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This ESPN article got me thinking...

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  • #16
    Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

    http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailyd...t&lid=tab2pos1

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

      Johnson ahead of Robertson at point guard. What are these guys smoking?
      The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

        Originally posted by ABADays
        Johnson ahead of Robertson at point guard. What are these guys smoking?
        Something about 5 titles, 3 MVPs, 3 Finals MVPs, superb career averages, more of a point than Oscar, the fact that he could play 5 positions extremely well, and so on, and so on

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

          Oscar was a me-first player for a lot of years. He didnt learn to be unselfish as a true PG until late in his career.

          It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

          Division Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
          Conference Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
          NBA Champions 1989, 1990, 2004

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

            He averaged a triple double his second year in the league Kstat. How much later in his career should we go?
            The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

              I'm Glad somebody asked this question, I was actually going to ask it myself.

              The one guy I have always wondered about is Bill Russell. I consider him the second greatest player of All-Time. In today's game he would be considered small and he was very defensive minded. Is that Like Jeff Foster. I even hate to ask because it seems as if there is no comparison. Take, if you will, Bill from his top form and put him in the present, would his skills match those of even middle ranked centers? I've always wondered how much the pace of the game has changed.

              I think one reason the pace has changed is simply because offenses have evolved. Before, scores were very low and there weren't alot of set out affective offenses. Personally, I think that is why the value of great defensive skills is so high by those who really, really love and respect the game, because it was instilled as the main priority so long ago.
              Life without water is tough, life without air is hard,life with one leg only is wobbly, Life without Reggie Miller, is impossible.

              Do Not Trade Austin

              Originally posted by Conrad Brunner
              Veteran Austin Croshere, the longest-tenured Pacers player on the roster, has proven reliable when called upon, invariably ready to step in regardless of the circumstance.

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

                Originally posted by Kstat
                Oscar was a me-first player for a lot of years. He didnt learn to be unselfish as a true PG until late in his career.
                Oscar was on a Cincinnati team devoid of talent and lacking sufficient finances (in a pre-expansion NBA in where the top contenders were STACKED with talent.) He was the #1, #2, #3, and #4 scoring options and the #1 through #5 playmaking options and one of the top rebounding options as a PG. I don't know that he was selfish, I don't think he had a choice.

                He may have been "me-first" in his contract negotiations, but I don't think I'd accuse him of being "me-first" on the court.
                Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
                Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
                Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
                Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
                And life itself, rushing over me
                Life itself, the wind in black elms,
                Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

                  Originally posted by 8.9_seconds
                  I'm Glad somebody asked this question, I was actually going to ask it myself.

                  The one guy I have always wondered about is Bill Russell. I consider him the second greatest player of All-Time. In today's game he would be considered small and he was very defensive minded. Is that Like Jeff Foster. I even hate to ask because it seems as if there is no comparison. Take, if you will, Bill from his top form and put him in the present, would his skills match those of even middle ranked centers? I've always wondered how much the pace of the game has changed.

                  I think one reason the pace has changed is simply because offenses have evolved. Before, scores were very low and there weren't alot of set out affective offenses. Personally, I think that is why the value of great defensive skills is so high by those who really, really love and respect the game, because it was instilled as the main priority so long ago.
                  yeh, russell is an intersting situation. in today's nba he would have an extremely hard time having the effect he had when he was playing. yeh by todays standard he would be pretty small for a center and he would absolutely have to hit the weights hard in order to compete since he only went like 220 lbs. or 230 tops. as good as he was- i don't believe he would be able to dominate like he used to. no way could he ever deal with a young shaq -the diesel is simply far too big and strong for him the way he was always too big and strong for a guy like dale davis. dale would give it all he had against shaq but, shaq would overpower dale with frightening ease and with his nearly 4 inch height advantage- dale wasn't even really a speed bump against a monster like the diesel and i doubt russel could get any more buffed out than dale.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

                    yeh, russell is an intersting situation. in today's nba he would have an extremely hard time having the effect he had when he was playing.
                    ....as opposed to back then, when Russell's celtics allowed around 120ppg every year, with Bob Cousey and Sam Jones as the worst defensive guard duo in NBA history in front of him? Russell was the only Celtic playing defense on that team. The rest of them played Phoenix Suns ball.

                    eh by todays standard he would be pretty small for a center and he would absolutely have to hit the weights hard in order to compete since he only went like 220 lbs.
                    Apples and oranges. Take the players of the 60's and give them the advanced nutritional and physicial conditioning of today's athletes, and then get back to me on body types.

                    Not to mention, at only 6-8, Russell was undersized even for his era. There were plenty of centers taller than Russell.

                    as good as he was- i don't believe he would be able to dominate like he used to. no way could he ever deal with a young shaq
                    ...as opposed to, say, a young Wilt?

                    the diesel is simply far too big and strong for him the way he was always too big and strong for a guy like dale davis. dale would give it all he had against shaq but, shaq would overpower dale with frightening ease and with his nearly 4 inch height advantage
                    ...so now we're judging a center's transcendant dominance by how well he does against Dale Davis?

                    Are you related to Peck?

