Favourite NBA season

[Dan's Brain]

In 1998 I remember Ron Mercer and Chauncey Billups being "the backcourt of the future" for the Celtics! I was pretty disappointed when they eventually got rid of both. They got Paul Pierce, and he would be alright matched up with Chauncey at least.

@ Stevan:
Getting rid of Chauncey for essentially an ageing Kenny Anderson was dumb, even by Rick Pitino's standards. He was being labelled a bust halfway through his rookie season which was very unfair.

But Pierce and Chauncey would have been very sweet. It would certainly have put a wedge in the revolving door that is the Boston point guard situation anyway.

I think that Mercer for Eric Williams was the best move he ever made though. Williams is a great defensive stopper, a very underrated rebounder as well. I was, personally more disappointed when they traded him for Ricky Davis who has been mediocre at best since joining the Celtics.

Even though i am a big Bulls fan, i'll always have a soft spot for the Celtics.

[Bill Russell]

Hey, don't look now, but underrated Mike James has been doin' a good job running the Celtics' offense...

[Shep]

Shaquille O'Neal was better than Hakeem Olajuwon in 1997, and the best center in the league.

[Filip]

He was the best center in the NBA that year. No one could stop him. The best play in the all-star game, other than MJ's free-throw putback, was when he humiliated.

I would say that it was quite evan between the Admiral, Shaq and the Dream.

HAHA! Christian Laettner in the ASG! Also guys like Gatling, Googs, Baker, Shremph. Look at them now!

Hehe, didn't Rik Smith managed to take himself to the playoffs also, now he was an ugly muthaf*beep*, if Chris Mullin stilled played at Indiana that season (don't remember), that
team have to be the ugliest team ever, with Rik, Reggie and Chris.

Kobe coming off the Bench and OWNING everyone

Kobe was also rookie that season but played from the bench, avering 7.8ppg in about 15mpg.

Good ppg for thos mpg, but I wouldn't say that he was owning everyone.
Tough he won both Slam dunk comp. and Player of the rookie game award.

Dominique Wilkins (Most underated NBA player in the world BTW)
was playing for San Antonio Spurs and had totally forgott that he was 37 years old, avering 18.3ppg in just 30.9mpg, 37years old. And oh yes, not wanna miss to talk about the dunking here, he had furious dunks, like
Grant Hill he was taking it hard to the hoop in traffic slaming it down.
Tell me someone else 37year old NBA veteran that is able to do that

SERIOUSLY?! WHOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Yeah, You almost have to see it to believe it, he was incredible!

Tim Hardaway

Forgott him, but in that season there was so many good pointguard and big men in a team.

Payton + Kemp
Hardaway + Mourning
Stockton + Malone
Penny + Shaq
Blaylock + Mutombo
etc,

Hardaway had the furious feared killer crossover.

Speaking of Dominique, he got in the top 10 dunks with that tip in over someone I can't remember.

Yeah, my big brother told me of that one too, but I don't remember it, anyway, I remember Olajuwon doing a nice onehand tip slam in a playoffgame I think, maybe against Seattle.

About AI, he dunked the ball like hell that season, he and Stack was doing allyoops all the time. I remember a sweet reverse allyoop by stackhouse on a fastbreak, assisted by AI. That dunk almost gave me a hard on.
Not forgotten though, that they was one of league leaders in turnovers per game.

[.]

Good ppg for thos mpg, but I wouldn't say that he was owning everyone.
Tough he won both Slam dunk comp. and Player of the rookie game award.

Iverson won the MVP that night, not Kobe. But he had the most points with 31 I think

[Robby]

Shaquille O'Neal was better than Hakeem Olajuwon in 1997, and the best center in the league.

And what actually makes you say that. I have a clip from that season where Shaq himself says that Hakeem is the best center in the league. More proof, Shaq averaged about 24 ppg against the Jazz in those playoffs while Dream averaged around 30 ppg despite having to share the ball with Sir Charles and Clyde the Glide.

