John Starks and Latrell Sprewell were two of the best Shooting Guards of 90s. Although they took a backseat to their off-guard brethren such as Michael Jordan and Reggie Miller, they were more than serviceable and were instrumental pieces to their respective teams.
Sprewell is most remembered for the questionable things he did away from the court. Most notably, when we hear his name, we think about him choking then coach, P.J. Carlesimo during practice. Then allegedly after leaving the practice facility following his assault on P.J., he came back 20 minutes later, looking to go back at Carlesimo. And who can forget him turning down a 3-year, $21M deal because he didn’t think it was enough since he had “a family to feed.” That decision would actually end his career because he was never offered anything remotely close to that again.
But put all of that aside. Sprewell, a four-time all-star, was a beast in his day. I especially liked his game in Golden State. He was a high-flying, mean-mugging scoring machine. In his six years as a Warrior, he averaged at least 20 points four times, including 24 ppg in the 1996 – 97 season. Many forget that he was actually an All-NBA First Team selection in his second season. But as a result of the Carlesimo incident, he was dealt to New York, ironically for an aging John Starks.
While in New York, Sprewell became a fan favorite, had a new look, and people soon forgot about his troubled past. He became an all-star in New York and helped the Knicks reach the Finals in the lockout-shortened 1999 season, before eventually being dealt to Minnesota in 2004. In 13 seasons, Latrell’s career scoring average was 18.3ppg.
Prior to being traded for Sprewell in 1999, John Starks was the heart and soul of the Knicks along with Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley. Despite being from Oklahoma, Starks embodied New York on the court. Everything from the chest pounding, to holding up his jersey to the crowd to show the “New York” across the chest, Starks’ emotion was incredible.
John’s darkest day on the court, of course, came on the biggest stage: Game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals against Rockets where he went a woeful 2 – 18 from the floor. He is largely blamed for costing the Knicks the championship that year because of that shooting performance, but I’ve always believed it to be foolish and unfair to pin it all on Starks. But I digress.
Starks never posted the gaudy scoring number that Sprewell did, as his best season produced 19ppg. However, that is largely because Starks played on much better teams than Sprewell did during their respective primes. It’s hard to score 20 a game when you played most of your career with one of the 50 Greatest Players of All-Time in Patrick Ewing.
The Sooner state native was never afraid to go toe-to-toe with the opposition such as Michael Jordan and Reggie Miller. Those guys would usually get the best of John, but they got the best of every other Shooting Guard too. Who can forget Starks’ baseline left-handed dunk over Horace Grant and Michael Jordan (Even though Mike tried to pull his hand back at the last second. Too late Mike, you’re in the poster) in the 1993 playoffs in what has simple been known as “The Dunk”? Starks was an incredible competitor and was feared by many around the League. His career scoring average was 12.5ppg in 13 seasons.
In deciding who was the better Shooting Guard between these two guys, you almost have to throw out their career scoring averages because, again, Starks always played on better teams with guys who could score. Based on that, Sprewell’s numbers and overall career accolades look a lot better but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Having said all of that, who was the better player?
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