Zen-like Todd Posted June 13, 2001 Share Posted June 13, 2001 http://espn.go.com/magazine/bembry_20010613.html Some views from the professionals, I think it is quite self-explanatory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Posted June 13, 2001 Share Posted June 13, 2001 Allow me to bring this back to football fora moment. Does it bother anyone else that Shaq is called 'the Diesel?' Bugs the crap out of me. We now return you to your regularly scheduled off-topic discussion. ------------------ Hail to the Redskins! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted June 13, 2001 Share Posted June 13, 2001 As usually happens, a very good player gets so much ink over a short period of time there is a backlash among some fans of opposing teams. People may be sick of hearing about Shaq and Kobe, but there isn't another team out there right now that has 2 or 3 legitimate megastars on it. Maybe if Grant Hill comes back healthy Orlando will qualify. Maybe if Vince Carter leaves Toronto and goes someplace else. But right now there are a bunch of teams with one star like the Sixers or two or three good to very good players like the Bucks. I think this year we found out that David Robinson at 37 is no longer in that elite class come crunch time and the Spurs are going to have to rebuild next year around Tim Duncan with some others including Avery Johnson and Sean Elliott perhaps on the way out of town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyDave Posted June 13, 2001 Share Posted June 13, 2001 Kobe is good however let's be honest here. T Mac on the Lakers and there will be no dropoff. Having Shaq there to erase your defensive mistakes don't hurt and having teams double Shaq doesn t hurt either. Kobe and the Lakers aren't defending Iverson one on one ------------------ Yes I'm paid to think and I need a raise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted June 13, 2001 Share Posted June 13, 2001 No question Kobe on the Wizards would be a less effective player. But we always seem to have this problem when great players (or in this case rising to be great players) are on the same team. Could Magic have won without Kareem? How many titles did Kareem win without Magic? One, in 1971 with the Bucks. Could Bird have won without McHale or Parish in Boston? In a more local comparison, would Elvin Hayes have put up the same numbers without being protected inside by Wes Unseld? Shaq is a one of a kind athlete. At 7'1 and 325 he runs the floor like a power forward and has the passing touch of a guard. If he managed to hit 80% of his free throws, the league would probably have to have him play on one leg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen-like Todd Posted June 13, 2001 Author Share Posted June 13, 2001 NavyDave, That cuts both ways. Interesting that you bring up T-Mac. When T-Mac was playing with Vince last year, it hurt him. Not being the primary offensive weapon prevented him from doing his thang. It would have been far easier for Kobe to have been the #1 option. Oh, and btw, Kobe is a much better defender than T-Mac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted June 13, 2001 Share Posted June 13, 2001 Raw numbers don't tell the whole story. when a player is the go-to guy on a bad team his stats tend to get super-inflated because of the lack of distribution. Conversely, when a guy is a scorer but there are two or three other options on a good team, that player's per game offensive stats are likely to be lower but his effectiveness, in terms of his passing, rebounding and leadership may increase. MacGrady had a great season in Orlando. But he was playing alone. Hill was hurt and the team had few other options. Ditto for Antoine Walker in Boston a couple of years ago before Pierce arrived. He shot only 41% from the field but took a mess of shots each game and ended up averaging 25.0 points a game. Now was he really worth that much on a good team? No way. Remember Michael Adams who played for the Bullets? He once AVERAGED 26.3 points per game in a season with the Nuggets when they were playing the Westphal style offense in the 1980s. My point is that Kobe would score more points and get more rebounds if he was the #1 option on his team. That does not mean his team would be better off in terms of wins and losses. Saying MacGrady is a better player than Bryant based only on his numbers from this year on a lesser team is ridiculous. We will see what his stats look like and where his team goes when they get Hill back or draft/trade for another option in the front court. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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