# Speaking of Sabonis...



## alexander (May 6, 2005)

here is a dunk on him by Danilovic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AtSs_6tvn4

...craziest european dunk ever


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## ginzo (Apr 3, 2004)

No way is that the craziest European dunk ever. Marko Millic must have had at least 30 in games that were better than that one.


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## Krstic All-Star (Mar 9, 2005)

Arvydas didn't even try to stop that one - no big deal. If he'd have tried to block it, then it would have been impressive.


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## Lynx (Mar 6, 2004)

Poor guy gets owned every where.


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## Nuzzo (Jul 11, 2005)

Lol at the music. Thats from Underground right


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## AiQ (Nov 13, 2006)

He got owned there, yeah, but it's no way the best european dunk ever. And sabas didn't even try to stop it, if he did, that would be impressive, cuz if he did, danilovic wouldn't have dunked.

Watch this one. The defender hits the floor damn hard. That's what i call ownage.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zzPHAwCQBl8

Oh, and btw, what was the point of this post? Does this dunk mean that sabas is a bad player? or wha?


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## BucketDawg (Jun 30, 2006)

Hey everyone, I asked this question on another forum but haven't received any replies, so I thought I would bring it up here. How good does everyone think Sabonis would have been had he not had the lower leg problems early in his career, and had he come to the NBA sooner? 

I recently saw footage of the 1986 FIBA World Basketball Championship gold medal game between USA and Soviet Union and was amazed at how quick, agile, and powerful Sabonis played in his youth. They said that at that age he was a better player than guys like Ewing, and definitely Robinson (since he owned him in the footage I saw, although the US was able to find a way to win). But anyway I was wondering what others thought of this subject and where Sabonis' place in history would have been without the injuries, and if anyone saw him play in his youth let us know.


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## AiQ (Nov 13, 2006)

If only he wouldn't have sustained those injuries. I'm sure his name would be in the same line with Wilt, ShaQ etc. 
I saw a few games and some highlights of sabas playing in his youth, quickness, power, strength, stamina, passing, scoring, dunking, rebounding, blocking shots, draining treys, everything u can imagine in a great center and even more.

He played as a starter in zalgiris, when he was 17, i mean c'mon, 17! Games vs CSKA were amazing and his opponent was Tkacenka, another ~220 cm giant, but older, with more experience etc. Sabas owned him tho.

I'm certain that most of u just can't believe what i'm saying, that some guy could've been one of the best players in the history of basketball and he's not american.

Just some facts.

At his youth he owned Admiral badly, like BD said,.
At 39 He dominated EVERYONE in europe, finishing with getting MVP.

I guess he could've been more succesfull in the NBA none the less, but he had to face ShaQ, who was in his prime, anyway, if u're a blazer fan, u must know what i'm talking about, he was truly an amazing center.

If only....


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## BucketDawg (Jun 30, 2006)

Trust me Ai, I defintely believe you and truly believe that Sabonis would have been one of the ten greatest players in basketball history had he not had unfortunate luck, and I am an American, but that doesn't prevent me from seeing the talent in special players like Sabonis, he has always been one of my favorites. Thanks for your insight.


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## AiQ (Nov 13, 2006)

It's just good to hear that u aknowledge sabas as he should be.If u wanna see some more of sabas, contact me via PM, i got a full game of 1986 EuroCup final, between Cibona Zagreb and Zalgiris Kaunas. 21 Year old sabas facing cibona with Drazen Petrovic, really memorable game.


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## Wyrm (Aug 27, 2007)

Yeah, he sure punched the soul out of Mihovil Nakic in that game...
Seriously, I've seen Sabonis in Seoul in 1988, and not everyone knows that even against Robinson his knees were already bad. It was untill 1987 that everyone got to see the real Sabonis. Having seen him play, I fell in love with basketball. Every time CCCP and Yugoslavia (my native country) played, I wanted CCCP to win, because of Sabonis. He, IMO, the young Sabas, was the greatest there ever was. Anyone that saw him live then would, I am sure, say the same thing. If he had gone to the NBA when 1st aproached and stayed healthy (1984, I think), Blazers would have collected 4-5 titles, and Sabas would be up there with Wilt and Kareem. At their peak, Arvydas was a better athlete and a better player then even those two. Who would he play against? Ewing, Hakeem, Robinson? He would have dominated them, all the way.


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