Who would have been better, Walton or Sabonis?

[JohnnySic]

2 great "what ifs" at the center position. Both were immensely talented before injuries derailed or limited them. Assuming both managed to stay healthy, and assuming Sabonis came over around 1990, who would have been the greater player?

[Suguru101]

Walton.

His combination of size, skill, defense, rebounding, passing and IQ was just unbelievable. Won the MVP in 78 while playing 50 something games.

If he'd been healthy, he ends up at least top 15.

[Mass Debator]

Sabonis is one of the most skilled big men ever. Sabonis had plenty of 30/10 games in his "peak" season but that was being 33 years of age. I have no doubt that he could have been around Yao's statline...25/10 player if he was in the prime of his career. I don't know much about Walton, but Sabonis would be a handful for him to guard. Those Portland years with Damon, Pippen, Sheed, Sabonis, and those boys...I miss them days.

[Kblaze8855]

Walton hit a level of effectiveness right there with the ten or so greatest of all time. So I think you have to go his way...him being all time great as an NBA player isnt a theory...its history. He just had bad feet and couldnt maintain it.

I loved sabonis...but Walton proved it on a higher level.

[IncarceratedBob]

Sabonis is a name people drop when they want to "show off" their elite basketball knowledge, he is the ultimate hipster answer to best player ever.

It's Walton, and guess what? It ain't close.

[Harison]

Sabonis.

Interestingly, what Suguru wrote above actually applies to Sabonis. He is much bigger than Walton (6-11 vs 7-3), more skilled all-around, passing also better (according to Walton himself, Sabonis was better than him). I think his BBIQ is also higher, but thats subjective.

Walton might have been better defender, but thats with a question mark.

Bottom line, if both were healthy their entire carriers, I'm 99% certain Sabonis would rank higher than Walton, and probably would end up in Top10 All-time.

[Harison]

I loved sabonis...but Walton proved it on a higher level.

Old Sabonis with very bad knees also played in NBA, and his scoring PER36 was better than prime Walton's. Younger and healthy Sabas without devastating injuries would be pretty handily better than Walton.

[Kblaze8855]

Nobody cares what Bill Waltons per 36 numbers were. Dude led an otherwise .500 team to a 50-8 record the year after leading his team to a title over a vastly more talented 76ers team putting up I believe 21/20/8/7 in the final game.

His numbers pale in comparison to his impact. At his best he was arguably the best defender and rebounder in the NBA the best passing bigman in the world and a very good scorer along with it....

I care as much about Waltons season numbers as Tim Duncans.

There are people with resumes that demand respect who consider Walton the best center of all time now....forget hypothetical.

Sabonis is one of my favorite players veer(Ive made a couple videos on him...and several topics over the years). But Walton already proved he was one of the all time greats....in the NBA. He just didnt do it for long.

I believe Sabonis could have been....but its a question. Walton....its a fact.

And I wouldnt doubt for a second Walton would say anyone was better than him. He might be the most unselfish self depreciating great player ever....while also being the king of hyperbole.

Walton does nothing but downplay himself and talk about other players kicking his ass. Meanwhile John Wooden who coached both Walton and Kareem....and saw Russell, Wilt, Mikan, Shaq, Hakeem, and Drob.....believed in the 90s....that the best center he ever saw was Bill Walton.

His opinion of himself never lined up with the opinions of those making an honest evaluation.

His "Nobody is bigger than the team...." approach...credit the team first in all things...not himself...

Its a big part of why he was so great.

All he wants to do is make his teammates happy.

[oarabbus]

So are you guys saying that a prime, uninjured Walton could have outplayed prime Kareem/Shaq/Wilt in a series?

[barkleynash]

Just from my eye test (which has clearly let me down many times in my dating choices) I'd go with bigger, stronger and more offensively versatile Sabonis. Both were tremendous passers (likely rank in some order as #1 and #2 for all time passing centers unless someone wants to make a case for Noah or Daughtery but that won't be me...) I like Walton's leadership, D and motor more. Sabonis was often accused of being lazy cause he was playing inferior competition and wasn't challenged. I do think it's close but I'll take the guy 7'3 guy that can knock down threes and still do everything else Walton does (offensively) and lose a little on D and intangibles.

Had both stayed healthy and Sabonis came right over after being drafted the NBA's history book would look much, much different now! Also imagine the passing up front if they were in a twin tower situation?! Old Walton would've been the perfect mentor for young Sabonis!

[Joyner82reload]

Prime Sabonis is a hypothetical
Prime Walton existed

There is your answer

[Myth]

Walton.

His combination of size, skill, defense, rebounding, passing and IQ was just unbelievable. .

Not saying that Sabonis is better, but how you described Walton is the same way prime Sabonis was described.

[CavaliersFTW]

Walton, and I say that because I think Sabonis has become overrated by that great highlight video made of him. I've watched a handful of those 1980's USSR basketball games this past summer and though he has occasional great plays that make for fun highlights, his fingerprints aren't all over the games he played in as much as I expected based on what so many people have assumed in light of his highlights.

Within the flow of a game I took an honest look at how he played and he was simply not showing great activity throughout the games nor producing great numbers. Even in his physical youthful peak he stood/camped/rested A LOT compared to many HOF NBA centers I'm more familiar with, like Wilt, Shaq, etc. He had another big man on those soviet teams too that was even bigger than he was, I'm not sure his name but honestly watching games he looked a bit less impressive than some people talk him up to be. The great energy output a typical NBA superstar would give in their prime, like what I've seen from Walton in some of the 76er/Blazer games archived, seems higher. So Sabonis may be more physically imposing, on paper, maybe even in a highlight, but what good is it if he's only making his presence felt say, 50% of the time a guy like Walton would be? Walton, and many great NBA centers, seemed to have a higher motor. I could be shown to be wrong about this but just watching a few of the games from his prime I kept thinking "this guy doesn't do as much as I thought".

[SHAQisGOAT]

I think peak Sabonis would've been a beast in the NBA, but I'mma have to say Walton...

Bill, before injuries took him out at only 25 years old, had already won MVP, led a team all the way while winning FMVP. He showed he could score almost 20 PPG on pretty good efficiency and hit FT's, showed terrific rebounding and DPOY-level defense, showed GOAT passing at the C spot, showed all-time elite intangibles; in a league with Kareem, Lanier, Gilmore, McAdoo, Unseld....
As a total shell, he was still an important piece on what most call the GOAT team, also.

^Hard to go against all of that. Imho, if he didn't got injured he would've gotten AT LEAST close to top10 and top5 center.

Walton is no what-if... His all-time position and peak you can call a what-if, because it could've been at the top in history.

[CavaliersFTW]

Let me also add a disclaimer, as I'm not trying to downplay Sabonis, I'm aware that some players play "up" to their competition. If Sabonis was playing against say, Kareem or loaded Sixers squad in 1977 like Walton was in the footage I've seen of Walton, perhaps his intensity and aggression would be ratcheted up by virtue of the necessity.

I didn't see that though, I saw footage of Sabonis playing international players in the 1980's, so aside from a young and skinny 226lb David Robinson, he really wasn't playing against anyone significant that I'm aware of and he just sorta stood around protecting the paint a lot in a zone defense, and the Soviet team looked like they moved the ball around well on the other end so he wasn't really being fed the ball as much as I thought he would either. He also wasn't crashing the boards like I expected. Just didn't see him playing with the energy I see from great NBA centers playing against other great NBA centers. Could he have woken up and matched that energy against them had he played in the NBA against them? Sure, but I just didn't see it. It's a "what if". With Walton, it's not a what if.