If you had a team made up of only centers, who would play the point guard out of those centers?
About 8 years ago my co-workers and I decided to make an all-time starting 5 of only centers, wondering who would play the point guard position. From there, we spent the rest of the week coming up with all power forward teams and all point guard teams. I want to start this series with r/NBA submitting some ideas and getting more opinions than just me and the 2 guys I worked with.
What I want to do is create 5 man rosters where all 5 players played the same position in the NBA. For instance, in a 5 man rotation that’s all PGs, you would almost certainly have to put Magic Johnson or Ben Simmons at center because you don’t have much size to select from. For centers, you want the best ball handling and passing possible at the PG position, so you would probably choose Jokic. Then on the opposite end of that equation, who is the best center at playing center for an all center team? Shaq? Wilt? Russell?
Rules: Position is determined by how a player is listed on basketball reference: strict majority by seasons (with a caveat for players like Tim Duncan who I count as a PF since he spent the peak of his prime at the 4)
I am going to collect comments for 2 days, and then I will create the teams based on what the comments here have recommended, starting with point guards and ending with centers
Centers
PG - Jokic
SG - Towns
SF - Wemby
PF - Hakeem
C - Shaq
Oh wow, Wemby at the 3 is quite a choice. I think he actually fits pretty well given how skilled he is. He would be a good secondary ball handler and playmaker, he’s mobile, he can shoot, and his thinner frame could only be attacked by the PF team
Ya I was trying to the think of the most versatile 5s I could. I don’t love towns at the 2 but probably need the shooting and floor spacing
Centers:
PG - Jokic
SG - Hakeem
SF - Kareem
PF - Wilt
C - Shaq
6m - The Admiralthis team has very little shooting, but is gonna hit all the 2s and get all the rebounds
Hmmm im not familiar with how good Hakeem and Kareem are as shooters (except for their mid range_ hook shots), but it looks good.
That said like to add Embid to the bench cause he is a solid shooter to be at the 2.
Embiid, KAT, and Brook Lopez would all be reasonable shooters to put in a 9-man rotation of Cs.
Dam Brook, how did i forget that man.
Like dam there is quite a few great shooting centers nowadays.
Wilt and Hakeem crashing jokic flip shots
If you can play LeBron at the point, and KD at the SG, you end up with a really nasty group of power forwards. However that’s probably cheating.
PG - KG
SG - Dirk
SF - Barkley
PF - Malone
C - Duncan
It’s a super talented line up but I just don’t think either the centers or the PFs have enough ball handling.
Giannis over Malone for sure
Yeah, I replied to another comment with a similar sentiment. For the PFs and Cs, it’s just really tough to find ball handling and unclog the lane. I know Blake Griffin doesn’t reach the heights of these all timers, but his shooting and playmaking were really on display in the latter half of his career. He could be a choice to put on the team for fit.
SF
1- Paul George (Probably the best SF ball handler)
2- KD
3- Lebron
4- Bird
5- Elgin Baylor (Best rebounding SF. At his peak averaged 19.8 rebounds)
You’ve got LeBron right there and put PG as “the best SF ball handler ever?”