Maybe the best college player I've ever seen. He was a good pro but his lack of size hurt him in the NBA. He couldn't manhandle people like he could in college.
One of the biggest wastes of all time is Shawn Kemp. He's probably the most athletic power forward I've ever seen. It would have been fun to see him vs KG in their primes. He developed a pretty nice mid range jumper and if he had half the work ethic of Karl Malone he might have been the greatest ever. He relied too much on athleticism and then he got fat and that was it.
i've only seen a couple games. but dude was athletic as hell, and had a pretty solid pull up mid-ranger. no doubt he could put up points. he slightly reminded me of dwade offensively, but not as adept a passer/pick and roll sort player. but he was very good at penetrating, finishing and scoring with that pull up.
Apart from Garnett, none of those guys could have stopped McHale in the post. They would get owned over and over again. McHale is second only to Hakeem in terms of post skills. One of the disadvantages of playing on the GOAT stacked team is that individual legacy and status will inevitably take a hit, hence McHale will forever be remembered as a domestique for Larry Bird (who hated him and always take every opportunity to trash McHale. TBF the same applies for Parish and McHale wrt to the other members of the GOAT front court. They are all flaming A-holes).
At his peak, kind of a taller, slightly slower Marc Gasol. He could have been much better if his Achilles didn't give in, he had freak athletic ability for a 7 footer prior to injuries. The year before the Ralph Sampson draft, he and Sabonis faced each other in a friendly and it was pretty much even (Sabonis was 19 at the time, Sampson 23).
White Hakeem with no injuries, more of Marc Gasol late in his days in the NBA The man was named Euroleague MVP when he was 40 years old
How is saying Webber made him a fan of the Sacramento Kings the same as someone saying Hakeem made them a fan of the Toronto Raptors?
I hope so but I don't see how he could confuse two. That was probably the dumbest comparison ever posted on this site. When people think of Chris Webber in the NBA Sacramento is the first team that comes to mind for most folks. While with Hakeem Houston is the obvious team.
What really hurt Larry Johnson was the back injuries that started after his first two years in the league. He became a completely different player.
Good enough that MJ really wanted him on the Bulls. Of course, if we look at MJ's talent evaluation since he's been in the front office, maybe that's not a ringing endorsement.
Far from being a bust, but not quite as spectacular as college career. I'd say he was fairly adequate borderline all-star until his injuries in Detroit. Laettner was a fairly well-rounded player in a similar way to Pau Gasol, though not quite as lengthy and athletically gifted, but arguably a better shooter and WAY MORE CLUTCH and FIERY than Gasol. His best years were definitely in Atlanta, by far. In the 90s, he was probably amongst the top 12-15 PFs of the decade, which was a really tough class to break into.
