Let's say you were going to have a 5-on-5 tournament, best player at each position. Which NBA or ABA team would be able to put together the best team?
It's not a question of best franchise. Then you'd have to talk titles and of course it'd be centered around Boston and the Lakers. It's the question of which team has had the best players at each position over the course of professional basketball.
Each year I do a pro basketball ranking. To come up with the best team I simply gave franchises -- and I use this term loosely -- points by position. I have Kareem as the greatest center so the Lakers get 30 points (the scoring is a 1 to 30 scale) as well as the Milwaukee Bucks.
Now, some teams have bounced from city to city. I doubt a L.A. Laker fan really considers George Mikan an L.A. player. Just like Sacramento fans don't consider Tiny Archibald -- a Kansas City King -- to be one of theirs.
So for this ranking, you'll see some teams that no longer exist.
In all, 37 different teams scored.
No. 37 -- New Orleans Jazz, 5 points from Pistol Pete Maravich.
No. 36 -- Charlotte Hornets, 14 points from Alonzo Mourning.
No. 35 -- Kansas City Kings, 15 points from Tiny Archibald.
No. 33 (tie) -- Toronto Raptors, 20 points from Vince Carter.
No. 33 (tie) -- Buffalo Braves, 20 points from Bob McAdoo.
No. 32 -- Cleveland Cavaliers, 9 points from Brad Daugherty, 11 points from LeBron James and one point for World B. Free.
No. 31 -- Minneapolis Lakers, 23 points for George Mikan.
No. 30 -- Sacramento Kings, 20 points for Chris Webber, four points for Mitch Richmond.
No. 29 -- Syracuse nationals, 26 points for Dolph Schayes.
No. 28 -- Atlanta Hawks, 21 points for Dominique Wilkins and six points from Lou Hudson.
No. 27 -- Minnesota Timberwolves, 28 points from Kevin Garnett.
No. 26 -- Los Angeles Clippers, 14 points for Elton Brand and 15 points for Terry Cummings.
No. 25 -- Miami Heat, 14 points for Alonzo Mourning and 20 for Tim Hardaway.
No. 24 -- Portland Trailblazers, 13 points for Maurice Lucas, 26 points for Clyde Drexler. This does seem low but Bill Walton didn't play long enough. Terry Porter wasn't a highly enough ranked point guard.
No. 23 -- Dallas Mavericks, 22 for Dirk Nowitzki and 21 for Steve Nash.
No. 22 -- Washington Bullets/Wizards, 12 for Wes Unseld, 25 for Elvin Hayes and 11 for Earl Monroe.
No. 21 -- Cincinnati Royals, going way back, 19 points for Jerry Lucas and 30 for Oscar Robertson.
No. 20 -- Orlando Magic, 26 points for Shaquille O'Neal and 25 points for Tracey McGrady.
No. 19 -- Philadelphia Warriors, 29 points for Wilt Chamberlain and 23 for Paul Arizan.
No. 18 -- Houston Rockets, 28 points for Hakeem Olajuwon, 25 points for Tracey McGrady.
No. 17 -- Kentucky Colonels, 22 points for Artis Gilmore, 21 for Dan Issell and 12 for Lou Dampier.
No. 16 -- Indiana Pacers, 17 points for Mel Daniels, 23 points for George McGinness and 16 for Reggie Miller.
No. 15 -- St. Louis Hawks, 27 points for Bob Petit, 18 for Cliff Hagan and 14 for Lenny Wilkens.
No. 14 -- San Francisco/Golden State Warriors, 13 points for Nate Thurmond, 27 points for Rick Barry, four for Mitch Richmond and 20 for Tim Hardaway.
No. 13 -- Seattle Supersonics, 16 points for Spencer Haywood, eight for Tom Chambers, 18 for Ray Allen and 26 for Gary Payton.
No. 12 -- Utah Jazz, 29 points for Karl Malone, 12 for Adrian Dantley and 27 for John Stockton.
No. 11 -- Denver Rockets/Nuggets, 11 for Dikembe Mutombo, 21 for Issel, 20 for Alex English and 17 for David Thompson.
Here is the top 10:
No. 10 -- Detroit Pistons, 18 for Bob Lanier, 10 for Dennis Rodman, 19 for Grant Hill, two for Joe Dumars and 23 for Isaiah Thomas.
No. 9 -- New York/New Jersey Nets, 30 for Julius Erving, 20 for Vince Carter and 25 for Jason Kidd.
No. 8 -- New York Knicks, 21 for Patrick Ewing, 15 for Dave DeBusschere, nine for Bernard King, 11 for Earl Monroe and 22 for Walt Frazier.
No. 7 -- San Antonio Spurs, 25 for David Robinson, 30 for Tim Duncan and 27 for George Gervin.
No. 6 -- Phoenix Suns, 24 for Charles Barkley, 25 for Connie Hawkins, 21 for Walter Davis and 21 for Steve Nash.
No. 5 -- Milwaukee Bucks, 30 for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 16 for Bobby Dandridge, 19 for Sydney Moncrief and 30 for Oscar Robertson.
No. 4 -- Chicago Bulls, 22 for Artis Gilmore, 10 for Dennis Rodman, 16 for Scottie Pippen, 30 for Michael Jordan and 10 for Norm Van Lier.
No. 3 -- Los Angeles Lakers, 30 for Abdul-Jabbar, 28 for Elgin Baylor, 29 for Jerry West and 29 for Magic Johnson. The problem here is no great power forwards in the franchise's history and Karl Malone doesn't count here.
No. 2 -- Boston Celtics, 27 for Bill Russell, 18 for Kevin McHale, 29 for Larry Bird, 24 for Bill Sharman and 28 for Bob Cousy.
Leaving ...
No. 1 -- Philadelphia 76ers, even though the Sixers have just two NBA titles, they have had star power throughout the decades. Here's the starting five: Chamberlain (29), Barkley (24), Erving (30), Hal Greer (23) and Allen Iverson (24).
Try starting a bar discussion by saying the best five 76ers would beat the best Celtics or Lakers and see how that goes.
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