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Barkley and Shaq were getting into this a little in the pregame last night. Kenny Smith (I think) asked Shaq if he could cover Jokic. Shaq said no but still seemed to think that the older guys were better.I don't have a good answer for this. The differences in the eras affect all players/positions but none more than the Center position. Low post guys like Wilt and Kareem would still have to be low post players. The 3 point line would make it harder to double team them, but no way they step out and hit shots.That is the thing with Jokic. I think he could cover most of these guys as well as anyone (obviously no one could really cover Wilt or Kareem), but could these guys cover Jokic all the way out the the 3-point line? Centers today need to switch-cover on the pick and roll or you get killed with 3s. Shaq admitted he would not be able to do that, he would just drop cover.Jokic is only 29. He is going to have a very good 8-10 year stretch before he is done. MVPs, at least 1 title. I am not sure there is a better Center for today's game.
Quote from: Vermont Green on April 23, 2024, 02:39:04 PMBarkley and Shaq were getting into this a little in the pregame last night. Kenny Smith (I think) asked Shaq if he could cover Jokic. Shaq said no but still seemed to think that the older guys were better.I don't have a good answer for this. The differences in the eras affect all players/positions but none more than the Center position. Low post guys like Wilt and Kareem would still have to be low post players. The 3 point line would make it harder to double team them, but no way they step out and hit shots.That is the thing with Jokic. I think he could cover most of these guys as well as anyone (obviously no one could really cover Wilt or Kareem), but could these guys cover Jokic all the way out the the 3-point line? Centers today need to switch-cover on the pick and roll or you get killed with 3s. Shaq admitted he would not be able to do that, he would just drop cover.Jokic is only 29. He is going to have a very good 8-10 year stretch before he is done. MVPs, at least 1 title. I am not sure there is a better Center for today's game.Wilt and Bill could absolutely cover out to the 3 point line. They were both incredible athletes that ran up and down the floor all game long.
i think Sabonis deserves a mention and Jokic is a worthy answer. Hakeem is a pretty good starting point, especially for the way today's game is. if we could spend 15 years training a player for this era i might pick David Robinson, though. or maybe even KG, who could handle center better today than for most of his career and could maybe guard the perimeter better than any of the others, Olajuwon and Robinson included.