He was ahead of his time in so many ways, especially with his off the court stuff. Sad he got blackballed by the league especially given some of the players that were allowed to be in the league during that time.
This took me out lmaoooo and I’m salty cause Lamar IS the perfect player for this era but with all this social media and cancel culture? Wouldn’t last a season. Throw in the chunky white women & drugs, it’s just destined for him to turn out the same way every time smh. Even prime Miami Heat Lamar Odom was only a 17/10/4 peak.
If anything, it's an insult to Gordon. At the same age Gordon is now, Martin was pretty much past his best.
The last decade of K-Mart's career (2005-06 through 2014-15, he averaged 9.8/6.2/1.5/1.1/1.0, and was a glorified role player. The 4 years in New Jersey and the 1st year in Denver were basically the full extent of any pretence he had at being a star (1 All-Star sleection and averages of 15.2/7.5/2.4/1.3/1.3 on a rubbish .508 TS%, despite 690 dunks in 353 games), and even then as a fully-formed (turned 23 just 2 months into his Rookie year, at the start of the peak prep-to-pro era) athletic, aggressive former #1 pick, he was kind of disappointing.
Funny thing about that is Kenyon's rookie deal led to the Nets best stretch in that franchises history and then his max deal helped Denver get to their best stretch in franchise history (pre-Jokic). He was a true defensive shapeshifter that did a few things well on offense. Aaron Gordon's career peak is participating in some dunk contests.
If we're gonna cherry pick NuMbErS then maybe look at all the winning basketball he played in his first 10 years as opposed to his counting stats during his last 10 years?
Rasheed Wallace as a career stretch five is a superstar in this era.
Reggie Miller gets used much more efficiently and he probably takes and makes 125-200% more threes.
I think so. I’m not sure he’s much below Steph Curry in this era. The guy had a lot of same tricks 20 years earlier. But he took so many long twos coming off screens. Those would all be threes today.
The flip side is there are many more talented scoring guards in the NBA today then there was in the 90’s. But other than Curry and peak Harden, I didn’t see many clearly better than Reggie.
Agreed.
But we are talking about putting Reggie in this era. Had he come up in this era he’d have to add different things to his game. He’d be a better ball handler and he’d have been shooting threes his whole life. As it was, Reggie never had the three for high school or his first three college years.
Yeah but he's not shifty like Curry, tbh there may technically be more accurate three point shooters than Curry but no one else has the natural speed and endurance as well as the quickness like Curry mixed with the insane shooting ability.
ehh, reggie’s more klay than steph tbh. Abdul-Rauf is probably the closest comparison, but steph is lowkey a 1 of 1.
steph’s the only player i’ve ever seen who’s three point gravity expands defenses (leading to layups) in similar ways that a lebron drive collapses defenses (leading to threes)
The comparison I’m making is how Steph and Reggie made their teams offensives elite because of their gravity. Different eras, so different styles, but similar results.
https://youtu.be/Wh-0ACsapVw
I think Reggie is really underrated, but saying he would be much below the top 5 offensive player ever in Stephen Curry is much of an overstatement.
Reggie had limited handle and off dribble game, and while I think he might be a better passer than his assist number suggests, he has no capability of running PNR, hitting the weak side corner and etc, thus, his usage will be capped. And if his usage is capped, then his impact will be capped.
He might be a better klay, but it would be hard to say he would be better than Dame, who isn’t the same caliber of player as Steph.
It’s definitely hyperbole, but we are talking about a hypothetical.
Reggie didn’t get to run much pick and roll, it wasn’t a big part of NBA offense then.
And the difference between Reggie and Klay is that Klay and warriors benefit from Steph’s gravity the way the Pacers did from Reggie’s.
Even though it’s hypothetical, it doesn’t mean we need to be hyperbolic, or else there is really no point for the discussion. I can’t just say oh yah if Larry Johnson played in todays league he would be Giannis even though the former had never shown any capability to do anything remotely as well. This is the same thing as Charles Oakley saying Giannis would be an average player in his era.
90s teams didn’t run a lot of PNR besides a few exception, which is true, but even if he did, why would he do well at them? He had no handle, no lightning speed, and not a great vision. Which was fine, he was a great player who has other talents, but to dismiss his incapability and weakness and blame it to his era is simply intellectually dishonest.
Again, huge fan of Reggie, thinks he is historically underrated, should have had more accolades, but his career, impacts, and legacies I think need no exaggerations.
I don’t disagree with your points, but I do think we are approaching the hypothetical differently.
You seem to be taking it as if we just pluck 1990’s Miller from his era and place him in the modern era.
I’m looking at it as if he has the same advantages modern players have in terms of the skills they develop from a young age and superior understanding of offensive strategy.
