The Arena Tournament: Favourite Basketballer -WINNER ANNOUNCED INSIDE

Welcome to the Second Arena Tournament, which celebrates the great game of Basketball and those who've played it.

Much like other tournaments across the boards, there are a few rules which need to be explained

Remember, that this is a favourite tournament. Therefore, you should vote for your favourite, not that of anyone else

If you're unsure about an option, take the time to click on the player link, which will direct you to a wiki page on the player. This helps participants make informed decisions and, therefore, makes the tournament better.

To vote, simply look for the most recent vote announcement, and vote according to the match-ups shown by picing one of the pair. You do not have to vote on all pairs in a round however.

Rounds will last, on average, 24 hours. At the end of the voting period, the winners will be announced and the next round posted. New rounds will also be signalled by a change in the thread title

Be sure you're voting for the right round. Any vote-posts that relate to previous or future rounds will be ignored

Discussion is allowed, and encouraged, especially on why you voted for a player. Remember to keep to the TOS when doing so however

Voting with socks is not allowed and will result in the purpetrator being barred from participating in the rest of the tournament

The second post of the thread contains all the nominations and regions. If you wish to see who is remaining and who has been eliminated (will be highlighted at the end of each round), check there

Have fun guys

 

<h4>Western Conference</h4>
Los Angeles Lakers
Kareem Abdul-Jabar
Gilbert Arenas
Sean Elliott
Muggsy Bogues
Charles Barkley
Rick Barry
Shane Battier
Len Bias

San Antonio Spurs
Larry Bird
Steve Blake
Andrew Bogut
Manute Bol
Elton Brand
Horace Grant
Caron Butler
Kobe Bryant

Golden State Warriors
Vince Carter
Sam Cassell
Wilt Chamberlain
Chris Collins
Dale Davis
Darryl Dawkins
Johnny Dawkins
Luol Deng

Houston Rockets
Clyde Drexler
Paul Pierce
Steve Kerr
Kevin Durant
Tim Duncan
Alex English
Julius Erving
Renaldo Balkman

Utah Jazz
Phil Ford
Andrea Bargnani
Kevin Johnson
Walt Frazier
Andrew Gaze
George Gervin
Tyler Hansbrough
Penny Hardaway

Portland Trailblazers
Tim Hardaway
John Havlicek
Shane Heal
Grant Hill
Kirk Hinrich
Robert Horry
Andre Iguodala
Zydrunas Ilgauskas

 

Los Angeles Lakers

Kareem Abdul-Jabar
vs.
Gilbert Arenas

Sean Elliott
vs.
Muggsy Bogues

Charles Barkley
vs.
Rick Barry

Shane Battier
vs.
Len Bias

 

Kareem Abdul-Jabar

Agent Zero is way too me-first for my liking.

Sean Elliott

Bogues may be more entertaining, but Elliott is much more inspirational.

Charles Barkley

The Round Mound of Rebound. Gotta love him. (As a player, not as an analyst)

Len Bias

On potential alone ...

 

Kareem Abdul-Jabar - "Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes."

Muggsy Bogues - He was just a fun guy to watch and his Hungry Man commercials were classic.

Charles Barkley - Right or wrong, I just like people who speak their mind. "I am not a role model."

Len Bias - I could just as easily hate him for being so stupid, but he was just so frickin' good. Whatta waste.

 

Gilbert Arenas
- Boooo. Horrible draw for Gilbo. Damn, going out in the first round? There's gotta be somebody who appreciates his quirky attitude as much as I do. Don't really expect him to beat Kareem though, which really sucks.

Sean Elliott
- That jumper will be forever implanted into my mind. I always like Mugsey just because of the height, but once I actually started watching him, I realized I didn't like his game much at all.

Charles Barkley
- I like Rick, but Chuck blows him away with just his mouth. Not to mention he's still in amazing game shape. We all saw him whoop Baveta.

Shane Battier
- Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to see Bias play. I've heard things, and seen videos, but without appreciating his performances when they happened, and with not a ton of video to watch, I have to go with Shane. Brilliant individual and team defender, and easily a top 5 glue guy in the league. And I just have a thing for glue guys. His being left off the All-Defense team this year was a worse mockery than Camby or Kobe being put on the 1st team.

 

Kareem Abdul-Jabar For his performance in airplane alone.

