Unreal Big Man Play

[Duke4life831]

I get that there are multiple threads going on about Embiid/Jokic/Giannis right now. But they all seem to turn into the same old pissing contest. Player X is better than Player Y. Play X maybe better than Player Y on offense, but player X sucks on defense.

If everyone can get over the dumb nonsense and take a step back and realize we are watching some unbelievable play by big men right now. I mean we just had

Giannis:
33/15/7 with 2 steals and a block

Embiid:
50/12/2 with 1 steal and 3 blocks

Jokic:
49/14/10 with 3 steals and a block

It used to be a struggle to find 3 bigs that did that in a season, we just had 3 guys do it in a single night. Even if you dont want to throw in Giannis into this discussion. We have true 5s in Jokic and Embiid just flat out dominating the game. Maybe instead of all the pointless back and forth, maybe its time to realize we are watching 2 (3 if we want to throw in Giannis) of the all time great bigs going at it in their primes. Yes Jokic and Embiid are going to go down as some all time great bigs. Just sit back and enjoy it.

[JDR720]

Despite the league being ruled by the 3pt shot, superstar bigs are still the most valuable and dominate players. We've had a lull in recent years, but this is a great era for bigs. The 3pt shot has opened up more space inside for them.

I'd also like to highlight that all 3 of them are foreign. How many times have, debatably, 3 of the top 5 players been foreign? Probably never.

[I beg to differ]

Yao, Oden, and Bynum were derailed by injuries.

[Ballerhogger]

Jokic is best all round player but sadly he does not have good enough team show that . He literally does everything offensively and has improved defensivley. All 3 has amazing night .

[turnaroundJ]

Superstar bigs are rare in any era. Appreciate it whenever one pops up, let alone 3.

[BigGargamel]

I agree, but we're sports fans, of course we're going to angrily debate on who's better. It's in our nature.
Like Highlander, there can be only one.

[Greek]

Baba and Zubac had great games too

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[Duke4life831]

I agree, but we're sports fans, of course we're going to angrily debate on who's better. It's in our nature.
Like Highlander, there can be only one.

Oh I agree and this isnt me saying everything should be rainbows and sunshine around here. Im just saying out of what seems to be at least 50+ Jokic vs Embiid threads so far this year. Just thought I would start a thread that cuts through all that and is just about the appreciation of watching some all time elite play from big men is all.

[Statlanta]

Is it really unreal when it's just 3 players? I mean I can name 3 players from the 60's or the 90's. Especially if you increase the pool to PFs which Giannis is.

[Dutchball97]

Is it really unreal when it's just 3 players? I mean I can name 3 players from the 60's or the 90's. Especially if you increase the pool to PFs which Giannis is.

It is more about the supposed dead of the centers being just a temporary thing when we had 3 years of Joakim Noah, Marc Gasol and DeAndre Jordan as All-NBA 1st team centers.

Now besides Embiid, Jokic and Giannis we shouldn't forget about AD either despite a rough stretch. What about Gobert who is legit one of the best defensive players we've probably ever seen? How about KAT being arguably the greatest shooting big ever? That isn't even counting the young bigs also breaking through as star players like Bam, Ayton, Allen and Mobley.

[KGtabake]

Again, Giannis isn't a big.
I refuse to label a guy who's bringing the ball up court so regularly, as a big.
Jokic and Embiid are true bigs. Giannis isn't.

[Fadeaway_Jumper]

I agree with the poster above saying Giannis is not a big. Lamar Odom was a similar size and did similar things and he was a “point forward”

This is not some golden era for bigs. Only really Embiid, Jokic, and AD are superstars. Back 10+ years ago we had Griffin, Amare, Z-Bo, Duncan, Garnett, Gasol(s), Dirk, Aldridge, Bosh, Boozer etc are all-Star caliber post men.

Unless Embiid/Jokic wins a championship, or we get another Shaq like player, I continue to see the big position get watered down

[hauntedcomputer]

Bigs have to be able to shoot and pass now. That's the main difference to me. Spread court helps everybody.

[Pachinko_]

Again, Giannis isn't a big.
I refuse to label a guy who's bringing the ball up court so regularly, as a big.
Jokic and Embiid are true bigs. Giannis isn't.

Well, he is the only big the Bucks have at the moment, unless you want to count Portis as a C.
It's them two at the 4 and 5, that's it, nothing off the bench.

