Pick one of these big 3s to win back to back to save your life.

[Kblaze8855]

Dropped into the league replacing the Rockets current roster. They have to win it all in 23 and 24 or you die the moment they are eliminated.


Peak versions and healthy. Any doppelgängers are eliminated from their current teams.




Tmac/Steph/Dirk

Kobe/Giannis/Jokic

Duncan/Wade/Luka



All 3 teams get this supporting cast:

Jeremy Lin
Patrick Beverly
Kyle Korver
Marcus Morris
Jordan Hill
Wes Matthews

And whatever G league players are needed positionally behind that.



Who do you bet your life on?

[SouBeachTalents]

In this era? I gotta go with Steph/Dirk/T-Mac. Very hard to pass up on a front court of Giannis/Jokic though. I’m really not a fan of the Luka/Wade pairing.

[Kblaze8855]

Luka was almost Durant but I wanted to work him in. He has some of that “I’m not sure other great players can play their best with this” style like Lebron but we haven’t really seen him in that position.

[GimmeThat]

Kobe/Giannis/Jokic

this way I at least have 2 starting line ups on the floor if not 3

it's the 2015 finals, and Kobe wins the FMVP

[post]

kobe/giannis/jokic

[ImKobe]

Kobe/Giannis/Jokic, easily. 3 great playmakers/elite scorers and Kobe & Giannis are both elite defenders as well and have the toughness & leadership on top of that. They'd obviously play through Jokic and at that point there's nothing you can do with Wes Matthews & Korver shooting wide open corner 3s as well.

Duncan/Wade/Luka is a close 2nd to me but I don't like the fit offensively, and the Steph/Dirk/Tmac one just doesn't have any rim/paint protection to win as consistently IMO, especially with the role players you listed.

[sbw19]

Even replacing Houston, just don't wanna face peak Giannis. So team Kobe.

[90sgoat]

I'm going with Duncan/Wade/Luka.

Just going by stats, Duncan is your best bet to win a ring. 5 rings as the man and always terrific defense.

He would also be able to fit with Luka and Wade, who fit the current Luka/Brunson model almost to a tee.

For me, T-Mac/Steph/Dirk is an easy pass. Steph/Dirk would get bullied by Duncan/Wade or Kobe/Giannis. T-Mac is a choker.

Ultimately it's close, because Giannis is a hell of a player and then you add Jokic AND Kobe?

Then again, Duncan is better than both Giannis and Kobe at fitting into a system, so he would be able to maximize ball dominant guys like Luka and Wade.

[FKAri]

Trick question. No one is guaranteed back to back wins in the NBA. But just picking amongst the 3:

Kobe, Giannis, Jokic

But if Dirk was swapped with KG then I'd take that lineup.

If Luka was swapped with Curry, then I'd take that lineup over above 2.

[Kblaze8855]

Tmac/Steph/Dirk wouldn’t have to play the other two teams just the teams in the league now minus the Rockets. I don’t see them being stopped once they grab an extra big or two off the scrap heap. Orlando Tmac with Steph and Dirk spacing the floor? I’m not sure how you approach defending that.

Teams couldn’t stop him in the best defensive era when he had a bottom 5 all time supporting cast for a star.

I can see a problem if they had to play one of the other two really physical teams but not so much vs any team they’ll see in the existing league.

[ShawkFactory]

Tmac/Steph/Dirk wouldn’t have to play the other two teams just the teams in the league now minus the Rockets. I don’t see them being stopped once they grab an extra big or two off the scrap heap. Orlando Tmac with Steph and Dirk spacing the floor? I’m not sure how you approach defending that.

Teams couldn’t stop him in the best defensive era when he had a bottom 5 all time supporting cast for a star.

I can see a problem if they had to play one of the other two really physical teams but not so much vs any team they’ll see in the existing league.

Yea people think about Tmac in the wrong way these days. There's a reason he went from like 15 a game to 27 in one season. If he was on a team with guys that could score he wasn't taking bad shots all over the place and dominating the ball.

Who would be their closer between him and Dirk though? That's the only issue I see and I'm not sure the other teams have that. Not that either guy is selfish or would create an issue without the ball at the end but I feel like these things need to be established and that would be tough.

[Kblaze8855]

I think Tmac on a team like that might average 23/9/8 today just be unstoppable when he chose to score. Jeff vangundy always says Tmac is the only scoring champ who’s scoring wasnt his best trait. That he was a better passer than scorer. I don’t know about that but I don’t doubt he’d love to be in a position to let the game come to him in his prime.

[Xiao Yao You]

Duncan/Wade/Luka

[red1]

kobe giannis jokic


giannis and jokic are excellent unselfish rebounding machines. odom and pau on steroids. that defense with giannis and kobe is going to be lockdown.

duncan and wade is a great duo but then adding luka is redundant. he will need the ball in his hands. durant instead of luka would be unfair and would make this the best three hands down.

[90sgoat]

T-Mac was Luka before Luka now that I think about it, such a similar game.

[Kblaze8855]

I kinda wonder what Luka would play like in a situation where the team didn’t need him to do much. You know he’s used to team ball just having started as a teenager in Europe. I’m sure those 30 year old men didn’t just give it to his 16 year old ass and get out of the way. He wasn’t like this when his team played OKC in the preseason years ago.

Youtube that game by the way. 17 year old Luka vs prime Westbrook. It’s…interesting.

[ShawkFactory]

I think Tmac on a team like that might average 23/9/8 today just be unstoppable when he chose to score. Jeff vangundy always says Tmac is the only scoring champ who’s scoring wasnt his best trait. That he was a better passer than scorer. I don’t know about that but I don’t doubt he’d love to be in a position to let the game come to him in his prime.

You kind of got the nail on the head. This is low key a great game of his:


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rhvZmBHIsf8

He was already better than Vince at 19

[Kblaze8855]

Some clips:


https://youtu.be/OfAgR8I2LBw

[Kblaze8855]

You kind of got the nail on the head. This is low key a great game of his:


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rhvZmBHIsf8

He was already better than Vince at 19


You can definitely see why Riley had the speed boat pick him up at Zo house and pull up to his dock so he could personally hand him the max contract offer. And in retrospect I’m sure he wishes he took it. Orlando had its run with Dwight but Riley runs the **** outta Miami.

[Shogon]

Kobe, Giannis, Jokic.

And I'm not thinking twice about it.

[Kblaze8855]

You thought twice. Your Steph and Tmac affection alone forced that.

Well with Steph I’d say it’s more an admiration for his impact without any actual affection but still.

[Shogon]

You thought twice. Your Steph and Tmac affection alone forced that.

Well with Steph I’d say it’s more an admiration for his impact without any actual affection but still.

I actually did think twice but it was Duncan/Wade/Luka.

McGrady was more talented than peak Kobe but at the end of the day, Kobe stayed healthy. McGrady didn't. And I know you say they're healthy but that's just too much to ignore. McGrady was unhealthy virtually every single year of his career. That guy didn't exist as a healthy version.

And Kobe and Giannis are trying to tear your heart out and Jokic is too good to ignore as well.

Two of the three trios have at least one guy that is not even in the conversation with the Kobe group defensively.

[Wally450]

I think Kobe/Giannis/Jokic could get it done.

[Akeem34TheDream]

Kobe/Giannis/Jokic have the highest ceiling. Would have been interesting to see them play together though. Really hard to imagine.