Again, the nickname the "jet" was randomly assigned to him from a high school reporter who watched him play a game. Thats how it stuck. Its not like he was touted as the "jet" because of his speed or quickness in the NBA. Im sure if Kenny didnt tell people about it, nobody would have ever repeated that nickname. Fast and quick are different things. Just because you are fast doesnt mean you are quick. When I say he is a slow NBA player, I mean that there are other guards that are generally regarded as faster. During his time, Gary Payton, Mookie Blalock, Kevin Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Jason Kidd, Tim Hardaway, Michael Adams, and many more...just thinking off the top of my head...are faster. And that video...is from his college days. Show me clips of his quickness when he plays against NBA talent...Yes, Im sure he has his moments, but he was generally not regarded as being quick or fast in the NBA, for a PG. Dude did have hops though.
Fast and quick maybe two different things but neither = slow. You are taking the fastest NBA players in the league and comparing them to Smith and then saying he is a slow NBA player??? That does not make him slow. Kenny Smith was not that far behind from those players when it came to speed. He was not nowhere as talented as those guys and not as physical. BTW, Mookie certainly wasn't as fast as those other players you have listed. Does that make him slow? So, Smith lost his speed all of a sudden when he went from college to NBA?? That does not make any sense whatsoever. His speed was one of the reasons he was drafted so high in the draft and he did pretty well in his first couple of seasons in Sacramento. As for his speed in NBA, all you need to do is watch some Rockets game and him on the fast breaks which Rockets ran plenty of. Like I said, a slow guy could not run those Rockets fast breaks.
I think you are completely missing the point here. Youre saying that Mookie wasnt as fast as those other guys and questioning if I think he is slow...uhhhh, no. The point I was initially trying to make was that an NBA player, who isnt regarded as fast, can still run circles around any one of us. Just because I use the word "slow" does not mean that they are actually slow. Its all relative, but you apparently cant understand that point. And no, Kenny did not actually lose speed when he made it to the NBA. But, relatively speaking, again, he became slower because of the increase in speed around him. Its really not that difficult of a concept.
Yeah, because this is exactly the logic you used to call Kenny Smith slow. So at what point do you draw the margin between slow and fast? And I am re quoting your earlier post below. What am I to take from a flat out "XXX was a slow NBA player"??? If you had said, "Smith wasn't the fastest guy in the NBA.." I don't think we would be having this conversation, although I wouldn't completely agree even with that because as I have said, he was successful in NBA because of his speed and 3 point shooting. Your choice of using Kenny Smith as an example would still be a poor and exaggerated one, especially based on that video. And I did not miss your point about us not standing against NBA players. I did not even bother quoting all of it because I agreed with the rest.
You were supposed to take from it that Kenny Smith was a slow NBA player. Not a slow player, but someone that really didnt stand out at all in the NBA because of his speed. Yes, you can look at some highlights from college that show his speed...but you can do that with a point guard from every team in the NBA. Kenny Smith did not make his presence felt by driving and creating...the overwhelming majority of the time, he waiting for the kick out from Hakeem. The fact of the matter is that the speed of the game changes from college to NBA. Ask Reggie Bush.
But he wasnt! Not even by "NBA" standards as you are trying to claim. Bad choice of example again. Being good at driving and creating does not mean you are fast. Mark Jackson was not fast but he was good at both. Again, there were two things that Smith did well on the Rockets. Run the fast break using his speed and nail down 3 pointers. That does not necessarily make you slow. Most of the time when people use that phrase they mean that the players on the court are not reading/reacting to the pace and events of the game. Those players don't lose their speed, they just don't understand the game.
This is where we disagree. There were many NBA point guards that were quicker than Kenny. You stated that his nickname was the "jet" but that really had nothing to do with his NBA play. Running a fast break is just straight line speed...but playing the actual game, as in offense and defense, Kenny Smith was not known for his speed or quickness. Players that usually have those going for them penetrate, but that wasnt Kenny's game. If you want to say that he ran fast down the court, okay, I'll give that to you, but that doesnt come in handy when you are playing one on one...which was the purpose of this thread. I never said it makes you slow...it just makes you slower in respect to your competition. When you place player A on a college court, he will appear much faster than if you place the same player on an NBA court. I never said Kenny lost actual speed from college to the pros, but there are certain things he could do in college (because of his speed/quickness) that he would be unable to do in the pros (because of his opponents speed/quickness).
I did see The Game play last summer in a semi-pro league http://superstarbasketball.org/endoftheseason_2008summer.html He's okay but he was just there for exercise and to get some smack talk in. The same league had the Murray family, Tracy Murray and Cameron Murray (brothers), and Lamond Murray (cousin) on the same team All you have to read is: Against the best rec ballers & ex D1-D2 college players Tracy Murray was Kevin Garnett-like. Cameron Murray was a servicable guard at Louisville, an NBA camp invite type. Late 30's now 40 pounds heavier he was looking like Chris Paul out there. Lamond Murray out the NBA for just 3 years (who could probably play for a Euro team now if he was just DYING to) , when he played serious he lighting 'em up big time.
yeah i don't understand this talk about people thinking they could beat any nba player... first, look at players who get downgraded to the d-league. maybe they can't do **** in the nba, but when they step into their d-league uniform they dominate (the first example i can think of is ian mahinmi but there's a lot of examples). and just getting into the d-league involves a very difficult endeavor. so yeah, nba players, even the bench scrubs, are super talented.
I'm pretty confident clutchcityreturns is better than most here. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2lE0iEPZhFk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2lE0iEPZhFk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Wrong on so many levels. Joe Hammond... So many players out their that are superior to NBA players. It takes alot of luck as well as skill to get in the league.... My best friend has a 52 inch vertical.... He was the dunker in the "Protege" Ad. I can do fairly clean windmills and such, but that has zero correlation to how good I/anyone is at basketball.
If I were 7'1, I would be on a roster. Sure there are lots of 7 footers who don't make it, but I think you have to have either 0 basketball IQ or no hand-eye coordination whatsoever to not make it at 7 feet tall. This thread should honestly just be about something like... Is there any NBA player on whom you'd be able to score one basket with 3 tries?
I didn't realize Flyin' Ryan has been in the league for 9 years now. 9 years! (According to basketball reference, he's made $7.5 million during those 9 years. Not bad.) Anyway, his senior season, he averaged over 14 ppg while shooting 60%, so he could now probably hit 25 on occasion.
