Am I crazy to have Bill Walton on my All-Time Starting 5?

[1987_Lakers]

If we could take Bruins Bill Walton(greatest college player of all time without question) up until his championship run with the Blazers, ooh man that'd be deadly. That is a great starting five that you have. I think Lebron has a better post game than Bird but Bird is a better shooter, although Lebron is a great shooter too. I dont know, this team is dominant.

Not true at all. Bird had a deadly post game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBnwSeMiVaU

[Genaro]

Yes you are absolutely retarded.

Bill Walton isn't even the best Blazers center of all time.

Arvydas Sabonis was better in every aspect of the game!

I would take prime Amare Stoudemire over Bill Walton, let alone Shaq, Yao Ming, Hakeem, Bill Russell, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, KAJ, Barkley, etc etc

You just went full retard.

[1987_Lakers]

no interior D tho. Would get housed by a team with a real front line. I think you can have Walton at C, but you gotta have someone like Hakeem at PF.

If you put Shaq vs them, they'd have to triple team.

I miss Bill Walton as a commentator tho.

-Smak

Walton in the 1977 NBA Finals averaged 19 RPG & 3.7 BPG.

During the regular season he averaged 14.4 RPG & 3.2 BPG, both #1 in the league. Keep in mind a PEAK Kareem was also in the league at this time. Walton made All-Defensive First Team and would have won DPOY if that award was given out in those days. Peak Walton was a better defender than the popular big men like Kareem & Shaq.

Walton's TRB% in 1977 was 21.2, which is incredible.

[LA Lakers]

Sorry, didnt watch all those highlights you posted, but my summation still stands, Lebron has a better post game than Bird. I'll say more complete if you will, just think about some of his passes out of the post. The court vision is off the charts. It's all opinion, though.
My starting five is: Magic, Michael, Bird, Bill Russell and Kareem. I don't have one particular year for each player as they all had many exceptional seasons.

[LA Lakers]

On any given day, you can plug Wilt Chamberlain on my list, too. Honorable mention should go to Hakeem, Dr. J, and Kobe Bryant. But Dr. J and Kobe are both so similar to Michael Jordan. Hakeem is tough to leave out, if we wanna talk about post moves as well.

[SHAQisGOAT]

I think Lebron has a better post game than Bird

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBnwSeMiVaU




And yea, Bird's clearly a better shooter from pretty much everywhere.

[SHAQisGOAT]

Sorry, didnt watch all those highlights you posted, but my summation still stands, Lebron has a better post game than Bird. I'll say more complete if you will, just think about some of his passes out of the post. The court vision is off the charts. It's all opinion, though.
My starting five is: Magic, Michael, Bird, Bill Russell and Kareem. I don't have one particular year for each player as they all had many exceptional seasons.

Huh, you still going with that complete bogus claim Bird had more moves and more ways to score in the post, a better soft-touch with either hand from close too, less wasted motion and more effective. Go look at the 1984 or 1986 Finals for example, he killed the Lakers (Cooper) and the Rockets (McCray) down-low. Your summation doesn't stand at all because it's just false, Bird had a better post-game than LeBron does.

More complete? Again, Larry had a considerably more complete post-game... Passes? Bird's one of the GOAT passers out of the post, certainly better than LeBron, you don't know what you're talking about at this point... You can even bring the better ability to play PG for LeBron, resulting in great playmaking from the perimeter, and whatnot, but passes out of the post? Bird was just better. Some of it, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDaY_-p3hSM

My starting 5 is the same but with Duncan at PF as Russell was (more of) a center.

[inclinerator]

lets see wilt 50 22 and 13 vs

walkton 20 15 and 5

nope.jpeg

[MUGEN]

Walton in the 1977 NBA Finals averaged 19 RPG & 3.7 BPG.

During the regular season he averaged 14.4 RPG & 3.2 BPG, both #1 in the league. Keep in mind a PEAK Kareem was also in the league at this time. Walton made All-Defensive First Team and would have won DPOY if that award was given out in those days. Peak Walton was a better defender than the popular big men like Kareem & Shaq.

Walton's TRB% in 1977 was 21.2, which is incredible.

OP nope you are not crazy. Hell give him one of the wearable mic to boot. He shall give the whole 12 inches...not just 6 inches for his team

[LA Lakers]

I think position with Duncan is irrelevant. Too me, he is a center disguised as a forward. Duncan so versatile he fools everyone into thinking he a four but he really a 5.

