How good would Arvydas Sabonis have been in todays NBA?

[LuDux1]

In summer of 1986 Zalgiris played in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_FIBA_Club_World_Cup. Sabas re-injured Achiles in semi-final, played in final. Through-out next season he often didn't play, often played in unimportant games. In February he spent more than month in main soviet institute of traumatology. After month there told journalists that he feels unwell, but returned to Soviet league Finals against CSKA. I really doubt Soviets were forcing him to play.

Then he tore right Achilles during Soviet NT camp in May 23 1987 and on August 23 he slipped while climbing the stairs late in the evening and re-injured Achiless, this time much more seriously

[Curmudgeon]

Before Sabonis was injured, he would be the second best player in the league after LeBron. After his injury he would be top 25, but not second best.

Beautiful passer who could also shoot from long range. Tremendous rebounder and post player at 7-2. Smart, too.

He wasn't necessarily better than Kareem for the 1980's game, but he would be better in today's game. Clyde Lovellette is another big man from days of yore who would excel today because of his shooting range, but Sabonis was at least 5 inches taller than Lovellette.

[cruwinas]

The Jokic comp is a joke. Young Sabas played Hakeem level defense. Picture a better shooting & passing Kareem. The guy had the whole package, that is how good he was.

Sabonis has nothing on Jokic except size and some athleticism when he was a teen lol, he was never athletic after an injury , Jokic is way more talented offensive player, better passer,better scorer, rebounder , he's basically pg for Denver, which has one of the best offenses in the NBA So Sabonis from the 90's would have minutes equal to Marjanovic, he would be so slow for today's game.

I do agree that Sabonis' legend is exaggerated, but this is just laughable. Old Sabonis is basically Jokic with better hands and bigger, Sabas had GOAT hands IMO.

My dear friend, no exaggeration here.

Look at this dunk on a fast break off the jump ball.What 7'4'' guy could do that know???

Watch on YouTube

[r0drig0lac]

good good as superstar type good

[ProcessMeUpFam]

Once every 6 months on RealGM there is a thread overrating prime Sabonis. He would be very good, a superstar top 5-10 player in the league. A better shooting and passing Kareem!?!? A case for GOAT!?!?

Find an article in "New York Times", issue of 1995 end of October - beginning of November and read what USA professional sport journalist wrote.
And end up with these ???? marks. You are just not informed well enugh to make a professional evaluation. Find an article, post it here and we could continue discussion. Who is the best? To me, one of candidates is Wilt, another - MJ, another - Magic, the list goes on. It's impossible to compare The Greatness. Who is the better painter, Gauguin or Michelangelo? It's pointless. Some of us can just say, that we met a Bigfoot. But, did we???

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/01/sports/pro-basketball-the-courtship-of-a-wayward-star-sabonis.html

[THE J0KER]

In his rookie year at 31 he makes 0.5 3pt per game despite good 38% percentage, and just 2 assists despite an obvious talent for passing. So he would be used in a different way today no doubt if we see how in today NBA is used centers which can shoot 3pt and have passing skills. Comparisons with Nikola Jokic is wrong because Jokic is not just center with good passing skills but the unique point-center player.

[Soulcatcher33]

In his rookie season he averaged 14.5ppg 8.1rpg 1.1apg 1.1bpg 0.9spg .545%fg .617%ts 24.7per 5.6bpm in 23.8mpg

Per 36 that would be: 22.0ppg 12.2rpg 2.7apg 1.6bpg 1.3spg

This was on two busted up legs and not even half the athlete he was before injuries.

[monopoman]

In today's NBA spacing is vital and Sabonis had the tools to be a ridiculous floor spacer. A big man who could find the open man easily, had great court vision, and potentially the best hands of any big man. In addition he could also hit the 3 point shot and had elite rim protection you are talking about a center virtually designed for the modern game.

People that call him slow are just looking at the guy post injury, even post injury he came to the Blazers and was one of our best players in that era.

[cruwinas]

Once every 6 months on RealGM there is a thread overrating prime Sabonis. He would be very good, a superstar top 5-10 player in the league. A better shooting and passing Kareem!?!? A case for GOAT!?!?

