He had more trip doubs in like 4 seasons compared to Lebron is his full career. He already got hurt by the time that season came when he started shooting more and scoring 25ppg. His last fully healthy season was 1998. Anyone who can average 21ppg 10rpg 7apg is an all time beast. He had the athletic ability and mid range game to be a scorer if he wanted, but go look at his fga compared to a Lebron who shoots a lot more his whole career. No of course he didn't have the physical talent of lebron, but he WAS Lebron b4 Lebron as far doing everything on the floor for his team.
Who are some other guys since the mid 90's who could have really been something if it weren't for injuries? Also...does Vince Carter count?
Penny was insane, but he never had the maturity or off the charts basketball IQ Hill had. The only knock on Hill was that he didn't have much of an edge on the court or in the locker room. The Pistons constantly talked about wanting him to become a leader, but he was strictly a role model. Only other knock you could say was that he stunk from 3. Penny was a freak of nature that could do things on the court that extremely few others could. His quickness, ball skills, and vision were too much for anyone to deal with at the time. His downfall was that he was an immature brat behind the scenes. One of the lesser reasons Shaq left was because they were privately squabbling, and then Penny led the coup against Brian Hill. Hardaway never was going to listen to anyone but himself, and was going to torpedo his career if the microfractured knees didn't.
Grant Hill and Jason Kidd were my favorite rookies, I was a big fan of his. But I don't buy the idea that he could've scored like LeBron if he wanted to, and therefore we can disregard the big discrepancy with their scoring averages. That's like saying that LeBron could 35 ppg like Jordan if he wanted to, so Jordan's averages aren't a big deal. Maybe...maybe not, but am I supposed to give him credit for something he didn't do? It's a fact that Grant Hill was only a great scorer for on year despite being the #1 option. Also, his assists dipped to 5.2 a game when he had his best scoring season. LeBron averaged 7.2 assists per game when he last averaged 30 ppg, 6.6 when he averaged 31.4. I love the Sprite and French Fry free throw commercials as much as the next guy, but Grant Hill was realistically more Scottie Pippen than LeBron or Jordan. Nothing wrong with potentially being one of the best 25 of all time, but he certainly wasn't a top 10 lock like some are saying and many are saying on another popular message board.
He didn't get injured in the NBA, but he destroyed his knees/ankles before he came over. He was an incredibly mobile big, but most US fans never saw it. Don't forget he was part of the '88 Russian Olympic team that took down Robinson's US squad and embarrassed us into going with the Dream Team.
I think you've got to put Bill Walton at the top based on what he proved he could do early in his career. He proved he could completely dominate defensively and offensively who could score, rebound, block shots, and pass and won an MVP and Finals MVP all at 7'2". Everyone else on the list showed glimpses of being good, but Walton actually did it. But his injuries kept him from ever doing it again. Hill, T-mac, Yao, Petrovic, Sabonis, etc. never proved it in the NBA. Petrovic and Sabonis proved it in the olympics and I'm convinced Sabonis would have been on the Kareem, Hakeem, Shaq level had he come when he was young.
What aboot Franchise? Was only 26 when he got to Orlando. Played only 1 full healthy season and then he was done.... Marbury? 25yo then barely played for 2 years b4 playing his last full season as "Starbury".
T-Mac and Yao dominated and had long careers. I chose my three because their careers basically ENDED. Jay Williams is another one whose career came to a HALT, but I think he wasn't on Roy/Hill/Penny's level.
aaaw man, this is so nostalgic,, even here in Indonesia, this commercial was like classical moment to the child raised in the 90's,, almost every children know the line of, "Grant Hill minum Sprite??" (it's the dubbed version of "Grant Hill drink Sprite") :grin: back to the topic, i think Grant Hill is the number 1 on this list,, people watch the 'old Grant Hill' and tend to forget who he was,, yes, some may already mention, he's LeBron before LeBron,, small forward who not just athletically freak talented (so smooth with the ball) but also have a very high BB IQ,, a triple double machine,,
On the Anfernee vs Grant debate: http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/ratings/1995.html http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/ratings/1996.html http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/ratings/1997.html http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/ratings/1998.html Grant Hill topped Hardaway in 1997. Before that, it's no contest Hardaway. Hardaway was a top 10 player in the league in 1996. Not just by rapm but also by ws48.
Also check this: http://www.thenbageek.com/players/c...ids[]=285&player_ids[]=395&sort="WP48"&utf8=✓ Obviously Roy > Hill in the 2000's but the margin isn't that huge (Roy fell off a cliff since his injury, Hill not so much).
