RealGM

Which duo would you rather have on your team? Luka Doncic and Joel Embiid; or Allen Iverson and Kevin Garnett

If health is guaranteed I'll take Luka/Embiid but if health is a variable then AI/KG

rand wrote:If health is guaranteed I'll take Luka/Embiid but if health is a variable then AI/KG

Can’t imagine health being a guaranteed with someone like Embiid.

This one feels trivially easy to go with Embiid/Luka. AI is one of the last players I would want to pair with KG. And when you have the best two offensive players by some distance and Embiid still a very good defense anchor, I can't imagine ever choosing the other duo.

Texas Chuck wrote:This one feels trivially easy to go with Embiid/Luka. AI is one of the last players I would want to pair with KG. And when you have the best two offensive players by some distance and Embiid still a very good defense anchor, I can't imagine ever choosing the other duo.

How many big men would qualify as a better pair alongside Iverson, when compared to Luka/Embiid?

durantbird wrote:

Texas Chuck wrote:This one feels trivially easy to go with Embiid/Luka. AI is one of the last players I would want to pair with KG. And when you have the best two offensive players by some distance and Embiid still a very good defense anchor, I can't imagine ever choosing the other duo.

How many big men would qualify as a better pair alongside Iverson, when compared to Luka/Embiid?

I mean you have to think about it if its Kareem, Timmy, or Russ, but I'm still skeptical about it. The offensive gap between Luka and AI is just so massive that its really hard for the big to exceed an MVP level big like Embiid by enough to matter. And of those three except for Kareem, Embiid has the offensive edge as well.

I think I might take Tim/AI? But probably only that combo. And I'd not love it.

Texas Chuck wrote:This one feels trivially easy to go with Embiid/Luka. AI is one of the last players I would want to pair with KG. And when you have the best two offensive players by some distance and Embiid still a very good defense anchor, I can't imagine ever choosing the other duo.

Is this a personality thing or a playstyle thing?

Seems like a solid purely on the court.

Fadeaway_J wrote:

Texas Chuck wrote:This one feels trivially easy to go with Embiid/Luka. AI is one of the last players I would want to pair with KG. And when you have the best two offensive players by some distance and Embiid still a very good defense anchor, I can't imagine ever choosing the other duo.

Is this a personality thing or a playstyle thing?

Seems like a solid purely on the court.

It's both. But mostly on court. I figure both are competitive and driven enough that while I doubt they'd be close, I do think there would be mutual respect.

I chose AI/KG.

I know most people are extremely skeptical of AI's offense because he looks like one of the worst "superstar" volume scorers in NBA history. However, I'm unsure if he would've looked that bad in different circumstances.

First, AI played in the worst offensive era in NBA history. The dead-ball era was horrendously bad for offense. No spacing, bigs clogging the lane, slow pace, hand checking, etc.

Second, AI really got the short end of the stick in terms of coaching and team construction. The 76ers were a defensively slanted roster that was constructed with the express purpose of removing players who could provide offensive utility in favor of defense. And nobody would ever confuse Larry Brown with an offensive-minded coach. Furthermore, during the dead-ball era, the offensive philosophy was predicated on isolation scoring.

Isolation scoring + role players with no offensive utility makes it extremely hard to be offensively efficient as an undersized PG/SG.

Third, AI's last productive years in the league were his age 31 & 32 seasons in '07 & '08 respectively. When Iverson finally got some offensively competent teammates and George Karl, his efficiency shot up and he became a much more willing passer.

In this era, I think Iverson would be a much better offensive player and a pretty good fit with KG. In a historical sense, KG is not an elite scorer but he's still very good. His elite mid-range shooting would be extremely valuable in this era and his passing would be much more appreciated. Plus, AI's volume scoring would be able to cover for KG's scoring "weakness".

Plus, KG's defense in this era would be Draymond on steroids.

Luka & Embiid, while fringe MVP caliber, are not enough to make me pass up on KG. Especially if I could build out the rest of the roster with good role players.