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A couple more months until the NBA preseason gets underway, but it's never too early to look at some of the top starting lineups in the association. Some big trades this offseason certainly will impact how we rank those lineups, and no one better than CBS Sports NBA analyst John Gonzalez to help us rank the five starting fives in the NBA. John, first of all, loving this new beard look you got going on, man. I know you said to me that you're not getting it trimmed up or lined up. I don't believe you, but what I do believe is your expertise in the NBA. And coming in at number five for you, you got the Boston Celtics. They shipped off Jaylen Brown to Philly this offseason. They get Paul George, two
firsts, and two seconds. But what makes the Celtics a top-five lineup in your eyes? The top five, I see what you did there with the lineups, the double entendre. This is just offseason laziness, but as you mentioned, it's never too soon to get into the NBA. Boston Celtics at number five. So they ship out Jaylen Brown. They were dangling him in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade offer. They couldn't land him. And then they decide to ship him off to Philly. And so, I'm sure a lot of people are thinking, "Well, isn't that going to hurt the Boston Celtics?" Yes, because Paul George is not as good as Jaylen Brown.
However, the Boston Celtics still really deep and really talented. My starting five here, and you can see it here on the screen. You have Paul George coming in for Jaylen Brown. Not as good, right? But the rest of that starting five unit is insanely talented. Jason Tatum missed a ton of last season because of his Achilles injury. You get a full season out of him. That's an upgrade right there. Derrick White made all-defense again. I think he's criminally underrated, Pseudo. A lot of people don't maybe some casuals who aren't paying as close attention to the NBA as you would think might not be familiar with Derrick White's game. He's so good at both ends of the floor.
Mitchell Robinson, immediate upgrade for them at center because last year that was an area of weakness for them. He's a great defender. He's an incredible rim protector. The question really for Mitchell Robinson is how many minutes are you going to get out of him? Last year he played sub-20 minutes as a bench option for the Knicks. He only played 14 minutes during the postseason. That's because he's not a good free throw shooter. They opposing teams like to do a little bit of hack-a-Mitch. So, how much you're going to get out of him? But still, when he's on the floor, he's really good. And then Payton Pritchard, a former Sixth Man of the Year, he will elevate into that starting lineup to add
another guard. So, Boston Celtics, despite the fact that they lost Jaylen Brown, that starting five still really, really good. Yeah, and then at number four, you've got the Western Conference runner-ups in the OKC Thunder. I was a little surprised here, John. I thought you might have the Thunder a little higher. They of course sent Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins to the Hawks this offseason. They boosted their depth in the draft. But what will this starting lineup look like this upcoming season? And why number four?
Yeah, they could be a little bit higher, right? I mean, we could definitely quibble on the order here. I've got a team that I think you're going to like a little bit higher a little bit later. But look, you could make the case for the Thunder, right? They're the champions two years ago. They made it to the Western Conference finals last season again. They've got Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who's the back-to-back MVP, a fantastic passer, an elite scorer. I know that some people don't like the way that he plays the game and think of him sort of as a foul grifter. I think getting to the line and then being lethal when you get there is a skill. There's a reason why he's the back-to-back MVP. Jalen Williams, he
only played 33 games last year because of a myriad of injuries. But let's not forget that two years ago he was an All-Star. He made All-NBA and he made All-Defense. He's an elite player at both ends of the floor. Chet Holmgren, same deal. He was second in the DPOY race behind Victor Wembanyama. He also made All-NBA. Now, he got crushed by Wemby in the postseason, but he's still insanely good. They bring back Isaiah Hartenstein. And then for the fifth starter, there's no Lu Dort. They traded him to the Hawks because of salary cap reasons. I think it could be any combination of players. You could have an AJ Mitchell in there who's instant offense, another shot creator and ball handler along with SGA.
You could have a Cason Wallace who's basically better, younger Lu Dort, a lockdown defender. Or you could even go with a guy like Jared McCain who's a knockdown shooter and had a lot of success after he was traded from Philadelphia to Oklahoma City. So, they're really, really deep and you could make a case to have them higher. I have them four because the next three teams on this list, it was hard for me to put them any lower. Yeah, well, coming in at number three, the 76ers. I mean, what a monstrous season for Philly. Landing not only Jaylen Brown, but of course LeBron James and they'll combine forces with Maxey and Edjcombe. Why do the 76ers have the
third best lineup in the association? Yeah, I think if anybody wants to quibble with this list, this is where you do it because people would say, and I think rightly so, they haven't done anything yet, right? And they haven't. But Jaylen Brown he just had his introductory press conference with the 6ers the other day and he said what I was thinking and what a lot of people are thinking, which is that when you look at this starting five on paper, they're excellent, right? You mentioned the backcourt, Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edjcombe. They're young, they're a blur, they're hyper athletic, they're super fun to watch, they can kill you in so many different ways offensively. If the 6ers had made no moves this offseason, Sudo, that backcourt alone
would be reason for optimism. They bring in Jaylen Brown, he's an upgrade over Paul George for sure. He's coming off the best season of his career, he made All-Star, he made All-NBA, he was just outside the top five in the MVP race. He's a former Finals MVP. Then you have Joel Embiid, who is a former MVP in his own right now. He's got injury issues as we all know, he only played 38 games last year. He was limited in the postseason because he had an appendectomy because of course he did. But if he can be out there, he's one of the great centers in the NBA. And then oh yeah, you add LeBron James on one of the great contracts in NBA history. Yes, he's going to be four or he is 41 now, he'll be 42 in December. Doesn't matter. I
have him as the best player of all time. You want to say that he's 1A behind Michael Jordan, that's fine, then he's the second best player of all time. Either way, he's one of the great thinkers in NBA history, one of the great passers in NBA history, he can fit on any team. So, as Jaylen Brown mentioned, on paper this starting five is incredible. Now, on paper is different than on court, but as you mentioned earlier, this is the offseason. We're gaming this out, we're sketching it out, and I've got the Sixers at number three. So, KD was recently asked about it, and he said it's comparable to those teams in Golden State. Do you agree with that?
