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Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 2:09 pm**

Had a big argument with my know-it-all friend the other day. I need you guys to step in the middle of these topics of debate:

1) Which PG would you rather start a franchise with?
(a) Tony Parker
(b) Chauncey Billups

2) Who has a "better" 3 point shot?
(a) Ray Allen
(b) Larry Bird

3) Who would win in a best of 7. The Lakers now or the Shaq-Lakers of early 2000's?

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 4:21 pm**

1)
Chauncey, better defensively, better shooter, and has the qualities of a point guard to lead your team.

2)
Larry Bird was the better shooter, he is known as one of the greatest shooters of all time, and knocked down so many great buzzer beaters, and was just overall a terrific shooter. Larry Bird would come to the court about 3 hrs before game time, to just shoot around, and its been recorded he would miss only 2-4 out of about 250 attempts.

3)
The 3 peat Lakers with Shaq were better. Shaq in his prime is better then Bynum, Turiaf and Gasol combined. If the Lakers still had prime Shaq with Kobe they would IMO still dominate the league.

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 4:29 pm**

THANK YOU! obviously this is completely subjective but having one more person back me up should shatter his little dreams. haha.

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 4:36 pm**

Yeah, I agree with Baller24. I think Ray would be the only one that even stands a chance of these 3 arguments, the other two are laughable.

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 4:53 pm**

Really? Because my buddy was adimant that Parker is a better pg than Billups. My argument that both have equal basketball iq's but Billups looks like Lebron beside Parker in terms of stature.

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 4:54 pm**

And i think that the 3rd one isn't all that laughable. The lakers now would definitely give the lakers of early 2000's a good run.

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 4:58 pm**

The Main Event wrote:And i think that the 3rd one isn't all that laughable. The lakers now would definitely give the lakers of early 2000's a good run.

with a healthy Bynum yeah... Shaq would put Gasol in a casket

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 5:02 pm**

That Nicka wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

with a healthy Bynum yeah... Shaq would put Gasol in a casket

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 5:14 pm**

Actually, I do think Ray is the better 3 point shooter, maybe the best of all time.

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 5:18 pm**

NO-KG-AI wrote:Actually, I do think Ray is the better 3 point shooter, maybe the best of all time.

Wide open, Larry Bird was better. With a hand in his face, Larry was better. Ray's maybe is sweeter, but Larry was the better shooter, when you think of a guy who can go out there and hit 60-70 in a row.

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 5:23 pm**

Well I don't care about who can hit what in practice, fact is, Ray has taken a lot more 3's and hit them at a better percentage...

Larry Bird for his career:

1.9 three point attempts per game, at 37.6%

Ray Allen:

6.1 three point attempts per game, at 39.8%

Actually after I looked the stats up, it really doesn't look that close at all, and it's not as if Ray was a second option knocking down open looks, he's had less guys to draw attention away than Larry.

Larry can hit 250 straight in practice...cool, doesn't mean much here though.

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 5:31 pm**

Bird didn't take as many 3's as Allen, but that doesn't mean he couldn't shoot it as well. Bird's game was far more diverse than Allen, so he wouldn't shoot the three as often. Just because it wasn't Bird's specialty doesn't mean he wasn't as good a shooter as Allen.

With the game on the line, down by 3, who's hands do you put the ball in? If you answer Ray, you fail at life.

I found a good video on Larry's shooting ability.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Qn4JjJ ... re=related

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 5:39 pm**

Oh I'd take Larry over Ray in the clutch for sure.

I still don't think he was the better shooter over the course of a season, or an entire game.

If Larry Shot 6.1 per game, it stands to reason that his efficiency would drop... maybe not noticably, but since he is already a few percentage points behind Ray, it would make a noticable difference.

Ray shot like 43.4% from deep one year on 7.7 attempts per game, or something outrageous like that, and 8.4 attempts, at 41.2%

Edit:Larry's career best was 3.1 per game, at 41.4. Larry's highest percentage in a single season was 42.7%, at 1.6 per game.

Point is, Ray takes A LOT more 3's, and hits them at a fairly higher percentage. There's really no way around it.

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 5:47 pm**

NO-KG-AI wrote:Oh I'd take Larry over Ray in the clutch for sure.

I still don't think he was the better shooter over the course of a season, or an entire game.

If Larry Shot 6.1 per game, it stands to reason that his efficiency would drop... maybe not noticably, but since he is already a few percentage points behind Ray, it would make a noticable difference.

Ray shot like 43% from deep one year on 7.7 attempts per game, or something outrageous like that

The 3 point shot wasn't utilized nearly as much as it is today. While Ray is a great shooter, I don't think using stats is fair in this comparison because they are playing in different eras, and play completely different roles on the basketball court.

I know Birds stats don't show how good of a shooter he was, because if you look at his early years, he shot a pretty awful percentage. We all know that he wasn't that bad of a shooter. The issue is that he was taking those shots under different circumstances than players typically do today. Those were probably much harder three point shots, that were more forced than a set jump shot. The reason I say this is because in the 80s, coaches didn't run as many plays for 3 point shooters, which today are designed to get them open shots.

So while I don't have a stat to back this up, I'm almost certain that Ray took far more open three pointers than Bird, because in the 80s they would move in and take the "higher" percentage shot. That's no knock on Bird's shooting though, it's just the way they played the game.

Posted: **Fri May 30, 2008 5:48 pm**

In a game in Washington against the Bullets in 1987, the Celtics trailed the Bullets by 3 points with 6 seconds remaining in regulation. A three-pointer by Bird had been waved off because their coach, K. C. Jones, had already called a timeout. Bird then made another three-pointer to send the game into overtime. When the Celtics trailed by two points near the end of the first overtime, Bird was fouled and converted both free throws. In the second overtime, trailing by 1 point with 2 seconds remaining, Bird made a buzzer-beating running shot to win the game, 140

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Billups or Parker?

Billups or Parker?