I would say that it was quite evan between the Admiral, Shaq and the Dream.

The Admiral played about 6 games that year and his back problems were just starting to come up. As for Shaq and Dream, read above.

Forgott him, but in that season there was so many good pointguard and big men in a team.

Payton + Kemp
Hardaway + Mourning
Stockton + Malone
Penny + Shaq
Blaylock + Mutombo

We're talking about the 96-97 season which was Shaq's first year so no more Penny and Shaq.

[Filip]

Iverson won the MVP that night, not Kobe. But he had the most points with 31 I think

Oh, he did. My mistaken then, but he did 31points anyway.

The Admiral played about 6 games that year and his back problems were just starting to come up.

Wups, must have been confusing with other season.

We're talking about the 96-97 season which was Shaq's first year so no more Penny and Shaq

Confused myselft, I know that he played in LAL in the 96/97

[Shep]

I have a clip from that season where Shaq himself says that Hakeem is the best center in the league

congratulations. shaq has also said that kobe bryant is the best player in the NBA so if you knew your history, you would know not to take what shaq says seriously.

More proof, Shaq averaged about 24 ppg against the Jazz in those playoffs while Dream averaged around 30 ppg despite having to share the ball with Sir Charles and Clyde the Glide

link?

-In the 51 games that O'Neal played, Los Angeles was 38-13.

-games without o'neal: 18-13.

-to be fair, i'll compare the two with o'neal's minutes:
o'neal: 26.2p, 12.5r, 3.1a, .9s, 2.88b, 2.86t
olajuwon: 24.1, 9.6r, 3.1a, 1.56s, 2.31b, 3.75t

still with o'neals minutes, olajuwon is beaten quite badly.

while we are on the subject of the 96/97 season, danny manning should've been 6th man of the year.

[whlee75]

definitely the '98-'99 season.

jason williams and vince carter dominated the highlights almost every night. i was hoping to see these two teamed up in the rookie game where v.c. would do a 360 windmill jam off of j. will's no look, behind the back pass but v.c chose the allstar game over schick. bummer....

[.]

definitely the '98-'99 season.

jason williams and vince carter dominated the highlights almost every night. i was hoping to see these two teamed up in the rookie game where v.c. would do a 360 windmill jam off of j. will's no look, behind the back pass but v.c chose the allstar game over schick. bummer....

There was no ASG in 1999

[whlee75]

definitely the '98-'99 season.

jason williams and vince carter dominated the highlights almost every night. i was hoping to see these two teamed up in the rookie game where v.c. would do a 360 windmill jam off of j. will's no look, behind the back pass but v.c chose the allstar game over schick. bummer....

There was no ASG in 1999

right, i totally forgot about that
as much as i'd like to see them teamed up in an allstar game, i still like the '98-'99 season just because of their great plays.

[Robby]

congratulations. shaq has also said that kobe bryant is the best player in the NBA so if you knew your history, you would know not to take what shaq says seriously.

And Kobe, in my opinion, was the best player in the NBA when Shaq made that statement. Also, just because a guy likes to joke around, doesn't mean he can't tell the truth once in a while. There was also a commercial during that season where Shaq talked about Hakeem being the best NBA center and how he wants to be compared to him. I don't think he was joking during that commercial.

-In the 51 games that O'Neal played, Los Angeles was 38-13.

-games without o'neal: 18-13.

-to be fair, i'll compare the two with o'neal's minutes:
o'neal: 26.2p, 12.5r, 3.1a, .9s, 2.88b, 2.86t
olajuwon: 24.1, 9.6r, 3.1a, 1.56s, 2.31b, 3.75t

still with o'neals minutes, olajuwon is beaten quite badly.

Shaq took more shots per game than Hakeem that year and he also didn't have to share the ball with Charles Barkley (19 ppg) and Clyde Drexler (18 ppg). Also Barkley averaged 13 rpg that year so that's also why Hakeem's rebounding is a bit lower than Shaq's.

