Everyone in this thread needs to watch the documentary called “the grizzly truth” about how and why we lost the team. It’s well done and a fun piece of basketball nostalgia from that era. I promise I’m not just saying it because I am one of the super fans that is in it. We lost the team because we had individual businesses owners and the Canadian dollar took a nose dive during the formative years which made it really hard financially on the owners. Also we got fucked out of having a top 5 pick for several years and our management blew it by drafting a guy who clearly didn’t want to be here. Yeah Francis should have been an adult about it and gave the city a chance but still, why did we draft him? Fan attendance was never the main issue at all. We showed up pretty fucking well to support a losing product right up until the lockout anyways. That was when overall sentiment towards the league took a nose dive everywhere and the league lost its main box office draw (that would be MJ for the young ones).
bobittoknorr
Bron is basically in the peak NWO Hollywood hulk hogan stage of his career now. Had his long run of dominance and should pass the torch but instead he just says “Nah. I’m just gonna keep this belt for myself for a while. I’m still runnin shit around here. He’s out there strumming the air guitar on the best player belt.
For real OP it can not be overstated how loved and popular mike was on a global level. There is a reason he was the guy for Space Jam. For some anecdotal evidence. Both my wife and I had actual MJ shrines in our bedrooms as teens. We are from Vancouver Island in canada. MJ and Steve Nash and then Vince Carter made the popularity of the game explode up here.
Yeah 2016 Steph was still a huge liability on D because he lacked the strength and wisdom. He improved a fair amount on the defensive end.
Questioning Shaq or Iverson is actually insane, but I digress. Oscar, Kareem, magic, Walton, and Baylor all come to mind immediately when I think of people that lived up to the pick. I would say Dwight, Ewing, Robinson and Worthy also did and it would be insane to argue otherwise. There is probably more that lived up to the pick but those ones seem like really open and shut examples of number one picks that lived up to it.