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The Topic Title speaks for itself. I just thought itd be fun to talk about basketball.
If you want you could tell a little about your player/players, and his/her stats. But thats completely up to you

My Favorite Basketball Players are Stephon Marbury, Allen Iverson and Will Chamberlain

I like Stephon Marbuy because of his crossover. Just watching him do "The Cross-over" to basketball players, makes me want to get up and slap the player that went for the ball

I chose Iverson as one of my top 3 because of his J's and his ability to use his team to make the basket

And Will Chamberlain because hes the first guy to score 100 pts on his own, and.......... He's a legend in the sport.

It could be even from StreetBall, And1, the NBA,the WNBA(which I know nothing about but its basketball). IT has to be on TV, though.

Although I'm highly disinterested in NBA basketball at this point, at a certain time and a place, I was Stephon Marbury's biggest fan. This was back in the 96/97 season when all the all-stars of today came into being, such as Iverson and Bryant. Of course, Marbury never got the same acclaim and got tossed around to Phoenix and New Jersey a few times, ending up on my least favorite team of all time...

<sigh>

I still have fifty-six different basketball cards of him, and at least thirty of Iverson and Bryant, so at least I know they could potentially be worth something in the future. Even though I got out of basketball card collecting, those rookie cards always maintained a value higher than new rookies and the rookies after them, and it didn't appear to be the entire "they're still more rookie than so-and-so" factor.

Oops. TANGENT'D!

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It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

I don't really associate myself with personal players, though I do have some favorites. My heart goes to a team--the Celtics and Kings to be specific. And in this day and age, if you aren't a superstar in the NBA, you're pretty much passed over. Players come and go like the wind, except for these big time players. Even though I follow the NBA quite avidly, it's still hard to keep up with all these new players who are "the next big thing", only to seem them go down in heeping flames. Teams are so worried about getting that superstar they seem to overlook the true aspect of what makes a champion, and that is a completely united team effort.

That said, I do have some individual players I find exciting to watch. Paul Pierce of the Celtics. Mike Bibby of the Kings. Tim Duncan of the Spurs. Pau Gasol of the Grizzlies. Steve Nash of the Suns. And PJ Brown of the Hornets.

Also, it's Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt the Stilt. He was the man back in the day.

This post has been edited by Sabin on 28th October 2005 20:04

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"When I turn the page
The corner bends into the perfect dog ear
As if the words knew I'd need them again
But at the time, I didn't see it."

~"This Ain't a Surfin' Movie" - Minus the Bear

kobe FREAKIN bryant is the best! been a fan of his since his rookie season. ive been a lakers fan ever since ive liked Bball, yet to be honest if kobe were to ever sign with another team, im afraid id be a follower. my heart would still be with LA but kobe is the greatest, after MJ of course.

other than KB8 im a pretty big emeka okafor fan. i like his work ethic and he has the potential to play like a beast. oohh yes, i remember those UConn days when he dominated everyone.

of the classic players, id have to go with the Big O. to average a triple-double in a season is AMAZING. how the hell can you do that, seriously...i dont think anyones ever gonna do that again, unless lebron has a breakout season somewhere down the line, i think hes got a shot. but back to oscar, that guy was awesome. he was great in nearly every aspect of the freakin game! on a short side note, dominique wilkins is my fave dunker of all time. no matter what anyone else says, i honestly believe he is the greatest dunker of all time (yes even better than MJ)

This post has been edited by baralai888 on 28th October 2005 21:01

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"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Did you know that Dominique Wilkins was pulled out of high school, his jr. or snr. yr I cant remember,to play for the NBA, but I too think Dom Wilkins is the best dunker in the NBA.


And Good words Sabin, I like that. and thanx for correcting me. I am human to
!!!!

hmm sabin trainee, never heard of that thing about Nique and high school! i know he went to Georgia for college and was drafted by the Utah Jazz if im not mistaken. either way, he was awesome! human freakin highlight film.

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"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

-The WAY OL'SKOOL:

Wilt Chamberlain
Bill Russell
Jerry West
"Ice Man" Gervin
Bill Walton
Oscar Robertson


-Ol' Skool:

Julius Erving *(EDIT: What the hell is wrong with me?)
Bobby Hurley
Drazen Petrovic
Michael Jordan
Hakeem O'lajuwon
Tim Hardaway
Chris Mullin
Reggie Miller
Larry Bird
Magic Johnson
Kareem Abdul Jabbar
-Dominique Wilkins
Scottie Pippen
Shawn Kemp
Gary Payton
Karl Malone
John Stockton
Charles Barkley
Anfernee Haradaway ( back in the day)
Grant Hill
Jamal Mashburn
Isaih Thomas
Dennis Rodman
Clyde Drexler
Kevin Johnson
Dan Majerle
Brad Draughterty (something like that!)
Patrick Ewing
John Starks

-New Skool:

Kobe Bryant
Tracy McGrady
SHAQ!
Paul Pierce
Allen Iverson
Kevin Garnet
Tim Duncan
Emanuel Ginobili
Amare Stoudmire
Steve Nash
Stephon Marbury
Jason Kidd
Vince Carter
R.J.
Yao Ming
"Stro" Swift
Pau Gasol
Dwayne Wade
LeBron James
MELO MAN Anthony
Ben Wallace
Rasheed Wallace
Carlos Arroyo

BTW, I have some rookie cards too. Kobe, AI, Duncan, Garnett, Stephon, Grant Hill! other dudes!


