Alright! It’s good to be back!!
It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything on here, but in my defense, not much has happened since the Westbrook/Paul trade. The MLB Trade deadline passed, the NBA Summer League ended, and football had its first pre-season game. Things are happening, and the world of sports is beginning to move again – so that’s why I’m back. I’m also back more specifically, because a fascinating debate took place yesterday!
NBA.com released their All-Decade Teams for the 2010’s to close out this decade of basketball. Here were the teams:
The first team is perfectly fine with me. The second team is good too – I’d personally move Melo down to third team and bump either Paul George or LaMarcus Aldridge off the teams all together. Don’t get me wrong, Aldridge is a phenomenal post-player and is a model of offensive consistency. I just think about – when it comes to deciding All-NBA Teams – who were the best players and if I needed to win one game, then who would I take on my team. I would take all of these guys over LaMarcus Aldridge and I’d throw either Dirk Nowitzki or Kevin Love in over him. I have no problem with Kobe Bryant being on the list either because he is such a significant part of NBA history and he did have a couple MVP-caliber seasons in back-to-back years (2011-12, 2012-13).
However, the fact that I disagree with some of the picks is the reason why this list exists in the first place! August is a dead month for the NBA. We all know that. Heck, even late July has barely anything happening.
Thus, this article inspired me to put together my own All-Decade Teams for each decade starting from 1980 on (including this decade). Here are the criteria that I will use as a guideline:
· Achievements in the league (MVPs, All-Star Appearance, All-NBA teams)
· Are they a Hall of Famer?
· With the game on the line, how much do I trust that player to win the game for me?
· How unlikely is it we will never see a player like them again?
Here are some additional rules as well:
· These teams are positionless. It is simply the 15 best players from each decade. There doesn’t need to be a center on ever team.
· The years will be from the 1st year of the decade, until the year ending in 9, just like this All-Decade team. So it goes like this: 1980-81 thru 1989-90 ,1990-91 thru 1999-00, so on and so forth.
· Finally, they do not need to have played the entire decade. They just needed to have been one of the best when they did play during that 10-year period.
So without further ado, here are the All-Decade Teams
1980-81 to 1989-90
1st Team:
Magic Johnson
Michael Jordan
Larry Bird
Kareem Abdul-Jabber
Isiah Thomas
2nd Team:
Hakeem Olajuwon
Julius Erving
Kevin McHale
Dominique Wilkins
George Gervin
3rd Team:
Moses Malone
Alex English
Adrian Dantley
Charles Barkley
Bernard King
The first two teams were pretty easy to do. All of these players are Hall of Famers, All-Stars, and All-NBA players. Everyone on the first team is a champion and you can’t tell the story of the NBA without them. Kareem is the all-time leading scorer, Larry and Magic are legends, Dr. J – while not in his prime – could still get buckets and made the Finals twice in a decade dominated by the Celtics and Lakers.
Michael Jordan, despite not being in the league for even ten seasons yet, was still one of the best overall players of the decade and deserves a spot on the 1st team. The third team consists of players who were great scorers and players who almost hit their prime. Charles Barkley was close to being on the 2nd team. His issue is that there are just too many better players ahead of him still in the league at this time. Moses Malone was a stat-sheet stuffer, a trailblazer, and MVP. Finally, from 1981-89, Alex English has the most point scored (19,700), and Adrian Dantley has the third most scored (16,254), thus they are third team.
1990-91 to 1999-00
1st Team:
Michael Jordan
John Stockton
Scottie Pippen
Charles Barkley
David Robinson
2nd Team:
Patrick Ewing
Clyde Drexler
Karl Malone
Shaquille O’Neal
Hakeem Olajuwon
3rd Team:
Gary Payton
Reggie Miller
Dennis Rodman
Tim Duncan
Grant Hill
Like the 1980’s, the first two teams on the 90’s list were pretty easy to put together. They also mostly consist of power forwards and centers. That’s because they dominated the 90s (in terms of position strength – Michael Jordan owned the decade).