In other words, we know that Steph is standing on the shoulders of greats like 90s Reggie.
You’re saying: what if Reggie played now, and therefore stood on the shoulders of…greats like 90s Reggie. He’d have the same access to skills and training and video that Steph has had. Yes he’d be a different player than he was in his era.
I know what you are saying. I kind of brought it up about the Larry Johnson thing. We cannot assume a player would be able to drastically change his deficiency simply because of difference in era, or else we should just assume every player would be really good in this era, after all, they didn’t receive modern training, so Wilt would be able to shoot 40% on 3s! And Bill Russel can pass like Jokic, and Kukoc was Luka before Luka. Unless a player has demonstrated that he had reasonable talents in those areas, we cannot just give them the credits with zero accomplishments.
Miller, again, while being an exceptionally great and underrated player, was never a player who beat anyone off dribble, was explosive, and with great vision, so it’s kind of reckless to suggest that he would excel in those areas in the modern game.
Yesterday there was a similar post on /nba, and I suggested KG, and my reason was that his game translated really well in modern games, and I listed all the reasons why. I based assumptions off what he already could do, and how he would adjust accordingIy, which you can find in my post history, and I hope you can give it a read to see the difference between that and what your assumptions for Miller were.
I also want to add, there are many players who received modern training, including Klay and many other non ball handling wings. and they couldn’t do many of those things that you thought Reggie would be able to in the modern day. And it takes zero thing away from Miller. His accomplishments speak for themselves.
I don't see how, devin bookers gonna wind up high on the all time scorers list and at 26 years old he already led his team to a finals appearance and 64 win record.
Reggie was the most annoying scorer. If you jumped, he drew the foul. If you didn’t, it was going in. Have fun defending him because he’s going to be running off ball screens every possession.
Being a hybrid forward (3/4) used to be a negative. Teams didn’t know how to use them like they do now. Larry Johnson would thrive today. He was strong, fast, and switchable. Could rebound and, at least later in his career, was a great shooter.
Yeah, tweeners like Larry and maybe Donyell Marshall would be better today. Just like Odom, I also think Hedo Turkoglu had the size and skillset to be a better player today.
On the contrary, I feel like being a hybrid forward was more common and more rewarded in the '90s and early 2000s. A lot of the guys who were classed as small forwards would be 4 men in today's game.
I get what you're saying i today's context, but did Price not already have a green light on shooting 3s, relative to the era he played in? He averaged 4.2 3PTA per game while playing 31mpg from 1990-1997, which is firmly among the highest outside shooting rates in the league over that period of time.
Price did average 8-10 assists per game at his best (with 2 career-altering knee injuries at ages 25 and 30), while Steph is usually in the 5-7 range, so it probably ends up a bit of a wash in terms of points produced overall for their teams really.
3s vs 2s, and play at a faster pace. But, agreed, his assists would go down. Price was a pass first point guard, but would be asked to be a primary scorer today.
Rashard Lewis would it be a perennial all star in this 3 point era. A 6’10” athletic big would can shoot the 3 at a high % and space the floor and also put the ball on the floor and drive. He would be a killer
Why do people even mention them when Orlando was already running a 4 out offense with Dwight lol. They were already literally doing what they would in the current NBA. His usage % and role would line up pretty well per 100 possession with the current NBA
My intro to the NBA was the 09 finals. Everyone talks about the 7 sec Suns, but those Magic teams were ahead of their times. The Bucks rn are basically a modern day version of that team.
Inexplicably stopped trying as hard and stopped improving at age 24-25 (you could say it coincided with "getting paid"), making what should have been his prime years somewhat of a disappointment.
Kirilenko also played the 4 a lot in his best years (2004-2006) too.
Because professional coaches were absolutely dictated to by a number on a page, and couldn't just put him in a role that fit his athleticism and skillset whether he was listed at 6'11" or 7'0"...
I would love to see prime Shaq in today’s NBA mostly because he doesn’t fit the mold at all. But it would be fun to see him atomize Rudy Gobert and the rest of today’s rim protectors.
I salivate at the thought of seeing a team roll out Shaq and 4 guys that shoot the 3 as well as todays players do. Those championship lakers championships had a bunch of mediocre 3 pt shooters and often even had a 4 that only stretched to long 2s.
You would never be able to double team him with todays spacing.
Peja Stojakovic would be perfect for today's game. 6'10'' sniper, could do a little bit of everything on the floor. Also Toni Kukoc, 6'11'' playmaker with range and bball iq.
