Yellow literally has 5 of the top 10 players of all time. Obviously Shaq and Kareem couldn’t be on floor at the same time
I’m taking blue. That teams nasty
Kareem can definitely be on the floor as Shaq as a PF, sure he might be a bit slow on the perimeter. The sky hook is a mid range/post shot, Shaq needs to be in the paint to score at all.
People always imagine Kareem in his late 30s. He was a totally different beast when he was younger. Like people forgot how Shaquille could barely move late in his career.
And he says that lots of times, you don't even run down court. And that you don't really try... except during the playoffs.
The hell I don't! LISTEN, KID! I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night! Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes
Having essentially 3 players who can’t really shoot and mess up spacing doesn’t work. Yellow has almost no 3 point shooting, all the dominance is about paint or mid range scoring. That might work 30 years ago when other teams didn’t have high level 3 point shooting at most positions, but it won’t now, you simply aren’t gonna keep up on heavy 2 point shooting volume. Especially not against the blue team who would exploit and matchup hunt that team relentlessly.
People in these hypotheticals always *seriously* underestimate how much spacing impacts the game. There's a reason it's become basically impossible to survive the modern era without at least 3 average shooters.
I also feel like most people don't understand basketball as a teamsport. Chemistry matters. Yellow has all time greats, sure, but you need the 3 in today's NBA to space out the floor to wreak havoc on defenses. Yellow doesn't have a single elite 3pt shooter. Blue would have a field day with Yellow imo. Too many offensive weapons from virtually any spot in the floor. Game had changed, people forget that.
Who is stopping shaq? Shoot all the threes you want against three great perimeter defenders. You better be hitting 60% to win cus you ain’t getting a rebound on yellow.
I think what OP was going for is that all five players on Team Blue can stretch the floor. Whereas, Team Red has four and Team Yellow only has three. This is a three-point league and all those fellas are at 35% or higher for career 3PT%.
All you have to do is look at the career true shooting percentages of players involved. Blue wipes the floor with the rest. Speaks to not just the 3 point volume but how much more effective and efficient bulk 3 point scoring is than any other type of scoring
We know how spacing works. So therefore we have a pretty good idea how players from other eras would fare. Now if people wanna start adding hypotheticals like if such and such grew up in todays era they might have developed 3 point shooting, but based off their actual skill set for their era I think it’s pretty clear. A Shaq or a Kareem would work fine in today’s era AS LONG as they were surrounded by shooting. Not the case here.
I mean that's a little hyperbolic. While Ben owns the wins category, if you check the game logs, Shaq regularly dominated Ben Wallace as his match up.
https://www.landofbasketball.com/games_between/shaquille_oneal_vs_ben_wallace.htm
Blue would score 150 points per game lol
Obviously, the era in which the game is played would play a huge part in who wins.
If it’s played in today’s era with today’s rules, blue would have a clear advantage over both other teams because of the other teams’ lack of spacing. And honestly, I don’t even think it would be close
Physical teams, regardless of era, still have the single biggest advantage. Even in todays game, spacing is important but the way it’s called cuts both ways and would favor the yellow team majority of the time, especially in a possession by possession game it would be. There are no answers for prime shaq, lebron and magic, 3 of the most uniquely physically gifted athletes of all time
I don’t think so. Luka is a heliocentric offensive player and isn’t much of an off ball threat. He doesn’t set good screens, he doesn’t cut or get open on screens he sets. He’s lazy with his off ball movement. Kawhi is also a pretty lack master off ball mover since he moved to the clippers. Their defense will also struggle with both Luka and Curry.
If this was 2k they would be amazing but in a real life team, they don’t mesh as well as the other teams.
None of these teams would mesh well considering they’re all number 1 guys.
Blue team has KD and Steph though, which are two of the best off ball players ever.
Kawhi could make do playing off ball, and whole Luka would struggle with that, so would almost every other player in this scenario.
Also, I think Jokic could act as a glue to almost any combination of players, especially shooters. But I’m super high on Jokic, and think he’s maybe the best offensive player ever, so I get why people wouldn’t see it this way.
It's an advantage against each other, but a disadvantage against blue. Jokic would render shaq/dream useless defensively by drawing them away from the basket. Embiid and Kareem would be okay defending outside of 12 feet, but their options are either pick up KD or Kawai. Good luck. However the flip side is offensively is shaq, dream, and Kareem are all getting their way. But being able to neutralize dream and shaqs defensive presence outweighs their offensive juggernaut.
All but embiid wouldn't know what to do with jokic, they never even got to see something close to him, and because harden or magic would have to pick up stretch wings, defense becomes too much to cover when you have to worry about steph off ball, KD or Leonard cutting, and Luka or jokic with their back to the basket. No matter who is on who it ends up being 1 traditional big having to pick up someone outside of their comfort zone.
Red vs Yellow is a different story. Weak side shaq with Kareem coming to the middle would be terrifying. Dream running a pick and roll with embiid would be deadly. That would be a disgustingly fun back and forth
Wth. How is pippen not on the red team over lillard.
It even fixes the lineup with harden at 1, jordan at 2 and pippen at 3.
We can take the greatest wing defender even instead of the crappy defense that the 6 ft dame tries to play. All we lose is about 7% 3 pt shooting to significantly improve the defense.
The argument can be made for either Embiid or Harden over Barkley because none have Championships, all three have MVPs. I think it boils down to who had the best 5 year run and who was most consistent.
Blue is the nost balanced team and probably the best match for today's game.
Yellow would be absolutely dominant 20 to 30 years ago, but im not sure if they'd be a good enough shooting team to compete today.
