Which opposing player did you respect the most and why?

[Kblaze8855]

By opposing player I mean dont list your favorite teams players. We all rep our own teams legends to some extent. Who did your team face.....that made you respect them? My top 3 will take me a moment to explain but I feel when im done you will completely understand where im coming from even if you dont agree.

Me respecting an opponent isnt just an issue of talent or how dominant they are. Its deeper than that. Its more than basketball....ability. Thats a huge chunk of it....but not all. Let me explain...

Going #3 to #1.



My third most respected opposing player of all time

Isiah Thomas.

Over the winter we had a string of long topics on the subject of Isiah being overrated or whatever with nearly the entire side saying he was basing it on numbers and shit nobody cared about at the time. What so few seem to grasp...is that Isiah was not only his teams best player he was the driving force behind their entire approach to winning. We hear about Laimbeer, Rodman, and the bigs being physical. The Bad Boys. They all....to a man....took their cue from Isiah Thomas.

Isiah had absolutely no back down to him. Isiah wont just try to win....he will fight you. Not modern chirp at eachother till you get a tech or wait till everyone is between you two then act like you want to get at him when you could have just punched him mid play if you were serious. Isiah....smallest man on the court usually...will just go to war:






Takes on Bill Cartwright...a foot taller than him. Not about if he wins or loses...he punched him 2-3 times but didnt do any damage....its about him showing you that he will not relent. That he isnt intimidated. That he wont let you feel you can push him or his team around.

And it was so often big guys....he would just swing mid action...not talk once they were separated.




Swings at Rick Mahorn(among the toughest players ever...also his former teammate) with no hesitation:






His reach often wouldnt let him just tag the big guys like he wanted...so when they went to war with the Hawks he just leaps on Kevin Wills with a rear naked choke:















He doesnt care how big...how bad.

Hurt them? No. But it wasnt about that. It was about setting the tone.

And it worked.

How else do you think they got a team that top to bottom....stars to role players...will just slap you in the face on national tv?






?

Most of those guys didnt do such things elsewhere or after he was gone.

Isiah Thomas....WAS...the Bad Boys.

And he led them to two rings and veeeeeeery nearly 3 by making them the toughest team anyone had ever seen. You cant measure Isiahs contribution to his team in numbers.

Isiah Thomas was heart....effort. And he just happened to be an elite pointguard as well. But his main contribution...was forcing everyone on his team to match his intensity.

I hated him at times....repped him at others. He was our greatest enemy....but greatest hometown athlete. Chicago was torn at times. But even those who hated him as a player....respected the effort. I respected few opponents more. No more than 2. Who I will cover in a moment....

[zizozain]

Bird

[feyki]

Chris Paul - 2008 playoffs

Carmelo - 2009

And Brandon Roy - Game 3 of the 2011 series .

[34-24 Footwork]

Laker fan-

Carmelo 2009

Kevin Garnett 2008

Allen Iverson 2001

[DukeDelonte13]

rip, chauncey, and tayshaun for me. Those pistons teams were awesome.

[SouBeachTalents]

3. Manu: Thoroughly enjoyed watching him in the '05 playoffs, without a doubt would have been a a top 10 player in the league averaging 20/5/5 on his own team
2. Reggie: Besides Horry has hit more clutch shots than any recent player I can recall
1. Pierce: Another extremely clutch performer. Would arguably have 2 FMVP had the Celtics held on in 2010, and is still hitting playoff game winners into his late 30's. They still lost the series, but will always respect this shot by him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_uulujs-MM

[Black and White]

Kobe Bryant (rivalry and work ethic)

LeBron James (always good battles and heated series)

Magic Johnson (for the Bird rivalry)

[Kblaze8855]

Second is Duncan. And I feel that shouldnt need to be explained....but I will briefly.