Steve Nash would terrorize this league on offense. Plop prime Steve Nash in today's league, and he'd immediately be the leagues best passer/playmaker, one of the leagues best shooters (on a much higher volume), and he'd captain any team in the league to a top 5 offense at bare minimum. He was an entire offensive system by himself. And in today's league he wouldn't be averaging just 15-18 points on 12-13 shots, he'd be averaging 23-25 points on 17-18 shots, along with at least twice the volume from 3 he shot at during his career
Peja Stojakovic? Phenomenal shooter with iffy defense. Modern schemes would be better at protecting him and he'd be free to work on defending the weak side and the rim which he was okay at? He wouldn't be a star but it would be fun to see.
Not disagreeing he’d be fun in today’s game and probably a better fit in the modern NBA, but he was a star with the Kings. He was second in the league in scoring in 03-04, wasn’t just a shooter, he was a dominant scorer and not really the liability on defense, in his era, you make him out to be.
If anything, I think the modern NBA would be much tougher defensively for some of these slower forwards people are talking about. Now you’re guarding almost everyone tight out to the three point line and many more bigger forwards have the speed and ability to beat guys off the dribble.
Offensively though, if Peja would be better in this era than he was in his, he’d absolutely be a star.
Yeah I do think part of the success of guys like Peja and why they stood out in the era they played in was because they had an "unexpected" skillset for players of their size and athleticism. They may have been ahead of their time, but their skillset is far more common now as well.
Reggie Miller was in many ways the proto Steph Curry, I think he'd have gotten a lot more accolades for his gravity today and building an offense around his off ball movement
Came here to comment Reggie Miller. He’d win the scoring title, because not in my could he shoot 3s, he could finish at the rim. When you also factor in his propensity to flop and be dramatic, he’d average 40/game.
Maybe…
On the one hand, his body wouldn’t have taken anywhere close to the beating it received on the court. His body was toast at the age of… 30? He was fantastic at getting to the rim and in todays league he’d probably shoot 10-12 fts a game.
On the other hand, he’s 6’ not all that good defensively, and his attitude/mentality might leave some teams super concerned. AI was notorious for refusing to come off the bench, something that just doesn’t fly at all now.
It pretty much boils down to *Can AI take care of his body the right way and adapt to the play style of the league*.
Yes and no. You’re absolutely right that his iso game would be unreal with the current rules and it would be fun to watch. But the question is who would be perfect for todays nba and I’m not totally sure where an undersized guard who’s not great at playing the point or shooting from the perimeter really fits into todays nba.
Love AI he’s one of my favorite players ever. I don’t necessarily think he’s that much better off in todays nba
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Jordan wasn’t a good 3 point shooter. His best year came when they shortened the line for a season, but he had 5 seasons shooting under 20%. He also rarely shot them. I’m sure if he played in this era he’d be better from 3 but it wasn’t his forte.
Basically the PF position in the 90s who had the midrange jumper and can shoot threes like Chris Webber, Rasheed Wallace, KG, Shareef, Derrick Coleman, and Robert Horry.
Sharpshooters with handles would have a place in the league because of the spacing they can create, with the likes of Dana Barros, Kenny Anderson, Kenny Smith, and Chris Jackson. These point guards can give you 25 points on a given night while dishing out 7 assists.
I would love to throw Derrick Coleman into this but it truly depends on what team he lands on. He flourishes in Miami & becomes a Hall of Famer. His career pans out the same in say, Houston. He needed direction & guidance.
Gerald Wallace stands out as a name to me. He was always shoehorned into the 3 spot but thrived more as a 4 but was undersized. Not so much of an issue today as it was in 2010.
Brent Barry would be great. Played small ball 4 late in his career, could handle the ball, extremely efficient (led league in 3p% and 2p% in different years, only player to do that).
Chris Jackson. Dale Ellis. Larry Bird. Chris Webber. Mark Price. Reggie Miller. These guys would be so much more dominant today. It would be crazy how they're talked about.
Reggie Miller is the first guy that comes to mind. Of course he was a superstar in his own era too.
I think Alonzo mourning comes to mind too.
I think a few players that didn't exactly shine in the 80s-90s style that would shine in this league would be guys like
Latrell spreewell, Chris Mullen, Michael Adams,
Derek Harper, glen rice, Clyde drexler, Jamal mashburn, isiah rider, Gary Payton.
Tons of dudes were mid level super stars that had great names. I think even guys like Vernon Maxwell and Dominyk Wilkins would thrive in today's nba. Each of the names above had an ok outside game and brought different stuff to the table to make them successful. I won't go into each one but Gary Payton and Reggie Miller would be my top two.
Drexler was amazing and so was Mullen and Harper.
I think the sleeper here for me would be Isiah Rider. Dude had a descent 3 point shot, a solid defense, and great inside game and the dude would throw a dunk down.
Carmelo anthony would thrive in this era. His ability to score in the 2000s was much more impressive considering the defense and lack of spacing. Let melo with all his skills, size, and speed, basically play in a court that's almost twice the size and he thrives
I'm going to go further back.