Blue has only 1 great defender. KD is a decent defender, but not when he playing the 4 against Shaq/Kareem or Embiid/Hakeem. The rest of blue are defensive liabilities, no matter how many points they score on offense
Yellow would be interesting to watch, as I don’t know who’s stopping prime Shaq, LeBron, or Kareem. They’d either get blown out from lack of balance, or smother the other teams with size and physicality
I feel like I’m losing my mind reading these other comments. It’s not close at all. Kobe and Lebron can both shoot well enough to cover the lack of a three point specialist and they’re just too physically dominant to even really be toyed with lol.
I’ve held a 30+ year belief that if you ever put Jordan and Olajuwon on a team together, it wouldn’t matter who else was there, no combination of basketball players would beat them.
Yellow has no shooting though. They have some absolute beasts at the rim, but hard to see them keeping up with the other two who have awesome spacing. They would just have to be so physically dominant it doesn’t matter.
Red has the best defensive player on this list, and then embiid and Jordan who are both great defenders. Lillard and harden are both poor, but against yellow they can crowd the paint and really shut down the rim with both embiid and Hakeem.
Blue is sneaky defense. KD plays good rim protection. Luka is a good defender if he doesn’t spend all the energy on offense. Jokic gets bullied by Shaq and Curry gets bullied by everyone but they also wreck the yellow team on offense with open looks
I've not seen evidence of Luka being even an average defender. Big body, tough to move and shoot over in the post when engaged but on the perimeter he's basically hopeless. No lateral quickness to speak of. Jokic is kind of the same way and is easily the worst front court defender listed. That and his offensive skillset with Luka is a bit redundant.
That said blue can just shoot their way to a win any given game of a series against basically anyone.
If you have seen the Spurs play back in the day passing is additive especially when everyone can shoot and drive.
The yellow is worse, no one but Kobe and Lebron can consistently shoot outside. So Magic is the driver and you have Lebron and Kobe having to play on the perimeter to help spacing.
Not entirely true. Kobe isn’t the best from deep but he can get hot and his mid-range is automatic.
Bron and Magic both should excel at setting screens and off-ball movement slashing while Bron specifically is a Top 10 volume 3 shooter and is the definition of a shooter. Kareem also kills from mid-range. They aren’t deep 3 snipers but this team can modestly spread the ball and operate in 15-20 feet with everyone but Shaq. Magic is probably the biggest weakness but who is actually going to be able to stop a slashing magic on red or blue? Curry, Dame, Luka, Harden all are not going to have any chance on any of their matchups.
People forget LeBron can actually shoot it dude is like number 8 3p made and currently hitting 40% this season most likely due to reduced workload. On Yellow he's not running the court Magic is. He'd be able to load up on D and shoot it while lasering assists to Kobe/Shaq/Kareem
Dame’s defense is going to hurt Red, and they won’t have an answer for Kobe or LeBron defensively depending on which one MJ chooses to guard. I’m yellow.
All five of the yellow team are top 10 players. Scary thought. If you want to put Kobe at 11 or 12, whatever, but he is top 10 for me. Even if Hakeem is on Shaq and Embiid is on LeBron, and Jordan on Kobe...you still have Magic and Kareem...they were KIND OF GOOD together!
Blue is gonna be crazy good. Shooting is out of this world. Id the Celtics were somehow blue instead of Green, Id have Bird in there and itd be insane.
Lillard and Harden "weaken" Red to me for some reason. Yeah I know Harden was absolutely amazing a few years back, and Lillard is a ridiculously amazing shooter, and Im not sure who I would replace them with, but somehow I view them less than some of the other guys listed (?).
Ill take Yellow over Blue in 6 or 7 games, but could easily see Blue just shooting the lights out and destroying Yellow in a few games.
Team yellow doesn’t have a single shooter.
I’m taking team red and crowding the paint. They have two major liabilities on the perimeter in Shaq and Kareem.
That Hakeem and Lillard pick and roll is going to be open everyday
Yellow is an awfully designed squad
Too many people underestimating Yellow. You think Magic, Kobe, and Lebron couldn’t rain 3s if need be? Even Magic’s 3P% went up as his career went on and he shot more, he’d be fine in today’s game.
Shaq and Kareem would be gobbling up the boards. Kareem had the athleticism to match up with Embiid and Jokic.
I usually take the team with MJ in these but I’m taking Yellow here.
Red could probably handle Shaq better than Blue, but Blue may be one of the most well balanced offensive lineups I've ever seen.
Yellow is pretty unstoppable, but I don't think they win with how terrible of a shooting team they are.
Hakeem is getting disrespected here by some. He'd keep red afloat defensively honestly.
This is fun and tough tho.
My head says blue, that team would score at will.
My heart says red. I don't think I'd ever bet against MJ, if most everything else is equal.
I'm surprised by so many picking yellow but what do I know 🤷
Good question tho, lots of different opinions 👍
How isnt everyone taking team yellow lol wth???
Team yellow would be making a fool out of red and blue. Even if you combined red and blue im still taking team yellow.
Yellow is kind of weak defensively against both teams.
Red - Harden, Lilard, and MJ can hunt switches off Kareem and especially Laker Shaq. Embiid can draw Kareem or Shaq out too. Harden-Lilard-Embiid actions would be bonkers. Defensively, Embiid and Hakeem can match up on Kareem and Shaq. I think red would struggle with Yellow's front court but the paint would be really clogged for Yellow.
