Aliens challenge us to a seven game series for the fate of our planet. You are Team Earth’s GM. Task one Celtic from each decade from the 1950s through the 2020s, eight man rotation. You get them as they existed in that decade. The alien squad is super balanced so fit and positional need matters!
by Crowxzn
12 Comments
I like the roster as pictured. Thinking I’d swap Chief for Paul. Lose some size there, but I think with two of the best defensive bigs of all time you can get buy.
I’ll take your base and swap out:
Parrish for Pierce, Rondo for Kyrie, and Brown for Tatum
Cousy, Russell, Cowens, Bird, Lewis, KG, IT, Tatum
The thing is the top is slow paced and the bottom is fast paced but the top offense is top tier
C: Russell (60s)
F: Garnett (00s)
F: Bird (80s)
G: Havlicek (70s)
G: Cousy (50s)
***
C: Parish (90s)
F: Tatum (20s)
G: Smart (10s)
Planet Globetrotter trying to start shit again I see
I would take Luke Kornet to match up with the aliens Shawn Bradley
This question gave me a weird Futurama flashback.
“In fact, everyone in this room is an honorary Globetrotter!”
– G: Cousy – 1957
– G: Pierce – 1999
– F: Bird – 1984
– F: Garnett – 2008
– C: Russell -1961
_______
– Tatum – 2024
– Brown – 2019
– Havlicek – 1970
This was a fun challenge! This is the best team I can field. I picked each player’s best season for the most part.. but also wanted to get PP, KG, JB and JT all in there 😉
The best lineup imo assuming the game is played the way it is today. Feel like a lineup with russell and KG is getting cooked by a team that can hit 3’s
Russell (60’s)
Tatum (20’s)
Bird (80’s)
Havlicek (70’s)
Rondo (10’s)
Bench:
KG (00’s)
Reggie Lewis (90’s)
Cousy (50’s)
Rajon Rondo (12)
John Havilcek (71)
Jayson Tatum (24)
Larry Bird (85)
Bill Russell (64)
Paul Pierce (03) – Robert Parish (90) – Tommy Heinsohn (59)
All respect to Cousy, but if we’re playing aliens I’m bringing Tommy as my 8th man. He would do _anything_ to win, plus who’s reffing this game? He’s _terrible_.
The starting five (plus Chief) is ridiculously good defensively. So much length, energy, and intelligence. Pierce for Rondo makes it a balanced and diverse offense.
Omitting Kevin McHale, an alien in human skin, is probably a mistake but by the 90s he was broken (foot) and he was not better than Bird in the 80s.
C: KG (00s): He didn’t love playing center back then, but that’s where he’d play in today’s game.
F: Bird (80s): This is the biggest no-brainer.
F: Tatum (20s): Pierce is the other player I considered, but the other guys from the ’08 era play more valuable roles and JT now is better than the version of PP I’m including (and arguably better than prime Truth).
G: Havlicek (70s): I’d be super curious to see how his game would translate with a 3-pt line, but he was such a complete, two-way player. I don’t have a pure PG in my starting lineup, but Hondo and Bird’s passing abilities make that a non-issue.
G: Ray Allen (10s) – KG is the guy from the ’08 squad you’d want in his prime, but I also want 2010 Ray for his 3-point shooting and clutchness, Judas or not.
Bench:
Pierce (90s): In ’99 Pierce wasn’t in his prime yet, but was damn good. The ice he had in his veins would come in handy, maybe even closing games over JT. Reggie is also a good choice to represent the 90s, but Truth was a much better shooter.
Russell (60s): I feel bad about making the greatest winner of all time come off the bench and he’d be a dominant defensive big, but he’d need a lot of time to adapt to the way the game is played today. KG gives you most of what you’d get from Russell on defense, but with more height, and better shooting.
Cousy (50s): Similarly, I’m sure he’d be able to set up his teammates, but not sure how the rest of his game would translate.