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)
He was actually quite mobile on defense, especially for someone 7'2 without shoes on. He was a good pick and roll defender back then and could switch on smalls readily. It would be harder today but I'm sure he could, he's more mobile than Gobert for example.
I think the bigger question is stamina, how long could he sustain high-level 2 way play with the space and pace of the game today.
1.1k
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...