Muggsy Bogues

Charles Barkley

Len Bias -- I actually saw him play in person, his senior year at Maryland vs. Notre Dame. Two ND players used all of their combined 10 fouls trying to stop him, he still scored 25. Unbelievable. What an absolute waste.

 

Kareem Abdul-Jabar - never really cared for Arenas all that much, though he's certainly a very good player.

Muggsy Bogues - exciting, plus he played for Charlotte, the closest team to where I live, when I was a kid. That helps him out here.

Charles Barkley - Easy pick for me here, though I was never as much of a fan of Barkley as one of my close friends was - he was obsessed.

Shane Battier - Duke, one of my favorite players of all time, period. Bias is tough opposition, but Battier will get my vote against almost anyone else in this tournament.

 

I'm going to have as much fun with this tournament as the last.

 

Gilbert Arenas - I've never really liked Kareem, and i think Arenas is one of the more entertaining players in the league (if only for his off court antics).

Muggsy Bogues - I liked the movie Eddie. So sue me.

Charles Barkley - Both as a player and as an analyst. Extremely entertaining.

Shane Battier - I'm one of those guys that feels no sympathy for Bias, and Battier was a great college player and a solid pro.

 

Kareem Abdul-Jabar


Muggsy Bogues


Charles Barkley


Len Bias

 

Kareem Abdul-Jabar


Muggsy Bogues


Rick Barry (I'm a rebel without a cause.)


Len Bias

 

Kareem

Bogues

Barkley

Bias

 

Kareem Abdul Jabar
Pretty much by default.

Sean Elliott
My parents took me to Game 1 of the WCF between Spurs and Blazers, which the Spurs won in a blowout. I remember when we were watching Game 2 at home and the Spurs were getting blown out my mom said, "We went to the good game". Woops.

Rick Barry
He's a frequent guest on the Rise Guys radio show here and I usually like what he has to say. Plus we share a last name

Len Bias
If nothing else, a bizarre story.

 

Kareem Abdul-Jabar


Muggsy Bogues


Charles Barkley


Shane Battier

 

Kareem Abdul-Jabber

Sean Elliott

Charles Barkley

Abstain

 

Los Angeles Lakers

Kareem Abdul-Jabar - 10 Winner
vs.
Gilbert Arenas - 2

Sean Elliott - 4
vs.
Muggsy Bogues - 8 Winner

Charles Barkley - 10 Winner
vs.
Rick Barry - 2

Shane Battier - 4
vs.
Len Bias - 7 Winner

 

San Antonio Spurs

Larry Bird
vs.
Steve Blake

Andrew Bogut
vs.
Manute Bol

Elton Brand
vs.
Horace Grant

Caron Butler
vs.
Kobe Bryant

 

Larry Bird

No way I could vote against Larry Legend in the first round without a horrible draw (MJ, Lebron)

Manute Bol

Much I like it was hard to vote against Helmut in the soccer tournament, Manute gets the "cool first name" vote from me here.

Horace Grant

The unsung hero in MJ's title run ...

Caron Butler

Only a handful of people I would vote Kobe over ... and Carlos Boozer is one of them.

 

Larry Bird

one of my favourite players of all time.

Manute Bol

Bogut is still relatively unproven at this stage. will probably go on to be better than Bol, though.

Elton Brand

Grant is very underrated but i think Brand would have been just as if not better alongside Jordan and Pippen. Brand rules. trading him for Chandler = stupidity personified

Kobe Bryant

Bryant is the better player. period.

 

Larry Bird - The kind of inspirational player every team wished they could have.

Andrew Bogut - I've gotta give my vote to the Aussie. Such a huge talent, and hopefully the kind of player that can inspire basketball hopefuls locally as well as in the NBA. Here's hoping for a better '08 season, free from injury.

Horace Grant - A trooper of a player, perhaps not the greatest talent compared to Elton, but certainly a fighter. Also of note, Horace made one of the most important blocks in NBA history, helping Chicago defeat Phoenix all those years ago.

Kobe Bryant - Butler is a player to watch, but Kobe is the master.

 

oops, i went with who i thought was the better player. i should change Brand for Grant but i won't, screw it.

 

Abstain

Andrew Bogut

Abstain

Kobe Bryant

 

Bird - He was like basketball's Gretzky. They dominated to mythical extremes.

Bogut

Brand

Butler - Kobe's a thug.