One of a Kind players
Vinnie Johnson.... No one off the pine can heat up as fast as the microwave.....
Charles Barkley - listed as 6'6" but really only 6'4" and one of the best PF's of all time.. best rebounder inch per inch in nba history...
John Stockton - no one will ever run the pick n roll like he did.. Mr. consistency.
Allen Iverson - his resume speaks for itself
manut bol - i doubt we'll ever see another man that big bang 6 3 pointers in one gm.. TOP OF KEY BABY..
David Robinson had such an amazing body for an athlete. He was one of the fasted and most agile 7 footers in league history. Unlike the great bigs like Wilt, Russell, Mikan, Kareem, Hakeem, Ewing, Shaq and now Howard. Robinson was fast, and more athletic and could dominate the paint using his speed and agility.
Nobody now in the Nba has anywhere close to as much athletic ability for a 7 ft center, than he did.
And his career was quite significant considering he is a Hall Of Famer, a 10 time All Star, League MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Member of the original Dream Team, one of only 4 players to ever record a Quadruple Double, the 4th player ever to record a 70+ point game, and his 2 NBA championships.
Nobody in the Nba is close to David Robinson. Most centers are either fast but too soft, or big bodies but slower.
i cant saw howard because hes 3 inchs shorter and im not sure if he dominated in his 3rd year the way shaq did in his first..ill have to do a lil research first..also the only real comparable thing with magic and lebron is height. and they are good passers..physically as well as athletically they are very different...as far as lebron being a ball hog thats extremely far from the truth
well, I would'nt say Rodman because I think Jerome Williams was pretty darn close to the same type of player. I would'nt say Jordan because Kobe is almost a mirror image of him. Olajowon was great, but it's not like I can't imagine a 6-10 guy with great post moves coming along again. Honestly there are very few players I would say are sort of one of a kind. LeBron, Bird, Magic all come to mind.
He hits those mid range jumpers off the wrong foot that nobody else ever attempts. His skill set is different than every other NBA player. Probably the one current NBA player who is the most like him is Nick Fazekas, who I think is a free agent right now, and that is a huge stretch.
Lebron James-6'8 260 with the speed of a point and the passes and the offensive moves of a shooting guard
Allen Iverson-6'0 shooting guard 165 pounds and he drives to the rack with a small frame
magin Johnson-6'9 point guard never see that again
Michael Jordan-Greatest of all time im a kobe fan but he's no where near jordan
Even though it will only happen very rarely, I can still imagine some athletic 5 foot 8 guys like Spud and Nate coming in once in awhile. But I can't see anyone like 5 foot 3 Mugsy Bogues. I don't care how good, quick, strong, or long armed you are...5 foot 3? Earl Boykins came close.
In terms of pound for pound physical attributes...yea Lebron is a freak of nature, but I've never heard of anyone like Wilt. Crazy stats, a 54 inch verticle (in his prime, yes supposedly 54), could run the 40 in a 4.4 (barefoot) AND could could bench press 500 pounds multiple times? People that big aren't supposed to be able to do things like that! Imagine what he could have done with a better team when he was young!
I have a hard time believing he had 54 inch vertical. Not a single player in the history of the nba has ever been measured close to that. The top guys at the combines are measured around 41-44 inches, and that is super impressive. And 500 pound bench press, while possible is unlikely as well. The top iron man guys who are steroids and are as huge as a house are'nt doing much more then 500 pounds. Wilt dominated a time in the game that was just differnet then today's. Guys were grabbing 40-50 rebounds. Wilts 100 point game, he took 63 fg's and 32 ft's. Think about that for a second. The top numbers in today's games are like 40-45 fg's and maybe 25 ft's. And those are extremely rare and would probably never happen simultaneously.
I'm not trying to hate on Wilt, but if he was so great, how come his teams never won until he became a secondary player? If he played today, he would just be like many other average 7 footers.
Kareem was an extremely graceful for a player of his size (one could argue he was the most graceful player over 7' 2" ever...and yes, while he's listed as 7'2" it's acknowledged [see: The Breaks of the Game" by David Halberstam] that he may have been upwards of 7'6" ), extremely durable, and possessed a go-to move (the sky-hook, natch...) that no one since has seemed to even try anymore (not sure why....)...
Nate has crazy athleticism, but i think his presence in the league is just an oddity to a certain extent, guys like him normally gravitate to other sports (a la Barry Sanders to football....Nate played DE at UW for a season or two I think...). Iverson on the other hand is a true basketball-only freak (i know he was a successful high school QB, but would he have made it in the NFL? doubtful)...with crazy hops, truly bizarre arm-length, and superior skills, and durability, and is what? 150 lbs soaking wet?
Gotta agree on Barkley as well...a 6'4" all-NBA and MVP PF? That's not going to happen again.
The Admiral was great, but there will be others like him (Dwight could be there or could have been there if he developed his skills a bit more before entering the L). They don't come around too often, but athletic 7-footers with game aren't super unique (Hakeem, Duncan, etc..).
I watched some vintage Lakers footage recently, and Kareem was not 7'6". He was matched up against Robert Parrish, who is listed at 7'1", and he looked taller than him, but not by much. I agree that he was more athletic and graceful than almost any other player his height. When he jumped on his hook shots, they were almost impossible to contest.
Manu Ginobli- he's so awkward
Shaq- a man that big and that agile is crazy
Lebron- you can compare him to Magic, but Magic wasnt that fast, strong and athletic although he is closest to him
Charles Barkley- 6'4-6'5 power forward, and one of the greatest at the position is one of a kind
Dennis Rodman-on and off the court
mentions Ralph Sampson. Clearly the most athletic guy over 7'0 by FAR and he had game too. Only guy even in his class would've been "The Dream", who is without a doubt the greatest center ever. How about Hakeem's height, many have speculated he is between 6'9 - 6'10.
I wanted to ask this..Name a One of a Kind player in NBA history. I'm saying a player that cannot be imitated.
All I can think of is Dennis Rodman...give me your players