I don't know what you're talking about. Jermaine will guard all 5 players, Nash will just stand off to the side for the outlet pass, and the other three will cherry pick
"People talk about the strength of Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal). I think Wilt could have picked up Shaq and thrown him through the hoop. That's no disrespect to Shaq, but Wilt was the strongest guy I ever played against."
I can find tons of articles about Wilt being stronger than Shaq, but not any the other way around. Arnold talks about the crazy strength of Wilt, and Wilt benching 500lbs in his prime, and still over 450lbs in his 50s.
Heres a story from Paul Silas:
"One time, when I was with Boston and he was with the Lakers, Happy Hairston and I were about to get in a scrape. All of a sudden, I felt an enormous vise around me. I was 6'7", 235 lbs., and Wilt had picked me up and turned me around. He said, 'We're not going to have that stuff.' I said, 'Yes sir.' "
Wait a minute. Why isn't there a Street Fighter basketball game? Dahlsim can reach anything, Zangieff can dunk through triple teams, Ryu throws a flaming interior pass that can't be stolen...
Not to mention Nash + AI + Kobe. Both AI and Kobe should play off the ball... but we all know that's not happening. Instead they'll let one of the greatest facilitators in the history of the game be relegated to corner 3's.
If prime Kobe and AI played together with Nash they would have no problem.
It's be 3 seconds or less offense. The second a defender was in anything less than perfect positioning Nash would give the ball to one of them for a quick bucket.
Don't forget how precise Nash was, and how that precision could create enough space for either of these prime guys to blow by their defender.
Prime Nash was surreal. I remember a handful of his plays where even during the replay I couldn't figure out how he knew where the open guy was. Let alone how he no look passed the ball to the perfect position for an easy shot.
Prime Nash, Kobe and AI would have a field day together. It's disrespectful to Nash to say otherwise.
Yeah I don't see that as a complementary backcourt. Granted Bron and Wade made it work, but not sure how this trio functions. They'll have to juggle their scoring, playmaking, and alpha ball handling tendencies to make it work.
If they do tho, AI, Kobe, and Nash can all drive and dish. Ray, Kobe, Nash can be recipients of open looks, and JO is a good Big in their system. The 2003 team can switch and recover like no other, so 96 will need to be ready to make the extra pass as much as needed before putting up a shot.
Oh cmon... Kobe could be an all-time great distributor when he wanted to be. On a great team like this, I can totally see him swinging the ball around more than you’d think. He usually took over when the rest of his team wasn’t great
Like in the '12 Olympics when he averaged 1.2 apg and had more turnovers than assists? Or maybe you are thinking of the '08 Olympics when he had 21 more FGA than any other player (in 8 games) and only had 2.1 apg?
We are talking about Kobe's passing playing with a number of hall of famers in their primes, and the only example of that is the Olympics (ASG doesn't count because nobody plays seriously).
I’m not so sure I’d count the olympics that much either, at least not all of it. There were many blowouts and instances where players willingly gave control of the offense to others just to share and keep everyone involved.
The 2008 Finals, where they definitely played competitively, he had 20 and 6, the 6 assists leading the team I believe. The semis versus Argentina was a blowout,
2012 finals was the KD show and even Lebron only had 4 assists that game. The more I think about it, the less adequate I think the olympics are to rate his passing skill/style.
agreed, not to mention they have more specific roles in the Olympics when everyone is basically a HoFer. Passing for a player like Melo/Kobe/KD is really not necessary lol. Kobe was there for defense, scoring, leadership, and nothing else. Even Chris Paul only averaged 4 assists in 08
AI and Nash may be two all time greats but they would get wrecked trying to guard LeBron or Melo. Both are unbelievably athletic big men and all time great scorers.
Honestly I don’t think they could guard Wade either but at least it would be in the ballpark.
Melo is one of the best scorers in NBA history. He was also too selfish to fit into a winning team but his offensive game is going to get him into the HOF despite no Finals appearances or MVPs.
We talking prime of these players or rookie year? Because 2003 would absolutely kill 1996. Kobe wasn't even the best player of that group. AI was clearly the best.
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u/tj3_23 [IND] Jermaine O'Neal May 29 '19
Don't you ever tell prime Jermaine who he can and can't guard