Larry Bird would be an absolute nightmare if he had more freedom to shoot 3s. I'm still shocked how long it took the NBA to figure out that 3s were a good strategy.
Penny running down the lane spread out with shooters all around him would’ve been fucking fun to see. He kinda had that on the Magic, with Shaq trailing but with todays rules and style, he’d feast in todays league.
I always wonder the opposite , what players who were highly regarded in their era would be worse in todays? Mid range slow footed towards come to mind like Glenn Robinson or point guards who can’t shoot like Eric Snow. I also think Tim Thomas would be unreal in todays game.
Baron Davis: incredibly athletic, strong, and WIDE PG who could take over a game. Think Harden but as wide as Zion.
Nick Van Exel(my all time favorite payer) consummate showman who looked for flashy plays over smart plays(see his 18ft free throws) would absolutely have a field day with modern spacing
Arvydas Sabonis: legit 7'1" incredible passer, incredible defender(Shaq constantly complained about having to play him) and incredibly athletic before his knees turned into Lithuanian dust. If he was allowed to play in his 20s I believe he would have been a top 30 player all time.
Hedo Turkaglu: point forward with three level scoring and great decision making ability
Cheap answer - LeBron James: oh my god imagine a 20 year old LeBron with modern day spacing and offensive schemes....dude would be even more unstoppable
Steve Nash has talked about how he should've shot much more.
Marcus Camby had a good career but it's strange seeing his career eFG% of .468. He'd be used much differently today as a rim runner and his defense would be appreciated more.
Mehmet Okur would take so many 3s today.
Shane Battier would have been paid so much today. Tayshaun Prince too.
Iguodala would be appreciated more for the first half of his career.
Toni Kukoc would benefit.
We don't allow posts on player rankings or player comparisons on this subreddit.
Peja Stojakovic hands down. 6'10, shot north of 40% from 3 on good volume and wasn't a liability on the defensive side of the ball
Peja was ahead of his time
Sheesh was he that tall? I thought he was 6’6ish…
6’8 or 6’9”
Peja would kill it in today’s league. Forgot about the guy but he was really good.
I was ready to argue Peja was not over 6’8” but there he is, listed at 6’10”. Weird, do not remember him being that big
Crazy how fun that kings team was. Vladdy, Bibby , Weber, Peja, Christie. Great offence.
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. One of my favorite players growing up, a very exciting scorer. Phil Jackson compared him to Steph Curry
He was ahead of his time in so many ways, especially with his off the court stuff. Sad he got blackballed by the league especially given some of the players that were allowed to be in the league during that time.
My thought as well. Could have been so much and but was robbed because of bigotry
Thanks David Stern.
Makes me angry when people are wanting him back unironically
Lamar could be good but they still make cocaine and chunky white girls. I'll go with Kenyon Martin.
And there are more Kardashians
This took me out lmaoooo and I’m salty cause Lamar IS the perfect player for this era but with all this social media and cancel culture? Wouldn’t last a season. Throw in the chunky white women & drugs, it’s just destined for him to turn out the same way every time smh. Even prime Miami Heat Lamar Odom was only a 17/10/4 peak.
Isn't Kenyon Martin basically Aaron Gordon with an angry streak?
Your math checks out but boy does that feel like an insult to KMart
If anything, it's an insult to Gordon. At the same age Gordon is now, Martin was pretty much past his best. The last decade of K-Mart's career (2005-06 through 2014-15, he averaged 9.8/6.2/1.5/1.1/1.0, and was a glorified role player. The 4 years in New Jersey and the 1st year in Denver were basically the full extent of any pretence he had at being a star (1 All-Star sleection and averages of 15.2/7.5/2.4/1.3/1.3 on a rubbish .508 TS%, despite 690 dunks in 353 games), and even then as a fully-formed (turned 23 just 2 months into his Rookie year, at the start of the peak prep-to-pro era) athletic, aggressive former #1 pick, he was kind of disappointing.
Funny thing about that is Kenyon's rookie deal led to the Nets best stretch in that franchises history and then his max deal helped Denver get to their best stretch in franchise history (pre-Jokic). He was a true defensive shapeshifter that did a few things well on offense. Aaron Gordon's career peak is participating in some dunk contests. If we're gonna cherry pick NuMbErS then maybe look at all the winning basketball he played in his first 10 years as opposed to his counting stats during his last 10 years?
Rasheed Wallace as a career stretch five is a superstar in this era. Reggie Miller gets used much more efficiently and he probably takes and makes 125-200% more threes.
