OT: Do you think a squad of all SGs/SFs could win an NBA championship?

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

Change the offensive and defensive games up a bit.....

say if you just loaded a team with the best SGs and SFs at every position...basically all swingmen......no "big men", no "point guards". Just swingmen.....

how would they fare? perhaps someone can simulate?

 

[MARIS61]

The league controls who gets to be champion, so they'd have to have a reason to want it.

 

[Денг Гордон]

I don't see why not. Put a guy like Ben Gordon at point guard. Get a versatile guy like Wade at the 2 guard, and a good shooter like Joe Johnson at SF, then some guys with length/strength at the big men positions positions like Lebron, Sefolsoha, Diaw.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Wouldn't this just be some variation of the Warriors?

 

[Jurassic]

The only way that this would work would be if you had 5 elite sg/sfs. So no, it could never happen because the salaries would not allow for all of them to be on the same team.

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

Depends. I mean if someone had a Shaq in his prime, I don't think the swingmen would have a chance.

 

[PapaG]

The only way that this would work would be if you had 5 elite sg/sfs. So no, it could never happen because the salaries would not allow for all of them to be on the same team.

Exactly. And as posted earlier, the Warriors basically run the same system within the salary cap.

 

[drexlersdad]

ill sim something on 2k9 and let you know. im thinking...

roy
wade
kobe
melo
lebron

ill have to edit thier positions and such, my guess is they go 82-0

 

[Denny Crane]

Bulls beat Utah last night, and they played Rose, Gordon, Hughes, Sefalosha, and Nocioni for most (if not all) of Q4 and a good part of the end of Q3.

 

[Денг Гордон]

Bulls beat Utah last night, and they played Rose, Gordon, Hughes, Sefalosha, and Nocioni for most (if not all) of Q4 and a good part of the end of Q3.

Yeah, but like I've been saying, Sefolosha should be converted into a power forward.

 

[PapaG]

Bulls beat Utah last night, and they played Rose, Gordon, Hughes, Sefalosha, and Nocioni for most (if not all) of Q4 and a good part of the end of Q3.

Utah w/out Boozer has zero presence in the post. They are a donut.

 

[Jurassic]

Bulls beat Utah last night, and they played Rose, Gordon, Hughes, Sefalosha, and Nocioni for most (if not all) of Q4 and a good part of the end of Q3.

That would be a valid point, IF the Jazz were a championship caliber team, and IF the Bulls had just beaten them in a 7 game series.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I guess an elite squad composed of all-star 2s and 3s could win, but there's only so many shots to go around, so it's not like they'd all be going off for 20+ apiece. Actually I thought about this a little bit more, and it occurs to me that a team of even elite 2s and 3s would still get absolutely abused on post ups against a team like the Celtics, and if you put them up against a traditional championship squad that plays aggressive perimeter defense and can pack the paint with a couple of 7 footers I don't see them taking a 7 game series.

 

[Денг Гордон]

I guess an elite squad composed of all-star 2s and 3s could win, but there's only so many shots to go around, so it's not like they'd all be going off for 20+ apiece. Actually I thought about this a little bit more, and it occurs to me that a team of even elite 2s and 3s would still get absolutely abused on post ups against a team like the Celtics, and if you put them up against a traditional championship squad that plays aggressive perimeter defense and can pack the paint with a couple of 7 footers I don't see them taking a 7 game series.

Not if you have Lebron though. Lebron is big enough to play center. Lebron would make this concept work too easily.

 

[PapaG]

That would be a valid point, IF the Jazz were a championship caliber team, and IF the Bulls had just beaten them in a 7 game series.

Um, it's still a valid point, isn't it?

 

[Jurassic]

Um, it's still a valid point, isn't it?

Nope.

1. Bulls beating the Jazz is only 1 game, not a series. This thread is about winning a ring.
2. Utah is not a championship caliber team, nor is this a playoff atmosphere.
3. It's not like the Bulls used only 2s and 3s the whole game.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Not if you have Lebron though. Lebron is big enough to play center. Lebron would make this concept work too easily.

Yeah I guess that's true, but Lebron is a freak of nature; he's a point guard in a power forward's body. For the sake of this thought experiment I'd rather exclude actual individual players.

 

[maxiep]

Utah w/out Boozer has zero presence in the post. They are a donut.

Well, they beat us like a drum inside with Carlos.

 

[Denny Crane]

Nope.

1. Bulls beating the Jazz is only 1 game, not a series. This thread is about winning a ring.
2. Utah is not a championship caliber team, nor is this a playoff atmosphere.
3. It's not like the Bulls used only 2s and 3s the whole game.