[Jay-Will]

the season the lakers won there third title in a row 2001-2002

[Robby]

link?

Go to the internet archive and put in nba.com/playoffs97 and you can go from there.

Here's Shaq's points from the LA-Utah series which went 5 games:

17, 25, 11, 34, 23 = 22 ppg.

And now Hakeem's points from the Hou-Utah series which went 6 games:

30, 30, 27, 27, 33, 16 = 27 ppg

Isn't 27 ppg better than 22 ppg? And they were both going up against the same opponent so who do you think was better? Also, in case you didn't know your history, Hakeem was All-NBA first team for the 96-97 season while Shaq was on the All-NBA third team. Here's the link in case you don't believe me: http://www.dfw.net/~patricia/awards97.txt

[Shep]

shaq is stupid for saying those things, bottom line.

Shaq took more shots per game than Hakeem that year and he also didn't have to share the ball with Charles Barkley (19 ppg) and Clyde Drexler (18 ppg)

yeh, shaq took 1 more shot than olajuwon, so what. shaq had eddie jones, nick van exel, and elden campbell averaging 15 points or better. barkley wasn't playing when olajuwon was for 25 games so olajuwon had the opportunity to up his scoring (also drexler not being there for 16) and rebounding averages when he wasn't there. oh, and if you want to play like this, shaq also had elden campbell blocking shots, so if campbell wasn't there, shaq would've averaged 2 more blocks than he did average.

yeh i know my history, and i agree with the selection of olajuwon in the first team all NBA. its only because of the amount of games shaq played that he was left off that team.

[Robby]

yeh, shaq took 1 more shot than olajuwon, so what. shaq had eddie jones, nick van exel, and elden campbell averaging 15 points or better. barkley wasn't playing when olajuwon was for 25 games so olajuwon had the opportunity to up his scoring (also drexler not being there for 16) and rebounding averages when he wasn't there. oh, and if you want to play like this, shaq also had elden campbell blocking shots, so if campbell wasn't there, shaq would've averaged 2 more blocks than he did average.

Congratulations, you said exactly what I wanted you to say. It's true that Van Exel, Campbell, and EJ also took shots but they all had a chance to raise their average since Shaq only played 51 games. That means that their ppg were lower when Shaq played, which makes sense because they got less shots when Shaq played. Despite this Shaq only averaged about 2 more points than Hakeem according to your numbers. Also neither of those three guys had more than 18ppg while Dream had two guys over 18 ppg. So, hopefully you see what I'm trying to say.

Also, you haven't responded to the numbers I put up from the playoffs which clearly show that Hakeem was better.

shaq is stupid for saying those things, bottom line.

That's the best you could come up with? And exactly how old are you?

[Shep]

congratulations.

Congratulations

Despite this Shaq only averaged about 2 more points than Hakeem according to your numbers. Also neither of those three guys had more than 18ppg while Dream had two guys over 18 ppg. So, hopefully you see what I'm trying to say.

nope, i don't see the point to this whole paragraph. oh, and 26.2 minus 23.2 = 3, not 2. sorry if that equation was beyond your understanding.

Also, you haven't responded to the numbers I put up from the playoffs which clearly show that Hakeem was better

well sorry if i can't be fucked searching the internet just for the sake of this discussion. you on the other hand, seem to have a lot of time on your hands coming up with such sites and also responding to my post within 14 minutes of me posting a reply.

[Vins15]

2000-2001 Definitely, that's when dreams came true for Raptor Fans!

me too...VC was like the 2nd best SG that year and unfortunatly they lost to the best SG Allen Iverson....

[Robby]

nope, i don't see the point to this whole paragraph. oh, and 26.2 minus 23.2 = 3, not 2. sorry if that equation was beyond your understanding.

Well, I said according to your numbers, which you adjusted to match the minutes played for both players. Are you sick, illiterate, or just plain stupid that you couldn't comprehend what's written here and what you wrote.

well sorry if i can't be fucked searching the internet just for the sake of this discussion. you on the other hand, seem to have a lot of time on your hands coming up with such sites and also responding to my post within 14 minutes of me posting a reply.

