Fadeaway World / Basketball Forever
Territory particularly fertile in talent, California has provided the NBA with many players over the years. Among those still in operation, a “super-roster” 100% from the region could even be created. And it’s hard to imagine this squad losing even a regular season game…
Paul Pierce, Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, Gary Payton and so many others: it’s impossible to deny that California has produced many NBA legends. This historical trend continues, since a major contingent of current players emanates from the “Golden State”, as the state is nicknamed across the Atlantic. So what would a team made up of only Californian players look like? This is the question we are going to answer.
The roster of 12 “All-California” players who would roll on the NBA
Let’s first look at the major 5. For reasons of consistency, it was chosen to keep a “traditional” pivot, rather than offering an excessively “small ball” line-up. Below, here is what the incumbents could look like within this All-California Team:
PG : Damian Lillard
SG : James Harden
SF : Kawhi Leonard
PF : Paul George
C : Brook Lopez
Pretty good, right? With four exceptional scorers, surrounded by a Brook Lopez as capable of finishing inside as of penalizing wide, the offensive potential of this team seems almost unlimited. However, you need a quality sideline to claim to lift trophies in the NBA, and here are the 7 players, obviously all Californians, who would be selected:
Arrières : Russell Westbrook, LaMelo Ball, Jrue Holiday, Klay Thompson
Wingers/Interiors: DeMar DeRozan, Aaron Gordon, Kevin Love
Again, it’s solid. An experienced bench, and rather old, who would know exactly what to do to supplement the holders. Under these conditions, it’s hard to imagine anyone undermining this armada, which would be coached by… Jason Kidd of course, he too was born in California! The most curious among you can even try a 2K simulation, to see if the 82-0 materializes or not…
California could offer a team simply worthy of an All-Star Game, which attests to the incredible fertility of this region in terms of raw talent. For fun, let’s hope the concept comes to life for at least the space of an exhibition match one day!
