The Last Dance

[Knicks411]

The more and more I read about Wilt, the lower I would have him.

Ben Taylor did a really good series a few years back, ranking the top 40 players of all time.

The Backpicks GOAT: The 40 Best Careers in NBA History

Welcome to the Backpicks GOAT, a list seven years in the making! You may have seen ESPN, Slam, Elliot Kalb and Bill Simmons take a crack at the top basketball players ever. Maybe you have your own …

backpicks.com

His top ten was
1) Kareem
2) Lebron
3) Jordan
4) Russell
5) SHaq
6) Hakeem
7) Duncan
8) Garnett
9) Wilt
10) Magic

 

[Alsacs]

That's a fair list. I have Russell lower and Hakeem over Shaq or Kobe.

I really wish Shaq stayed in Orlando.
I wonder what happens.
Him leaving the East gave the Bulls 2 more East titles, and when Kobe matured they were unstoppable.

Hakeem is underrated for sure. I mean he beat Shaq in the Finals.
It’s crazy how the players of the 1980s except for Magic and Isiah Thomas all stayed atleast 3 years in college.

Magic and Isiah only played 2 years in college.

Hakeem’s the better all-around center but the argument was Shaq was just unstoppable when motivated.

 

[MikeSU02]

That's a fair list. I have Russell lower and Hakeem over Shaq or Kobe.

Yeah, it's tough for me to place Wilt and Russell, but I would have them both in top 10. I would push Hakeem over both Shaq and Kobe.

And while I never saw him play and just said I have trouble placing Wilt and Russell, I think a lot of people would have an issue with Oscar not being in the top 10.

 

[NineOneSeven]

The more and more I read about Wilt, the lower I would have him.

Ben Taylor did a really good series a few years back, ranking the top 40 players of all time.

The Backpicks GOAT: The 40 Best Careers in NBA History

Welcome to the Backpicks GOAT, a list seven years in the making! You may have seen ESPN, Slam, Elliot Kalb and Bill Simmons take a crack at the top basketball players ever. Maybe you have your own …

backpicks.com

His top ten was
1) Kareem
2) Lebron
3) Jordan
4) Russell
5) SHaq
6) Hakeem
7) Duncan
8) Garnett
9) Wilt
10) Magic

Wow...

 

[jordville]

Important question for the thread: what was your first Champion replica 90s NBA jersey?

Mine was a blue Penny Hardaway.

MJ in red for sure.

But also had (and still have most)...
Shaq in Magic black.
KG in Twolves blue.
LJ in Hornets teal.
Kemp in Sonics green.
Kenny Anderson in Nets blue.
Jordan in Bulls black.
Jordan in Bulls white.
Rodman in Bulls red.
Pippen in Bulls black.
Admiral in Spurs white.
Big Dog in Bucks purple.
Chris Jackson in Nuggets blue.
Hershey Hawkins in Sixers red.

A few were my brothers. We had a Champion outlet a couple hours away and would buy whatever ones they had at the time.

 

[orangenauburn]

If the Pacers, Heat and Knicks are the highlight of the East, outside of the Shaq/Penny Magic (I grant you them), I just don't see it.

The 00s had AIs Sixers, Kidd's Nets, Wade's Heat, Big Three Cs. All of those teams are better, imo, than the Knicks, Pacers and Heat from the 90s. That's not counting the upstart Cavs w/ LeBron.

Those 90s teams had maybe one star each (again, outside of the Magic).

Dude. So wrong

 

[orangenauburn]

I wonder if maybe the Bulls get to the Finals in 1994 since they took the Knicks to 7 without MJ.
Not sure they beat the Rockets but in 1995 they lost Horace Grant.
That team doesn’t repeat as Orlando beat them.

Bulls got lucky San Antonio wanted to get rid of Rodman badly because of the distraction he was and they just gave him away for Will Perdue.
Rodman filled the Grant spot perfectly.

I agree. '94 they pull it out but '95 they'd come up short.

 

[Briancuse]

MJ in red for sure.

But also had (and still have most)...
Shaq in Magic black.
KG in Twolves blue.
LJ in Hornets teal.
Kemp in Sonics green.
Kenny Anderson in Nets blue.
Jordan in Bulls black.
Jordan in Bulls white.
Rodman in Bulls red.
Pippen in Bulls black.
Admiral in Spurs white.
Big Dog in Bucks purple.
Chris Jackson in Nuggets blue.
Hershey Hawkins in Sixers red.

A few were my brothers. We had a Champion outlet a couple hours away and would buy whatever ones they had at the time.

I had a petrovic nets blue jersey always liked those old net unis.

 

[Cusefan0307]

'He was beloved by everybody': How Scottie Pippen lifted Jordan and the Bulls

There has never been a player quite like Scottie Pippen.

www.espn.com

 

[Alsacs]

The more and more I read about Wilt, the lower I would have him.

Ben Taylor did a really good series a few years back, ranking the top 40 players of all time.

The Backpicks GOAT: The 40 Best Careers in NBA History

Welcome to the Backpicks GOAT, a list seven years in the making! You may have seen ESPN, Slam, Elliot Kalb and Bill Simmons take a crack at the top basketball players ever. Maybe you have your own …

backpicks.com

His top ten was
1) Kareem
2) Lebron
3) Jordan
4) Russell
5) SHaq
6) Hakeem
7) Duncan
8) Garnett
9) Wilt
10) Magic

For this clip alone you can’t ever put LeBron over Jordan. EVER.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Memo to self: start following this Zitrin guy on Twitter.

