Mount Rushmore shooting guards 1980 to now

[hawkeyesgonewild]

Adam haluska
Chris Kingsbury
Roy marble
Pete jok


Bobby Hansen could of been on
Cj Fredrick keeps playing couple more years he could be on here

 

[atomicblue224]

I would love to have Downtown Freddie Brown in here.

 

[Northside Hawk]

That's a pretty solid top four.

Others deserving mention

Bobby Hansen
Jeff Moe
James Moses
Luke Recker
Matt Gatens

 

[HawkGold]

Bob Hanson, Ken Arnold, Tom Norman... Oh and Jordan Bohannon

 

[Northside Hawk]

Bob Hanson, Ken Arnold, Tom Norman... Oh and Jordan Bohannon

Norman was pre 1980 but he could definitely shoot. A modern comp would be Joe Wiesy, perhaps Maryland's Kevin Huerter. Norman was good.

Hansen deserves a lot of credit for playing within his limitations in the NBA, getting some career traction, and eventually playing nine years. There are hundreds of NBA players who had more talent who had shorter, and in many cases, sadder careers. Hansen actually lasted longer than Ronnie Lester but Ronnie's knee issues had a lot to do with that. Ronnie and Bobby would both win rings in their final seasons in the league.

Hansen actually wasn't a huge star in college either. He did average fifteen his senior year and end up second or third team all B1G but a true story is that Utah's Frank Layden "discovered" him while watching film of a rival player (possibly Purdue's Keith Edmondson or Michigan's Thad Garner or Indiana's Randy Wittman)

 

[Northside Hawk]

Continuing this theme, there are countless examples of talent evaluators "accidentally" discovering players, especially in the days when scouting wasn't so thorough.

Deacon Jones was discovered by the Rams when they were scouting one of the other defensive linemen on his team. The Rams noticed that Jones was getting into plays more often than the player they were originally interested in. Jones would probably have the NFL record for QB sacks locked up forever but sack statistics were not officially kept for much of his career.

At the 1974 Senior Bowl, the player accruing the most attention was Ed Too Tall Jones, who had played at small college East Tennessee State. NFL people wanted to see how he would stack up with the big boys. The Cowboys were impressed enough to trade up and draft him number one and Jones had a solid career, but he had a habit of simply using his height to knock passes down rather than aggressively pursue the quarterback. Oakland's John Madden noticed that offensive tackle Henry Lawrence was blocking Jones effectively in pass protection. Oakland drafted Lawrence #1, and it solidified the right side of their offensive line.

Houston's Bum Phillips discovered Guido Merckens playing touch football at a family picnic. Merckens ended up making the team as a special teams ace during their late 1970's run.

Philadelphia's Dick Vermeil snagged Vince Papale when he held open tryouts for former area athlete's. It would of course eventually become a movie.

I'm sure there are other rags to riches stories even more improbable than this. The Detroit Tigers discovered Ron LeFlore playing for a state prison baseball team for instance. That would also become a movie based off LeFlore's book.

 

[SomersHawk]

Norman was pre 1980 but he could definitely shoot. A modern comp would be Joe Wiesy, perhaps Maryland's Kevin Huerter. Norman was good.

Hansen deserves a lot of credit for playing within his limitations in the NBA, getting some career traction, and eventually playing nine years. There are hundreds of NBA players who had more talent who had shorter, and in many cases, sadder careers. Hansen actually lasted longer than Ronnie Lester but Ronnie's knee issues had a lot to do with that. Ronnie and Bobby would both win rings in their final seasons in the league.

Hansen actually wasn't a huge star in college either. He did average fifteen his senior year and end up second or third team all B1G but a true story is that Utah's Frank Layden "discovered" him while watching film of a rival player (possibly Purdue's Keith Edmondson or Michigan's Thad Garner or Indiana's Randy Wittman)

Seem to recall Magic Johnson saying Hansen was the best defender he faced. That's a pretty good endorsement.

Hard to argue against any of the top four mentioned by the OP, but only Hansen played 9 years in the NBA. He was clutch. Also played a solid role on Final Four Team as a freshman.. Pretty good resume.

 

[MisterLucky]

Very tough to narrow this down to a handful, but in my estimation, Chris Kingsbury would definitely NOT be on the list. Yes, we all remember his spectacular moments, but he was a career 40% shooter and only hit 35% of his threes. Just on today's roster, I would expect JoeW and, especially CJ to blow away those numbers.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Very tough to narrow this down to a handful, but in my estimation, Chris Kingsbury would definitely NOT be on the list. Yes, we all remember his spectacular moments, but he was a career 40% shooter and only hit 35% of his threes. Just on today's roster, I would expect JoeW and, especially CJ to blow away those numbers.

Does this mean that Pete Maravich falls down the list? He was a simlar type player.

I think Chris stays on the granite slab. He had to pick up a lot of offensive slack when Jess Settles started having back problems. And he could do more than shoot from the outside. He was a gifted passer, tough rebounder, and strong enough to get inside and get to the line.

Think of what he could have accomplished if he played sober!

 

[MisterLucky]

I saw Pistol Pete play, and Chris Kingsbury was no Pistol Pete. But I love your line about playing sober. Chris liked to party.

 

[MisterLucky]

Tom Norman was a good Iowa player who's stats would have been better if hadn't had to share playing time with Dick Peth (The Tiger from Tomah), who's stats were almost identical. Both good players with similar skills sets.

