Who's the best player to come from Chicago?

[Diddy1122]

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story?columnist=jackson_scoop&id=4411824

Saw this Scoop Jackson article on espnchicago & thought it would make for some lively debate.

So, who do you think the best basketball player to come from Chicago is?

Plenty of talented ball players have come from our fair city. Isiah Thomas, D-Wade, Michael Finley, Mark Aguirre, & Quentin Richardson to name a few. My money is on Isiah Thomas. At this point I can't bring myself to say D-Wade because he's just reaching the peak of his career right now. When all is said & done he may be the greatest from the Chi, but as of right now I don't think anyone tops Zeke.

Isiah won the MOP of the NCAA tourney his sophmore year, was the starting PG for the East his rookie year in the NBA, 12x All-Star, 2x NBA Champion, 5th all-time in Assists, & 9th all-time in steals. Not to mention his Herculean peformance in game 6 of the '88 Finals. 25pts in the 4th quarter, an NBA Finals record for a single quarter, all on a severely sprained ankle. Unfortunately the lost the game after a bad foul by Lambeer, & lost the finals, but that performance was one of the greatest in NBA Finals History.

Zeke is # 1. Wade # 2.

Also, does anyone else remember Ronnie Fields? That guy was unbelievable. He had the sickest vertical I've ever seen. Too bad he broke his neck in a car accident and was never the same player after that. If you don't know him, check out some of his stuff on YouTube, it's amazing.

 

[mlewinth]

I agree. It's gotta be Zeke if your talking about overal Accomplishments, but if you are talking about talent Its definantly Dwayne Wade. Isaiah did not dominate games, he was a great player who played on a great team. Wade already won a title with crap, the Heat were horrible underdogs in that series and won because of Wade. We saw it this year as well, when Dwayne Wade is healthy he is one of the best players to ever play the game. If he has a relativly healthy career he will be recognized as one of the best players ever, guarenteed. You can make the argument Wade had. Better season this yeAr than LeBron.

 

[Diddy1122]

mlewinth wrote:

I agree. It's gotta be Zeke if your talking about overal Accomplishments, but if you are talking about talent Its definantly Dwayne Wade. Isaiah did not dominate games, he was a great player who played on a great team. Wade already won a title with crap, the Heat were horrible underdogs in that series and won because of Wade. We saw it this year as well, when Dwayne Wade is healthy he is one of the best players to ever play the game. If he has a relativly healthy career he will be recognized as one of the best players ever, guarenteed. You can make the argument Wade had. Better season this yeAr than LeBron.

I think Wade had a better year than LBJ last year, though I'm probably in the minority on that. But I'm also hoping when all is said & done that D-Rose is the greatest player to come from da Chi.

 

[Newskoolbulls]

Eddy Curry

 

[Newskoolbulls]

Oh sorry i though you said who is the fattest player to come chicago. My bad.

 

[Rose1]

It had to be Ronnie Fields before the car accident. OR, you could make a argument for Benji Wilson.

 

[theCHI_Life84]

to me its zeke. that finals game with the bum ankle... thats a fkn warrior if ive ever seen one. not to mention being under-sized and doing the things he was doing.

wade will probably end up in 2nd place for this one, but who knows what he'll do in the next 5 years.

 

[TheStig]

Diddy1122 wrote:

mlewinth wrote:

I agree. It's gotta be Zeke if your talking about overal Accomplishments, but if you are talking about talent Its definantly Dwayne Wade. Isaiah did not dominate games, he was a great player who played on a great team. Wade already won a title with crap, the Heat were horrible underdogs in that series and won because of Wade. We saw it this year as well, when Dwayne Wade is healthy he is one of the best players to ever play the game. If he has a relativly healthy career he will be recognized as one of the best players ever, guarenteed. You can make the argument Wade had. Better season this yeAr than LeBron.

I think Wade had a better year than LBJ last year, though I'm probably in the minority on that. But I'm also hoping when all is said & done that D-Rose is the greatest player to come from da Chi.

