Championship Mettle

[aau]

what is it . . . . who had it . . . . who didn't

who has it right now

were there any doubts that kareem, magic and bird would
take over the league and dominate . . . what about mike
frosh year in college is one thing , but playing against
superstars every night is another - what about oscar
and west . . . did they have it

i’m really trying to understand the rationale behind bird
being a better player than magic after he led his team
to 3 finals their first 4 years taking mvp in 2 of the 3
. . . was the ROY award and cornbread sidekick title
worth that much . . . . is it the rarity in numbers

1980 to 1983

bird 320g 22/10/5 - - 44g 20/12/5 - - - 81 F 15/15/7
magic 271g 18/8/9 - - -48g 18/10/10 - - - 80 F 21/11/8

indexed 22/10/5 - sid wicks and billy c popped up

barkley webber and KG roll out of bed with these averages
but no one has come close to putting up magic numbers
inferior accomplishments > championship mettle

I’ve never given it much thought until now but
to know what that is - we need to first know
what it’s not

it’s not skills or talent - professionals are blessed with both
it’s not about being dominant , spectacular or awe-inspiring
it’s not primes peaks valleys suburbs foothills or inner-cities
it’s not being hard having heart or boasting proudfully
it’s not joining the enemy because you wanna beat the best
it’s not box-score lab results dvd box-sets or youtube hilites
it’s not clutch or being the go to guy down the stretch
it’s not leadership team bonding or social influence


identify who had it

jordan . . . . . . . . kobe . . . . . . . .. cowens
kareem . . . . . . . shaq . . . . . . . .. gus wms
magic . . . . . . . . walton . . . . . . .. pippen
russell . . . . . . . . bird . . . . . . . . . havlicek
wilt . . . . . . . . . . doc . . . . . . . . .. worthy
barry. . . . . . . . . isiah . . . . . . . .. pearl
moses . . . . . . . . k g . . . . . . . . .. mchale
frazier . . . . . . . . duncan . . . . . . . hakeem
w reed . . . . . . .. dirk . . . . . . . . .. d j


and who didn’t

barkley . . . . . . payton . . . . . .. mcadoo
k malone . . . .. vince . . . . . . . . baylor
ewing . . . . . . . t mac . . . . . . .. dawkins
drexler . . . . . . stockton . . . . .. pistol
nique . . . . . . . c webb . . . . . . . nash


the questionables

iverson . . . . . . . d rob
gervin . . . . . . .. reggie
b king . . . . . . .. kidd
ray allen . . . . . . g hill

*how is it defined
*what do you look for
*what does it really mean




*GENIUS*

intellectually and/or creatively
gravely calculating . . . the mind of a genius
you thinking about it - - - - - they already done it

theoretically , , look at the nons
not that they’re country dumb or bumpkins, but they’re not exactly
orator-of-the-week material either - like name a non over a first-
teamer that you would rather have a deep conversation with
. . . . . . ok , , other than scottie

you might think I’m roasting or being insensitive , , , but I’m not
I’m being clear . . . . . this isn’t coincidental or happen-stance

“what about fo-fo-fo-moses”

the james brown of basketball
his genius was the offensive glass
amazingly they were mostly his misses

“pearl, zeke and gus”

pocket-magic . . . . hoop wizardry . . . . dat ooh wee

“dave cowens”

if moses is james brown . . . . . . cowens is elvis
this dude would run over his mother for looseballs
no joke , , , the only celtic i’ve ever enjoyed watching

who has it today

k d ………..…. rose ……….. melo ……… westbrook
lebron ………. blake ……… kyrie ………. j wall
dwight ……... l m a ……… lillard ……… harden
c p 3 ………... k love ……. curry ………. kawhi

outside of a healthy d rose it’s hard to say with this
group . . . durant should be an obvious choice but
his struggles in posting up chris paul showed a
lack of intelligence and creativity . . he should
have started in the post n stepped out to
receive the ball faced-up for 17 footers

he totally made the game harder than it had to be

that said , , , I’ll go with westbrook
no doubt he makes the game harder for himself as well
and not having a coach that can teach him how and
when to use his speed certainly hasn’t helped

hopefully, he used this past summer to kinda figure it out

[Lebron23]

Where Lebron on the lists? 4x NBA MVP, 2 Finals MVP, 2x NBA Champion at age 29.


I know you hate him, and you try way hard to sound smart by typing in a weird way.