Posey was your typical 3&D player. Great great defender. Above average shooter with his feet set on the catch. However Posey was a stubborn sort and slightly touched in the noggin. He kept putting the ball on the floor and trying to make plays...which he could not do worth a hoot. Took away from his game.
Gervin was u-n-s-t-o-p-p-a-b-l-e. He was 6'8" and long. The shooting guard version of Magic Johnson. No defenders were long enough in that era of 1-on-1 basketball to bother him on the drive. He wasn't the quickest or the fastest. He just had the ability to handle the ball efficiently enough to get to the bucket and use his length to get that finger roll lay-in going. In addition to that Gervin was great, great with the angles, consistently using the backboard to bank in shots from...oh...12-17 feet. I'd say his angle bank shot was superior to Duncan's by far. But Gervin was a long, skinny, lanky guard pulling those moves on a perimeter defender. Great hands. Many, many games, Gervin would have 12-15 points before the 8 minute mark in the first quarter. One of the most underrated players in the history of the NBA.
He was an undeniable force. Could not be stopped. Very cerebral on court too (despite all the dope smoking he did). When he broke his foot though he was never the same. At his zenith (championship season) I don't think he was as good as Kareem was in his prime though. In his prime I would put Walton behind Russell, Hakeem, Kareem, Shaq, Duncan, and Moses in their primes.
The "Human Eraser" was OK. A serviceable player. Sonics made the finals in '79 with Webster at C but lost to the Bullets. They dumped him, moved Jack Sikma to full-time C and got revenge the next year.
There was a big difference between Sabonis and Sampson. Literally. Sabonis weighed around 50lbs more than Ralph, and carried it well.
One of the best, yet streakiest 3 point shooters ever. When he was on, he was automatic and better than Reggie Miller (if I remember correctly) just not as clutch... when he was off, he couldn't hit the ocean while standing on a dock.
Well, think about moving Harden in to about mid-key when he starts his move to the hole, and make that 75% of your game, and you have AD. My recollection is that most of his points came from the line because fouling him was really the only option to being overpowered all the way to the rim. Built similarly to Harden as well... and played the 3 pretty much exclusively. As a general comment, I have seen misidentification of old-school, 70s-80s era scorers referred to as 'shooting guards' when in actuality they were from the era of the athletic scoring 3 player. Connie Hawkins, Bob Love, Alex English, George Gervin, Julius Erving were the prototypes for that highly-athletic wing player, who was NOT a shooting guard. Shooting guards shot midrange jumpers back then and occasionally got a breakaway drive or a layup off the cut in a half-court game.
Nick Van Exel? I read in I think Shaqs book that the reason Kobe had the greenlight to shoot 4 straight air balls in the playoffs was because Nick and Eddie Jones were scared to shoot. I never believed that, I remember Van Exel hitting quite a few game winners back then. Thoughts?
Not to nitpick, but the injuries you're referring to involved his ankle rather than his knee. --Captain Decker
Lol, he always annoyed the hell out of me, I think opposition PGs always do that. Seemed like he could get really hot from 3 in some games (usually when you didn't want him to!) Coaching in NZ now so can't be all that bad *I just looked up his NBA stats and he had a PER of 5 but obviously saved himself for the playoffs, PER of 105.2!? LOL
