RealGM

This thread is made after reading the Gary Payton thread. But theirs tons of players who are future hall of famers or who had a successful career, but their careers ended as them being a washed up player chasing a ring or riding the pine and its somewhat sad that their skills diminished so badly. Jordan, Pippen, malone, stockton, David Robinson and more were all able to play deep into their 30s and still be effective on the court.

Heres some players that i liked that had HoF careers but ended washed up

Gary Payton -- best defense in the league at one point, he could gaurd 1-
3 positions. He ended his career washed up, but still not
as bad as others.

Chris Mullin -- when he was on the pacers his skills were going away.

Mitch Richmond -- chasing rings in LA.

Hakeem -- didnt he go to toronto for a year?! washed up.

Shaq -- hes lookin worse and worse every game. he fell off quick, but he
can still be effective, but far from waht he was.

Patrick Ewing -- that was kinda cool seeing him in seattle with gp, but he
was done.

I hate seeing superstars turn into nothing but bench players at the end of their careers...just weird how some players age better than others.

Malone Thought he had an easy path to a title with the Lakers.. but nope! they couldn't get it done. He also got dunked on by Bostjan Nachbar. I love it.

Dare I say it? Jordan.

tanat-0s wrote:Dare I say it? Jordan.

To do the things Jordan did , at that age and after he was away for a while just shows how great he is imo.

Walt Frazier's career ended pretty pathetically.

GOAT career ending: Russell, w/o any doubt. Beat Wilt *AND* the Lakers in Game 7 as player-coach.

David Robinson in his last season 8.5ppg 7.9 rpg

With Jordan, I hope some day people will realize that in his two year comeback with the Wizards, when he was 38-40, he was still a very, very good player. Guys like Antonio McDyess, who is what, 33, 34, are getting all this praise because he's a productive player, an 8/8 guy. Jordan was six years older, and in his comeback, put up something like 22/6/4.5. His defense was still solid. He was playing on a bad knee because he rushed his injury. Was he the Michael of old? No. But people missed the beauty that he was still an all-star caliber player and he managed to completely reinvent himself, something that has gotta be tough for a GOAT to do.

David Robinson won a title in his last year, that's not a bad way to go out.

Malone had a solid year for the Lakers, they just couldn't win it.

Dominique Wilkins played oversees and was a disaster for the Celtics.

Wilkins is a good one. I immeadetly thought of Malone when I saw this thread title though.

malone had a very important role for the lakers that played in the finals. unfortunately he couldn't play more than one game. however, thats a lot more than some players have done in their prime so its not that pathetic. people mention jordan's age, how old was malone?

maybe chris webber

Malone - tried to bone the wife of the teams star player
Jordan - needed 22 shots to average 22 points, made stupid trades, force fed himself the ball, all culminating in getting fired by Washington

dcash4 wrote:malone had a very important role for the lakers that played in the finals. unfortunately he couldn't play more than one game. however, thats a lot more than some players have done in their prime so its not that pathetic. people mention jordan's age, how old was malone?

Malone was 40 in his last season.

Whateva wrote:David Robinson in his last season 8.5ppg 7.9 rpg

With outstanding defense, deferring to Tim Duncan, providing excellent leadership and winning an NBA championship. The Admiral's retirement was classy and respectable.

Bgil wrote:Malone - tried to bone the wife of the teams star player
Jordan - needed 22 shots to average 22 points, made stupid trades, force fed himself the ball, all culminating in getting fired by Washington

MJ, in is last season, 40 year old, shot as well or better than Redd, Stojakovic, Baron Davis, Joe Johnson, etc this current season.

And he scored 43 against 2003 Nets (2nd in East after Detroit), scoring 18 of 30, 10 rebounds and 4 steals, 3 assists - the only 40 year old in league history to accomplish that.

And also dropped 51 the night before against a good Charlotte Hornets team.

Iceburg Slim wrote:And also dropped 51 the night before against a good Charlotte Hornets team.

Incorrect, Jordan scored 51 at the end of 2001, more than a year before his age 40-40 points performance in february 2003, which is an NBA record. Of course his 51 points performance is NBAs best as well, in that he's the oldest NBA player to have scored 50 or more (and he holds 5th position in that list as well).

People can criticise Jordans decision to return for those two seasons, but one way or another, that guy aged amazingly well.

magicfan4life05 wrote:maybe chris webber

true...but i blame his injury more than anything. he was young though

ChrisWaher wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Incorrect, Jordan scored 51 at the end of 2001, more than a year before his age 40-40 points performance in february 2003, which is an NBA record. Of course his 51 points performance is NBAs best as well, in that he's the oldest NBA player to have scored 50 or more (and he holds 5th position in that list as well).

People can criticise Jordans decision to return for those two seasons, but one way or another, that guy aged amazingly well.

He put up 51 against the Hornets and then 45 against the Nets in back-to-back games in '01.

I know that Malone is a popular choice, but may I remind you that he got injured in the WCF and could not play in the NBA finals and that was a major reason why he didn't end his carreer with a championship ring. he was still a really good player in his last year and was making a bigger impact than Shaq was during those playoffs.
if he would have been healthy for one more series he would not be mentioned in this thread so I would not be so quick to throw him under the bus over the last 5 games that he didn't even played in.