George Gervin on Grantland

[JohnFreeman]

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


NBA legend George "The Ice Man" Gervin sits down with Bill Simmons to tell tales of his ABA and NBA career. He talks about the merger, playing one-on-one with Dr. J every day after practice, who would join him on his all-time starting five, and what he thinks of the league today.

[T_L_P]

Enjoyed the interview. Ice seemed a little out of touch with some things (40% from behind the line is good), but it was interesting nonetheless!

A lot of the old guys have Kareem as the GOAT.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Good interview. All these legends tend to respect Kobe.

[MichaelCorleone]

Kareem GOAT?:wtf: :biggums:

[AboutBuckets]

Kareem GOAT?:wtf: :biggums:

Calm down. If you're going to put someone other than MJ at #1, Kareem's pretty much the consensus alternative

[HomieWeMajor]

Ice got a lot of white pussay in the 70s and 80s. Shame his coke habit ended his career early

[Rose'sACL]

40% from 3 is 60% from 2. That is crazy good plus opens the lanes a little more.
Other than that, great interview.

[the mesiah]

Good vid,that would have been a great 30 for 30 project on that crazy day of scoring.ice my 2nd fave of all time.

[Dr.J4ever]

Good interview. I also saw the dr.J interview. Both had ABA-NBA questions on the merger. To me, it's a travesty that ABA stats aren't merged with NBA stats when clearly, the best ABA teams at the time were every bit as good or better than top NBA teams.

Ice was the most versatile scorer back then. Just unbelievable the number of ways he could score.

[Psileas]

What did he say about his 1-on-1's vs Dr.J? (I can't watch the whole interview right now).

[Dr.J4ever]

What did he say about his 1-on-1's vs Dr.J? (I can't watch the whole interview right now).
He didn't say who won the matchups, but he did say, "Doc operated on me"..

[Rake2204]

Man, he sounds almost identical to my old coach and mentor. He used to tell us he knew George Gervin and whatnot (he's two years older than Ice) but we all kind of took it with a grain of salt. I know having the same mannerisms doesn't settle the truth, but it's all beginning to sound a little more possible.

My mentor even has those same moments where you're pretty sure what he's saying isn't true, but he says it in a way where you just have to be like, "Well, alright, yeah" (Gervin talking about the three point shooting). The similarities are almost frightening.

Also, here's the Jam Session poster they were discussing:

http://www.burnsshoes.com/oen12a.jpg

There's a bigger version on Google images if you want to see who all's included. I just didn't want to break the thread by posting it directly. Here's the link: http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6227/6316406854_a8f317745d_o.jpg

[jlip]

I enjoyed this. I truly wish there was just one video somewhere of the final day of the 1978 season when Gervin and Thompson were gunning for the scoring title. He also seemed to have a lot of praise for Magic. He said that Magic was playing with professionals at age 14.

[sportjames23]

He didn't say who won the matchups, but he did say, "Doc operated on me"..


I'd pay good money to see any old film of them playing one-on-one.

[ProfessorMurder]

My mentor even has those same moments where you're pretty sure what he's saying isn't true, but he says it in a way where you just have to be like, "Well, alright, yeah" (Gervin talking about the three point shooting).

While Ice was looking down on threes, he's not exactly wrong. He said good shooters shoot like 40%. Korver is shooting around 45%, and a few other good shooters like Steph are over 40...

I don't care about the efficiency shit of 33.3% threes = 50% of twos. I'm with Ice.

10/30 threes is the same amount of points as 15/30 twos... But I'd rather have the twos any day. That's 5 less long rebounds where someone could run out on you.

The three has really done some bad things to the league. Midrange is gone.

[Rake2204]

While Ice was looking down on threes, he's not exactly wrong. He said good shooters shoot like 40%. Korver is shooting around 45%, and a few other good shooters like Steph are over 40...

I don't care about the efficiency shit of 33.3% threes = 50% of twos. I'm with Ice.

10/30 threes is the same amount of points as 15/30 twos... But I'd rather have the twos any day. That's 5 less long rebounds where someone could run out on you.

The three has really done some bad things to the league. Midrange is gone.Yeah, I'm probably with you in that regard. I just heard someone earlier in the thread mention the threes thing so I used that as my example about how he and my coach were similar from a frame of mind standpoint.

[aj1987]

While Ice was looking down on threes, he's not exactly wrong. He said good shooters shoot like 40%. Korver is shooting around 45%, and a few other good shooters like Steph are over 40...

I don't care about the efficiency shit of 33.3% threes = 50% of twos. I'm with Ice.

10/30 threes is the same amount of points as 15/30 twos... But I'd rather have the twos any day. That's 5 less long rebounds where someone could run out on you.

The three has really done some bad things to the league. Midrange is gone.
The difference is 10/30 3's can be achieved by even scrub teams. That's just 33% shooting. The league is averaging 35.9% from the 3 this season

For instance, lets say a teams takes 30 3's a game at the league average. That 32.31 points. 32 if we round it. The league average for 2 pointers is 48.5% and that includes dunks, layups, and fast break points. Lets say a team shoots 48.5% from the midrange (no single team is capable of doing that). That's 29 points from 30 shots. The mid-range shot, while it's aesthetically pleasing, is one of the least efficient shots.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

While Ice was looking down on threes, he's not exactly wrong. He said good shooters shoot like 40%. Korver is shooting around 45%, and a few other good shooters like Steph are over 40...

I don't care about the efficiency shit of 33.3% threes = 50% of twos. I'm with Ice.

10/30 threes is the same amount of points as 15/30 twos... But I'd rather have the twos any day. That's 5 less long rebounds where someone could run out on you.

The three has really done some bad things to the league. Midrange is gone.

Yeah, putting MORE pressure on your front line to grab said offensive rebounds and get back on defense (long shots = long rebounds) isn't exactly facile.