As the years have shined, everyone is talking about Jokic.
He was a fat man, but he had unparalleled skill and flexibility.
You can hold the ball and launch a fast attack all over the field.
You can throw a cross-field long pass at any time to feed your teammates two points.
It can also easily tear apart the opponent's defense line in a variety of whimsical ways.
He is a center who can both fight like a shark in the flesh under the basket and play graceful steps like a big dream.
He even has ranges beyond the three-point line. Although they have not achieved the ultimate like their predecessors, they are really an all-rounder.
On the offensive end, he satisfies almost all people's imagination of a center forward, even breaking through people's brain limits from time to time.
The NBA is not short of super centers, from George McCann, Russell, Chamberlain in the ancient times, to the later Skyhook and the four centers of the nineties.
The history of the NBA's championship is actually a history of centering.
But Mr. Yo, as the number one organizer of the whole team, scored and passed the ball and grabbed the geek, which is really the first in 75 years.
If you insist on finding similar predecessors, there may only be the following few.
Bill Walton – the greatest legend destroyed by injuries
In the NBA center Pantheon, we first think of the great names sharks, Chamberlain, Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, Olajuwon. Bill Wharton's name is rarely mentioned today, and now his more famous identity is probably Luke Wharton's father.
But it's the white center who has played just 468 games in ten seasons and has less than 60 percent attendance. When it was selected for the Top 50 in 1996, no one questioned it.
Just because he was too scary when he was healthy.
He is a graduate of UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and is a disciple of Abdul-Jabbar. But under legendary coach John Woodden, his dominance over college basketball is even higher than the sky.
Three seasons of college (when I couldn't compete in my freshman year), I won all 30 games in the first two years and 26 wins and 4 losses in the third year. Averaging 18.5 points, 14.2 rebounds, 3.6 blocks and 4.5 assists per game, he became Player of the Year for the third consecutive year.
Unlike his predecessor Abdul-Jabbar's superior physical talent and slightest hooking skills, Walton was not only able to stably protect the basket, rebounding, blocking and grabbing, but also the unique ability to launch an attack with a long pass.
Before entering the NBA, his long pass was considered a skill comparable to that of "Big West" Unseld (a wizard, the only rookie mvp in history).
Although he is nicknamed "Hongmao Shanren" by naturally rough ore, he has a silky shooting feel, his mid-range, left and right hand strokes are ugly but extremely accurate, and his excellent high position strategy allows him to be the guiding light for his teammates as long as he is on the field.
His most exaggerated evaluation is:
Russell's defense + Chamberlain's attack, and then also stuffed into the soul of an organizational defender.
He was drafted by the Blazers in 1974, but played only 86 games in his first two seasons with an ankle sprain and wrist fracture, 14.8 points, 13.9 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.3 blocks.
In his third season (76-77) he was a little bit healthier, playing 65 games. The stats rose to 18.6 points, 14.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.2 blocks, bringing the Blazers to the playoffs for the first time in history.
The Nuggets were eliminated in the playoffs, and then met the Lakers of their fellow brother Abdul-Jabbar in the Western Conference Finals.
In that series, although the king of the NBA in the seventies had a gorgeous statistic of 30.3 points and 16.5 rebounds, he was restrained by Walton in the game.
Not only can Walton interfere with every offense he makes, but he also helps his teammates score easily with his weird passes at any time, averaging 19.3 points and 14.8 rebounds per game and contributing a two-team high of 5.8 assists.
4-0, the Blazers swept the Lakers to the 1977 Finals.
In the Finals, they met the Philadelphia 76ers led by "J Bosh" Owen. Coming up and losing two games in a row, 2-0, then Walton's performance began.
In the third game, 18 rebounds, 9 assists and 4 blocks,
In the fourth game, 12 points, 13 boards, 7 assists and 4 blocks
Fifth game 14 points, 24 boards, 3 assists and 2 caps,
In the sixth game of the championship, he was even more exaggerated 20 points, 23 boards, 7 assists and 8 caps,
The Blazers won the championship in four consecutive sets, and in the entire six games, he did not become a scoring champion once, but he has always dominated the game with defense, rebounding, and passing, and he deserves to be fmvp
This record was not reproduced until Iguodala in 2015.
The following year, he got another regular season MVP and then collapsed just when everyone thought he was going to be Abdul-Jabbar's strongest opponent.
In addition to helping the Trail Blazers win the only championship in team history, he is also the origin of Portland's "center graveyard".
In the 1978–79 season, he missed a game due to a foot injury, and at the same time had a conflict with the Blazers doctor because of medical differences, and in a fit of rage, he took the team to court, and was finally sent by the Blazers to the San Diego Clippers (the predecessor of the Los Angeles Clippers).
But by the time he got to the Clippers, he played 14 games and fell, taking a break for two full seasons in 1980-82.
Until about 1985, he played only 169 games in five years with the Clippers.