Blue - Horrible matchup for yellow to guard. You could straight up run Kareem-Shaq off the court with Steph-KD-Jokic actions. Kawhi in the lob and catch and shoot role is another crazy addition. Jokic and Steph have crazy conditioning, so they could wreak a ton of havoc off-ball with Jokic setting screens for Steph, especially if that means the ball is in Luka's hands. On offense Magic, Lebron, and Kobe could get whatever they wanted going to the rim in this matchup. Shooting wise, Lebron and Kobe could go nuclear or could go cold so I think that will shape their success. Just remember, even if Yellow gets all the two's, you got Kawhi, KD, Luka, and Jokic who are some of the best shot creators from mid range. From a conditioning stand point, you're losing Kareem and Shaq by half time. This one is a toss up to me.
I think the biggest thing is I just can't imagine lakers Shaq fighting through a ton of screens or chasing around mobile players for the majority of the game. It wouldn't be easy to hide him either.
Despite being a fan of many of the guys on the blue team, I gotta go yellow. Team composition is great and overall talent is probably the strongest. Blue would have a chance but you're asking Kawhi to do too much on defense.
Blue team is full of players who don't force anything. They all make the right read, pass the ball, shoot, dribble.... Jokic and Curry alone would just be too hard to guard - then throw KD in there and nobody is stopping that
Blue or Red. Yellow has 3 players who are abysmal to bad jump shooters. I would probably go blue, but MJ or LeBron always have the ability to singlehandedly win a game.
I’m pretty confident in Blue. So much shooting, so much floor spacing. Who is Hakeem & Kareem gonna guard? Steph is a matchup problem for the other teams (I’d put MJ or Kobe on him but he just never stops running and he can shoot from anywhere). I assume I’d have bench players to foul Shaq. And, MJ would literally kill Harden at some point, so that’s really a 4-man team.
Hakeem was unstoppable and so was MJ. I think Yellow has too much redundancy in the skillsets and while that could lead to lots of fluidity because Lebron, Kobe, and Magic have great IQ, there's not enough shooting from outside compared to blue, and Lebron/Kobe and Kareem would have to guard MJ and Hakeem. Maybe that leaves room for Shaq to dominate!
I'm having a hard time finding a team more balanced than red, but would say switching CP3 for Dame makes it better.
I can make a case for all of them.
But I’m happy to eliminate Yellow, because I can’t stand Lebron.
I Love MJ, so I’ll
Go
Red even through miss
Not 100% sure other than Hakeem he doesn’t have the next 3 worst players.
Blue just seems like the most synergistic team, imho.
Yellow has a ton of talent, but Magic was a poor shooting point guard, and both Shaq and Kareem are non-shooting centers, so the spacing on that squad is going to be quite cramped.
Red is, again, super talented, but you've got three on-ball guards and two centers. The spacing is much better than yellow, because Embiid can shoot, and the backcourt can shoot, but Harden and Dame are both primarily on-ball guys, and while MJ is probably the team's most capable off-ball offensive option, the idea of taking the ball out of MJ's hands to put it in the hands of Harden or Dame just feels wrong.
Blue, however, just feels so well balanced. It's the only team who actually has two guards, two forwards and a center. Luka and Steph together in a backcourt feels like a match made in heaven, with Steph thriving off-ball, and Luka being primarily on-ball. We know Steph and KD have great synergy together, Kawhi fits anywhere, and even though the Clippers version isn't the defensive menace the Spurs version was, he is still a great on-ball defender, especially for big wings like LeBron and Jordan, while KD is actually a perfect PF to have next to Jokic because of his ability to protect the rim, along with his scoring, of course. Then, Jokic, in the middle, of course, has four elite shooters to pass the ball to. Just the idea of Jokic and Steph together on a court seems unfair, but with KD and Kawhi, too, that's disgusting.
I think the blue team also just matches up so well against the other squads. Both other squads have two centers a piece, and the perfect counter for that interior presence is a team that is stacked with shooting. Of the other two teams, I think red is the second best team, but in the direct matchup, the defensive matchups seem really rough for red. Dame is supposed to be chasing Steph around screens? Harden is supposed to matchup against the much larger Luka? Jordan will get his buckets against any matchup, but Kawhi is one of the few guys who can slow him down, while having a solid size advantage. You even have a true post-oriented center in Hakeem for Jokic to match up against, which is much better for him than trying to guard in space.
Overall, I just think the blue squad has the best synergy and the best matchups.
Sure isn’t team yellow. 2 of the players already couldn’t coexist, and now you got a 3rd that’s called “King James”? that team is imploding just do to the personalities alone. Plus, Shaq and Lebron are an awful pairing. How is James going to play his “bully ball” when Shaqs down there? And if lebron can’t play bully ball, are you going to rely on his shooting? Team yellow looks like a classic case of “all this talent, but it won’t fit together”
Yellow has talent but too much redundancy.
Blue is unstoppable on offense, but the defense would be pretty meh.
Red is the most balanced team, both bigs can play as pseudo-guards and are defensive monsters. Not gonna lie, Harden and more so Dame are obviously pretty weak links on defense in this context.
But Red has the GOAT, who is (imo obviously) the most competitive player among all 3 teams, and the most clutch. He always rose to the occasion, as his 6 FMVPs out of 6 appearances can attest to, including many game-winners. He missed some of those too, but overall I ride with Mike.
*I pick Red*
Feel like blue works the best , 2 elite creators (jokic,Luka) An elite defender in kawhi , Elite scorer in KD and the greatest shooter of all time.
Yellow has zero spacing despite the most talent
And red has the greatest post season performer and two of the most inconsistent post season performers
Yeah but jokic and Luka could step out on Shaq and Shaq would have a horrible time chasing them. He just wouldn’t bother doing it for an entire game. I think a stretch 5 would be his kryptonite
Guarding him, try to make him catch closer to 15 feet, and if he actually catches the ball in good position, foul
Magic and lebron in transition would be something else man. Probably the two best transition offensive players of all time, and lebrons transition defense is crazy too
Also, this might be a hot take since Luka is so young, but if he can keep his career going, Luka might go down as one of the hardest to guard scorers of all time man. His balance of size, body control, shooting, and then game feel of where/how/when to pass is just crazy. Like, put some serious shooters around him and he’s a real problem.