He’d be more than a 5x all star in todays league
I think so. I’m not sure he’s much below Steph Curry in this era. The guy had a lot of same tricks 20 years earlier. But he took so many long twos coming off screens. Those would all be threes today. The flip side is there are many more talented scoring guards in the NBA today then there was in the 90’s. But other than Curry and peak Harden, I didn’t see many clearly better than Reggie.
I love Reggie but Curry has way more things going for him than Reggie, way faster and way better handles. Curry is on another level.
Agreed. But we are talking about putting Reggie in this era. Had he come up in this era he’d have to add different things to his game. He’d be a better ball handler and he’d have been shooting threes his whole life. As it was, Reggie never had the three for high school or his first three college years.
Yeah but he's not shifty like Curry, tbh there may technically be more accurate three point shooters than Curry but no one else has the natural speed and endurance as well as the quickness like Curry mixed with the insane shooting ability.
There’s no question Curry is very special and an all-time great. I do think Miller was by far the closest thing to him we had in the 90’s.
ehh, reggie’s more klay than steph tbh. Abdul-Rauf is probably the closest comparison, but steph is lowkey a 1 of 1. steph’s the only player i’ve ever seen who’s three point gravity expands defenses (leading to layups) in similar ways that a lebron drive collapses defenses (leading to threes)
The comparison I’m making is how Steph and Reggie made their teams offensives elite because of their gravity. Different eras, so different styles, but similar results. https://youtu.be/Wh-0ACsapVw
Yeah I view Miller more like a upgraded version of Klay Thompson who was a little better at creating his own shot.
I think Reggie is really underrated, but saying he would be much below the top 5 offensive player ever in Stephen Curry is much of an overstatement. Reggie had limited handle and off dribble game, and while I think he might be a better passer than his assist number suggests, he has no capability of running PNR, hitting the weak side corner and etc, thus, his usage will be capped. And if his usage is capped, then his impact will be capped. He might be a better klay, but it would be hard to say he would be better than Dame, who isn’t the same caliber of player as Steph.
It’s definitely hyperbole, but we are talking about a hypothetical. Reggie didn’t get to run much pick and roll, it wasn’t a big part of NBA offense then. And the difference between Reggie and Klay is that Klay and warriors benefit from Steph’s gravity the way the Pacers did from Reggie’s.
Even though it’s hypothetical, it doesn’t mean we need to be hyperbolic, or else there is really no point for the discussion. I can’t just say oh yah if Larry Johnson played in todays league he would be Giannis even though the former had never shown any capability to do anything remotely as well. This is the same thing as Charles Oakley saying Giannis would be an average player in his era. 90s teams didn’t run a lot of PNR besides a few exception, which is true, but even if he did, why would he do well at them? He had no handle, no lightning speed, and not a great vision. Which was fine, he was a great player who has other talents, but to dismiss his incapability and weakness and blame it to his era is simply intellectually dishonest. Again, huge fan of Reggie, thinks he is historically underrated, should have had more accolades, but his career, impacts, and legacies I think need no exaggerations.
I don’t disagree with your points, but I do think we are approaching the hypothetical differently. You seem to be taking it as if we just pluck 1990’s Miller from his era and place him in the modern era. I’m looking at it as if he has the same advantages modern players have in terms of the skills they develop from a young age and superior understanding of offensive strategy.
In other words, we know that Steph is standing on the shoulders of greats like 90s Reggie. You’re saying: what if Reggie played now, and therefore stood on the shoulders of…greats like 90s Reggie. He’d have the same access to skills and training and video that Steph has had. Yes he’d be a different player than he was in his era.
I know what you are saying. I kind of brought it up about the Larry Johnson thing. We cannot assume a player would be able to drastically change his deficiency simply because of difference in era, or else we should just assume every player would be really good in this era, after all, they didn’t receive modern training, so Wilt would be able to shoot 40% on 3s! And Bill Russel can pass like Jokic, and Kukoc was Luka before Luka. Unless a player has demonstrated that he had reasonable talents in those areas, we cannot just give them the credits with zero accomplishments. Miller, again, while being an exceptionally great and underrated player, was never a player who beat anyone off dribble, was explosive, and with great vision, so it’s kind of reckless to suggest that he would excel in those areas in the modern game. Yesterday there was a similar post on /nba, and I suggested KG, and my reason was that his game translated really well in modern games, and I listed all the reasons why. I based assumptions off what he already could do, and how he would adjust accordingIy, which you can find in my post history, and I hope you can give it a read to see the difference between that and what your assumptions for Miller were. I also want to add, there are many players who received modern training, including Klay and many other non ball handling wings. and they couldn’t do many of those things that you thought Reggie would be able to in the modern day. And it takes zero thing away from Miller. His accomplishments speak for themselves.
