9 and 20 wrote:Random thought -
Chris Webber is the third greatest player for this franchise in the past 40 years.
Gil - Wall - C-Webb. Beal and MJ round out the top 5.
If Webber stuck around, him and Juwan Howard would have been something, at least as good as the Kings in the mid-late 90's.
MJ probably hurt the franchise more than he helped it. He was mediocre as an actual player, on ridiculous usage, with all the personality flaws of pre-Phil Jackson Chicago on display. He may have destroyed the confidence of the future of the franchise, #1 pick Kwame Brown, did trade Rip Hamilton for one of his similarly aging out Tarheel buddies, and put back what might have been a rebuild. On the plus side, he did sell tickets like no one the franchise has had before or since and a money infusion never hurts.
I'd take Butler, Jamison, Ruland, even Brendan Haywood over MJ as a franchise GOAT candidate. Beal easily over Webber too with Webber's immaturity and me first attitude cutting into his on court value. BB was a bit of a whiner but, more like Juwan Howard, was a professional when he was here even though his contract seriously hurt the franchise.
“Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination,” Andrew Lang.