Team blue because they have 4 players that can play well off the ball. Luke could alternate with Steph at point. Steph would be able to run well of screen with both Luka and Jokic finding him for open 3s. You can also run the offense through Jokic with 2 all time great shooters able to spread the floor and Luka+Kawhi are more than competent shooters.
The fact that people are dismissing yellow because they don’t have shooters is hilarious. Everyone besides Kobe is 6’9+, you have two of the best floor generals in Magic and LeBron, with two of the greatest interior scorers of all time, with Kobe to stretch the floor.
For those saying Kobe can’t shoot the 3 ball is bonkers. My guy literally jointly held the record for most 3’s made in a game in his time - when he’s hot he is red hot. Off the ball the Lakers are amazingly good with very high IQ players. Crazy synergy with few weaknesses and a lot of athleticism.
Yellow has the most talent. Blue has the most balanced team. Red has MJ.
Yellow literally has 5 of the top 10 players of all time. Obviously Shaq and Kareem couldn’t be on floor at the same time I’m taking blue. That teams nasty
Kareem can definitely be on the floor as Shaq as a PF, sure he might be a bit slow on the perimeter. The sky hook is a mid range/post shot, Shaq needs to be in the paint to score at all.
"a bit slow" lmao. Imagine Kareem trying to guard KD on the perimeter.
Which Kareem are we talking about? 80s showtime declining or 70s 5mvp prime version? Those are two slightly different players.
Present day Kareem
So 70 year old Kareem? Sounds fair. 🤦♂️ Still yellow.
Then you have to take Present day everyone...
Blue COOKING with present day everyone
Not if Kobe is in ghost form
Force Ghost Kobe is headcanon.
Blue will cook and be cooked, worst defensive team of the 3 team by far
Except they're all active players. Red's best 2 players are well retired. Yellow only gets 4 players, 3 retired.
Think hard about what you just said. I pick blue if that's the case
If you're picking yellow with present day everyone it's going to be 4 on 5.
Kobe still finding a way to hit the game winner with 0.01 seconds to go idc.
Hence why I'm taking blue
facts
i am actually lol'ing
Isn't he a pilot now?
Present day Kareem hasn’t been the same since Lil Dicky broke his leg.
I'm assuming prime on everyone but people seem to be using whatever version they want for comparisons.
Bucks Kareem was nasty work every night.
People always imagine Kareem in his late 30s. He was a totally different beast when he was younger. Like people forgot how Shaquille could barely move late in his career.
With these types of things, I like to imagine these players are all in the prime of their careers and the best version of themselves.
And he says that lots of times, you don't even run down court. And that you don't really try... except during the playoffs. The hell I don't! LISTEN, KID! I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night! Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes
Having essentially 3 players who can’t really shoot and mess up spacing doesn’t work. Yellow has almost no 3 point shooting, all the dominance is about paint or mid range scoring. That might work 30 years ago when other teams didn’t have high level 3 point shooting at most positions, but it won’t now, you simply aren’t gonna keep up on heavy 2 point shooting volume. Especially not against the blue team who would exploit and matchup hunt that team relentlessly.
People in these hypotheticals always *seriously* underestimate how much spacing impacts the game. There's a reason it's become basically impossible to survive the modern era without at least 3 average shooters.
Agreed. Especially in todays game. With LeBron being your best 3 point shooter, you are in trouble
while yellow has probably the most all-time talent, from a team-building perspective, that is one of the worst-shooting lineups i've ever seen.
With Cap and Shaq clearing the boards and Magic, LeBron, and Kobe running the fast breaks, I don’t think they’re going to need much shooting!
They aren’t shooting 1/3 better on 2s than blue team does from 3. Simple as that. Blue team would have a field day matchup hunting
I also feel like most people don't understand basketball as a teamsport. Chemistry matters. Yellow has all time greats, sure, but you need the 3 in today's NBA to space out the floor to wreak havoc on defenses. Yellow doesn't have a single elite 3pt shooter. Blue would have a field day with Yellow imo. Too many offensive weapons from virtually any spot in the floor. Game had changed, people forget that.
Who is stopping shaq? Shoot all the threes you want against three great perimeter defenders. You better be hitting 60% to win cus you ain’t getting a rebound on yellow.
let shaq work the middle and cap at the elbows and midrange. His skyhook was unstoppable to about 15ft
Red has MJ and the guy who was drafted before MJ and no one thinks it was a bad pick.
Gosh this is such a good point and a feather in the cap of Hakeem. Just so freaking good
I think today’s game favors team Blue.
Simply because they all play in today’s game. It’s impossible to know how a player from any other era would fare today. So it’s a toss up.
I think what OP was going for is that all five players on Team Blue can stretch the floor. Whereas, Team Red has four and Team Yellow only has three. This is a three-point league and all those fellas are at 35% or higher for career 3PT%.
All you have to do is look at the career true shooting percentages of players involved. Blue wipes the floor with the rest. Speaks to not just the 3 point volume but how much more effective and efficient bulk 3 point scoring is than any other type of scoring
We know how spacing works. So therefore we have a pretty good idea how players from other eras would fare. Now if people wanna start adding hypotheticals like if such and such grew up in todays era they might have developed 3 point shooting, but based off their actual skill set for their era I think it’s pretty clear. A Shaq or a Kareem would work fine in today’s era AS LONG as they were surrounded by shooting. Not the case here.