Okay, that I think is getting a little over their skis because as I mentioned, the Sixers haven't done anything, and those teams in Golden State that KD was a part of, they won two championships and ended up as the NBA's last dynasty, right? So, let's have the Sixers maybe even get out of the second round for the first time since 2001, and then we can have those conversations. Well, you mentioned dynasties, and at number two, you've got my San Antonio Spurs, right? The NBA Finals runner-ups. They secure Wemby on a max rookie extension. They sign Tobias Harris. They kept De'Aaron Fox despite some chatter
about maybe moving him with the emergence of young Dillon Harper. But, what does this lineup look like come October, and why is it the second best in the league? Yeah, I thought you'd like this one. Wemby Yeah, with it just starts with Wemby, right? I mean, he's the first ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year in NBA history. He made first-team all-NBA. He's the youngest player ever to make all-NBA and reach the finals. Then in the offseason, they wanted to address the hole that they had at power forward. They bring in Tobias Harris. I think it likely sends Julian Champagnie back to the bench.
You also have Devin Vassell, who's super underrated. And then you're going to pick two guards, right? Stephon Castle is definitely going to be one of them. He's a two-way monster. He didn't make all-defense. He could have. He's hyper-athletic. He had an unbelievable postseason where his shooting numbers actually improved. He got better in the postseason. He looked so good at 21, going to be 22 years old. And then if it were me, if we're just talking about basketball on the merits, Dillon Harper would be your fifth starter. He's only 20 years old. There's an argument that he was their second best player in the
postseason. That's how good he was. My suspicion, however, though, is that they're not going to sit De'Aaron Fox and $221 million on the bench. They should, though, if it's just on the merits because he was awful in the finals as you know so do. Uh game four the collapse, I think you could directly attribute it to him and if they win that game, who knows if the Spurs climb back in the series, but it's a happy problem to have because during the regular season De'Aaron Fox is still a really good player and they've got three excellent guards. So, whichever the two that Mitch Johnson ends up picking, they'll be really good
uh and really set with their starting five. And there's only one team I have better than them and we're going to get to them, but you could probably guess that it's the team that they lost to in the NBA finals. That's right. Your number one pick, the reigning NBA champion New York Knicks, a starting lineup of Brunson, Anunoby, Josh Hart, Bridges that brought Valerio back to NYC and John, I'm assuming you're you're thinking that the Knicks are right back in it to win another title with this lineup. Yeah, I mean they're the champs, right? And as the old saying goes, uh if you want to be the champ, you got to beat the champ. Well, the Knicks are the champs with they're the champs for the first time in 53 years and when you do
something like that, you need a good starting five and they have an excellent one, right? You it starts with Jalen Brunson, obviously. The finals MVP, Mr. Clutch. He's been underrated his entire career from college when he was undrafted in the second round to the Mavericks when the Mavericks let him walk in free agency to when he gets to New York and people say you can't win with a small guard. Well, joke's on you. They won with a small guard and he's absolutely incredible. Same thing with Karl-Anthony Towns. He was sort of underrated. I know he calls himself the self-professed best shooter in NBA
history. When he ends up getting traded from the Wolves for cap purposes, he was dangled at the trade deadline for uh in a potential trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo and instead he just plays his best basketball afterwards and he's a big reason why they ended up winning the NBA championship when Mike Brown goes, "Hey, we can play through Kat at times. It doesn't always have to be Jalen Brunson." Then you go to the best wing duo in the NBA in my estimation. That's OG Anunoby who's unreal at both ends. There's a case to be made that he was the best two-way player for any team in the entire playoffs. That's how good he was at both ends of the floor. And then Mikal Bridges who's a lockdown
defender as well, couldn't shoot to start that first round Hawk series. People were calling for him to be benched. Then midway through the Hawk series, he found his shot, couldn't miss after that. And then you round it out with Mr. Do-Everything Josh Hart, who I call a Swiss Army knife. Sometimes his shot falls, sometimes it doesn't. Doesn't matter though, because he does everything else. He rebounds, he runs the floor, he passes, he defends, he's the hustle guy. All You put all those guys together, they work really well. That's why they're the champs, that's why they're number one on this list.
They certainly deserve respect. They got mine after they took down my Spurs, the favorites going into those NBA finals. He's John Gonzalez, it's always a pleasure, my friend. Look forward to more NBA talk with you this year. And taking another look at John's top five starting lineups in the NBA. At number five, the Celtics, the Thunder at four, Sixers, Spurs, and Knicks to round out the top five for John.
