Derek Anderson, at his "prime", was pretty much better than Bobby or Stephen Jackson. Remember when he was Tim Duncan's sidekick? As for SAR, that was my fault. I forgot about JO and couldn't edit it.
Heh, I knew there was something wrong with that line...lol. SAR still owns Keith Van Horn anyway. Perhaps more intriguing is 1996 vs 2003. Camby > Bosh (tough call here. Camby better defender, Bosh better scorer) J O'Neal | Melo (too close to call, IMO) Bryant > James (another close call, Bryant wins because of clutchness) Allen < Wade (Allen may be the better shooter, but he isn't as dangerous as Wade is) Nash > TJ Ford (No contest here.) Much closer matchup here, but Steve Nash is the X-factor. Class of '96 wins again.
84 draft is just too good. Multiple legends and hall of famers along with solid role players. You could make NBA's all time best team with all the players from that draft. Just think about Hakeem and Jordan on the same team.....that would be completely unfair to any team going up against them.
putting together an actual team from the 84 guys would be absolutely sick, sick, sick. Inside you have Hakeem & Charles - with all star power forward/body builders Thorpe and Willis in reserve, and all star PF Perkins, a great defender with post moves AND range outside. Oh, and for depth you have yet another former rebounding title holder in Michael Cage. And if you want a true SF to run out there (though why you'd need one with guys this versatile is questionable) you run out Jerome Kersey - a very good player who should have been an allstar many times - or swingman Tony Campbell - a guy who went over 20 ppg in his prime - or let MJ play it and bring in another guard. It would just be absolute MURDER underneath with Barkley, Dream, Cage, OT, Willis & Big Smooth on the glass. Murder. Olajuwon & Perkins both playing D underneath? There's your SWAT team. Outside you have Stockton & Jordan - arguably the greatest PG and SG (or player) of all time, with another all star & one of the great defensive guards ever in Alvin Robertson backing them up, plus a very decent shooter in Jay Humphries on the bench. To fill out your roster, as if you'd even need them with all that fire power - add in token gritty white guy overacheiver role players like Rick Carlisle, Jim Peterson, Jeff Turner. *******, I kind of wish they had the rookie/soph game back then now.
1984 draft wins hands down. Dream and Jordan carried their teamates on their backs to the Finals.... and won. Only Iverson willed his team to the finals but came up short. Kobe is a great, great, great player but has yet to do anything without Shaq other than rack up 81 points in a game .
Is the average age in this thread about 10 years old? For anyone to think that the 1984 is NOT the best, either shows idiocy, youth, or both. The only guy with any rings from the 1996 class is Kobe. Kobe, Iverson and Nash are the only franchise players from that draft. I know it's CC.net rhetoric to have a hard-on for someone like SAR.
So his "prime" lasted one season is what you are saying. Anderson only played with SA for 1 year. He averaged 15.5 ppg and shot 42%. That FG% is awful when you consider that he played alongside Duncan and Robinson.
Yeah, Anderson's career can be labeled as a disappointment to say the least- he showed flashes of brilliance early at kentucky, and, along with Ron Mercer, looked like the Next Big Thing for a while - but he managed to out-underachieve even Mercer himself - 15ppg - once? and that's the best he ever did? Not so hot, considering what I thought he was once capable of.
Mercer was another guy I loved from those Kentucky teams. Both guys had the potential to be legit #2 scoring options on decent teams. Mercer's problem was that he hardly ever drove the ball to the rack. At Kentucky, his entire game was based on running around picks ie. Rip Hamilton. Anderson's injuries and questionable demeanor is what made him an average SG.
I'm young, but old enough to have seen the 84 class play in the late 80's onward. 84 wins over 96, hands down. You've got one of the best point guards of all-time, the GOAT, one of the best power fowards of all-time, and arguably the best center of all time. Top that off with some damn solid players and you've got the best draft ever. I don't care how many flashy players came out in 96, 84 had four players that deserve their own ******* shrines.
'84. No other class compares. This thread brings back memories of some of the forgotten players. Dream-Barkley-Jordan-Stockton are all-time greats. Jordan, the greatest player of our time. Barkley, probably the most-unguardable power forward of all time. Hakeem, the greatest overall center of all time. Stockton, arguably the ideal prototypical point guard. The debate is pretty much over with this quartet. The second tier guys: Thorpe and Willis put up several seasons near 20 pts/10 rebounds. Alvin Robertson was one of the greatest theft artists to play the game (better than Iverson and Payton), and recorded one of the league's few quadruple-doubles. Jerome Kersey was a great scorer, but was overshadowed by Clyde Drexler.
I sense an age gap here based on the split of 84 vs 96. But I'm here to tell ya that 84 wins without a doubt.... And for the record the greatest All-Star game was in 1987. this game had the most unbelievable lineups for both the East and the West... I mean your talking about lineups like this: East Charles Barkley Larry Bird Maurice Cheeks Julius Erving Michael Jordan Bill Laimbeer Jeff Malone Moses Malone Kevin McHale Robert Parish Isiah Thomas Dominique Wilkins West Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Mark Aguirre Rolando Blackman Joe Barry Carroll Tom Chambers Walter Davis Alex English Sleepy Floyd Magic Johnson Hakeem Olajuwon Alvin Robertson Ralph Sampson (injured DNP) James Worthy That is back when players actually played hard in the All Star game...good times!
ok let's see, 84' dream team: Dream, Willis, Barkley, Jordan, Stockton 96' dream team: Camby, J.O., Bryant, Iverson, Nash 99' dream team: Brand, Marion, AK47, Artest, Francis 03' dream team: West, Bosh, Melo, James, Wade the 99' line-up would be a joke among these 4, I meant all very good players not not even close compare to the Greats. now compare the other three: Stockton (all-time leader in asist & steal, x times allstar & 1st team, allstar MVP, olympian) > Nash (05' MVP, allstar, olympian) > Wade (allstar) MJ (God) > Bryant (81) > James (allstar) Barkley (MVP, allstar, final, Olympian, top rebounder) = Iverson (MVP, allstar, final, Olympian, top scorer) > Melo Dream >>>>>>>> Camby+West+Bosh+J.O. i don't even want to compare 84' the best, case closed
Wonder how Detroit feels right about now, as Wade tears them a new one again, while Darko rides the pine... A healthy Miami easily beats them last year.
The reason ppl get all hyped about the '96 draft is cuz a lot of those guys got off to great starts on their careers. Guys like Iverson, Marbury, Walker, Allen, SAR, all put up great numbers the minute they entered the league. With the exception of Iverson, those guys peaked pretty early. The other gems (Kobe, JO, Nash, Peja) took longer before they were prouctive. The draft of '94 was pretty dope at the time also, but again a lot of those guys peaked early. '94 Glenn Robinson, Grant Hill, Eddie Jones, Juwon Howard, Jalen Rose, Jason Kidd all had great starts but none of them are potential HOF's xcept maybe Kidd (no rings) or Hill (injuries) I think the class of '95 is very deep especially at the PF position. '95 Joe Smith, Mcdyess, KG, Sheed, Kurt Thomas, Ratliff, Stackhouse, Mighty Mouse, Bob Sura, Eric Williams, Brent Barry, Michael Finley, Eric Snow With their frontcourt, I think class of '95 could probably beat any of the classes mentioned xcept '84 Mighty Mouse/Brent Barry/Eric Snow Stack/Sura Sheed/Finley/E. Williams KG/Mcdyess/Joe Smith Ratliff/Kurt Thomas
