Building My NBA team

Watching 'The Last Dance" on ESPN the past five Sundays has given me the chance to look back at what the NBA was like during my youth. I was in high school when Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were finishing up their sixth NBA title in eight years.

But the documentary also allowed me to dive into the other players the Bulls were playing against. So I decided to make my own roster of NBA greats. But the catch for me is, they had to play at least a year in the timeframe that I have been alive.

So here is my NBA team of players who hit the hardwood starting in 1980. It's a starting five and then 10 backups to make up a 15-player roster.

Full disclosure - this team is not who I think are the best 15 players of my era. It's mostly NBA greats, but I also picked out guys I like or liked over guys I didn't or don't.

I am not a fan of Isaiah Thomas or Kevin Durant. I know they probably should be on this list. But they aren't part of my team.

Starting Point Guard

Magic Johnson

Johnson played most of his career before I turned 10, but he's regarded as one of the best point guards of all-time and definitely the best point of the 1980s and 1990s.

Magic is a five-time champion, three-time NBA MVP and a 12-time all-star. He made the all-NBA first team 10 times. Johnson averaged 19.5 points, an NBA-record 11.2 assists, 7.2 rebounds and 2 steals per game throughout his career.

Starting Shooting Guard

Michael Jordan

This also is a no brainer. Jordan is the GOAT so I better have him as my starting off guard.

Jordan was a 6-time champion and a 6-time NBA Finals MVP. His 10 scoring titles are by far the most in NBA history and he made the all-defensive first team nine times. You could make the argument that he was the best two-way player in the history of basketball, too.

MJ averaged 30 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.3 steals per game throughout his career. So those that they say he was just a scorer are wrong. In the playoffs, the scoring averaged did rise to 33.4 points per game.

MJ was a five-time NBA MVP, a 14-time all-star and a 10-time all-NBA first team member. He's fifth all-time in career points with 32,292.

Starting Small Forward

LeBron James

With LBJ on the floor, I basically have two point forwards distributing the ball to MJ and my bigs.

James belongs on any all-time great list. He is a three-time champion, four-time NBA MVP and a 16-time all-star. James also has been on the all-defensive team six times and is a 12-time first team all-NBA selection.

James averages 27 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6 assists and 1.2 steals per game so far in his career. He's the first active player on my roster and is currently third all time in scoring with 34,087 points.

Starting Power Forward

Karl Malone

This is the only position I struggled with for my starter. There are legit four PFs I could put on this team so one will get left off.

Malone is one of the best at the position all-time and ranks second in career scoring with 36,928 points.

Over his career, he averaged 25 points, 10 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He's a two-time NBA MVP, a 14-time all-star and made the all-NBA first team 11 times.

Starting Center

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The starting center position was not hard as far as a starter goes but this position is also deep with talented HOFs. The current era doesn't use a center like the old days but there were great big men roaming the lane in the 1980s and 1990s.

Abdul-Jabbar can make a case for the greatest player of all-time. He played all of his career before I was 10 years old so I don't remember much about him. I just know he was great.

He is the NBA's current all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points. The only guy who could break this record is James.

Over his career, Abdul-Jabbar, who was originally named Lew Alcindor, averaged 24.6 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.6 blocks per game.

He was a 6-time NBA champion, 6-time Finals MVP, an NBA-record 19-time all-star, made the all-NBA team 15 times and was part of the all-defensive team 11 times.

Backup Point Guard

John Stockton

Karl Malone owes a lot to Stockton, who would rather deliver an impressive dime to Malone than score a bucket.

Stockton never averaged over 20 points per game in a season but averaged 12 assists or more per game 8 times. He's the league's all-time leader in assists and steals and is a 10-time all-star.

Backup Shooting Guard

Kobe Bryant

Bryant is the closest thing to MJ based on how he played and how he talked. He modeled his game around Jordan and it showed.

That's one of the reasons I wasn't a fan of his during his playing days. But he deserves to be in the conversation of best ever after averaging 25 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game during his career.

He's a 5-time NBA champion and an 18-time all-star. He's fourth in career scoring with 33,643 points.

Backup Small Forward

Larry Bird

The only thing keeping Larry Bird from being higher on the all-time list was longevity. His back just didn't let him play late in his career.

His statistics are staggering though, averaging 24 points, 10 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He was a better version of James when healthy and could shoot it much better.

He's also a three-time champion, three-time MVP and 12-time all-star.

Backup Power Forward

Charles Barkley

I could have gone a few different ways with this one. It's the hardest position for me. But Barkley was so good in the 80s and 90s.

He averaged 22 points, 11.7 rebounds, four assists and 1.5 steals per game during his career. He's an 11-time all-star and is one of a handful of guys to have 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists in his career.

Backup Center

Shaquille O'Neal

My love for Shaq has grown since he stopped playing. It was hard for me to cheer for the Lakers so I never really rooted for him as a player. I also thought he was just a big dude that was hard to stop because of his size.

But he was dominant for 10 straight years in the league. He averaged 24 points per game in his career but had 10 straight seasons of more than 26 points per game. His overall career was hurt by his final six years where he averaged under 20 points per game.

He was a 4-time champion, won two scoring titles and was a 15-time all-star.

Rest of the roster

Steph Curry

Dwyane Wade

Scottie Pippen

Kevin Garnett

Hakeem Olajuwon

Other Guys I strongly considered

Allen Iverson

Reggie Miller

Dominique Wilkins

Tim Duncan

Patrick Ewing