Retro-Scouting Arvydas Sabonis, vs. David Robinson, 1986

Arvydas Sabonis poses with crowd favorite Muggsy Bogues following the 1986 FIBA World Championship final We were delighted to see one of The Painted Area's all-time favorite players, Arvydas Sabonis inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday night. Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune had an excellent piece on Sabonis on Friday, the title of which captures a fairly definitive statement of Sabas' career: "What ifs will stick forever in rating Arvydas Sabonis". What if Sabonis had come over to the NBA at age 23 in 1988, as many thought he might, and what if his legs hadn't been ravaged by injuries? How good would he have been? In the Eggers piece, the coach of the reigning NBA champions, Rick Carlisle, who was an assistant in Portland when Sabonis first arrived, says the following: “I have no doubt Arvydas would be in the conversation as a top 15 or 20 player all-time without the injuries." Is that really so? Well, I had a mild Eureka moment on Friday, when I remembered