point guard/2 guard" distinction when he played. It's him and Jordan, the two best guards to ever lace on a sneaker. Jordan's defense was very underrated. He was a complete player, too.

We don't need Russel to shoot, we don't even want Russel to shoot.. He plays D and gets rebounds. Between Wilt , Jordan and Bird we get about 85 points per game average. Magic gets 15 and with assists ups Larry to 30 PPG instead of 20 +. With Bird and Magic making passes , Wilt and Jordan score way above their lifetime averages.

My guess is this team scores 120 points a game and with Russel on D allows about 80 PPG

In fact if I had to play West , I sit down Jordan , not Magic. With Magic West and Bird on the court you'd have to use slow motion replays to follow the ball as it got passed around the court :)

Obviously we have a different view of Magic. Magic was one of the greatest of all time. He was a play maker , not a scoring machine. Without him the Lakers win zero Championships during the Bird era.

Oh , BTW , West averaged 6.7 assists per game vs Magics 11.2 (all time leader) . Russel averages 22.4 rebounds per game (second all time , almost equal to Wilt. Russel is second all time rebounder , behind Wilt by only .4 rebounds per game.

Nope , West sits, Magic is the play maker and Michael plays and scores 40 + because Magic and Larry give hime the ball while he's open. Between Russel and Wilt we get 40 rebounds. Russel, after the rebound, literally hands the ball to Wilt who stuffs it over any other defensive player in history. Magic and Larry dazzle the crowd with passes to Wilt and Michael. Then with 5 seconds left Larry throws in the three pointer to win. :)