When I watch him the last few years I still see moves like:





Or




And its obvious that if you feed him....he can score. He can produce. A lot of older players who still have as much game as he likely does....wont gracefully step into the background of their teams offense. And he started years ago. Dude put up like 10ppg the back half of to 10. Ithink it was 2010. He knows that he could produce....but what does it accomplish? The Spurs are about ball movement....being coachable...and buying in. If the best 4 of all time totally ignores his own offensive potential in favor of ball movement....allows his coach to put him on blast in front of the team...and totally accepts any new offense proposed for the greater good? How do the role players not fall in line? The Spurs are utterly selfless top to bottom....that is the source of their greatness...and no matter if hes doing 20 a game or 12....hes much of the reason for it.

I respect not only his talent...but his approach to the game. If you dont like Tim Duncan...I probably dont like you. As a person. Its that serious. My estimation of you....as a human being...is reduced...if you dont respect Tim Duncan. My #1 might take a moment to compose....

[Milbuck]

Jimmy Butler last year. Dude is a killer.

[smoovegittar]

Jordan, Bird and Miller - for obvious reasons.

Oh, and great post!

[fsvr54]

Kevin Garnett

Was game 24/7

[Rockets(T-mac)]

I can't see how you dis-like Duncan. The guy is the definition of a team player.

[ballinhun8]

I dont think the guys listing years of specific players are getting kblaze' topic.

Interesting nonetheless. But I thought your topic was going to be about players that the Bulls saw most. Or frequently. At least I did after the Thomas write up.



But if you're doing it like that, for me I'd have-

John Starks
Kobe
Reggie

[Horde of Temujin]

I respect not only his talent...but his approach to the game. If you dont like Tim Duncan...I probably dont like you. As a person. Its that serious. My estimation of you....as a human being...is reduced...if you dont respect Tim Duncan. My #1 might take a moment to compose....

K, well done. Im going to adopt that philosophy. In fact, that is my new mantra: Respect Duncan or gtfo

Duncan is a class act and I absolutely love the Spurs. they are the anti-Knicks, which growing up was my favorite team. However, due to their utter lack of competency and the fact that James Dolan is a piece of crap I just can no longer support them. I put my support for the Knicks on hiatus sometime back in 2005 or 2006. Since then i have just beencwaiting out Dolan, I dont wish death upon no man but maybe just to get involved in some Sterling type madness that would force him to sell the team. But i have grown to respect the Spurs immensely. I hope they can somehow win this year or next and see Duncan and Manu go out on top. This is probably Manu's last year but Duncan could probably do one more at about this current level of play.

Anyways, growing up in the 90's when the Knicks were respectable I idolized Ewing, the Oakster and Starks. The 94 finals shook me, seeing Olajuwan just destroy the Knicks and Ewing was gut wrenching and awe inspiring.
Olajuwon was just awesome, such grace and dominance. I would take him over any center in history. You could argue that some centers were better, but damn, none played the game as gracefully as he did.

[Kblaze8855]

#1....

Larry Bird.

I could list dozens of reasons but instead I will just cite one game....when he wasnt even the real Larry Bird anymore.

Let me set the scene...

Its 1991.

Bird is just a wreck. Hes already missed an entire season after having BOTH feet operated on. He spent an entire year on the bench with both feet in casts because of bone spurs so bad he was about to rupture his Achilles tendon. He came back from that and played on it for a year needing to retire. Point is....

His feet are made of paper mache and its getting worse.

But even worse....his back.

By 91 he was just a shell. I'll let his doctor explain the situation:

The one lingering problem may be the disc, Wright said, which is in the L 4-5 section of the back, an unstable area. The disc was ruptured, and although it is better than before June 7, it still is subpar. The disc is degenerative, and when that is severe enough -- it wasn't in this case* -- a spinal fusion operation may be necessary, Wright said.

"A disc is very important," he said. "It acts like a shock absorber. He still has a weakened disc and you can't take it out. One of the problems with a disc is that it has no healing potential. That's because there is no blood supply. You cut your finger, the blood clots, and the wound heals. That can't happen with a disc."

*eventually it was


So.