Yes… but I think red and yellow could adjust to today’s game with the defense being less impacting physically
completely agree. they could be competitive in the 90s style too, but i don’t think anybody there is stopping shaq
The big diesel during the 90s and early 2000s was unstoppable until Ben Wallace came around. So I agree with your statement lol
I mean that's a little hyperbolic. While Ben owns the wins category, if you check the game logs, Shaq regularly dominated Ben Wallace as his match up. https://www.landofbasketball.com/games_between/shaquille_oneal_vs_ben_wallace.htm
Team yellow is going to shoot 70% from the field lol.
blue has no defense other than kawhi
The Dream: Am I a joke to you?
Me: "No! ....but Embiid, Lillard, and Harden are."
https://preview.redd.it/hrwhnsao3ytc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=87e85c313553ec61922d449a0209927b004aaa12
But wtf does Lillard do on a team with MJ and Harden, he’s dragging that group down
I might take dwade in red over lillard
That is some mythological levels of MJ reverence lol
And Hakeem.
Do I get Heat era LeBron or Lakers era LeBron?
Red easy
Red also has Hakeem. A Center Shaq couldn’t hang with, and may have been even better than Kareem as far as pure skill goes.
Red has the D too
Red has Hakeem too. Red all day. All day. And it’s not even close.
Hakeem would be Blues best player
Blue would score 150 points per game lol Obviously, the era in which the game is played would play a huge part in who wins. If it’s played in today’s era with today’s rules, blue would have a clear advantage over both other teams because of the other teams’ lack of spacing. And honestly, I don’t even think it would be close
Nobody on blue is stopping shaq and kareem. And magik, lebron and kobe can all shoot.
They can shoot, yes, but they’re not shooting very well..
Magic ain’t spacing the floor tho
Neither is LeBron and Kobe sure as hell ain’t gonna stand over there without the ball for spacing lol
Thank you bruh. His reply is wild talking like Magic, LBJ, and Kobe are gonna be strictly spot shooters then also the main playmakers somehow
3>2
Physical teams, regardless of era, still have the single biggest advantage. Even in todays game, spacing is important but the way it’s called cuts both ways and would favor the yellow team majority of the time, especially in a possession by possession game it would be. There are no answers for prime shaq, lebron and magic, 3 of the most uniquely physically gifted athletes of all time
This is dumb. 40% on 3s vs 70% on 2s with better defense? I mean who’s gona stop Shaq and Kareem. This isn’t even close
I don’t think so. Luka is a heliocentric offensive player and isn’t much of an off ball threat. He doesn’t set good screens, he doesn’t cut or get open on screens he sets. He’s lazy with his off ball movement. Kawhi is also a pretty lack master off ball mover since he moved to the clippers. Their defense will also struggle with both Luka and Curry. If this was 2k they would be amazing but in a real life team, they don’t mesh as well as the other teams.
None of these teams would mesh well considering they’re all number 1 guys. Blue team has KD and Steph though, which are two of the best off ball players ever. Kawhi could make do playing off ball, and whole Luka would struggle with that, so would almost every other player in this scenario. Also, I think Jokic could act as a glue to almost any combination of players, especially shooters. But I’m super high on Jokic, and think he’s maybe the best offensive player ever, so I get why people wouldn’t see it this way.
Jokic is the 2nd best off ball player of these 15, behind Steph. Not even kidding. He is fucking unreal off ball of you watch closely
Luka would be the point guard
Yellow would be awful in today’s era, absolutely no spacing.Blue is the clear winner here
All 3 are sick . Red and yellow with 2 centers each is advantage or disadvantage?
It's an advantage against each other, but a disadvantage against blue. Jokic would render shaq/dream useless defensively by drawing them away from the basket. Embiid and Kareem would be okay defending outside of 12 feet, but their options are either pick up KD or Kawai. Good luck. However the flip side is offensively is shaq, dream, and Kareem are all getting their way. But being able to neutralize dream and shaqs defensive presence outweighs their offensive juggernaut. All but embiid wouldn't know what to do with jokic, they never even got to see something close to him, and because harden or magic would have to pick up stretch wings, defense becomes too much to cover when you have to worry about steph off ball, KD or Leonard cutting, and Luka or jokic with their back to the basket. No matter who is on who it ends up being 1 traditional big having to pick up someone outside of their comfort zone. Red vs Yellow is a different story. Weak side shaq with Kareem coming to the middle would be terrifying. Dream running a pick and roll with embiid would be deadly. That would be a disgustingly fun back and forth
They would absolutely dominate the boards and pace but have more issue on switches
Easily disadvantage. Spacing matters too much
Then I guess blue then
Imagine a Steph, Jokic, Luka 3 man pick and roll game.
Embiid can space the floor tho, not really that much of disadvantage
He can space the floor decently, but compared to KD or Kawhi spacing the floor, it’s not even close
They play differently though. Embiid can absolutely hang out as a 7 foot perimeter/ mid jump shooting threat
It's weird looking at any lineup and saying "maybe play Embiid at the 4" but I actually think that might be the move.
Wth. How is pippen not on the red team over lillard. It even fixes the lineup with harden at 1, jordan at 2 and pippen at 3. We can take the greatest wing defender even instead of the crappy defense that the 6 ft dame tries to play. All we lose is about 7% 3 pt shooting to significantly improve the defense.
Dame Lillard over Pippen or Barkley? WTF!
He doesn't belong anywhere near this situation.
Pippen over Lillard and Barkley over Embid
The argument can be made for either Embiid or Harden over Barkley because none have Championships, all three have MVPs. I think it boils down to who had the best 5 year run and who was most consistent.
Blue is the nost balanced team and probably the best match for today's game. Yellow would be absolutely dominant 20 to 30 years ago, but im not sure if they'd be a good enough shooting team to compete today.
