1987 NBA Finals

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Rick Barry was better than Maravich as a scorer and passer. Just not as flashy if we are looking for the great white scorer. DJ was a great defender, had some wars with Magic. But imo, no way he locks down Kobe. Kobe is way quicker than Magic. If Kobe continues at this pace he goes down as a better long range shooter than Michael. The one thing MJ has over Kobe is hands. MJ hands were/are so big he could do things with the ball on the way to the basket Kobe dreams of. The athletic skills are there, but he cant one hand the ball like Jordan. And I definitley give Michael the basketball brains.

All supposition and opinion but fun...

Barry was great. I don't know that I'd put him above Maravich though. Using their NBA career stats, their shooting percentages were nearly the same (.449 for Barry, .441 for Maravich), their assists were about the same (5.1 for Barry, 5.4 for Maravich) and their scoring was about the same (23.2 on 20.4 shots for Barry, 24.2 on 21.3 shots for Maravich). My preference has always been for Maravich though. I thought he played with lesser talent and was far more the focal point of defenses, especially coming out of college. I thought Barry was more of a traditional type of scorer whereas Maravich had more in his repetoire. Both were great though. But for a variety of ways to get a shot and to make it, I'd go with Maravich.

I will never forget Barry going to the finals as an underdog with the Warriors and taking his Golden State team to a 4-0 sweep. At the time it was a stunner.

Barry was really a forward and Maravich a guard so its sort of difficult to compare. Barry had unlimited range. The 3 pointer was not around(NBA). He would have won more scoring titles if it was. Barry was also one of the cockiest guys around. Did not have the Maravich speed.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

Barry was great. I don't know that I'd put him above Maravich though. Using their NBA career stats, their shooting percentages were nearly the same (.449 for Barry, .441 for Maravich), their assists were about the same (5.1 for Barry, 5.4 for Maravich) and their scoring was about the same (23.2 on 20.4 shots for Barry, 24.2 on 21.3 shots for Maravich). My preference has always been for Maravich though. I thought he played with lesser talent and was far more the focal point of defenses, especially coming out of college. I thought Barry was more of a traditional type of scorer whereas Maravich had more in his repetoire. Both were great though. But for a variety of ways to get a shot and to make it, I'd go with Maravich.

Jerry West was a better scorer than either guy