70sFan wrote:
I agree about Luka vs Bird, but does Jokic really have "vastly superior" handles to Bird? I don't think so to be honest.
I don't think his ball-handling was ever really the problem. For Bird, it was more his first step. He didn't have the blow-by ability, and of course he certainly didn't dribble like a contemporary player, but he controlled the ball well enough with either hand in motion, on the perimeter and in the post.
coastalmarker99 wrote:Bird in today's game would be a better Jokic or Luka which is scary to think about.
That doesn't really track. Bird would be very good in today's game, and I suspect that he would handle the increased emphasis on 3pt shooting quite well, but he wouldn't be like Jokic. I doubt very much you'd see him shooting 60% beneath the arc. He'd be his own thing, and would probably have the same kind of PS issues as he did in his own time, perhaps even a little more hot-and-cold with a higher 3Pr.
Shaq would be vitally unstoppable on offence through he would suffer somewhat on defence.
Mmm. Spread the floor with him and a good creator and he'd be very good, for sure, but he'd suffer from the same issues with entry passes and a ton of multiple coverage. And we see more fouls called on post-ups than he did in most of his career. If he stayed at Orlando weight, then he'd end up looking very good in this era, no question. Sort of the same principle as applied in his own time (the stretch 4 opening up the interior) would apply, but
sans illegal defense rules, teams would be able to game for him a little differently, as we saw later on his career. Would still be very good, but "virtually unstoppable" is a little hyperbolic for my taste.
Teams would definitely hunt him with the pick-and-roll, they did in in the latter portions of his LA career and the whole time after. It would cause some issues, though you play the trade-off game. And again, if he stayed at his Orlando weight, he'd retain a degree of mobility and perhaps with coaching emphasis, might have been better about it. Hard to tell.
Magic would thrive on offence due to the speed of the game through he would be abused on defence.
Seems accurate. Sort of Nash-plus, I would imagine. More of a threat as a scorer, though, so more resilience into the postseason. Given his size, though, you can sort of hide him on whichever wing is less of a threat, and then see how it goes when they try to switch.
Hakeem would be elite on both sides of the ball and would basically be unstoppable on offence due to how skilled he was.
I think he'd be about the same. His mobility would help his D translate quite well, and of course he had a jumper and handles, faced up and posted up, crashed the O boards and ran in transition. He'd slot in just fine. I don't think he'd be a high-20s scorer much of his career today, and I don't think he'd end up much of a 3pt shooter. In reality, it took him some time to develop his jumper because of how late he started playing basketball. He was rather bad about that and FTs early on in his career, but his work ethic and ability to improve carried through. He was also a stunning athlete. He'd be amazing, though I don't think you'd see him pulling an Embiid and winning a scoring title, you know?
