More off day fun... What do yall think is the best starting five that could be assembled of current NBA players?

Assume:
-Popovich system and game planning
-Chemistry and complimentary skill sets matter
-Trying to win title in 2017-18 (ie future potential doesn't matter)

C: Anthony Davis
PF: Draymond Green
SF: LeBron James
SG: Kawhi Leonard
PG: Chris Paul

I'd probably go with:

PG) Curry - Can handle ball for most of the game, stretch the floor with 3 point shooting when Lebron is running the offense
Wing) Kawhi - Lockdown defender, wouldn't lean on him for scoring but a legit number 3 scorer
Wing) Lebron - Best player in the game, handle the ball and initiate offense in crunch time
Wing/Post) Draymond - Elite versatile defender, takes care of all the intangibles, solid 3 point shooter
Post) Adams - 2016 showed he can be extremely effective when surrounded by the right pieces, tough interior defender, enforcer, rebounder, solid perimeter defender

EDITED to switch PG13 for Draymond

I like Chris Paul, James Harden, LeBron James, Anhony Davis, and Karl Anthony Towns. I think that lineup would have good chemistry...Curry may be better than CP3, but I feel like CP3 would meld better with LeBron

Good call with Draymond. I'd probably replace PG13 with him in my previous post.

Davis
Durant
LeBron
Leonard
Paul (I think Curry is a bit better overall due to his scoring but Paul is a better facilitator which would have more value on a super team).

Deluxe said:

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Good call with Draymond. I'd probably replace PG13 with him in my previous post.

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My second choice would be Giannis. But I went with Green because of his superiority in shooting and playoff experience.

Guitarsoup said:

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Deluxe said:

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Good call with Draymond. I'd probably replace PG13 with him in my previous post.

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My second choice would be Giannis. But I went with Green because of his superiority in shooting and playoff experience.

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I hear that. Could be slightly different if future potential was factored in. Green is amazing but not sure how much better he will get. Giannis could be the best player in the game in a couple years. Another discussion for another off day I suppose.

Deluxe said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Deluxe said:

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Good call with Draymond. I'd probably replace PG13 with him in my previous post.

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My second choice would be Giannis. But I went with Green because of his superiority in shooting and playoff experience.

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I hear that. Could be slightly different if future potential was factored in. Green is amazing but not sure how much better he will get. Giannis could be the best player in the game in a couple years. Another discussion for another off day I suppose.

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I don't think you need a superstar at 5 spots to be the best team in the NBA.

But the five I picked are all elite defensively and solid passers. If you are playing the beautiful game, hard to put together a better team than that.

Guitarsoup said:

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C: Anthony Davis
PF: Draymond Green
SF: LeBron James
SG: Kawhi Leonard
PG: Chris Paul

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I would be fine with this except replace Chris Paul with Steph Curry. As many in the media have often mentioned, it is sometimes underestimated how much Curry's presence alone on the court creates tons of space for everybody else and just stresses out a defense. He is the greatest three point shooter in history that opponents have to mark and worry about as soon as he gets past half court, with fantastic handles who can also get to the rim. He also is a very good passer (though can get careless at times)

His flaws are mediocre defense (though he isn't considered a bad defender, he isn't by any stretch 'elite' either) and can have too many turnovers sometimes, but he is such a force on the offensive end that it doesn't matter. And if you already got Green, James, and Leonard in the lineup, you don't need to be worrying about an elite defender at PG. Just go with the one of the top-3 pure scoring threats in the NBA in Curry. HIs gravitational pull alone on defenders will make life much easier for all the other guys to operate.

Paul is a much better defender and a much better pure point guard. While Curry is the greatest shooter, Paul isn't really terrible. He hit 41% of his threes this year on over 300 attempts. He is still going to hold defenses accountable. With a great offensive center in Davis and guys that can create like LeBron James, Paul is going to get a lot of open looks.

On a Pop-coached team, I want that elite defense and passing from Paul over Curry's ridiculous range.

