Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
TOP LINEUP (JERSEY SALES
1-5): LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Stephon Marbury, Tracy McGrady, and Allen
Iverson
M
As a lineup judged solely by talent, these guys will get the scoring job done, but would be weak defensively. While they will come up with probably more steals than any other team, opponents will likely be able to pass over them, post them up, and pick-and-roll through them. They are indeed much like the small ball lineup that Don Nelson's Mavericks play, with the same strengths and weaknesses.
LINEUP #2 (JERSEY SALES
6-10): Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Steve Francis, Shaquille O'Neal, and Scottie
Pippen
If Pippen were not on this list, this would be by far the best lineup of the
league. But Pippen is a role player at best, and an injured veteran on the verge
of retirement at worst. O'Neal and Duncan form the best frontline possible, and
Bryant and Francis join them in the backcourt for what essentially should have
been the starting lineup for the Western Conference All-Star game. Pippen at
small forward is no Kevin Garnett, and that is this lineup's weakness.
We now need to choose which lineup is better: small ball rookies or these big All-Stars? Shaq would toy with Carmelo at center, as would Duncan on James at the four. Call the backcourt approximately equal, as Marbury would probably shut down Francis and AI would try to outscore Kobe and either fail or succeed with a terrible shooting percentage. There are two problems for the big lineup. One is Pippen, who would be routinely outgunned by T-Mac. The other is fouls. The big guys might get in foul trouble, and with no bench to spell them, they could easily foul out. Once either Duncan or Shaq has to sit, they are essentially playing three-on-five. The winner, by a small margin, has to be the small ball guys.
LINEUP #3 (JERSEY SALES
11-15): Gary Payton, Jermaine O'Neal, Anfernee Hardaway, Rasheed Wallace, and
Vince Carter
Finally some action. The Glove takes the point and Penny takes the two.
Vinsanity, Rasheed, and Jermaine form a formidable Eastern Conference bloc in
the front court. Comparing this lineup to our winner so far, the Glove and
Starbury would play themselves into a tie. AI would decimate Penny, but Jermaine
would destroy Carmelo, so call those a wash. That leaves T-Mac against his
distant cousin Vince and the well-travelled Rasheed Wallace against the
Cleveland rookie LeBron James. That's actually a tougher call than expected as
Wallace plays better defense than you might think, and James has a better post
game than he usually gets credit for. Could we possibly have a tie here?
Nope. Penny's jersey, while popular, would just not stand up to the grueling task of guarding AI. Like the previous lineup, it has size, but ultimately suffers from having to carry an aging veteran who wouldn't be able to contain a younger, quicker player.
LINEUP #4 (JERSEY SALES
16-20): Allan Houston, Paul Pierce, Yao Ming, Kevin Garnett, and Baron Davis
The Baron and Houston start in the back court, with Pierce playing the three
and KG and Yao playing up front. This is possibly the best lineup in terms of
fitting stellar players still at the top of their games to the appropriate
positions. Ignore Houston's injury, much like we've ignored AI's. Yao has about
a foot of height over Carmelo. At this stage of their careers, KG would outplay
James, but who knows how the two straight-from-high-school stars would compete
in a few years? Pierce against T-Mac is a great matchup, and for argument's
sake, let's give the edge to T-Mac, since the rest of the frontcourt advantage
lies squarely with this new lineup. How would the backcourts match up? Baron and
Stephon are probably a wash, as they are both athletic and supremely talented.
Houston and AI are also probably a wash, though if you must choose, probably you
would give AI a slight edge.
The conclusion? Perhaps the small ball swing players have a slight edge on lineup #4, but the point guards even out, and lineup #4's front court would simply dominate. Unlike previous lineups, there is no weak link here, and only one player prone to fouls (Yao Ming). To be fair, Carmelo would probably have his share of fouls trying to guard a guy that size too.
So we have our first upset: jersey sales 16-20 make a better team than jersey sales 1-5!
LINEUP #5 (JERSEY SALES
21-25): Latrell Sprewell, Jalen Rose, Jason Richardson, Chris Webber, and Jason
Kidd
Kidd is a superstar, no question about it, and he would outplay Baron Davis
by a significant margin. Plus, he does tend to make his teammates better.
Richardson, Rose, and Sprewell are all excellent wing players that can shoot and
penetrate and finish the fast break, but Chris Webber at center defending Yao
Ming? That's got to make you shake your head. And who exactly is going to guard
Garnett? His teammate Sprewell? It's just not going to happen. Even comparing
them to their competing swingmen, none of Richardson, Rose, and Sprewell can
hold a candle to Pierce, and are more on the level of Houston, at best.
Lineup #4 stands as the champion.
You might argue that the Shaq or Jermaine lineup would do better than the KG/Yao lineup. Not so. Shaq and Yao at best are a wash; in fact, Yao often outplays Shaq since he gets especially excited about the matchup. KG and Duncan would probably be a wash as you are comparing last year's MVP to this year's most likely winner. But Paul Pierce would school Pippen routinely, and though AI would probably own Houston, Marbury would not be able to outplay Baron Davis. That leaves a strong front court advantage to lineup #4.
Similarly for the lineup #3. Vince and Pierce cancel out. Jermaine O'Neal and Yao cancel out, for argument's sake. Allan Houston and new teammate Penny Hardaway cancel out, again for argument's sake. That still leaves Rasheed Wallace defending Kevin Garnett and Gary Payton on Baron Davis. In both cases, lineup #4 wins.
So what have we learned? That the fans don't know what they're doing? That the best lineup came from deep into the top 25 list? That these results are fairly spurious because if we had started with #5 we would have had a lineup of AI, Duncan, Bryant, Francis, and Shaq?
No. What we have learned is that any one of these lineups would be an amazing team.
OTHER NOTES: The top 10 teams in merchandise sold field a familiar list, with the Lakers, Knicks, and Sixers holding on to the top three spots, respectively. But LeBron's Cavs are fourth on the list, not having appeared on it at all last year. The Bulls, Celtics, and Nets make up spots 5, 6, and 7 as old-timers and nostalgic fans look for renewed glory from these franchises. At number eight, however, the Spurs have finally made their way into the top 10. It takes a championship to get people to buy your stuff, but they've finally done it. The list rounds out with Orlando at number nine, and Carmelo's Nuggets at number ten.