My Laker team,

PG Magic……..duh
SG Kobe………nod over West (athleticism)
C Shaq………close nod over Kareem (more dominant, overpowering)
F Worthy……one big game = Big game James
F Baylor…….underrated, overshadowed by West.

Bench

C Kareem…..duh
G West……..duh
F Gasol……..tough call here, but I can’t think of a better 3rd all time Laker forward.

Yeah, I know Gasol’s career hasn’t really been defined by the Lakers, but we all know it will be.

Non-Laker team….

G Oscar Robertson…….more of a SG, but he’s got to be here.
G MJ………duh
C Wilt……..Early 60’s Wilt of course
F Duncan……..hurts, hurts, almost went with Malone
F Bird………….god that hurts, but I gotta be realistic

Bench

G Starbury……(actually Reggie Miller, just seeing if you are paying attention)
C Olajuwon…….(you’re welcome DreamShake)
F Malone…….close with Barkley, but not quite.

Anyway those are my teams. I think the starting lineups are almost dead equal, with minor advantages at each position…………however I think the Laker bench is a little bit better >>> Kareem > Olajuwon, West > Miller, and Malone > Pau.

Lakers win!!!!!

lakers:
pg magic johnson
sg jerry west
sf kobe bryant
pf pao gasol
c kareem abdul jabbar

bench:
f james worthy
c shaquille o’neal
g elgin baylor

nba team:

pg john stockton
sg michael jordan
sf larry bird
pf karl malone
c wilt chamberlain

bench:
g: julius erving
f tim duncan
c hakeem olajuwon

G: Magic- Duh
G: Kobe- Nod over West, sure
F: Baylor
F: Gasol
C: Kareem

C: Shaq
F: Worthy
G West

Same as PS, only different starters/bench.

PG: Oscar
SG: Jordan
SF: Lebron (Better than Bird ever was in a single season, just needs the time.)
PF: Duncan
C: Wilt

G: Gervin
F: Malone
C: Hakeem

So
PG: Lakers an edge, based on Magic playing tougher opponents and both dominating everyone they played
SG: Non Lakers easy win here
SF: Yes, non Lakers win here as well.
PF: Non Lakers easily enough
C: Wash

Bench:
G: West over Gervin
F: Malone over Worthy
C: Now… Shaq dominated the game more. On a team of All-Stars I’d rather have Hakeem though due to his passing and mid range game. Not sure how to vote here. Wash?

Either way, Lakers are beat easily enough at the starting spots outside of Magic. Lakers are even on the bench, but that’s not nearly enough.

PG: Magic
SG: West
SF: Kobe
PF: Rambis
C: O’Neal

Bench:
G: Fisher
G: Scott
F: Baylor
F: Worthy
C: Abdul-Jabbar

verus

PG: Stockton
SG: Jordan
SF: Bird
PF: Duncan
C: Wilt

Bench:
G: Robertson
G: Isiah Thomas
F: Pippen
F: Barkley
F: Karl Malone
C: Bill Russell
C: Olajuwon

—

Ok, so first off, I included Rambis merely because our franchise has lacked for a long time a great PF. I won’t include Gasol because he’s only spent a year-and-a-half as a Laker. But when it’s all said and done, I imagine he’ll be remembered for his Laker years over any other. I also start Kobe at SF, because I don’t really think you can have West or Kobe coming off the bench, it kills matchups and scoring power.

However, that being said, the Non-Lakers have the edge. They have more talent to pool from, can destroy us at PF, and even at SF. While the Lakers team would be a high scoring bunch, in a tight game, the Non-Lakers would be more likely to get a stop than the Lakers roster. This thinking is even why I placed O’Neal as the starter over Kareem, simply for the defense.

this is going just by my personal favorites of who id like on my team

PG Magic – no contest
SG West
SF Kobe
PF Gasol
C Wilt

bench
pg van exel
sg eddie jones
sf baylor
pf worthy (im aware he’s out of position)
c shaq

kareem gets no love from me cuz he’s wasnt very nice when i met him

nba:
Magic
Jordan
bird
duncan
wilt

bench: nash, west, kobe, lebron, dr. j, malone, russel

I can only include players that I have actually seen, so I only go back to the mid-70’s.
All-Time Lakers (remember this is built as a team that would win)
C- Kareem
PF-Lamar Odom
SF-Worthy
SG-Kobe
PG-Magic

