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Started By
Message
re: Greatest What If NBA Player
Posted on 11/15/12 at 6:19 pm to Sophandros
Posted on 11/15/12 at 6:19 pm to Sophandros
quote:
so did Sabonis. At well past his prime.
not at Yao's level.
no one really knows how good he would have been against NBA talent.
18pts/10 reb?
25/10?
30/10?
quote:
Sabonis put up numbers comparable to Ming's at ages older than Ming is NOW.
lol, what?
Yao averaged 19/10 over his NBA career. Yao averaged 23 and 10 over 3 years from 25-27 yrs old.
Sabonis's best year was 16/10, which happened to be his 3rd year in the league. He never came close to those numbers again really.
quote:
Kukoc was 25 when he came over. Vlade was 21 when he came over. Bad comparisons to Arvidas.
Kukoc was a Euro god before he came to the NBA. He was a decent NBA player, but was never the elite talent that he was showed to be against weaker Euro players..
My point being as good as Sabonis was in Europe, he may never have been as good as people think he might have been had he came and played in his 20's. The game just wasn't as globalized. And being a 7'+ footer I could see how his reputation reached the heights it did.
"Oh he would have been so good!!!" ..... WEll, who was he playing against?
honestly every time i watch his old footage I come away thinking he reminds me of tom chambers.
3
Posted on 11/15/12 at 6:22 pm to Lester Earl
quote:
Kukoc was a Euro god before he came to the NBA. He was a decent NBA player, but was never the elite talent that he was showed to be against weaker Euro players..
My point being as good as Sabonis was in Europe, he may never have been as good as people think he might have been had he came and played in his 20's. The game just wasn't as globalized. And being a 7'+ footer I could see how his reputation reached the heights it did.
"Oh he would have been so good!!!" ..... WEll, who was he playing against?
honestly every time i watch his old footage I come away thinking he reminds me of tom chambers.
Pretty sure no one in Europe thinks Kukoc is on Sabonis level.
Posted on 11/15/12 at 6:30 pm to VerlanderBEAST
quote:
Pretty sure no one in Europe thinks Kukoc is on Sabonis level.
Had he played into his 30's in europe he would have been
Read this SI article 2yrs before his NBA career started
Posted on 11/15/12 at 6:33 pm to Lester Earl
quote:
Sabonis's best year was 16/10, which happened to be his 3rd year in the league. He never came close to those numbers again really.
Sabonis was 34 when he averaged 16 and 10.
Shaq, fricking Shaquille O'Neal, averaged 17.5 and 8 at age 33.
Moses Malone was at 18 and 9 at 33.
Ewing, Olajuwon and Kareem were better at that age, though.
And never got to those numbers again.
But go on... tell us more.
Posted on 11/15/12 at 6:53 pm to Sheep
quote:
Sabonis was 34 when he averaged 16 and 10.
Shaq, fricking Shaquille O'Neal, averaged 17.5 and 8 at age 33.
Moses Malone was at 18 and 9 at 33.
Ewing, Olajuwon and Kareem were better at that age, though.
And never got to those numbers again.
But go on... tell us more.
Shaq from age 31-38 : 17pts/8rebs
Moses from 31-38 : 16pts 9rebs
Ewing 31-38 : 19pts 10 rebs
Hakeem 31-38: 21pts 9 rebs
Kareem 31-38: 23pts 9 rebs
Sabonis 31-38: 12pts 7 rebs
quote:
Sabonis was 34 when he averaged 16 and 10.
and it was by far the best year of his NBA career. So what?
Anyone can pick and choose numbers.
And he was 33 btw.
Posted on 11/15/12 at 8:42 pm to dsloane
The Pistol. 25 years too early. He'd have been the face of the league like Jordan, Bird, and Magic. Granted he was an all pro during his tenure
Posted on 11/15/12 at 9:21 pm to Lester Earl
quote:
not at Yao's level.
no one really knows how good he would have been against NBA talent.
18pts/10 reb?
25/10?
30/10?
quote:
Yao averaged 19/10 over his NBA career. Yao averaged 23 and 10 over 3 years from 25-27 yrs old.
Sabonis's best year was 16/10, which happened to be his 3rd year in the league. He never came close to those numbers again really.
Lester you are using archaic numbers. Advanced metrics show that they were very similar in terms of production. Sabonis's best year was his rookie year(an end of a players prime at age 31-typically)
Sabonis was the better rebounder, passer and on-ball defender. Yao was a better shot blocker. Shooting wise they are similar as well, Yao's turnaround jumper was nearly unblockable, Sabonis had a longer range.They turned over the ball at a similar rate. Yao had a higher PER, but his usage rate coincides with the difference between Sabonis and his own. Offensive/Defensive rating were similar.In the end, you can argue that either were better than the other. Yao's shot-blocking might give him the edge.
Sabonis on basketball reference
Yao
However
You must take in the fact that there was a 10 year age difference throughout their respective NBA career arcs, a logical conclusion to this argument suggests that Sabonis would have been the superior player had his athletic peak matched his NBA tenure.
This post was edited on 11/16/12 at 5:26 am
Posted on 11/15/12 at 9:36 pm to ShopAtTarget
quote:
The Pistol. 25 years too early. He'd have been the face of the league like Jordan, Bird, and Magic. Granted he was an all pro during his tenure
Tend to agree. His youth was wasted in Atlanta, team was crap in NO, and by the time he got to Boston it was pretty much over. A truly amazing basketball talent.
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