Stockton/Malone played 18 seasons together and were eliminated in the 1st round 9 times

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Im saying you admitted to Kobe not being in his prime yet think Nick, Horry, Eddie made up for it and the Lakers were whole.

Admitted? I never suggested Kobe was in his prime. I said Shaq and the rest of the team were and they had 4 all-stars and they still got swept by the Jazz and the Spurs.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Bron Wade
Curry Durant
Oscar Kareem
Jerry Wilt
Kobe Shaq

Wow

Jerry and Elgin
Magic and Kareem
Bird and McHale
Moses and Dr. J
Jordan and Pippen
Hakeem and Drexler
Shaq and Wade


I stretched the list to include a lot of guys who were top-5 all-time at the time but have been knocked down the list a bit now. Still all had more success than Malone/Stockton. And that's despite most of those having short-ass times together or seeing their primes overlap poorly. While Stockton/Malone played together for 17 years with perfectly matching primes and still couldn't get anywhere most of the time.

 

[KidJSoul]

Jerry and Elgin
Magic and Kareem
Bird and McHale
Moses and Dr. J
Jordan and Pippen
Hakeem and Drexler
Shaq and Wade


I stretched the list to include a lot of guys who were top-5 all-time at the time but have been knocked down the list a bit now. Still all had more success than Malone/Stockton. And that's despite most of those having short-ass times together or seeing their primes overlap poorly. While Stockton/Malone played together for 17 years with perfectly matching primes and still couldn't get anywhere most of the time.

 

[mastermind]

There are sooo many players who never developed the three though. One GOAT-level player doing it doesn't really prove the point.

On top of that, what @Eric Brooks ignores is that Kidd’s shooting improved as he became a third and fourth option.

Kidd went from shooting 35% from three with the Nets to 45% shooting after the mid season trade with the Mavs. Offensive load and defensive attention led to the jump. Kidd was getting wide open shots that he wasn’t getting in New Jersey, and he was more of a catch and shoot guy than creating his own shot.

 

[Street Knowledge]

Bron Wade
Curry Durant
Oscar Kareem
Jerry Wilt
Kobe Shaq

Wow

Imagine Shaq and Kobe playing 18 years and going out in round 1 9 times

 

[NYC Rebel]

Imagine Shaq and Kobe playing 18 years and going out in round 1 9 times

NEVER would happen.

Kobe wouldnt allow it.

 

[FAH1223]

What’s scumbag Karl up to

 

[get these nets]

Guys are jumping the gun here. Perhaps forgetting that the Jazz were an expansion team that relocated to that city. Small market metro area with no other pro sports teams. That duo solidified that franchise.

The pressure to move players and coaches comes from local beat writers and sports columnists,radio, and tv.
No matter how much those voices made noise, that city and state LOVED Malone and Stockton, and the die hard hoops fans among them knew that the chance of finding comparable players to replace them, or the chance of recruiting top players to One Horse Town metro areas were slim to none.

Have to think about the scenario being discussed and answer according to what the REALITIES were. Can't just repeat ESPN shyt.

 

[mastermind]

Guys are jumping the gun here. Perhaps forgetting that the Jazz were an expansion team that relocated to that city. Small market metro area with no other pro sports teams. That duo solidified that franchise.

The pressure to move players and coaches comes from local beat writers and sports columnists,radio, and tv.
No matter how much those voices made noise, that city and state LOVED Malone and Stockton, and the die hard hoops fans among them knew that the chance of finding comparable players to replace them, or the chance of recruiting top players to One Horse Town metro areas were slim to none.

Have to think about the scenario being discussed and answer according to what the REALITIES were. Can just repeat ESPN shyt.

This is all fluff. No thinking was involved with writing this, if you were being serious.

A proper free post.

 

[NYC Rebel]

Guys are jumping the gun here. Perhaps forgetting that the Jazz were an expansion team that relocated to that city. Small market metro area with no other pro sports teams. That duo solidified that franchise.

The pressure to move players and coaches comes from local beat writers and sports columnists,radio, and tv.
No matter how much those voices made noise, that city and state LOVED Malone and Stockton, and the die hard hoops fans among them knew that the chance of finding comparable players to replace them, or the chance of recruiting top players to One Horse Town metro areas were slim to none.

Have to think about the scenario being discussed and answer according to what the REALITIES were. Can just repeat ESPN shyt.

Irrelevant gibberish.

 

[The Amerikkkan Idol]

That means nothing cause prime Jazz also went 7 against the 8-seed Nuggets after having a 3-0 lead.

In fact, the very next year after taking the Lakers to 7, they got swept in the first round by a 7-seed Warriors squad led by Mullin/Richmond. Jazz were also starting DPOY/All-Star Mark Eaton and 20ppg scorer Thurl Bailey, while the Warriors were starting Rod Higgins, Winston Garland, and Larry Smith.

You saying "Well Mullin and Richmond are Hall of Famers" is disingenuous. In 1989, Richmond was just a rookie who wouldn't make all-star until 1993, and Mullin was making his first All-Star game ever. Even at their prime, neither one has nearly the reputation of Malone and Stockton. And on top of that, Malone and Stockton had the better coach and better supporting cast.

