Was the 1985-86 Boston Celtics the most stacked team in NBA history?

[72-10]

Starting lineup:
F Larry Bird
F Kevin McHale
C Robert Parish
G Danny Ainge
G Dennis Johnson

Sixth man:
C Bill Walton

Guys who had been starters on other teams were relegated to the bench. You had freakin' Bill Walton coming off the bench to grab rebounds. Jerry Sichting had been a starter for the Indiana Pacers.



Only team that I think compares is the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.

F Scottie Pippen
F Dennis Rodman
C Luc Longley
G Ron Harper
G Michael Jordan

Sixth man:
F Toni Kukoc

Seventh man:
G Steve Kerr

[swagga]

GOAT team.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/1987.html

[JohnnySic]

They sure have an argument. I addition to ^, they also had super-sub Scott Wedman.

Imagine if they all stayed healthy in '87 and then added Len Bias too. Lights out.

[72-10]

They sure have an argument. I addition to ^, they also had super-sub Scott Wedman.

Imagine if they all stayed healthy in '87 and the added Len Bias too. Lights out.

Yup. How did they acquire such a high draft pick anyhow?

[JohnnySic]

Yup. How did they acquire such a high draft pick anyhow?
Traded Gerald Henderson for Seattle's pick after the 1984 season.

[iamgine]

Bill Walton was 33. The season before he only played 24 minutes per game with Clippers, often as a sub. This is old and crippled Bill Walton, comparable to Zaza Pachulia.

But yea they probably were the most stacked on paper. Although, if you include coaching it might be arguable since their coach wasn't special.

[JohnnySic]

Bill Walton was 33. The season before he only played 24 minutes per game with Clippers, often as a sub. This is old and crippled Bill Walton, comparable to Zaza Pachulia.

But yea they probably were the most stacked on paper. Although, if you include coaching it might be arguable since their coach wasn't special.
He was just what they needed though. Even old, crippled Bill Walton was much better than Greg Kite. It was the one year that Parish had a good backup.

[1987_Lakers]

Bill Walton was 33. The season before he only played 24 minutes per game with Clippers, often as a sub. This is old and crippled Bill Walton, comparable to Zaza Pachulia.

But yea they probably were the most stacked on paper. Although, if you include coaching it might be arguable since their coach wasn't special.

Even at 33, when he was on the court Walton was a better rebounder, passer, & rim-protector than Parish who made the All-Star team in '86.

I would say Walton was a rich man's Bogut.

[3ball]

Only team that I think compares is the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.

F Scottie Pippen
F Dennis Rodman
C Luc Longley
G Ron Harper
G Michael Jordan

Sixth man:
F Toni Kukoc


Bird > Pippen.............advantage Celtics
McHale > Rodman...... advantage Celtics
Parish > Longley........ advantage Celtics
Ainge = Harper.......... wash
DJ < Jordan.............. advantage Bulls

Walton > Kukoc........ advantage Celtics


Rodman averaged 3/8 for the entire 1997 playoffs and 1998 Finals.. Rodman wasn't even a starter in the 1998 playoffs or Finals - Phil benched him because of poor play - he didn't start a single Finals game.

People forget that Rodman was complete garbage in 1999 when he played for the Lakers... He was actually this same player in 1997 and 1998, but no one noticed because the Bulls were 3-peating.. Rodman's last good year was 1996.

[livinglegend]

The bulls were more stacked relative to their competition.
They were contenders without their best player.
That's how stacked they were. :bowdown: :bowdown:
Thanks to the GOAT coach and to Pippen. :applause:

[3ball]

Only team that I think compares is the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.


..............................Playoff PPG


... 96' Bulls............... 86' Celtics...............87' Lakers

Jordan.... 30.7........ Bird........ 25.8........ Worthy...... 23.6
Pippen.... 16.9........ McHale.... 24.9........ Magic........ 21.8
Kukoc..... 10.8........ DJ.......... 16.2........ Kareem..... 19.2
Longley.... 8.4........ Ainge...... 15.6........ B Scott...... 14.8
Harper..... 8.8........ Parish..... 15.0........ M Cooper... 13.0
Rodman... 7.5........ Walton...... 7.9........ AC Green... 11.5
S Kerr...... 6.8....... Sichting..... 3.2........ Thompson.... 8.8


There's no comparison - the 1996 Bulls were a top-heavy team where MJ scoring nearly TWICE as much as his 2nd option and 30% of his team's points.

[Showtime80']

That's the one little detail when comparing the 86' Celtics and 87' Lakers to the 96' Bulls, the respective trios of Magic/Worthy/Kareem and Bird/McHale/Parish were closer to their peaks than what Jordan/Pippen/Rodman were by 1996. Not to mention the supporting casts of Green/Scott/Rambis/Cooper/Thompson and DJ/Ainge/Wedman/Walton/Schisting were a lot better than Harper/Kukoc/Wennington/Kerr/Brown.

The late 90's Bulls benefited a lot thanks to the transition the league was going through at the time, gone were the first tier of 80's superstars like Magic, Bird, Isiah and Dr J, the second tier of the 80s in Barkley, Drexler, Ewing, Stockton, Malone and Olajuwon were on the downside of their careers and the all HYPE AND NO SUBSTANCE 90's generation was getting their clocks cleaned left and right by the older second tier of 80's superstars. Not to mention 6 more teams were added from 1989 to 1996!!!

The late 90's Bulls and the Jazz as well were the perfect example of how far the league had fallen since the 80's when older and worst versions of their best players and teams absolutely MURDERED THE LEAGUE.

