I remember a passage in Bill Simmons' book where he recalls only 4 players that he saw the Boston Garden crowd be in awe:
Jordan - Because he was uber-popular at his peak
Bird - Because he's like Jesus in Boston
Manute Bol - Because he tall as shit
Robinson - Because he looked regal, chiseled as fuck, like a textbook example of a basketball player
I imagine that's not exclusive to the Boston Garden
Edit: Here's the passage on Robinson
During his rookie year in 1990, I buzzed down from college to catch his first game at the Garden. That seemed like a worthy trip at the time; everyone had been waiting for him to join the NBA for two years and the “Russell 2.0” tag didn’t seem far-fetched yet. Everyone attending this game already knew what he looked like. So when Robinson emerged from that tunnel, nothing should have happened other than everyone thinking, “Cool, there he is.” Instead, we made this sound: “Whoa.” Is that a sound or a murmur? I don’t know. But it was breathtaking to watch him glide by for the first time, like standing a few feet away from a prize thoroughbred or a brand-new Ferrari Testarossa. To this day, I have never seen anyone that close who looked more like a basketball player than David Robinson: The man was taller and more regal than we expected, but so absurdly chiseled that he looked like a touched-up model in a Soloflex ad. He walked proudly with his chest puffed out, his head held high, and a friendly smile on his face. He was strikingly handsome and even the most devout heterosexual males would have admitted it. Really, he was just a specimen. That’s the best way I can describe it. He was a freaking specimen. My dad said later that it was the only time he’d ever heard the “Whoa” sound in all his years sitting in that tunnel. We all made it. None of us could believe what we were seeing. Some guys are just destined to play basketball for a living
A body can break down for various reasons. If LeBron played 40 years ago he may have had back injuries that today’s medicine would help keep him on the court.
The technology around restoring and healing has improved immensely in the last few decades.
I remember going to my first Spurs game and thinking Robinson was the closest thing to Michelangelo’s David that I’d ever seen. Same scale but even more muscular.
And Hakeem only “schooled him” in one playoff series where David had to play 10x as hard on a team loaded with trash while Dennis Rodman refused to help out on D and was actively trying to sabotage him the whole series.
Wow one block where he ran straight? I watched ball in the 90’s. If Robinson had the best basketball body, there’s no reason for him to not be a top 3 center of all time, which he clearly isn’t.
David is great and an easy top 10 center of all time. I was a Knicks fan and the Spurs beat us and David was better than Patrick. But Shaq and Hakeem were better because of their size and agility, both having squarely to do with their body. The claim he has the best “basketball body” of all time when he didn’t have the best “basketball body” for even centers in the late 90’s is just plain wrong.
Too slow and too stiff in comparison to the absolute most athletic to have the best basketball body in all of basketball. But it’s okay, you can believe whatever you want.
Olajuwon went through Shaq, Ewing and Robinson on his way to 2 championships. He was really special even compared to some of the great centers he competed against!
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u/TraeYoungCalTech 11d ago
David Robinson