There’s actually people on Real GM discussing Dream vs Giannis and some say he’s better already or close, even a better defender…I mean did they forget that by year 3 the Rockets beat one of the all time best teams in 5 in the playoffs? Do they get defense is more than blocks? I like Giannis but he’s not that great of a defender, has he ever shut anyone down? He didn’t even defend KD…
Yeah I don’t think you got my post. That was exactly the point I was making. List the accolades and pretty soon Giannis is going to dwarf Hakeems, but we all know who the better player is.
Entering this season most list of greatest player of ALL-TIME probably had Giannis in the 30's or 40's or so due to his youth and relatively short career. ESPN had him at 27 - (too high imo) while Bleacher Report didn't list him in the top 50. With his performance this postseason, Giannis added the most important and crucial ingredients missing from his resume, playoff success, a title and most importantly iconic playoff performances. I'd have Giannis in the early mid 20's just behind Kawhi with a good chance to eventually catch/pass KD and Curry whom most pundits and media have in the 10-20 range. As for passing Dream, generally regarded as a top 10 player... it'll be tough but not impossible, due to the fact that Giannis is just 26. He's arguably accomplished more than Lebron, Jordan & Kobe at the same age. He's might not even be at his peak and has at least another 6-7 prime years left. However he'll need to win at least another ring or two or three and another half decade+ of being great, to get into the mythical top 10.
I think in terms of legacy, eventually when the light wears out a bit, people will look back and think of this as an asterisk injury plagued year. Imagine the 86 Rockets beating the defending champion Lakers convincingly, but then on the East coast Boston suffers a crucial injury and we face the Hawks in the finals. Rockets still would have been the defending Lakers at full strength and it would have been a more impressive run than the Bucks run. I forget the youtube guy who usually does a lot of deep research into ranking all champions on the most difficult, or hardest championship. Several of the Lakers titles are among the easiest including their Mickey Mouse title last year. 95 Rockets was the most difficult and 94 was top 5 as well IIRC. I'm sure this Bucks title ranks among the lowest/easiest titles ever.
Lmao….not gonna lie, I was thinking the same thing. He may have just earned an endorsement deal with them. The Giannis meal.
Hakeem could have broken norms of his era and either brought the ball up court or handled from the top of the key. The coach and guards on his team would be shouting and cussing throughout but he would have played like Giannis and end the argument. Kukoc, who played during the end of Olajuwon's era was the only that size back then that did that on a consistent non-fast break situation.
The vast majority of media and fans don't put asterisks on NBA titles. Every NBA championship has been celebrated and lauded. There aren't many who look back at Magic's championship in 88 against an injured Isiah and the Piston and discredit it with an asterisk. Nor do they do so, with Isiah's first championship against the injured Magic Lakers team in 89. Nor do they do so in more recent times with the Raptors title, the Warriors title or the Cavs title. Only a few bitter fans/media members complain about Jordan being absent in 94 or missing most of 95 as reasons to discredit Hakeem's championships & greatness. There are always extenuating circumstances to nearly every title and some titles are greater or more difficult than others, but all of em are viewed as great achievements and legacy defining for the teams and players who've won them.
WWWNBA - They want those International eyes so they loving this FIBA is definitely making Silvers Orgasm. Rocket River
2 things here. 1) Dream is for sure ahead of giannis at this point, but giannis is only 26, if he goes on to win multiple championships and more mvps, he may overtake. 2) Dream was a more complete defender than giannis is, but giannis is an incredible help defender. I dont see Giannis is a shutdown, 1 on 1 defender, because thats not really his strengh, but he anchors the pain with his timely rotations and insane physical gifts. That doesnt mean he is better than dream, and as a defender, i dont think he will ever be.
What a success story!! Someone 6'11" and athletic has such a difficult path to succeed in life, especially sports. Giannis is doing amazing things despite being so underprivileged. I really like when he ROARS
who cares about asterisks, he won, his humbleness, his background and level of improvement is amazing and yep staying not going to join a superteam is so impressive some sense of irony that we rockets fans hit him with asterisks when the jordan temporary retirement creates such vitriol around our repeat...... on the Dream comp, can't it be both, Giannis can have all the achievements and damn its an impressive 3 year run and Dream can still be better, for me its a non-debate until he gets a second ring, the change and focus for Giannis in the playoffs to the interior and away from the perimeter is also impressive and refreshing (and damn makes you wish Harden embraced the mid range in the playoffs to add some diversity), who says you have to play from the perimeter to win, in some ways this is a tribute to Dream and how he got it done, the other interesting part is Giannis' passing, with the interior focus it becomes even more important, and maybe he has worked out the passing part just a touch earlier than Dream
now that the Giannis fans are coming for dream, we are gonna see how quickly clutchfans turns on the kid lol. Harden didn’t even win a title here and he was public enemy number 1 to the 99ers on this site
He has changed his game and his role in this playoffs. Becoming a roll man,setting screens, and leaving much of ballhandling and playmaking to his teammates. Is this the beginning of him playing like a big man or just a one off? We (bucks fans) always thought that it was inevitable that he would end up being a C later in his career but now it looks it may happen much sooner. He said yesterday that his goal now is to win something with the NT even a silver medal, like Dirk did for Germany, but...I think it will be almost impossible. The FIBA rules are detrimental to his game and there are at best one or two shooters to surround him with. I think though that now that the monkey is off his back he may unlock and develop his game even more and improve especially his FTs.
