Ron Harper played for 15 seasons in the NBA and was fortunate enough to be teammates with some of the greatest players the game has ever seen. So, when The Makeshift Project’s Brian Conz asked Harper to make an all-time starting five using his former teammates, you knew it was going to be star-studded.
“I’m gonna have to go Scottie Pippen … at the one,” Harper said. “I’m gonna have to go Kobe Bryant at the two. I’m gonna have to go [Michael Jordan] at the three… I’m gonna have to take [Dennis] Rodman at the four. I’ll take Shaquille O’Neal at the five.”
Harper went with Toni Kukoc as the sixth man for this team and Phil Jackson as the head coach. He believes this group will only lose two or three games a season and would win championships with ease.
NBA fans had some interesting reactions to Harper’s team.
“Might be the best team of all time,” one reckons this is the best team ever.
“This squad is holding their opponents to under 80 points per game easily,” a fan believes this team will lock down the opposition every night.
“With the triangle, you don’t need a traditional point guard so this would work,” one fan is not bothered by this team having Pippen at point guard.
“That team would go undefeated,” a fan doesn’t see this team losing a game.
“He just picked the best players he’d played with. This team has 0 spacing,” one fan pointed out a flaw with this team.
Spacing is an issue here, as none of the five are great outside shooters. Kobe Bryant is the best of the lot, and he was a good but not great three-point shooter. Regardless of that flaw, beating this team would be almost impossible. Let’s look at the players one by one.
Scottie Pippen, who was somewhat of a point forward, gets the nod at point guard. He won six titles and averaged 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.0 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game in his career. Pippen also made seven All-Star, seven All-NBA, and 10 All-Defensive teams.
Bryant is the shooting guard, and he averaged 25.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in his career. He won five titles, two Finals MVPs, one MVP, and two scoring titles. To go with that, Bryant made 18 All-Star, 15 All-NBA, and 12 All-Defensive teams.
Bryant’s idol, Michael Jordan, shifts over to small forward in this team. He averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.3 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game in his 15 seasons in the NBA. Jordan won six titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, one DPOY, and 10 scoring titles. He made 14 All-Star, 11 All-NBA, and nine All-Defensive teams.
The mercurial Dennis Rodman took the other forward spot. He averaged 7.3 points, 13.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in his career. Rodman won five titles, two DPOYs, and seven rebounding titles. He made two All-Star, two All-NBA, and eight All-Defensive teams.
Last but certainly not least, we get to Shaquille O’Neal, who averaged 23.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.6 steals, and 2.3 blocks per game. He won four titles, three Finals MVPs, one MVP, and two scoring titles. O’Neal made 15 All-Star, 14 All-NBA, and three All-Defensive teams.
Kukoc, who won Sixth Man of the Year in 1996, would provide a good spark off the bench as well. Add in Jackson’s coaching and you get a team that’s nearly impossible to beat.
