I see a lot of similarities in their games. liking the outside shot. good one on one defenders in their primes good off the ball rotation on defense in their primes. good influence in the clubhouse. The Pistons got maybe one fair year out of Uncle Cliffy. That was his first year in Detroit when he was 35. But Uncle Cliffy was basically on the downslide starting the year before at 34. His last good all around year was when he was 33. Sheed is now 31. I would be very happy if the Pistons could get 3 more solid years from Sheed. Besides by then AJ could be, well we will have to wait and see.
A big difference is that Cliff was strictly a regular season performer. For whatever reason he has one of the worst regular to postseason dropoffs in the history of the NBA.
It's ironic But Cliffy had a streak of NEVER MISSING the playoffs in his career UNTIL he went to GS a couple years back. He was always in the playoffs. Maybe some people will even remember that he played against the Pistons in the 1990 FINALS against Portland. I believe he was a rookie.
Uncle Cliffy...you betta' recognize... Beat me to the punch. His playoffs record is very impressive. ..he actually kept it close with GS that year but they ran out of gas. Cliff's role on the Pistons is a huge reason as to why Ben evolved as the premier defender today. When Cliff left, there was a humongus void that wasn't filled until Rasheed's arrival.
does anyone else remember when Uncle Cliff would fake the three, take two dribbles past his defender, and then pick up his dribble? it seems like all my memories of him go like that :P
