SHAQ v KOBE v DUNCAN

I should do a Shaq Nicknames poll.

man if we are talking career-long, duncan. shaq was more dominant in his prime, just unguardable once he caught it within 8-10 ft of the basket. duncan has been consistently great since he entered the league. he's slowed a step in the last few years, but he plays smarter than he did then (takes fewer lower pct. shots). kobe took longer to develop but has an outside game that neither shaq or duncan has (altho duncan can hit some mid-range jumpers). fair or not, until he wins a championship as the main dude, i'll think of the early 00s lakers as shaq's team. i kinda expect him to do that this year tho, so :/

1 Shaq
2 Duncan
3 Kobe

First two are pretty close, huge difference between 2 and 3. It's really hard to build a good team around an off-guard whereas a healthy Shaq and Duncan alone basically guarantees 50+ wins. These are clearly three of the four best players of the post-Jordan era (Garnett being the other and with James/Wade/Paul/Howard having a chance to muscle in if they hang around for long enough at their current level.)

Side question: is Kobe really not as good as he used to be? I thought he was having one of his best years ever efficiency wise? Predict Duncan's decline (given his injury history) will be steeper.

kobe no doubt

Kevin, you like all the douchebags in sports, don't you? ~_^

Kobe > Chris Brown

This is in terms of people k3vin k. wants to date, not quality of their recorded output.

lol
i dotn get the CB zing tho. i mean, i understand trying to zing me with CB, but idk how that worked

depends on if you'd rather be punched in the face repeatedly or anally raped

Side question: is Kobe really not as good as he used to be? I thought he was having one of his best years ever efficiency wise? Predict Duncan's decline (given his injury history) will be steeper.

― Alex in SF, Sunday, March 8, 2009 8:44 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

kobe is a lil more efficient than he used to be but hes doing so much less - the nutso athleticism isnt quite there like it used to be making him less dynamic on both ends of the floor - hes made up for that somewhat w/smarter play but id take the 05/06 kobe over the current one in a sec

as for yr duncan v kobe decline assertion u r completely insane - 1st duncan really has no injury history hes missed more than 8 games in a season only twice - and his game is built for longevity in that it has almost no reliance on athleticism - and and big men in general age better than back court players - and and and his team is really disciplined abt limiting his minutes - aalso hes such a smart player that he should be able to effectively adjust his game to declining skills aging gracefully into a valuable role player

timmeh

because has the most finals MVPs

um, on review tony parker actually won the last one, but Duncan was still the best player on the most championship teams.

Kobe's not exactly most perimeter/back-court players, somehow I just don't see dude going gently into the good night. Had Jordan not retired for the second time, I could definitely have seen him at his 97-98 level for another couple of years. I could definitely see Kobe putting up similar #s to what he's currently doing until 36-37. Not sure I believe that about Duncan.

It's funny about Duncan's injury history cuz of course you are right, but every year it feels like one of the Spurs storylines has been "is Timmy going to be healthy for the playoffs" making me think he's more fragile than he actually is.

"i dotn get the CB zing tho."

You were crazy vehement about Chris "I Beat My Girlfriend" Brown, you seem less concerned about Kobe " I Rape Girls In My Hotel Room" Bryant. Not complicated.

there def have been some backcourt guys that played really well into their mid/late 30s but its pretty unusual - kobe could turn out to be one of them but the odds arent good - a few factors i see working against him is that hes played more minutes at his age than anyone ever hes not a huge physical guy and his game is pretty dependent on athleticism

imo already you can see his defense has slipped - hes not the shutdown guy he was a few years ago

A factor working for him is that the guy is basically insane(ly competitive.) Not sure about his man-to-man defense, I always though that part of his game was slightly overrated anyway. I don't doubt that he might lose a step or two overrall, just not sure that it'll hurt him that much because his perimeter game is so strong plus I could see him improving other facets of his game to compensate.

Duncan has wrung about as much out of his skills as it is possible to get. He is both great on pure merit and a great overachiever. It is too bad that his game has always been about as exciting as watching a cat in front of a fire.

Shaq was blessed with a size, strength and quickness that we may not see again for 25 years. I'm not saying he is lazy or not a student of the game, but he never had to be consumed by ambition in order to be the best. Which helps to give him a relaxed, fun personality.

Kobe is a lot like Michael Jordan, a consummate athlete with limitless ego, drive and ambition, which helps to make him an asshole of the first water, but a sweet, sweet player to watch.

I went with Shaq. He has too much supremacy there to deny him the crown. But I kinda wish he had worked a little harder to put more space between him and the puny mortals he competes with. He takes it a bit too easy to be the GOAT.

vote on whichever qualities u want

going on pure on court entertainment value for this.

Kobe by a mile. who wouldn't prefer watching a gifted wing player go off over a big fattie knocking people over for dunks or some half asleep islander hitting bank shots?

Based off of degrees of seperation, I pick Duncan.

Is Tim Duncan basketball's Kevin Bacon?

Haha at this point, would that honor be more likely to go to Shaq given his media adventures and the number of teams he's played on?

yeah i mean

shaq->autumn almanac->us

Plus the number of crappy movies he's made and rap albums guest appearances to boot.

That's what I meant by "media adventures".

I thought this is what you meant by that Kobe, TELL ME HOW MY ASS TASTE

hahaha I want to change my vote now

lol at jerry west

basically wkiw Shaq/Duncan anytime (one for crazy funtimes, one for solid, dependable friendship)

I want to hang out with Shaq when he is putting the citizen's arrest hurt on gay bashers.

I voted for Shaq, but that was before he starting spamming on Twitter.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

resonable

https://www.nba.com/news/legendary-moments-shaq-triple-double-vs-nets-1993