Here we go again...
Today Page 2 was dominated by the Sports Guy's article of why Robert Horry should be in the Hall of Fame. More non-convincing, non-factual arguments were given as to why Horry should be in the Hall, so I thought I would take some time to dissect the fallacious reasoning that has been given to us.
Let's start with pretentious claim number one: "Horry's career has always been a nice litmus test for the question, "Do you understand the game of basketball or not?" Nearly all of his strengths aren't things that casual fans would notice."
Yes, Horry is a great clutch player. So was Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson. So was Horace Grant. Horry can hit threes better than most big men, and is a great defensive player, like Simmons said. But with strengths come liabilities: namely durability, consistency, ability to post up, etc. Horry has had few of those strengths in his career. He hasn't started in years, and periodically doesn't show up for games (like game 3 and game 4). Hall-of-Famers don't get shut out. REPEAT: Hall-of-Famers don't get shut out. Hall-of-Famers also play more than 20 minutes a night. Look, all those Yankee middle relievers of the late nineties were dynamic pitchers who won lots of rings and will not make the Hall-of-Fame.
And what is this garbage about casual fans not understanding what Horry does? Even assuming that Horry is, say, one of the ten best defensive players in the league, does that make him any more valuable then, say, Bruce Bowen, who basically does the same thing that Horry does, play defense and make threes? Over the course of a season, who is more valuable to San Antonio?
Ok, ok, enough about that. Let's move on to argument number two: "He picks his spots and only asserts himself in big situations when his team truly needs him."
The last time I checked, your team needs you to play well... every time you're on the court. I think Horry's Spurs needed him in Games 3 and 4 as well.
Here's outrageous claim number three: "If the Spurs had lost that game, they would have eventually blown the series and everyone would have blamed Duncan all summer, mainly because of his epic stink bomb down the stretch that brought back memories of Karl Malone and Elvin Hayes. Now he's just another great player who had an atrocious game at the wrong time."
Well, this may be sort of true. I'm sure Spurs fans would have basted Duncan with his missed foul shots and missed tip-ins. But to call Duncan's 26 point, 19 rebound performance atrocious is obviously stupid. Duncan changed the complexion of this game with irritating putback after putback in the first half, and played some very nice defense on Chauncey Billups at the end.
I think Simmons heard too much of Bill Walton before the game, where Walton boldly claimed that Duncan had "never won a championship on his own," as if David Robinson was some dominant force his last year. It's fashionable to hate on Tim Duncan because he's not fun to watch and doesn't yell at people. I'm just wondering how many titles he has to win before people give him some respect. Maybe the magic number is 21 or something, I don't really know.
Well, that's all for now, maybe there's more later if I feel like it.
Mike
Let's start with pretentious claim number one: "Horry's career has always been a nice litmus test for the question, "Do you understand the game of basketball or not?" Nearly all of his strengths aren't things that casual fans would notice."
Yes, Horry is a great clutch player. So was Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson. So was Horace Grant. Horry can hit threes better than most big men, and is a great defensive player, like Simmons said. But with strengths come liabilities: namely durability, consistency, ability to post up, etc. Horry has had few of those strengths in his career. He hasn't started in years, and periodically doesn't show up for games (like game 3 and game 4). Hall-of-Famers don't get shut out. REPEAT: Hall-of-Famers don't get shut out. Hall-of-Famers also play more than 20 minutes a night. Look, all those Yankee middle relievers of the late nineties were dynamic pitchers who won lots of rings and will not make the Hall-of-Fame.
And what is this garbage about casual fans not understanding what Horry does? Even assuming that Horry is, say, one of the ten best defensive players in the league, does that make him any more valuable then, say, Bruce Bowen, who basically does the same thing that Horry does, play defense and make threes? Over the course of a season, who is more valuable to San Antonio?
Ok, ok, enough about that. Let's move on to argument number two: "He picks his spots and only asserts himself in big situations when his team truly needs him."
The last time I checked, your team needs you to play well... every time you're on the court. I think Horry's Spurs needed him in Games 3 and 4 as well.
Here's outrageous claim number three: "If the Spurs had lost that game, they would have eventually blown the series and everyone would have blamed Duncan all summer, mainly because of his epic stink bomb down the stretch that brought back memories of Karl Malone and Elvin Hayes. Now he's just another great player who had an atrocious game at the wrong time."
Well, this may be sort of true. I'm sure Spurs fans would have basted Duncan with his missed foul shots and missed tip-ins. But to call Duncan's 26 point, 19 rebound performance atrocious is obviously stupid. Duncan changed the complexion of this game with irritating putback after putback in the first half, and played some very nice defense on Chauncey Billups at the end.
I think Simmons heard too much of Bill Walton before the game, where Walton boldly claimed that Duncan had "never won a championship on his own," as if David Robinson was some dominant force his last year. It's fashionable to hate on Tim Duncan because he's not fun to watch and doesn't yell at people. I'm just wondering how many titles he has to win before people give him some respect. Maybe the magic number is 21 or something, I don't really know.
Well, that's all for now, maybe there's more later if I feel like it.
Mike
posted by mike at 8:24 AM
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