When talking about the best players ever the argument will undoubtedly come up, "If you had to make one team of all time players who would you pick?". There is no correct answer to this question, so many guys have such a strong case to be made that no matter what, many great players will be snubbed. Here is my all-time team, just a reminder, this is 5 guys that would be the best team, not necessarily the best players ever at their respective positions.
Point Guard- John Stockton
In his best years Stockton was a high double double point guard who played good defense and could knock down the big shot. Many would probably expect to see Magic or Isiah here but this team needs a point guard who will run the offense for the star player and not look for his own shot and his own spotlight as Magic or Isiah would.
Shooting Guard- Michael Jordan (C)
Jordan is the best ever, plain and simple. Jordan and his Bulls flat out embarrassed the NBA after Jordan returned from his baseball sabbatical. Including the 1995-96 season where the Bulls went 72-10 and started their second three peat with a championship over Shawn Kemp, and Gary Payton's Seattle Supersonics (Now Oklahoma City Thunder) . Jordan is the catalyst on this team as most of the offense will come from him, many isolation plays would be run for him and he would pretty much have free roam to do whatever he wants.
Small Forward- Larry Bird
Bird is probably the smartest basketball player ever and his unselfishness led his Celtics to three championship titles. The reason why Bird is on this team is because he is a great three point shooter who would be perfectly content with not being the number one option on offense.
Power Forward- Kevin Garnett (C)
KG's defensive prowess is unparalleled, every single night KG leaves it all out on the floor like a championship game, who wouldn't put a player like that on their team? Along with the fact that he can put up 20 and 10 every night, nobody could pass that up. The one and only reason why he doesn't average very high numbers on the Celtics is because they blow out teams so badly that he only ends up playing about 30 minutes which is not enough time to get big numbers. What Garnett brings to this team is his intensity, on this team he will be the emotional anchor defensively, and nobody will play lazy with KG around to tell them about it.
Center- Hakeem Olajuwon
Olajuwon won two NBA titles in the mid 90's (Jordan was retired at the time) and he is a dominant low post scorer and rebounder. Hakeem is what ties this team all together, his ability to draw double teams in the post opens everything up for Stockton, Jordan, and Bird.
Notable Snubs:
Wilt Chamberlain: Wilt's numbers are off the chart, but I'm a firm believer that if he were to be put in the NBA today he would not be anywhere near the force that he was in his day. All of the players on this team would be great players in any era.
Bill Russell: Russell's 11 championships are hard to ignore but he falls under the same category as Chamberlain, he would not be a great player in the 80's, early 90's, or today. He (and Chamberlain) would still be very good players and all-stars but they wouldn't be able to carry a team by any means.
Magic Johnson: Magic was snubbed because I don't believe that he could play alongside Jordan. Magic creates for his teammates but this team revolves around MJ and I'm not convinced that Magic would be able to deal with not being the guy who handles the ball for the majority of the game.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Kareem was snubbed not because of anything he did, it's just that I'm a big fan on determination and Garnett's is too strong to pass up.
Oscar Robertson: The Big "O" is nothing short of phenominal, averaging a triple double for a full season is magical but he, like Magic, would not fit well around Jordan.