Guitarsoup said:

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Paul is a much better defender and a much better pure point guard. While Curry is the greatest shooter, Paul isn't really terrible. He hit 41% of his threes this year on over 300 attempts. He is still going to hold defenses accountable. With a great offensive center in Davis and guys that can create like LeBron James, Paul is going to get a lot of open looks.

On a Pop-coached team, I want that elite defense and passing from Paul over Curry's ridiculous range.

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Agree Paul is a better defender, but you would be trading 29 year old two-time NBA MVP winner and a guy who was the best player on a team that won an NBA title (Curry) for a 32 year old PG who despite lots of individual accomplishments has never even led a team a conference finals, much less been the starting PG on a championship team.

If I was putting this team together today, I'd go with Curry myself all the way. He's younger, he is more explosive offensively, and the past three years we've seen definitive proof that he can be a centerpiece of one of the most efficient offensive teams in history that has made three straight NBA Finals.

If Pop had a choice between adding Curry or Paul to his team next season, I'd be willing to bet he'd go with Curry. Though of course we can never know ha ha.

While disappointing to some that the Clippers have never done more in the playoffs, I don't think they were ever favorites. That doesn't all come down to Paul.

If you have Anthony Davis, LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard together on a team, I'm not really worried about having an explosive scorer at point. I'd much rather not have a weak link on defense at point. As it is, Paul is a 19/10 player that is one of the best if not the best defensive PG and also an elite 3-point shooter (41% this year, same as Curry, 15th in the league.)

I suppose the best team we could come up with of non-Warriors would be:

PG) CP3
Wing) Leonard
Wing) Lebron
Wing/Post) Giannis(?)
Post) Davis

Would that team for sure beat the current Warriors? I think it would but can't say that with 100% confidence.

Guitarsoup said:

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While disappointing to some that the Clippers have never done more in the playoffs, I don't think they were ever favorites. That doesn't all come down to Paul.

If you have Anthony Davis, LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard together on a team, I'm not really worried about having an explosive scorer at point. I'd much rather not have a weak link on defense at point. As it is, Paul is a 19/10 player that is one of the best if not the best defensive PG and also an elite 3-point shooter (41% this year, same as Curry, 15th in the league.)

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This article goes through each of the last 5 Clipper playoff series losses in detail, partly to investigate whether Chris Paul deserves the 'choke artist' label or not.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/news/clippers-nba-playoff-history-chris-paul-blake-griffin-injury-rockets-game-6-highlights/gjspxhi7vkab1ql67c0fiymlo

Quote:

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Dating back to 2013, the Clippers have blown five straight playoff series leads. The numbers are stunning when you consider this team has three All-Star level players (Paul, Griffin and DeAndre Jordan) in the starting lineup and a championship coach (Doc Rivers) who has led the team to four consecutive 50-plus win seasons. (Clippers owner Steve Ballmer may not want to look at what's below.)

So, what's the problem here? Should we just blame Paul for not having the "clutch gene" and call it a day? Well, it's a little bit more complicated than that.

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Verdict seemed to be, Paul deserved a bit of blame here and there but he still often played well (when not injured) and many reasons the Clippers disappointed year after year.

5th seed
4th seed
3rd seed
2nd seed (4 teams with 55 or 56 wins, GSW with 67 wins and eventual champions)
4th seed
4th seed


They were never good enough. They have essentially been a 4th seed for the past 6 years.

I am almost tempted to put a team together of 5 traditional SFs with
Lebron (primary ball handler)
Kawhi
Paul George
Durant
Greek Freak

This lineup would be incredible considering the amount length (Durant, Antetekumbo), athleticism (Everyone), 3 pt shooting (Kawhi, Durant, George), defense (Kawhi, George, Lebron), and possibly the greatest playmaker of all time with Lebron at the helm. The only worry would be Durant or Antetekumbo getting bullied in the paint, but this lineup is so athletic they would run traditional bigs off the floor. It would be interesting with the way the game is evolving to see teams go all in on "position-less basketball" with 4 or 5 players on the court being traditionally wings. I personally think if the length on defense was there, along with the ability to consistently knock down the 3, it would be very successful. We've seen the Warriors do this in situations for a few possessions (Curry, Thompson, Durant, Iguadola, Green), but it would be interesting to see a team design their entire roster around this concept.

