AD will go down as the best who ever played at UK.
- Thread starter BigBlueFanGA
- Start date
On ESPN they were discussing the 5 best players currently in the NBA and AD was on everyone's list.
Issel's scoring is impressive but in the context of the time he played in it dims somewhat. I am not interested in denigrating one great UK player in order to build up another so I am not going to make a case against Issel, I just think it is absurd to think he was a greater basketball player than AD is right now. Forget 3 years into the future when AD will be in King James territory, I mean right now today AD is a far superior player to what Issel ever was as a COMPLETE basketball player and that is not an indictment against Issel it is a testament to AD being a freak and a once in a generation player. I doubt we'll ever see a player like him at UK maybe in our lifetimes.
Issel's scoring is impressive but in the context of the time he played in it dims somewhat. I am not interested in denigrating one great UK player in order to build up another so I am not going to make a case against Issel, I just think it is absurd to think he was a greater basketball player than AD is right now. Forget 3 years into the future when AD will be in King James territory, I mean right now today AD is a far superior player to what Issel ever was as a COMPLETE basketball player and that is not an indictment against Issel it is a testament to AD being a freak and a once in a generation player. I doubt we'll ever see a player like him at UK maybe in our lifetimes.
Maybe you've already answered it, but how can Issel be said to have had a better career when he was never a national champion in his career, never was a final four MVP, was never the consensus player of the year, etc. etc?
If you ignore all those rebounds he got, points he scored, lack of supporting cast, etc etc, then Issel sucked I suppose. Also, Davis did all that stuff single handed. It's not like Davis played with any other first round draft picks.
Basically, I agree. If we throw out everything that Issel did, ignore the differences in supporting teams and forget that Issel still leads scoring and rebounding even though he only got to play three years and had NO three point shot, then it's no contest.
However if I ignored all that stuff, I'd be really, really, REALLY stupid.
You can declare Davis the next coming of Christ. I really don't care. Why not just ignore all that stuff Jordan did and declare him the Goat.
I'm going to evaluate his career as it unfolds. Sure I presented some dumb arguments in this post. None so stupid though as throwing out data. Issel remains at the top of the heap. He will do so until Davis takes it with numbers earned on the court.
I watched Sam at Rupp many times. He was an evolutionary player, but not at the same level as AD. AD is special in so many ways, and getting better everyday, it's had to compare hm to anyone. His skills go off the chart in every direction.
Funny thing that. Recall at the time, Bowie was drafted ahead of Michael Jordan. Apparently the experts in the business thought his skills went off the charts in every direction. This was after his injury and lengthy rehab.
But I think you make my point really well. If Davis were to suffer a catastrophe like Bowie, history will remember him the same way. Davis does not have the career stats to declare him the best ever at Kentucky. I fully expect him to do that at some point based on his NBA performance, but he's not there yet. Again, I plan to let him play out his career then consider where he lands on the scale of players with the linage of Kentucky finest.
How many times do I have to say that before folks accept that as my opinion and leave it there. I really don't care if folks are ready to declare him best in the universe without first earning it. I'm not. Davis deserves better than freebies. He'll be quite capable of earning his accolades without free handouts.
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Issel was a great player in his time, but Davis is going to go down as an all time great. Davis had plenty of talent to Play with, but if was obvious the reason we were winning it all in 2012. The guy is a freak and could dominate a game in college and didn't need to score a basket to do so. I still remember a guy driving Inside, pump faking it 6 or 7 times before passing it back outside. Guys were scared of Davis. Davis is going to contribute more to Kentucky than just the title he lead us to. Kids are going to grow up wanting to be Davis and some will come to KY cause of Davis. His impact is going to be felt for a long time to come. I know the older fans will get offended when Davis is considered the best, but they too will eventually come around send agree as well. Issel is a wildcat legend, Davis is the wildcat goat.
THE HORSE did it night after night for 3 years..his records still stand today..AD is a great player..I'll take Issel.
I'm not sure what you're talking about with me. I haven't challenged your opinion, just made comments of my own. I will say though, that I said he will be the best from UK, not the best at UK and clearly stated, barring injury, he will eventually achieve that status.
I agree with your statement. I thought you had a very well written post and reached quite reasonable conclusion. The bad news for you is that we apparently have very similar opinions.
Third paragraph was to thread in general. I'm basically done responding to the same stuff over and over.
I'm going to post something that will blow your touching minds , it's more than likely that we would have won four straight titles if Davis stayed four years . I don't feel confident saying that about anybody else but him , I have zero qualms stating that about Anthony .
I cant wait for the thread where Kybassfan is defending Tubby as a better coach at kentucky than Calipari. "He has more wins at UK than Cal, It doesn't matter that Cal is changing the game because tubby got his wins when guys played here for four years....insert numbers and call everyone else an idiot"
Well, not to beat a dead horse, but if Davis played 4 years the water would be crystal clear.
I'm not so sure. For example, Davis didn't have to compete against a healthy Cousins as a senior. Our blue chip freshmen don't generally have to compete with so many Blue chip upper classmen. Different times, different scenarios. Davis just needs to have his career, post those numbers we expect and this gets a lot easier.
Who is Tubby? Only a Moron would waste much effort discussing a coach from so far in the past. We can get into that when his name goes in the rafters in Rupp. Though we may have to wait till your posterior distress subsides after that happy event.
