The All-Time NBA Roster (Starters)

SG Michael Jordan (1990-1999)

There shouldn’t really be much discussion. here but before you make an argument in favor of Kobe Bryant, check out some YouTube videos here and here. Jordan was nearly unstoppable against some very physical defenses—notably the Bad Boy Pistons.

He’s perhaps the only player without a weakness and was unstoppable in his prime. Jordan has to be included on any all-time list because of how competitive he was as an individual, and how he won championships.

Jordan was the first player who could take over a game singlehandedly, and was easily the most effective at it. His game got better even when his scoring average went down, because he made his teammates better just by attracting double-teams.

Teammates such as Steve Kerr, John Paxson, and Charles Oakley wouldn’t have been nearly as effective without Jordan causing the defense to focus much of their attention on him.

SF Larry Bird (1980-1989)

The best forward of all-time has to be in the starting line-up mainly for his shooting—but also his passing and rebounding.

Bird is the most competitive player in the starting five besides Jordan. There really isn’t anyone who I would consider close to his ferocity.

He dominated at a time when there were many great players in the league, and managed to stay at the top in MVP voting for most of his career. He is arguably the great forward of all time. If you look at his scoring lines against Julius Erving, you’ll notice that Bird easily outscored him while shutting Erving down on the other end.

It’s a little unfair to make that comparison, as Erving was near the end of his career—but that’s the best example to explain how good Bird was during the 1980s.

PF Tim Duncan (2000-2009)

This was probably the toughest decision for my team, because I looked at the pair of Duncan and Hakeem Olajuwon versus Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone. If Shaq wasn’t injured so much, I would feel a lot more comfortable taking the latter pair.

The gap doesn’t seem nearly as large between Olajuwon and O’Neal (I’ll argue this later) as it is between Malone and Duncan. Duncan is the only player in the post-Jordan era to win four championships with the same team, despite being part of several major changes each time.

Unlike many of the other superstars, he doesn’t stand out, but he was an MVP favorite every year because of his overall post ability. Duncan is the best defender of his era, and the player who made mid-range jumpers a popular weapon for post players.

C Wilt Chamberlain (1960-1969)

Chamberlain is the most dominant center of all-time. He changed the league's rules forever and was the gold standard for any dominating center for years to come.

If he was more of a team player, you could certainly make the argument that he was a better player than Jordan, but the competition was different. You have to take some of Chamberlain’s greatness away, because he only won two championships in a small league where he was the best player.

Still, it’s hard to take away the fact that nobody could stop him besides Bill Russell. He has way more 50-point games in NBA history than any other player, and played through some excruciating injuries.

It’s not just that he over-powered people, but he was actually a good scorer. He led the league in field-goal percentage for nine years.

If he had to sit out, reports say that he would quickly try to get back on the court and still performed well. No center will ever dominate the post as much as Chamberlain did.

You can find the bench players here.

Sources: basketball-reference.com and Who's Better, Who's Best in Basketball by Elliot Kalb.

This article is also published on Hoops 4 Life. You can find it here.

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