Getting swept in the first round by a less experienced team with lesser players from top to bottom is completely inexcusable.

It absolutely means something

That the NBA in that era was EXTREMELY competitive

And just because Richmond wasn't an all-star yet doesn't mean that he wasn't the Rookie of the Year averaging 22 a game in '89

Plus, like I said, their coach is in the hall of fame as well.

There's no shame in losing to a team with 2 HOFs & a HOF coach, PERIOD.

That's not losing to the damn Clippers under Don Casey or something.

Mullin was already in HOF form by '89 averaging 27 a game.

The 1987 and 1989 Golden State Warriors beat no one of note.

Those Portland teams didn’t beat any other great team and only had one great in Drexler.

The 94 Rockets was Hakeem and the Miracles. That wasn’t a great roster.

You are also ignoring that Malone and Stockton shrunk in pivotal moments.


Cool. Guess who still wasn’t the coach of that team.


No they wouldn’t.

Robinson also declined badly in the postseason too because he lacked a truly elite scoring repertoire. He wasn’t Malone, but he was a jump shooter.

Dummy, you said The Spurs never had a HOF before Popovich

They had one for 4 seasons with Robinson & Elliott.

I never said all three had to be coached by fukking Larry Brown, dumbass.

You brought up an all-time NBA great that shot bricks for well over a decade to prove the point that back in the day garden variety NBA players would have evolved…..just like all time NBA great Jason Kidd…..in a league that only gives average players five years to perform.

And you think you proved a point in using him.

Every time your opinion is smashed, you pivot to lying.

Jason Kidd was an all-time great passer, not shooter, matter of fact, he was a notoriously bad shooter for the entirety of the first half of his career.

Even his wife used to call him Ason, because he had no J

If he could learn to shoot, guys who were better shooters than him (which was just about everybody), would be able to learn how to shoot.

Volume is the difference. The more you do something, the better you get at it.

Guys just shoot it a lot more now.

 

[NYC Rebel]

Jason Kidd was an all-time great passer, not shooter, matter of fact, he was a notoriously bad shooter for the entirety of the first half of his career.

Even his wife used to call him Ason, because he had no J

If he could learn to shoot, guys who were better shooters than him (which was just about everybody), would be able to learn how to shoot.

Jason Kidd had over a decade to play in the NBA before he became a decent shooter. Only a Hall of Fame player is going to have a decade worth of shooting bricks to finally become a good shooter.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

It absolutely means something

That the NBA in that era was EXTREMELY competitive

And just because Richmond wasn't an all-star yet doesn't mean that he wasn't the Rookie of the Year averaging 22 a game in '89

Plus, like I said, their coach is in the hall of fame as well.

There's no shame in losing to a team with 2 HOFs & a HOF coach, PERIOD.

LOL at big-upping the '89 Warriors. The very next season they added Tim Hardaway and STILL went just 37-45 and missed the playoffs. They were a bunch of no-defense shooters who never did jack shyt in the playoffs. Mullin and Richmond were borderline HOFers at best, mostly just due to ppg totals, and Richmond was a fukking rookie.

Breh, this is legit a useless discussion. Just flattening out every HOF player as the same, every year of their career as the same, and ignoring the entire rest of their supporting cast is beyond silly. That's not a useful discussion, it's just forum game playing.


* Warriors were a damn 7-seed. Is 2-seed Utah supposed to be better than them or not?

* Malone was supposed to be the GOAT power forward and 3rd in MVP voting. Is he better than Chris Mullin making his first all-star appearance or not?

* Stockton was supposed to be one of the GOAT point guards, 2nd-team All-NBA, 2nd-team All-Defensive. Is he better than rookie Mitch Richmond who wasn't even going to make an All-Star Team for another 4 years or not?

* The Jazz stars were supported by DPOY and All-Star Mark Eaton, 20ppg scorer Thurl Bailey, former 20ppg scorer Darrell Griffith, and shooter Bob Hansen. The Warriors stars were supported by Manute Bol, Terry Teagle, Rod Higgins, Winston Garland, and Larry Smith. Did the Jazz have an advantage there, or not?

* Bragging about Don Nelson being in the HOF is a laugh. Nelson only won one other playoff series in his 7 years with the Warriors. Both times he won in the first round, he immediately lost 4-1 in the second round. He has never been respected anything like Jerry Sloan and his HOF vote was due to longevity and innovations, not playoff winning.

* Not only was Golden State an underdog in every respect, they beat the Jazz in UTAH twice and then finished the sweep at home.



You're trying to big-up a 7-seed that missed the playoffs the next year and only won 1 playoff series in 7 years. And this wasn't even their good year, this was when Mullin/Richmond were raw and Hardaway wasn't even on the team yet. They had no business even being competitive in the playoffs, much less sweeping a 2-seed.

Stop star counting and look at the actual team.

 

[mastermind]

Dummy, you said The Spurs never had a HOF before Popovich

I never said that.

 

[NYC Rebel]

NBA fans think name dropping NBA stars automatically means the teams they played on were formidable great teams.

Its a shytty habit.