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True Dough

(20,241 posts)
Sun Oct 13, 2024, 04:33 PM Oct 13

Barack Obama names his all-time NBA starting 5

Shooting guard: Michael Jordan

Forward: LeBron James

Point guard: Steph Curry

Centre: Hakeem Olajuwon

Power forward: Kevin Durant

Our former President is clearly a fan of contemporary players with 3 out of 5 still active today.

https://www.facebook.com/barackobama

14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Barack Obama names his all-time NBA starting 5 (Original Post) True Dough Oct 13 OP
Disagree on the big Aviation Pro Oct 13 #1
Arvydas Sabonis underpants Oct 13 #5
thing about wilt Mosby Oct 18 #11
He played against Kareem Aviation Pro Oct 18 #13
Head to head stats. Mosby Oct 18 #14
I'm a Larry Bird guy. LuvLoogie Oct 13 #2
Big has to be Bill Russell or Kareem NewHendoLib Oct 13 #3
So it begins. Magic was the best point guard. Period. underpants Oct 13 #4
Magic wasn't a point guard Mosby Oct 18 #12
That's some recency bias. LisaM Oct 13 #6
Recency bias there... JT45242 Oct 13 #7
Larry Bird said "Look at the record book." Tarzanrock Oct 13 #8
It's Ridiculous, Isn't It? ProfessorGAC Oct 14 #10
But for sportswriter bias and hatred of Goliath ... Tarzanrock Oct 13 #9

Mosby

(17,452 posts)
11. thing about wilt
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 10:53 AM
Oct 18

Is he never had to play against people like Robinson, Kareem, Ewing, Shaq, Malone, Walton.

Mosby

(17,452 posts)
14. Head to head stats.
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 12:55 PM
Oct 18
https://stathead.com//basketball/vs/kareem-vs-wilt?utm_campaign=2023_01_wdgt_player_comparison&utm_source=bbr&utm_medium=sr_xsite&utm_id=chambwi01

They both look pretty good, wilt's FT percent is atrocious though, but he was always a hellava rebounder. Wilt could obviously play well in today's game, but he wouldn't be the dominant force he was back in the day. If Kareem played today, he'd be 20-40 pounds heavier (training/strength improvements) and his sky hook would still be unstoppable. The only way to stop him would be fouling, and he would make those FTs, unlike Wilt.

underpants

(186,611 posts)
4. So it begins. Magic was the best point guard. Period.
Sun Oct 13, 2024, 05:26 PM
Oct 13

and I hated the Lakers.

Curry is a shooter’s shooter. He’s a better shooter than MJ.

Center. Whew. Hakeem was transformative but the best? I’d go with Wilt. Stick Wilt in even today and he covers a lot of ground. Mention of Arvydas Sabonis is required.

Some mention needs to be paid to Moses. Moses was any era.

Two we didn’t get to see were Len Bias (🤬 ) and Dražen Petrović. Dražen reshaped my game when I saw him play (yes the Nets were on TV from time to time) on the one game a week we got in AFN when I was in the Army. He was one of the early Euro players.

Mosby

(17,452 posts)
12. Magic wasn't a point guard
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 10:57 AM
Oct 18

He played the point. Back in 1989 The Sporting News created two categories for PG because KJ was the best point guard in the NBA but Magic is Magic, so they created a separate category for him.

LisaM

(28,594 posts)
6. That's some recency bias.
Sun Oct 13, 2024, 05:39 PM
Oct 13

I am surprised, actually. I thought Obama was more of an historical student of the game.

JT45242

(2,886 posts)
7. Recency bias there...
Sun Oct 13, 2024, 06:38 PM
Oct 13

Wilt should be considered the greatest of all time. Hakeem was very good. Wilt is the greatest.

I understand Steph, but would rather have the Big O or Magic at point guard.

Lots of forwards played better defense than KD. Rebound better. I could argue you make LeBron the power forward and KD the small forward.or go another direction.


Tarzanrock

(456 posts)
8. Larry Bird said "Look at the record book."
Sun Oct 13, 2024, 06:40 PM
Oct 13

Some people need to take a close look at Wilt Chamberlain's mind blowing 1961/1962 season. For 10 years, 1959 - 1969 (until he suffered those debilitating knee injuries) Wilt Chamberlain utterly dominated and personally "owned" the game of professional basketball for probably all time.

ProfessorGAC

(69,851 posts)
10. It's Ridiculous, Isn't It?
Mon Oct 14, 2024, 03:02 PM
Oct 14

He averaged 50.4ppg one year. In another year he averaged OVER 27 rebounds per game. He averaged over 20 rebounds per game nine times!
And, at one point over 2 seasons he let his scoring fall down to a "puny" 24 points so ge could lead the team in assists. He average 8.2 assists over a 2 year period.
I wonder how many blocked shots he would have had they counted the blocks. (He played nearly his whole career before the NBA started recording blocks. Technically he was on the roster the first year they tracked blocks, but he didn't play, as he sat out his whole option year.)
Has to be at least a few thousand.

Tarzanrock

(456 posts)
9. But for sportswriter bias and hatred of Goliath ...
Sun Oct 13, 2024, 06:49 PM
Oct 13

... Wilt Chamberlain deserved to win the National Basketball League's MVP award and the subsequent NBA MVP award in each of those 10 seasons, from 1959 through 1969. Most fantastic superstars in the sport world put together 3 or 4 truly great seasons in their respective sports where they dominate the other players -- Wilt Chamberlain did it for more than 10 years where no one was ever even close to the stratospheric accomplishments he had in professional basketball and that was before he was traded to the Lakers where (even after his debilitating knee injuries) he still utterly dominated the game of professional basketball. Think back and remember that playoff game with the Milwaukee Bucks, when Chamberlain, then an old man in basketball years and hobbling on his bad arthritic knees, still blocked Lew Alcindor's famous shot a whopping six (6) times in that playoff game and the Milwaukee home crowd gave Wilt a long standing ovation for his marvelous defensive play.

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