Raise your hand if one of the millions of basketball fans around the world has never dreamed of seeing champions from different eras playing together on the field, in the same team. The questions when playing this kind of game, however, always remain the same: who was the most dominant center in basketball history
Who was the fastest
point guard Which was the shooting guard who scored the most
How would they play together Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant
Who would have been the best starting quintet in basketball history
Well, we will limit ourselves to answering this last question. But choosing the names of a hypothetical starting quintet that represents (or has represented) perfection in the game of basketball, is not an easy task. Of course, we will not limit ourselves to selecting the players to be included in our dream team, evaluating them exclusively from the point of view of the prizes and the championships won.
So let’s start with the playmaker spot (or point guard). Here the choice is a must and falls on the Magic Johnsonof the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s. Magic was traveling at the time at an average of 20 points, 12 assists and 8 rebounds per game, figures never reached by any other play. Johnson was a swashbuckler, on and off the pitch. His career has become the watershed between a certain type of basketball and a more modern one. Magic has made millions and millions of athletes fall in love with its no-look passes, even if it is not the prototype of the classic point guard. Indeed, his was more of a wing physicist; however Magic had an IQ equal to no other player at the time and one of his main attributes was his vision of the game. Today, with the due exceptions, Slovenian Luka Doncic, absolute star (aged 21) of the NBA and already named best European player in 2019 by the Gazzetta dello Sport, could be approached to Magic.
Let’s move on to the guard position (or shooting guard) where, for good reason, an entire encyclopedia could be opened given the names that in different eras have made one of the most coveted roles in every single team unforgettable. There are many players who deserve to be mentioned in this role, from George Gervin to Ray Allen, from Reggie Miller to the unforgettable Kobe Bryant, the champion of the Los Angeles Lakers, who tragically died in January 2020 in a helicopter crash in the hills of the Californian metropolis.
Despite this fierce competition, 10 out of 10 experts would agree to award Michael Jordanthe strongest guard palm of all time. Jordan was (and probably will be) the greatest in the history of the sport. The number 23 and 45 of the Chicago Bulls has revolutionized basketball not only on a technical level, bringing this sport into homes all over the world. On the pitch, Air was a demi-god capable of staying suspended for a longer time than his opponents. Away from the parquet, he took over a modest sneaker brand, Nike, turning it into a sportswear icon.
Jordan ended his career averaging 30.1 points, 2.3 steals, 5.3 assists and 6.2 rebounds. Side note: he has won the NBA title 6 times, was awarded the palm of MVP 5 times and was named Finals MVP 6 times.
In the small forward spot we find the only player of our dream quintet still in business. We are talking about LeBron James , four-time NBA champion, fresh winner of the last championship with the Los Angeles Lakers jersey, among the best scorers in the North American championship. The King (this is one of his nicknames) landed in 2018 in the city of angels, with the aim of bringing the glorious yellow-purple franchise back to the top of the league. Objective achieved in just two seasons; however, the Lakers, with James in the team, remain the team to beat for next season as well, as reported by the odds of major sports operators such as Betway.
All that remains is to choose the two towers of our dream quintet. In the strong forward spot we cannot fail to select Tim Duncan , almost 1400 games played in the NBA exclusively with the San Antonio Spurs jersey (who collected his number 21 jersey), a franchise with which he won 5 NBA titles. Over the course of his career he averaged almost 21 points and took 10 rebounds per game. But in the playoffs, those figures came in at nearly 38 points and 12 rebounds per shoe lacing. A painted monster, named best player of the decade 2000-2010, Duncan was one of the best in his role.
We close by talking about the role of center. Here too, we could name the various Bill Russell, Dwight Howard and Patrick Ewing, but when it comes to pivot, the thought cannot fail to go toShaquille O’Neal , the most dominant player to ever walk the NBA parquet. Agile and agile like the slimmest of the play, despite a physical tonnage of 150 kilograms of weight by 216 centimeters in height. Every dunk by Shaq was a spectacle for everyone. He has won 4 championships, 3 with the Los Angeles Lakers and one with the Miami Heat.
