The NBA’s all-time starting five: Golden State Warriors

You’re in your second semester of AP Basketball History, you love really good teams, and you love lists. With precious little drama left in the NBA’s 2015 offseason, why don’t we hit the barroom and/or barbershop, pour ourselves a frosty mug of Barbicide, and get to arguin’ over each franchise’s most formidable starting five-man lineup?

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Because we don’t like making tough decisions, the lineups will reflect the All-NBA line of thinking. There will be no differentiation between separate forward and guard positions, and the squads will be chosen after careful consideration of individual merits only – we don’t really care if your team’s top shooting guard and point guard don’t get along.

These rankings will roll out based on when each franchise began its NBA life. As such, we start with the defending champion Golden State Warriors, established in 1946 as the Philadelphia Warriors.

C: Wilt Chamberlain. Retired as the NBA’s all-time leader in points and rebounds. Scored 100 points in one ballgame in 1962. A member of the NBA’s Top 50 club. Claims to have bedded over 20,000 women and, just as dubiously, never eaten a cheeseburger from McDonald’s. He seriously said both of those things.

F: Chris Mullin. Spent 13 of his 16 seasons as a Warrior. A five-time All-Star, averaged over 25 points per game five different times with several promising Golden State clubs. A member of the 1992 Team USA Dream Team. As a team executive, once drafted Patrick O’Bryant ninth overall.

F: Rick Barry. Led the Warriors to the 1975 NBA championship. Averaged over 35 points per game, leading the league, in just his second NBA season. Made 90 percent of his free throws as an NBA pro. Once yelled at fans, turned out to be correct. Whupped Dwayne Wayne’s ass in a charity game.

G: Latrell Sprewell. Spent five seasons with the Warriors, with his sixth and final season in 1997-98 ending after just 14 games due to, um, suspension. Made three All-Star teams with Golden State, averaging over 24 points per game and 6.3 assists per contest in 1996-97. Was once accused of not putting enough mustard on his passes in practice. A row ensued.

G: Stephen Curry. Winner of the 2014-15 NBA MVP, as he led the Warriors to the NBA’s championship. Likely on his way to retire as the NBA’s greatest shooter in league history, continually breaks his own records for marksmanship. Father of noted daughter.

Jumpin’ Joe Fulks, the man who basically popularized something we know as “the jump shot” (it was originally referred to as “The Devil’s Tallywacker” in sportswriting circles), would have an argument to possibly supplant Sprewell at one of the guard positions. Mitch Richmond (who only played three seasons for the franchise) and Tim Hardaway (who battled injury and conditioning concerns) merited consideration. Baron Davis will always be beloved in the Bay Area due to his role on the 2007 “We Believe” Warriors, but he underperformed throughout most of his 227-game tenure with Golden State.

Tom Meschery was a consistent gamer at forward for the Warriors, but not to the point that he would outpace either Barry or Mullin. Nate Thurmond would act as the starting pivotman for most franchise’s all-time team, but not with the shadow of Wilt Chamberlain looming over these W’s. Paul Arizin remains critically overlooked, Jason Richardson was a rock of sorts, and Neil Johnston was one of the top stars of his day. Monta Ellis? Monta Ellis shot a lot, but prior to his moped injury he was a captivating player.

For years – for decades, even – the Warriors were mainly known for the things the franchise got wrong. The culture in Golden State, however, has taken a significant shift under current management. This game builds from the players on up, but that shouldn’t take away from the massive strides team ownership and the group’s front office have made over the last few years. We would write this even if the team failed to land a championship in 2015.

This is the five we’re going with. Who would you take?

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops