Leave Opinions Here...NBA Legends that could play in todays NBA.

[st0rmb11]

Quote: Originally Posted by Max Juggernaut

I could do this all day...lol. Doc was a 30% 3pt shooter and had a mid range jumper you make it seem as he had no jumper at all. He would be simply awesome....Lebronze is a 33% 3pt shooter and Melo is 32% and make a living slashing and mid range jumpers and Jordan was 33% and didnt develop his jumper til later in his career. Also imagine if the Pistol and Jerry West had a 3pt line.....they would be disturbing.

Jordan's 3 point game was insignificant for his career. he was a KNOCK DOWN 15 to 18 foot shooter for pretty much all of his career, which opened up his drives to the basket. I never saw Dr. J in his prime, but I would assume he was a decent enough mid-range shooter to open up a little bit of driving room, or else people would have just stood back off of him.

[The15thunter]

Quote: Originally Posted by Max Juggernaut

I could do this all day...lol. Doc was a 30% 3pt shooter and had a mid range jumper you make it seem as he had no jumper at all. He would be simply awesome....Lebronze is a 33% 3pt shooter and Melo is 32% and make a living slashing and mid range jumpers and Jordan was 33% and didnt develop his jumper til later in his career. Also imagine if the Pistol and Jerry West had a 3pt line.....they would be disturbing.

oh, please allow me to clarify. i'm not saying dr. j literally scored 20,000+ points off of lay-ups and dunks. he had a decent enough jumper. i don't even want to talk about three point percentages or his range bhind the line, because he only made 134 three pointers in his entire 16 year pro career. so to even bring up his range shooting is laughable. lebron shoots better from mid-range than dr. j, and carmelo is amongst the best mid-range shooters in today's game (we had a whole thread about that), so that one doesn't really work. jordan was an infinitely better shooter than dr. j, even in his early career (quote from bill simmons' book had peter vecsey talking to dr. j who was unimpressed by jordan, and he finally said "no, julius you don't understand...he's you WITH a jumper!")

my whole point is that today's game is such that dr. j's athleticism doesn't stand out. in many ways, solid rotational players in today's game (j.r. smith, for example) can do things that overshadow what dr. j could do. so, if his athleticism is no longer an advantage, i don't see dr. j's game being as legendary today as it is historically.

and yes, jerry west and pistol pete would be tremendous today.

[dragonyeuw]

Quote: Originally Posted by PrettyT11

While I do agree that Dr. J would still be a star level player today we can't just give him skills that he didn't have during his time.

There-in lies the rub. Alot of the things that made those guys great are considered standard-fare nowadays. Hell, Bob Cousy was considered a 'wizard' with the ball because he could dribble behind his back! Something that your average 8 year old baller can do now. The game has simply evolved too much for guys from that far back to be NBA players today. Bill Russel, Wilt, Dr.J, West, Oscar, they'd all be in today's game but the jury is out as to how dominant they'd be( Wilt would still dominate, given the state of the centers today). Mikan's name was mentioned earlier. He wouldn't make a division 1 college bball team today, let alone the NBA.

[dragonyeuw]

Quote: Originally Posted by The15thunter

my whole point is that today's game is such that dr. j's athleticism doesn't stand out. in many ways, solid rotational players in today's game (j.r. smith, for example) can do things that overshadow what dr. j could do. so, if his athleticism is no longer an advantage, i don't see dr. j's game being as legendary today as it is historically.

Pretty much this...

[The15thunter]

Quote: Originally Posted by dragonyeuw

There-in lies the rub. Alot of the things that made those guys great are considered standard-fare nowadays. Hell, Bob Cousy was considered a 'wizard' with the ball because he could dribble behind his back! Something that your average 8 year old baller can do now. The game has simply evolved too much for guys from that far back to be NBA players today. Bill Russel, Wilt, Dr.J, West, Oscar, they'd all be in today's game but the jury is out as to how dominant they'd be( Wilt would still dominate, given the state of the centers today). Mikan's name was mentioned earlier. He wouldn't make a division 1 college bball team today, let alone the NBA.

cousy wouldn't make an aau team today.

russell would be very good, wilt would still be hall of fame, dr. j would be good. west and oscar had modern athleticism, especially relative to their peers, so i think they would fare well. west is criminally underrated, and that's even with him being the logo. i say those two are still hall of famers today.

[dsallupinyaarea]

Exactly why would Wilt have a better career than Russell in today's game when they played in the same era and Russell had an infinately better career than Wilt?

[The15thunter]

Quote: Originally Posted by dsallupinyaarea

Exactly why would Wilt have a better career than Russell in today's game when they played in the same era and Russell had an infinately better career than Wilt?

because wilt in the 50's - 70's was like putting a dwight howard/shaq hybrid against inferior competition. today, it's the same type of combo, but the competition is more athletic but still not really able to contend. his physical stature and skills would still be dominant in today's landscape. that is to say, his greatness is singular, not team-oriented, and it was so before it's time that it's still current today.

russell would still be very good, and if you believe in the notion that great players find a way to be great despite circumstances, then he too could be great. however, he would be a power forward today, and even still a little small. without any tremendous offensive skills to make up for the assumed athletic gap between him and today's ball players, he would struggle offensively aside from put backs and being spoon-fed by a steve nash type. he couldn't create for imself. thus, the bulk of his value would be in defense and rebounding. how many hall of famers in the 90's and 2000's have had the majority of their resume built on those two things? then, make them marginally to significantly less athletic than their competition and you see the problem. this is why i said his best case scenario is ben wallace.

[PrettyT11]

Quote: Originally Posted by dsallupinyaarea

Exactly why would Wilt have a better career than Russell in today's game when they played in the same era and Russell had an infinately better career than Wilt?

There are many reasons when comparing the two as individuals as to why Wilt would be so much better today. For one Wilt stood 7'1" 275 pounds compared to Russell's 6'9" 215 pounds. Even in today's game the only big guy who could come close to Wilt as an athlete is Dwight. Alot of people just don't realize how great of an athlete Wilt was. Their offensive skill set is far from close to one another. Russell was very limited offensively but Wilt was gifted on the offensive end. It would also be easier for Wilt to come close to his numbers on the boards and on the defensive end because of the size and athletic advantage. Russell would have a much tougher time on the glass and defensive end today because of his lack of size.