Blue is Me

Tag: weakness

  • What is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s biggest weakness?

    Prime Bucks Kareem – virtually none.

    Older Lakers Kareem – probably his rebounding and lack of defense

    When Kareem played for the Bucks he was dominant on both ends of the court. Yes, guys like Nate Thurmond and Wilt would try to contain Kareem but they would only cause Kareem to dip from 30 PPG to 25 PPG ish so it wasn’t containment by any means but just limiting Kareem a bit offensively.

    On defense Kareem was a great rim protector in his prime and a good rebounder albeit he would sometimes get out-worked on the glass by shorter guys like Wes Unseld, Dave Cowens and Jerry Lucas who had more hustle and who were great at positioning themselves for a rebound. Those guys were all time rebounders though.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAZjqsIY7gI

    Here in the 1974 Finals, Cowens pulls an incredible 21 rebounds off the glass which shows just how much hustle he had – Kareem didn’t exactly that same amount of energy.

    Later on in his career, Kareem in the Lakers (post 1982) had several weaknesses related to rebounding and defense.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRDxv7Z2ruU

    Moses Malone clearly demonstrated this at Kareem just couldn’t deal with him at all. Moses completely outscored, outrebounded and out-defended him. Of course this was prime Moses versus older Kareem (who was still very good).

    Later in his career Kareem would mainly be called upon for his reliable skyhook rather than anything as his age prevented him from playing effective defense or out-rebounding anyone.

  • What is the biggest weakness of each of the greatest NBA superstars?

    I’ll break down for my top 20 nba players (not in order):

    Jordan – early in his career, he was a ‘selfish’ player who didnt trust his teammates – later in his career, 3 point shooting probably

    Magic – defense was his weakness

    Lebron – was great at defense during his Miami years but got lazy after that, free throw shooting for his position

    Shaq – take a guess? free throw shooting and a lack of effort in defense

    Durant – defense, passing could be better

    Wilt – free throw shooting and a lack of desire (some might say ‘killer instinct’) in do or die situations

    Russell – shooting (only 44% for a center is pretty bad), free throw shooting was bad

    Kareem – his defense and rebounding in his early part of his career was great, but by the latter half of his career had waned.

    Duncan – almost a perfect nba player, perhaps only free throw shooting but considering he’s a big man his % isn’t too bad

    Bird – was decent at defense but not the best at his position

    West – Almost a perfect NBA player as well, just got ‘unlucky’ too many times

    Hakeem – skills wise almost perfect, but according to some sources, was a hard player to coach

    Kobe – ‘selfish’, couldn’t trust his teammates, was a demanding teammate

    Dr J – his range was limited, and similar to Robinson/Wilt athleticism was off the charts but a little ‘too nice’ in do or die situations

    Baylor – wasn’t a great shooter (43%) and defense was lacking

    Oscar – defense was lacking, was a demanding teammate by all accounts

    Havlicek – almost a perfect nba player, but perhaps lacked the ‘it’ factor to really dominate a game the way his contemporaries Dr J and Rick Barry could

    Moses – couldn’t pass, defense was sloppy at times

    Karl M – much like Wilt lacked the ‘desire’ to close out a game in do or die situations

    Pettit – not a terrific shooter (43%)