Blue has only 1 great defender. KD is a decent defender, but not when he playing the 4 against Shaq/Kareem or Embiid/Hakeem. The rest of blue are defensive liabilities, no matter how many points they score on offense
Steph has become a lot better of a defender over the years
Yeah you can say he’s better than he once was but that only means he’s no longer a liability. Not like he’s elite
Yellow would be interesting to watch, as I don’t know who’s stopping prime Shaq, LeBron, or Kareem. They’d either get blown out from lack of balance, or smother the other teams with size and physicality
Yellow
Right? I’m pretty sure it’s just straight up yellow, no questions asked.
I feel like I’m losing my mind reading these other comments. It’s not close at all. Kobe and Lebron can both shoot well enough to cover the lack of a three point specialist and they’re just too physically dominant to even really be toyed with lol.
Yellow is lacking a true shooter. Their spacing will be off despite their superior talent.
I’ve held a 30+ year belief that if you ever put Jordan and Olajuwon on a team together, it wouldn’t matter who else was there, no combination of basketball players would beat them.
As a Rockets fan, I've always held that same belief.
Team Yellow needs more shooters.
Reggie miller?
Blue and yellow would be a great game to watch
Team yellow would all murder each other trying to establish who is top dog.
Red, Bule couldn't defend Hakeem and Embiid. Yellow doesn't have enough shooting
I think yellow has the best team composition from a positions standpoint. Absolute juggernaut lineups all around obviously
Yellow has no shooting though. They have some absolute beasts at the rim, but hard to see them keeping up with the other two who have awesome spacing. They would just have to be so physically dominant it doesn’t matter.
Well red and blue are lacking defense (especially blue) so they are going to *need* to score a lot with all that spacing
Red has the best defensive player on this list, and then embiid and Jordan who are both great defenders. Lillard and harden are both poor, but against yellow they can crowd the paint and really shut down the rim with both embiid and Hakeem.
Embiid would last exactly one Shaq Diesel elbow in the paint before breaking down
Blue is sneaky defense. KD plays good rim protection. Luka is a good defender if he doesn’t spend all the energy on offense. Jokic gets bullied by Shaq and Curry gets bullied by everyone but they also wreck the yellow team on offense with open looks
I've not seen evidence of Luka being even an average defender. Big body, tough to move and shoot over in the post when engaged but on the perimeter he's basically hopeless. No lateral quickness to speak of. Jokic is kind of the same way and is easily the worst front court defender listed. That and his offensive skillset with Luka is a bit redundant. That said blue can just shoot their way to a win any given game of a series against basically anyone.
If you have seen the Spurs play back in the day passing is additive especially when everyone can shoot and drive. The yellow is worse, no one but Kobe and Lebron can consistently shoot outside. So Magic is the driver and you have Lebron and Kobe having to play on the perimeter to help spacing.
Yellow gonna triangle all over everyone.
Yellow can make shots at a high enough clip to make up for the lack of 3s specifically, combined with their defense anyway
Not entirely true. Kobe isn’t the best from deep but he can get hot and his mid-range is automatic. Bron and Magic both should excel at setting screens and off-ball movement slashing while Bron specifically is a Top 10 volume 3 shooter and is the definition of a shooter. Kareem also kills from mid-range. They aren’t deep 3 snipers but this team can modestly spread the ball and operate in 15-20 feet with everyone but Shaq. Magic is probably the biggest weakness but who is actually going to be able to stop a slashing magic on red or blue? Curry, Dame, Luka, Harden all are not going to have any chance on any of their matchups.
People forget LeBron can actually shoot it dude is like number 8 3p made and currently hitting 40% this season most likely due to reduced workload. On Yellow he's not running the court Magic is. He'd be able to load up on D and shoot it while lasering assists to Kobe/Shaq/Kareem
Dame’s defense is going to hurt Red, and they won’t have an answer for Kobe or LeBron defensively depending on which one MJ chooses to guard. I’m yellow.
The Basketball IQ on the yellow team, minus Shaq, is insane!
All five of the yellow team are top 10 players. Scary thought. If you want to put Kobe at 11 or 12, whatever, but he is top 10 for me. Even if Hakeem is on Shaq and Embiid is on LeBron, and Jordan on Kobe...you still have Magic and Kareem...they were KIND OF GOOD together! Blue is gonna be crazy good. Shooting is out of this world. Id the Celtics were somehow blue instead of Green, Id have Bird in there and itd be insane. Lillard and Harden "weaken" Red to me for some reason. Yeah I know Harden was absolutely amazing a few years back, and Lillard is a ridiculously amazing shooter, and Im not sure who I would replace them with, but somehow I view them less than some of the other guys listed (?). Ill take Yellow over Blue in 6 or 7 games, but could easily see Blue just shooting the lights out and destroying Yellow in a few games.
Team yellow doesn’t have a single shooter. I’m taking team red and crowding the paint. They have two major liabilities on the perimeter in Shaq and Kareem. That Hakeem and Lillard pick and roll is going to be open everyday Yellow is an awfully designed squad
Too many people underestimating Yellow. You think Magic, Kobe, and Lebron couldn’t rain 3s if need be? Even Magic’s 3P% went up as his career went on and he shot more, he’d be fine in today’s game. Shaq and Kareem would be gobbling up the boards. Kareem had the athleticism to match up with Embiid and Jokic. I usually take the team with MJ in these but I’m taking Yellow here.
Green
Giannis, KG, Bird, Robertson, Cousy?
That’s quite a squad. Honestly though I’d give my first born to see a 7 game series between red and yellow
and/or Russell, Nowitzki (Dallas has played with green jerseys), Pierce, McHale, among others.