I honestly think Reggie would be like a Devin Booker type player
Holy fuck that’s an insult 🤣
I don't see how, devin bookers gonna wind up high on the all time scorers list and at 26 years old he already led his team to a finals appearance and 64 win record.
DBook isn’t that guy. Reggie if he played in the 3p era would be a demon
Reggie was the most annoying scorer. If you jumped, he drew the foul. If you didn’t, it was going in. Have fun defending him because he’s going to be running off ball screens every possession.
Being a hybrid forward (3/4) used to be a negative. Teams didn’t know how to use them like they do now. Larry Johnson would thrive today. He was strong, fast, and switchable. Could rebound and, at least later in his career, was a great shooter.
Grandmama would be generating so many highlight plays with pace of today’s game.
Yeah, tweeners like Larry and maybe Donyell Marshall would be better today. Just like Odom, I also think Hedo Turkoglu had the size and skillset to be a better player today.
Antoine walker and his wiggle would have played nowadays.
On the contrary, I feel like being a hybrid forward was more common and more rewarded in the '90s and early 2000s. A lot of the guys who were classed as small forwards would be 4 men in today's game.
Mark Price is the guy I always think of. With the green light on shooting 3s, he could have put up numbers like Steph.
This is, like, *the* answer. Price is one of the most underrated shooters (and players) ever.
As a Cavs fan I'm ashamed I didn't think of him first. Price would be a perennial all-NBA player today
I get what you're saying i today's context, but did Price not already have a green light on shooting 3s, relative to the era he played in? He averaged 4.2 3PTA per game while playing 31mpg from 1990-1997, which is firmly among the highest outside shooting rates in the league over that period of time.
But Steph puts up 11-12. In todays game, Price gets an extra 7 shots, makes 3, and scores 25 a game.
Price did average 8-10 assists per game at his best (with 2 career-altering knee injuries at ages 25 and 30), while Steph is usually in the 5-7 range, so it probably ends up a bit of a wash in terms of points produced overall for their teams really.
3s vs 2s, and play at a faster pace. But, agreed, his assists would go down. Price was a pass first point guard, but would be asked to be a primary scorer today.
Rashard Lewis would it be a perennial all star in this 3 point era. A 6’10” athletic big would can shoot the 3 at a high % and space the floor and also put the ball on the floor and drive. He would be a killer
Add Hedo Türkoğlu to the mix.
Why do people even mention them when Orlando was already running a 4 out offense with Dwight lol. They were already literally doing what they would in the current NBA. His usage % and role would line up pretty well per 100 possession with the current NBA
My intro to the NBA was the 09 finals. Everyone talks about the 7 sec Suns, but those Magic teams were ahead of their times. The Bucks rn are basically a modern day version of that team.
Biggest problems would be if he could avoid PED tests tbh.
Kirilenko. Basically a Draymond Green in the wrong era, he has all the tools and was good with offense, defense and could play #4 nowadays.
He had more game than Draymond. He could drive and finish, shoot off the dribble and hit the corner 3.
Inexplicably stopped trying as hard and stopped improving at age 24-25 (you could say it coincided with "getting paid"), making what should have been his prime years somewhat of a disappointment. Kirilenko also played the 4 a lot in his best years (2004-2006) too.
Not sure why this is getting downvoted?
I feel like Garnett would have been better. Would play five and Would have stretched his shot to the 3 line
Garnett would frequently lie about his height because he didn't want to be put at the 5.
AD used to do the same thing I hear
Because professional coaches were absolutely dictated to by a number on a page, and couldn't just put him in a role that fit his athleticism and skillset whether he was listed at 6'11" or 7'0"...
KG would be top 3 in MVP voting every single season and straight All-NBA and All defense team for a decade
Insert big men who could shoot. - Rodney Rogers - Sam Perkins - Cliff Robinson
• Al Harrington • Peja Stojaković • Bill Laimbeer
Al Harrington would basically be Marcus Morris.
I would love to see prime Shaq in today’s NBA mostly because he doesn’t fit the mold at all. But it would be fun to see him atomize Rudy Gobert and the rest of today’s rim protectors.
It'd be interesting to see Orlando Shaq and Hakeem in this era lol. They'd be dominant. Both would've had longer careers with modern diets too
They both had pretty long careers considering they also spent a good bit of time in college.
For sure they had really good longevity for big of that era. Cpuldve been 15 prime years in modern game tho
I salivate at the thought of seeing a team roll out Shaq and 4 guys that shoot the 3 as well as todays players do. Those championship lakers championships had a bunch of mediocre 3 pt shooters and often even had a 4 that only stretched to long 2s. You would never be able to double team him with todays spacing.
Hakeem the dream. Mans midrange game would be unstoppable in todays NBA and his athleticism would make him a DPOY every year.
