ThaRegul8r

Scottie Pippen was a perfect complement to Michael Jordan. So my question is, who would be the perfect complements to the following players? Both these players and the ones you choose will all be in their primes.

***Please try to consider how their games would mesh together and explain why and how you think they would be complementary.***

It's much more interesting to read someone's explanation and reasoning behind their choice, and it's much more conducive to discussion rather than simply listing names.

THE PLAYERS

Wilt Chamberlain
Bill Russell
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Larry Bird
Magic Johnson
Jerry West
Oscar Robertson
Hakeem Olajuwon
Shaquille O'Neal
Tim Duncan

Who do you think would be the perfect complement for these players?

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BadBaronRudigor

Of the players they actually played with, I'd say . . .

Wilt/Guy Rodgers . . . . master playmaker in a halfcourt offense
Russell/John Havlicek . . . .another unselfish defensive star who could shoot off Russell's post passing
Kareem/Oscar . . . Oscar rather than Magic because Oscar was the halfcourt player who gave up his star stats to give Kareem his greatest year; Magic was greater player but team wasn't built around Kareem as much
Bird/Kevin McHale . . . Bird's outside shooting, rebounding and passing filled the weakness in McHale's game and McHale's defense, post game, and willingness to play limited minutes complemented Bird as well
Magic/Byron Scott . . . Small supershooter able to play point or play off Magic's passing
West/Elgin Baylor . . . .Baylor gave West a Mr. Inside to his Mr. Outside and a lot of finals appearances
Oscar/Adrian Smith . . . Pure jump shooter with decent defense quick enough to stop small points who didn't need ball
Hakeem/Otis Thorpe . . . Solid complement with terrific all around game and a shut up and play attitude who gave Hakeem a second big man and got him back focusing on great basketball and not his lack of recognition/pay
Shaq/Kobe Bryant . . . Defense and outside game gives Kobe the edge as a complement rather than Penny/DWade at least until Kobe's ego got in the way
Timmy/Tony Parker . . . .super efficient 2nd scorer with point skills and work ethic; this leadership combination gives the team a hardworking and focused identity

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Hakeem

It's hard to look past any of the famous duos and bring up a third player on those teams. e.g. Jordan-Pippen, Shaq-Kobe, Malone-Stockton, Kemp-Payton etc are all obvious. However, a lot of those duos weren't ideal. Payton, for example, wasn't the ideal PG for Kemp. You'd want a PG who could shoot and who didn't play as much in the post for a player like Kemp. And instead of Pippen, the Bulls would have preferred an equivalently talented PF/C, just because there's less of an overlap of skills there.

And Otis Thorpe fit very poorly with Olajuwon. You want a PF who can shoot to play with a dominant big man in order to create room and maximize each player's favorable touches. Thorpe had no jump shot at all. His strength was his low post game, meaning that there was massive overlap there with Hakeem.

Duncan could use a PG who's a better shooter since that would make the post-entry pass easier and spread the defense more.

ThaRegul8r

That's actually why I was going for players who didn't play together, but whose skills would complement each other perfectly. Not every real-life duo is ideal, so this was to be a forum to explore what pairings would be ideal.

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BadBaronRudigor

I don't know about not having a third on some of those pairings.

MJ/Scottie always had a third star at PF, Grant/Rodman
The Russell/Havlicek teams were also the Sam Jones years
Kareem/Oscar had Bobby Dandridge
Bird/McHale of course had Parish, tough to think of 2 without the 3rd
Magic/Scott . . . big three was actually Magic/Kareem/Worthy
Oscar/Adrian Smith . . . was more a big two with Jerry Lucas, Smith was pretty much a nonentity outside of Oscar
Tim Duncan/Tony Parker . . . has Manu Ginobili

In fact, most of the great teamups were a threesome . . . only Shaq/Kobe and Hakeem/Thorpe/(Mad Max?) were champions with a two star lineup . . . Wilt/Rodgers, Baylor/West, and Oscar/Lucas never pulled it off

Also, it seemed that the ideal complement for most players would be one of a very small pool of all-time greats that were unselfish and great two way players . . . might have to limit it to non-allstars or something to make it interesting.

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JPSeraph

There were too many good players on the 93-94 Rockets for me to put them in the same class as Shaq/Kobe for a two-star system.

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luther

I don't know if any two players alone can be considered perfect complements because you always have to space the floor and play 5-on-5. So Player A can drive and dish, and Player B can hit the 3...but is Player B a better complement than someone who would slip from the weakside and take a short pass to get an easy layup? No matter how good two guys play together, it doesn't add up to perfectly complementary.

Perhaps the way to do this kind of thread is to name three or four guys, then debate who would be the perfect 4th and 5th or 5th, and why.

ThaRegul8r

Hmmm... that's actually a good idea.

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luther

Thanks. I thought so.

jericho

Here are some pairings I'd love to see:

Bill Russell/Magic Johnson: Two of the best runners, rebounders and passers ever at their positions, they would be bee-yootiful on the break together. Insert any three dudes who could finish, hit an open jumper and/or dive for loose balls, and you'd have an easy contender.

Hakeem Olajuwon/Dirk Nowitzki: Hard to say if there would be enough balls for them, but what an unguardable combo they would be. Nowitzki would be free to roam, slashing or spotting up and creating mismatches all over. There would be much less pressure on Dirk's defense and rebounding, and Hakeem would have plenty of room to operate.

Shaquille O'Neal/Bob Cousy: They'd be fun to watch in the open court, Cousy would always know where and how to get the big man the ball, and while he was a low percentage shooter his clutch bombs would be a great counterpoint to Shaq bulldozing inside.

Tim Duncan/Walt Frazier: An all-defense combo for the ages.

JPSeraph

so good it's disgusting! Two off-the-charts basketball geniuses each orchastrating one end of the floor...wow. Of course this is completely unfair to the rest of the HOF duos out there.

Wilt and Michael anybody?

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