Golden State Warriors
PG - (1972) Rick Barry - 270.2 ($8.313)
SG - (1991) Chris Mullin - 141.8 ($8.697)
SF - (1952) Paul Arizin - 255.4 ($9.522)
PF - (1953) Neil Johnston - 209.8 ($9.408)
C - (1963) Wilt Chamberlain - 280.7 ($13.119)
Bench:
(1973) Nate Thurmond - 129.1 ($8.526)
(1997) Latrell Sprewell - 57.9 ($8.261)
(1972) Jeff Mullins - 96.0 ($6.938)
(1976) Phil Smith - 59.4 ($6.255)
(1960) Tom Gola - 80.9 ($6.215)
(1956) Jack George - 47.2 ($5.627)
(1953) Joe Fulks - 126.7 ($3.807)
Disqualified Players:
This one was pretty tough to decide the starting lineup. Well, that's not entirely true, it was pretty easy to pick the best five guys, but this team doesn't really have a true point guard. So, I ended up just throwing three small forwards (Arizin, Barry, Mullin) into the starting lineup and hoping it works.
Los Angeles Clippers
PG - (1978) Randy Smith - 70.0 ($7.249)
SG - (1979) World B. Free - 33.7 ($6.700)
SF - (1972) Bob Kauffman - 40.8 ($7.472)
PF - (2006) Elton Brand - 89.3 ($9.269)
C - (1975) Bob McAdoo - 133.2 ($10.232)
Bench:
(1992) Danny Manning - 30.8 ($7.334)
(1996) Loy Vaught - 17.1 ($6.952)
(1981) Swen Nater - 14.5 ($6.926)
(1990) Charles Smith - 12.6 ($6.787)
(2010) Chris Kaman - 15.6 ($5.913)
(2004) Corey Maggette - 33.9 ($5.905)
(2001) Eric Piatkowski - 13.8 ($4.202)
I'm pretty sure this is, by far, the weirdest team in the league. Eight of their twelve players are either power forwards or centers. Then they have one small forward and three shooting guards. Also, for a team that's been around since 1971, it really didn't take much to make this squad. I mean, Blake Griffin was 2.7 win shares or a few more MVP votes away from making it onto the squad as a rookie. So, the Clippers have size upon size to throw at other teams. But... a lot of those guys are just big bodies without a lot of skill... I mean, Loy Vaught? Swen Nater? Charles Smith? Those are just opportunities for guys to dunk on. But hey, Bob McAdoo and Elton Brand should rack up some pretty sweet stats, so there's that.
Los Angeles Lakers
PG - (1990) Magic Johnson - 714.0 ($8.476)
SG - (2003) Kobe Bryant - 669.4 ($9.681)
SF - (1963) Elgin Baylor - 416.2 ($9.576)
PF - (1976) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 569.6 ($10.529)
C - (2000) Shaquille O'Neal - 438.9 ($9.938)
Bench:
(1966) Jerry West - 584.6 ($8.681)
(2011) Pau Gasol - 167.7 ($8.381)
(1953) George Mikan - 380.0 ($8.035)
(1990) James Worthy - 220.2 ($7.267)
(1952) Vern Mikkelsen - 225.8 ($6.518)
(1952) Jim Pollard - 154.2 ($6.170)
(1956) Slater Martin - 132.1 ($5.531)
Disqualified Players:
You have no idea how long I debated over this starting lineup. On the one hand, you've got five of the top ten players ever on this team, so how do I not start all five? On the other, you've got Elgin Baylor (a top 20 player) whose 1963 season was just incredible and I think he really got robbed of the MVP that year. (He came in second to Bill Russell... as he almost always did in every aspect of his career. And that's more of a compliment to Russell than an insult to Baylor.) Ultimately I decided to go with Baylor at small forward as more of his natural position than try to move West to small forward, or West to shooting guard and Bryant to small forward. If I'd been basing it on their careers as a whole, I'd probably have tried to shift it around to fit West in, but since it's just the single season, I decided just to go with Baylor. (It's almost a good thing Wilt was disqualified for making another roster... I would have had no idea what to do if he'd been in the mix.) Anyway, this team is just ludicrously good. But the beauty of this project is that I have no idea if they can even be called the runaway favorites of this division, let alone the Western Conference.
(Weird random omission: Gail Goodrich. The man had a 126.7 score for the Lakers and came in 13th. Well, 14th if you count Chamberlain. He would have made literally every other team except the Celtics. And probably started for every other team, too. Yet his brief stints with the Suns and Jazz didn't accumulate him enough points to make those rosters either. That just really bums me out for some reason. I really like Goodrich. I know he would've seen almost no minutes on this team, but it still would've been nice for him to be on the roster.
Phoenix Suns
PG - (2006) Steve Nash - 244.0 ($7.029)
SG - (1976) Paul Westphal - 1976 ($7.114)
SF - (1970) Connie Hawkins - 57.1 ($8.323)
PF - (2006) Shawn Marion - 124.5 ($9.559)
C - (2008) Amare Stoudemire - 150.6 ($8.070)
Bench:
(1990) Tom Chambers - 75.8 ($7.501)
(1989) Kevin Johnson - 165.0 ($7.475)
(1993) Dan Majerle - 83.3 ($7.473)
(1969) Dick Van Arsdale - 82.6 ($6.949)
(1976) Alvan Adams - 59.9 ($6.432)
(1979) Walter Davis - 127.2 ($6.296)
(1990) Mark West - 20.0 ($5.817)
Disqualified Players:
Technically, according to WhatIfSports, Kevin Johnson had a slightly better season in 1989 than Steve Nash did in 2006, but it felt really weird not starting the Suns two time MVP, so I just decided the difference was minimal enough that it wouldn't matter to much to start Nash. This is another team that I like, and that I think is going to just be on the cusp of making the playoffs, but they've got a lot of really tough competition to get there.
Sacramento Kings
PG - (1964) Oscar Robertson - 420.9 ($10.574)
SG - (1973) Tiny Archibald - 134.0 ($9.476)
SF - (2004) Peja Stojakovic - 91.5 ($8.345)
PF - (2000) Chris Webber - 130.7 ($7.509)
C - (1968) Jerry Lucas - 154.2 ($9.791)
Bench:
(1997) Mitch Richmond - 110.6 ($7.509)
(1960) Jack Twyman - 131.7 ($7.220)
(1957) Maurice Stokes - 64.6 ($7.019)
(1952) Arnie Risen - 105.4 ($6.993)
(1952) Bobby Wanzer - 151.4 ($6.795)
(1964) Wayne Embry - 58.8 ($6.234)
(1952) Bob Davies - 150.7 ($5.511)
I debated long and hard about whether to start Richmond or Stojakovic in that small forward slot, but WIS has Peja at about $700,000 better for his best season, so that kind of decided it for me. I also typically try to avoid putting two point guards in the same starting lineup, but I think Oscar and Tiny can make it work.
Personally, I'd go with West over Kobe...That's just me. LA wins the division easy, but Sactown can't be underestimated.
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