Fat Lever (26pts/10rebs/9assts) vs Lakers (1987 Playoffs)

[fatlever]

Great PG, but was shadowed by the likes of Magic and such.

Great? Mmm. Too strong an adjective. The 80s Nuggs played a grotesquely fast offensive pace under Doug Moe and Lever was a very competent stat filler, but so was Rod Strickland. They exist, but it doesn't make them great players. A player who certainly talented in some ways? Yeah. Maybe one of the final AS Game substitute selections on a given year? Yeah.

He wasn't unknown outside of hardcore fans, either, as claimed above. He made at least one ASG. I saw a piece of one recently where he was out there as an early sub alongside Magic and most of the EAST's starters. He looked noticeably out of place at that point in the game and Magic was passing him the ball at midcourt so Fat could have some time on camera initiating plays.

fat made two all-star games and was voted in as a starter by the fans (well deserved) in one of them. you dont get voted in as a starter while playing for a team like the nuggets unless you are deserving and known by fans.

17pts in 1st all-star game in 31 minutes, 16pts in 22 minutes in his second... hardly seems out of place.

he tore his ACL during his peak (start of season after making his 2nd all-star game). came back, played half a season the next year then tore his ACL again and missed another year and that was it for his career.

perhaps what you saw in the all-star game was a very unselfish, humble, quiet, team first player in fat who was not the type of player who stood out in an all-star game setting.

watch that video i posted on the 1st page. that was against michael jordan.

btw, rod strickland was a solid nba pg but he never had the blazing fast quickness and nose for the ball that made fat special.

[astrallite]

Jason Kidd has never been athletic, is 6'3, and has averaged over 8 rebounds a game before, so it shouldn't be a surprise that another guard his size could average more rebounds.

[LeonSmith]

Jason Kidd has never been athletic, is 6'3, and has averaged over 8 rebounds a game before, so it shouldn't be a surprise that another guard his size could average more rebounds.

What the hell.

[Frank Mulely]

Fat Lever was nice with it! I was a fan of those 80s Doug Moe / Alex English / Fat Lever Nuggets teams . So fun to watch. Kind of the last gasp for ABA style in the NBA.

[Deus]

Fat was a great player regardless of the type of game Doug Moe came up with. But he only had 4 good seasons from 86-89. Then my Mavericks got swindled by Denver when they traded for him in 1990 for 2 #1 picks. He ended up playing only 4 games for the Mavs in 1990 because he was injured. The start of a great decade.

[astrallite]

Jason Kidd has never been athletic, is 6'3, and has averaged over 8 rebounds a game before, so it shouldn't be a surprise that another guard his size could average more rebounds.

What the hell.

So where's Jason Kidd's collage of windmill dunks?

[fatlever]

Jason Kidd has never been athletic, is 6'3, and has averaged over 8 rebounds a game before, so it shouldn't be a surprise that another guard his size could average more rebounds.

What the hell.

not athletic? first time i saw him at california my jaw dropped.

he was a freak in college

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFNwqYaEPaA[/youtube]

[AJ Valliant]

Jason Kidd has never been athletic, is 6'3, and has averaged over 8 rebounds a game before, so it shouldn't be a surprise that another guard his size could average more rebounds.

What the hell.

So where's Jason Kidd's collage of windmill dunks?

Clearly the sole benchmark of athleticism. Speed, strength, balance, coordination, change of direction, 2nd jump, all meaningless without a plethora of windmill dunk highlights to validate them.

[LeonSmith]

Jason Kidd has never been athletic, is 6'3, and has averaged over 8 rebounds a game before, so it shouldn't be a surprise that another guard his size could average more rebounds.

What the hell.

So where's Jason Kidd's collage of windmill dunks?

Athleticism doesn't equal "how high can you jump".

Steve Nash is still an elite athlete. It's more than simply your vertical. It includes a plethora of attributes that AJ Valliant touched on above.

I hope you learnt something today, although something tells me you haven't.

[trex_8063]

Clearly the sole benchmark of athleticism. Speed, strength, balance, coordination, change of direction, 2nd jump, all meaningless without a plethora of windmill dunk highlights to validate them.

I'd "And MORE than 1" if I could.

[trex_8063]

Steve Nash is still an elite athlete. It's more than simply your vertical. It includes a plethora of attributes that AJ Valliant touched on above.

I don't know that I'd go so far as to call Nash an "ELITE athlete" (by NBA standards), though his athleticism is better than its often given credit for.
His balance, coordination, agility, are all above average (even elite)---even by NBA standards. A handful of years ago, his stamina/conditioning were top-notch, too.

However, his speed and quickness are purely mediocre by NBA standards. And his size, strength/power, and leaping ability are all below average (and by a pretty large margin) by NBA standards.

[LeonSmith]

Steve Nash is still an elite athlete. It's more than simply your vertical. It includes a plethora of attributes that AJ Valliant touched on above.

I don't know that I'd go so far as to call Nash an "ELITE athlete" (by NBA standards), though his athleticism is better than its often given credit for.
His balance, coordination, agility, are all above average (even elite)---even by NBA standards. A handful of years ago, his stamina/conditioning were top-notch, too.

However, his speed and quickness are purely mediocre by NBA standards. And his size, strength/power, and leaping ability are all below average (and by a pretty large margin) by NBA standards.

True, obviously elite compared to Average Joe, not by NBA standards. Still athletic by NBA standards though. Just went a little far when refuting the guy who thinks if you can't windmill dunk you're not athletic, hah.

[astrallite]

What the hell.

So where's Jason Kidd's collage of windmill dunks?

Athleticism doesn't equal "how high can you jump".

Steve Nash is still an elite athlete. It's more than simply your vertical. It includes a plethora of attributes that AJ Valliant touched on above.

I hope you learnt something today, although something tells me you haven't.

So basically what I learned is Jason Kidd gets no credit when he says he was never athletic, and its not about his effort, it's actually because he was athletic.