I agree he had a better year than Lebron. He really did deserve the mvp, he was significantly better than anyone.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Based on talent alone? Wade, Zeke, DRose (I'm actually not sure who has more pure basketball talent between Thomas and Rose quite yet though).
Based on accomplishments? Zeke, Wade, Rose
Overall as of now? Zeke, Wade, Rose
What it could be many years from now: Wade, Rose, Zeke

At least IMO anyway

 

[TheStig]

mlewinth wrote:

I agree. It's gotta be Zeke if your talking about overal Accomplishments, but if you are talking about talent Its definantly Dwayne Wade. Isaiah did not dominate games, he was a great player who played on a great team. Wade already won a title with crap, the Heat were horrible underdogs in that series and won because of Wade. We saw it this year as well, when Dwayne Wade is healthy he is one of the best players to ever play the game. If he has a relativly healthy career he will be recognized as one of the best players ever, guarenteed. You can make the argument Wade had. Better season this yeAr than LeBron.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves. The rules are heavily geared toward guards in Wade's era. When IT played, hand checking and harder fouls were allowed. If Wade played back then, his shoulder would still be separated today.

 

[??? ??????]

Rose1 wrote:

It had to be Ronnie Fields before the car accident. OR, you could make a argument for Benji Wilson.

No way you can consider those.

With the exception of a few guys, most kids struggle coming out of high school. So we can only judge those two guys on their high school accomplishments, and there is no way we can consider them to be better than a hall of famer like Isiah Thomas or a superstar like Wade.

I'd personally pick Dwyane Wade. He dragged a sad sack of crap to a championship, and has been great pretty much every season he's been in the league. Although Isiah is definitely up there.

I should mention that I'm a big Wade homer though.

 

[Rose1]

Don't forget about Shawn Marion and Sherron Collins.

 

[Bullsman24]

i'm for wade being the best player from chicago.

zeke in his 6th year was 20.6 pts and 10 assists. d-wade had 30.2 and 7.5. and wade plays SG, he's not even supposed to rack up assists, and he doesn't have any teammates that are easy assists. plus wade has already willed his team to a finals, which isiah never did. he willed a game, but wade willed 4 in a row against a very good dallas team.

plus if you played them 1 on 1 in each of their primes, d-wade would be way too much for isiah to handle.

 

[houheffna]

i'm for wade being the best player from chicago.

zeke in his 6th year was 20.6 pts and 10 assists. d-wade had 30.2 and 7.5. and wade plays SG, he's not even supposed to rack up assists, and he doesn't have any teammates that are easy assists. plus wade has already willed his team to a finals, which isiah never did. he willed a game, but wade willed 4 in a row against a very good dallas team.

plus if you played them 1 on 1 in each of their primes, d-wade would be way too much for isiah to handle

Comparing stats is not indicative of who the better player was, you have to compare eras, not just stats. I don't think you can discount the fact that Isaiah went up against Bird, Magic, Jordan in order to get to the championships. Isiah was the leader on those Pistons teams, no doubt about that. He was the leader and the best player. I love Wade but again, you cannot look at just stats and dismiss a player who I believe is the best little man to every play the game.

 

[Bullsman24]

well if you compare eras, yes zeke had to get past better players, but thomas had MUCH better players on his team. the pistons of then weren't too different from the 04 pistons, both very balanced teams with hard-nosed defense. d-wade won his championship with an old shaq and a bunch of has beens playing the "celtic's pj brown" role.

 

[theCHI_Life84]

bullsman24 wrote:

well if you compare eras, yes zeke had to get past better players, but thomas had MUCH better players on his team. the pistons of then weren't too different from the 04 pistons, both very balanced teams with hard-nosed defense. d-wade won his championship with an old shaq and a bunch of has beens playing the "celtic's pj brown" role.

yea, but he won against a choking mavs team.

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

Wow...all sports?

That's A LOT of guys...

I'd say Wade but I've got to go with Zeke. If Wade gets two more itll be him.

 

[jsain360]

Zeke and Wade for sure, but you can't forget about Tim Hardaway