One thing people forget about Clyde's game is the speed he had. He could really put on the jets. Until I saw Lebron James, Clyde may have been the fastest player 6'7 and over!
Met Clyde at a signing in the '90's...super mellow and friendly and made you feel like you weren't just another shit muncher...goddamn beast of the era without the ego...he really did glide too...class act
People tend to overlook Drexler's passing ability, dude was a master at leading his teammates straight to the cup especially on fastbreaks, it's just amazing to think how he averaged 6 assists a game for his career despite the fact that he played with excellent point guards like Terry Porter and Rod Strickland to shoulder facilitating duties.
+Aryeh Cohen ...i'm a Laker fan and we typically got the better end of the rivalry, that said, Drexler was a beast...and it's pretty amazing how he was so right hand dominant, driving to the basket from his right over 90% of the time, yet he was still unstoppable..
Clyde Drexler was the biggest reason the University of Houston cougars were nick-named "Phi Slama Jama" in 1982. Their constant dunking revolutionized how people thought about college ball.
Clyde was no joke!!! He was athletic, fast , could pass, and he shot was decent . I forgot how good he really was probably because of Jordan but seeing clips of the last dance bulls doc brought me here .
Clyde had the nastiest finger roll this side of George Gervin. He also did a dunk from the free throw line in an actual game. 1 of the top 50 players of all time.
one of my all times favorites if he was playing with Michael in the Chigago Bulls he was a superstar too, very underated player. almost same skils as MJ.
It's what happens when you play (mostly) in Portland. Same w/Stockton for playing in Utah. But in N. Y. .... Wellll. They elevate good players to great, great to unreal, ordinary to good. I think of those championship Knicks team in late 60's, early 70's. Some made Frazier to be the equal of Robertson and West (never was), Reed to be equal to Wilt and Russell. Reed was an excellent center, a genuine HOFer, but let's be serious. And Bradley, thanks to being on this team, gets into the Hall! Which is one of the most curious and ridiculous selections of all.
Drexler's finger-roll from 1:29 to 1:38 is the prettiest and the most skilful basket ever made. There are other great finger-rolls of his like the one from 1:22 to 1:28 and many others here and on other video clips. Clyde The Glide Drexler is the best finger-roller ever. Clyde, which are and to whom belong the most magnificent works of art? There you ought to go and join, no matter what.
Hoolaballoo There's no question who's the best and that was George Gervin. What Clyde did to John Salley was nasty, but he got that from George Gervin.
Drexler, Wilkins, and Jordan were very similar in style when it came to power dunks, bullying bigger and taller guys on the dunk, hard driving, athleticism and physicality. No one in today’s league can match these guys on any of those things. They made basketball look like a contact sport.
I completely agree. Drexler was the prototype for Lebron in many ways: both were very strong, extremely fast, great leapers, underrated passers, great in the open court and better at driving than at shooting jumpers. Clyde might actually have been faster in the open court. He was certainly able to jump farther and was probably a better pure passer than Lebron, but it was close. Lebron, however, is stronger, has a greater vertical leap and is a far better defender and more aggressive scorer.
He is the only player in NBA history to mass 20,000 points 6,000 rebounds, 6,000 assists and 2,000 steals. Although Kobe is only about 600 assists and 300 steals shy and could get it before he retires. Clyde is my favorite of all time and as of yet, no one else has hit all four of those milestones.
clyded literally had thousands of coast to coast dunks and fingerolls like those seen here. i always felt he did more with pure athleticism than any other player. mj was a highly skilled basketball player who was infinitely athletic. with, clyde it seemed he could easily have just gotten of track or baseball practice where he was the king, and was just dropped into a gym with no warm up or anything and be dominant.
"Clyde the Glide" Drexler doesn't get the RESPECT he deserves. Put his career stats up against any of the most touted SG players and his statistics are impressive too. Jordan, Bryant, Iverson, and Wade are all great SG players worthy of their praise but somehow "Clyde the Glide" Drexler gets overlooked smh.
its funny you say that. when you see the top five 2 guard lists by basketball people, wade and drexler are ofter pitted against one another. because of wade's early career i continue to see him as a combo guard. i don't think their games are similar. i do think he and lebron's games are similar though.
the only problem is he born in jordan era. in that era he played very well againts jordan bird magic etc. the sad thing is its MJ era but drexler is a beast
You don't see that pretty finger roll these days. The game would still be so fun to watch if some of the new kids watched these old school players. Instead of just learning to shoot threes all the time.
ededed A lot of people would disagree with us, but yea in my opinion, i'd take him over kobe too, just the defense he played against was a lot harder to play than the defense kobe plays against.
+Evangelist Fred Travis no it's not. Kobe may be better at "super staring it" with point totals, but Clyde was way more efficient, and still put up great numbers. I give Kobe a sight edge on defense, but Kobe wouldn't be able to stop Clyde on offense, and Clyde wasn't bad on D either. Kobe had a higher ceiling in terms of overall production, but I truly believe prime Clyde Drexler would have won just as many rings with the 2000s Lakers as Kobe did, and I don't think the Lakers would have had as many down season in between because Clyde was a better TEAM player. Kobe had a little more talent, Clyde had a smarter game.
hmm lets see, they were both SG's, they both played in the same era, they were both the center pieces of their respected teams, they were both sky-walkers that attacked the basket with reckless abondon, they could both shoot with great effectiveness, they both lead their team in scoring year in and year out, they also had huge rebounding and assist totals for SG's, and they were also very similar in size. They used to call Drexler the Jordan of the west. Mike was faster, Clide was smoother, Mike was more of a ball handler, Clide worked off the ball more, Mike was the best SG defender ever, but Clide was no slouch on D himself. They had some difference, but they had more similarities.
Kevin Durant plays a lot like what Drexler does or did, the only difference is as good as direct or was cuz he was very good it was one of the best, Kevin Durant is that much better so he like was like Clyde but taller and like three times even better Kevin Durant
