<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Jackson was asked before the game if he thought the hype surrounding LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony the NBA's three young stars from the 2003 draft class came at Bryant's expense. "I would agree with that," Jackson said. "They're always trying to seed a new group of kids. If you can find a young group of boys between the ages of 8 and 12 that buy into their idol status or their fan worship that they get into, that's a market that they want to tap into. It's just marketing stuff that goes on. "For us adults that know better, we realize that all the hype aside, there's a number of terrific players in the league and they all do hard work day in and day out with their teams and carry a load of the scoring and there's a certain sense that Kobe has the spot where he has the best overall game in this crew and that's been my conviction." Jackson did praise Wade, praising him for being "certainly at the top of the crew" of the NBA's youngest stars.</div> Source
While the "hype machine" does play a role in this discussion, to refer to someone as not being "adults" for not thinking Kobe is the best in the league is insane....Wade and Lebron = living up to hype.
<div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">While the "hype machine" does play a role in this discussion, to refer to someone as not being "adults" for not thinking Kobe is the best in the league is insane....Wade and Lebron = living up to hype.</div> No, I understand what he means. He's referring to the fact that older people remember players of the pre-2003 era (like Duncan, Garnett, and Kobe) more fondly and appropriately. I heard a joke in the offseason that Carmelo was now in the discussion for best player in the league(from popular outlets). This is insulting (since Duncan, Garnett and others should be mentioned before him). Also, people seem to forget that KG and older players still play in the league.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">No, I understand what he means. He's referring to the fact that older people remember players of the pre-2003 era (like Duncan, Garnett, and Kobe) more fondly and appropriately. I heard a joke in the offseason that Carmelo was now in the discussion for best player in the league(from popular outlets). This is insulting (since Duncan, Garnett and others should be mentioned before him). Also, Duncan and Garnett seem to be forgotten completely at times. </div> Well I guess I can be considered an "adult" since I've been watching basketball since the early 90's.....there are a lot of people around my age and older, who don't believe Kobe is the best player in the NBA today....and I'm not so sure on Duncan and KG being better than Melo...Duncan isn't even a top 10 player at this point in his career imo.
<div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Well I guess I can be considered an "adult" since I've been watching basketball since the early 90's.....there are a lot of people around my age and older, who don't believe Kobe is the best player in the NBA today....and I'm not so sure on Duncan and KG being better than Melo...Duncan isn't even a top 10 player at this point in his career imo.</div> Going by PER/defense, Duncan and KG still beat Carmelo, fellow. Check out 82games.com .
going by watching all 3, I'll take Melo over either one of them at this point in their careers.....Duncan is still effective, but father time is catching up with him....I'll take any of these players before T.D. (at this point in his career) if I had to build a team today. 1. Wade 2. Lebron 3. Kobe 4. Dirk 5. Yao 6. Nash 7. Melo 8. K.G.
<div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">going by watching all 3, I'll take Melo over either one of them at this point in their careers.....Duncan is still effective, but father time is catching up with him....I'll take any of these players before T.D. (at this point in his career) if I had to build a team today. 1. Wade 2. Lebron 3. Kobe 4. Dirk 5. Yao 6. Nash 7. Melo 8. K.G.</div> Well, I don't believe the stats show Duncan and KG are inferior to Melo (I believe their PER is close, but not their defensive skills). But if you had to build a team today, you make a fair point (not that I agree with the order of your list though).
<div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">going by watching all 3, I'll take Melo over either one of them at this point in their careers.....Duncan is still effective, but father time is catching up with him....I'll take any of these players before T.D. (at this point in his career) if I had to build a team today. 1. Wade 2. Lebron 3. Kobe 4. Dirk 5. Yao 6. Nash 7. Melo 8. K.G.</div> What if you wanted to win a championship this year, and you could pick any player in the league to start your team out with (like in a draft). Would you take Carmelo before you take Duncan?
Yes......Duncan also has Parker and Manu to take a lot of the load off of his shoulders.....I'd take Melo without hesitation.
