Posted by OffDaMeterzzzz:

Posted by oohah:

Posted by CrushAlot:

The Knicks got Rivers and Smith in the Jackson trade. At the time Smith looked like he could be the dominant small forward the Knicks had been trying to get and Rivers was a tremendous leader. Jackson went on to prove that Grunfeld had made a mistake but alot of that was Smith's fault.

I liked Rivers a lot but he was not a true PG. Derek Harper was a good player but a hybrid PG as well, not a real floor general. Smith was a good player but he was damaged goods.

But it didn't matter. Those teams were loaded with scoring talent all the way up through Sprewell years, but if you don't have a PG to run the offense, it's like having a ton of guns but nobody to fire them. Does that sound familiar? To clarify, that is similar to the situation we have with the Knicks now.

oohah

Harper is my favorite all-time NBA player (way some people feel about Frazier), therefore I have to defend him. Jackson had a solid career, but Harper held down the fort for the Knicks from 94-96, espeically in the playoffs. He had quite a few games hitting 7 3pt field goals, assists, great defense, steals, and clutch plays on a consistent basis. Had the Knicks won in 94 he probably would have been Finals MVP. He totally abused Marc Jackson in our playoff matchups against the Pacers. IMO he is the best pg we've had in the last 2 decades, possibly the best since Frazier. He was not a hybrid pg. He was the "quintessential" pg as Fraizer termed.

Sing it, brother. Harper is way underrated for what he did. He was a great floor general, and was solid in every category. I'm with you. Jackson couldn't defend worth ****.

Posted by GKFv2:

Everyone feared the Knicks back then. You ****ed around, you would get your ass thrown to the floor. But the league has changed, not only the Knicks. It's a more p*ssy league now.

PS: The best part: Nobody got f'in ejected. Today, the game would probably be canceled.

[Edited by - gkfv2 on 10-13-2008 7:57 PM]

Posted by oohah:

You know I could do a comparison for you that shows how Mark jackson simply blows away Derek Harper over his career, but all you have to do is go to NBA.com or basketball reference or wikipedia and find out for your self.

Suffice it to say, quintessential PP Derek Harper's single best assist year is under Mark Jackson's 17 year career assist average, Derek Harper had at best a slightly above average career assist average, and Mark Jackson reached heights in his first 2 years in the NBA that Harper never even sniffed over his career.

oohah

Yes, Jackson was the better assist man, however I feel Harper was the quintessential point guard and better player. He was an all around solid player who was able to do a little of everything to help the Knicks win. He is in the record books for assists and steals and was awesome on defense for his career. Jackson was g-d awful slow and couldn't guard a street pole from scoring a finger roll on him. I remember during the playoff battles against the Pacers, Harper crushed Jackson to the point they had to bring in HAYWOOD WORKMAN to man the point. Harper reached heights in his overall career in steals and defense that Jackson "couldn't sniff".

Let's not forget part of a point guard's duties is to distribute the ball, run the team, yet also GUARD against the opposing team's point guard and perimeter players. Overall, both point guards were really good at running their respective teams.