                    If Ben Wallace can single-cover Shaq, then so can Bill Russell.

                    i doubt russel could get any more buffed out than dale.
                    Wow.

                    Just wow. Don't know what else to say.....

                    It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

                    Division Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
                    Conference Champions 1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
                    NBA Champions 1989, 1990, 2004

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

                      Russell is about the same height and reach as Ben Wallace. With improved traning methods, he would has the same type of body, but Russell was faster and a quicker leaper.

                      Picture Ben Wallace and double the shot blocking, double the rebounding, and add at least a little touch around the hoop and you have the Bill Russell of 40 years ago.

                      He would fit in nicely into any lineup in the league, though perhaps as an all-star PF instead of C.
                      The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

                        THERE IS NO COMPARING PLAYERS OF THE PAST TO PLAYERS OF THE PRESENT, IT IS APPLES AND ORANGES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                        STARBURY

                        08 and Beyond

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

                          steve nash is the most overrated pg of all-time. has no business being in a top 10 discussion let alone top 25.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

                            Originally posted by croz24
                            steve nash is the most overrated pg of all-time. has no business being in a top 10 discussion let alone top 25.
                            I think those back-to-back MVPs is cause for him to be at least in the discussion. Also, could it not be argued that Nash and the Phoenix Suns have single-handedly changed the face of the NBA.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

                              Love or hate him you have to say Nash Belongs. Overrated? Have you ever seen him play?
                              Life without water is tough, life without air is hard,life with one leg only is wobbly, Life without Reggie Miller, is impossible.

                              Do Not Trade Austin

                              Originally posted by Conrad Brunner
                              Veteran Austin Croshere, the longest-tenured Pacers player on the roster, has proven reliable when called upon, invariably ready to step in regardless of the circumstance.

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: This ESPN article got me thinking...

                                Originally posted by Kstat
                                ....as opposed to back then, when Russell's celtics allowed around 120ppg every year, with Bob Cousey and Sam Jones as the worst defensive guard duo in NBA history in front of him? Russell was the only Celtic playing defense on that team. The rest of them played Phoenix Suns ball.



                                Apples and oranges. Take the players of the 60's and give them the advanced nutritional and physicial conditioning of today's athletes, and then get back to me on body types.

                                Not to mention, at only 6-8, Russell was undersized even for his era. There were plenty of centers taller than Russell.



                                ...as opposed to, say, a young Wilt?



                                ...so now we're judging a center's transcendant dominance by how well he does against Dale Davis?

                                Are you related to Peck?

                                If Ben Wallace can single-cover Shaq, then so can Bill Russell.



                                Wow.

                                Just wow. Don't know what else to say.....
                                well, i don't really know what else to say but, you obviously disagree with me.
                                i will answer the last statement first. if ben wallace can single cover shaq, so can russell. hmm,- ok i see you either chose to ignore that i mentioned a young shaq or simply failed to consider that i did say young shaq didn't i? that was one of the little snippets you took from my statement that was curiously missing.
                                after jordan retired from the bulls the for the last time, the title of most dominant player was shaq's alone. there was a reason for it too. NO ONE PLAYER COULD DEAL WITH HIM the closest thing i can think of in ben wallace simalarity as to how ben could do against a young shaq would be zo. they are very close in height and weight and build. they both play the same tough-as-hell in the paint defense. i would even dare say zo was as strong as ben is now or ever will be. they give nothing away.
                                but, that really didn't matter against a young shaq. in their first ever meeting, zo gave shaq a good game but, after that, it was one sided. i would see time after time of shaq backing down zo and score against him with a soft put-in or massive dunk- no problem. zo was always giving it his best, but their really never was a rivaly. zo was very good but, shaq was a different kind of monster. the last time zo won the defensive player award, shaq made a statement saying how alonzo was good but he could never stop me. and it was completely true, he never could.
                                where you get the idea that wallace could somehow be the one magical guy who could guard shaq is damn funny to be honest. ben was already in his stride when they met in the finals. shaq was starting his decline with the lakers but, still shot very well from the floor and averaged around 27 pts a game. if you want to call it effective coverage- go ahead. shaq had no problems throwing down on your beloved ol' benny-poo by backing him down or whatever else he wanted.
                                now, about russell: some people (such as yourself) may have gotten the idea that i was being disrespectful to russell but, i really didn't mean it that way. bill russell has accomplishments that will probably never be surpassed. so many titles and such. he will probably remain the games most winningest player ever. i won't argue that modern weight training would help bill get bigger and stronger however, no amount of work and training hell, you could even get russell jacked up on roids too and hope for a bonds-like transformation and it would still not be enough. shaq would always be far too much for him physicaly.
                                my dale davis comment was meant to draw a physical comparison between what i believe would be the most massive amount of bulk that bill russell's body could achieve or handle without losing anything. it was nothing more than that. i guess you think he could get far bigger (which he would have to do) than that.
                                russell would still be a great player today (probably even still a hall of famer) or when shaq was younger but, probably as a pf who would also play some center too. i don't believe he ever would have been able to have been the magic solution to shaq.

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