Many great and legendary NBA players and coaches have vouched for Sabonis and how great he was in his prime. He was a freak of nature with his passing shooting and ability at that size. Just looking at his highlights and I don't see how anyone can say he wouldn't have been one of the greatest Players (not just centers) ever. That little turnaround jump hook was pretty much unstoppable.
Aryvdas Sabonis...What Could Have Been
- Thread starter froggle
- Start date
Kids these days... This is what happens when you grow up playing video games, instead of sports.
So you're telling me he wouldve been as good as ewing or hakeem, you're saying he wouldve dominated the paint and brought portland a title.? Even with clyde drexler he wouldn't have made portland contenders
The Blazers won 2 games against the Bulls with Kevin Duckworth (RIP) playing center, Arvydas was much better than him. The Blazers were contenders without him, they went to 2 finals in 3 years and lost in the conference finals the one year they didn't go.
Sabonis would have been 25-29 during a time the Blazers were averaging 60 wins a season, they would have been the favorites with a prime Sabonis. We all saw how good he was as an old broken down 32-38 year old player, he didn't have half the mobility he used to have and he was still a factor. I think he would have been better than Ewing without question, Hakeem is a totally different story, but you're selling Sabonis short. Everyone who saw him during his prime said he would have been in contention for best player in the league and a possible all-time great.
And for the record, I never said he'd be as good as Dream. He's in the Pantheon of bigs. But Sabonis was easily in that next tier with Ewing and D-Rob, Moses too.
Adding Sabas to a 60 win team?
The Amerikkkan Idol
The Amerikkkan Nightmare
Even after multiple knee injuries and being 31 years old he was better than Marc Gasol is today. I don't think people realize how good Sabonis actually was when he finally reached the NBA, despite not being able to sprint up and down the court and being hobbled by his knees. He literally couldn't move naturally on the court anymore and he was still GREAT.
He obviously couldn't log 35+ minutes at this stage of his career, because of the injuries but if you check his per 36 mins stats, you'd be surprised at how well he produced on the floor.
As a rookie at 31 years old, he put up: 22 ppg (61.7 TS%) , 12.2 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.6 bpg and 1.3 spg with a PER of 24.7.
That's fukking insane. He was generally a player who didn't drop off much in the playoffs. Not to mention that his defense was still spectacular at this point of his career, finishing top 10 in defensive rating in 5 of his 7 years in the NBA.
I'm pretty sure he would be closer to a Hakeem, Shaq in his prime than Ewing and Robinson.
Sabonis>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Dwight Howard.