An interesting proposal.

I'd choose Bill Russell because speed, defense, rebounding and unselfishness are the cornerstones of successful teams — and because, by definition, centers are at the center of every meaningful play. Even though he measured only 6-foot-10, 220 pounds, Russell would be extremely effective against today's premier low- and high-post scorers, i.e., Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Zydrunas Ilguaskas, Carlos Boozer and even Yao Ming. That's because Russell had a kind of tensile strength that rarely was forced to give ground against more massive opponents. Plus, his timing was impeccable, as were his instincts and his court awareness. Even more important than his skills, however, was Russell's indomitable competitive spirit.

In any case, I'd take Michael Jordan over Magic, simply because MJ could do things that Magic couldn't. Like shoot and play defense.

Travels with Charley

Here's the trickiest pass I ever saw.

As a certified sports scribe I had a courtside seat during a Knicks practice session back in the early '70s. This was before teams were obliged to bar the media from these events.

Anyway, the Knicks were running at half-speed through a three-man passing drill, the ball being moved from the middle to a wing, back to the middle and then to the other wing. While the middle-man ran straight ahead, both wings turned to face the ball and made their way downcourt with a quick sideways shuffle.

I don't recall who the other two players were, but Phil Jackson was on the right wing. As the trio approached the time-line and the ball was thrown to him, Jackson did a fast about-face so that his back was turned to the ball. Then he bent over, hunched up and used his butt to deflect the ball into the hands of the middle-man.

A perfect pass.

All of the players hooted with laughter, and even the ordinarily dour Red Holzman broke into a smile.

Perhaps a revival of the skills contests at the All-Star game could be expanded to include competition in bass-ackwards passing.