Early 2000's

[Moses Shuttlesworth]

Man I just saw this thread on realgm and felt I had to post it here. I know you guys miss the days of tmac, kobe, kg, shaq vince etc etc in their primes...the talent was unreal.

Post your favorite moments

[Altimus]

Damn straight. I have the 25 Years of Championship collection which goes to 2004. Plus a bunch of stuff through 2000. They need to come out with a 2000-2010 collection.

And how are you going to put AI in the etc list man!

One of my favorites was Philly's run to the Finals.

[TUSS11]

Seeing AI play courtside in 2001. Unreal speed.

[st0rmb11]

I think you could make a "Best of Early 2000s" team that could rival any other 5 year era (sans the mid 60s, mid 80s, & early 90s)

C - Shaq/Ben Wallace
PF - Garnett/Duncan/Nowitzki/C-Webb
SF - McGrady/Pierce/Peja
SG - Kobe/Allen/Iverson/Vince
PG - Kidd/Nash/Billups/Marbury

and I'm sure I'm leaving out several others

[OSUFan_88]

The early 2000's were okay. Perhaps it's because it was preceded by very early 2000's and late 90's w/o Jordan, but I've always thought of that as pretty boring basketball.

[st0rmb11]

Quote: Originally Posted by OSUFan_88

The early 2000's were okay. Perhaps it's because it was preceded by very early 2000's and late 90's w/o Jordan, but I've always thought of that as pretty boring basketball.

I'll put it this way: 2000-2004. Good basketball? eh... Exciting, highlight reel type basketball? yes

[Moses Shuttlesworth]

I miss seeing vintage Pierce in the playoffs



Mute the music and play your own.

[Dice]

Early 2000’s was ok. I wouldn’t say I missed it all that much but it had its place and time. We did get a chance to see a legendary team in the Lakers basically dominate the league during that stretch. We got to actually see the formation of the first ‘Super Team’ in the 2004 Lakers when Karl Malone and Gary Payton signed as free agents to team up with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. That same year, we saw of the biggest upsets in Finals history with the underdog Pistons being a Kobe Bryant shot away from sweeping the ‘Super Team’ Lakers by beating them 4-1. We also got a chance to see probably the last exciting Dunk Contest in 2000 where Vince Carter probably put on the best Dunk Contest show since Jordan and Dominique in 1988.

Now for some of the bad. With the influx of high school players during that time, the 2000-2002 drafts were probably the worst in NBA history. Out of all those guys, Pau Gasol is the only POSSIBLE HOF player in the group. If you want to REALLY stretch it, then add in Tony Parker and Amare Stoudimire. Fortunately, the 2003 draft saved the NBA with some potential HOF locks and a few POSSIBLES. If the 2003 draft didn’t produce those players, the second half of the decade would have been miserable. The early 2000’s was also marred by the Tim Donaghy scandal. BUT we have to wonder if he’s been doing this since he started back in the early 90’s? He was caught during this time BUT how much outrage would this had been if his prints was over the 90’s AKA The Jordan Era? And as a Bulls fan, I can’t say I missed the era of some of the great Bulls legends in Marcus Frizer, Eddie Curry, ‘wet-behind-the-ears’-Tyson Chandler, ‘I wanna form the black version of the Hells Angels so I’ll ride my motor cycle recklessly and end my career’-Jason Williams and ‘I need a discount at Best Buy so I’m gonna take a part time job there even though I’m an NBA player’-Ron Artest AKA Metta World Cheap…I mean Peace.