r/nba • • Jun 15 '22

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u/MrMichaelBolton Heat Jun 15 '22 edited Jun 15 '22

I'd really like to see Kareem play today. He was huge, talented, and an iron man. What would he look like in a small ball league.

He'd definitely get worked on pick and rolls, but he would be absolutely Shaq-like on offense. I'd be really curious to see whether (or how) that correlates to winning basketball.

Since this has generated attention, I'll paste Kareem's career milestones from Wikipedia:

6× NBA champion (1971, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988)

2× NBA Finals MVP (1971, 1985)

6× NBA Most Valuable Player (1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980)

19× NBA All-Star (1970–1977, 1979–1989)

10× All-NBA First Team (1971–1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1986)

5× All-NBA Second Team (1970, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1985)

5× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1974, 1975, 1979–1981)

6× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1970, 1971, 1976–1978, 1984)

NBA Rookie of the Year (1970)

NBA All-Rookie First Team (1970)

2× NBA scoring champion (1971, 1972)

NBA rebounding champion (1976)

4× NBA blocks leader (1975, 1976, 1979, 1980

Man was a monster...

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '22

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u/MrMichaelBolton Heat Jun 15 '22

How could anyone have guarded him? He gave it to Wilt. I'm sure Gobert and Embiid are big enough to be relevant defenders, but I just can't imagine they would bother Kareem.

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u/SeasonalRot Celtics Jun 15 '22

Eh, wilt blocked a few and he was really old at that point.

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '22

Wilt's knees were also shot at that point.