NBA Favorite Players

[DCDuck]

[YessSir32]

PG: Chauncey Billups

SG: Rip Hamilton

SF: Tayshaun Prince

PF: Rasheed Wallace

C: Ben Wallace

[tBBP]

I'm not all that big a basketball guy, but (aside from MJ) I always paid particular attention to two particular players whenever I could. One was/is Ray Allen, my favorite baller of all. The other one was Gary Payton.

Ray was/is, in my opinion, one of the best pure shooters the game's ever seen. I can remember while back in middle school trying to model what little bit of game I had back then after his...while other kids were trying to be like Mike, I was trying to be like Ray. As for Gary, the man got the nickname "The Glove" for a reason: he was quite possibly the league's stickiest defender in his prime...and boy did he talk a whole lotta s-h-i-t while D'ing up. But, he also had offense to go along with all that defense and s*** talking. His persona was almost the polar opposite of Ray's, which is probably why I tried to emulate the both of them back in my younger days. (The odd thing about these two is that they ended up getting traded for each other around the middle of their careers. To further the oddity, Ray chose to wear #20, Gary's number, when he got to Boston.)

Some of my other favorite players to watch:

- Clyde Drexler. Mike was "Air"; Clyde was "The Glide". I used to play a lot of Bulls vs Blazers back in the day (for those of you who remember that old NES/Sega Genesis video game), and would always play as Portland, one to be the antagonist, and two because I could always score with Clyde. I started paying attention to the real Blazers right before that game came out, and Clyde was the guy who stuck out to me the most, so much so that I continued following him when he got down to Houston.

- David Robinson, and by extension, Tim Duncan. D-Rob was one of the game's all-time good guys, and watching Duncan come up under his wing was a sight to see. In fact, watching David jump around in circles like a little schoolgirl with that five-mile-wide kool-aid smile after he won the first of his two 'ships is still one of my favorite sports memories of all time. Meanwhile, aside from being of the game's most fundamentally sound players (so much so that endded up being dubbed "The Big Fundamental"), Duncan perfected the art of the bank shot and turned it into a science.

- Tracy McGrady. Good ol' T-Mac. Instant offense. Guy never saw a hoop he didn't like. He was good for at least a couole 40-point games a season, when healthy. I watched this guy drop 41 on the Pistons at the Palace once, the only NBA game I've ever seen in person, and it was ridiculous the way he ripped those nets up that night.

- Jason Williams. Say what you want about J-Will a.k.a White Chocolate, but the dude knew how to put on a show on the floor...dude was almost like a regular ol' modern day Pistol Pete Maravich running around out there.

Of the newer guard, I also enjoy watching Chris Paul, Brandon Jennings, and oddly enough, JJ Barrea.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

My video game starting five that's more or less the first five guys that came to mind:

G:

G:

F:

F:

C:

Other guys to round out my bench: Arvydas Sabonis, Charles Oakley, Kobe Bryant, and because I'd probably need a real point guard, John Stockton.

[winghaz]

C: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

G: Jerry West

G: Michael Jordan

F: Larry Bird

F: Phil Jackson (he's from North Dakota and he was a boyhood hero when he played for the Knicks)

[Shumway]

Hardaway - Majerle - Ceballos - Barkley - Mourning