Some of the players I like, I can go on forever, but that's more than enough!

This post has been edited by SaffireWeapon on 30th October 2005 19:57

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PS3 tag: TipoDLuffy

"...quite possibly the greatest game ever made"

Leave anyone out, SaffireWeapon?

IMO, the five greatest basketball players of all time are Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Wilt Chaimberlin, Jerry West, and Oscar Robertson. Either Jordan, Robertson, or Chaimberlin is the best basketball player ever.

My favorite more recent players are definitely Juan Dixon, Dwyane Wade, Manu Ginobili, and Steve Nash. Dixon mostly for his incredible leadership and class when he was with UMD and their 2002 championship run, Wade for being possibly the most talented and impressive young player in the NBA right now (Wade > LeBron or Anthony), Ginobili is an extremely creative and dynamic player who is basically Argentina's basketball ambassador (and he's awesome at it), and Steve Nash is simply the most exciting player in the league - his pure point skills and the Suns' brilliant offense is tied with the Spurs' complete package as the most entertaining show in the NBA. Those are probably the only jerseys I would pay for.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Jannero Pargo!

Being a Bulls fan, my favorite players in the NBA mostly have Chicago on the front of their jerseys. Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Chris Duhon, Loul Deng, Jannero "Mr. Clutch" Pargo. Me and my girlfriend have an 11 game ticket package this year.

After that I have to go with D-Wade. Me and my teammates had a 5 hour drive down to our tournament at Southern Illinois last weekend, and had this debate the entire way. If I had to build a team around any one person in the NBA right now, it would be D-Wade. In terms of pure basketball ability, James might have a little edge, but Wade has more heart than anyone in the league, and always elevates his game at the right times. I would never venture to say anyone can touch Jordan, but I'll say that Wade brings the same intangibles to the table that MJ did. It's too bad the Heat sabotaged his team this year by signing two shot black holes in Walker and Williams.

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Hip-Hop QOTW:

"Yeah, where I'ma start it at, look I'ma part of that
Downtown Philly where it's realer than a heart attack
It wasn't really that ill until the start of crack
Now it's a body caught every night on the Almanac"

"Game Theory"
The Roots

It's a travesty for the lack of MJ talk going on here. This guy was my absolute hero growing up. He transcended the game, I don't know what it is, but just the mystique around him will NEVER, EVER be repeated. There will never be another MJ. I don't care if Lebron ends up breaking all his stat records. What made Jordan the best of all time wasn't his stats. It was his absolute determination. No one could single-handedly take a game over like him. If there was two minutes left in the game, and the Bulls were down by 7, it didn't matter what you thought. It didn't matter if you doubled him. The Bulls were going to win that game whether the opposing coach liked it or not.

Let me try and put it in perspective. He was the most clutch player in any sport, in any era. There's 8 seconds left on the clock and the Bulls are down by one. The players know Jordan is getting the ball, the coach knows Jordan is getting the ball, the 50,000 fans in attendance knew Jordan was getting the ball, as did the countless watching him around the country. It didn't matter. He was going to hit the game winning shot no matter what you did. No other player has exhibited this type of play. Sure, Chamberlain had all the stats. But he was a 7+ footer in an era of 6'8" centers. Jordan's game was built all on absolute skill. Tim Duncan may be the most fundamental player in the game today, but honestly: doing what he does (being taller than everyone, and just pivoting, head-faking, so you can get your bunny shot each time) really isn't that hard. Not when you compare it to what Jordan did.


Today? My favorite player is Allen Iverson. He's just amazing when you realize how much shorter he is than everyone. He can take over games, it just sucks that he's so inconsistent and turns into Mr. Ballhog sometimes, though he's never had that great of a team around him. If ONLY, stupid Robert Horry hadn't made that BS shot for the Lakers in the 2001 finals of Game 2. Philly would've been up 2-0 and we wouldn't have to even talk about Kobe and Grape Ape. Oh man was it great to see them crash and burn. It filled me with glee to see the cockiest Jordan wanna-be in the league shown up that he was just Grape Ape's lackey. His wingman. He can't carry a team by himself.