I'm not asking you to search the internet. And coming up with those numbers took about two minutes. Your comments obviously show that you're wrong and can't find evidence to support your claim. So, obviously after losing this battle of wits, you've resorted to attacking me. I must say that you're quite the modern day Simplicio.

[Old School Fool]

Do you all remember P.J. Brown of the Miami Heat flipping that one Bitch on the Knicks over!?

That OWNED.....P.J. Brown OWNED


and you all must remember the Time when Leo Kap created the Get-Shaq-Twenty-Million-Points Method

[Shep]

Well, I said according to your numbers, which you adjusted to match the minutes played for both players

ok, i missed the part where you said 'according to your numbers'. but still, the rest of that paragraph means nothing.

I'm not asking you to search the internet.

well give me a link to a webpage that says olajuwon averaged 30 against the jazz, and shaq averaged 22.

Your comments obviously show that you're wrong and can't find evidence to support your claim

actually, i would think that you haven't said anything that would make me believe for one second that olajuwon was better in 1997. so shaq remains better than olajuwon in 1997. case closed. i couldn't give a fuck less about your opinions which is why i don't search the internet for playoff boxscores and recaps, not because i'm wrong or whatever.

That OWNED

over-use of words any?

[Robby]

ok, i missed the part where you said 'according to your numbers'. but still, the rest of that paragraph means nothing.

Well it's a shame you couldn't understand what I was trying to get accross but I'm not going to dumb it down for you anymore.

well give me a link to a webpage that says olajuwon averaged 30 against the jazz, and shaq averaged 22.

I already showed you the numbers from all the games so either you don't know how to average numbers or you don't believe me. I would hope the latter is the case so, go to http://web.archive.org/web/200009030000 ... layoffs97/ and click on the Houston Utah series to get all of Hakeem's points from box scores and then do the same thing with the LA-Utah series for Shaq. You'll get the same numbers that I posted, hopefully.

actually, i would think that you haven't said anything that would make me believe for one second that olajuwon was better in 1997. so shaq remains better than olajuwon in 1997. case closed. i couldn't give a fuck less about your opinions which is why i don't search the internet for playoff boxscores and recaps, not because i'm wrong or whatever.

I just gave you statistical proof that Hakeem had better numbers than Shaq against the same competition. It's not just opinions, actual numbers unlike your responses. I even told you that Shaq himself said that Hakeem was better than him that year. Talk about being a hypocrite and delusional (which means, in case you weren't aware, holding a false belief strongly in spite of invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of mental illness).

[Old School Fool]

That OWNED

over-use of words any?

Your trying to hard

[Jackal]

He and others have a tendancy to do that when others disagree.

[Shep]

I just gave you statistical proof that Hakeem had better numbers than Shaq against the same competition

you give me points, and you think that that is statistical proof that olajuwon outplayed o'neal? ...thanks for finally giving me a link relative to this discussion. here are the stats in the same minutes:

olajuwon: 27.2p, 9.3r, 3.8a, 2s, 3.3b, 3.5to
o'neal: 25.1p, 13.2r, 3.6a, .46s, 2.28b, 3.4to

so yes, o'neal was slightly outplayed by olajuwon.
o'neal outplayed olajuwon through the regular season, in 51 games, not just 5 or 6 games...i'd rather judge someone on a large amount of games.

-eddie jones averaged 10.2ppg that series (down from 17.2), and elden campbell 7.8 (15)

delusional (which means, in case you weren't aware, holding a false belief strongly in spite of invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of mental illness).

all in which you didn't know until looking up the word at dictionary.com

Your trying to hard

Old School Fool: joined 26 Jun 2003, posts: 698
LeBron James: joined 20 Jun 2003, posts: 690

coincidence? i think not

here is my two cents, even though nobody cares