The Thriller
Well-Known Member
ummm okay? And how does that fundamentally change the argument on wasted talents?
All time wasted NBA talents ?
- Thread starter Douchebag K
- Start date
ummm okay? And how does that fundamentally change the argument on wasted talents?
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
People claiming that AK47 was as good or better than Gobert at defense make me wonder if they ever actually watched the Jazz in that era or if they just saw an AK47 highlight video once on YouTube? It’s pretty obvious to anyone who actually watched the games. And I’m pretty sure Rudy’s hardware shows it.
Kyoto
Well-Known Member
I'm a Andrei Kirilenko homer and I even know that's a stretch
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Jazz weren't a 3pt shooting team before Quin. Millsap always had a 3pt shot but never really attempted much with the Jazz.
And he may not have been a gym rat or had the same work ethic as greats but you don't become as good as Kirilenko without some work. And even if he shof %34-35 as a PF, he would be very effective on close-outs or would punish when oppenents sagged.
Keefe
Well-Known Member
Listen, we can agree to disagree. AK wasn’t born to play basketball. He was born to play The Tinman in a revival of The Wizard of Oz.
There is nothing to disagree. New focus on 3pt shooting would force him to play 4, his more natural position and his mechanics weren't great but wasn't broken either. There was room for improvement there that could be realized.
He played high level basketball in the best league in the world and had records so that's quite the accomplishment for someone who wasn't "born to play basketball"
Keefe
Well-Known Member
He played some four and that did nothing to help his ****** shooting.
Thee Idiotic Minivan K
Well-Known Member
IMO had AK come up in this era, he probably would’ve been a better 3pt shooter.
during his career he teetered between 23%-37% at around 1.1 to 2.5 three attempts per game. Had he come up in this era I could’ve seen him around 32% to 37% on maybe 4 attempts imo.
Keefe
Well-Known Member
who knows. maybe. but he’d still be the tin man and more concerned about himself than the team and for that reason, I wouldn’t what him here.
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
There’s not one problem with AK47, but multiple.
he had issues with:
Staying healthy
Mental toughness
Actually improving/developing skills
Poor attitude/Making his teammates better
He was essentially the anti-Joe Ingles.
So even if AK had put the WOW long enough to develop a shot that would consistently go down, we would’ve had to still deal with his injury issues, selfish attitude, and softness.
he had issues with:
Staying healthy
Mental toughness
Actually improving/developing skills
Poor attitude/Making his teammates better
He was essentially the anti-Joe Ingles.
So even if AK had put the WOW long enough to develop a shot that would consistently go down, we would’ve had to still deal with his injury issues, selfish attitude, and softness.
MVP
Well-Known Member
AK may have not been better overall then Rudy but he was more versatile -guarding the best opponent players on every night no matter what position they played. Rudy was never asked to defend shooting guards or point guards down the stretch and Sloan would put AK on anybody who was having hot hand and usually was doing very good job ( before two major injuries). Maybe you do not remember the game vs Lakers when he shut down Kobe in second half completely limiting him to zero FG's made. Even Phil Jackson was praising him after that game for amazing defense he played on Kobe.
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
Rudy defends guards on a regular basis. Honestly, his ability to defend the P&R in space is greater than his ability to muscle up and defend in the post. His agility for his size is just off the charts.
LOL @ “the one time AK shut down Kobe for a half.” That’s not a serious argument. And if that’s the best you got, then this debate is long over.
Jerry misused AK, Jerrys was PG centric where the ball was always brought up by the PG and the PG initiated the offense, AK would have been better in a snyder offense where he could be a creator and initiate the offense much like ingles does. All jerry had him do on offense is run down the court and camp on the baseline 3. AK was s great passer, good at driving to the hoop and also had a post game, his mid game was erratic and his 3 pt shot was about ave. He would have fit in well in this era where guys atent allowed to hand check and push offensive players off their spot. On defense he could rebound block shots and steal but as mentioned previously could sometimes get out of position. AK was one of my favorite players still is, i think he gets a bad rap because he signed a max deal then the following year jerry decides to not use him at all on offense, also because he reportedly didnt stay after practice.how many of you with families stay after work when not required to??? Were talkin bout practice man...then they dont like AK because he cried after a playoff loss to the rockets after barely touching the ball all game, people conveniently forgot that the next game he was the jazz leading scorer and hit the game winner. AK can be on my team any day of the week and twice on sunday, especially in this era.
MVP
Well-Known Member
I disagree. One of the reasons we got blown by GSW and lost 4-1 twice vs Houston was how their guards abused Rudy on switches. Rudy had the worst +/- during both Houston series from any Jazz player and we did better with Favors than him on the floor.
I agree that this season he looks much improved in perimeter defense so lets see how he will do during playoffs.
MVP
Well-Known Member
Thats just one example. I have seen him taking out of their games other leading scorers from other teams like Glen Robinson, Paul Pierce, Lamar Odom, Hedo Turkoglu, Stojakovic, Carmelo and so on. He was given duty to defend best scorer on the other team every night - there was a reason for that.
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Archie Moses
Well-Known Member
It's a damn shame to hear about Chandler Parsons. Hope he gets better but it's not looking good for him.
**** drunk drivers.
**** drunk drivers.
It sounded like lawyer speak. Apparently this happened a few days ago and he’s not in the hospital. I’m saying that with absolutely no knowledge of the accident but relying entirely on what his law firm said. I’m not trying to discount it, just stating that it’s not entirely consistent with what one’s first impression may be when they hear “career ending car accident.”
Getting Traded
Banned
Thriller, I watched every game during that era. AK was far quicker than Rudy on D and an amazing shot blocker. I remember in his early days Paul Pierce remarking that he couldn't believe how fast AK was. And he was not a selfish player but a great passer, just not a good shooter. If you had seen him play for the Russian where he was used properly, you would've seen a different player. He was making back cuts and they were constantly ooping him. But you know Sloan didn't like the oop. Sloan in my opinion had a big influence in how AK turned out.
When people say he was selfish, they aren’t talking about his willingness to pass. But I think that misunderstanding encapsulates the problem: people are viewing this concretely, in the same way people are saying Whiteside is as good, if not better, than Rudy because of his numbers.