Which is the oldest team that would be a title contender today?

[Psileas]

Bring an actual team from the past to the end of the last Finals, have them train and watch games in the pre-season and then participate in the new season. What's the oldest team that would seriously contend for the title today (e.g, "1967 Sixers")?

[russwest0]

Throw any old championship team in the modern East and they'd be considered a contender.

Russell's Celtics and the West/Baylor/Wilt Lakers come to mind.

[MrC1991]

72-73 Knicks?

[MP.Trey]

Throw any old championship team in the modern East and they'd be considered a contender.

Russell's Celtics and the West/Baylor/Wilt Lakers come to mind.

This. A team with Cousy, Russell, Sam Jones, Bill Sharman, Tommy Heinsohn, good role players like the lockdown defender K.C. Jones, a deadly 6th man in Frank Ramsay. One of the greatest coaches ever (even though his x's and o's game isn't up to par with what's being done today.) They are easy contenders.

[Iceman#44]

67 sixers

[LAZERUSS]

The '67 Sixers could easily match up with any top team in the league today.

But I was just perusing the '73 season, and I couldn't help but marvel at the Warriors...a team that went 47-35.

Their starting lineup had 6-7 SF Rick Barry, 6-10 PF Clyde Lee, 6-11 C Nate Thurmond, 6-4 PG Jim Barnett, and 6-4 SG Jeff Mullins. And keep in mind that you could probably safely add an inch to players of that era, most all of whom were measured bare-foot.

How good was that roster? Barry led the NBA in scoring in '67 with the highest full-time "non-Wilt" season in the Wilt-era, at 35.6 ppg, and then hung a 31.5 ppg season in the ABA, and later on, in 74-75, added a 30.6 ppg season in the NBA, en route to a Finals MVP. He would still be a 23.1 ppg scorer in his 77-78 season, in a league with Dr. J, Kareem, Moses, Walton, Gervin, Gilmore, Dantley, and many other players who would star in the 80's.

Lee? He was perhaps the best rebounding PF of his era. In fact, in the '73 playoff series upset of KAJ's 60-22 Bucks that season, he led both teams in rebounding.

Jeff Mullins was one of the best pure shooters of his era, and had multiple seasons in his career in which he averaged over 20 ppg. In '73, on a loaded Warrior roster, he averaged 17.1 ppg on a .493 FG%.

Jim Barnett was a fierce competitor, and a decent offensive player. He was the Warriors designated "PG" at that time (in an era in which that terminology did not exist), but it was really Barry who was the "Point Forward" on that team.

Thurmond? He should be much more appreciated on ISH. He was arguably the third greatest defensive center in NBA history (behind Russell and Wilt), and perhaps the greatest one-on-one defender at the position. No other center gave Kareem more problems defensively, either. In his 40 career H2H's with KAJ, a full-time Nate held a peak Kareem to a total of five 30+ point games, with a high game of 34 points. And in those career H2H's, he held KAJ to a .447 FG%. In the six game playoff series in '73 against KAJ, he held Kareem to 22.8 ppg on a .428 FG%, and in their '72 playoff series H2H, he outscored a peak KAJ, per game, 25.4 ppg to 22.8 ppg, and outshot KAJ, .437 to .405.

The Warriors bench had the 6-5 SF Cazzie Russell, who was a capable scorer (he had a 20 ppg just the year before as a starter.) They also had 6-6 Joe Ellis (who is listed in BB Reference as a PF, but who was actually a swingman between SF-SG.) And while he seldom played that year, 6-11 George Johnson would become a key contributor to the Warriors title run two years later. He was a marvelous shot-blocker and a very good rebounder.


With all of that said, while they stunned Kareem's 60-22 Bucks in the first round, Wilt's Lakers stomped them, 4-1, in the WCF's. And in the Finals, the HOF-laden Knicks (SIX HOFers) knocked off that Laker team, 4-1 (albeit, all four wins were decided in the last minute.)

What all of that illustrates is that the top teams of as far back at 72-73, would have easily been title contenders in today's era.