I saw him play for Valladolid a few times when I lived in Spain. The rumor was the Russian Mafia moved him to the Euroleague rather than the NBA. Anyway, I would always wear Blazer swag to games. A couple of times he pointed at me. You can't imagine how much more athletic he was in those days.
One more thing, since I live in Denver. Jokic wouldn't have been worthy to hold Sabonis' jock strap before Arvydas' injuries. Sabonis was better than Jokic on every level. He was an unholy combination of Magic and Bird in the body of a bigger and stronger David Robinson. A shame we only saw a shadow of him by the time he came to the NBA
cripes man....you posted the video at 11:11 pm, Pacific time and are haranguing us an hour later. Give us a chance to wake up and smell the coffee
That is my opinion too, and it's not a knock on Jokic, he's a damn fine player. Easily top 3 in the league, if not 2. Jokic is a super talented player, but he's a super talented finesse player, who doesn't dominate you with his size and strength. Sabonis was also finesse, but he was a beast of a whole different level. Sabonis, basically as a shell of a shell of himself, still was dropping 16-10, at the chronological age of 33, but the physical age of 113. He didn't get the assists like Jokic does, but the offense wasn't run through Sabonis at that point.
I'm surprised they didn't dig a little deeper than just age and injuries. The shoddy Russian surgeries were the real issue, as I recall, with Sabonis coming to Portland later on to get some meaningful medical care. Scratch that, I'm not surprised.
He dominated Danny Manning and Robinson in the Olympics. Neither could guard him or score easily on him.
Because Mike friggin' Dunleavy was a god damn idiot. I will go to my grave cursing how he misused Sabonis.
I posted that because when I checked on the thread before bed there were 48 views and no comments. Thought it was odd.
