I don't think Bias would have been as good as LeBaron, but I think he would have been DAMN good, a regular on the all-star team probably made 2nd team all-nba multiple times - maybe made the 1st team once or twice (would have been hard as there were a LOT of great forwards back then). To put it another way, I think he would have been a bigger, more athletic, much better version of Glenn Robinson, but not as good as LeBron. BNM
I won't start with you again. But it's placing a great strain on me. I don't see that one. Barkley had ball handling skills and great athleticism. Zach is... the least wanted 20-10 guy in history. I guess, although McGrady and Penny and Hill have more in common with each other, and with Pippen (although called on more to score). Again, there's an athleticism gap. Hardaway and Hill had unworldly hops but weren't in Magic's league as passers. Odom is a VERY poor man's Magic Johnson (in body type and skill set). LeBron is the Wilt of Small Forwards. Not as much as he is the (potentially) rich man's Tayshaun. They look and move so similarly. And always will be.
Perhaps. I lived in North Carolina back in the mid-1980s and had friends attending Duke, UNC and NC State. So, I got to see Len Bias play in person multiple times - although I never got to see him go head-to-head against Jordan. Of course, he was just one of several players from those three universities to get drafted back then. UNC was a veritable basketball factory, and Duke and NC State also won NCAA titles back then and had several players drafted in the 1st round. BNM
NOOO!!! You make an issue of the athleticism gap between Magic and Hill/Penny but hten compare Randolph and Kemp? For all his faults, Kemp was damn fun to watch and shouldn't be compared to Randolph. How about Randolph is a rich man's Troy Murphy? Or maybe that should be the other way around?
We appreciate your restraint. Clearly, you've been put in this world to be tested. Tested sorely. To me, the similarity is that both had a remarkable nose for rebounds despite having significant rebound-getting handicaps (Barkley being a relative dwarf, Randolph not having great size or athleticism) and an ungainly but effective ability to get the ball in the hoop. Also, neither played defense. Barkley is a couple classes above due to his ball-handling and passing skills. Thus Randolph being a "very poor man's" version. It's really more of mindset. I think Kobe, McGrady, Penny and Hill are all quite similar (though not all equally good) but Kobe and McGrady were more scorers who could pass (like Jordan) while Penny and Hill were passers who could score (like Magic). They were all good all-around players (as both Jordan and Magic were) but the emphasis on scoring or passing is why I compared one set to Jordan and one to Magic. Penny and Hill were like big point guards. A rich man's Prince would be a poor man's Pippen. Prince is a destitute man's Pippen, really. He has some point guard-like skills, can shoot and slash and is a versatile, long defender. He's just not close to Pippen's class in anything but shooting. Batum seems like he could be a special defender (better than Prince) and seems to be developing some passing and ball-handling.
Did you SEE Kemp in the later years (i.e., post lockout)? He looked pregnant. It's hard to jump when you're pregnant.
Minstrel: I guess my first concern is similar body type and skillset. Yours seems to be more abstract... The color of each player's aura, perhaps?
Zach Randolf is a homeless man's Mark Aguirre. Darius Miles is a poor man's Tim Thomas. Steve Blake is a rich man's Beno Udrich. Brandon Roy is the fucking man. Bayless is a poor man's Vernon Maxwell. LMA is a wealthy man's Channing Frye or a poor man's KG. Rudy is a poor man's Reggie Miller. Sergio is a poor man's Jose Calderone or a homeless drunk's Steve Nash.
Poor Kemp. All those women effing him and leaving him to go through child-bearing and taking care of the kids. But, on the plus side, we now know why David Stern started then WNBA. Thank you Kemp. Thank you.
It's nothing new age, just styles of play and how they get things done. I think I was considering skillsets in the ones we were discussing. Body types are also considered. Basically anything that reminds me of someone else is factored in. That said, Brandon Roy's aura is most akin to Tony Blair's, but I'm not sure what that means. I'll check their astrology readings later.
Rip Hamilton couldn't hold Reggie Miller's jock as a broadcaster (and Reggie is terrible), let alone as a basketball player.
Jonny Flynn is a rich man's Avery Johnson. (He's the middle Johnson brother - he looks like Avery but has some of Vinnie's shot.)
