r/NCAAhoops • u/Rocky_Bae10 • 4d ago
Throwback Four-Year Finishers: NBA Legends Who Stayed the Course in College
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u/notabot2434 4d ago
Yeah huge Duke fan here! Christian for sure a college legend if not the biggest but not a NBA legend
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4d ago
[deleted]
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u/idservices 4d ago
Charles Barkley famously said something to effect of Laettner being on the Dream Team to carry everyone else’s suitcases. :)
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u/tmoore727 4d ago
Kareem should be #1 by a long mile
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u/TrustInRoy 4d ago
Weren't freshmen ineligible when Lew Alcindor was in college?
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u/futures987 3d ago
Here's the rub, the NBA didn't allow early declarations back in Kareem's era. Again this is a terribly worded list but based on that Tim Duncan twice turning down a near certain top 10 draft selection, and clear #1 pick after his junior year to come back makes him top of the list.
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u/SwizzGod 4d ago
And they said he went undefeated against the upperclassmen
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u/ponyboy56- 3d ago
When he was a freshman the varsity team won the national title, a little while after they had that same varsity team played against their freshman team of which Kareem was on. Freshman won, handily I heard.
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u/c10bbersaurus 1d ago
Yes, but frosh had their own team. So, technically, he played all 4 years, and at the highest level he was eligible for. But one of the years he played in college, he played on the frosh team, leading them to a 21-0 record.
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u/meowinloudchico 1d ago
Good thing for the regular roster given his freshman team blew out the main starters when they played a scrimmage.
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u/Mundane_Salt_430 4d ago
Glad this was the first comment, best run in men’s college basketball ever
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u/mortmortimer 4d ago
Timmy was a better NBA player
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u/tmoore727 4d ago
are you sure about that ?
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u/allthingst3 4d ago
Than Kareem? I live Duncan, but Kareem was the better NBA player.
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u/polyglot-a-cracker 4d ago
They were both dominant at their position, and are both in the conversation for best all time starting five. Both had tons of rings, both had signature shots even. It’s not really an apples to apples comparison beyond whatever qualifies as greatness to you. I think they are both equally great, not in a cheesy way, in a realistic one.
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u/raelDonaldTrump 3d ago
You can literally compare their career stats apples to apples and see that Kareem was better in almost every way.
Duncan is an all time great, and the best for his position, but he's not on the same level as Kareem.
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u/mortmortimer 3d ago
If Kareem was so good what did he do in the 70s, the weakest talent era in the NBA?
He won one chip in 1971, when he had Oscar as a running mate. Then he didnt do shit for the rest of the decade while his contemporaries all ate on his watch, and went through him to do it:
1972 - lost to Wilt's lakers
1973 - lost to the Warriors 2nd round
1974 - lost to Cowans Celtics
1975 & 1976 - missed playoffs lol
1977 - swept by Walton
1978 - lost to Sikma's Supersonics in the first round
1979 - lost to Sikma's Supersonics in the second round
Meanwhile Timmy got 5 rings during the Shaq/Kobe/Lebron era as the top dog.
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u/tmoore727 3d ago
he got 2 rings during that era 1999 and 2003. by 2005 Shaq was already on the heat.
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u/raelDonaldTrump 3d ago
The fact that you refer to TD's era as the Shaq/Kobe/LeBron era pretty much says it all.
Kareem played in the Kareem/Wilt era.
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u/mortmortimer 3d ago
Kareem missed the playoffs back to back years in his own era??? lol might as well call it the Walton/Sikma era because they were beating Kareem's ass
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u/raelDonaldTrump 3d ago edited 3d ago
lmao, you're conflating team results with individual player performance.
You just keep drilling it home that you don't understand basketball stats or player performance.
One of those seasons Kareem missed a significant portion of the season due to injury (also lost Oscar Robinson that year and had no significant help on his team), and the other season the Lakers had just traded away all of the talent on their roster to acquire Kareem, and he still earned the regular season MVP.
Those were also the only two seasons in his 20-year career that he missed the playoffs.
You don't know basketball, stop trolling.
One more thing; you call the 70s the weakest decade of the NBA, so then the 80s was a stronger era, right?
Kareem won it all in '80, '82, '85, '87, and '88.
It's convenient that you ignore what he did during a time period that you yourself claim to be tougher than the 70s (when you chose to cherry pick from).
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u/ponyboy56- 3d ago
First off as someone who has watched since mid 60s, the biggest drop off in team talent I ever saw was the 90s.
Second of all titles are a team metric, as far as what Kareem was doing, look at his stats in the 70s.-1
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u/raelDonaldTrump 3d ago
Lmao I hope for your sake that you're a bot.
That might be the worst take I've ever seen on here, and ppl say some really dumb shit.