The Bulls showed how it could be done, albeit not with the greatest of players.

They played a lot of zone, but were able to box out and grab rebounds. The Jazz were clearly able to exploit mismatches - the Bulls fouled Okur several times because he was able to post up with good position and get good looks.

Milsap went 11-14 (22 points) with 10 boards and 3 assists. Okur had 23 points and 13 rebounds. Letting their bigs get their points while forcing the rest of the team to shoot long range shots was a strategy that worked.

At the other end, the Bulls were able to run and get the ball downcourt faster than the bigger/slower Jazz could get back on D.

It was a close game until about 4:00 left, and the Bulls broke it open enough to put the Jazz in a hole they couldn't dig out of.

Granted, Rose/Gordon/Hughes/Nocioni are 4 pretty good players - a team with 3 guys better than Gordon/Hughes/Noc could do some real damage.

I see the point about the Warriors, but I'm not sure they are particularly talented either.

 

[MrJayremmie]

Yes they could, it would be similar to the USA national team, except LeBron at C instead of PF. You can have Melo or Marion or whoever at PF... then you can have a Roy, Wade, Kobe backcourt and if Roy is converted to the full time PG he would still do great since he doesn't need to concentrate on scoring just setting ppl up.

They would be over 120ppg, but it would all depend on how the play D. Roy/Wade/Kobe is solid, LeBron could probably defend any C in the NBA minus maybe Yao Ming... but LeBron is similar sized to Dwight Howard, maybe 1.5 inches shorter.

It would be that team vs. the Celtics, as the Lakers would lose Kobe and the Cavs would lose LeBron, but the Celts wouldn't lose anyone. Give that team some time to learn to play together, and by the All Star Break they would be unbeatable.

That is what I think at least. LeBron is the wildcard, as imo, he can play all 5 positions.

 

[Jurassic]

Yes they could, it would be similar to the USA national team, except LeBron at C instead of PF. You can have Melo or Marion or whoever at PF... then you can have a Roy, Wade, Kobe backcourt and if Roy is converted to the full time PG he would still do great since he doesn't need to concentrate on scoring just setting ppl up.

This is true, but there are a couple points I'd make.

1. Olympic play is much different than NBA play. This is evidenced in the fact the many international big men play like guards anyway (Dirk, Z, etc). This is also seen in how ineffective guys like Dwight, Bosh, and Amare have been in olympic play. It's a small man's game, that's why a team of 2s and 3s did so well in the Olympics.

2. As I said before, the salaries would not work out at all. Obviously Team USA would never be able to exist in the NBA so that's kind of a pointless comparison.

3. Others have used the example of the GSWs and Bulls as teams that have a lot of 2s and 3s. Frankly neither of those teams are going anywhere.

4. A couple years ago, the Knicks' GM (was it Layden?) has 11 forwards on their team. It created a horrible logjam and the team was horrible. A successful team needs versatility.

5. This is the most important point, nobody has mentioned anything about what this team's bench would look like.

 

[MrJayremmie]

2. As I said before, the salaries would not work out at all. Obviously Team USA would never be able to exist in the NBA so that's kind of a pointless comparison.

This is a hypothetical scenerio. No need to think about salaries. The question was would/could a team of all SGs and SFs win a title? And I think it would if you do a Roy, Wade, Kobe, Melo, LeBron or something of that sort.

If you don't load it full of stars, then of course not. It wouldn't beat a team like Boston. Without a real big man and without a true PG to help facilitate and calm everything down, they wouldn't be able to advance far in the playoffs, imo.

 

[Minstrel]

If you don't load it full of stars, then of course not. It wouldn't beat a team like Boston. Without a real big man and without a true PG to help facilitate and calm everything down, they wouldn't be able to advance far in the playoffs, imo.

Since there's only one ball, so 5 first-option scorers would be a tad redundant, I'd put Marion at power forward and bring Anthony off the bench.

PG: Brandon Roy / Dwyane Wade
SG: Kobe Bryant / Manu Ginobili / Vince Carter
SF: Tayshaun Prince / Joe Johnson / Caron Butler
PF: Shawn Marion / Danny Granger
C: LeBron James / Carmelo Anthony

I think such a team would win the championship. All sorts of mismatches, but I think James and Marion could better defend opposing big men than opposing big men could defend James or Marion. (Anthony and Granger would only play C and PF against the opponents' back up big men.)

Plus, it's a good mix of scoring, passing, defense and rebounding.

 

[sabas4mvp]

Ask Ernie Kent about teams comprised of guards and forwards... got to the Elite Eight before they were beaten Florida who coincidentally had two dominant bigmen.