What team do you feel has had the most collection of talent in the history of sports?

[Simon]

17 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

IMHO its an easy answer for me...the New Zealand All Blacks (Rugby)

 

I don't know how fast these dudes are but it would be interesting to see if they could catch me while I was running away from them at my best speed.

 

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cd3905ac480e68fd4c564b80dcb37fa82d915bff/262_199_4448_2669/master/4448.jpg?width=1200&height=900&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&s=0cd6a074672f639ce9e28f9d55266d28

 

 

[SinceThe70s]

Most go with championship teams, I'd be more interested in the high talent teams that fell flat.  Like the Eagles a few years back. Unfortunately if you don't win for the most part you're forgotten.

 

Some teams I haven't seen mentioned: 70's A's before free agency, Torre/Mariano Rivera's Crankee teams, the Braves with Maddux/Chipper, Madden/Stabler's Raiders, Cooper/Stamkos's Lightning, Mario's Penguins. Deep talent on all of those teams. 

 

EDIT: throw in the Big Red Machine who probably surpass every team I mentioned

Edited June 7 by SinceThe70s

[dma0034]

Couple to mention: early 90s Penguins with Mario, Jags and Francis (amongst others). Chiefs of the last 5 years. The LeBron Heat. It's funny how stacked the Red Wings and Dallas Stars were in the late 90s/early 2000 and yet Colorado and New Jersey were somehow even more loaded. Late 90 Yankees were a force

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

To me the key is longevity, winning multiply times with same team so do agree with the Oilers

 

In the "modern era" of sports I'd go with Steelers of late 70's as they won 4 superbowls with most of the same roster. 

 

Reds of the 70's were pretty good to with a real all star roster.

 

Bulls were on top for close to 10 years so they have to be one of the best ever too.  Kept a good part of the roster together too over that span.

 

Even though they never won it, do have to consider the Bills as the best roster ever for a team that never won a championship.

[Alphadawg7]

25 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

I don't know how fast these dudes are but it would be interesting to see if they could catch me while I was running away from them at my best speed.

 

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cd3905ac480e68fd4c564b80dcb37fa82d915bff/262_199_4448_2669/master/4448.jpg?width=1200&height=900&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&s=0cd6a074672f639ce9e28f9d55266d28

 

 

 

Haha...yeah, they be fast.  Very fast.  In fact, they would play a Rugby match, go to the pub and pound drinks with the opposing team until 4am, and then still run you down.  

 

Not sure if you or anyone else remembers, but in 2018 I actually bought an expansion team for the professional rugby league in the US is called MLR.  Named the team Vegas Burn after the media network I owned called BurnTV.  Unfortunately my lead investor defaulted on the follow along operational capital 8 months into it, so had to pull out and MLR gave me back my deposit.  Couple years later, the expansion slot I had ended up becoming the Los Angeles Giltinis instead which is still a team today.  

 

But before all that happened, I approached the head of the All Blacks and we reached an agreement to be the US team for some of their players.  MLR only allowed 3 foreign players on each roster though because they want to grow the sport in the US and wanted to prevent the teams from being over loaded with players from outside the US.  But before my investor defaulted, I was at the 2018 Rugby 7's World Cup in San Francisco where the All Blacks won the World Cup and got to go to their private party at a SF bar they rented out for the night.  It was a total blast, the whole World Cup weekend was incredible.  

 

The community or Rugby and its players are incredible...but your liver will be miserable trying to keep up with them at the bar lol.  

 

[hondo in seattle]

I chose the 1920-1921 Buffalo All-Americans of the early NFL.  Somehow they lost only one scheduled, sanctioned game in the first two years of the league and yet were never crowned champs.   They acquired the nickname, "All-Americans," because of the ridiculous number of All-American collegiate players who joined the squad.   I admit I'm being a homer by chosing the All-Americans but they truly were a powerhouse...

 

In 1920, the All-Americans outscored their opponents 258 points to 32.  But lost the league title when we tied the eventual champs, the Akron Pros, in the last game of the season.  They had strange rules back then. 

