The semantics game? You were putting words in my mouth. I said I would rather have Malone because he was the superior offensive player. Who wins in the NBA today? Is Dirk an amazing defender? How about Durant? Zach Randolph? Blake Griffin? The NBA favors offensive talent. They coddle scorers. Tim Duncan was never flashy. Ever. To say that Tim Duncan and Karl Malone played in the same era is a little off base as well. Malone's rookie season was in 85-86, whereas Tim Duncan played as a rookie in 97-98. He never had to beat the Jordan Bulls. His toughest competition was the Lakers. The East wasn't a complete joke in the 80s or early 90s. How would you characterize the Eastern conference during Duncan's heyday? Tim Duncan played in a neutered version of the league and I dare you to prove otherwise. The NBA today is a fucking joke compared to the NBA of the 80s and 90s.
Yep I looked at the wrong stats when I said that. Completely wrong on the assist one. Malone avg 3.6 asist for his career Duncan is 3.1 In the playoffs Duncan avgs more assists/rebounds/blocks/FG%. Two of the greatest all time players around but i'd go with the more efficient better defender who ups there stats in the playoffs while Malone's stats dip across the board. Duncan regular Career 1109 35.4 .507 .177 .688 11.3 3.1 .7 2.2 20.3 Duncan playoff Career 179 179 39.3 .502 .161 .679 12.3 3.4 .7 2.6 22.5 Malone regular Career 1471 37.2 .516 .274 .742 10.1 3.6 1.4 .8 25.0 Malone playoff Career 193 – 41.0 .463 .162 .736 10.7 3.2 1.3 .7 24.7
The thing is, I look at Duncan as a center. He doesn't want to be called a center, but he's a center. The guy hasn't been a power forward, imo, since Robinson retired.
Saying you'd rather have him isn't the same as saying he's the better player? Okay...Don't you want the better player on your team? As I said, Duncan could have sacrificed championships if he was seeking scoring crowns, but he didn't need to. Duncan won his first title before Dirk, Durant, Z-Bo or Griffin were even in the league. Aside from Dirk, none of those other players have won championships. Duncan never had to go through the Bulls, but he had to go through the Lakers with Shaq and Kobe. Not an easy task at all. You're right the East always has been weak when he's got his rings. But, thats a completely different argument. I'm saying I'd rather have Duncan over Malone because Duncan was just a notch below Malone offensively, but a much, much better defender. Defense win championships.
Why don't you guys switch up? Give Stockton to Duncan. Give Ginobili and Parker to Malone. Okay, resume argument. Ain't I the little stinker.
Never thought I'd say this, but I agree. This reminds me of the only time I ever rooted for Jordan's Bulls: against the Shaq-Penny Magic in 1995. Of course, we know how that turned out. I fully expect the analogous result this time (especially after that game 1 massacre). (However, that 1995 result had an upside: watching Clyde and the Dream totally wax the Magic in the finals.)
East is easy. Pacers and 76ers. Don't think they'll win. An ECF matchup between loathesome Celtics and entitled Heat will be a hard choice. West, I want the Lakers to lose. Badly. Humiliated. Swept. By 20+ ppg. While it's hard to root for anything LA, I think it'd be funny to see the Clippers advance while the Lakers don't. But I'm OK with the Spurs. They never irritated me the way some other teams do. If it's SA/OKC I'll go with SA. At least I'll have someone to root for in WCF. But to be honest, I'm only watching sporadically, more focused on the A's and nonsports nonTV stuff (Pride Parade, need to create cake for 80 for niece's Bat Mitzvah, getting garden finalized, etc.)
Under no curcumstance can a Trail Blazer fan root for the Lakers. Durant seems like a really good guy. It's not his fault we took Oden over him. I'm rooting for OKC to win it all. Harden is a stud too. I prefer to see the smaller market teams win.
I should love the Pacers more, but they're just so blah. Everything about them. I'm okay with the Heat winning it all, especially if they beat OKC to do it. I'll probably root for Boston most in the East, though, because I love Rondo. And I know everyone hates KG but I just don't. He's a 'Sheed type. It's all on the court. Name me one asshole thing he's ever done off the court?
I'm rooting for whomever has the best chance of beating Miami. That leaves OKC and LAL for me. If LAC face Miami I will not watch a single second... f both of those teams
i know it's not popular opinion across the country but i'd rather see miami win it all than any of the western conference teams. okc- can't root for that ownership group after the sonics fiasco and watching durant win anything kills me still lal- no explanation needed for my dislike of them lac- bunch of floppers and cry babies. sas- still have bad memories of playoff tilts with them and living in south texas there are too many insufferable spurs fans. mia- i don't really like them but find myself rooting for them because everyone else wants them to fail. would love it if they won it all without bosh, because it's always been the big 2 1/2 indy- just a blah team, nothing to get excited about bos- i really don't mind them at all and wouldn't mind seeing them make another run but they play a boring brand of basketball phi- they really have no hope of defeating miami if they beat boston, so no real need to bother.
