I'm curious who you guys think is/was the most exciting players to watch, playmatkers. That is, the player who you drop what you were doing to see what he would do next...scoring, passing, even defense. I came up with a personal list from the 90's on:

1. Michael Jordan
2. Manu Ginobili
3. Kobe
4. LBJ
5. D Wade
6. Melo
* Rising quickly - Blake Griffin

I always enjoyed these guys SportsCenter highlights:

Vince "Half-man, Half-amazing" Carter
Prime Tracy McGrady
Dominique
Chuck Barkley

Before my time:

Dr. J
Pistol Pete
Magic

[This message has been edited by bmart97 (edited 5/2/2012 9:56a).]

Pistol Pete
MJ
Manu
George Gervin
Doninique Wilkins
Mugsy Boggs



[This message has been edited by PLUM LOCO (edited 5/2/2012 10:01a).]

1. Michael Jordan
2. Magic Johnson
3. Vince Carter
4. LeBron James
5. Pete Maravich
6. Julius Erving
7. Jason Williams
8. Allen Iverson
9. Dominique Wilkins
10. Shawn Kemp
11. Jason Kidd
12. Manu Ginobli
13. Hakeem Olajuwon
14. Blake Griffin
15. Kobe Bryant

In no particular order:

Jordan
LeBron
Kobe
Clyde Drexler
Steve Nash
Dominique Wilkins
DrJ

David Thompson
Darrell Dawkins
Magic Johnson
Bernatd King
Reggie Miller

Any list without Magic is epic fail. The guy personified exciting -- thus the nickname.

Manu? Put down the silver & black koolaid

I don't see how it is outrageous to mention Manu on the list. He is a unique player that goes all out on every play and is always apt to make something bizarre happen be it a pass, a steal, or a shot. His unorthodox style also helps, it's hard not to watch him when he is on the court.

Anyone who doesn't have Manu on a list from the last decade is clueless. In terms of never knowing what crazy move he's going to pull out of the bottomless bag of tricks, he's way up there.

I feel like spurs games should be shown in black & white with 1920's music. It's boring.

I feel like you haven't watched the Spurs in awhile.

Yea having the most efficient offense in the league is really a bore.

Mr. Bond,

It's my personal list. Charles Barkley would disagree with you on your assessment of Manu's excitement level.

MJ
Pistol
Magic
Larry


Blake is fun to watch... along those same lines, Clyde, Dominique and MJ, the white guy that played with the suns and seattle, also Kemp, Sir Charles when he was young..... There have been a lot of power players.


[This message has been edited by BBDP (edited 5/2/2012 12:20p).]

Good call on Kemp, I forgot about his highlight reel plays.

quote:

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I feel like you haven't watched the Spurs in awhile.

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I have, I am a bit biased because im a rockets fan. But it's not a coincidence that the finals the spurs play in have a traditional low rating

Iverson

quote:

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I have, I am a bit biased because im a rockets fan. But it's not a coincidence that the finals the spurs play in have a traditional low rating

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You do realize that the most recent finals the Spurs were in was 5 years ago, correct? This is a completely different team/style.

However, the Spurs will always struggle for ratings because of the smaller market.

San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the country. It's not green bay or buffalo

Chuck Nevitt
Swen Nater
Shawn Bradley
Gheorghe Mureșan
Mark Eaton
Billy "the Whopper" Paultz
Brad Lohaus
Les Jepsen

quote:

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San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the country. It's not green bay or buffalo

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Not a very intelligent way to determine market size. Dallas and Fort Worth are both smaller than SA, but their market is significantly bigger. El Paso is the 19th biggest city in the US - bigger than Boston. I am surprised that El Paso doesn't have a bunch of pro teams, since they are apparently be a bigger market than Boston.



SA is the 30th largest metropolitan area in the country, and is not all that much bigger than the Buffalo metropolitan area. It's a smaller market than Indianapolis.



[This message has been edited by Whistling For Flies (edited 5/2/2012 3:15p).]

My ten most exciting (in no particular order):

Dream
Jordan
Magic
Bird
Dr. J
Nash
Pistol Pete
Manu
Oscar Robertson
Lebron

Bond, we are talking about exciting players. You then brought up that the Spurs games are boring stating "low ratings in their finals games". Their last finals series was 5 years ago. This team is very different.

I told you that you haven't watched the Spurs lately. Which you haven't if you compare them to their finals teams.

Manu over Magic

i wouldnt even take Manu over Shaq

Before he got too old, I thought Kidd was amazing to watch.

Given that the OP asked people to list players they would "drop everything to watch", I'm surprised Magic Johnson is making as many lists as he is. I've never seen him play (unless you count the celebrity all-star game a couple years ago), and I'm probably not the only one. He retired when current college seniors were 5 or 6 years old.

Of course, a lot of people are listing players they have never seen outside of highlight reels.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 5/2/2012 3:16p).]

quote:

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Before he got too old, I thought Kidd was amazing to watch.

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Definitely. He and Gary Payton were the best two-way point guards ever. Some of those passes Jason Kidd could make...

Jordan


Lebron-hate him, but fabulous talent
Bird
Magic
Dennis Rodman-Never knew what the hell was going to happen when he played.

quote:

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Manu? Put down the silver & black koolaid

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Exciting doesn't mean best or consistently high performing. It means that the player has a high wow factor.

Manu fits the bill. He plays at 100 mph all the time. He regularly passes the ball between opponents' legs like it's a pick up game of street ball, he's recently started throwing the ball like he's a qb, he drives to the hoop with reckless abandon, he punches bats out of midair, and he superman leaps out of bounds to grab balls (and the no-look pass he made, completely stretched out and parallel to the floor, was right on target. Oh and he did all this down 1 with less than 10 seconds left, so it won the game).

He's not the most athletic guy in the NBA nor the most talented, but he plays the game in a way that nobody else does.

[This message has been edited by atfarmer (edited 5/2/2012 5:21p).]

If flopping is considered exciting then yes you're correct.

yes. that's the ONLY thing manu does.

What a dunce. I hate the Mavs, but I can admit that Nowitski has an amazing offensive skill set for a 7 footer.

I hate the mavs and I agree. Dirk is probably the best most skilled PF of all time

Magic
Manu
Jordan
Vinsanity for a few years
Iverson
DrJ
Bird
Nevitt
Lebron
Pete

Anyone who doeant put kobe in their list is clearly an idiot. The guy put up the most exciting and greatest single game performance in nba history.

As well as probably the greatest 3 quarters of a game ever, outscoring a team single handedly.

If its "exciting" players then the player formally known as Ron Artest should be on. He's fun to watch