Start your day with a little "make-believe". How would superstars who played 40-plus years ago fare against the stars of today? This is totally objective fantasy, so I expect differing views. My choices assume all players are at their peak.
Old School Stars
Honestly, I went with the 40+ cutoff to get Larry Bird and Magic Johnson into the mix as starters. Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain are there also. Michael Jordan is obviously the 5th starter.
The bench consists of Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and Dirk Nowitsky.
Today's Elite Eight
Four of the starters are non-USA players, and a two more are in as backups. That says a lot about the modern NBA. Starters are Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum. The bench consists of Joel Embiid, Victor Wenbamyama and Steph Curry.
In a given era, any NBA team has the ability to win a contest against another - as evidenced by Philly's win over the favored Celtics in Game 2 of the series. Different eras presents a different view.
Most readers would pick the modern-day crew to win, and I can't disagree. But as a follower of the League since 1960, I believe the outcome would be close - with a slight nod to the stars of today.
I came close to putting Kareem Abdul Jabbar in instead of Dirk, but I felt the old timers needed the latter's outside shooting skills. John Havlicek would not have been a bad choice to cover Shai and Luka. Bill Walton, in his prime, also came into mind.
Was I biased in mentioning five Celtics, past-and-present? Probably, but 18 Titles can not be ignored.
There it is. What do my readers think? Who did I miss that was an obvious choice?
It’s a hard comparison given the changes in the game When would the game take place. If in modern times, how would players like West and Oscar do at the 3 point shot? How would the modern players handle the physicality of olden times. Maybe AI will eventually create a match!
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