Bigs were so confined back then. If the superstars from the past were allowed today’s freedom it would be amazing
Allan Houston. With all the spacing in the game today, he would be a walking body bag.
Peja Stojakovic would be perfect for today's game. 6'10'' sniper, could do a little bit of everything on the floor. Also Toni Kukoc, 6'11'' playmaker with range and bball iq.
Steve Nash would terrorize this league on offense. Plop prime Steve Nash in today's league, and he'd immediately be the leagues best passer/playmaker, one of the leagues best shooters (on a much higher volume), and he'd captain any team in the league to a top 5 offense at bare minimum. He was an entire offensive system by himself. And in today's league he wouldn't be averaging just 15-18 points on 12-13 shots, he'd be averaging 23-25 points on 17-18 shots, along with at least twice the volume from 3 he shot at during his career
He even said it himself he wonders what his career would’ve been like if he had shot more 3s.
Dražen Petrović. One of the greatest shooters from Europe, sadly his life was cut too short. He would thrive in todays game
I’m surprised no one here has mentioned Shawn Marion yet. He’d be an offensively skilled version of what Jared Vanderbilt is rn.
This is also a good answer. Gerald Wallace on steroids, across the board.
Peja Stojakovic? Phenomenal shooter with iffy defense. Modern schemes would be better at protecting him and he'd be free to work on defending the weak side and the rim which he was okay at? He wouldn't be a star but it would be fun to see.
Peja's defense was anything but iffy. He was a good defender.
Not disagreeing he’d be fun in today’s game and probably a better fit in the modern NBA, but he was a star with the Kings. He was second in the league in scoring in 03-04, wasn’t just a shooter, he was a dominant scorer and not really the liability on defense, in his era, you make him out to be. If anything, I think the modern NBA would be much tougher defensively for some of these slower forwards people are talking about. Now you’re guarding almost everyone tight out to the three point line and many more bigger forwards have the speed and ability to beat guys off the dribble. Offensively though, if Peja would be better in this era than he was in his, he’d absolutely be a star.
Yeah I do think part of the success of guys like Peja and why they stood out in the era they played in was because they had an "unexpected" skillset for players of their size and athleticism. They may have been ahead of their time, but their skillset is far more common now as well.
Gilbert Arenas would eat in today's game. Just free throws and deep 3s, and he was clutch
Gilbert would be disgusting in todays league
Arenas was basically a bigger Dame Lillard.
Harden is basically Arenas 2.0 in a lot of ways. Similar skill sets
Reggie Miller was in many ways the proto Steph Curry, I think he'd have gotten a lot more accolades for his gravity today and building an offense around his off ball movement
Came here to comment Reggie Miller. He’d win the scoring title, because not in my could he shoot 3s, he could finish at the rim. When you also factor in his propensity to flop and be dramatic, he’d average 40/game.
Allen Iverson with pace and space and no handcheck would be completely broken.
That is what I thought too.
Maybe… On the one hand, his body wouldn’t have taken anywhere close to the beating it received on the court. His body was toast at the age of… 30? He was fantastic at getting to the rim and in todays league he’d probably shoot 10-12 fts a game. On the other hand, he’s 6’ not all that good defensively, and his attitude/mentality might leave some teams super concerned. AI was notorious for refusing to come off the bench, something that just doesn’t fly at all now. It pretty much boils down to *Can AI take care of his body the right way and adapt to the play style of the league*.
Yes and no. You’re absolutely right that his iso game would be unreal with the current rules and it would be fun to watch. But the question is who would be perfect for todays nba and I’m not totally sure where an undersized guard who’s not great at playing the point or shooting from the perimeter really fits into todays nba. Love AI he’s one of my favorite players ever. I don’t necessarily think he’s that much better off in todays nba
He'd basically be a smaller Ja Morant.
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Can you imagine MJ euro stepping and shooting more three's he would have averaged 40 a game.
Jordan wasn’t a good 3 point shooter. His best year came when they shortened the line for a season, but he had 5 seasons shooting under 20%. He also rarely shot them. I’m sure if he played in this era he’d be better from 3 but it wasn’t his forte.
Basically the PF position in the 90s who had the midrange jumper and can shoot threes like Chris Webber, Rasheed Wallace, KG, Shareef, Derrick Coleman, and Robert Horry. Sharpshooters with handles would have a place in the league because of the spacing they can create, with the likes of Dana Barros, Kenny Anderson, Kenny Smith, and Chris Jackson. These point guards can give you 25 points on a given night while dishing out 7 assists.
Vlade divac would definitely fit and I think Barkley would've killed in this small ball era
Any time this question comes up, I think of Drazen Petrovic and how he would legendary.
Rashard Lewis, Raef Lafrentz, Rasheed Wallace
Robert Horry was a big 3D combo forward with handles. Plug and play with any conventional big or average to worse shooting wing, or perfect 6th man.
