AbeVigodaLive wrote:
In addition to defense, Duncan and Garnett were much more versatile offensively. It was so startling to go from Garnett passing out of the post to Jefferson. Garnett is one of the best passing big men in NBA history. (Duncan is very good at it, too.)
Jefferson's passes out of the post rarely went anywhere. Most of the time, they were soft passes back out to the wing or PG to reset with less than 10 seconds on the shot clock. Jefferson was/is really a lousy passer. I don't know much about Lopez's passing. But I just checked and see he averaged 0.7 assists per game this season. Yikes. I have to assume it's not a strength of his game either.
Yes, I agree with your point about passing. Neither Lopez or Al is known about their passing game. What is strange is that Lopez averaged 2.3 assists per game in his 2nd year but after that he seem to have forgotten that you are also allowed to pass the ball. So Duncan and especially Garnett were much more versatile in offense and thus better also in that end.
Maybe Kemp and Mourning would be offensively better comparisons to Al and Brook. Neither were as gifted passers than Garnett or Duncan. They were also not as big stars than KG or Timmy but still much more valuable for their teams than Brook or Al because they were better (or in case of Mourning even great) at the defensive end.
Comparing Kemp's and Mourning's offensive stats from their prime years to AL and Brook:
Kemp 18.7-21.2 PTS/per 36 minutes .512-.631 TS%
Mourning 17.3-23.0 PTS/per 36 minutes .558-.596 TS%
Jefferson 18.7-22.7 PTS/per 36 minutes .500-.535 TS%
B. Lopez 20.8-23.0 PTS/per 36 minutes .549-.569 TS%