Reserves—Micheal Cooper,Shaq,Jamaal Wilkes
My reasoning is this. Magic, Kobe, Odom,Cooper give 3 position versatility for matchup advantages. Either run,run,run (Magic, Kobe,Coop,Worthy,Odom, Magic & Odom playing in low post) or half court ( Shaq or Kareem or even both, as Kareem could post on the weakside out to 15 feet with his hook, Jamaal, Kobe baseline to top of key, Worthy slashing, Magic orchestrating)
Unstoppable team—2 lights out offensive players in Kareem, Kobe, 2nd most dominant post man in history Shaq, All defense in Coop. Kobe, Jamaal, Kareem, w/ Magic and Odom playing the doubles and passing lanes (remember Magic was always a league leader in steals) rebound pass out 5 seconds score. Wash and repeat.

Now what team could compete from the rest of the league ( thats even funny to think about. 1 franchise having so many great, great players)

NBA Team
C-Hakeem
PF-Duncan
SF-Bird
SG-Jordan
PG-Isiah

Reserves—Scottie Pippin,Dennis Rodman,Kevin Mchale
This team was built to be able to play the Lakers.
The Dream, Mchale, Duncan and Rodman would not make scoring in low post as easy as it seemed. W/ Micheal and Pippin in backcourt, oh my, any combo of 5 is lockdown defense. Clutch play across the board probably equal to Laker team.
Key Laker advantage against this team would be Shaq in low post and anyone Bird is guarding. Kobe vs. Jordan a push, Magic was defended better than anyone by Pippin and Rodman, but in his prime Magic still dominates all catagories. Hakeem will score against both Laker centers, but cannot check either without help. This team must play half court game or will get worked as Duncan, Mchale and Bird can work wonders if they are not chasing Worthy, Wilkes etc. So many left out, Dr.J, Archibald, Big E,Barkley, Malone,Walton in his prime,Moses Malone. None of these guys played enough defense however to be able to play w/ these Lakers

What a matchup this series would be. Lakers in 6 w/ homecourt, 7 without.

One thing I have to say is I do not think many post’s comments about Kareem reflect Kareem in his prime, 76-80. Kareem was a 6 repeat 6 time MVP, 2 time Finals MVP, and won 6 rings. He was an unstoppable offensive force often causing other teams to triple team him, would get 12-14 rebounds a game, 3 blocks and 4 assists and did not need any help against any other center of his time, which was the age of centers. Is in any argument for greatest overal player of all-time.
Funny Lakers have at least 5 who are in that argument. Magic(my vote), Kareem. Kobe, West, Baylor. Amazing.
The league has Jordan, Wilt, Russell,Bird. Interesting.

1: Magic (obvious)
2: Kobe (obvious)
3: Coop (defensive reasons, he wouldn’t need to score)
4: Worthy
5: Shaq (hard pick over Kareem)

Bench:
Jerry West
Lamar Odom
Kareem

Non Laker team:
1: Pete Marovich (I never cared for Stockton)
2: Jordan (obvious)
3: Julius Erving (imagine him at the 3)
4: Tim Duncan (people say he’s the best PF of all time)
5: Bill Russel (I’m a die hard Laker fan, so that one was tough)

Bench:
John Stockton
LeBron James
Wilt Chamberlain

I’d say the Non-Laker team wins here. It’s pretty much inevitable that the Non Laker team would win. There’s only so little to choose from while the non Laker team you could pick anyone. Russel and Chamberlain would help each other out with Shaq, LeBron James could wipe out the “mis-match” argument that Odom brings, and then there’s that guy named Jordan.

Remember Kareem played against Wilt ( got the better of him in most matchups), Walton in his prime, pre-injuries,Wes Unseld, tough, physical player, Nate Thurmond, same,Bob Lanier, same, Jack Sikma, Artis Gilmore,Dave Cowens,Parrish, Moses,Hakeem,Sampson,Ewing,Laimbeer,Mchale, and some I cannot remember. He won a vast majority of those match-ups, even in his 30’s. In his 20’s it was domination. Much more competition than Shaq faced. The sky hook would be his answer to Shaq and would have him out of position and in foul trouble often. Shaq would try to bully Kareem, but Kareem has seen that before and would use his much superior athletic ability to hamper Shaq. No double teams would be needed against Shaq, as we grew accustomed to seeing, leaving open shots for others. The same could not be said about Kareem. Shaq’s lack of defensive mobility would require DT’s still on Kareem. Over course of game, that spells victory majority of time.
Plus Kareem was a 80% free throw shooter
I see in matchups Kareem around 25-28 PPG, Shaq 20 -22, rebounds fairly even Shaq slight edge, blocks, advantage Kareem, as well as assists