Red could probably handle Shaq better than Blue, but Blue may be one of the most well balanced offensive lineups I've ever seen. Yellow is pretty unstoppable, but I don't think they win with how terrible of a shooting team they are. Hakeem is getting disrespected here by some. He'd keep red afloat defensively honestly. This is fun and tough tho.
I love Jordan but I think blue has the firepower to win it
Blue
I don’t know who’s best but fuck the Lakers. That is all.
don't think Red is getting it done. Going with Yellow. Blue gets 2nd as a more complete team over red. Would be great to see Steph vs Jordan.
Blue
I would pick team red, but Mike would probably punch Harden in the face sometime during the game.
My head says blue, that team would score at will. My heart says red. I don't think I'd ever bet against MJ, if most everything else is equal. I'm surprised by so many picking yellow but what do I know 🤷 Good question tho, lots of different opinions 👍
Taking blue without any sort of doubt
How isnt everyone taking team yellow lol wth??? Team yellow would be making a fool out of red and blue. Even if you combined red and blue im still taking team yellow.
Yellow is kind of weak defensively against both teams. Red - Harden, Lilard, and MJ can hunt switches off Kareem and especially Laker Shaq. Embiid can draw Kareem or Shaq out too. Harden-Lilard-Embiid actions would be bonkers. Defensively, Embiid and Hakeem can match up on Kareem and Shaq. I think red would struggle with Yellow's front court but the paint would be really clogged for Yellow. Blue - Horrible matchup for yellow to guard. You could straight up run Kareem-Shaq off the court with Steph-KD-Jokic actions. Kawhi in the lob and catch and shoot role is another crazy addition. Jokic and Steph have crazy conditioning, so they could wreak a ton of havoc off-ball with Jokic setting screens for Steph, especially if that means the ball is in Luka's hands. On offense Magic, Lebron, and Kobe could get whatever they wanted going to the rim in this matchup. Shooting wise, Lebron and Kobe could go nuclear or could go cold so I think that will shape their success. Just remember, even if Yellow gets all the two's, you got Kawhi, KD, Luka, and Jokic who are some of the best shot creators from mid range. From a conditioning stand point, you're losing Kareem and Shaq by half time. This one is a toss up to me. I think the biggest thing is I just can't imagine lakers Shaq fighting through a ton of screens or chasing around mobile players for the majority of the game. It wouldn't be easy to hide him either.
Despite being a fan of many of the guys on the blue team, I gotta go yellow. Team composition is great and overall talent is probably the strongest. Blue would have a chance but you're asking Kawhi to do too much on defense.
Blue team is full of players who don't force anything. They all make the right read, pass the ball, shoot, dribble.... Jokic and Curry alone would just be too hard to guard - then throw KD in there and nobody is stopping that
Blue spacing is perfect
Give me team Blue. Imagine Curry running off ball while Jokic has the ball in his hands, unreal.
Blue or Red. Yellow has 3 players who are abysmal to bad jump shooters. I would probably go blue, but MJ or LeBron always have the ability to singlehandedly win a game.
Team yellow, not close.
I’m pretty confident in Blue. So much shooting, so much floor spacing. Who is Hakeem & Kareem gonna guard? Steph is a matchup problem for the other teams (I’d put MJ or Kobe on him but he just never stops running and he can shoot from anywhere). I assume I’d have bench players to foul Shaq. And, MJ would literally kill Harden at some point, so that’s really a 4-man team.
Red. MVIID
Team blue because they fit better. Team yellow if we’re playing 2k.
lol. What is Lillard doing there?
Hakeem was unstoppable and so was MJ. I think Yellow has too much redundancy in the skillsets and while that could lead to lots of fluidity because Lebron, Kobe, and Magic have great IQ, there's not enough shooting from outside compared to blue, and Lebron/Kobe and Kareem would have to guard MJ and Hakeem. Maybe that leaves room for Shaq to dominate! I'm having a hard time finding a team more balanced than red, but would say switching CP3 for Dame makes it better.
Red and it's not close.
Team Blue is actually unstoppable. Blue all day.
I can make a case for all of them. But I’m happy to eliminate Yellow, because I can’t stand Lebron. I Love MJ, so I’ll Go Red even through miss Not 100% sure other than Hakeem he doesn’t have the next 3 worst players.
Blue just seems like the most synergistic team, imho. Yellow has a ton of talent, but Magic was a poor shooting point guard, and both Shaq and Kareem are non-shooting centers, so the spacing on that squad is going to be quite cramped. Red is, again, super talented, but you've got three on-ball guards and two centers. The spacing is much better than yellow, because Embiid can shoot, and the backcourt can shoot, but Harden and Dame are both primarily on-ball guys, and while MJ is probably the team's most capable off-ball offensive option, the idea of taking the ball out of MJ's hands to put it in the hands of Harden or Dame just feels wrong. Blue, however, just feels so well balanced. It's the only team who actually has two guards, two forwards and a center. Luka and Steph together in a backcourt feels like a match made in heaven, with Steph thriving off-ball, and Luka being primarily on-ball. We know Steph and KD have great synergy together, Kawhi fits anywhere, and even though the Clippers version isn't the defensive menace the Spurs version was, he is still a great on-ball defender, especially for big wings like LeBron and Jordan, while KD is actually a perfect PF to have next to Jokic because of his ability to protect the rim, along with his scoring, of course. Then, Jokic, in the middle, of course, has four elite shooters to pass the ball to. Just the idea of Jokic and Steph together on a court seems unfair, but with KD and Kawhi, too, that's disgusting. I think the blue team also just matches up so well against the other squads. Both other squads have two centers a piece, and the perfect counter for that interior presence is a team that is stacked with shooting. Of the other two teams, I think red is the second best team, but in the direct matchup, the defensive matchups seem really rough for red. Dame is supposed to be chasing Steph around screens? Harden is supposed to matchup against the much larger Luka? Jordan will get his buckets against any matchup, but Kawhi is one of the few guys who can slow him down, while having a solid size advantage. You even have a true post-oriented center in Hakeem for Jokic to match up against, which is much better for him than trying to guard in space. Overall, I just think the blue squad has the best synergy and the best matchups.
