Recently I was hosting my Sunday afternoon radio show (Sundays, 2-5 pm on Sports Radio 790 The Zone, check it out online at www.790thezone.com) when I got into a discussion with our Board Op Variable Mike about Rajon Rondo. He was saying how great Rondo was but I was reluctent to give him a place in the top 20 of all time. Sorry, he might be good now, but he is torching Ray Felton, Mo Williams and Jameer Nelson right now. Not difficult.
Anyways, I know Mike is a huge wrestling fan as is one of my co-host Brian Jones (he has done a few wrestling blogs for us here on SBF) so I decided to put Rajon Rondo's place in the game in wrestling terms. I argued that Rondo was John Cena, aka the best in the game right now but will ultimately just go down as a footnote in a transition period. Yes he ended up being better than Randy Orton and Edge aka Chris Paul and Deron Williams, but come on. In the grand scheme of things, Cena will be looked at as a punk that couldn't lick Flair's, Hogan's, HBK's, Sting's shoes. Same with Rondo. Yeah, he's good, but he is no Oscar, Nash, Thomas, Magic, etc
Mike and Brian actually thought that was a pretty good comparison. So that got me thinking about other BBallers and who they would be if they were wrestlers.....
(I have WAY too much time on my hands)
Steve Nash would be the Macho Man. Much like the Macho Man, Nash was never the best when he played, though he did win two MVPs/heavyweight titles, thus carrying the WWF/NBA for a few years. Nash always had Shaq though that everyone knew was the best while Macho always had Hogan, who was too busy facing Andre the Giant.
Isiah Thomas=Bret Hart. Very good, maybe even considered to be the best by purists, but never truly loved. And they always thought they were better than they really were. And you can relate the Bret Hart walkout after HBK (a more loved wrestler with a higher ceiling in what should have been a torch-passing moment) to Thomas's walkout before the game was over when the Bulls swept the Pistons out of the playoffs in 1991 (by a more revered player with a higher ceiling in what WAS a torch-passing moment)
Kobe=HBK, simply the best of his generation and perhaps the second-best ever, behind MJ/Flair
LeBron=The Rock. Could have been the best but was/is too distracted with too many other distractions. LeBron wants to be the Global Icon instead of an all-time player and The Rock wanted to play The Tooth Fairy instead of wrestle Cena and put Cena in his place.
Dwight Howard=Batista. A big dude that isn't really that good but we've been told he's good, but once you watch him in a big moment against a big-time opponent, he just isn't.
Bruce Bowen= Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man. Always cheating but always sporting some hardware. DiBiase was always a tagteam champ with Money Inc or always an intercontinental champ, much like Bowen won a fistful of rings with the Spurs.
Demolition=The NJ Nets of the Early 2000s. The Nets were in the EC Finals and NBA finals for a stretch of years because everyone else really sucked those years, much like Demolition was always in the hunt for the WWF tag team titles because the competition was so weak. Honestly, Demolition couldn't hold a candle to LoD or the Hart Foundation, just like the Nets couldn't beat the Spurs or Lakers with a 2 game lead in a best-of-seven.
Robert Horry=X-Pac/Sixx/1-2-3Kid. Always around the action, sometimes playing a key role in various storylines, but never the top dog; in fact sucking a nice run off of the top dogs, but still has respect. X-Pac had nWo and D-X (Nash and Hulk as Shaq and Kobe, and Duncan and Parker as HHH and HBK), Horry had the Rockets, Spurs and Lakers. always around the action but never the main guy.
Finally, I had Kevin Nash as Tim Duncan, as in carrying the WWF then WCW as nWo but always overshadowed by HBK (Shaq) or Goldberg (Garnett) or Hogan (Kobe). Variable fought with me on this one. He said I WAY overvalued Nash, but I think I'm right on.
Actually, I'm probably a dork for sitting around and thinking about this. Yeah...
1 comment:
I switched up a few of the ones I had above....
Tim Duncan/Undertaker. Completely changed the sport/position (a big man had never really been that agile before 'Taker and Duncan reinvented the 4-spot). A multiple champion, but a guy that doesn't immediately come to mind as The Greatest, even though they both SHOULD be in the discussion. You think of Jordan and Magic and Bird and Russell/Hulk, Flair and HBK well before you think of Duncan and Taker. But those guys were so amazing that they didn't get their due, IMHO.
Chris Jericho/Moses Malone. Both undersized for their positions but both made the best of it, winning the WWE undisputed title/3MVP awards. Still both made us feel like we just scratched the surface of how great they could have been. Malone needed Dr. J like Jericho needed The Rock to achieve all-time status.
CM Punk/Barkley. Both are outspoken to say the least. CM Punk is now a champion while Barkley never won a title, but he was an MVP. I think because of their mic skills, we will remember both as far greater than they ever actually were, though Barkley is one of the top 18 players ever (we think he's better though because he's funny on TNT). Punk will probably be like that (A top 25 guy that we'll remember as higher because of the stunts/acts he pulls off)
Randy Orton/Isaiah Thomas. A "seriously?" guy that wasn't as good historically as others at his position (point guard and heavyweight contender) but he did win the titles/belts, so you must give him his due even though Magic/Jordan and HHH/Cena were the bigger sellers without question. You know better though. We all do.
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