I almost threw that lineup out there earlier. A traditional post scorer is about the only answer, the problem is that he better get into his move FAST. That defense is so fast, long, and hungry that he only gets one dribble before the double team arrives. Plus, you would probably front the post and show from the weak side to take away the lob, making it extremely difficult to complete the entry pass in the first place.

Good post. That could be the direction the league is headed.

Thoughts for tonight? If Cleveland was going to win a game it would be tonight. Hopefully that means the game is at least close.

I still don't see how Cleveland (who plays very little defense) can slow down the warriors. We haven't seen even a couple minute stretch of good defense from the Cavs in the entire series.

I predict Warriors pull away late in the 3rd and win by double digits yet again.

k20dub said:

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Thoughts for tonight? If Cleveland was going to win a game it would be tonight. Hopefully that means the game is at least close.

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Do you also think that if Cleveland scores more points that they're more likely to win the game?

True Anomaly said:

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k20dub said:

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Thoughts for tonight? If Cleveland was going to win a game it would be tonight. Hopefully that means the game is at least close.

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Do you also think that if Cleveland scores more points that they're more likely to win the game?

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I feel like this is the one that the Cavs will snag. I feel like LeBron drops 40 and finally gets some help from Kyrie

zk said:

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I feel like this is the one that the Cavs will snag. I feel like LeBron drops 40 and finally gets some help from Kyrie

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Unless LeBron gets concussed.

It's pretty clear that LeBron is the best player in the world.

The Cavs just need two of him. He can't go to the bench again if they want to win.

Pumpkinhead said:

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Read an article where it is estimated that it will cost Golden State approximately 1.3 BILLION dollars to keep their 4 All-Stars together for 4 more years. That would be the approximate cost of supermax contracts for Durant and Curry plus max contracts for Green and Thompson.

The article said that Golden State may be willing to pay that price though, due to huge revenues coming in (including from their new Arena) and them banking on the Warriors brand growth and so forth over the next few years that comes from being the dominant team in the NBA making the billion plus price tag still worth it.

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$1.3 billion / 16 = $81.25 million per year per player

aren't max contracts like $30 million?

Yep. Problem is he might run out of gas. Meanwhile the Dubs will have four well rested stars down the stretch.

The luxury tax gets pretty punitive if you are a repeat offender.

PDEMDHC said:

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Pumpkinhead said:

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Read an article where it is estimated that it will cost Golden State approximately 1.3 BILLION dollars to keep their 4 All-Stars together for 4 more years. That would be the approximate cost of supermax contracts for Durant and Curry plus max contracts for Green and Thompson.

The article said that Golden State may be willing to pay that price though, due to huge revenues coming in (including from their new Arena) and them banking on the Warriors brand growth and so forth over the next few years that comes from being the dominant team in the NBA making the billion plus price tag still worth it.

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$1.3 billion / 16 = $81.25 million per year per player

aren't max contracts like $30 million?

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Progressive taxes that get worse if you violate them more than once suck.

Crappy series don't know why anyone but warriors / Cavs fans watch.

grapespda2525 said:

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Crappy series don't know why anyone but warriors / Cavs fans watch.

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Ridiculous. Gsw have not lost a game in the playoffs and are trying to make history. LeBron is the best player in the league and has hand picked a cast of all stars to support him. These are the two best teams who are playing for the third time in a row to settle the split.

This is great for anyone who loves basketball. Especially guys like me who watched the Celtics and Lakers battle in years past.

Would be nice if someone other than LeBron would show up to this game for the Cavs. How many wide open shots has he set up for teammates that have been missed?

Oh and D-Will belongs on a milk carton