How many teams would you say have the best team that franchise has ever had?

[Kblaze8855]

Right now. Today.

I hear it said fairly often that the teams of the past wouldn’t be able to play the teams today if only because trading two for three won’t work. And I’m not really trying to have that conversation again right now. I’m just asking how do you think it would go bottom line.

Let’s say every current team have to play whatever team you personally believe is the best that franchise ever had before this era. For the purposes of this discussion, let’s call “This era” maybe….2015 to now.

So here’s how it would work….


Team now plays past team of your choice in a 7 game series. Homecourt determined by win percentage. Hometeam gets 4 games in their era with the rules and refs they know. Road team gets 3. So for example…Hornets suck. They get 3 games with 2024 rules/refs and whatever Hornets team you pick(CP3/West/Chandler/Peja?) gets 4 with 08 rules. Clear?



how many current teams do you think would beat every team that has ever played for that franchise? And let’s just merge the thunder and sonics to keep it simple.


Let’s start with an obvious one.


Celtics. 2024 Celtics 65.8 win pace which annoyingly enough ties them with the 66 win 08 team for home court but puts them behind the 67 win 86 team.

They beating those teams? Let’s say 08 has homecourt because of the extra .2 wins.

Celtics beating every Celtic team?

Would the role players on the 01 Lakers keep up scoring wise with the 24 team or would Shaq and Kobe have to run totally wild? Would Showtime 2 point them to death?


Could the 07 or 05 Suns keep up with 24? I think we agree that after some time to adjust they would. But in game 1? We all marveled at 7 seconds or less by by current standards they weren’t that fast and didn’t shoot any threes. How about 93?

2012 Thunder taking out 24? Similar level of modern player. 96 Sonics? I don’t think anyone is gonna go deep into the 70s Sonics but you never know.

Think the Ewing or Reed Knicks keep up with a team shooting 50 threes?

Embiid and Tobias might drag Moses or Wilt out of the paint. That gonna get them by their 76er teams? I assume you all think so.

You confident any of these teams beat every team that ever played with the same logo? I just wanna know how deep the “Old teams can’t compete” belief goes.

How about Denver? Denver might be the easiest.

[Im Still Ballin]

I like the '02 Kings. They're one of the more versatile teams from that era; they'd transition to today's game well. I also would take the 2003 Mavericks for similar reasons.

[Im Still Ballin]

I also just remembered that the '73 Celtics went 68-14. Best record in franchise history I think? However, that was during the ABA days so the talent may have been diluted...

[tpols]

The Durant Westbrook Ibaka Steven Adams Thunder would kill the current OKC team no doubt.

People forget they were up 3-1 on the 73 win warriors. They choked it away... but to get to that point they were the better team.

[Kblaze8855]

I also just remembered that the '73 Celtics went 68-14. Best record in franchise history I think? However, that was during the ABA days so the talent may have been diluted...

I think that’s the year Hondo had that crazy 50 something point game versus the Hawks where he couldn’t miss but then he got hurt so they got eliminated.

[Kblaze8855]

https://youtu.be/4kqfHF43B8Q?si=mnXTGXmuubWg4N8X


I’m sure the highlights will pile have us “Done wit the 70s!” on Twitter but he ate them up. Awful lot of current guys given those same shots miss more of those jumpers than he did.

[jayfan]

Nuggets
Warriors

[Kblaze8855]

You think the Warriors, on pace for like 45 wins, beat the younger 2014 version with a better Klay, who still had prime Iggy and Bogut with Draymond not yet a name but David Lee in his place? Steph was considerably more dribble happy at the time and the older one is probably better but I’m not sure the team around him is.

and I see all that knowing the 2014 team isn’t the best warrior team, but it would match up pretty damn well with this one

[Real Men Wear Green]

Garnett vs Tatum would be a weird match up. You might think that Garnett would take him into the post except that KG didn't do that. Tatum would be tough for Pierce in the way that Durant was but the modern team would have to do a lot of cross matches to keep Tatum on him and the defense on Garnett is an even bigger problem if the 08 team decided to see if Garnett will take 30 shots. I think the modern team puts Porzingis on Garnett, Tatum on Pierce, Holiday on Allen and then have White and Brown roaming to create havoc.

The 08 team on defense would have to make more changes to their style. Perk would let Porzingis get too many threes and may have to take a lesser role. They would want Garnett on KP, Pierce on Tatum, Tony Allen on Brown, Rondo on White and Ray Allen on Holiday. They would likely defend the modern team as well as our better than anyone in the league today.

But in the end the evolution of the game would matter. What makes the modern team such a killer offense is they have two major scoring threats teamed with three other dangerous scorers and no one you can leave open. The 08 team had a few guys you could leave open in Tony Allen, Rondo and Perkins.

