Who do you think would win? The NBA 90's best players or 2000 and above?

Question

12 players in each team. Let us say you can restore their youth and let them be in their prime status as well. Distinguishing where the players belong depends on when they had primed.

Answer 1

FINAL SCORE
1990's - 129
2000's - 118

STARTERS
C Hakeem Olajuwon
F Karl Malone
F Scottie Pippen
G Michael Jordan
G John Stockton
BENCH
C David Robinson
F Shawn Kemp
F Grant Hill
G Reggie Miller
G Gary Payton
R Charles Barkley
R Alonzo Mourning

STARTERS
C Shaquille O'Neal
F Tim Duncan
F Lebron James
G Kobe Bryant
G Steve Nash
BENCH
C Yao Ming
F Dirk Nowitzki
F Tracy McGrady
G Allen Iverson
G Jason Kidd
R Dwayne Wade
R Ben Wallace


MATCHUP BREAKDOWN

CENTER
The "Dream" vs. the "Diesel". We have proof of Olajuwon thoroughly out playing Shaq in the 1995 NBA Finals. But Shaq was a young brute, who relied only on strength and athleticism. Hakeem was a polished post move master, and he made everyone remember that Shaq was only 22 years old. Now, we'll have Hakeem matchup with the wiser, more skilled, yet still strong and athletic Shaq of 1999-2002. This time I doubt the outcome is as lopsided. This version of Shaq would no doubt get his points against Hakeem, still I doubt a prime Shaq would be able to stop a prime Hakeem.

The Ming/Robinson matchup to me would clearly go to Robinson. Robinson is so much more active than Yao on both ends of the floor. David is good enough defensively that he could keep Yao from getting too comfortable on offense. He's also stronger and more athletic. I say he beats Ming up and down the floor often and he has a nice 15-18 foot jumper to keep Yao away from the basket to drive past him. There will be moments when Yao gets his easy points and shoots over Robinson, but Robinson has him beat in every other area.

Ben Wallace is great defensively, but so is Alonzo Mourning. The only difference is that Zo isn't an offensively liablity like Wallace. So Zo kind of makes Wallace a non factor because he's the same type of player, only with an offensive game.
WINNER: Team 90's!


POWER FORWARD
Duncan will get his as usual and Malone can't do anything to stop him. Duncan is big enough, strong enough, and good enough defensively to give Malone fits at any age. In this matchup I think Malone will have to pick and choose his spots, because against Duncan, he will be limited.

Kemp vs. Nowitzki is an interesting matchup because Kemp plays center often and Nowitzki started his career as a 7 foot guard forward type. I doubt either player could guard each other. Nowitzki will get dunked on ALL NIGHT LONG! But he'll have room to get his shot off practically everytime down court because Kemp, like most big men aren't used to guarding a big man who plays so much like a guard. What will seperate the two is rebounding. Kemp will clearly win that battle.

Also if Kemp isn't doing the job defensively on Nowitzki why not put Chuck on him? Although Barkley isn't a great defender, he'd do a good job on Dirk. Dirk has trouble with smaller defenders...Chuck is smaller. Nowitzki is also believed to be easily intimidated. Chuck would scare him sh*tless, making Dirk shrink and become a non factor.
WINNER: Team 90's!


SMALL FORWARD
Matching up Pippen and Lebron is a little hard because both are so team oriented. Lebron is a lot like a point guard on the court at times, so is Pippen. As good as a defender as Pippen is I think Lebron gets his easy. Despite the way he performed in the 2007 Finals, you can't give all the credit to Bowen or one defender, but the whole Spurs team shut him down because he was the ONLY scoring option. With these teammates, without the constant triple and qaudruple teaming, Lebron will be able to play his game and get his points and assist in the flow of the game. Pippen plays the same way, only less aggressive on offense and is on a totally different level as a defender. They won't affect each others game much.

McGrady and Hill cancel each other out much like Lebron and Pippen. Hill is a point forward and his game isn't based on dominating one area. McGrady can get his shot over Hill with ease, but could he score at a high percentage? McGrady, even in his high scoring Orlando Magic days always shots a low percentage (barely 44% for his career). Could he be effective on a team without as many shots to go around?
WINNER: Team 90's!


