The-Power wrote:krii wrote:Think Shaq with Jokic's skillset. That scary.
It's also imaginary.
He was scary physically – probably on a level of Shaq. Well, actually they were comparable in size and weight, I think that Sabonis was slightly higher. With no knees in his Portland period, he was challenging the young Shaq beyond anyone I've seen those years.
Re Jokic skillset... Oh course it's different and hard to asses because we're living in a completely different basketball era that allows more of a Jokic-like style to be implemented. But Sabonis was doing pretty much the same stuff with 3-point shooting and GOAT-level passing, on top of his crazy athleticism in an era that praised ISO-shooting more than anything.
Also, don't forget how dominant he was during his span in the Spanish league – long after two Achilles injuries.
He was having an extremely high BB-IQ, vision, passing, range, and athleticism. Pretty much everything the people on the below video say draws an image of the 1980s/1990s Nikola Jokic but enhanced with brute physicality.
migya wrote:krii wrote:migya wrote:Having recently watched Sabonis against Shaq in the 98 and 00 playoffs he has similarities to Jokic with scoring and passing. He pulls off some great passes and shot quite well from distance and with hooks. His defense was quite good also.
How does he compare to Jokic overall? Think this era Arvydas would be better.
Think Shaq with Jokic's skillset. That scary.
Of course, if he had a modern, expensive medical team on the go.
That's a big take but I heard over twenty years ago from those that saw him play in the 80s that he was like a 7'3 Larry Bird and opted to pass too much and could've been an even better scorer.
I mean, of course, there's a lot of 'what ifs' in here. After all, what we've seen in Spain and the NBA was a slow, heavy genius who passed and shoot everything he could. And even with no knees he was an MVP in Spain, dominated European competitions, and then came to NBA to still pursue an impressive career and in short spans show his dominance over pretty much everyone (that's how I perceive their duel with Shaq). So, as long as the question go whether this era Arvydas would be better than Jokic, I would say yes. Because, on top of pretty much the same mindset and vision, he was heavier, taller, and – apparently, because we couldn't see it with out eyes – quicker than Jokic.