In the 1985–86 season he went to the Green Army as a substitute for Robert Parrish, finished the league's best sixth man at the age of 33, followed Bird to his only championship ring, and retired after falling again in 1987.
Although his career has been devastated by injuries, the white American center, who may be the strongest in NBA history, used his only two healthy seasons (1976-78) to conquer everyone's hearts.
Sabonis – the man who defeated the Myth of American Basketball
1992 was a watershed year for world basketball and the most important year in basketball history. Because the U.S. men's basketball team finally sent their NBA players to the Olympics.
We all know that it is the dream team that has become a classic.
One of the most important reasons was that they lost the Seoul Olympics in 1988, not only to the Soviet Union, the last reluctant opponent, but also to the Soviet Union.
Until then, the United States, the kingdom of basketball, almost ruled the basketball program. After World War II, they only failed to win gold medals in two Olympic Games, one was the famous Munich Olympic Games in 1972, which was overturned by the former Soviet Union, and once when the Moscow Olympics in 1980 did not go at all.
But in Seoul, they were packed up.
At that time, the U.S. insiders were "Admiral Robinson" in '87 (because he had not yet played the NBA in service), and Danny Manning in '88. But in front of Soviet center Sabonis, they were completely vulnerable. With 20 points and 15 rebounds, the invincible American men's basketball team was 76-82.
Arvidas Sabonis was born on 19 December 1964 in Kaunas, Lithuania. He only started playing basketball at the age of 13, and entered the former Soviet Youth Team at the age of 15.
In 1982, at the age of 18, Sabonis won the gold medal at the World Championships with the Soviet men's basketball team and the European Championship in 1985.
He is 2 meters tall and 21 meters tall, and he has broken rebounds at the age of 19. But in addition to his natural talent, what is more exaggerated is his innate familiarity with basketball skills.
Defensive, rebounding, and other rough jobs are too easy for him. He can shoot from outside the three-point line, and has clever steps, combined with supple hands, this kind of face basket three threats, swing breakout after the middle shot to pick up.
Not only did he have the traditional toughness of a Soviet athlete, but he could complete such a chop on David Robinson's head.
And naturally with a smart brain overlooking the whole field, the strategy in the high position makes the Americans have to look at the delicacy unique to European centers.
As early as 1985, the Atlanta Hawks selected him with the 77th pick despite the political climate at the time, but the NBA declared it invalid on the grounds that Sabonis was not old enough.
In 1986, the Blazers despite Sabonis' serious injuries, took him down with the 24th pick in the first round.
But for reasons that are well known, it wasn't until 1989 that Sabonis was eligible to play abroad. But years of unscientific overload training have scarred his knees and Achilles tendons.
People can only see an inside monster that is no longer able to run and jump.
He went to Valladolid in Spain and then joined the giants Real Madrid, winning the league title for the first two years and the European championship in the third year, and he won the MVP himself.
Before the 1995-96 season, at the age of 31, he decided to try it out in the NBA and make a ten-year-late pact with the Blazers.
At that time, his knees were as old as those of a seventy- or eighty-year-old man, and he had to wear thick knee pads every game. The Trail Blazers doctor looked at his X-ray and joked that it was enough to apply for a disability grant in Portland.
But even so, he can still make people imagine how terrifying he would be at his peak.
He almost never accelerates, slowly going back and forth between the ends of the court. But no center in the league at the time could match that.
Back, strategy, hand-to-hand, make-up, rebounding, blocking, projection, all show his unique skills.
With a show mentality, he has been staying in the ranks of the western powerhouse with young people such as "Little Flying Squirrel" Stoudemire and Roaring Heavenly Wallace. Even on 1996 All-Star Weekend, the 32-year-old was still interested in playing a rookie game with Kobe Bryant, AI and a group of other children.
He played for seven years with the Trail Blazers (1995-01) and came back to the rescue in 2003. He averaged 12.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in 25 minutes.
But whether the Blazers are targeting the playoffs or want to compete with the Lakers for the championship, he is always the starter.
In the 1999-2000 season, in order to limit the Sharks, the Blazers hoarded Wallace, O'Neal Jr., Brian Grant, Slimfer and other macho men, but Sabonis has always been the team's main center.
At that time, seeing the sharks in the team's inner line, the biggest feeling of the Blazers fans was:
"Cow what, if only our Sabonis were ten years younger..."
Nowadays, we are more familiar with him as the father of little Sabonis, but we don't know how terrifying Yao Ming's only idol was.
Divac – Serbia's basketball pioneer
Compared to Sabonis, Jokic's Serb predecessor Divac was much luckier.
He doesn't have the terrifying physical talent of Sabonis when he was healthy, but he also has the delicate skills and comprehensive skills of a European center forward, and even a little more cunning.
Sabonis shocked the world by beating the U.S. men's basketball team at the 1988 Olympics.