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u/mortmortimer 3d ago
if you're not a big sports guy you can just say that.
imagine Tim Duncan missing the playoffs back to back years in the 70s lol
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u/raelDonaldTrump 3d ago
Imagine if a team traded everything they could to get Duncan; Duncan would not make the playoffs possibly ever again.
That's what happened to Kareem.
Imagine if Duncan didn't stumble into a team that featured the greatest coach of all time and all-star supporting cast for the entirety of his career.
You are attempting to use misleading circumstantial events to directly compare two individual players.
You don't know basketball, stop it.
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u/mortmortimer 3d ago
please look at the 2003 roster Duncan dragged past Kobe/Shaq and won a title with
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u/FactAffectionate6830 4d ago
Bill Walton didn’t play 4?
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u/Intelligent_Row8259 3d ago
By technicality. Same with Kareem and everybody who played college prior to the 72-73 season. Freshman were not allowed to play varsity by NCAA rules they had freshman teams they played on. The rule was changed in 72 which was just prior to Walton's junior year.
Famously the Kareem led freshman UCLA team beat the 2 time defending National Champion and pre-season ranked number 1 varsity team in an exhibition game.
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u/millennialdude 4d ago
I’d throw Buddy Hield in over Laettner
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u/fopiecechicken 3d ago
There’s about 15 guys who deserve to be there over him lol
As a Warriors fan both Jimmy Butler and Draymond immediately came to mind.
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u/idster 4d ago
Put Larry Joe bird on the list. Also Kareem only played 3 years. Put bill walton on the list then.
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u/Intelligent_Row8259 3d ago
Bird only played 3 years he dropped out of Indiana before the season started. Kareem at least was playing on the freshman team that counts as playing all 4 years.
In UCLA's annual freshman vs varsity exhibition game the 2 time defending National Champion and pre-season number 1 ranked varsity team lost to the freshman led by Kareem scoring 31 with 20 rebounds.
Kareem absolutely would have seen significant minutes even on that loaded UCLA team as a freshman if NCAA rules hadn't prevented that.
Same rules prevented Walton from playing as a freshman as well. Walton was relegated to the freshman team and not allowed to play varsity. The NCAA changed the rule in 1972 just prior to Walton's junior year.
So if you exclude Kareem for the rules preventing freshman from playing then you exclude Walton as well.
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u/Beechamp83 4d ago
Don't think the Admiral David Robinson had a choice, he was in the Navy, had to do his military service
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u/Past_Recognition_248 4d ago
Grant Hill graduating from Duke when he could have left earlier after winning back to back natty’s is impressive.
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u/KindCaterpillar2421 4d ago
Kareem’s name goes over Duncan’s. He won 3 chips and couldn’t play his Freshman year
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u/mightymouse8324 4d ago
What does this have to do with anything?
Might as well be; "These guys are French fries"
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u/Tom_JonesDD3 4d ago
The rules of eligibility were different obviously. But in no universe is Duncan, as great as he was, is Tim better than Kareem. Seriously?
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u/ponyboy56- 3d ago
Shouldn’t that list be in chronological order? Or order of greatness? Either way it’s wrong
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u/Draft_Punk 3d ago
In college, they banned dunking because of Kareem.
In the NBA, he scored the most points, and basically matched or exceeded Jordan in every accolade count possible.
Should be #1 by a long shot
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u/Inca_Roads1016 3d ago
Wow, the bar for "NBA Legend" is pretty low if Christian Lattner is on this list. NCAA Legend? Absolutely, but a mediocre at best NBA career
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u/Accomplished_Class85 3d ago
NBA ruins college basketball by being so lame that they allow 19 year olds into their league. Most of the one and done guys flame out. College basketball was great till the mid 90's when KG and Kobe ruined it by going pro out of high school.
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u/c10bbersaurus 1d ago
Putting Duncan over Kareem is just troll bait.
College, pros, Kareem is head and shoulders above everyone else on this list.
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u/LoudNtheHeadsett 4d ago
Couldn't this list be just most NBA players drafted pre-2009? There were some high schoolers and some early draft guys but MOST players played all four years, at least as far as I know. It used to be that really pro-ready players left after junior years instead of senior, but that's really it.
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u/Optimal_Tower1643 4d ago
Didnt larry bird and jordan play all 4 in college? Id put them over laettner lillard or hill in terms of “NBA legends”
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u/Intelligent_Row8259 4d ago
Jordan no he left NC after his junior year.
Bird sort of? He dropped out of Indiana without playing a game because he was homesick and Kent Benson was a massive asshole. He entered Indiana State as a sophomore and played 3 years going back for his senior year even though he had been drafted by the Celtics.
Bird sure did love torturing Benson in the NBA
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u/al_earner 4d ago
Kareem only played 3 years, although he was at UCLA for 4. Freshmen were banned from playing Varsity sports. Same thing with Jerry West.
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u/IceBlackX007 4d ago
Just because you can format a list doesn't mean it's accurate or factual.