« Reply #515 on: September 15, 2023, 06:19:36 AM »
“And is he the best? I think that Dražen, Dino, Divac, and Sabonis have done things that he hasn’t touched yet, although I believe he will. But, realistically, if Sabonis was now in the NBA at the age of 24, or Dražen, or Dino, or me… My people, if we used to watch the NBA on TV, we would certainly be much better than then. But comparisons are unnecessary, in my opinion, especially of different generations. To conclude, Jokić’s quality and size are not at all questionable,” Toni added.
Source: reddit
I love my man Dino, and Drazen and Divac were great players, but what have they done that Jokic hasn't accomplished?
The only guy I can't realistically compare Jokic to is Prime Sabonis. Was he a top-5 center of all-time? It's so hard to project.
The question of "how good could they have been if they'd grown up in a culture that embraced basketball as fully as today" is an interesting one.
Literally what is he talking about? The only one who could have the discussion is Arvydas, and that is half because of the unknown as to what he could have been - which, theoretically, was anything. But Jokic is miles ahead of all the others he mentioned
Drazen career was entering his prime before his untimely death. The 2 years prior showed he was maybe the best shooter in the league. It is a shame to think what a few more years of seeing prime Drazen would have been like.
And Drazen at his peak was still behind Jordan, Drexler, Reggie, Richmond and Dumars at his position in those two years.
Good argument he could've been better under today's style of play & rules though. His shooting threat would be enhanced. And teams couldn't be as physical with him allowing him to create more off the bounce.
In 93, Drazen was 3rd Team All NBA, behind only Jordan and Dumars and that was Dumars best year. Joe D got worse every year after that till he retired. Drazen was better than Reggie that year. He was similar to Mitch who missed half the games. Drexler was past 30 and on the downslope of his career. There is a decent chance, Drazen would have peaked as the 2nd best SG in the league behind only Jordan during the Bulls 2nd 3-peat years.

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