I agree that our definitions are likely not quite aligned. Thats part of the fun, eh, of unanswerable questions. It is really impossible to be definitive when talking all-time this or that in sports due to so many factors. The only true realities are when the stars align and legendary matchups occur (i.e. Magic’s Lakers Vs. Larry’s Celts—Magic was better 5-3 and overall was a better player over the course of their parallel careers). Opinions are by nature biased no matter how we may try to be subjective. If you talk to people from the East Coast who grew up in the 60’s about Russel or his teams, they would mop the floor against anyone, LOL.Those who’s basketball impressions began with Micheals ascension understandably feel he is unassailable.I happen to be a Laker fan since the mid 70’s, so my bias is obvious, while trying to be reasonable. Having watched realistically 60-70% of Laker games in that time, my views reflect that 1st hand knowledge.

So to your points, I actually do not feel Barkley or Malone dominated as you describe, though I disagree mightly about Kobe. He has been 1 or 1A for the last 5 years in a very competitive league and dominates almost exactly like Mike did. There career parallels are interesting because Kobe mirroring of Mike really began after winning 3 rings. You could say Kobe at 26 and the team makeup for him was the same as Mike at 22. It took Mike several years to get the pieces to win rings, while dominating individually. Same with Kobe. What Kobe does now over the next few years will determine whether he surpasses Mike, though I think the league is tougher now than during Mike’s era and I think that might be unrealistic. Time will tell.
As far as my teams, you gotta admit those games would be awesome to see. Neither team would handle the other w/ ease. I happen to think though that if all mentioned played in their prime, the laker team wins a higher % of the games.
Of course I’m biased.

PG Magic vs. Gary Payton
SG West Jordan
SF Bryant Larry Bird
PF Kareem Tim Duncan
C Shaq Wilt

Bench:
Elgin Bill Russel
Worthy Shawn Kemp
Pau Lebron
Cooper Reggie Miller

I do not see why Shaq and Kareem could not work together. They can both pass and move laterally. Kareem had decent range. And I’d have Pau on the bench if it wasn’t working. Kobe is not a true SF but he can play it and I’d have Worthy and Elgin to slide in for flexibility. I threw Coop in for the defensive energy.

Can you tell I was also a Sonic Fan (RIP, Fuck Howard Schultz) Gary in his prime is underrated. He was the total package. And Shawn Kemp in his prime circa ’96 was amazing. Dude could still fly and his outside shot was developed by then. His rebounding was always strong and there was not a PF he could not defend 1-1. Malone definitely has him on body of work, but I do not think Malone ever had a season where he was as dominant as Kemp was in ’96. Same for Stockton vs Payton (see ’96 Western conference finals).

hmmm, are you saying Gary Payton is at level with Magic? Don’t think so.. Maybe on the D, yeah but that’s it. Mr. Payton can’t hold a candle to Magic. Hell, even Kidd is better than Payton.
Oh yeah, also feel for you about your sonics team. You somebody should have hacked Schultz’s e-mail account earlier. Will not move the team my ass…. Seattle was definitely screwed there.

Lakers:
              Magic (any argument?… thought so)
              Kobe (most versatile offensive player ever, great defender)
              Baylor (changed the game forever)
              Gasol (helped us win title, great all around game)
              Shaq (best post up offensively, another reason I chose Kobe)
              I chose Shaq over Kareem because of the size and physical size
             Bench:
                          West(clutch, logo, great shot)
                          Worthy(big game James)
                          Kareem(sky hook, tall, unstoppable offensive game)

                NBA:
                          Oscar (great stats Mr. Triple-Double)
                          Jordan(GOAT, need I say more)
                          Bird (great shooter, not afraid to get dirty)
                          Duncan(greatest pf all time)
                          Hakeem(best combo of offense and d at center)
                    Chose Hakeem because I don’t know how Wilt would play against Shaq
                   Bench:
                               Wilt(uhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah Wilt)
                               Karl(the mailman: name speaks for itself)
                               Stockton(works well Karl, 1 all time on steals and assists
                
                             Sooooooo:
                                                 pg is close but I’ll go with Magic
                                                 sg accomplishments aside pretty even
                                                 sf Bird
                                                 pf close accomplishments aside but Duncan
                                                center I’ll say Shaq but close
                                                bench I’ll take Lakers