 

In 1921, we finished the season undefeated, outscoring our opponents 218 to 19.   There were no playoffs in those days and we became league champs by having the best record.  Or so the team and local newspapers thought.  But then the All-Americans owner, Frank McNeil, then scheduled an exhibition game against Dayton in Buffalo one day and another exhibition in Chicago the following day.  Some players choose not to embark on a 500-mile train ride just for an exhibition game.  Others were fatigued by two back-to-back games and a long trip.  The exhausted team lost to Chicago 10-7.  After some additional maneuvering, politicking, and general unfairness, the league decided to count the exhibition games.  The league title was awarded to Chicago in what’s known as the Staley Swindle. 

 

Tommy Hughitt (QB/Coach).  Tommy was an athletic quarterback but truly excelled as a player-coach.  His NFL winning percentage of .694 is 6th all-time, ahead of legends like Don Shula, Bill Cowher, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, Tony Dungee, Bill Belichick, and Andy Reid.  According to some reports, Hughitt was the first NFL coach to employ a spread offense. 

 

Elmer “Catchy” Oliphant (HB) led the NFL in scoring, FGs, PATs, and TD passes 1921.   He still holds collegiate scoring records at both Purdue and West Point where he excelled in a variety of sports and once held the low-hurdle world record. 

 

Luke Urban (End) was named to All-Pro teams in 1920, 1922, and 1923.  A gifted all-around athlete, he attended college at Boston College where he starred in football, basketball, baseball, and hockey and was a captain of three of those teams.  Long before Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, Urban played both football and baseball professionally. 

    

Bob Nash (Tackle/End) once knocked Jim Thorpe out while tackling him, though he knocked himself out on the same play.  Buffalo thrashed Thorpe's team 57-0 that fine day.   

 

Ockie Anderson  (HB/QB) was the NFL’s second-leading scorer in 1920 and individually outscored four teams.  In 1921 he led the league in TDs and was once again the NFL’s second-leading scorer, trailing only his Buffalo teammate, Elmer Oliphant. 

 

Edited June 7 by hondo in seattle

[US Egg]

4 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

I'll go with the team that had Ernie D, McAdoo, Moses Malone, and AD.

Got my kid (38) an autographed McAdoo jersey to add to his Buffalo themed bar/man cave.

 

He said upon seeing it “he was pretty good, wasn’t he”. I laughed.

 

Nice to see in here the Braves aren’t forgotten.

Edited June 7 by US Egg

[Simon]

1 hour ago, Alphadawg7 said:

The community or Rugby and its players are incredible...but your liver will be miserable trying to keep up with them at the bar lol.  

 

I've actually partied with ruggers before.

They were a boatload of fun, which was expected.

What I didn't expect was how smart most of them were. Much smarter than athletes in most other sports I've run with.

[Alphadawg7]

4 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

I've actually partied with ruggers before.

They were a boatload of fun, which was expected.

What I didn't expect was how smart most of them were. Much smarter than athletes in most other sports I've run with.

Yeah, they really are and they are just good people too.
 

It would be fun and amazing if Travis Clayton can eventually make the roster here.  He’s an unreal athlete too.  I’ll be pulling for him.

[BobbyC81]

5 hours ago, mushypeaches said:

1984 Bills

 

Any team with Joe Dufek has to be on this list.

[Mike in Horseheads]

1 hour ago, US Egg said:

Got my kid (38) an autographed McAdoo jersey to add to his Buffalo themed bar/man cave.

 

He said upon seeing it “he was pretty good, wasn’t he”. I laughed.

 

Nice to see in here the Braves aren’t forgotten.

And we got screwed by the Celtics in the playoffs

[Simon]

25 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

Yeah, they really are and they are just good people too.
 

 

No doubt. I expected to be trading headbutts with neanderthals all night and ended up laughing my ass off with clever, fun-loving pranksters.

The Clayton kid looks like a hell of an athlete but that is going to be a tough road for him with no background in the nuances of the game. If he has the patience to stick with it, even when he's getting beat like a drum occasionally, he might have a future in it.

[Alphadawg7]

56 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

No doubt. I expected to be trading headbutts with neanderthals all night and ended up laughing my ass off with clever, fun-loving pranksters.

The Clayton kid looks like a hell of an athlete but that is going to be a tough road for him with no background in the nuances of the game. If he has the patience to stick with it, even when he's getting beat like a drum occasionally, he might have a future in it.