 

[Briancuse]

Memo to self: start following this Zitrin guy on Twitter.

Thats really baaad.

 

[orangenauburn]

For this clip alone you can’t ever put LeBron over Jordan. EVER.

Yeah

He'd be tough enough for the Bad Boys

Ok

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Memo to self: start following this Zitrin guy on Twitter.

Ok, so young OttoinGrotto lived way out in the middle of nowhere in Argentina for a couple of years as a Mormon missionary. My favorite town was Las Lomitas in the province of Formosa. Very poor little town, fantastic people.

Anyway, there were a lot of wild animals that pretty freely roamed the town. There was a pack of wild horses that would roll through main street, buncha pigs (chasing the piglets was a BLAST), chickens, every once in a while some cattle would end up in town. It was great. The biggest though was this huge herd of goats. They were a bit of a problem.

See, they could block off whole streets at a time. They moved when they felt like moving. It wasn't a huge town, so it might mean going a block or two out of your way, so it wasn't like it was a huge deal. But it was annoying. If you tried to walk through them they'd do the herd thing and push you out.

One day we're in town, just talking with a bunch of people, and the goats come up in conversation. This one guy says he knows the secret to getting by them, so of course everybody listens. He says you approach a goat, make a fist, and lightly press your knuckles against the top of its head. He says it'll resist a little, but hold your ground and then push harder and the goat will yield. You then go one by one alternating hands, pushing goats out of the way, until you're through.

Turns out, he was dead on. It really worked. Over time, I think the goats learned to like it. When we approached they'd turn their heads towards us, and sometimes when you got towards the end of the heard, some of the goats on the outside would shuffle over to be in the path to get their nudge. I don't know, maybe the attention was nice to them or something.

That's what I was reminded of when I saw that pack of goats.

 

[UnknownOrange]

Yeah

He'd be tough enough for the Bad Boys

Ok

Not to defend lebron here but you play to the set of rules you're given. LeBron is 6'8, 260 on a bad day. If he played in the bad boys era, he'd do just fine.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Here’s a good analysis of who faced a tougher road. Jordan slightly beats Lebron here.

 

[Alsacs]

This clip was awesome. That 1992 team was just amazing.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Ha! That picture just screams “2004”.

I used to rock the 7 Diamonds shirts pretty hard when going out with the ladies in that era ... my deusche bag shirt game was on point

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Yeah

He'd be tough enough for the Bad Boys

Ok

that's some soccer level hamming it up.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

 

[Knicks411]

Shannon Sharpe has spoken!

The 15-18 Warriors have a pretty good case as the best team of all time, and Lebron did play them 4 times in a row in the finals. fwiw

 

[Horn88]

Shannon Sharpe has spoken!

The 15-18 Warriors have a pretty good case as the best team of all time, and Lebron did play them 4 times in a row in the finals. fwiw

I don’t think any team in history beats the Durant Warriors when healthy.

The first two years though I’ll never understand how people rush to point out Green was suspended in G5 of the series Bron won but nobody ever really brings up that the year before the Cavs were without Kyrie and Love and the series still went 6.

 

[Alsacs]

I don’t think any team in history beats the Durant Warriors when healthy.

The first two years though I’ll never understand how people will be so quick to point out Green was suspended in G5 of the series Bron won but nobody ever really brings up that the year before the Cavs were without Kyrie and Love and the series still went 6.

Shaq and Kobe beat these Warriors teams.
An in his prime Shaquille O’Neal would score 50 points if he was guarded by Draymond Green primarily.
Kobe-Horry-Fisher is enough 3 point shooting to put around Shaq.

2000 Lakers had Glen Rice.
2001 Lakers had Horace Grant
2002 Lakers had developed Devean George/

The Warriors are a great team but teams in the early 2000s faced tougher defense because of the rules.

Shaq would have eaten this team alive and they would have shoot well to beat the Lakers.
Kobe and Fisher vs. Klay and Steph
Horry and pick your forward vs. Durant and Iguadola

Shaq vs. Draymond. Green would foul out in 20 minutes if he had to play Shaq primarily.

 

[Knicks411]

Shaq and Kobe beat these Warriors teams.
An in his prime Shaquille O’Neal would score 50 points if he was guarded by Draymond Green primarily.
Kobe-Horry-Fisher is enough 3 point shooting to put around Shaq.

2000 Lakers had Glen Rice.
2001 Lakers had Horace Grant
2002 Lakers had developed Devean George/

The Warriors are a great team but teams in the early 2000s faced tougher defense because of the rules.

Shaq would have eaten this team alive and they would have shoot well to beat the Lakers.
Kobe and Fisher vs. Klay and Steph
Horry and pick your forward vs. Durant and Iguadola

Shaq vs. Draymond. Green would foul out in 20 minutes if he had to play Shaq primarily.

It's just a totally different game. Shaq would get all the bigs in foul trouble, but how are you guarding KD, Steph, and Klay? I would argue Durant is just as unguardable as Shaq (though maybe without the foul issue). Is Shaq guarding Draymond when he screens for Steph?

I don’t think any team in history beats the Durant Warriors when healthy.

The first two years though I’ll never understand how people rush to point out Green was suspended in G5 of the series Bron won but nobody ever really brings up that the year before the Cavs were without Kyrie and Love and the series still went 6.

That first series in 2015 was so weird. I really think the main reason no one points out the latter is because once Bogut was hurt (was he hurt? Or just benched?) and the Warriors went more death lineup it got a lot more lopsided.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Eh those Laker teams would have lost to the Kings one year had the series not been fixed. I just don’t see them beating the warriors or Bulls.