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Complete artical already posted.
Q&A: Kareem on teaching, the Lakers and Tim Duncan
By John Hareas, NBA.com
Posted Mar 10 2009 5:06PM
Playing the right way. It was at the core of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's brilliant 20-year NBA career. Now the six-time NBA champion and league MVP wants to ensure that today's young players do the same.
The Hall of Famer recently launched HoopIQ.com, an instructional web site devoted to teaching the fundamentals of the game while providing amateur coaches an opportunity to raise funds for their respective teams.
Abdul-Jabbar spoke to NBA.com's John Hareas about HoopIQ.com's mission as well as his thoughts on whether the Lakers can win it all without Andrew Bynum; Shaq's assessment that he and Kobe are the best big-man, little-man combo in NBA history and why Tim Duncan is the greatest big man of this generation.
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NBA.com: Who is the most overlooked big man in the game today?
Kareem: The big man that I think has been the best of this generation is Tim Duncan. He gets the job done, night in and night out. He's versatile, totally able to do the things his team needs him to do to win. Tim is the leader for the Spurs. He's consistent. He does a number of different things, offensively and defensively. He's a good rebounder. He's also consistent offensively to be a go-to guy -- nothing is lacking in his game. He's very well rounded and very, very consistent.
Bill Russell basically said the same complimentary things about Timmy when he was interviewed a while back. Timmy D's game would transition very well to the way the game was played in Russell's and Jabbar's time. Two of the games greatest big men recognize greatness when they see it.
I remember an interview where Timmy said that if there was one player he'd like to have played against, it would have been Kareem in his prime. Now that's a matchup for the ages.
Complete artical already posted.
duncan228 posted this yesterday bro.
+1 I think she has an RSS newsfeed set up on her desktop.
I disagree with Kareem........TD is a horrible FT shooter. If he were just 70%, think of how many more games the Spurs could have won, possible championships, etc.
Umm, why the old times are better then this times?
Why is it always "we used to do this and we used to do that"?
And why is it the right way to play the ball?
Everything that is effective any era is the right way
Shaq is horrible, Tim is a bit below average. Why is 70% some kind of magic number? His career % is 68.5.
SA didn't lose in 2004 and 2006 because of lack of FTs. They lost on a fluke shot and a boneheaded play by Manu.
I was being generous with 70. I believe as good a player as he is and with the range he has on his jumper, he should be at least a 75% FT shooter.
I know how meticulous he is about his game, which is why it boggles me that he sucks from the line. Honestly, I have always felt that his stance is a big part of the reason. I am surprised that no one has ever cleaned it up.
I know he can be a good FT shooter. I have seen games where he goes like 11-12 or 9-10. I have seen him be good for multiple game stretches. Then he just reverts back to the usual Tim.
Oh well, at least this is the only real flaw we can find in his game. I will take this flaw over so many others that he could possibly have had.
Mea culpa..
It's always been the most mystifying thing about TD's game.
He has such a good shooting touch. It's nothing like Shaq where the guy pretty much is going to break the rim shooting a ft.
I don't think one era is necessarily better than any other. That's why any comparisons of players from diffeent eras is best done over some cold beers. I just think that of all the big men today, Timmy's would work just as well in the 60's-80's as it would today. I personally prefer watching the old school guys do battle in the pivot. No ticky tack fouls, lots of contact and Centers were real centers.
Hey Polandprzem,
Back in the past, players had better fundamentals. Every player was expected to be able to shoot, rebound and pass. It's my opinion that they also had a better "team" concept than most of today's players.
Today, the NBA is made up of specialists. You have guys who are known as "3 point shooters", "rebounders" or "defenders". More emphasis seems to be put on "clear-outs" for the primary offensive go to guy for each team.
These are all generalities of course, but I believe it to be true. Things started to change when Michael Jordan came in to the league. You had individuals like Jordan and Dominique Wilkins that were spectacular to watch. Incredible dunks and offensive prowress trumped winning.
The league really became more of an entertaining package than it used to be.
Of course, Jordan got some help and the Championships started rolling in. Some of those Bulls teams were really outstanding.
But in all, with the young players opting to come out of school early, ESPN showing highlights of dunks, alley-oops and so forth and the expansion of the league and subsequent watering down of talent, the current product you see today lacks fundamental basketball skills.
Yesterdays players were nowhere near as physically gifted
as todays players, but they seemed to have better skills.
Just my opinion.
+1 Excellent post!!
I tend to agree with a lot of this, but Bill Simmons mentioned something recently that I've noticed as well when watching old footage -- they didn't play defense!
Sure you had your Russells and Chamberlains patrolling the lane, but no one contested jumpers back then the way they do now. Talk about reasons for higher shooting percentages....
For example, I was watching an MSG show on Walt Frazier and they were showing footage from the "Willis Reed game" Finals and Clyde was taking open jumper after open jumper from mid-range.
I would love to read a book or long article on the history of perimeter defense in the NBA......
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