Larry Brown acknowledges Nate Thurmond

UK Peregrine · Post by **UK Peregrine** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 1:11 pm

I'm listening to Larry Brown's press conference on ESPN Radio. He was asked if Ben Wallace would ever be acknowledged as one of the great players in basketball because of his defensive abilities. Larry Brown flat out said no, not likely with the way the media biases the offensive players over defensive players. He said that the only great defensive players who were ever acknowledged to any real extent as great basketball stars were Bill Russell and Nate Thurmond. Now Larry is big on the history of the game, so I guess its not to surprising he mentioned Nate.

Dayons_Den · Post by **Dayons_Den** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:12 pm

I believe that both Mr. Russell and Wilt Chamberlin have been quoted as saying the toughest defender they played against was Nate The Great.

Most NBA "fans" would expect Russell and Chambo to mention the other when asked about that subject. . .

Pretty cool for L.B. to mention him.

Redwingtom · Post by **Redwingtom** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:33 pm

Dayons_Den wrote:I believe that both Mr. Russell and Wilt Chamberlin have been quoted as saying the toughest defender they played against was Nate The Great.

Most NBA "fans" would expect Russell and Chambo to mention the other when asked about that subject. . .

Pretty cool for L.B. to mention him.

Yessirrrr!!

Hey Noel, time to update your signature...we are over 1700 now

UK Peregrine · Post by **UK Peregrine** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:51 pm

Dayons_Den wrote:I believe that both Mr. Russell and Wilt Chamberlin have been quoted as saying the toughest defender they played against was Nate The Great.

Close DD. It was actually Wilt and Abdul-Jabbar.

Both Abdul-Jabbar and Chamberlain have gone on record saying they felt Thurmond was their toughest adversary. "He plays me better than anybody ever has," Abdul-Jabbar told Basketball Digest when he was in his prime. "He's tall, has real long arms, and most of all he's agile and strong." In an article in Sport, Abdul-Jabbar also said, "When I score on Nate, I know I've done something. He sweats and he wants you to sweat, too."

Also, if anyone is ever looking for a history lesson on Nate, here are a couple of links.

http://www.bgsusports.com/basketball/natethurmond.shtml (My personal favorite

)

http://www.hoophall.com/halloffamers/Thurmond.htm

http://www.nba.com/history/players/thurmond_bio.html

BGALUMNI · Post by **BGALUMNI** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 4:04 pm

Quadrupple double...

Not one of those things you hear about all the time...

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 6:28 pm

UK Peregrine wrote:
Dayons_Den wrote:I believe that both Mr. Russell and Wilt Chamberlin have been quoted as saying the toughest defender they played against was Nate The Great.
Close DD. It was actually Wilt and Abdul-Jabbar.

I thought Abdul-Jabbar always complained about dragging Walton and Lanier's butts up and down the floor every night....

http://www.bgsusports.com/basketball/natethurmond.shtml (My personal favorite )

Mine too.