Wow, I had no idea that Jackson was such a good/intelligent player. It makes sense that he went on to be a good coach too.

Pike/Marv:
1) Who was the best defensively player on that team?
2) Do you think Clyde would be a good coach? He sounds like a bright guy
3) I was at that Willis Reed Game when he limped out on to the court.

p.s. damn, I've been thinking about it... DeBusschere and Reed were amazing defensive players.

Marbury he just always loved NY and even though some nights he's off, he's always doing something.

Sprewell was my favorite, just the energy and passion he played every game with grew on me pretty quick

Posted by Pike:

Silverfuel:

Who was the best defensive player? That's a great question, they all played excellent defense. That being said, I'd have to go with Clyde... always among league leader's in steals and played stiffling defense.

I don't know if Clyde would or would not have made a good coach. I know he never wanted to be one. When you look at that starting five and look what they did after their playing careers, you can see why they played so well together. Also, on offense (JVG will never be confused with Red Holtzman), you never saw a team move the ball better.... The coined the phrase, "moving without the ball".

Clyde was clutch but he in reality his defense wasn't that good. Heison (sic?) once said Clyde was 10 times worse on defense then people thought and ten time better on offense. And Monroe pointed out on more then one occasion that he usually guarded the other teams better offensive guard.

Clyde did have an amazing ability to come up with a big steal - but I do think his overall defensive ability was over-rated. But don't kept me wrong CLYDE may be my favorite player ever.

Well you know my man Pike is on the left coast in Cali, sometimes he has to "stretch" things to get his point across.

Posted by playa2:

Well you know my man Pike is on the left coast in Cali, sometimes he has to "stretch" things to get his point across.

Agh Playa (my man), only one person's credibilty is currently being questioned by just about EVERYONE around here... and you know who that is???

PLAYA2!!!

can't argue with you there. One thing I'll say about you, you're consistent.

Junk Yard Dog is my favorite player right now

(Ariza, Crawford very close behind)

Bernard King is my all-time favorite player

Posted by Pike:

Well, I was only 12 years old, Oldfan but, I always remember Clyde getting up on players and his timing was superb. Interesting comments though.... what about DeBusschere and Reed's defense?... and in Willis' case, he was often matched against bigger players, being only 6'9"... do you remember the battles he used to have with Wes Unseld? Those were some fierce physical battles.

Actually we're about the same age. The league was different then. Players in general weren't as bulky (reed was bout 250 and Unseld probably 270 and they were huge for the day - width wise) and the defense wasn't as intense. The way I remember that Knick team was all the incredible come backs. They didn't play tough defense for 48 minutes but they could really bring the defense when they were behind in the fourth quarter.

Debusschere and Reed were both real strong defenders. Debusschere was undersized for his position too - even compared to PFS of the day. There front court was actually small across but Monroe and Frazier and for that matter Barnett were all big guards for that time and they just knew how to play together.

Action Jackson was great to watch guarding the inbound passes at the end of games - awkward looking as hell but effective.

My childhood recollection of Frazier was also that he was great on defense and the writers of the day certainly built it up. But he was CLYDE and he was in NY so he got a little over hyped and his defense was flashy - I don't remember him as Bruce Bowen or even John Starks type in your face defender. I remember he had a book out and said something along the line of luring defenders into a false sense of security and then taking advantage of that at a key point in the game. And the big steals are what I remember about him on D. I think Dollar Bill said "He could steal the hub cabs off a moving car."

As far as smart I think they rank up there with the smartest of all time. Physically there were more talented teams but they played so well together and as individuals they were all intelligent and that extended off the court too.