I am just enjoying DM performance I don't need to quantify it. His improvement is amazing and when he made that 3pt in Millsap's face. You could see him say, "I want this!" That tells me he is focus and not afraid of big moments. There are many players who are talented but what separates the great one is this attitude he has demonstrated in this series. The greatest trade in Jazz history. Denver's fans referring to him as a chucker are only trying to wash away the pain of knowing he was theirs and they traded him for two stiffs. It is like when you get broken up by your GF, some guys have to bash her and say she isn't pretty so they can survive the pain. DM's shooting percentages are historical. I just hope he can keep it up.
Donovan enters elite company: Michael & Iverson
- Thread starter gandalfe
- Start date
This is absolutely true
gomretat
Well-Known Member
Agreed. And as great as DM has looked over the last 4 games, you have to look at Luka as one of the young great ones. He may rewrite a few records for young players.
LoPo
Well-Known Member
You mean rewrite a few record for young players like what Donovan has already done?
Luka will get the cute triple double records because they allow him to have the ball 99% of the time he's on the court. If we ran every single thing through Don, he'd probably get 5-10 more points and 3-4 more assists. Oh, and let him have every rebound on free throw attempts and stuff like that.
Don't get me wrong - Luka is really good. MJ goes for 63, and people still worship him over it. However, Donovan goes for 57 with better numbers around the entire performance and nobody talks about it. They both lost. They'll talk about Luka's triple double yesterday forever and more than Don's 2 50 point games in the same series.
LoPo
Well-Known Member
Magic was really, really good and highly touted coming out of the gate. The league was different though. It wasn't as hard to make the All Star team when there were so few teams, he was on the Lakers, he was so hyped coming from his college battles with Larry, and the Lakers were super stacked. Magic was a really good player and had a good start to his career.
I guess I have more respect for guys who did a lot with a little. I'll always have more respect for Wilt than Russell because Russell always had the best collection of teammates and coaching. I forgot Larry built Boston. I had always thought he got on board mid-stream.
Regardless, Don has had a top 5 all time start to his career. He deserves more respect.
LogGrad98
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Wow is that short sighted and reeking of recency bias. The league was different then. Yeah, all of the talent was compressed into fewer teams. Therefore teams had more talent overall. To downplay what magic did in that finals as a rookie is to show you have a compete lack of basketball knowledge. It was nothing short of epic.
Oh yeah, and magic as a rookie helped lead that team to something like a 17 game improvement in the regular season, from 45 wins to 62 wins in one year. That's nothing short of spectacular. These guys are criminally underrated so often it's hilarious.
LoPo
Well-Known Member
I didn't downplay it at all. I said he was amazing in that finals. He had a special moment at center.
One point though- why was it so special? Because before that moment, everybody knew Kareem was the catalyst on that team. Without Kareem, Magic doesn't have a Finals. Vice versa too but still.
Magic was incredible. I'm not knocking Magic. He was blessed to play with HOF his whole career. He was helped by playing with one of the best players ever. Kareem won titles with and without Magic and the Lakers.
Don is out there winning playoff series as a rookie without a single all star much less a HOF. Hard to know what Don would have accomplished to this point if he was drafted by say.... GS with the splash brothers or Cleveland with LBJ or SA with Kawhi, etc
Sometimes we romanticize the past and discount the present. What Don is doing is extremely rare and special.
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gomretat
Well-Known Member
You can spin it however you want but Luka's numbers over his first 3 years will be elite. I would be elated to have him on my team.
LoPo
Well-Known Member
That wasn't my point. I'm just saying Don deserves a spotlight too. Luka has gotten so much publicity, and Don has accomplished so much without much publicity.
Of course I'd love to have Luka. I was the loudest voice on here saying we should trade anything (outside of Don), take any bad contract, flip all our picks to get the guy.
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