In fact, Divac did it a year earlier, but it was not so famous.
After 1985, the country that was still called Yugoslavia at that time suddenly exploded with a bunch of basketball geniuses. Later Bull Dynasty hero Tony Kukoc, the young-dead Petrovich, Radega, and Divac, who were also in-housers, were also inland.
At the 1987 University Games in Zagreb, they killed the U.S. team with "Big Mom" Larry Johnson and "Glove" Gary Payton in the group stage, and Kukoc scored 37 points on 11-of-12 three-pointers. In the semifinals, it was replaced by the interior combination of Divac and Radega, Divac had 21 points and 10 rebounds, Radegar had 20 points and 15 rebounds, leading the team to eliminate the United States 86-76 and eventually win the championship.
At the 1988 Olympics, they reached the final and lost to Sabonis, who eliminated the United States. But at both the 1989 European Championships and the 1990 World Championships in Argentina, Yugoslavia won the title and completed its revenge against the Soviet Union.
In the upheavals of Eastern Europe in '89, Divac and Petrovic became the first European players to enter the NBA.
Luckily, he was selected by the Lakers with the 26th pick in the first round.
That year coincided with Tiangou had just retired, and the pressure to relay the legend who had played for the Lakers for 15 years and won five championships could be imagined.
In his first year, he also had to play as a substitute for Kleat's father, Michelle Thompson, averaging 8.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
But the Lakers' free-spirited autumn wind, especially the magician's master organizer around him, made Divac's progress rapid.
He started the following year, averaging 11.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.
What's more, they played back to the finals.
But 1991 was already Jordan's world, and the Magicians and Lakers could not stop him from reaching the top 4-1 for the first time, but in the only game the Lakers won, he had 16 points, 14 boards, 3 assists and 3 blocks.
In fact, he scored third (18.2) rebounds and first (8.8) and a team-high 1.2 steals in that series.
For a newcomer who is only in the second grade, it is already a very good result.
But Divac's biggest contribution to the Lakers is still in exchange for Kobe.
He played for the Lakers until the 1995-96 season, with 13.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists. But in the summer of 1996, general manager West signed shark O'Neal for 7 years and 120 million, so he exchanged Divac from the Hornets for an 18-year-old.
This young man, twenty years later, became the greatest Laker.
Divac began a wandering in the NBA, from the Lakers to the Hornets, played two seasons after the Kings, and finally met the most suitable team for himself.
At the time the impression of him was almost fixed, the typical European centre-forward. The technique is excellent, the consciousness is superb, but the confrontation is average, and in the nineties, when the four centers took turns, his space was really limited.
He played well, but definitely not well.
Until the king came.
Here, head coach Adelman plays the Princeton offense, emphasizing high-level strategy, strong and weak side shifts and various cover cuts. An internal line that can accurately dispatch at a high level and issue cards calmly is essential.
And they have two at once, in addition to Divac, and Chris Weber, who won the title of 1993 and may be the most handsome and gorgeous big forward in history.
So he and Weber, along with his fellow countrymen Peja Stojakovic, Christie, and White Chocolate (later replaced by Bibby), formed the most gorgeous team in the league in the late twenties and early 2000s.
They can all pass the ball and each of them can score. In the game, he constantly blocks and cuts, and plays with opponents with all kinds of unpredictable, pointing to the west.
Divac, on the other hand, is one of the most cunning.
Not only can he become a beacon of the team on the offensive end, but although he is not as "vicious" as Ewing, Mo Ning, and Uncle Mu in defense, he is eager to slap all the opponents who kill him to the floor, but he also has his own unique skills, fake falls.
He may be the first player to let the NBA breakers see how defensive centers can still be, making 59 offensive fouls in the 99-00 season alone.
At that time, Zen master Phil Jackson had a yin and yang strange airway:
"Vlad (Divac) is really not a good fit for the NBA, and whenever I face the Sharks, I'm afraid he'll be carried straight into the ICU."
And his battle with the sharks also became a later classic.
During the 2000-02 triple crown, the Lakers encountered the Kings in the playoffs every year, the Sharks at their peak were monsters that no one could stop, and Divac was also a background board many times.
But he also took advantage of O'Neal's weakness of domination under the basket and insufficient range of motion, constantly shooting, handing hands and covering in high positions, creating opportunities for Bibby, Peja and Weber.
In those years of sharks' western rivals, if Duncan was a stone that could not be broken, Uncle Mu was a dog skin plaster that could not be torn off. Divac, then, is a slippery piece of soap for O'Neill.
The defensive end watched him stand at the free throw line to lure himself out of the basket, and the offensive end had to guard against his fake fall performance comparable to the Oscar-level movie king. Let the sharks always eat not smooth enough.
Extremely cunning, extremely disgusting.
Therefore, how can a man who can "single change" Kobe Bryant be a common man.