[Im Still Ballin]

I'd take the 2002 or 2003 Nets over the 2024 Nets. Jason Kidd would find a way to win. Keith Van Horn, Kenyon Martin, Kerry Kittles, and Richard Jefferson would do well in today's league I think. Jason Collins less so. The analytics guys loved him because his on/off numbers were great. Good post defense and boxing out I think. And having a low foul rate.

[Kblaze8855]

Kidd’s team was Better, but for the purposes of me being entertained watching the series, I would much prefer if the Kenny Anderson, Coleman and Drazen Petrovic nets got to play a few games under the current settings.

[Kblaze8855]

Garnett vs Tatum would be a weird match up. You might think that Garnett would take him into the post except that KG didn't do that. Tatum would be tough for Pierce in the way that Durant was but the modern team would have to do a lot of cross matches to keep Tatum on him and the defense on Garnett is an even bigger problem if the 08 team decided to see if Garnett will take 30 shots. I think the modern team puts Porzingis on Garnett, Tatum on Pierce, Holiday on Allen and then have White and Brown roaming to create havoc.

The 08 team on defense would have to make more changes to their style. Perk would let Porzingis get too many threes and may have to take a lesser role. They would want Garnett on KP, Pierce on Tatum, Tony Allen on Brown, Rondo on White and Ray Allen on Holiday. They would likely defend the modern team as well as our better than anyone in the league today.

But in the end the evil Luton of the game would matter. What makes the modern team such a killer offense is they have two major scoring threats teamed with three other dangerous scorers and no one you can leave open. The 08 team had a few guys you could leave open in Tony Allen, Rondo and Perkins.

and another thing is the current team has quite a few guys Who would transition just fine to the increased physicality allowed when they have to play in 2008. Holiday, Brown, White, Horford…they would be fine. They might even prefer it. Jrue Holiday would be a terror with 90s rules not that any 90s Celtics team justify mention for this.

[jayfan]

You think the Warriors, on pace for like 45 wins, beat the younger 2014 version with a better Klay, who still had prime Iggy and Bogut with Draymond not yet a name but David Lee in his place? Steph was considerably more dribble happy at the time and the older one is probably better but I’m not sure the team around him is.

and I see all that knowing the 2014 team isn’t the best warrior team, but it would match up pretty damn well with this one


I meant 'this era 2015-present'. Not this particular season, no.

.

[Axe]

2015 hawks seemed to have some potential. Too bad they ran into king kong though.

[Reggie43]

Wouldnt a modern team die by the three against the old defensive rules? Guys would be banged up just trying to get open unlike in todays league where its a free shot with just a few passes because of the amount of protection that shooters have.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Wouldnt a modern team die by the three against the old defensive rules? Guys would be banged up just trying to get open unlike in todays league where its a free shot with just a few passes because of the amount of protection that shooters have.
It's not just about the rules. Modern players put more work into three point range than players of the past. The old school player may be able to defend his man out there but he would have to stick to that guy harder than players did back then making it harder to double-team the star. Teams of the past would often have two or more guys that you didn't worry about as shooters. It would generally be an advantage.

[Reggie43]

It's not just about the rules. Modern players put more work into three point range than players of the past. The old school player may be able to defend his man out there but he would have to stick to that guy harder than players did back then making it harder to double-team the star. Teams of the past would often have two or more guys that you didn't worry about as shooters. It would generally be an advantage.

Yeah but the shooting percentages wouldnt be the same against the old defensive rules making that strategy much much less effective. Driving to the paint to create for shooters outside wouldnt be as easy if guys are allowed to handcheck and be more physical.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Yeah but the shooting percentages wouldnt be the same against the old defensive rules making that strategy much much less effective. Driving to the paint to create for shooters outside wouldnt be as easy if guys are allowed to handcheck and be more physical. When a star gets doubled there is an open man out there. Handcheck doesn't matter. It would be more important when we are talking about containing a scorer off the dribble and the tech for putting your foot under a shooter.

[Kblaze8855]

I’d like to see some of the modern off ball guys have to deal with the way people like Reggie were defended. He certainly wasn’t aggressive enough, but he also wasn’t taking 13 shots a game when he was consistently wide open. And he would be neck and neck with Steph as the best off ball player in the league right now.

granted they weren’t as focused on getting him open from three, but I would say the defense was generally more allowed to prevent it. Pretty much everything done to slow him is a textbook foul, the way the league beat it out of players the first season they changed the freedom of movement rules.

Go watch the example videos and how they called it the first preseason. Dudes were getting back to back to back fouls and just totally stopped trying to hand fight and deny position. The change was more drastic than many people let on.

[bison]

Nuggets are the obvious choice.

An interesting one would be the clippers, with their main competition being the teams within the past 4 years. I don’t think Lob City era at its peak was as solid as the current iterations.