SHOOTING GUARD
The matchup made in heaven. Kobe vs. MJ. If this were an actual game this would be the marque matchup, generating the hype of a heavy weight championship fight. But unfortunately, it'd be more like Tyson vs. Spinks (for those who don't know Tyson TKO'd Spinks in 90 sec.) than Ali vs. Frazier (Mike Tyson being Michael Jordan). These two are not eqaully matched. I know this may upset some people, but if Gilbert freaking Arenas scored 60 on Kobe then what the hell do you think a prime Michael Jordan would do? People also forget that Jordan slashed and busted through abusing defenses (yes the defense were more physical in the 90's) and still shot above 50%. Kobe Bryant playing with a defensive attention getter like Shaq, and softened rules has never sniffed 50%. The closest he ever got was 47%. Even the season he scored 35 points a game, he shot 45%. Anyway I don't want to get into a heated rant about Kobe and Jordan. Bottom line on this matchup is this: Prime Michael Jordan would get his shot off or drive past Kobe 99% of the time. I don't think Kobe gets a lot of good shots against Jordan, because Jordan was also one of the best perimeter defenders ever. The same goes for Wade and Iverson or anyone else on the 2000 sqaud matching up against Jordan.

Reggie Miller's shooting will be his only asset. He'll be in a nightmare of a defensive match up against Iverson or Wade. He can't stay with either one of those guys. I'd play him only in spots throughout the game for his clutch shooting, just to keep him in rythym in case the game is close. They may have to do some cross matching because of this; like say matching up Payton on Iverson and Wade because they are way too quick for Miller.
WINNER: Team 90's!


POINT GUARD
Stockton and Nash are a wash. The only edge Stockton has is his help/team defense (getting steals) but that won't effect Nash directly. The same could be said for the Kidd/Payton matchup. I actually think those two would get more playing time than Nash/Stockton. Because they can both cross matchup onto shooting guards defensively and are just as good at play making as the starters. While team 90's wins every single matchup decisively, this one is pretty close.
WINNER: Team 2000!

FINAL SCORE
1990's - 129
2000's - 118
__________________

Thanks for the kudos Jordan Rules! Thought I went a bit over board, but I wanted be thorough! LOL!

Answer 2

1990's Team

PG Magic Johnson
SG Michael Jordan
SF Dominique Wilkins
PF Dennis Rodman
C Shaquille O'Neal

B1 Charles Barkley
B2 Larry Bird
B3 Patrick Ewing
B4 Kevin Johnson
B5 Reggie Miller
B6 Scottie Pippen


2000's

PG Steve Nash
SG Kobe Bryant
SF Kevin Durant
PF Kevin Garnett
C Amare Stoudemire

B1 Jason Kidd
B2 Vince Carter
B3 Joe Johnson
B4 Paul Pierce
B5 Shaquille O'Neal
B6 Jermaine O'Neal



Good Game, Like Suns vs. Spurs!

Answer 3

I would say now for sure. The NBA hit an all-time low in quality play in the 90's ( right after the all-time high in the 80's!) I guess everyone wanted to 'be like Mike' or something. It turned into more a series of one- on- one match-ups than good team basketball. I have seen it start coming around a bit and getting better over the last 3-4 years.

Answer 4

90's got

Michael Jordan
Reggie Miller
Shaquille O'Neal
Karl Malone
John Stockton
Gary Payton

2000's got

Steve Nash
Kobe Bryant
Lebron James
Amare stoudemire
Allen Iverson
Kevin Garnett
Tim Duncan
Dirk Nowitzki

It'd be very interesting

Answer 5

I'd go with the 90's. Here's my match-up:

90's:
C - Olajuwon
PF - Karl Malone
SF - Pippen
SG - Jordan
PG - Stockton
Bench:
Ewing
Barkley
Mullin
Miller
Payton
Robinson
Kemp

00's
C - O'Neal
PF - Duncan
SF - James
SG - Bryant
PG - Nash
Bench:
Yao
Nowitzki
McGrady
Carter
Kidd
Wade
Garnett

Answer 6

90's no question. Greater focus on passing, defense and teamwork in the 90's. Players knew their role much better too.

Answer 7

Nice breakdown analysis Tyronious!

Answer 8

90s for sure