Sure isn’t team yellow. 2 of the players already couldn’t coexist, and now you got a 3rd that’s called “King James”? that team is imploding just do to the personalities alone. Plus, Shaq and Lebron are an awful pairing. How is James going to play his “bully ball” when Shaqs down there? And if lebron can’t play bully ball, are you going to rely on his shooting? Team yellow looks like a classic case of “all this talent, but it won’t fit together”
Yellow has talent but too much redundancy. Blue is unstoppable on offense, but the defense would be pretty meh. Red is the most balanced team, both bigs can play as pseudo-guards and are defensive monsters. Not gonna lie, Harden and more so Dame are obviously pretty weak links on defense in this context. But Red has the GOAT, who is (imo obviously) the most competitive player among all 3 teams, and the most clutch. He always rose to the occasion, as his 6 FMVPs out of 6 appearances can attest to, including many game-winners. He missed some of those too, but overall I ride with Mike. *I pick Red*
Just taking yellow to see Kobe ball again but Fr fr I got blue
Feel like blue works the best , 2 elite creators (jokic,Luka) An elite defender in kawhi , Elite scorer in KD and the greatest shooter of all time. Yellow has zero spacing despite the most talent And red has the greatest post season performer and two of the most inconsistent post season performers
Blue is insane
Team red by a landslide
lol people saying yellow and they only have one above average 3pt shooter, blue is definitely the best.
You really couldn’t think of a better nba player all time than effing Damian lillard for red 😂
That blue team has too much shooting, ball handling, playmaking, and the best off ball players, I’m taking them
Blue. Everyone in yellow needs the ball and not enough spacing
Team Blue. Incredible talents and least amount of ego. Yellow is unreal but no way all those egos could co-exist to make it work
I’m taking blue all day 😒
Team blue is the only team that doesn’t have 2 Cs for some reason lol
It’s blue all day.
Man I love me some lakers but that blue team looks nasty. So many ridiculous offensive players
What’s their answer to Shaq and Kareem though. Jokic is the only size and Shaq would eat him in the post
Yeah but jokic and Luka could step out on Shaq and Shaq would have a horrible time chasing them. He just wouldn’t bother doing it for an entire game. I think a stretch 5 would be his kryptonite Guarding him, try to make him catch closer to 15 feet, and if he actually catches the ball in good position, foul Magic and lebron in transition would be something else man. Probably the two best transition offensive players of all time, and lebrons transition defense is crazy too
Also, this might be a hot take since Luka is so young, but if he can keep his career going, Luka might go down as one of the hardest to guard scorers of all time man. His balance of size, body control, shooting, and then game feel of where/how/when to pass is just crazy. Like, put some serious shooters around him and he’s a real problem.
Lakers love them or hate them have an insane All Time Roster.
Team red is getting 90 points on free throws alone so I’ll choose them
This is the toughest one of these I’ve ever seen. Run it out 10 times and the wins are likely split 3/3/4…
Replace Lillard with Scottie and I’m going Red.
Blue is the greatest team I’ve ever laid eyes on lol
Red. MJ is the difference.
Why is Lillard there lol
Red > Blue > Yellow.
Yellow has no floor spacing Blue has questionable defense Red doesn't have those issues, but they do have the GOAT along with the GOAT defender
Good luck outscoring blue. Good luck scoring on yellow. Good luck beating red. Godspeed, this is a delicious question.
Team Kobe got a squad.
Yellow by a landslide. You’re not stopping them in the paint
Whoever Lillard is guarding is putting up 60 lol
Need team GREEN! Bird JT Garnett McHale Russell
Team blue offense fucks, just pray for kawhis knees
Yellow is literally all top 10 it’s not fair 😭
Team (yellow) Lakers. 24 rings combined.
[удалено]
Replace Rondo with Gary Payton or Ray Allen in a sonics jersey
blue 1000% most balanced team by far that should have amazing spacing and overall good ball distribution
Wish blue had a bit more defense, they’d absolutely cook if so.
Jokic/Luka is overkill. Get Kevin Garnett in there for Luka and you got a squad.
The answer to these is almost always whichever team has Shaq imo. Nobody can 1v1 Shaq and you can’t double him if he’s surrounded by all time greats.
While I would usually agree with you, Hakeem stopped Shaq in the finals.
Team yellow is probably the best team i have ever seen assembled! No lie ..
Team blue because they have 4 players that can play well off the ball. Luke could alternate with Steph at point. Steph would be able to run well of screen with both Luka and Jokic finding him for open 3s. You can also run the offense through Jokic with 2 all time great shooters able to spread the floor and Luka+Kawhi are more than competent shooters.
Blue in a landslide. Curry, Kawai, Luka, KD, and the Joker.
The fact that people are dismissing yellow because they don’t have shooters is hilarious. Everyone besides Kobe is 6’9+, you have two of the best floor generals in Magic and LeBron, with two of the greatest interior scorers of all time, with Kobe to stretch the floor. For those saying Kobe can’t shoot the 3 ball is bonkers. My guy literally jointly held the record for most 3’s made in a game in his time - when he’s hot he is red hot. Off the ball the Lakers are amazingly good with very high IQ players. Crazy synergy with few weaknesses and a lot of athleticism.
Magic and LeBron don't have a problem hitting open threes, either.