[LofJ]

Some of my earliest NBA memories were being wowed by Hakeem Olajuwon. I love seeing skilled big men dominate again.

[AdagioPace]

I get that there are multiple threads going on about Embiid/Jokic/Giannis right now. But they all seem to turn into the same old pissing contest. Player X is better than Player Y. Play X maybe better than Player Y on offense, but player X sucks on defense.

If everyone can get over the dumb nonsense and take a step back and realize we are watching some unbelievable play by big men right now. I mean we just had

Giannis:
33/15/7 with 2 steals and a block

Embiid:
50/12/2 with 1 steal and 3 blocks

Jokic:
49/14/10 with 3 steals and a block

It used to be a struggle to find 3 bigs that did that in a season, we just had 3 guys do it in a single night. Even if you dont want to throw in Giannis into this discussion. We have true 5s in Jokic and Embiid just flat out dominating the game. Maybe instead of all the pointless back and forth, maybe its time to realize we are watching 2 (3 if we want to throw in Giannis) of the all time great bigs going at it in their primes. Yes Jokic and Embiid are going to go down as some all time great bigs. Just sit back and enjoy it.

amazing. Excluding last season (with the same suspects involved) I think you have to go back to the 2000-2003 time window to see 2 or 3 MVP (Shaq, Duncan, Kg, Dirk) caliber bigs putting up these performances. Almost 20 years

[AdagioPace]

I agree with the poster above saying Giannis is not a big. Lamar Odom was a similar size and did similar things and he was a “point forward”

This is not some golden era for bigs. Only really Embiid, Jokic, and AD are superstars. Back 10+ years ago we had Griffin, Amare, Z-Bo, Duncan, Garnett, Gasol(s), Dirk, Aldridge, Bosh, Boozer etc are all-Star caliber post men.

Unless Embiid/Jokic wins a championship, or we get another Shaq like player, I continue to see the big position get watered down

none of them were MVP caliber players 10 years ago (Dirk aside). See my previous comment

[Lockdown504090]

I agree with the poster above saying Giannis is not a big. Lamar Odom was a similar size and did similar things and he was a “point forward”

This is not some golden era for bigs. Only really Embiid, Jokic, and AD are superstars. Back 10+ years ago we had Griffin, Amare, Z-Bo, Duncan, Garnett, Gasol(s), Dirk, Aldridge, Bosh, Boozer etc are all-Star caliber post men.

Unless Embiid/Jokic wins a championship, or we get another Shaq like player, I continue to see the big position get watered down

none of them were MVP caliber players 10 years ago (Dirk aside). See my previous comment

You can make an argument that embiid and jokic better than everyone on that list except tim, but pretty damn close.

[old skool]

Again, Giannis isn't a big.
I refuse to label a guy who's bringing the ball up court so regularly, as a big.
Jokic and Embiid are true bigs. Giannis isn't.

I think any player that is a rim protector should be considered a true big. To assert otherwise seems silly to me. To assert that a rim protector who rebounds and scores around the basket at an All-Star/MVP level is not a true big seems to be more about semantics than basketball.

That said, the more skills and physical capabilities a player has, the harder it is to classify him as a prototypical anything. When discussing the "best" at a given position it seems counterintuitive to exclude players because of their versatility.

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[Duke4life831]

Again, Giannis isn't a big.
I refuse to label a guy who's bringing the ball up court so regularly, as a big.
Jokic and Embiid are true bigs. Giannis isn't.

He plays large minutes as the only big out there and the only other big he ever plays with is Bobby Portis, I dont know the argument of Portis being a more legit big compared to Giannis.

But even if you take Giannis out of it. Jokic and Embiid were 1 and 2 in MVP voting last year. The way both of them are currently playing there is a good chance both will finish within the top 5 of MVP voting again this year.

You have to go back to 2005 with Shaq and Duncan being the last time we had 2 5s in the top 5 for MVP voting. Then again many dont consider Duncan to be a 5. You have to go back to 2000 when Shaq and Mourning were top 5 in MVP voting.

So the point still stands, its been a long time since we have seen multiple truly elite all time level bigs/5s (whatever you want to call them) in their prime playing at the same time.

And if we go by the standard of a guy who brings the ball up the court regularly as not a big. Then you could make the argument that Jokic isnt a true big. I just dont think that is a good standard to go off of.