Find an article in "New York Times", issue of 1995 end of October - beginning of November and read what USA professional sport journalist wrote.
And end up with these ???? marks. You are just not informed well enugh to make a professional evaluation. Find an article, post it here and we could continue discussion. Who is the best? To me, one of candidates is Wilt, another - MJ, another - Magic, the list goes on. It's impossible to compare The Greatness. Who is the better painter, Gauguin or Michelangelo? It's pointless. Some of us can just say, that we met a Bigfoot. But, did we???

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/01/sports/pro-basketball-the-courtship-of-a-wayward-star-sabonis.html

Good job brother

One of the saddest things in sports I ever saw - then Sabas, after years playing for Valladolid, Spain, came to watch a soccer game in Vilnius. He was sooo slow, clumsy, moving with pain, overweight - I guess, my grandfather or grandmother were in better physical shape. Sure, because of his size, and his hands - he was still a basketball player. I bet, he would be useful player for some pro team even now, sitting in a chair in the middle of the court. I ALWAYS remember him, when he was young, as a tall gentle giant, with wide shoulders, huge hands, always hunching cause he felt uneasy being so tall, but running like a deer circles around the court, jumping all over, and he had a FIRE in his eyes. A will to win. After the injuries - it's like watching a volcano, after the eruption. Lava still, not moving, cold, no fire inside, no danger - just a quite giant resting peacefully.

[Clyde Frazier]

This guys one of the most overrated players in the history of the game. Enough about him already

Agree. Especially myths of young Sabonis and how was he the best center ever seen lol

Not really. When you look at just how well he produced in the NBA post-injury in his 30s, it stands to reason he'd be much better younger and pre-injury. Even if we dial it back a little, i'd say in his best years he would've been a top 10 player. We were robbed of never seeing that guy in the NBA.

[Soulcatcher33]

This guys one of the most overrated players in the history of the game. Enough about him already

Agree. Especially myths of young Sabonis and how was he the best center ever seen lol

Not really. When you look at just how well he produced in the NBA post-injury in his 30s, it stands to reason he'd be much better younger and pre-injury. Even if we dial it back a little, i'd say in his best years he would've been a top 10 player. We were robbed of never seeing that guy in the NBA.

In his rookie season he averaged 14.5ppg 8.1rpg 1.1apg 1.1bpg 0.9spg .545%fg .617%ts 24.7per 5.6bpm in 23.8mpg

Per 36 that would be: 22.0ppg 12.2rpg 2.7apg 1.6bpg 1.3spg

This was on two busted up legs and not even half the athlete he was before injuries.

[Rocketsbaby]

Wouldnt be very effective due to how slow he was.

[Rocketsbaby]

Sabonis has nothing on Jokic except size and some athleticism when he was a teen lol, he was never athletic after an injury , Jokic is way more talented offensive player, better passer,better scorer, rebounder , he's basically pg for Denver, which has one of the best offenses in the NBA So Sabonis from the 90's would have minutes equal to Marjanovic, he would be so slow for today's game.

I do agree that Sabonis' legend is exaggerated, but this is just laughable. Old Sabonis is basically Jokic with better hands and bigger, Sabas had GOAT hands IMO.

No way Sabonis had better hands and softest touch than Jokic , also whoever says that Sabonis was better passer than Jokic is flat out ignorant, just look the highlights of both man, Jokic has much more creative passes from every possible angle on the court, when all is said and done, Jokic will be way ahead of Sabonis as basketball legend.

Passing was very simplistic prior to the zone defense. Sabonis was huge so he demanded double teams and dropped the ball off to guys. His game was like a cross between Shaq and Vlade Divac... slightly less overwhelming size/athleticism than Shaq and slightly more skill than Vlade.

If you can't move laterally you can't be a very effective center defensively.


And Jokic is significantly more skilled than Sabonis. All Sabonis had to do was pass the ball to the man that was open off the double team. Jokic actually creates offense against defenses that are allowed to guard the basket without committing to the double team. The skill level of the league as a whole is just dramatically higher than it was back then so perhaps the skillgap appears more pronounced when you watch grainy old footage of a guy playing in black & white

[bigbreakfast]

excellent in offense.

awfull in defense , too slow for todays pace.


since nowdays the only thing that mtter bout centers is defense he wouldnt get too much playing time.

its sad but thats how things are now for bigs no matter how good on offense.

this is such a lazy take though - sure, avg pace may be faster, but ppl act like using pace to neutralize big men is an entirely novel concept. likewise, ppl act like nobody had ever thought of pulling interior defenders out to the perimeter and put them in the PnR.... do ppl even watch basketball in the old days or just watched clips?

sure, these are factors, but everytime someone makes a "will old timey center X dominate in today's NBA" post, someone inevitably says no because the pace is too fast and too many PnR as if they'll just stand there rendered completely useless and forget how to play basketball.

furthermore, the opposite is just as likely to be true - try picking up the pace when your team has to consistently foul to stop an dominant post player that doesn't turn over the ball.

