Best Big Men to Ever Play the Game

[Assani Fisher]

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Hakeem, KG, and Sabonis are the next tier in my opinion.


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reality check assani, we all have guys that we like thats fine and im sure Sabonis of one of those guys to you but this is laughable.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabonis

Ex-players and current players alike contend that Sabonis, fairly unknown in the U.S., would have been recognized as one of the top centers ever to play the game of basketball had he come to America in his prime. Scottie Pippen was quoted as saying that Arvydas was "the best European basketball player to ever play the game". Ex-Spur Sean Elliott routinely claimed that Arvydas "should be in the conversation as one of the greatest centers ever". Hall of Famer Bill Walton describes "Sabas" as "the greatest passing center of all time". And Dino Radja, a former Boston Celtics player, said that Sabonis would have been an all-star "ten times over" had he played his healthy years in the States.

Brian Meehan, a columnist for The Oregonian, followed Sabonis' career over the course of decades. Recalling the 1988 Olympics, when Sabonis' Soviet team beat a United States team with the likes of NBA stars David Robinson and Mitch Richmond. Meehan notes one play when a healthy Sabonis reacted to a teammate's missed shot: Sabonis slashed towards the rim, jumped over Robinson, and slammed the ball home. Meehan is of the opinion that it was the play of Arvydas in the '88 Olympics that influenced Team USA to use professional players in the Olympics, thus the "Dream Teams" of 1992 and 1996. Meehan ranks Sabonis as the 6th best all-time center behind, in no particular order, Hakeem Olajuwon, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

[Assani Fisher]

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Blocking a shot OOB is much better than blocking it onto the court, because you're blocking it underneath your opponent's basket.

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So if the other team shoots the ball and misses....would you rather the rebound instantly hit off your team and go out of bounds or would you rather it bounce up in the air(right near your opponent's basket)?

[Victor]

"Ex-players and current players alike contend that Sabonis, fairly unknown in the U.S., would have been recognized as one of the top centers ever to play the game of basketball had he come to America in his prime."

[barryc83]

damn you victor i was gonna do the same thing.

[Assani Fisher]

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"Ex-players and current players alike contend that Sabonis, fairly unknown in the U.S., would have been recognized as one of the top centers ever to play the game of basketball had he come to America in his prime."

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Yes, he was one of the greatest centers to ever play the game. He wasn't RECOGNIZED for it because he didn't come to America during his prime. OP's questions wasn't who was recognized as the greatest ever but who was the greatest ever, no?

[barryc83]

well how do you know just how good he was if he wasnt playing the best of the best like all of the other players on the list. I mean he was a solid center for POR but nowhere near best ever. I dont care what he couldve been in the nba, I care about what he was.

[Assani Fisher]

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well how do you know just how good he was if he wasnt playing the best of the best like all of the other players on the list. I mean he was a solid center for POR but nowhere near best ever. I dont care what he couldve been in the nba, I care about what he was.

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The question wasn't "Who was the best in the NBA?"

The question was "Who was the best ever?"


Thats great that you only care about the NBA, but that wasn't OPs question at all.

How do we know just how good he was if he wasn't playing in the NBA? Well I'd assume that all of those NBA players I quoted above did indeed play against him and weren't just throwing out random compliments for the hell of it.

I've heard Sabonis described before as "Shaq with Magic's passing ability."

Is it harder to evaluate a player when he didn't play against the best? Absolutely. Does that mean we shouldn't even try? I certainly don't think so.

[Assani Fisher]

Also just to add: When he came to Portland it was after a ton of injuries that severely limtited him. The best comparison I can think of is Shaq right now but with even worse knee ailments.

Furthermore, he did indeed play against top competition. More from the wiki article:

Although the political climate in the Soviet Union did not allow Sabonis to play in the NBA, he did travel to the U.S. to rehabilitate his ankle injuries with the Blazers' training staff. In between rehab stints, "Sabas" would find himself out on the court playing pickup games with Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter and others. Observers strongly contend even to this day, that had Sabonis played for the Blazers in the early 1990s, they would likely have won a NBA championship.

[Victor]

well, assani, that settles its. irrefutable evidence indeed. nothing is more certain than the hypothetical predictions of observers.

[ClassicBob]

Assani,

You make comments about not ranking players like Wilt and Russell because they didn't play in your lifetime, so you didn't see them.

Did you see lots of Sabonis in his prime? Or are you just basing this on what other people say? Why can you do this with Sabas but not Wilt/Russell/others?