Building an NBA title contender from Star Wars characters

Today, the NBA talent pool is deeper than it’s ever been. The likelihood of landing a legitimate rotation player through the draft or free agency is simply higher today than it was 20 years ago. As a result, NBA analysts, fans and writers have been forced to evaluate talent more precisely.

To celebrate May the Fourth, which is internationally recognized as Star Wars Day, we’re going to evaluate the characters from the Star Wars universe to determine who would make for the best basketball team. This will be based on personality traits, talents, attributes, athleticism and measurables.

In honor of Star Wars Day, we’ve compiled the ultimate NBA title contender comprised of characters from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

By combining these factors, we’re going to create an NBA title contender based on the lore of a galaxy far, far away. Keep in mind that this is all for fun and games, so take it with a grain of salt. Before listing our starting five and sixth man, let’s show love for our fearless leader and head coach.

Star Wars NBA contender Head Coach: Jedi Master Yoda

Guessed this one, you probably should’ve. If you didn’t do a Yoda voice in your head while reading that, go back and try again.

Let’s keep it real — Yoda is already pretty much every great Jedi’s head coach. With hundreds of years of experience under his belt, Yoda not only knows how to extract the best qualities of his disciples, but he helps them become better people. He’s as wise as could be, serving as a leader for the Jedi over hundreds of years.

Is he stubborn? Absolutely. Will he get on his disciples’ nerves? Almost certainly; but everyone who trains under Master Yoda is better off because of it and you best believe that kind of leadership would carry over to sports. With a level head and a wealth of knowledge, he’s ripe to lead a team to a championship.

Yoda’s head coaching comp is easy — He’s a less aggressive, similarly sarcastic Gregg Popovich.