[1987_Lakers]

I know in alot of these all-time starting 5 discussions people have twin tower lineups, whether its Duncan or Hakeem at the 4. But I like Bird at the 4. With the evolution of the 3 point shot....spacing and 3 point shooting is more important than ever. Bird is the perfect stretch 4 who was not only an elite shooter, but could also score in the post & rebound at a high level. Bird at the 4 is a no brainier to me, also if my team goes up against a twin tower lineup, Bird can easily take them out of the game defensively by offensively standing near the perimeter.

I lose some interior defense with Bird on my team instead of guys like Hakeem & Duncan, but with Bird IMO my team becomes more versatile, my passing, spacing, shooting, & transition game all improve & my rebounding doesn't fall too much considering Bird was a great rebounder. Magic, LeBron, Bird, & Walton all on the same team? The ball would move beautifully.

Also could you imagine how crazy my fast break would be? Walton grabs the rebound and outlets (one of the GOAT outlet passers) to Magic, to the left of Magic is M. Jordan & to the right is LeBron. Game over.

[La Frescobaldi]

Yes you are absolutely retarded.

Bill Walton isn't even the best Blazers center of all time.

Arvydas Sabonis was better in every aspect of the game!

I would take prime Amare Stoudemire over Bill Walton, let alone Shaq, Yao Ming, Hakeem, Bill Russell, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, KAJ, Barkley, etc etc

KAJ & O'Neil are the only guys on that list better than '76-77 Bill Walton. Olajuwon & Duncan get a maybe. I leave out Russell because I never saw him til he got old. Get back to me when Barkley can play the 5 against those guys. And no, not Robinson, either.

You guys need to get on over it about Walton. He ruled the court end of story.

[Nowitness]

I know in alot of these all-time starting 5 discussions people have twin tower lineups, whether its Duncan or Hakeem at the 4. But I like Bird at the 4. With the evolution of the 3 point shot....spacing and 3 point shooting is more important than ever. Bird is the perfect stretch 4 who was not only an elite shooter, but could also score in the post & rebound at a high level. Bird at the 4 is a no brainier to me, also if my team goes up against a twin tower lineup, Bird can easily take them out of the game defensively by offensively standing near the perimeter.

I lose some interior defense with Bird on my team instead of guys like Hakeem & Duncan, but with Bird IMO my team becomes more versatile, my passing, spacing, shooting, & transition game all improve & my rebounding doesn't fall too much considering Bird was a great rebounder. Magic, LeBron, Bird, & Walton all on the same team? The ball would move beautifully.

Also could you imagine how crazy my fast break would be? Walton grabs the rebound and outlets (one of the GOAT outlet passers) to Magic, to the left of Magic is M. Jordan & to the right is LeBron. Game over.

You also lose perimeter (and in-turn all defense) with Bird just to let you know.

[LeBird]

To 1987_Lakers:

Which best years of Wilt, Russell and KAJ do you pick and why do you pick Walton over them? Just interested in your opinion, don't have a gripe about your starting 5, it's awesome.

[SHAQisGOAT]

I know in alot of these all-time starting 5 discussions people have twin tower lineups, whether its Duncan or Hakeem at the 4. But I like Bird at the 4. With the evolution of the 3 point shot....spacing and 3 point shooting is more important than ever. Bird is the perfect stretch 4 who was not only an elite shooter, but could also score in the post & rebound at a high level. Bird at the 4 is a no brainier to me, also if my team goes up against a twin tower lineup, Bird can easily take them out of the game defensively by offensively standing near the perimeter.

I lose some interior defense with Bird on my team instead of guys like Hakeem & Duncan, but with Bird IMO my team becomes more versatile, my passing, spacing, shooting, & transition game all improve & my rebounding doesn't fall too much considering Bird was a great rebounder. Magic, LeBron, Bird, & Walton all on the same team? The ball would move beautifully.

Also could you imagine how crazy my fast break would be? Walton grabs the rebound and outlets (one of the GOAT outlet passers) to Magic, to the left of Magic is M. Jordan & to the right is LeBron. Game over.

Bird played like a stretch 4 in college, was projected as something like that too, and played a lot like one in the NBA countless times, especially/even in his younger years when he guarded more SF's and was more athletic.
He's arguably the GOAT overall shooter yea, did lots of damage on the perimeter in numerous ways but he also had a great postgame, great soft-touch from close, was very physical/agressive and could bang inside with the bigboys, great passer/playmaker from the post, was a great rebounder, killed teams on the inside time and time again, and a great team defender.

And since you mention outlet passing, at the end of the day Bird would be my choice for the GOAT at it. Just look at stuff like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTI-Cmkp87A