 

Hahaha perfect description of a night out with ruggers.  Last time I was out with a bunch, they thought it was funny to keep handing me another full gin and tonic before I was half way done with my current one.  I pretty much was slamming and two fisting G&T's until 5am lol.  

 

Yeah, the journey wont be easy, but what an athlete.  I have to say the little footage they showed of his workout wowed me, his footwork didn't look like a guy who had never played the position before.  So I am excited to see how he comes around.  

[ticketssince61]

1972 Lakers

 

Wilt Chamberlain

Jerry West

Elgin Baylor

Gail Goodrich

Happy Hairston

Keith Erickson

Jim McMillian

John Trapp

Leroy Ellis

Jim Cleamons

Pat Riley

Flynn Robinson

 

 

6 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

I'll go with the team that had Ernie D, McAdoo, Moses Malone, and AD.

 

Had we not traded AD for Billy Knight and traded Malone for $, we would have had a frontcourt of 3 HOF'ers: McAdoo, Dantley and Malone.

Possibly one of the greatest ever and could have competed for titles

 

Thank you Paul Snyder and John Why?

[Milanos Milano]

Aaron Maybin’s art collection 

[Rampant Buffalo]

I'd like to add a team to this conversation: the Cleveland Browns of the late '40s and early '50s. The Cleveland Browns began as a member of the All American Football Conference, which existed from 1946 - '49. The Browns won all four league championships, while going 47-4-3.

 

They were incorporated into the NFL in 1950. "Eager to expose the Browns as a fraudulent dynasty, the NFL matched them against the [reigning champion] Philadelphia Eagles in a highly anticipated Saturday night standalone game to start the 1950 season. . . . The Browns walloped the Eagles, 35-10, turning the Philadelphia-stationed 'World Series of Professional Football' into a stage for Brown’s cutting-edge passing game. Browns quarterback Otto Graham threw for 346 yards, nearly tripling the Eagles’ passing yardage (118). This irked Philadelphia coach Greasy Neale, who said afterward that [head coach Paul] Brown would make 'a better basketball coach because all he does is put the ball in the air.' . . .  Three months later, the Browns beat the Eagles, 13-7, without completing a pass." The Cleveland Browns went on to win the NFL Championship in 1950. They won additional NFL championships in '54 and '55. From 1950 - '58, they were 81-25-2.

[GunnerBill]

2 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

Yeah, they really are and they are just good people too.
 

It would be fun and amazing if Travis Clayton can eventually make the roster here.  He’s an unreal athlete too.  I’ll be pulling for him.

 

Clayton isn't really a rugby player though. It would be like my signing for the Bills and being described as a soccer player. He played in the 8th tier of English Rugby. I played in the 7th tier of English soccer. And trust me soccer is a LOT deeper in terms of the talent pool. Clayton's tried everything. He was a pretty talented sprinter as a kid, he had trials with a couple of pro soccer clubs on the back of that speed, then he has tried boxing and rugby but as of yet what he has been is a freakishly large and athletic human who hasn't quite found a sport to harness those talents. 

 

Good call on the All Blacks though. Particularly the team between their two World Cup wins in 2011 and 2015. That 4 year period they played 61 test matches, won 56, drew 2 (both with Australia) and lost 3 (one each to England, Australia and South Africa). Richie McCaw and Dan Carter are the two best players I have ever seen play the game and then they had Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith, Owen Franks, Ma'a Nonu who are all in contention for top 5 all time at their positions. 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

12 hours ago, MJS said:

1989 49ers: Great names like Joe Montana, Steve Young, Roger Craig, Jerry Rice, and Ronnie Lott.

 

The team had 8 all-pros that year.

This was going to be my choice. They had not one but two HOF QBs

I don't think it has been mentioned yet. 

 

UCLA Basketball under John Wooden. He had Alcindor and Walton. Arguably the two greatest big men in college basketball history. 

[NC-billsfan!]

I think we need to differentiate between greatest assembly of talent vs the greatest team. I think to be the greatest, the team needed to accomplish something. I think this eliminates the SB Bills. 

[BillsPride12]

I'm not a huge baseball guy but wasn't the 86 Mets considered loaded with high end talent?