Which Young Guys Are The New Old Guys?
Players of every generation talk trash about players of every other generation. Charles Barkley says players today are too soft. JJ Reddick says players from yesterday were part-time plumbers.
I’m more with JJ. Watch the really old guys in black and white and they look slow and awful with their two-handed set shots. Look at the sort of old guys from the 80s and they look like they have very tight shorts, not quite as ugly looking shots, and too many wristbands. And in the 80s-90s, they shot a lot of 15 footers with all ten guys standing in the lane. Ever watch MJ’s 63 points against the Celtics in the playoffs? Everyone on both teams is standing in the free-throw lane. Or look at the floor spacing on Jordan’s iconic shot to beat the Cavaliers. Nine guys are literally standing on top of each other with MJ flying in the air for a pull up jumper just outside the free throw line.
That said, MJ looks amazing for any era. Perfect footwork, perfect form, perfect shorts, perfect wrist band raised up towards the elbow. He remains alpha male personified.
Comparing our current guys to other generations is both easy and hard. Some guys have obvious comparisons. Ja Morant with Derrick Rose (is he considered old? I’ve been told by my boss that anyone past their prime, even if still in the NBA, counts.) Ja and Gilbert Arenas (too soon? Too late?), Ja and Kevin Johnson? (Check the dunks of KJ, most epically over Hakeem in a playoff game), Ja and Anthony Mason? (beating people up, cool hair)? Ja and Isaiah? Pretty boy face of a bad boy franchise?
LeBron and Magic is pretty pure. Luka and Larry, Larry and KD, Stockton and CP3 all the way to the assholery and (hopefully) lack of ring. Paul George and Scottie Pippen, Joker and the older Zabonis…. But how about some less obvious ones?
Brandon Ingram and Tom Chambers? Both skinny, smooth, with lots of offense. Hold on… half way through his mixed-tape, I saw Chambers shoot a very ugly old man looking 3 pointer. I apologize to Brandon. My first try with these comparisons, so let me see if I can do better.
Zion Williamson and Baron Davis. Both are round, both will dunk on your head, both will only show up to play about 10% of the time when they are feeling it. During that time, they will continue to dunk on people’s heads, leading everyone watching to proclaim that the savior has finally arrived and spend $150 on a jersey which will quickly become a hipster throw-back item to wear at Ted talks. Honorable mention in this category: Kyrie and Baron Davis. Honorable, honorable mention is Kawhi Leonard and Baron Davis.
Klay Thompson and Dražen Petrović. Their form is nearly identical. They don’t dribble. That’s about it. I thought about Dan Majerle as a more apt comparison for Klay, volume shooters who play good defense. But while Thunder Dan jacked up lots of shitty shots as does Klay, Klay gets hot more often and has had too many epic game 6s. He would have pulled a Willis Reed after tearing his ACL if Kerr had let him.
Greyson Allen and Danny Ainge. Both with choir boy haircuts. Both unlikeable. Dirty. Better basketball players than anyone wants them to be. One is a successful GM with a reputation for ripping teams off; the other will be soon enough or take over for look-alike Ted Cruz as the most hated U.S. Senator.
Lots of similarities between Robert Parrish pounding of Bill Laimbeer and Donovan Mitchell’s takedown of Dillon Brooks. Dillon Brooks, to his immense credit, could totally play on the 80s Pistons or 90s Knicks. There aren’t many other guys you could say that about. Dillon Brooks is also a tough one to compare to… He could be Dennis Rodman b/c of the clothes, the glimmer in his eyes that he might not be taking any of it seriously, the tight(er) shorts. But his skill level puts him more at Laimbeer without a consistent jumpshot. (That sounds bad). Maybe Ron Artest, or maybe even Kendrick Perkins. But all of those guys at least had moments of balling, and they all have rings. Who is someone that angered everyone but basically sucked while antagonizing everyone? This comparison is going to piss people off, but what about Robert Horry. He was a thug, his only rescue is that he made some lucky wide open shots. I’d bet $5 that Brooks makes a wide-open game winner. Maybe against Sacramento from the top of the key. Anyway…
Jimmy Butler and KG. The magnetic smiles, the ruthless 1000% desire to win, the hatred of almost every single teammate and vice versa, the writing out of the will of teammates who left (Ray Allen, PJ Tucker), and then back again for the charm and the general clutch-ness of their games.
There needs to be a Bison Dele comparison. So iconic and mysterious as a player and a person, while alive and at death. You could see Kyrie living Dele’s life after the NBA. They both won a ring with the greatest player of their era. I was going to say something that would not be nice about their relationship to oceans, but I won’t. This needs more thought.
There also needs to be a Penny Hardaway comparison. How about Blake Griffin? Tons of talent, magnetism, celebrity looks. Puppets and cars. Injuries. Grounded. But kept playing past their primes, sitting on the ends of benches. (I’m told that Blake doesn’t count as a modern day player in the playoffs….I’m going to ask Celtics Mark about that in a couple of weeks when he goes elbow to face with Giannis and wins the Celtics game 5 and saves their series, but let’s try again). De’Aaron Fox. Two more choir boy looks, ferocious dunkers, athletic beyond belief, general awesomeness.
Draymond Green and Jalen Rose. Both can guard five positions, both can play point-forward, both have unbridled opinions about everything that are actually way more profound way more often than you’d expect.
DeMar DeRozan and Alex English. Sublime midrange, no championships, not remembered. Another pair tracking in this direction is Devon Booker and George Gervin. But Booker has time to change the narrative. There’s a whole category of guys here across generations that play for small market teams, don’t go far in the playoffs, not terribly exciting or controversial. There could be the Eddie Johnson award for this guy each year. More than pretty good, not quite great.
James Harden and Adrian Dantley. Unstoppable offensively. Cancers on their teams. Ball hogs. Sulk a lot…a lot.
Donovan Mitchell and Dwayne Wade. This one is kind of easy--both amazing at getting to the hoop. Both smart, charismatic, likeable.
Russell Westbrook and Alonzo Mourning. Misunderstood. Complex. Wear all their emotions on their face. Play harder than is physically possible. Want them as my friends.
Jaylen Brown and Bill Bradley. In terms of their basketball games, I assume there is no comparison. I’ve never seen a highlight of Bradley but I can only imagine. But both super intelligent, thoughtful about politics, activist. Want to have dinner with them. Can totally see Jaylen being a Democratic Party senator someday. Did Bradley ever wear a mask?
Now this list made it to 14, so I should add one more to round it up. How about Rajon Rondo Marcus Smart and Dennis Johnson. Both the point guard and 3rd or 4th guy for championship or almost championship Celtics teams, and simultaneously, both would have key stretches in their championship runs where they were the most important guy. Rondo Smart almost single-handedly beat prime LeBron Steph. Remember him guarding LeBron late in games and challenging him to shoot? (I don’t either). DJ won a finals game with a jumper and made a tough layup after Bird’s famous steal against Detroit. They are mere footnotes in Celtics lore, but major gamers.
That last one didn’t count. Start here. Duncan Robinson and Scott Wedman. I initially wrote Wegman. That’s how well I know him. They both can shoot pretty well. They are both random guys who got super hot in at least one playoff game. Celtics Mark, did you know that Wegman Wedman shot 11-11 with 4 threes in the Memorial Day Massacre against the Lakers? Give me one reason why I can’t make this comparison. I’m waiting.
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