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are on the 1st team for obvious reasons. They won six titles and are one of the greatest dynasties of all time. They are also two of the best defensive players ever. Dennis Rodman is third team All-Decade because of his success as well. Additionally, you can’t tell the story of the NBA without Dennis Rodman, so he deserves to be on here.
Clyde Drexler is on this decade team and not the 80s because of his accomplishments as well. He made the Finals in ’94, he was on the ’92 Dream Team, and averaged 20 points per game while being a six time All-Star.
Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaq are two of the greatest big men of all time, along with Karl Malone who also made this list pretty handily.
Finally, there are two players on here that, upon first glance, seem like they don’t belong, but trust me they do. These players are Tim Duncan and Grant Hill.
Tim Duncan only played in the NBA since 1997, but, when he entered, he won Rookie of the Year, averaged 22 and 12, and won an NBA Title. His stats are amazing, and he was a straight up, better player than pretty much every other big man during that stretch
Grant Hill was an All-Star four out of his first five years in the league. He averaged 20 points per game and was All-NBA from 1995-2000.
The 90’s was stacked with talent and I think there are a dozen other players you could easily make a case for. That being said, these are the 15 I went with.
2000-01 to 2009-10
1st Team:
Shaquille O’Neal
Kobe Bryant
Steve Nash
Kevin Garnett
Tim Duncan
2nd Team:
LeBron James
Dirk Nowitzki
Allen Iverson
Dwyane Wade
Chris Paul
3rd Team:
Tony Parker
Ben Wallace
Paul Pierce
Tracy McGrady
Dwight Howard
I don’t think I need to defend anyone on this list, but I’ll do it. Steve Nash is a two-time MVP; LeBron is one of the three greatest players of all-time. Kobe Bryant won an MVP, two titles and scored 81 in a game. Shaq, KG, and Tim Duncan dominated the decade and were consistently in the playoffs. Dirk Nowitzki, Allen Iverson were both MVPs and Dwyane Wade averaged 30 points per game during the 08-09 season. Tony Parker and Ben Wallace both were phenomenal post-season players.
Finally, Paul Pierce is a Finals MVP, T-Mac scored 13 in 33 seconds, and Dwight Howard averaged 17 and 12 while playing in 489 of 492 games from 04-10.
2010-11 to 2018-19
1st Team:
LeBron James
Stephen Curry
Kevin Durant
Kawhi Leonard
James Harden
2nd Team:
Chris Paul
Blake Griffin
Russell Westbrook
Carmelo Anthony
Damian Lillard
3rd Team:
Kobe Bryant
Dwyane Wade
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Paul George
Kevin Love
I mostly agree with NBA.com’s All-Decade team with a few exceptions. I think Damian Lillard deserves to be on the list along with Kevin Love. Kevin Love is an NBA Champion, rebounding champion, and a 37% 3-point shooter. Damian Lillard ended two playoff series with walk-off buzzer beaters, finished top 10 in MVP voting three times, is 4-time All-NBA, and has made the playoffs 6 out of his 7 years in the NBA. He is an All-Decade player and it’s a shame that the NBA left him off to begin with.
So those are my NBA All-Decade teams, what about the All-Time Teams? I think it’s time someone did that. In fact, I’ll do it! Here’s how its going to happen. I am going to count down my top 50 players of all time and I’ll group them by All-NBA teams. So I’ll go 50-45, 45-40, so on and so forth until I finish with my top 5. The criteria will be a lot of the same as my All-Decade teams when I count them down. So be sure to look out for that as I unveil new players on my top 50 of all time each week. Making All-NBA teams (that are positionless), is a good way to group my top 50 of all time and provides a natural break for each group.
Be sure to look out for my next list, my NBA previews – that will be coming soon as well - and other future content as this site really gets going again! Thanks for reading, have a great day, and be safe!