gr824
Legend

Thanks for the breakdown on each player and yes, I know that was an odd grouping. I was just recently looking over the careers of Rick Barry and Alex English and I thought of a few other players I wanted to ask about. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see most of those guys live and so it is good to get someone else's perspective on each respective player.

Kind of an odd grouping for inquiry, but I will give it a whack:

Barry was a great FT shooter [ 'granny style' ], who played a lot of his early career in the ABA [ i.e., I did not see much of him then ]. From what I did see at that time, he was a smaller Bob Pettit, aggressive and strong on the boards and a prolific midrange scorer, with a competitive streak that bordered on excessive. Bird, who came on as Barry was departing the NBA, also had some similar characteristics to Rick's game, although Bird's mix of skills had a different emphasis. Late in Barry's career, he might be best described as a cross between Stevie Nash and Scottie Pippen [ I said you picked some odd guys for review ] in that Barry did much of his shooting/scoring from the perimeter while also doing a lot of facilitating from there and in a point-forward mode before there really was such a thing [ Barry played better defense than Nash though Rick was not as quick as Pippen was in Scottie's youth ] ...

Kobe has modeled much of his 'muscle' game after Robertson. Magic filled up a stat sheet like Oscar did, but seemed to do it with more flair and diversity. I suppose you could say that Robertson was a relatively tiny precursor to someone like LeBron, but I would say the 'modern' man I might cite as similar to Oscar [ other than the similarity of some of Bryant's game ] would probably be Chauncey Billups. Oscar was a great player ... though I always thought West was better ...

Cousy was an excellent ballhandler/passer and 'floor general', but the rest of his game was inferior by the PG standards of today. He played with Russell and he won ... but I was not impressed. Think a short, petite version of Jason Kidd [ now ] without the outside shot or any defensive ability to speak of ...

Weren't English and King the same player ? Tracy McGrady also ? No ? Well, they might as well have been. All three were prolific scorers who generally played on teams that did not win big, if at all. Neither English nor King shot well from outside, but closer to the hoop they were deadly. English probably had the better career overall [ perhaps because King tore up a knee -- like Elgin Baylor -- at the height of his prowess ], although King was likely a better defender [ nonetheless, I do not think either of them cared too much for that side of the court ]. I would take either Baylor or Clyde Drexler over any of these guys, if it were to come right down to 'choosing sides' ...

Maravich was one of the best PGs ever, though many discount him as a "selfish loser". Great scorer/shooter, creative facilitator, as inventive a 'thinker on his feet' as Magic and possibly a better ballhandler, and a hardnosed competitor who constantly had to endured the negative reinforcement of rarely winning, at least not as much as he, as a quality individual, deserved to win [ like Jerry West during the Sixties or Steven Jackson of the Rams over the last five seasons ]. As 'modern' PGs go, Rondo, if he could think a little 'faster' and shoot much, MUCH better, may be the current player who comes closest to having Maravich's sense of flair and Pete's innovative impact on a game from the 1 ...

I hope I painted a good enough picture for you with the above ...

Hey gr824, wanted to get your opinion on a few players .... What did you think about Rick Barry and are any current players similar to him in today's game? What about Alex English, Bernard King, Oscar Robertson, Bob Cousy and Pistol Pete? Do you see any players that are similar to any of these guys in today's game? Also, can give me your assessment of each guy?

Thanks for the info regarding Chamberlain, Jabbar and Shaq.

I would go with Chamberlain by a fairly decent margin over O'Neal and by a slimmer one over Jabbar. Wilt did everything incredibly well -- except hit his FTs, of course -- and, despite the 'modern' bent that he was not a good teammate, he always did whatever was necessary to 'adjust' his game to his circumstances and did all that was asked of him by his coaches to help his team win, often to his own individual detriment ...

At this level of play, you could not go too far wrong choosing any one of these three men. However, for the best combination of longevity AND career dominance on offense, defense, and as a rebounder, Chamberlain was simply a more complete, and better, center than the other two.

I know you and I have discussed great centers before, but just want some of your feedback regarding Wilt Chamberlain in comparison to Shaq and Kareem. You watched all of them play and based on that, who would you say was the best out of all 3?

If this Howard swap happens as 'advertised' -- and everyone is healthy and stays that way -- Los Angeles again has the best team in basketball, especially if, before the summer ends, the franchise can somehow manage to land another shooter or two, particularly if one is a 'bomber' who can defend a lick on the perimeter, too ...