Chess "GOAT" discussion

Hey, at least Horry made viable contributions to those championships. In the Houston series against Orlando, he was the best player on the floor at times. With the Lakers, there is but no question he made a viable difference. I get your larger point which is some players have rings simply because they wore the right uniform at a particular time in their career (see Nevitt, Chuck).

Favorite Team: Lakers (since 1972)

Favorite Lakers: Magic Johnson but the Lakers have seen more individual talent than any team in history.

This year's NBA Finals: If the Cavs win this series with their 2nd and 3rd best players injured then Lebron James is going to go way, way up on the GOAT list.

in my opinion LeBron is trying to show us all he deserves to be named the GOAT.

Nevertheless he's got one problem. Despite the fact he's playing "the GOAT basketball", Kyrie Irving is not Scottie Pippen (he's brilliant offensively and very average defensively) and Tistan Thompson is not Dennis Rodman.

We can say LeBron is the GOAT without the GOAT's supporters :)

LBJ made 38 shots last night! The previous FINALS didn't teach him anything apparently.....

Nobody can with the title on his own, by force. Basketball is a team sport. Jordan understood it. That's why he won all the NBA Finals he took part in. Jordan's 6/6 vs. LeBron's 2/5 (likely to be 2/6 in few weeks).

And who is the b-ball GOAT?

I'd like to be understood well. I admire LBJ, thanks to him Miami Heat won 2/4 Larry O'Brien's cups last 4 seasons but I don't like his selfish play.

One of the knocks on Lebron when he first came into the league was that he was too unselfish.

Plus, especially with that team, who do you want taking charge?

It's also why I don't believe he'll ever get to be as good as Bill, MJ, Bird, Magic. Those guys MADE their teammates better. Everyone knows about MJ's last shots. But, John Paxson, Steve Kerr, and even Bill Wennington made last second shots to win playoff games with the Bulls.

I grew up in Chicago, so the Bulls are my team. I was lucky enough to see all of MJ's career. I think I saw every game of their 72 win season.

An anecdote: The story behind "The Shot" (when MJ hit the jumper at the buzzer to beat the Cavs). During the timeout, Doug Collins is drawing a play. MJ slams his fist on the board and says, "just give me the damn ball!" Obviously, I wasn't in the huddle, but other players have also said that happenned.

At the press conference after the game, Collins is asked what play he called. Now, I did see this, and it's probably on yt. Collins reply was, "get the ball to Michael and everyone get the f**k out of the way!!"

Still I don't understand why the Knicks didn't pick him. I had the chance of seeing him for the first time in Los Angeles 84 and he was awesome. I had to wait to 87-88 season to see him again.

Why why why? If you were able to come back to the past and change it you'd be much more rich, happy and so on. Every decision, especially in sport is connected with a risk. There were many similar situations in NBA.

2003 Draft: 1st LeBron, 2nd DARKO "superstar" Milicic 3rd Carmelo Anthony, 4th Chris Bosh 5th Dwayne Wade.

I think many people know all of them but 2nd one.

Draft 1996, called the best one in history: Kobe Bryant was chosen with 13th pick :)

Not sure what you're referencing. Houston and Portland had picks before the Bulls in '84.

LeBron wasn't being selfish last night. The Warriors were using isolation defense, this destroyed lebron's ability to assist. Cavs knew warriors would play that defense and lebron did a HELL of a job making his shots. If the Warriors hadda been doubling him up, he woulda been assisting all night. Cavs coulda won the game, and the game was TIGHT the whole game. Kyre getting hurt was a huge distraction, and lebron was GASSED in OT(because he worked himself to death dealing with the isolation defense). If lebron hadda made the last basket, everyone would be all "he's the greatest for a reason".

I'm not totally sure, but I recall Knicks having the first choice and picking Ewing, and Jordan being #3 in the draft.

Different Draft i think Pulp.   When Ewing went #1 i believe Steve Stefanovich went #2.

Michael Jordan was the third pick behind Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie. Speaking of anecdotes, Bobby Knight coached MJ on the '84 Olympic team. Knight was friends with Portland's Genral Manager Stu Inman. Knight told Inman to draft Jordan but Inman said his team needed a center (which was true). Knight replied, "Play him (Jordan) at center." Inman was a wonderful basketball mind but he'll always be known as the guy who picked Bowie ahead of the GOAT.

WBFISHER wrote:

Different Draft i think Pulp.   When Ewing went #1 i believe Steve Stefanovich went #2.

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Wayman Tisdale (rest in peace) was pick number two after Ewing in 1985.

Thanks, WB. Many years have passed, I was only 12 in the 84. It was a privilege being able to watch some games here since 88-89 season, the US were like another galaxy; besides, Bird and company made a visit to Madrid to crush Real Madrid and Yugoslavian national team in '88 Christmas. Also, the Lakers-Pistons final was epic.

Those days basketball was even more popular than football/soccer here.

Give me an F!

F!

Give me an I!

I!

Give me an S!

S!

Give ma an H!

H!

Give me a C!

C!

Give me an E!

E!

Give me an R!

R!

And what that say?

Greatest chess player of all time!!!

i stand corrected.  Stipo was selected 2nd in '83 behind Ralph Sampson.  I should start using google 

Was your comment connected with chess or basketball? :) :) :)

All Time Dream Team:

C - Bill Russell

PF - Larry Bird

SF - Julius Erving

SG - Micheal Jordan

PG - Quinn Buckner

Sixth Man - Kobe Bryant

Honorable Mention - Magic Johnson  (I detest the Lakers )