What is the tallest first five in NBA history?

[Linspired]

2006 cavs

larry hughes - 6ft 5 = 77 inches
sasha pavlovic - 6ft 8 = 80 inches
lebron james - 6ft 8 = 80 inches
drew gooden - 6ft 10 = 82 inches
big z - 7ft 3 = 87 inches

406 inches

not bad

[Overdrive]

I tried several shortcuts before putting my head down and going back to basics. Don't mind my complete and utter retardedness in this thread.

Doesn't matter anyway, the tallest stay the tallest aslong as the same criteria is used.

Metric system is easier to calc anyway.

[RedBlackAttack]

2006 cavs

larry hughes - 6ft 5 = 77 inches
sasha pavlovic - 6ft 8 = 80 inches
lebron james - 6ft 8 = 80 inches
drew gooden - 6ft 10 = 82 inches
big z - 7ft 3 = 87 inches

406 inches

not bad

Interesting. The only problem is that Eric Snow started all 82 games in '06, believe it or not.

[Linspired]

Interesting. The only problem is that Eric Snow started all 82 games in '06, believe it or not.

snow started 45 games. sasha stared 28 games.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CLE/2007.html

[RedBlackAttack]

snow started 45 games. sasha stared 28 games.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CLE/2007.html

That's '07. Generally 2005-06 is considered the '06 season and 2006-07 is considered '07.

It still doesn't match up to the criteria, but nice find nonetheless. We are going to have a hard time beating 405" without using shenanigans. It is still cool to see some of the longer teams of all-time.

Even when you factor Snow in and take Pavs out, it is 401"... Still one of the biggest teams we've found. I'll compile a big list when we're finished.

[BlueandGold]

what about the '00 trailblazers?

Pippen (6'8)
Sheed (6'10)
Sabonis (7'3)
Kemp (6'10)
Will Purdue (7'0)

granted i have no idea who was starting for that team

[RedBlackAttack]

what about the '00 trailblazers?

Pippen (6'8)
Sheed (6'10)
Sabonis (7'3)
Kemp (6'10)
Will Purdue (7'0)

granted i have no idea who was starting for that team

I think the backcourt starters on that team, completely off the top of my head, were Damon Stoudemire and Steve Smith. That may take them out of the convo, but then again, Sabonis was pretty huge.

[RedBlackAttack]

2000 Blazers
Damon Stoudemire - 5'10"
Steve Smith - 6'7"
Scottie Pippen - 6'8"
Rasheed Wallace - 6'10"
Arvydas Sabonis - 7'3"
________________________

Total - 398" (33' 1.7")

Not bad. Mighty Mouse killed it, though. I forgot how small he was.

[Owl]

Late 90's/early 2000s Mavericks teams with Bradley at C and Nowitzki playing small forward and 6'7 SG Michael Finley.

The tallest permuatation would be with 6'11 Christian Laettner at power forward. Neither Bradley nor Laettner was a full time starter (6'9 Juwan Howard also got a lot of starts at the big man position plus a lot of 3 guard lineups with Eisley).

So short of going through every single game I can't be sure that team ever all started. Given how much Nellie tinkered with lineups I imagine it was used once or twice, but not often.

97 Pacers were pretty big.
7'4 Rik Smits
6'11 Dale Davis
6'9 Derrick McKey
6'7 Reggie Miller

but to be really tall they would have had to have comitted to playing Jalen Rose (6'8) at PG but it seems they went mainly with Best (and occasionally Workman) and then later traded to get Mark Jackson back.

[Owl]

2000 Blazers
Damon Stoudemire - 5'10"
Steve Smith - 6'7"
Scottie Pippen - 6'8"
Rasheed Wallace - 6'10"
Arvydas Sabonis - 7'3"
________________________

Total - 398" (33' 1.7")

Not bad. Mighty Mouse killed it, though. I forgot how small he was.

I know Pip was always basically a point forward, so I was wondering whether they ever started without a pg. The answer ... not really, but once they did. Stoudamire started 78 games and Greg Anthony (6'0) 3 games so in at least one (probably only one but they could have played together) they did.

In that game they likely started the 4 players mentioned and would have had one of 3 from 6'11 Jermaine O'Neal (started 8 games), 6'9 Brian Grant (started 14 games) or 6'9 Detlef Schrempf (started 6 games).

[turnaroundJ]

Tall lineups?

I'm taking this undersized team all day over any tall-player team you can make:

C - Ben Wallace
F - Charles Barkley
F - Dennis Rodman
G - Allen Iverson
G - Chris Paul

[Kblaze8855]

The jazz at one point had 6'11'' thurl Bailey at the 3 with Malone at the 4 and 7'4'' or 5 Eaton at center. Thought I believe Jeff Malone and Stockton might bring the average down..

[iamgine]

Atlanta Hawks

Pachulia 6'11
Childress 6'8
Smith 6'8
Johnson 6'8
Harrington 6'9

Total: 405"

[OldSchoolBBall]

Not sure who started that year (I think Fish/Kobe/Ariza/Odom/Gasol), but the '09 Lakers were huge in terms of their top 6 mpg players:

Fisher 6'1"
Kobe 6'6"
Ariza 6'8"
Odom 6'10"
Gasol 7'1"
Bynum 7'1"

[Hizack]

Not sure who started that year (I think Fish/Kobe/Ariza/Odom/Gasol), but the '09 Lakers were huge in terms of their top 6 mpg players:

Fisher 6'1"
Kobe 6'6"
Ariza 6'8"
Odom 6'10"
Gasol 7'1"
Bynum 7'1"

Because Artest was suspended () Odom started as a small forward in Game 3 of 2011 WCSF (Lakers - Mavs series).

Starters:

6-1 Derek Fisher
6-6 Kobe Bryant
6-10 Lamar Odom
7-0 Pau Gasol
7-0 Andrew Bynum