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  1. #31
    I Feel Devotion Euroleague's Avatar
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    I would have to say yes.

  2. #32
    Local High School Star WillC's Avatar
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    I don't think he's overrated.

    I just think other 1980s small forwards are underrated by comparison.

    Ask a casual fan if they've heard of James Worthy and, chances are, the answer will be 'yes'.

    Those same fans probably won't have heard of Alex English, Adrian Dantley or Bernard King (unless they grew up watching the Knicks).

    More serious and older basketball fans will have a better perspective on things and realise that Worthy was a very talented player and deserving of his credit, but realise that he wasn't necessarily much better than an Alex English or a Dominique Wilkins.

    Certainly, if Wilkins had been on the Lakers, he'd also have those championships and would surely be more highly regarded. Instead, he's remembered as a dunker who was somewhat selfish, which is perhaps unfair.

  3. #33
    3-time NBA All-Star
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    Overrated? Not sure where he is generally ranked, but yes, I would take him over Dantley, King, and Wilkins in terms of overall careers.

    From '87 thru '90, Worthy was generally the second best player on the floor in all of his playoff games. And while Magic was more deserving in '88, Worthy did win a FMVP, which elevated his career over the above players for sure.

    Having said that, IMHO, Dantley was truly one of the greatest offensive players of all-time. He was clearly the best scorer in the league from the early 80's until MJ came along later in the decade. And his ability to score 30+ ppg on 18-20 FGAs per game in a span of several seasons was just phenomenal. 30 ppg on .559 to .580 shooting...and all from a 6-5 210 POST player!

  4. #34
    College star Collie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    Let's just say if James Worthy had landed on the Clippers or say, a team like the Hawks, he would not have had the career that Nique had.

    He wasn't a better player than Nique, but I'm not sure if Nique would have fit those Laker teams better. I guess it's a combination of Worthy being a great complimentary star and him being able to play with Magic.

    I do think Nique + Magic would have been something special, the REAL lob city if you will.

  5. #35
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    Threads like this plss me off, and lol at the clowns who said they saw him play and think he is overrated.

    Worthy was a Finals MVP
    Worthy had the quickest first step in the league
    Worthy was the deadliest fast break finisher in the league and one of the main reasons 'Showtime' was 'Showtime'.
    Worthy always drew the toughest defensive assignment and excelled. Do you think old man Kareem or slow ass Magic was stopping ANYBODY?

    The f*ckin guy's nickname was 'Big Game James' because of his clutchness for crisesakes!!!

    The f*ck outta here with the hate.

  6. #36
    NBA Superstar SpecialQue's Avatar
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    No.

  7. #37
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    Quote Originally Posted by jlauber
    Overrated? Not sure where he is generally ranked, but yes, I would take him over Dantley, King, and Wilkins in terms of overall careers.

    From '87 thru '90, Worthy was generally the second best player on the floor in all of his playoff games. And while Magic was more deserving in '88, Worthy did win a FMVP, which elevated his career over the above players for sure.

    Having said that, IMHO, Dantley was truly one of the greatest offensive players of all-time. He was clearly the best scorer in the league from the early 80's until MJ came along later in the decade. And his ability to score 30+ ppg on 18-20 FGAs per game in a span of several seasons was just phenomenal. 30 ppg on .559 to .580 shooting...and all from a 6-5 210 POST player!
    Yep, but you are forgetting the fact that Detroit had to trade him to get over the hump and win their first championship.

    They saw him as the weak link and an impediment to winning it all.

    Kind of puts a damper on his statistical glory, which came much easier in the 80s, and especially in the regular season.

  8. #38
    a LAKER & a DODGER fan Lakerlove420's Avatar
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    Quote Originally Posted by JtotheIzzo
    Threads like this plss me off, and lol at the clowns who said they saw him play and think he is overrated.

    Worthy was a Finals MVP
    Worthy had the quickest first step in the league
    Worthy was the deadliest fast break finisher in the league and one of the main reasons 'Showtime' was 'Showtime'.
    Worthy always drew the toughest defensive assignment and excelled. Do you think old man Kareem or slow ass Magic was stopping ANYBODY?

    The f*ckin guy's nickname was 'Big Game James' because of his clutchness for crisesakes!!!

    The f*ck outta here with the hate.
    well said.

  9. #39
    Chasing Legends Kobe 4 The Win's Avatar
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    Quote Originally Posted by JtotheIzzo
    Threads like this plss me off, and lol at the clowns who said they saw him play and think he is overrated.

    Worthy was a Finals MVP
    Worthy had the quickest first step in the league
    Worthy was the deadliest fast break finisher in the league and one of the main reasons 'Showtime' was 'Showtime'.
    Worthy always drew the toughest defensive assignment and excelled. Do you think old man Kareem or slow ass Magic was stopping ANYBODY?

    The f*ckin guy's nickname was 'Big Game James' because of his clutchness for crisesakes!!!

    The f*ck outta here with the hate.
    Sanity finally prevails. Repped.

  10. #40
    3-time NBA All-Star
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    Quote Originally Posted by JtotheIzzo
    Yep, but you are forgetting the fact that Detroit had to trade him to get over the hump and win their first championship.

