Let’s Play a Game – Epilogue

Hopefully, most of you have read the four part series about the fictitious NBA all star teams of four eras from the 1960’s to the modern era as described in the articles “Let;s Play a Game” Parts 1 through 4. To sum up, each team was chosen from the best of the best of their eras to play a fictional series against a fictional super all star team from another galaxy with the ultimate high stakes (If the NBA team were to lose, we’d have to give the aliens our planet, otherwise they’d have conquered us with their superior technology) urgency involved, that being the “survival of our planet” was riding on the outcome of each series.

I’m glad to report that EACH of the four NBA all star teams from their eras (to recap, the Bill Russell led “Celtic Era” from the beginning of the league’s history to 1975, The Magic-Bird Era from 1976-1979, The Michael Jordan Era from 1990-2002, and The LeBron James Era from 2003 to the present) was able to win its series against the intruding alien team from another galaxy in some stirring games with all of the marbles riding on them.

To sum up some fictitious reports from some fictitious sportswriters about the four series, here are some of the best quotes to emerge from the coverage of the games. “That Intergalactic team wasn’t just stellar, it was interstellar.” “Michael Jordan played out of this world in that seventh game.” “I never thought I’d ever see Shaq destroy a backboard on a free throw.” “The intergalactic team thought Dennis Rodman should have been on THEIR team” “How come World B. Free didn’t make the team?” “And for that matter, how come the modern team didn’t just bring in Metta World Peace and just settle the whole world peace issue right there?” And “How did Jack Nicholson pull off getting those courtside seats?”

The games were epic. The referees calls were questionable. Did we expect anything else? Truth, justice and the American Way prevailed. When it was all over, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson were all together having a beer, bragging about how THEIR team was the best. Well, technically, Oscar wasn’t bragging, he was just listening politely to the other three bragging. Then, Bill Russell walked by with Charles Barkley and Bill chimed in and said, “Why don’t we all just play each other and SEE who is the best?” And Charles added, “And who is turrible”?

And so it was decided that the four greatest “Dream Team” all star teams of all time would play each other in a series of games for the bragging rights as to which generational team could prevail as the BEST team ever.

I need to remind you that the teams from the earlier years would have had all of the advantages that today’s modern players have. THEY could all travel, palm the ball, get away with crossover double dribbles that had always been called infractions in the past. THEY could lift weights and get in shape physically to be just as solid athletically as anyone today. They could not, however, suddenly get taller. They HAD to play at the height that they were when they played. But, I also need to remind you, EVERY PLAYER in this exercise played at their PRIME levels, with ALL of them at the peaks of their careers and with all of them playing in bodies that had NEVER suffered a serious injury. We are comparing the BEST of the best when they were AT THEIR BEST.

And now, back to reality. These teams did not play each other. It’s not possible. They CANNOT play each other. Some of the players named to teams are now dead. The older players from the earliest team are now all old and grey (except for Walt Frazier who uses Grecian Formula for his hair). Several of the players suffered injuries late in their career that forced them to have to quit the game. Others have gained weight and have little to no resemblance to the magnificent specimens they once were when they ruled the world and were some of the greatest basketball players the world had ever seen. Time can ravage a body like nothing else. Thank God there is a YouTube to allow us to see these former stars in action when they were young and mighty.

One place we CAN see these games played out is in our minds. We CAN put together imaginary teams of all stars from different eras and put together scenarios in our imaginations where we could try to determine what MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED had they played against each other on a level playing field.  I have no doubt that Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and Walt Frazier would be great players in any era. That Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain had greatness as centers that would have made them great in any era they played in.

Likewise, I am certain that some of the great shooters from ALL of the eras would be great shooters no matter where they were from or when they played. A jump shot from Lou Hudson, Reggie Miller, Kevin Durant or Bernard King would likely be good whether it was shot in 1965, ’75, ’85, ’95, 2005 or 2015. A Moses Malone, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dwight Howard or Willis Reed banging inside to try to get position would have likely have produced a successful rebound in any era. A Kareem, who played and played well against Wilt, Moses, Hakeem, Ewing, Walton, Robert Parish and others successfully in his playing years, proved that greatness would likely do just as well against anybody (Tim Duncan, Shaq, Dwight, David Robinson) from the modern era.

While wanting to acknowledge all of these all time greats, there is also the need to acknowledge the really special times that occurred when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird arrived on the scene, and were shortly followed by Michael Jordan. In nearly every “greatest player or team of all time” conversation, these three players and their teams are inevitably mentioned. Their careers were linked together in such an amazing arc. When Magic Johnson arrived in 1979-80 through Jordan’s 1997-98, these three people accounted for 14 of 19 championships. (Throw in Isiah Thomas’ Detroit teams, Hakeem’s Houston teams and the Dr. J – Moses Malone Philly breakthrough team and that’s ALL of the championships won during a two decade span when you had to BEAT all of these same great teams to win a championship). Special times indeed.

So, when somebody asks me who would have won between these four super “dream teams,” I honestly answer that I don’t know who would have won. I have some ideas. I know that when great teams composed of great players get together and play against similarly talented great great players, the contests seem to end up being close and competitive. All of these teams can probably score pretty efficiently. All of them can rebound. All of them can defend pretty well. Would it all come down to who would make or miss key free throws? Would Phil, Red, Riley or Pops out-coach the others? Would it all come down to who would hit the one big shot in the last seconds to win the game?

But each era has its own big shot player or players. Jerry West and Oscar from Team One, Magic, Bird and Isiah from Team Two. Michael Jordan, John Stockton and Reggie Miller from Team Three. Kobe, LeBron and Stephen Curry from the modern team. They ALL could make the big, last second shot with all of the marbles on the line. It boggles the mind how amazing these theoretical match ups and contests could potentially be.

And that’s the point. We all have our minds and our imaginations to play these fictitious, hypothetical games and scenarios out. We all have the ability to come up with our teams from our different eras and pretend they could do battle with each other until we process the info in our minds and we come out of the exercise with some kind of finished result.

Each generation could possibly see the results through biased eyes and have the results come out the way they want them to do, as in, old timers can skew the competition into a “the players from my time were better than these young whippersnappers today.” Or the younger fans could see the competition through the eyes of their generation and the idea that “MY generation’s team would win because… they’re from my generation and we rock because we’re young and we’re now.” LeBron James is better than Michael Jordan, neener, neener, neener. But that would be missing the point. The point being that this is an exercise in trying to determine an “objective truth,” not a subjective argument of “today is better vs. a yesterday WAS better.”

But the REAL fun way to go about doing this would be to try to see things completely objectively. To have no favoritism, no pre-conceived ideas as to who would prevail. To try to allow the subjective mind to go objective for once and to try to see things with an open mind. To have your mind allow the players to play things out on that court in your mind and let the players determine the answer of the question “Who would win if they played?”  A game that can be played at any time and in any place.