I also like Mike Bibby, and of course Ben Gordan. Talk about clutch, welcome to the 4th quarter baby.

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The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"

Michael Jordan, of course. If ever there was a genius of the sport, it was him. At their peak, his abilities were superhuman and near-undefinable; he dominated both ends of the court, shattering opponents by sheer force of presence. There's really not much to say about this man that hasn't already been said - save that he was the greatest player to ever pick up a basketball, and we haven't had anything quite like him since.

Honorable mentions go to Julius "Dr. J" Erving and Larry Bird, two very different players with similar effects.

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"I always have a quotation for everything - it saves original thinking."
~Dorothy L. Sayers

"The truly remarkable thing about television is that it allows several million people to laugh at the same joke and still feel lonely."
~T.S. Eliot

"Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as reality - in your own mind!"
~ Bruce Lee

I never really got into the MJ Era of basketball, and I never really looked up to him as an idle. I guess It all depends on who you want to be like, who you look up to, and who you were introduced to when you were a kid. Thats how it was for me. But i do somewhat agree with you guys, he was very talented when it came to basketball.

Quote (Sabin Trainee @ 30th October 2005 18:22)

I never really got into the MJ Era of basketball, and I never really looked up to him as an idle. I guess It all depends on who you want to be like, who you look up to, and who you were introduced to when you were a kid. Thats how it was for me. But i do somewhat agree with you guys, he was very talented when it came to basketball.

You better start watching MJ's games buddy! Go get some videos, dvd's whatever!

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PS3 tag: TipoDLuffy

"...quite possibly the greatest game ever made"

I only sort of alluded to him in my post, because he isn't quite playing anymore, but MJ definitely contends for being the best basketball player ever and he is almost certainly one of the most important people in the history of sports in general. Even if you put aside his six championships, his unbelievable skills, athleticism, and class make him absolutely deserving of all of the attention he garnishes. If anyone who wasn't around or didn't follow basketball during the mid 90s wonders if all of the worship that Jordan receives is justified, let me reassure you that it is. He's that good.

and I can't believe I forgot Dr. J!!! He is no Michael or Big O, but he was one of the flashiest, most entertaining players in history and is absolutely awesome. If I could own any retro jersey in the world, it would be the blue and orange home jersey of Erving's 1972-73 Virgina Squires. Freakin' awesome. The Baseline Move on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has to be one of the awesomest plays in the history of sports.

Also, what's almost more worrisome to me is how no one besides SaffireWeapon and myself have even mentioned Oscar Robertson. The Big O basically revolutionized the point guard position by dominating both ends of the court from that position. He was the NCAA Player of the Year three times, captained the second-most talented Olympic basketball team ever and won gold in 1960, and was described as "the most versatile player I had ever seen" and "he's so good it scares me" by coaching legend Red Auerbach. He also is first all-time in "created PPG" (PPG + 2xAPG, assuming that each assist creates 2 points) and is the only player to average a triple-double for an entire season (30.8 points, 11.4 assists and 12.5 rebounds per game in 1961-62). He is, without a doubt, one of the greatest players ever. I am of the opinion that only Wilt Chaimberlin and Michael Jordan can possibly be considered better than The Big O.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Current player would have to be LeBron James. He dropped 31 last night, and was 6-7 behind the arc. If not LeBron, then T-Mac. All-time, it's Jordan, or course.

I like the old school. Wilt scored 100pts in 62' against the Knicks, he played for the Harlem Globetrotters in 58'-59', went to the University of Kansas, All NBA second team 63', 65', and 72', and dont forget NBA finals MVP and i could tell you more if you want?????!!!!

I was thinking the other day, the NBA should pay tribute to all it's player who have fallen while they where playin, maybe in the all star game. Some who could have achieved greatness have unfourtunately suffered this tragic fate.

Drazen Petrovic for example, it was he who led the way for the new age of euro players in the NBA, what the hell, they can even make an award for the foreign player of the year named the Drazen Petrovic Award, he was real good!

If you don't know who Drazen Petrovic was, you can check on WIKIPEDIA.com , or you can check out the offical NBA.com site and check his article in the bottom of the page, HIGHLY RECCOMENDED EVEN FOR THOSE WHO KNOW WHO HE WAS!!

This post has been edited by SaffireWeapon on 7th November 2005 09:02

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PS3 tag: TipoDLuffy

"...quite possibly the greatest game ever made"

Well I really don't care about b-ball (of course I am biased since I coach wrestling) but I would have to say Lebron James (again biased since I am from Cleveland). For old school I have to with the old Cavs of the late 80s and early 90s since they were the best team in the NBA except for the Chicago Jordan (I won't call them the Bulls since Jordan was the team)

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War is for the participants a test of character; it makes bad men worse and good men better. - Joshua Chamberlain

U sir R a n00b >:-( - Cactuar