His feet are shit but hopefully improving...if only he would stop playing ball...which he wont...his back is shit...and that is hopeless. It cant heal. Hes getting worse.

So...it gets too bad to play with late season. He misses 20 something games and cant practice even when he does. He goes 2 months...without being able to practice. He sits on the bench in a Mr.Rodgers sweater looking less like an NBA player than the fans sitting a row behind him. Thats when he can sit. That became an issue. When he was playing with the bad back he would just lay down on the court next to the bench to avoid the pain of sitting.

Playoffs arrive. They are playing a shit talking young team led by two of the most shit talking players of all time. Chuck Person and Reggie Miller.

Chuck is going in. Had 39 or 40 one game. 30 a couple others. Hes doing his thing and talking while he does it.

Its game 5. Win or go home time....in Boston.

You can watch this on a few youtube videos but its been made clear most of us lack the attention span for all that so....google it on your own time. I'll give you the key elements

We begin....



Bird is hurting but doing well. Hitting his shots. Having a good throwback night. Then his trademark hustle gets him in trouble:








Aaaaaaaaaand there we have it people. The career is over. Old man with the bad feet and cotton candy back finally pushed it too far. The entire basketball world knows...its over.

He goes to the back....turns out he broke his cheekbone...and the team doctor say he has a concussion. He doesnt want him to go back in.

Pacers going on a run. Celtics lose.....season over....era over. Its now the time of Dee Brown, Reggie Lewis, and the new guys. Larry Bird is gone....let us all celebrate his greatness and.....wait a minute.....


























the cripple is back! He climbs out of the coffin we had already put 6 nails in and demands back in the game. Note how he comes to the bench and squats? As I said....he cant sit down...


He check in to thunderous applause. But what can he do? Bad everything....no back...broken face...concussed. Hes just there for show right? He knows he doesnt physically have it....so how does he play it?

Well maybe he cant explode...but he can time rebounds...he can use the young guys leaking out. Contribute that way.












Hey...you dont need to run the floor if you can get the ball down court for the score off the outlet:






Thats what greatness is. You find a way to help. Maybe cant get all the way to the basket...but he can still play basketball. This right here:







Is ****ing basketball.





Diabolical hater and 3 time jerk of the year Chuck Person decides to put the old man back in his place.....


Sets the blind pick with the extra shot right in Larrys spine:





You know it hurt. He gave it a second...and popped back up. Cant show that clown that he hurt you. Back at it.









So hes doing all he can. Even manages to get good post position a few times. But these youngsters hesitate to get old man river the ball. I mean...who the **** does Dee brown think he is? Larry corrects him after a late pass is knocked away:



"Throw the pass!" is what he says.






Dee quickly learns to do as hes told and pay homage:








Note the Deebo like "Who else want some?" motion at the end.






Now the confidence comes back. Come down the court.....3 fake killshot:






Team wins by three. Person and his team goes home.

And the reason for my respect is made clear.

Larry Bird...no matter the obstacle...no matter the odds...be it getting a loose ball....or getting off a shot to win the title? He wants it. He doesnt care if its best for him. He doesnt care what anyone thinks. He cares about one thing....victory. And when its vs a hated opponent?

I only wish it happened today so I could put a gif of Birds head on Carver from the wire and have him tell Chuck Person "You do not get to win shitbird! We do!"

Thats Larry Birds whole approach ot the game. You do not get to win. He does.

And he....like Isiah...like Duncan....was so powerful in the lockerroom and for the organization in general...his personality became the teams.

Thats why I respect these guys so much. Isiah...the toughest little jackass ever....makes his team the toughest gang of jackasses off all time. Duncan....perhaps the least selfish player of his stature...in Sports history? He makes his team....match that. Bird wanted like nobody wanted it....his mental toughness....his fundamental approach on top of it...the passing...the brashness...it became the Celtics.

Players like these are infectious. Be it the toughness, the selflessness....or the heart.

They made their teams a reflection of themselves.

And I respected them for it more than anyone else.