How good was prime Arvydas Sabonis?

[LuDux1]

I hate to defend Soviet Union, but most of his injuries were result of Zalgiris' coach innability to bench his not fully healed as.. legs

[Chriscarr9924]

"I played with him on 2K and he was pretty good"

[Ganji]

Lithuanian demigod
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGrC-VT6JtQ[/youtube]

[Prez]

I've only seen highlights of him pre injuries so I don't really know what I'm talking about beyond a very small sample, but just looking at him physically in the clips I've seen, he looks like a monster. Dude was what, 7'3"? And still had bounce, could run the floor, was really fluid and had great body control. Just a beast of a center from a physical standpoint. And then you consider skill-wise he can do literally everything from block shots to rebound to post up to pass like a magician to shoot from almost all ranges...Again, this is only off highlights, but I don't see how he wouldn't be EASILY the best center in the game, a championship level franchise centerpiece. He would probably put up rich man's Gasol stats, something like 25/12/5 with a couple blocks.

[Ponchos]

He was the best passing C I've ever seen. I think I would put Vlade 2nd (he made a great pass to Horry).

[Sothron]

Sabonis is one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. It is a crime against humanity that he didn't get to play his entire career in the NBA.

[kangarooaus]

One of the great unknowns in basketball history. It was so hard to know what the domestic league was like in the USSR in the early 80s, unless you were living there. The myth grew in the West though, every time he would play in international competition. But truthfully it is difficult to know how he would have fared. He did have a plethora of moves and was a giant of a man with quick footwork, great court vision and a great long distance release. But overall, no idea how he would have looked if he came to Portland earlier or if he didn't do his achilles at a young age. Overall though, I'd say he would have at the very least been a very good to great NBA center in the 80s and the rest is a who knows............

I don't know much about Soviets domestic league at the time, but I know it had 2 really strong and by all means legendary teams - Sabonis' Zalgiris Kaunas and CSKA Moscow. Those teams had great rivalry, it was Soviet's El Clasico, and both of those clubs had some NBA caliber players, like Vladimir Tkacenko (youtube him, classic huge center), Kurtinaitis and others...

Rivalry between Zalgiris and CSKA had political flawour as well, as it was like an unofficial game between Lithuania and Russia, as Zalgiris had all the best Lithuanian players, while CSKA had all the Russian talent.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, going to see what I can find

[ubernathan]

A prime Sabonis would be good, but would he be the best center? No. He is strongly overrated for holding his own against David Robinson in an exhibition game. He would be about even with Marc Gasol, with a little better scoring and a little less defense.

[cold_cowboy]

A prime Sabonis would be good, but would he be the best center? No. He is strongly overrated for holding his own against David Robinson in an exhibition game. He would be about even with Marc Gasol, with a little better scoring and a little less defense.

it's pretty ridiculous to base a comparison of sabas holding his own against the admiral of all people, and then claim that he's underrated, like it's some easy feat to handle an arguably top 5, definitely top 10 player of all time. the only reason why people use that comparison is because it is one of the few instances where we saw sabas, in his prime, go up against the absolute best.

[DrCoach]

Combine the Gasol Brothers skill wise and take the tallest height and wgt

[DaKnicksAreBack]

I think that he became somewhat of a mythical character here in the US because of his legendary stature in Europe, but I don't think prime Sabonis was good people claim he was. I mean people claim that he was better than Ewing. I highly doubt that is true. I could be wrong, but I don't think it is.

[tsherkin]

I think that he became somewhat of a mythical character here in the US because of his legendary stature in Europe, but I don't think prime Sabonis was good people claim he was. I mean people claim that he was better than Ewing. I highly doubt that is true. I could be wrong, but I don't think it is.

Given th skill gap on O, it's quite likely that the larger Sabas would have been better there. I can totally believe Ewing remaining the superior defender, but odds are that Sabonis would be better on the other end. No worse as a shooter (likely better), considerably superior at passing and handling multiple defenders, larger and with better post skills? It isnt a guarantee, but it's quite likely. He might not peak with th same RS scoring averages but with his passing, his offensive value would be better nevertheless.

[WesleyExChiFan]

Bill Walton called him a 7' 3" Larry Bird. Take that for what you will

[zimpy27]

I think the legend of Sabonis is greater than the player.

