http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/part1/110503&sportCat=nba Lock if already posted. Bill Simmons today is discussing Atlanta's Jamal Crawford, who's suddenly playing out of his mind in these playoffs, as someone starting to ascend the six scales of "irrational confidence". Each scale is named after an NBA player. The top six levels? They all belong to Rox from the back-to-back champs of the '90s. from Bill Simmons: The Sam Cassell Level: Aging veterans who play with such staggering confidence that, actually, it's counterproductive ... especially if there's a better teammate who should be taking those shots. Welcome to Chauncey Billups' last four years. (Cut to Nuggets fans, Pistons fans and Knicks fans nodding wistfully.) The Vernon Maxwell Level: It's not fair to call Crawford this generation's Mad Max, not when Maxwell helped the '94 Rockets win the title and was so irrationally confident that, more than once, he tried to start fights with Michael Jordan because he really, truly believed that they were on the same level. Crawford never even played in the second round before last night. Baby steps. The Robert Horry Level: Will another role player ever consistently become the scariest guy on the court just because there are 30 seconds left in a tight playoff game? No. === Clutchfans, where you (sigh) are forced to relieve the glory days of 15 years ago!
[rockets nostaliga] Bill Simmons take on Vernon Maxwell The Vernon Maxwell Level: It's not fair to call Crawford this generation's Mad Max, not when Maxwell helped the '94 Rockets win the title and was so irrationally confident that, more than once, he tried to start fights with Michael Jordan because he really, truly believed that they were on the same level. Crawford never even played in the second round before last night. Baby steps. LOL http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/part1/110503&sportCat=nba
jamal crawford is the same player he always has been, just like vernon was always the same player. shoot you in games, shoot you out games
I think the difference that Simmons pointed out is true -- Vernon believed he was as good as Jordan and others he played against. I don't think Crawford has that same type of ego/mentality.
These guys personified Clutch City. Supremely confident. Crawford and JR Smith remind of Max when they get a hot streak jacking up Js. Chauncey and Sam are pretty similar players. I think Sam is the better offensive player. Horry, the old Rockets Horry was better than the Lakers/Spurs Horry.
What's funny is that the top 3 tiers in "level of confidence" are all devoted to ex-rockets players from the championship years. If there is such a thing as championship level role players, the rockets had them: Maxwell, Ellie, Cassell, Horry, Matt Bullard to name a few.
aww yeah. even a dunk in there. <iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QvZi_JbAtNk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Tinman, out of curiosity how good was Robert Horry in his prime? Was he considered a star, or has he always been a role player?
Err... Odom and Horry's stats don't compare, at all. And their games were very different. Comparable defensively, maybe. But otherwise, very different players.
obvious Kardashian hate....Lamar is far better player...just not clutch (at least never gets the opportunity in LA)
I didn't interpret the question to be about stats or styles. Roslolian asked how good a prime Horry was....that, IMO, means he's asking about impact. Prime Horry and Odom were both lanky sf's who could take over games both offensively and defensively. Their biggest problems were motivation and consistency. As a result, they could be role-player-caliber one game and all-star-caliber the next. I guess clutchness doesn't matter, right?
guess that means he's better because he hits a clutch shot in his 20 minutes of playing time right???....
they thought his upside was the next 'Scottie Pippen'. He was always a role player, but when he was with the Rockets in his early years he was very athletic. He was a good shot blocker and had lots of dunks. <iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1fRgruTKWtg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I guess Horry's prime was the 95 playoffs when he was just awesome when they switched him to power forward. that led him to jacking up all those clutch 3 pointers. he also something like 7 steals in one game against Orlando.
You're confusing prime Horry with Horry's corpse. If you're trying to be diplomatic, at least read the entire post before replying. I would hate to talk about game-by-game scenarios and have you think I'm talking about entire seasons...
