FanPost

Fantasy Basketball with the Best 50 NBA Players to Never Win a Title

The Bleacher Report put together a slide show of the "50 Best NBA Players to Never Win a Title" with our own Karl Malone being listed as the best NBA player to never win a title. Stockton comes in as the 5th best and Hornacek at number 47 (why does that number seem familiar?)

And, since the Jazz are out of the playoffs and I'm ambivalently disinterested in the current match-up between OKC and the Heatles, I wandered through the list of the best 50 NBA players to never win a title and created a ginormous spreadsheet documenting the teams they played on during their careers. After doing this absurd exercise, I rumbled through the data and discovered the following:

1. The Timberwolves and Bobcats have not had any of the 50 best without a title (BWT) on their teams

2. The Magic, despite it's relatively short 23 year existence (compared to other NBA teams), has had nine BWTs grace its roster (tied for second most in the league)

3. The Suns have the most BWTs with eleven

4. The Jazz also tie for second in BWTs with nine

Here is the Jazz complete BWT roster:

John Stockton (6'1" PG), Deron Williams (6'3" PG), Pete Maravich (6'5" PG/SG), Jeff Hornacek (6'4" SG), Adrian Dantley (6'5" SG/SF), Bernard King (6'7" SF), Karl Malone (6'9" PF), Tom Chambers (6'10" PF/C), and Walt Bellamy (6'11" C).

That BWT roster seemed like a pretty good team so it got me thinking, which NBA team has the best BWT roster?

Seeing how you've read this far, you must be looking for something to do to, so I'll provide you with all the BWT rosters for teams having 7 or more BWTs (I chose a cut-off of seven since most NBA teams go seven or eight deep, there were 10 NBA teams with 7 or more BWTs, and I had to cut-it off somewhere - every team doesn't get to make it to the playoffs - sorry Laker fans.)

Consequently, besides the Jazz, the teams that make the BWT cut are the Suns (11), Magic (9), Knicks (9), Cavs (8), Pistons (8), Hawks (8), 76ers (7), Warriors (7), and Nuggets (7).

What was interesting for me was to see how these teams filled out. For instance, the Jazz have a pretty good mix of position and size; while the Knicks were forward and center heavy and, as a result, rather big. The other thing you will see is that some of the players end up being on more than one team.

Here are the BWT team rosters:

Suns- Steve Nash (6'3" PG), Kevin Johnson (6'1" PG), Anfernee Hardaway (6'7" PG/SG), Jeff Hornacek (6'4" SG), Grant Hill (6'8" SF), Vince Carter (6'6" SG/SF), Charles Barkley (6'6" PF), Connie Hawkins (6'8" PF/C), Amar'e Stoudemire (6'11" PF/C), Tom Chambers (6'10" PF/C), Larry Nance (6'10" PF/C)

Magic- Mark Price (6'0" PG), Anfernee Hardaway (6'7" PG/SG), Tracy McGrady (6'8" SG/SF), Vince Carter (6'6" SG/SF), Grant Hill (6'8" SF), Dominique Wilkins (6'8" SF), Shawn Kemp (6'10" PF), Dwight Howard (6'11" C), Patrick Ewing (7'0" C)

Knicks- Anfernee Hardaway (6'7" PG/SG), Tracy McGrady (6'8" SG/SF), Carmelo Anthony (6'8" SF), Bernard King (6'7" SF), Buck Williams (6'11" PF/C), Amar'e Stoudemire (6'11" PF/C), Dikembe Mutombo (7'2" C), Patrick Ewing (7'0" C), Walt Bellamy (6'11" C)

Cavs- Mark Price (6'0" PG), Kevin Johnson (6'1" PG), Lenny Wilkens (6'1" PG), LeBron James (6'8" SF), Shawn Kemp (6'10" PF), Larry Nance (6'10" PF/C), Nate Thurmond (6'11" PF/C), Brad Daugherty (7'0" C)

Pistons- Allen Iverson (6'0" PG), Dave Bing (6'3" SG), Tracy McGrady (6'8" SG/SF), Adrian Dantley (6'5" SG/SF), Grant Hill (6'8" SF), Chris Webber (6'10" PF), Bob Lanier (6'11" C), Walt Bellamy (6'11" C)

Hawks- Lenny Wilkens (6'1" PG), Pete Maravich (6'5" PG/SG), Sidney Moncrief (6'3" SG), Tracy McGrady (6'8" SG/SF), Dominique Wilkins (6'8" SF), Connie Hawkins (6'8" PF/C), Dikembe Mutombo (7'2" C), Walt Bellamy (6'11" C)

76ers- Allen Iverson (6'0" PG), Jeff Hornacek (6'4" SG), Elton Brand (6'9" PF), Chris Webber (6'10" PF), Charles Barkley (6'6" PF), Tom Chambers (6'10" PF/C), Dikembe Mutombo (7'2" C)

Warriors- Mark Price (6'0" PG), Tim Hardaway (6'0" PG), Chris Mullin (6'6" SG/SF), Marques Johnson (6'7" SF), Bernard King (6'7" SF), Chris Webber (6'10" PF), Nate Thurmond (6'11" PF/C)

Nuggets- Tim Hardaway (6'0" PG), Allen Iverson (6'0" PG), David Thompson (6'4" SG/SF), Carmelo Anthony (6'8" SF), Alex English (6'7" SF), Dan Issel (6'9" PF/C), Dikembe Mutombo (7'2" C)

Now, the fantasy basketball part of this thesis. As none of these players have won an NBA championship, I want to have a playoff between these teams to determine the BWT Champion. Since there are 10 teams, the playoff will have two play-in games; the 8th seed will play the 9th seed for the right to play the one seed, and the 7th seed will play the 10th seed for the right to play the two seed.

What I need from you is information on how you would rank these teams for a playoff; i.e. how would you seed the teams and why?

Please assume all players are in their prime and be objective with the Jazz; I know, tall task and I foresee a number one seed in the team's future, in fact, if you want to just rank the other nine teams 2 through 10, I understand. If I get enough response on this post, I will come up with a methodology to have a playoff with these teams and will prepare follow-up post(s).

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.