RealGM

I was thinking about Andrei and how he's way past his prime and yet still is a major factor in team's success. He was also pretty underrated throughout his career. He can literally do everything on the court - even shoot threes - he had a season of 38% from downtown. And it got me thinking - is he one of the best 'glue guys' to ever play the game?

The numbers in his prime are ridiculous:

2003-04 - 16.5ppg, 8.1rpg, 3.1apg, 1.9spg, 2.8bpg - 22.6 PER
2004-05 - 15.6ppg, 6.2rpg, 3.2apg, 1.6apg, 3.3bpg - 24.4 PER

Not to mention he was an elite defender as well (still is a pretty good one to this day).

I was reading his Wiki page and see what I found:

"Kirilenko and Hakeem Olajuwon are the only 2 NBA players who have finished a game with at least 6 steals, 6 blocks, 6 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists since 1985–86."

To me, he's definitely up in the top10 of greatest glue guys of all time.

Thoughts?

It's no coincidence that we started clicking when he came back.

I love the guy and think he is a tremendous glue guy for us. He doesn't need the spotlight and doesn't need to be part of the offense to be great and have his presence felt.... so that already makes him better than our last glue guy who was Wallace. If Wallace realized this and embraced the role that AK has taken on for us, he would have been so much better here. He still doesn't get it either in Boston.

He can defend the best of them and can play either forward spot and the center spot in certain matchups. I love the guy and think a player like him is essential on an elite team.

I don't know enough really though to make a claim if he's a top 10 glue guy of all time. To me, that criteria would have to include a championship ring or 2. Robert Horry is probably one of those top 10 guys.

Could be depending on definitions.

I sure do love to watch him play.

he gave up 10 million to come here. a guy like that, u can be sure he will give brooklyn everything he's got.