Fun Rosters! Picking my Most Joy Filled Sports Teams... NBA edition
- Jonathan Ennis
- Apr 16, 2020
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 23, 2020
So let’s get this out of the way… I’m only 26… in my quarter century I’ve watched a ton of sports though. In their absence I’ve been thinking about talking about some of my favorite players to watch in my three favorite sports… This will probably be a three parter so stay tuned! One last thing… this isn’t necessarily who I think is the best, but the guys who gave me the most random joy to watch, they will be listed as starting and bench roles based solely on the joy they brought to my life in their playing time, not their ability.
Let’s start this out with simultaneously the easiest and hardest sport… Basketball. Basketball is the sport I enjoy playing, coaching, and watching the most. However, because of NBA roster size being so small I only get 15 roster spots… that means a lot of people are going to be left off. With that out of the way let’s dive in!
Starting Lineup:-
Point Guard: James Harden- Let’s get this out of the way… I’m a massive Rockets fan. Like Big time… The James Harden trade was one of the craziest happiest moments of my adult life… I know some people will hate his high free throw numbers as “tough to watch” but if you look at the myriad of ways he draws fouls its actually poetic. I love to watch his efficiency by being able to score even though everyone knows what he’s trying to do. I put him at point guard even though he was only listed there for one season… even going back to Arizona State he was often the one running the offense and this year he’s played more of a traditional Point Guard role with Russ almost playing where a Four would offensively.
Shooting Guard: Tracy McGrady- I know, I know my Rockets homerism is really showing here… but if you disagreed with my take about how Harden’s efficiency was poetic here is your time to agree with me! T-Mac was by no means the definition of efficient offense… but, dang it! he was smooth as can be… for a solid quarter of every game in his prime he would go super nova and score with so much ease it looked like no one was guarding him even when he was triple teamed… Add to it the fact that he could throw down some posters, snatch ankles and was a high level passer and he was just a joy to watch… also 13 points in 35 seconds… nuff said
Small Forward: Kawhi Leonard- Based solely off of his run with the Spurs in bringing Duncan a final championship. The amount of fear he instills in the best offensive player is awe inspiring. The fact he does it all without any emotion on his face whatsoever is amazing… but at the same time when we heard his laugh we understood why he didn’t even like to crack a smile…
Power Forward: Tim Duncan- The Big Fundamental… this dude is forever one of the most underrated guys… For what it’s worth he was the best player in the NBA for a solid decade and no-one acknowledged it because we were too caught up in Kobe-Shaq drama and waiting for LeBron to break out (Although Duncan and co. were responsible for smacking around LeBron and the worst supporting cast to ever make a championship round in pro sports history in 08.) Duncan was a top 25 player every season from his rookie year until he retired and that’s something almost no one can claim in the history of this sport.
Center: Hakeem Olajuwon- The Dream… I’ve told this before… I was born in 93 right before the first of back to back championships in years that Hakeem was the most dominant player on the planet (and yes that includes the return of MJ in 95). My parents had lived in Nigeria before I was born and my dad is from Houston… I’m honestly a little shocked that I’m not named Hakeem… The Smoothest post game of all time coupled with this ferocious attitude to win makes Hakeem, even the older version that I remember watching live so fun.
Bench:-
Backup PG: Jason Kidd- Some of my favorite sports memories with my dad are staying up until three in the morning to watch NBA Finals games while we lived in West Africa. Some of my favorite games to watch were the Nets-Spurs series’ I loved watching young, completely reckless Manu Genobili slashing to the basket but there was something about the way that Jason Kidd fed impossible outlets to Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin that still graces my dreams at night.
Backup SG: Kobe Bryant- Let’s get this out of the way… Was Kobe better than T-Mac… FOR SURE… did I have more joy watching Kobe… NOPE, NADA, NO WAY… Kobe was an assassin… A Killer, one of the most competitive people I’ve ever watched, It feels weird to leave MJ off this list but it really came down to how I felt about the tail end of their careers… I still get goosebumps thinking about Kobe dropping 60 points in a win in his last name then saying “Mamba out!” and I’d rather pretend I didn’t see MJ yell at Kwame Brown and miss the playoffs for the Wizards…
Backup SF: LeBron James- OK… LeBron is for sure the second or third best player of all time. However he’s also someone who a lot of people enjoyed to see fail, especially in his Heat years. However, his title saving block on Andre Iguodala in 2016 was one of the biggest moments of Sports history!
Backup PF: Kevin Garnett- Was he a little “fake tough”… sure… but who doesn’t love The Big Ticket!? His years in Minnesota were some of the biggest wastes of talent by an organization in sports history (Barring Ken Griffey Jr. and the Mariners.) His ability to lead the team in Boston was one of the coolest things to watch as well.
Backup C: Ben Wallace- The dude looked like he was my height but actually bullied Shaq… That should be enough for me to love him but he also had the cool fro, drew his own tattoos and was on the cover of NBA 2K5 which was one of my favorite sports video games growing up! He was a workhorse, the most successful undrafted player in the history of the Sport and by most metrics the second best defensive player in his career.
Backup Guard: Steph Curry- Did he win his first MVP over James Harden when he shouldn’t have… absolutely… did he deserve the first unanimous MVP award in NBA history? Also absolutely… Steph Curry is simultaneously one of the most likable guys in the NBA and its greatest villain… and oddly enough most of that has absolutely nothing to do with him… He is the most exciting non-uber-athlete in the NBA since Steve Nash and he has changed the game more than any player since Magic and Bird.
Backup Swing-Man: Vince Carter- Vincent Lamar Carter was the MJ to most people of my generation… sure Kobe and Duncan were better… but as awesome as they were they didn’t make us question the laws of physics like Vince did… Vince played his rookie year when I was in kindergarten… his last season just ended early a few months before the birth of my first child and he legitimately thought about being in the dunk contest this year! he is the most crazy athletic freak in the history of a sport that has 7 foot tall behemoths who’s only job is to stop people from dunking the ball… and Vince just casually jumped over them to dunk!
Backup Big: Serg Ibaka- There were a lot of players that almost got this spot, Yao, Louis Scola and Chuck Hayes almost got mentions for their legendary rockets careers… I thought about Dirk for beating the Evil Empire of the Heatles… Amare was awesome until injuries robbed us… but as a guy who loves it when people work on their game… Serge did something that was incredible… He went from an athlete who blocked shots and dunked to a stretch big and it was one of the coolest career transformations I’ve ever seen… it was cool to watch and watching him win a championship with Toronto as a sniper after he played in a Finals with OKC when he almost wasn’t allowed to shoot outside of the paint was crazy and I’ll always love it!
Injured Reserve
IR Backup: Derick Rose- For my injured reserved slots I’m picking people who spent way too much time in street clothes… I thought about Penny, maybe Chris Webber or even Yao… but Rose is the biggest robbed career of my lifetime… we can blame the Bulls management for their terrible rehab of his knee or we can maybe look back to how the dude was wearing a knee brace at Memphis so maybe it wasn’t healthy to begin with… whatever the reason he was super exciting and his 50 point explosion for the Wolves last year was the best feel good moment of that season.
IR Backup: Blake Griffin- So… I am not a Sooner fan… in fact I wanted to cut Blake just for that sin… but then I remembered the fun I had watching him destroy the careers of Timophay Mozgov and Kendrick Perkins and I just had to put him on here… I’m happy Blake has gone the Serge Ibaka rout to prolong his career but I just miss some of that high flying as well.
So who did I miss? What’s your all time team? Make sure you catch back with me for a baseball roster and a full NFL team! See you guys next time!
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