The best fictional basketball players of all time

We won't judge if the main person you remember from this movie is Tupac Shakur, who played Kyle Lee Watson's brother, Birdie. The plot isn't nearly as important as the many, many dunks the movie's title pays tribute to. 

Look, a dog can't play basketball. Or can it? Air Bud can dunk and make his owner feel like he actually belongs. By the end of the movie, we were all a little sad we didn't have a basketball-playing dog on our team.

Shaquille O'Neal may not win an Oscar any time soon, but he was the perfect person to play Neon alongside Nick Nolte in this look at college recruiting and basketball. Penny Hardaway played Neon's college teammate, reminding us of what could have been in Orlando. 

Former NBA players John Salley (Wilson) and Rick Fox (Hastings) play the basketball stars of this totally plausible movie in which Whoopi Goldberg (Eddie), a limo driver, becomes the owner of the Knicks. Under Eddie's tutelage and with Wilson's and Hastings' leadership, the Knicks make the playoffs, which is the truly implausible part of the film. 

A promising high school basketball prospect — yep, it does seem that so many basketball movies have one of those — played by Rob Brown is mentored by a reclusive writer, played by Sean Connery and quite possibly modeled after J.D. Salinger. The twist here is that Jamal is as talented a writer as he is a basketball player, and Forrester helps him find his voice. 

Will's basketball prowess makes him the star of Bel-Air Academy's team. The one little fight that scared Will's mom and sent him to Bel-Air did happen on the playground, after all. But Will overshadows his cousin Carlton, breeding feelings of jealousy and resentment. It's not unusual to be mad about that, Carlton. 

Looking back, the idea that a girl played basketball well is much less weird than the concept of Dick Butkus coaching a basketball team. But in the '90s for Saturday morning's TNBC, Connor's ability to play made her a part of the team, inspiring so many of us who stuck around to watch "Hang Time" after "Saved by the Bell." 

It helps that Shuttlesworth, a highly touted college prospect, was played by Ray Allen, a 10-time NBA All-Star, in this Spike Lee film. Playing alongside an absent father, Denzel Washington in a memorable role, Allen held his own on the screen and the court. 

Can any of us say we wouldn't do what Jackie Moon did? Moon, played by Will Ferrell, became the star, owner and coach of the Flint Tropics. Perhaps he didn't really have the skills for the job, but he still made all of us want to become Flint Tropics fans thanks to sheer energy. 

Leading a bunch of small-town players in the Indiana state championship, when Jimmy Chitwood says, "I'll make it," we know he will. It's not about Hollywood magic. It's that we know Chitwood has earned the right to make the last shot. 

In the eternal LeBron vs. MJ debate, one item for the Michael Jordan column is that an entire movie was built around the idea that just putting on shoes possibly worn by Jordan made Calvin, a 14-year-old orphan played by Lil' Bow Wow, now known as Shad Moss, an outstanding basketball player ready for the NBA. 

Growing up next door to each other, Monica (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps) follow a path to pro basketball and to each other, though there are several twists and turns along the way. Monica has to learn the hard way not to showboat, to play defense and to admit she's in love with Quincy on the way to marriage and a spot in the WNBA. 

Look, there's a reason why Bugs Bunny and crew needed help from Michael Jordan. The Monstars were terrifying. They had the advantage in size, muscle, skill and overall menacing ability. 

The two half brothers, Nathan and Lucas Scott, were thrown together at a basketball-crazy high school, so of course they played basketball. But Nathan, played by James Lafferty, clearly was better than his brother, portrayed by Chad Michael Murray, as he made it to the NBA, playing for the Bobcats.  

Shakespeare may have penned "Othello" 400 years before Dr. James Naismith wrote the rules of basketball, but somehow basketball works perfectly with it in "O." Odin James, played by Mekhi Phifer, is the best player at a fancy prep school and is so good that he stokes the ire of his teammate Hugo. 

Played by Marlon Wayans, Kenny Tyler gets help on the court after his brother, Antoine, played by Kadeem Hardison dies of a heart attack. When Kenny thinks he is all alone on the court, the ghost of Antoine shows up to make Tyler an even better basketball player. 

Being a teenager is hard enough. Howard's path becomes more difficult when he finds out that he comes from a family of werewolves. But Howard, played by Michael J. Fox, figures out how to make the best of his wolfesque ordeal, using his new body to become a basketball star. 

Kyrie Irving's turn as a playground basketball legend, alongside Chris Webber, Shaquille O'Neal, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson and Lisa Leslie, showed a fun side of "old" basketball players — or players with move impeccable makeup — schooling the young kids at a Rucker Park tournament. 

Playing on the very idea suggested by the title, Sidney (Wesley Snipes) and Billy (Woody Harrelson) hustle playground games all over Southern California as they turn out to be a great team. We won't choose between who is better, as the whole is greater than the sum of individual parts.