Which state can field the best starting 5?
Now that the Warriors have returned to their post-Durant glory, NBA fans have just survived one of the NBA’s most frustrating periods. A team filled with super teams and parity between three to four talent-stacked coastal teams (Warriors, Lakers, Nets), and the rest of the small-market teams playing the lottery and seeding No. 8. NBA is finally back to equality. At least 10 teams can be labeled as candidates, and many are smaller-market franchises like Dallas, Denver, Atlanta, Memphis, and Minnesota.
Feeling good man. Maybe it’s time enough for us to play a “what if?” game. and wonder what the league would be like if the teams were filled with players born in each of the team’s states. Will California still dominate? Or will Meccas in the Midwest, like Indiana, reign supreme? Basketball talent, of course, comes from all over the country, making this “what if” game especially interesting when looking at the states where the NBA’s best talent is born.
Not every state has the homegrown NBA talent to qualify for this fun exercise. So we gathered the states that could claim enough NBA talent to make it into the starting five, plus the sixth man on the bench. We have divided the teams into four levels, depending on the combined talents of each team. Since we are dividing these teams by state players born, international players will be excluded. We define this as the state their mother took them to, not their foster home or where they grew up or played football in college. As the modern NBA becomes more and more tasteless, the selected players can be in any position, as not every state produces a quality NBA quarterback or quarterback. Teams can use two centers or four guards. Doesn’t matter, as long as the clan can ask six players to represent their good name. So, do it now.