06-16-2017, 11:25 AM
(06-16-2017, 09:34 AM)jason Wrote: I did have other guys to choose from at center though... Hakeem, Ewing, Robinson... I went with Shaq off of physical dominance. I think people hold his size against him... I know they do the same with Wilt. But when Shaq was right he was unstoppable. Lists like this are hard. I found myself omitting some of my all time favorites like Jason Kidd and Gary Payton. I couldn't quite squeeze Tim Duncan in... Maybe I left him off because I hate the whole ring counting thing.
Payton underrated for sure. Ewing and the Admiral maybe underrated too. Olajuwon had a lot of ink spilled over him but I am not sure it was enough. To me Olajuwon was almost what a healthy Bill Walton would have looked like over a full career.
Shaq was unstoppable in low post, but never played against a defender as good as Russell, Chamberlain, Jabbar or even Nate Thurmond. Outside that he didn't have much of a game. Terrible free throw shooter which is a huge liability in a low post player - contrast his numbers on free throws attempted and made with Malone's as an illustration. Not much of a passer or screener, good but not great on the boards... I just always thought he was overrated.
Other underrated guys include some already mentioned (Havlicek, Stockton, Don Nelson) and some not like Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe and Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes. The Bullets teams those two played on were fantastic. I met a guy the other day and we had a long talk about Unseld. If you can find you tube or whatever of any of those guys check it out. The NBA was all Celtics through much of the 1950's the 1960's, then had some great balance early in the 1970's. Then, strangely it got a reputation of being like hockey - "I went to a fight and a basketball game broke out" - for a few years until Magic and Bird came in and resurrected the league. The 1980's were incredible with those guys leading some insanely talented teammates.
JOHN ROBERTS: From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly so that you will come to know the value of justice... I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.