True, Tim Duncan has always had a great supporting cast around him. Guys like David Robinson, Sean Elliot, Mario Ellie and now Parker and Ginobli. I'm not saying he only won because of them but they are a huge part of his success. I agree with Dream about Melo being better than Duncan at this point. However I'll take KG over Melo because I think KG is the more versatile player.
<div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yes......Duncan also has Parker and Manu to take a lot of the load off of his shoulders.....I'd take Melo without hesitation.</div> Interesting, I would have never pinned you for a fan of Melo. Deciding on who the top of the list should be would be largely determined by which system I wanted to run. If I had to build a franchise I'd have to start with the best young big man in the game, and that would be Dwight Howard or Andrew Bynum. If I wanted immediate results I'd go with KG.
<div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yes......Duncan also has Parker and Manu to take a lot of the load off of his shoulders.....I'd take Melo without hesitation.</div> The player that really makes the Spurs great is Duncan. Here are some numbers to illustrate that point: <div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><br/>player(s)MIN TmPtsOppPtsoff48 def48 net48<br/>---------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Duncan 984 2104 1830102.6 89.2+13.4<br/>Duncan, Parker, Manu 412 879738 102.4 86.0+16.4<br/>Duncan, Parker, no Manu423 894799 101.4 90.6+10.8 <br/>Duncan, Manu, no Parker49110103 107.5 100.7 +6.8<br/>Duncan, no Parker, no Manu 100 221190 106.0 91.1+14.9<br/><br/>no Duncan418 806821 92.694.4-1.7<br/>no Duncan, Parker, Manu4490 9698.8105.4 -6.6<br/>no Duncan, Parker, no Manu 83144189 82.9108.8 -25.9<br/>no DUncan, Manu, no Parker 148 321279 104.3 90.6+13.6<br/>no Duncan,no Parker,no Manu143 251257 84.586.5-2.0<br/></div> Notice that the Spurs differential is very strong regardless of whether Parker and Manu are in the lineup or not, as long as Duncan is in there. When Duncan isn't around, the results are more shaky. Interestingly enough, the Spurs have done well with lineups that don't have Duncan or Parker but have Manu in them.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">If I had to build a franchise I'd have to start with the best young big man in the game, and that would be Dwight Howard or Andrew Bynum. </div> ANDREW BYNUM!!!! Talk about bias. lol
My list: 1. Dwight Howard 2. Lebron James 3. Kobe Bryant 4. Dwyane Wade 5. Chris Paul 6. Steve Nash 7. Kevin Garnett 8. Dirk N. 9. Yao Ming 10. Allen Iverson
If I wanted to win a championship this season, I would choose Duncan over Melo without thinking twice. He's averaging 21/10/3.4 shooting 56% in just 34 minutes. All of this with an efficiency of +24.72. Melo doesn't come close to Duncan.
<div class="quote_poster">Brian Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">ANDREW BYNUM!!!! Talk about bias. lol </div> Who outplayed who last night? Bynum scored 13 points in just 13 minutes. Dwight Howard scored 12 points in 37 minutes.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Who outplayed who last night? Bynum scored 13 points in just 13 minutes. Dwight Howard scored 12 points in 37 minutes.</div> lol. But you could choose 1 player to build a team around, would you really choose Andrew Bynum? I'm as big of a Bynum fan as you are, but wouldn't you choose another young, but proven player? Like Lebron or Wade?
<div class="quote_poster">Brian Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">lol. But you could choose 1 player to build a team around, would you really choose Andrew Bynum? I'm as big of a Bynum fan as you are, but wouldn't you choose another young, but proven player? Like Lebron or Wade?</div> The odds of winning a title are in your favor when you have a dominant low-post player. Just go through all the teams who won an NBA title and you will clearly see the trend of teams with dominant big men winning them. The only team without a true dominant big man were Jordan's Bulls, but if you total up the stats of the 3-Headed Center, they were giving Chicago 20/10 a night. LeBron would be tempting, but he's not going to win a title without a post presence. Same with Wade, he's a great talent, but having Zo and Shaq on the court is the reason Miami had a successful season. Bynum is only 19 years old, it gives you a lot of time to experiment and piece together a championship team around him.