 

[HawkGold]

Norman was pre 1980 but he could definitely shoot. A modern comp would be Joe Wiesy, perhaps Maryland's Kevin Huerter. Norman was good.

Hansen deserves a lot of credit for playing within his limitations in the NBA, getting some career traction, and eventually playing nine years. There are hundreds of NBA players who had more talent who had shorter, and in many cases, sadder careers. Hansen actually lasted longer than Ronnie Lester but Ronnie's knee issues had a lot to do with that. Ronnie and Bobby would both win rings in their final seasons in the league.

Hansen actually wasn't a huge star in college either. He did average fifteen his senior year and end up second or third team all B1G but a true story is that Utah's Frank Layden "discovered" him while watching film of a rival player (possibly Purdue's Keith Edmondson or Michigan's Thad Garner or Indiana's Randy Wittman)

No one had better court vision than Hansen. I got carried away about Norman and 1980.

 

[HawkGold]

That's a pretty solid top four.

Others deserving mention

Bobby Hansen
Jeff Moe
James Moses
Luke Recker

Matt Gatens

Moses...might have been as good as anyone.

 

[hawkeyesgonewild]

Magic Johnson said Ronnie lister was the best defender and best player he played against . that why Ronnie came to Lakers magic endorsed him. That why Ronnie work sometime in the front office .

 

[Northside Hawk]

I saw Pistol Pete play, and Chris Kingsbury was no Pistol Pete. But I love your line about playing sober. Chris liked to party.

Chris was more a poor man's Pistol Pete. They had similar skill sets.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Seem to recall Magic Johnson saying Hansen was the best defender he faced. That's a pretty good endorsement.

Hard to argue against any of the top four mentioned by the OP, but only Hansen played 9 years in the NBA. He was clutch. Also played a solid role on Final Four Team as a freshman.. Pretty good resume.

Hansen had a great quote after playing against Darrel Griffith of Louisville. "I've guarded other guys who could jump, but they all came down."

 

[Northside Hawk]

Hansen had a great quote after playing against Darrel Griffith of Louisville. "I've guarded other guys who could jump, but they all came down."

Ironically Hansen would eventually be drafted by Utah to be Griffith's backup-for a while.

What happened was Hansen developed a rep for being a solid defensive player and that, coupled with some back problems for Griffith, eventually thrusted Hansen into the starting lineup. Hansen was a valuable role player on those late eighties Stockton/Malone teams that gave the Lakers fits in the playoffs.

Darrell got the NCAA title, but Bobby would stay in the league long enough to catch an NBA title with the Bulls, where another legendary high flyer that people may have heard of resided. Jordan credited Hansen with tough defense on him in practice sessions, and some timely outside shooting.

 

[MisterLucky]

Chris was more a poor man's Pistol Pete. They had similar skill sets.

Northside, really not trying to get into an argument with you, but the only skill set Kingsbury shared with Maravich was being a 6'5" SG. You are comparing an average college player with an honest to god basketball legend and Hall of Famer. Maravich averaged (!) 44 pts/game at LSU and still holds the NCAA scoring record without having the benefit of the 3 point shot. He averaged over 24 pts/game in the pros. He was a magician with the ball, could rebound and dish out assists. About the only stat Chris excelled at over Pete was his FT% and Maravich shot and made more attempts every season than Kingsbury did over his entire career.

BTW, Pete died of a heat attack way too early in life doing what he loved....playing basketball.

Kingsbury had a few memorable nights when he would get white hot and sling up shots from everywhere, but his dedication to the sport and to the U of I was severely lacking.

 

[Fryowa]

Northside, really not trying to get into an argument with you, but the only skill set Kingsbury shared with Maravich was being a 6'5" SG. You are comparing an average college player with an honest to god basketball legend and Hall of Famer. Maravich averaged (!) 44 pts/game at LSU and still holds the NCAA scoring record without having the benefit of the 3 point shot. He averaged over 24 pts/game in the pros. He was a magician with the ball, could rebound and dish out assists. About the only stat Chris excelled at over Pete was his FT% and Maravich shot and made more attempts every season than Kingsbury did over his entire career.

BTW, Pete died of a heat attack way too early in life doing what he loved....playing basketball.

Kingsbury had a few memorable nights when he would get white hot and sling up shots from everywhere, but his dedication to the sport and to the U of I was severely lacking.

@Northside Hawk was likely referring to their unorthodox, seat-of-the-pants playing styles.

It'd be pretty dumb to think anyone would compare those two in terms of overall basketball skill.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Northside, really not trying to get into an argument with you, but the only skill set Kingsbury shared with Maravich was being a 6'5" SG. You are comparing an average college player with an honest to god basketball legend and Hall of Famer. Maravich averaged (!) 44 pts/game at LSU and still holds the NCAA scoring record without having the benefit of the 3 point shot. He averaged over 24 pts/game in the pros. He was a magician with the ball, could rebound and dish out assists. About the only stat Chris excelled at over Pete was his FT% and Maravich shot and made more attempts every season than Kingsbury did over his entire career.

BTW, Pete died of a heat attack way too early in life doing what he loved....playing basketball.

Kingsbury had a few memorable nights when he would get white hot and sling up shots from everywhere, but his dedication to the sport and to the U of I was severely lacking.

Your points are well taken. I said Kingsbury was a Maravich type player, then said he was a poor man's Pistol Pete. Never said, or insinuated, that Chris was remotely in Pete's league as a scorer. Chris was, however, an underrated passer who could get flashy out there. If his best passes weren't Maravichesque,they were at least in Scott Skiles territory. He had good vision out there.