[VIDEO] Oscar Robertson Highlights - THE LEGEND IN HIS PRIME

I'm sorry but if you had a Time Machine and could transport Oscar Robertson 1966 vintage into a 2012 NBA game I think he would not dominate the way he did in his day. Now if he had been born in 1985 and hooped and trained in the modern era I'd expect a different result.

 

You don't have a time machine. Oscar Robertson is still one of the greatest of all time.

 

He is not top 10 all time, though.

 

From that video his game sort of reminds me of a bigger, stronger Sam Cassell in full floor-general mode.

 

Sort of like Magic, his skills are irreplaceable in any decade of basketball. Do you suddenly lose court vision and passing ability?

Speaking of which, assists in those days weren't handled out as liberally as they are today. In modern day comparative stats, it would've been fathomable for Robertson to reach 12-15 assists per game, though his scoring might have been done because of pass. He's still stakes up favorable to any modern point guard you can think of. Trust me, he'd still be better than most point guard in fact take him over any other point guard in the league, just about (though I imagine some Houston homer will come in and say Kyle Lowry could do what Big O did).

Another thing not to overlook, he was one of the largest guards in league history at the time. Nowadays . . . he'd still be one of the largest guards in the league at 6,5 and about 220 pounds (in 1960). Moreover, can you name any guards outside of Kobe Bryant or pushed over shooting guard Paul Pierce who are that big in size. Most shooting guards are still rather thin, yet light on their quick feet.

His offensive game contained a variety of moves, though his fadeaway was his main go-to move. When it comes to playmaking ability, I don't think any point guard really compares, unless it is strictly Rose, Nash, and Paul.

 

NBA coaches from 2000 would disagree with you. He was voted the best player ever by that group.

 

Well they are wrong. Top 10 all time player must have at least one finals MVP.

 

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This is all I have for your post:

 

I agree. He was my favorite basketball player,until I saw Hakeem.
The Big O could do things,that no one else could.

 

I disagree. Certain players transcend eras, Big O was one of them. Probably wouldn't be able to average 10rpg in modern NBA, I give you that, but he'd still be a dominant player.

 

I don't think people should compare eras.

The world of sports in the 1960s is very different from the present time.

Protein powders, training methods and various other things are available today, that weren't, back then.

 

I think that Oscar had James Harden skills, but in an era where nobody had seen it before.

 

Uh, assists weren't handed out that liberally, but possessions and points definitely were due to the reee-diculous defense of the era and the frenetic pacing, which more than accounts for the discrepancy.

How do you think Scott Skiles holds the single game assist record? Because he had the greatest point guard/ball distributing game ever, or becuase he had the fortune of going against the ri-joke-ulous Paul Westhead era Denver Nuggets? Take that team, reduce its FG%, and apply it to almost every game, and then you have the early 1960's NBA, which is how you get to average a triple double. 33% more possessions per game will do that for you.

As many have observed (PS I don't like SImmons, but its worth reading) that really isn't that impressive all things considered.

A great player, but his claim to the pantheon is very stats-based, and he played in an insanely stats-inflated era.

 

The guy averaged 25.7 pts, 7.5 rbs, 9.5 ast. for the whole career.

He AVERAGED a triple double his first two seasons. No one else has ever averaged a triple double in a season.

He's the LeBron James of his era.

 

Ugh what a disappointing video. I watched the first 5 minutes and couldn't watch anymore. A great player in his era? Clearly. But a great player in today's game? Not so sure about that. Whoever was comparing him to MJ in the beginning of the video is sorely off base.