    They saw him as the weak link and an impediment to winning it all.

    Kind of puts a damper on his statistical glory, which came much easier in the 80s, and especially in the regular season.
    Dantley was on the downside of his career when he was playing with the Pistons. He was still an efficient shooter, but his scoring had dropped considerably by the time he was in Detroit, and his career was basically over after the Pistons traded him.

    And you certainly couldn't fault him for Detroit not winning the title in '88. Dantley averaged 21.3 ppg on .573 shooting from the floor, and .859 from the line (and he was BY FAR, the Pistons leading scorer from the line.)

    And given the fact that the Lakers were wiped out by injuries in the '89 Finals, I think AD would have won a title with that team.

    Having said all of that, Dantley was a pure scorer, and arguably the most efficient non-center scorer in NBA history. And he even had a couple of seasons of 4.0+ apg, as well. Still, he was not a good rebounder, nor a good defender.

    I haven't taken the time to determine where Dantley would rank all-time, but only Kareem can claim a 30+ ppg season on .570 shooting. And AD had four seasons of 30+ ppg on .558+ shooting. Not even Kareem can make that claim.

  11. #41
    7-time NBA All-Star
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    Quote Originally Posted by jlauber
    Dantley was on the downside of his career when he was playing with the Pistons. He was still an efficient shooter, but his scoring had dropped considerably by the time he was in Detroit, and his career was basically over after the Pistons traded him.

    And you certainly couldn't fault him for Detroit not winning the title in '88. Dantley averaged 21.3 ppg on .573 shooting from the floor, and .859 from the line (and he was BY FAR, the Pistons leading scorer from the line.)

    And given the fact that the Lakers were wiped out by injuries in the '89 Finals, I think AD would have won a title with that team.
    Like I said, I can't claim to be an expert on Dantley's game with Utah, but are you sure he was past his prime when he went to Detroit?

    You just mentioned his scoring going down, but isn't that to be expected when going to a better team? Particularly a team like Detroit with so many weapons?

    1985-1986 w/ Utah- 29.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 3.5 apg, 3 TO, 56.3 FG%, 62.9 TS%, 36.1 mpg (29 years old)
    1986-1987 w/ Detroit- 21.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2 apg, 2.2 TO, 53.4 FG%, 61.4 TS%, 33.8 mpg (30 years old)

    He played less minutes with Detroit and dropped from 19.1 FGA to 13.9 FGA.

    In '88, Detroit was 54-28 overall, 44-25 with Dantley and 13-6 when Dantley came off the bench. A 10-3 record without him is pretty damn good.

    Detroit was 30-12 with Dantley in '89, but 30-6 with Mark Aguirre and 28-4 with Aguirre starting.

    Dallas was also better with Dantley than Aguirre. The Mavs went 25-19 with Aguirre and 11-20 with Dantley, 9-16 when Dantley started.

    And speaking of Dantley's scoring falling off when he went to Detroit, well Mark Aguirre was 29 in 1989. And he went from 21.7 ppg with Dallas in 34.8 mpg to 15.5 ppg in 29.7 mpg with Detroit.

    So while I'm not making a statement one way or the other, there is evidence to suggest that Dantley's impact wasn't half as big as the stats suggest. The knock on him from everything I've heard was that he was a black hole who held the ball for an extremely long time to get his shot. I thought he was impressive with Detroit, but I have my doubts that a contending team was ever going to have him averaging 30.

    I would agree that Detroit would've won in '89 with him, though.

  12. #42
    NBA Legend kuniva_dAMiGhTy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    Quote Originally Posted by ShaqAttack3234

    I would agree that Detroit would've won in '89 with him, though.
    Hey man, what happened to your YT channel?

  13. #43
    Decent playground baller Kovach's Avatar
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    Quote Originally Posted by WillC
    More serious and older basketball fans will have a better perspective on things and realise that Worthy was a very talented player and deserving of his credit, but realise that he wasn't necessarily much better than an Alex English or a Dominique Wilkins.
    Incidentally, no one in the league made Worthy look great on offense better than those 2. Not a fan of Nique, love English but I would take Worthy over them any day.
    Last edited by Kovach; 12-23-2011 at 09:45 AM.

  14. #44
    NBA Legend and Hall of Famer Xiao Yao You's Avatar
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    Dantley was on the downside of his career when he was playing with the Pistons. He was still an efficient shooter, but his scoring had dropped considerably by the time he was in Detroit
    Don't think he'd lost much if anything by that time. His numbers went down a bit his last year in Utah but that had more to do with Karl Malone joining him.

    he was not a good rebounder
    He hit the offensive boards and I've heard it said he was really only 6'2 not the 6'5 he was listed at.
    Last edited by Xiao Yao You; 12-23-2011 at 09:57 AM.

  15. #45
    7-time NBA All-Star
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    Default Re: Is James Worthy one of the most overrated players of all time?

    Quote Originally Posted by kuniva_dAMiGhTy
    Hey man, what happened to your YT channel?
    Got banned for copyright shit. Started a new one, but I've only uploaded 1 game so far.

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