He has mystique because people claim he never played here in his prime but he would've played about the equivalent of 6 US seasons, which would put him in the middle of his prime. He was injury prone during his "prime" anyway.

I'd estimate that he played less basketball games in his whole career than Pau Gasol did before last season and in the last season Gasol put up better stats than Sabonis ever did.

There's footage of Sabonis pre-achilles that has him going against Robinson in 86. Robinson was 3 years from playing against grown men in the NBA at that point and was a year younger than Sabonis. The stats show a draw between the two. It was a year later that Sabonis did his injury. Robinson faced Sabonis again in 88 a definitely had the win in that game.

I'd say Sabonis was good but he wasn't better than Robinson even if he never had the achilles injury. So the answer to the mythical Sabonis that never got injured would probably just miss the top 10 centers all time. Given his injuries but playing in the US I think he'd just make the top 50 centers all time.

[Manute Lol]

there are no truly comparable players to sabonis, but marc would be closest. i've heard both the gasol brothers say they've been highly influenced by sabonis' game and i think it's fairly obvious, as he played in spain for a number of years.

In Sabonis' prime, he was pretty often called the Soviet Bill Walton, and I think the comparison was pretty apt.

[Whateva]

He was already a pretty good player in the NBA, very efficient. And that was the slow, unathletic, injured version of him. So, in his prime his would have been on the likes of Olajuwon, but a better passer, something like 24/11/5/3

[RalphWiggum]

If Arvydas Sabonis was born 20 years later and came over into the US college system as a teen (and wasn't overworked and had proper rest and medical treatment) instead of the USSR system that literally destroyed his knee's before he was 21 he may have been the best player ever. Now he may not have won 6 out of 8 chips like Michael based on where he landed and he certainly wouldn't have sold Air Sab's like Michael did but when he was healthy he was a player the likes of which we've basically never seen. A healthy Arvydas Sabonis that had a chance to evolve in an american basketball culture is probably one of the best players in league history.

He was a highly effective NBA player at 31 with no knees that couldn't jump more than a few inches, what could he have been if he hadn't been run into to the ground to prove soviet dominance?

Sabonis comes over at 19-20 before the USSR destroys his knees and turns him into an essentially crippled basketball player we are talking about an all time great, it's not even up for debate.

[Kabookalu]

We don't know what Sabonis in his prime was like, however whenever I watch Jusuf Nurkic play I almost feel like I'm watching a worse and shorter version of a young Sabonis. Big body yet great mobility, awesome all around skills, not known for individual post scoring but still adequate there, solid jump shooter, and great passer. I realize that Nurkic's stats aren't impressive at all, but in some of his better games he's shown off insane potential, potential that I feel is reflective of what Sabonis may have been like in his prime, except significantly better.

[Kabookalu]

Why are there 52 posts in this thread? How many people here ever saw him play? Youtube highlight clips don't count. It's like 30 year olds having an opinion on Bill Russell. You have no idea, stop pretending.

I saw him play his entire career. I understand how underrated he is and it's sad most people will only know him after his knees were shot. I remember reading an article that when he first got his physical doctor's were amazed he could still walk much less play basketball in the NBA. It was stated one of the doctor's told the Blazers that he could get a handicapped parking sticker based on his xrays alone. One of the enduring memories unfortunately is of that punk Rasheed Wallace throwing a towel in his face. I wish Sabonis would have leveled his *ss right then and there. Arvydas could have manhandled Rasheed if he really wanted to.

I remember the exact play you're talking about too. I forget why Sheed was mad at him but he punked him, and Arvydas shrunk and squinted. It was like watching a kid get bullied in school and just taking it all in. I felt so bad for him when I saw that.

[RalphWiggum]

We don't know what Sabonis in his prime was like, however whenever I watch Jusuf Nurkic play I almost feel like I'm watching a worse and shorter version of a young Sabonis. Big body yet great mobility, awesome all around skills, not known for individual post scoring but still adequate there, solid jump shooter, and great passer. I realize that Nurkic's stats aren't impressive at all, but in some of his better games he's shown off insane potential, potential that I feel is reflective of what Sabonis may have been like in his prime, except significantly better.

If you think Jusuf Nurkic is a modern day Sabonis you don't know anything. Sabonis almost wheelchair ridden was still a high level NBA player and you are comparing him to a guy that when given a chance at a much younger age with an able body has proven to be nothing more than a bonafide scrub with some shot blocking abilities?