We Have Another Impossible Basketball Pick Em' On Our Hands
Just yesterday we worked through a pretty impossible NBA Twitter Quarantine question
and the internet has come right back today and given us another doozy. Maybe not as hard as yesterday's but most definitely not easy. As I've said I am a big fan of this quarantine trend and the harder the choices the better in my opinion. I want to feel wrong when I ultimately make my decision, that's how you know it was a good question. Which brings us to today's debate. Who are you eliminating between Tim Duncan/Kevin Garnett/Dirk/Chuck. Arguably the best collection of PF's the NBA has ever seen. Each one an icon in their own right. Let's dive in
Tim Duncan
5x NBA champion / 3x Finals MVP / 2x League MVP / 15x All Star / 10x All NBA 1st Team / 3x All NBA 2nd Team / 2x All NBA 3rd Team / 8x All NBA Defensive 1st Team / 7x All NBA 2nd Team / ROY / 26,494 points / 15,091 rebounds / 3,651 assists / 3,020 blocks
Ok so I think we can all agree here that Duncan is a lock. He's making it through this exercise. Impossible to justify choosing Duncan as your elimination option. Monster on both ends, champion, perhaps the best PF ever, Duncan is safe. One of the most dominant winners in NBA history, like I said keeping him is a no brainer.
Kevin Garnett
1x NBA Champion / 1x League MVP / 15x All Star / 4x All NBA 1st Team / 3x All NBA 2nd Team / 2x All NBA 3rd Team / 1x DPOY / 9x All NBA Defensive 1st Team / 3x All NBA Defensive 2nd Team / 4x Rebounding Champion / 16,071 points / 14,662 Rebounds / 3,179 Blocks / 5,445 Assists / 1,859 Steals / 2,037 blocks
I'll admit it, there's a decent amount of bias in my decision to also make KG a lock. Whatever, it's my blog/selection and that's just how it's going to be. Not like he isn't deserving, KG broke the mold in terms of what PFs could do on the court. Another guy who was a monster on both ends, intense as shit, and one of the best trash talkers ever. I can't not have that kind of guy on my list. Plus he gave me the only title my favorite team has ever won in my lifetime, so uhhhh yeah I'm picking KG.
Dirk Nowitzki
1x NBA Champion / 1x NBA Finals MVP / 14x All Star / 4x All NBA 1st Team / 5x All NBA 2nd Team / 3x All NBA 3rd Team / 50-40-90 Club Member / 31,560 points / 11,489 rebounds / 3,651 assists / 1,210 steals / 1,281 blocks
With Dirk, things start to get tricky. He's by far the best offensive player of the group. His run in 2011 to his only title was the stuff of legends. His one legged fadeaway is one of the more iconic shots in NBA history. Is he the best Euro ever? You could make the case. The one knock against him in comparison to the first two names is what a difference it is on the defensive end of the court. Dirk was a lot of things during his career, but he was not an elite defender. Not to the level of Duncan/KG. So if you're riding with Dirk, it's mostly because of his offense.
Charles Barkley
1x League MVP / 11x NBA All Star / 5x All NBA 1st Team / 5x All NBA 2nd Team / 1x All NBA 3rd Team / 1x NBA Rebounding Champ / 23,757 points / 12,546 rebounds / 4,215 assists / 1,648 steals / 888 blocks
The obvious strike against Chuck here is he's the only one without a ring. I imagine a lot of younger stoolies will be quick to vote Chuck off, just like they were with the Magic/Kareem option from yesterday simply because they played in an older era. I'm not so sure that's smart though because Chuck was a PROBLEM during his heyday. Like 25+/11+/4+ every single night type problem. He was every bit the scorer as everyone else on this list in his prime, and was certainly better than Dirk defensively. Plus you have to factor in all the off court stuff as well, Chuck is probably the most fun out of every one of these options to be around.
For me, after going back and forth, I'm keeping Duncan/KG/Chuck. That means Dirk has been voted off the island. I don't feel great doing that, but if you're forcing me to choose that's where my brain is leading me. I don't hold the whole not winning a title thing against Chuck, the guy almost pulled it out against the Jordan Bulls in '93 and averaged 27/13/5.5/1.2 on 47% shooting in that series. What more could you ask for.
So now it's your turn. You gotta eliminate one, who you going with?