I was also pleased to see Ray Allen who is a far defensive player man-to-man than given credit for. He's always been fodder for screens due to his size but he's more than just a proficient offensive player. I'd take him over Reggie Miller any day.

Nick Anderson, 6'6''
Anthony Bowie, 6'6''
Penny Hardaway, 6'7''
Brian Shaw, 6'6''

All, for the most part, guards. It was crazy, watching back at the time, how big the Magic lineups were. The smallest guy in the starting lineup, at that time, was Nick Anderson at 6'6'' .. smallest guy in the rotation was anyone on the Orlando roster who was 6'6''.

Remember 6-7 point guards Theus & Penny Hardaway?

Pippen played Point for the revamped Bulls champs of 1996 thru 1998, after BJ Armstrong was shipped out & Michael "came back" to set the hired-gun standard for future Kobes. Pip gets PG minutes of 31, 26, and 32 mpg from StratOMatic during those three seasons. In Portland Pippen played primarily at the point in 2003 (20 of 30 mpg, the balance at small forward), but was a prime playmaker also in 2002, spelling Damon Stoudamire. So Scottie spent a third of his career at the point.

Pippen & Paul Pressey were indeed a lot alike, especially when together with their significant others, MJ & Sidney Moncrief. Those four players could seamlessly defend at the 1-2-3 spots; Scottie for stretches could even look like a credible 4. When the Bulls added Ron Harper & Buechler to the mix they reminded a great deal of Nellie's midsizer-laden Milwaukee teams that featured Marques, BridgeMan, Rickey Pierce, & Jerry Reynolds the decade ahead of Jax' clubs.

The Shaq Magic editions wandered toward this approach with Penny, Nick Anderson, Dennis Scott, big Brian Shaw, and Anthony Bowie all swinging amongst the Trees, but those Magic men weren't agile defenders as the Bucks & Bulls were.

This is an interesting way to do it, though I have a feeling it may succeed better when dealing with average players than with the really great players. Jordan for instance led his team in assist % quite a few times (though the triangle kept it fairly even, he was the one drawing doubles and dumping down to Grant or kicking out to Paxson) before his first retirement. Drexler led his team in assist % on 4 or 5 occasions, once while playing next to an All-Star PG Porter. Larry Bird did the same. Wade & LeBron I'm sure fit the same bill and may never have missed leading their team in assist %.

I wonder if finding a way to factor in both assist % and usage (and maybe turnover rate) would help to narrow things down a bit. That way a guy like Wade who gets the lion's share of assists would immediately be written off as a point guard because he shoots so much he's clearly got to be a scoring guard. I have a feeling that would clean up just about everybody except for your combo guards like Arenas who really do function as PGs despite taking the majority of their teams' shots.

Obviously you don't need it for modern players, who you know already, but it's an interesting (to stat geeks) thing to look at.