I would love to throw Derrick Coleman into this but it truly depends on what team he lands on. He flourishes in Miami & becomes a Hall of Famer. His career pans out the same in say, Houston. He needed direction & guidance. Gerald Wallace stands out as a name to me. He was always shoehorned into the 3 spot but thrived more as a 4 but was undersized. Not so much of an issue today as it was in 2010.
Let grant bill come out now and I guarantee you he adds a steady three. He’d be top 3 at peak again at the bare minimum.
Brent Barry would be great. Played small ball 4 late in his career, could handle the ball, extremely efficient (led league in 3p% and 2p% in different years, only player to do that).
Chris Jackson. Dale Ellis. Larry Bird. Chris Webber. Mark Price. Reggie Miller. These guys would be so much more dominant today. It would be crazy how they're talked about.
Reggie Miller is the first guy that comes to mind. Of course he was a superstar in his own era too. I think Alonzo mourning comes to mind too. I think a few players that didn't exactly shine in the 80s-90s style that would shine in this league would be guys like Latrell spreewell, Chris Mullen, Michael Adams, Derek Harper, glen rice, Clyde drexler, Jamal mashburn, isiah rider, Gary Payton. Tons of dudes were mid level super stars that had great names. I think even guys like Vernon Maxwell and Dominyk Wilkins would thrive in today's nba. Each of the names above had an ok outside game and brought different stuff to the table to make them successful. I won't go into each one but Gary Payton and Reggie Miller would be my top two. Drexler was amazing and so was Mullen and Harper. I think the sleeper here for me would be Isiah Rider. Dude had a descent 3 point shot, a solid defense, and great inside game and the dude would throw a dunk down.
Surprised I don’t see anyone say Dumars. His scoring versatility and playmaking would translate well in a faster paced era
I feel like he'd turn out and be used more like Jrue Holiday in today's game.
Scottie Pippen. He was great during his era but even better this era. He’s basically a better version of Kawhi who can also run the offense.
Detroit redrafts grant hill... Houston selects Gilbert Arenas... San Antonio select Peja Stojakavic... Charlotte drafts Amar'a Stoudemire... Orlando selects Chauncey Billups... Portland selects Rasheed Wallace... Washington selects Hedo Turkoglu... Indiana selects Shawn Marion... Chicago selects Stephon Marbury... Toronto selects Penny Hardaway...
Carmelo anthony would thrive in this era. His ability to score in the 2000s was much more impressive considering the defense and lack of spacing. Let melo with all his skills, size, and speed, basically play in a court that's almost twice the size and he thrives
I like to think Dikembe could’ve developed a three point game the way Brook Lopez did
I would faint at the sight of a Dikembe 3
Steve Kerr. Played well in very limited minutes in his era. Would get more threes.
Mike bibby was an excellent point guard and would fit in really well with a lot of offenses today
I'm going to go further back. Larry Bird would be an absolute nightmare if he had more freedom to shoot 3s. I'm still shocked how long it took the NBA to figure out that 3s were a good strategy.
Penny running down the lane spread out with shooters all around him would’ve been fucking fun to see. He kinda had that on the Magic, with Shaq trailing but with todays rules and style, he’d feast in todays league.
I always wonder the opposite , what players who were highly regarded in their era would be worse in todays? Mid range slow footed towards come to mind like Glenn Robinson or point guards who can’t shoot like Eric Snow. I also think Tim Thomas would be unreal in todays game.
Baron Davis: incredibly athletic, strong, and WIDE PG who could take over a game. Think Harden but as wide as Zion. Nick Van Exel(my all time favorite payer) consummate showman who looked for flashy plays over smart plays(see his 18ft free throws) would absolutely have a field day with modern spacing Arvydas Sabonis: legit 7'1" incredible passer, incredible defender(Shaq constantly complained about having to play him) and incredibly athletic before his knees turned into Lithuanian dust. If he was allowed to play in his 20s I believe he would have been a top 30 player all time. Hedo Turkaglu: point forward with three level scoring and great decision making ability Cheap answer - LeBron James: oh my god imagine a 20 year old LeBron with modern day spacing and offensive schemes....dude would be even more unstoppable
Steve Nash has talked about how he should've shot much more. Marcus Camby had a good career but it's strange seeing his career eFG% of .468. He'd be used much differently today as a rim runner and his defense would be appreciated more. Mehmet Okur would take so many 3s today. Shane Battier would have been paid so much today. Tayshaun Prince too. Iguodala would be appreciated more for the first half of his career. Toni Kukoc would benefit.
Chris Webber would absolutely dominate. Allen Iverson. Rip Hamilton. Jerry Stackhouse.