Do you think if he got to play with Drexler in Portland he could've won a championship?
Also do you think Sabonis is one of the top 10 centers to ever play the game of basketball ?
2007-10-16 07:12:23 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Basketball
JR
what do you think about the second answerer's argument
Sabonis would've been a top 10 center if he hadn't lost all his mobility while being playing in Europe...he was after all the best player in Europe in the 80s and early 90s
Do you think if he was on that hot streak with the Blazers in that time period, they would've won at least one ring?
Would he then at least enter the top 10 center discussion?
You gotta check out this guy on youtube and lemme know how he was in the 80s...
2007-10-16 08:14:12 · update #1
Natali Zee
Duncan goes as a Power Forward
Guys what about Wes Unseld...does he belong in the top 10 centers liste?
2007-10-16 08:43:41 · update #2
Its possible that he could have helped the Blazers to win a Championship. I heard that he was basically the S H I T when he played in Europe.
That #1 answer that talks about the level of competion gap between tha NBA and EURO league is rediculous. With bad knees and a worn out Achellies tendon Sabonis managed to be a force in the NBA for almost 10 years, averaging a solid 12.0 points per game. 7.3 rebs, while shooting 78% from the line. All this after the age of 30. Most NBA Centers cant put those numbers up from age 20 thru 30 let alone after the age of 30 and on bad legs.
If Sabonis is one of the best Centers of all time, its just to bad we didnt get to see him play in his days as a youth. He would definately established a standard among NBA Centers at the time. Comming in the league with guys like Pat Ewing, and Brad Daughrety, Rik Smits, and a few others. Unlike many European/Asian players that have come to the NBA, one thing Arvydas was not is soft. (see Yao Ming, Dino Radja, Dirk Nowitzki, and many others). Arvydas would lower the shoulder and barrel his way into the paint with the best of them, and he never shyed away from contact or a fight. I loved it when he flashed that "sly develish smirk" at other players to let them know he wasnt nobodies LITTLE P U N K!
2007-10-16 09:58:18 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sabonis was a great player in Europe but like many early European players, there was an adjustment period to the NBA. I believe Sabonis played most of his golden years in Europe and when he got to the NBA, he looked a step slower than most of his dominant big men competitors in the NBA. Portland had a great and a very deep team (Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Buck Williams, Jerome Kersey, Kevin Duckworth, Cliff Robinson) during the year they went to the finals with an All-Star center in Duckworth so I don't think that having an extra center in Sabonis would have made much of a difference. Plus, I carry the opinion that I really don't think anyone could have beaten the Bulls during their golden years. It didn't matter if they faced an uptempo team (Gary Payton & Shawn Kemp's Supersonics, Kevin Johnson & Charles Barkley's Suns, Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter's Trailblazer) or a halfcourt oriented team (Penny Hardaway & Shaquille O'Neal's Magics, John Stockton & Karl Malone's Jazz) or a really good defensive team (Patrick Ewing's Knicks, Reggie Miller's Pacers, or Isiah Thomas & Joe Dumar's Pistons). The Bulls were able to stop and dominate really deep teams (Blazers, Pistons) and those teams with great chemistry (Suns, Pacers). Chicago had a high powered offense backed up by great defense so they were not going to be denied their championship rings.
I don't think Sabonis would be able to crack the top 10 centers to play in the NBA because he hasn't proven he can do it at the highest level long enough. The Euro-league was the next highest level of competition after the NBA back then but the gap in the level of competition between the Euro-league and the NBA was so much wider than it is today because the NBA had better athletes who were arguably more fundamentally sound players than the players you see in the NBA today. To put Sabonis in the top 10 centers to ever play the game of basketball would mean you would have to take out one of these guys.
Top 10
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Wilt Chamberlin
Bill Russell
Hakeem Olajuwon
David Robinson
Patrick Ewing
Shaquille O'Neal
Moses Malone
Bob McAdoo
Walt Bellamy
(11-15)
Willis Reed
Robert Parish
George Mikan
Alonzo Mourning
Bill Walton
I'm not sure if I would even include Sabonis in the top 15 centers of all-time let alone top 10. Just my 2 cents.
2007-10-16 07:42:08 · answer #2 · answered by JR 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I dont really know i mean could you imagine portland haveing kevin duckworth and sabonis. I mean you have a 7'0" 275 pound center starting and backing him up is a 7'3" 292 pound center or vice versa that is alot of bulk in the middle, but anyway the blazers at that time had a good team and they made the finals 2 times in 3 years. It was that they were not prepared mentally to win a championship. You look at some of those old games with them and they would always get key players ejected or they would get technical after technical foul and all the elite teams knew that. All the great players said that if they would have not thinked to much about the fouls being called and just played the game they would won those 2 chmpionships.
2007-10-16 08:33:23 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh man! What a great question! Sabas was SO awesome. I am so glad I got to watch him play so many times. If only he would have made it over sooner...if he had been able to get out of his contract with Lithuania. The Blazers had rights to him, but he was not allowed to come until he was past his prime. He was still a force and a great passer, but never got the respect from the officials. There is great footage on youtube and other places that shows him in his youth before his knees went out. He could run the floor and do a bit of everything. He probably is in the top 10, but because he came here so late, he doesn't get acknowledged like he should. And, indeed, the Blazers would have had a shot if he had been here...who knows, they may have been able to beat the Bulls...but, alas...he wasn't here, so we'll really never know. I loved Sabas! He deserves more recognition than he got. That Lithuanian team was pretty much unbeatable when he was on it.
2007-10-16 08:06:08 · answer #4 · answered by prekinpdx 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
He would have willed the players around him to at least one championship, and perhaps multiple titles, if he could have joined the club in 1986 and had the system built around him for the next decade.
He was a mobile center before it was fashionable in the NBA and Sabonis may have single-handidly ushered in a new era for the "man in the middle" if he could have starred here in his prime.
It can't be debated if he was in the Top 10, he arguably is the greatest center the world game has ever had.
2007-10-16 08:33:53 · answer #5 · answered by Zombie Birdhouse 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i agree with jr with the exception that willis reed was better than walt bellamy.back then ,the knicks traded bellamy (and howard komives )to the pistons for dave debucsher(bad spelling)so that reed could move from pf to center.reed won 2 championships bellamy none.by the way jr,where is tim duncan on that list?wes unseld won rookie of the year and mvp in the same season.tookbullets allthe way .yes top 10
2007-10-16 08:38:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think im gonna cry. Especially about calling the radio stations and roller skating (not roller blading) and pogs and the reason i ever showed up to the fifth grade OREGON TRAIL!!!....Oh man, those were the days, i didnt realize how much i actually miss the 90's til now.
2016-05-22 23:16:25 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