Touch It

Needless to say, rich white couple students get away with it all the time. But these are different people and people with higher stature.

to much is given much is expected.

Rare? seriously?

Clyde
AI
Reggie
Steve Smith
Mullins
Richmond
King
Ray Allen
Dantley
Dumas
Etc

I was comparing based off playing style.

And outside of Wade/Kobe there is a HUGE drop off for 2 guards.

Elite 2s are a rare nowadays

Played a SOLID seven years in the 90s.

The front line of him, Howard and George Mursean was one of my fav. I think Howard played the 3

Those guys would have had a field day today.

Mark Price was Chris Paul before Chris Paul. Think abut him with the rules today.

Timmy Hardaway? penny? KJ? Mookie? GP?

Great. I mean HOFers.

Only 15-20 of those guys will sniff the HOF.

Kobe
Wade
Bron
Dirk
Kidd
Duncan
Nash
Iverson
Shaq
Pierce
KG
Allen
Gasol
Rondo
CP3
Deron
Durant
Howard

everyone else is border line, not making it, or hasn't played enough yet

quote:

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The Bulls almost made it to the NBA finals with Pete Freaking Myers in Jordan's spot with everything else being equal in 94.

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That is the biggest misconception in basketball. Albeit, Pippen was the best player in basketball that year, he would have had to beat the Pacers. Not sure if they would have. And they lost in the eastern semis too.

Those teams were good, don't get it me wrong. But the 93-95 seasons were an absolute slugfest.

Hakeem, Clyde, Barkley, Pip, Stockton, Malone, Ewing, Robinson, Reggie all duking it out for a championship.

The basketball Gods have seemly controlled the realm of the basketball world effortlessly and have awarded championships to almost all deserving players. It's no coincidence that almost all of the greatest players to ever play this game have either won or played for a championship

There are 2 decades, the 60s and 90s, that were ruled by demigods (MJ and Russell). They caused so much chaos and disorder to the system that many great players in their decade missed out on championships. Outside of those areas, it's been an almost free for all in terms of championships.

I'll start off with the 80s. The 3 semi gods of that era were Isiah, Bird and Magic. They combined for 9/10 championships in the 80s.
In the one year they didn't, Dr. J and Moses Malone stole one from the Lakers. But they also made it to 3 finals as well.

The 70s were an absolute free for all we had many many great players, but no seemingly transcendant players (Wilt, Jerry, Elgin are towards the end of their careers).

Kareem got 1, Oscar got 1, Rick Barry got 1. Dave Cowen, Bill Walton, the Frazier, Monroe got 2. It was the decade of great players, but no real great teams. I believe Jerry, Wilt and Elgin got 1 as well. Kareem's longevity allowed him to join Magic in the 80s for his run.

We know the 60s were dominated by the Sixers, Celtics and Lakers, with Russell being the only other basketball player to disrupt and cause disarray to the basketball world outside Jordan. He won so much that he prevented many other great players to win rings.

Now look at the 90s. If Jordan doesn't retire, the bulls probably reel off 8 straight championships. Jordan took down Clyde, Magic, Stockton, Miller, Mullin, Hardaway, Malone, Kevin Johnson, Gary Payton, Ewing, Robinson, Hakeem, Shaq etc on his way to his rings. The 93-94 and 94-95 seasons were similar to the 70s as they were absolute free for alls. IMO, Hakeem's run here cemented him as one f the greatest ever if you look at who he had to go through to get 2 rings during that time span. It's one of the most impressive run in sports especially when you look at how undermanned his teams were.

Once Jordan retired in 99, we hit a decade similar to the 80s. In the 00s, Duncan, Kobe and Shaq combined to win 8/10 championships. The 04 pistons are an historical outlier, based off their teams composition and make up (have to look to the 70s sonics and bullets for similar comparisons). The 08 Celtics played in 2 finals and one 1, with 3 future HOFers.

But this decade also granted refuge to those that were unable to win because of the chaos of Jordan. GP, Kidd, Robinson, Mourning, etc were all able to play for and win championships.

Other all time greats like Wade, Dirk, Lebron, Gasol, etc have been able to win championships in an era that seems to teeter in between the 70s and the 80s.

It'll be interesting to see if the next 7-8 years will be dominated by Durant and Bron, or if Bron can become the next basketball Demi-god and prevent other greats from achieving championships.

in short, the order of the basketball world has always reserved its championship round for its most elite and legendary players. Outside a few outliers, the greatest players of the sport have all competed in a championship round, which is all you can really ask for. However, Demi-god players like MJ and Russell have prevented some of those all time greats from getting those coveted championships during their periods of dominance. Some of the greatests had to withstand and outlast those eras of dominance to get their coveted ring in another decade.

It should be interesting to see if Nash and Howard can get a ring with Kobe. If the lakers win a ring within this teams window, I think we would have to consider Kobe as apart of the Basketball Demi-God Group.