April 21Apr 21 Author 5 minutes ago, aggie08 said: I don't see how anyone consistently beats KD in 1v1 competition. MJ and Larry have that psycho competitive gear…but i tend to agree.
April 21Apr 21 I think someone like young Hakeem Olajuwon or David Robinson would be tough. Both were great defenders and had the quickness to somewhat stay with guys like Bird or Jordan. But they would murder the smaller players down low.Wilt Chamberlain would also be a handful. Dude was so athletic. There are players I would take in a team game over Wilt, but 1:1 he would be a problem.
April 21Apr 21 I think it depends on matchups. If KD was matched up with Olajuwon, he probably gets beat. Hakeem would be able to defend KD, but KD would get abused by Hakeem.If KD matched up with say Curry, he probably wins due to his length.But if Curry was matched with Olajuwon, Curry might win because he would kill Hakeem with the 3s.So really I guess the question is… who would win the most matchups. Because there is a bad matchup for everybody.
April 21Apr 21 4 minutes ago, Iceman said: Shaq gets stopped by whom? Hakeem Not "stopped", but contained and outscored.
April 21Apr 21 3 minutes ago, DFW Horn said: Hakeem Not "stopped", but contained and outscored. May want to look up their h2h stats. Shaq crushed him. Prime Hakeem scored vs 22 year old Shaq but he couldn’t stop him either. Hakeem jacked up shots James harden style. Shaq won every other statistical category also may want to look up Hakeem vs robinson stats
April 21Apr 21 To the point upthread, all of those stats are in a team game. I'm willing to concede that Dream could stop Shaq, but I'd like to see it. I just thought it strange that one of the toughest matchups( Shaq) in NBA history wasn't even mentioned in the thread. and FTR, I like Dream way the hell more that I ever liked Shaq as a player; but was thinking about it objectively if the Big Diesel got going. You'd have to get him at the top of the key and stop the possession itself before he got down on the block. Hakeem's hands would be a problem for Shaq there. Edited April 21Apr 21 by Iceman
April 21Apr 21 Just now, Iceman said: To the point upthread, all of those stats are in a team game. I'm willing to concede that Dream could stop Shaq, but I'd like to see it. He didn’t in a team setting and I think it’d be worse one on one
April 21Apr 21 Accidentally voted Giannis instead of other. I know this won't be a popular pick, but strictly in a game of 1-1 not many guys are going to stop Kyrie.
April 21Apr 21 9 minutes ago, ITHorn said: Accidentally voted Giannis instead of other. I know this won't be a popular pick, but strictly in a game of 1-1 not many guys are going to stop Kyrie. Heard he beat KD in practice
April 21Apr 21 Author zero votes for steph or larry. that’s surprising. last was my third behind mj and kd.
April 22Apr 22 Author shaq can’t guard a bunch of guards/perimeter players over and over throughout a tournament. any savvy guard will try to run him ragged, and long shots make long rebounds. if shaq decides to just post up in the paint then you can just shoot and rebound him to death. he’s a really bad matchup for the smaller guys, but lebron or even KD could sufficiently guard him to beat him relatively easily compared to how difficult it would be for either of them to beat the other one.
April 22Apr 22 Prime Lebron vs Prime Jordan would be a hell of a fight, but I think Lebron would come out on top due to size advantage.
April 22Apr 22 I think athletic bigs like KD and Hakeem have a decided advantage against the edge cases such as Steph and Shaq. Against Steph on offense, they will just dominate the basket and if they miss, they will be playing volleyball by themselves. On defense, they can defend the basket and make him shoot from beyond 10 feet. Can Steph shoot >70% beyond the free throw line? Against Shaq, they have the range to shoot from middle range to pull Shaq away from the basket for an occasional drive. On the other hand, Shaq, starting his possession from beyond the 3-point line (I am assuming), can he consistently back his way to the basket without occasionally turning it over since he has no shooting range? KD/Hakeem have clear advantage against both types. MJ has athleticism, Lebron has strength and height, KD has reach and height and Hakeem has footwork and height. I chose MJ for sheer athleticism and KD for extending the range and defending the basket.
April 22Apr 22 Unless you're playing 21, wtf is this free throw talk? Did y'all ever actually play 1 on 1 to 11 or 15? There ain't no fucking free throws. You call your foul and it's your ball up top.
April 22Apr 22 On 4/21/2025 at 6:16 AM, HookEm said: Hakeem would be able to defend KD No one Hakeem's size has ever been able to defend KD. No one of any size, frankly, ever defended him well outside of some Tony Allen stretches and really good team D that wore him out like in 2016 or 2022.
April 22Apr 22 Author kobe famously said that kd was the one guy he never figured out, because kd never stopped evolving his game.
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