[Clyde Frazier]

Agree. Especially myths of young Sabonis and how was he the best center ever seen lol

Not really. When you look at just how well he produced in the NBA post-injury in his 30s, it stands to reason he'd be much better younger and pre-injury. Even if we dial it back a little, i'd say in his best years he would've been a top 10 player. We were robbed of never seeing that guy in the NBA.

In his rookie season he averaged 14.5ppg 8.1rpg 1.1apg 1.1bpg 0.9spg .545%fg .617%ts 24.7per 5.6bpm in 23.8mpg

Per 36 that would be: 22.0ppg 12.2rpg 2.7apg 1.6bpg 1.3spg

This was on two busted up legs and not even half the athlete he was before injuries.

I'm well aware. Was just being a little more conservative with the projection given all the people that love to jump in with the overrated talk. Of course at the end of the day it's speculation, but he likely would've been a superstar. That's not that hard to believe with what we know.

[Trippinskarlo]

Top 5 center.

[Soulcatcher33]

Not really. When you look at just how well he produced in the NBA post-injury in his 30s, it stands to reason he'd be much better younger and pre-injury. Even if we dial it back a little, i'd say in his best years he would've been a top 10 player. We were robbed of never seeing that guy in the NBA.

In his rookie season he averaged 14.5ppg 8.1rpg 1.1apg 1.1bpg 0.9spg .545%fg .617%ts 24.7per 5.6bpm in 23.8mpg

Per 36 that would be: 22.0ppg 12.2rpg 2.7apg 1.6bpg 1.3spg

This was on two busted up legs and not even half the athlete he was before injuries.

I'm well aware. Was just being a little more conservative with the projection given all the people that love to jump in with the overrated talk. Of course at the end of the day it's speculation, but he likely would've been a superstar. That's not that hard to believe with what we know.

That was my bad. I didn't realize I actually already made this post earlier. Got distracted and thought I had yet to send it so thought it would be good to post here. I didn't mean to double post it.

[Jonathan starks]

Sabonis has nothing on Jokic except size and some athleticism when he was a teen lol, he was never athletic after an injury , Jokic is way more talented offensive player, better passer,better scorer, rebounder , he's basically pg for Denver, which has one of the best offenses in the NBA So Sabonis from the 90's would have minutes equal to Marjanovic, he would be so slow for today's game.

I do agree that Sabonis' legend is exaggerated, but this is just laughable. Old Sabonis is basically Jokic with better hands and bigger, Sabas had GOAT hands IMO.

My dear friend, no exaggeration here.

Look at this dunk on a fast break off the jump ball.What 7'4'' guy could do that know???

Watch on YouTube

Compare his highlights to the best of highlights of Shaq, Hakeem, Robinson, and Ewing and there really not all that impressive

[Clyde Frazier]

I do agree that Sabonis' legend is exaggerated, but this is just laughable. Old Sabonis is basically Jokic with better hands and bigger, Sabas had GOAT hands IMO.

My dear friend, no exaggeration here.

Look at this dunk on a fast break off the jump ball.What 7'4'' guy could do that know???

Watch on YouTube

Compare his highlights to the best of highlights of Shaq, Hakeem, Robinson, and Ewing and there really not all that impressive

...what part of in his 30s and post-major injuries do you not understand?

[Jonathan starks]

My dear friend, no exaggeration here.

Look at this dunk on a fast break off the jump ball.What 7'4'' guy could do that know???

Watch on YouTube

Compare his highlights to the best of highlights of Shaq, Hakeem, Robinson, and Ewing and there really not all that impressive

...what part of in his 30s and post-major injuries do you not understand?

I’m talking about his highlights preinjury. The superstar centers in the golden age make him look pedestrian when you compare the highlights. I’m not buying the myth