Pacers rant kind of

Dale Davis had one move the Tomahawk Jam, and thats all he needed.
Tyler can shoot, and has the undervalued ability to make tough shots in the Post.

Dale Davis was one of the worst foul shooters of all time.
Tyler is a good foul shooter.

Dale Davis was scary in the, “Get out of my face, or I’ll beat your ASS,” kind of way.
Tyler is scary in the, “Get out of my face, or I’ll chop you up, put you in storage bags in my fridge, feed your brains to my dog, and I’ll eat the rest,” kind of way.

Dale Davis never smiled.
Tyler obviously is funny.

Dale Davis played in the NBA Finals.
Tyler has played in the 1st round of the playoffs.

Dale Davis is Darth Vador BLACK.
Tyler is PASTY WHITE.

Dale Davis had Machismo with the ladies.
Tyler is a Ted Bundy look alike, and couldn’t get a chick if he had a hundred dollar bill stuck in his zipper.

Dale Davis played at Clemson, where all the black kids go.
Tyler played at North Carolina, where all the white kids go.

Both where the 13th pick of thier respected drafts, and both are Pacers.

I think we’re missing out on some key components from that era. I don’t get the comparisons people make to that team at all.

• Tyler Hansbrough cannot rebound or defend like Dale Davis. He is a much better offensive player, but that’s it. Davis’s range extended to about 10 feet max, while Hans can knock down the 20 footer with consistency and at least he thinks he can take people off the dribble. Davis would never try. But the importance of the athleticism/strength/defensive/rebounding gap between Hansbrough and Davis can’t be overstated, especially with how good/consistent of an outside shooter Smits was (I’ll get to this later).

• David West is NOT Antonio Davis. Their games aren’t similar at all. Antonio was a seamless Dale Davis replacement off the bench. His jumper was significantly better, and his range a few feet longer, but that wasn’t hard to do given Dale’s offensive irrelevance. West is good, and he’s a helluva lot more intense than I thought he’d be. He’s more assertive than I ever imagined, and seems to be looking more and more mobile by the day. He’s infinitely a more polished offensive player than Antonio ever was. But Antonio was very strong and very athletic. Big difference between “surprisingly mobile” and “very athletic.” But that doesn’t begin to describe the biggest hole to this comparison, which is that we rely on West to start and while we never had to rely on Antonio to do so. The Davis/Davis combo provided the Pacers with a duo of near-the-rim athletic defenders. The Hans/West combo does not. We don’t have that. It’s a problem at times, and will continue to be.

• I agree with you that Paul George is very good, but I’m not ready to call him “our best starting option since Reggie Miller.” I believe in him, and I sincerely think he will be our best two-guard since Reggie. But the shooting revelation he’s experiencing this year is somewhat mitigated by the fact that he refuses to be consistently assertive on offense. This can probably be somewhat attributed to his age and somewhat a product of Danny Granger being our most ball dominant player (and essentially playing the same position). That clutch scorer we all wanted in the off-season to come off the bench? We wouldn’t have needed one if George was more confident. And as much as it pains me to say it, and as much as I hated his shot selection, Stephen Jackson was that guy. Just because he left us with a bad taste in our mouths, it doesn’t mean he wasn’t a better overall player during his time here than George is RIGHT NOW. This is a complicated issue because I know people are going to get hyper-sensitive and light me up over it, but I just want to make it clear that I like George a great deal better, and I see something very special in him. But Jackson’s scoring (and underrated defense) was what we complain about not having these days.

• Eh, I never got the Scottie Pippen references. I think a lot of people make that comparison simply to excuse Danny for not being a star. They say “he’s more of a Scottie Pippen,” not really comparing their games but comparing them as secondary options, never capable of carrying a championship contender by themselves. But you said it, Pippen was a MUCH better defender than Danny (though Danny has surprised me with his defense this year). And Danny is a much better three point shooter.

• I like the Smits and Hibbert comparison because they were both unique in different ways. But Smits was a deadlier and more consistent offensive threat. He knew what his job was, which was to get opposing bigs to plod out to 20 feet where he would knock down jumpers. Hibbert’s role still seems a little ambiguous, and I’m now convinced he’ll never have a jumper even near Smits-level.

I like the enthusiasm over this year’s group, I do. And I’m on board with them maybe upsetting a 3 or 4 seed in the first round of the playoffs. But some of the things that our Reggie era team had are simply not here these days (tough, athletic interior defenders, crunch time scorers and a smart point guard with eyes in the back of his head) and I think people forget that when they make that comparison. They also forget the team chemistry, veteran presence and coaching differences between these two teams.

And one of the reasons Pippen was so good was that he was unselfish and a great passer. Helps that he played with the greatest player of all time. But my question is if Danny played with Jordan, would he even pass to him? I’d like to think so, but we’ll never know how Danny would react to playing with great offensive players because while he’s here it looks like he’ll always be (or think he’ll be) our #1 offensive option.

Mark Jackson was slow
DC is fast

Mark was the floor general
DC is on the floor

Mark Jackson can post any point guard in the league up
DC can post Mugsy Bogues up. . . Mabey

Mark Jackson is one of the greatest to ever throw a pass
DC is getting there

Mark Jackson had swagger and a will to win
DC is getting there

Mark Jackson had the Head Bobble
DC has the High Five?

Ron Harper couldn’t defend Mark Jackson
Ron Harper would shut down DC

Mark Jackson played in the NBA Finals
DC played in the 1st Rd

Mark Jackson was Rookie of the Year
DC had a good Rookie Year

Mark Jackson was the 18th pick
DC was the 21st pick

Mark Jackson was a movie star in the film Eddie
DC was a extra in Big Momma’s House 2

It took Smits about 6 seasons to be consistently good; he was god-awful his first couple. Hibbert is so much farther along relative to Smits at the same point in his career. Hibbert is less of a classic back-to-the-basket offensive threat than Smits was (in this facet of his game, Smits was great), but Hibbert’s athleticism makes him more of a complete threat. The season’s early, but Hibbert seems to have improved, and I suspect he will surpass Smits by the time his career is over. Just so you know, I was a huge Rik Smits fan back in the day.