Being a Showtime fan, the 1986 Celtics were the GREATEST team I've ever seen and that was made possible by Larry Bird and Kevin McHale being at their absolute DESTRUCTIVE prime and Bill Walton, a guy who would've being easily a top 10 all time player, hopping in a time machine and playing like it was 1978!!!

I call the 86' Celtics the "Unfair team" and they would've clobbered the 96' Bulls and would've beat the 87' Lakers in six games!

[Showtime80']

Thanks 3Ball! The 87' Lakers had 7 players in double figures as well!

At the end of the day, I'm taking 86' Bird and 87' Magic over 96' Jordan, plus they had better supporting casts!

The Bulls just had the best player in an era were 1 or 2 stars surrounded by role players got you titles. Take a look at the 1994 Rockets roster when you have a chance!

In the 80's you needed 3 to 4 all-star caliber players with deep benches to win titles!

[WayOfWade]

I certainly think they are, however those 87' Lakers would give them a run for their money (I think).

[jayfan]

One of the greatest teams ever? Yes.

Most stacked team? Of course not.

Not even close. The bench was paper-thin. Bill Walton was Aron Baynes by that point.










.

[JohnnySic]

One of the greatest teams ever? Yes.

Most stacked team? Of course not.

Not even close. The bench was paper-thin. Bill Walton was Aron Baynes by that point.


.
The bench was good that year. Walton was great. Wedman averaged 20 ppg when McHale was out. Sichting had his best year.

The '85 and '87 Celtics had thin benches (especially '87 due to the injuries) and it cost them titles. '86 was the one year it all came together.

[3ball]

.
Bulls ORtg with Jordan 1991-1993:....... #1 all-time (113-115)

Bulls ORtg without Jordan 1994:...... 14th in league (106)


^^^^GOAT IMPACT


Keep in mind that these kind of ORtg comparisons are normally done with an on-off format, so the player in question is replaced by NOBODY - whereas the Bulls replaced Jordan with Kukoc.

More importantly, unlike the impact of most players, the offensive improvement the Bulls experienced with Jordan didn't come at the expense of defense - they had the 6th ranked defense in 1994, which is the same as 1991-1993 (4th, 7th, 4th).

Jordan enabled a TWO-WAY TEAM, which shouldn't be surprising since Popovich said Jordan was the standard for two-way play (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11875185&postcount=49).
.

[3ball]

I'm taking 86' Bird and 87' Magic over 96' Jordan, plus they had better supporting casts!


MJ had a greater offensive impact - this is statistical fact (see previous post)

He was also a goat-level defender.. So he was a two-way player, and therefore superior.





The Bulls just had the best player in an era were 1 or 2 stars surrounded by role players got you titles.



SHEER TALENT won rings in the 80's (goat-stacked Sixers, Lakers, Celtics).. But in the 90's, CHEMISTRY won championships, since all the super-teams with 3+ all-stars lost:


charles barkley - kevin johnson - dan majerle ------> LOSER

david robinson - tim duncan - sean elliot ------> LOSER

shawn kemp - gary payton - detlef schrempf ------> LOSER

shaq - penny hardaway - horace grant ------> LOSER

brad daughtery - mark price - larry nance - (ron harper) ------> LOSER

john stockton - karl malone - hornacek ------> LOSER

shaq - kobe bryant - eddie jones - nick van exel ------> LOSER

hakeem olajuwon - clyde drexler - charles barkley ------> LOSER

tim hardaway - chris mullin - chris webber ------> LOSER

isiah thomas - joe dumars - dennis rodman ------> LOSER
.

[jayfan]

SHEER TALENT won rings in the 80's (goat-stacked Sixers, Lakers, Celtics).. But in the 90's, CHEMISTRY won championships, since all the super-teams with 3+ all-stars lost:


charles barkley - kevin johnson - dan majerle ------> LOSER

david robinson - tim duncan - sean elliot ------> LOSER

shawn kemp - gary payton - detlef schrempf ------> LOSER

shaq - penny hardaway - horace grant ------> LOSER

brad daughtery - mark price - larry nance - (ron harper) ------> LOSER

john stockton - karl malone - hornacek ------> LOSER

shaq - kobe bryant - eddie jones - nick van exel ------> LOSER

hakeem olajuwon - clyde drexler - charles barkley ------> LOSER

tim hardaway - chris mullin - chris webber ------> LOSER

isiah thomas - joe dumars - dennis rodman ------> LOSER
.

Ridiculous post. On several levels.





.

[1987_Lakers]

Not even close. The bench was paper-thin. Bill Walton was Aron Baynes by that point.

Walton won 6MOY
Wedman and Sichting were both deadly shooters off the bench, Sichting is probably the greatest mid-range shooter nobody has ever heard of.

Look how Walton dominates Kareem in this game...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEbAQaLHT1E

[Pushxx]

Walton won 6MOY
Wedman and Sichting were both deadly shooters off the bench, Sichting is probably the greatest mid-range shooter nobody has ever heard of.

Look how Walton dominates Kareem in this game...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEbAQaLHT1E

Great watch. It always amazes me when you have superstars that clearly sacrifice parts of themselves or personal stats for the team like Larry, Duncan, and Russell.

Larry lead that team perfectly given all the tools he had around him.

[3ball]

Ridiculous post. On several levels.





.
Ridiculous post. On several levels.

I'm not going to say why though..

I'm just going to be a passive-aggressive, scared bitch and not specify what i'm talking about, like all the posters on ish

[deja vu]

It's the 2004 Lakers, followed by the 2016 Warriors and the 2011-13 Heat.