Playing the game with an unspoken language

David,

I guess I should concede three points

1. Blake Griffin is more athletic freak than creative freak.
2. Golden State might not have a single franchise dude, let alone two - but I needed to say that they did in order to setup the SUPER ORIGINAL joke I had about the Miami Heat.
3. Jordan might have been wearing a black shirt on a black background instead of white on white. Except your video wasn't totally what I remembered (maybe I misremembered). Regardless, nice find!

I agree that franchise-ness and creativity need to be separated out, and I tried to hedge that previously but I'm glad you made that point in your reply. I'm also glad you made a point about the Utah Jazz. Although both of these points leave me with more questions. Are you saying that

• Not all creative players are franchise players?
• Not all franchise players have creativity? I.E. Stockton and Malone were clearly franchise players, but they weren't creative in so much as they were technical masters. or
  
• Stockton and Malone were franchise players and they were creative, but not nearly as creative as Jordan, the Leonardo Da Vinci of 2 guards?

If you're making the first point, then I'd definitely agree with you on it - not all creative players are franchise players. And by the way, what do we even mean by franchise players? Someone who is good enough to be the best player on a championship team?

As for the second and third points you make, I'd probably go with the third point because of this SICK YouTube clip I found.

Seriously, if you think Lin is finding some Lin-sane ways to score and create opportunities, then check out Stockton's no-looks, crossovers, and steals. The dude was also two inches shorter than Lin, but I'm not sure how or if we need to adjust for height inflation between the two eras. Also there's the whole sample size matter of Lin playing like, four games, and Stockton playing for like, ever.

Oh, and here's another BOMB TRACK (if you don't have audio when you watch this one then compete at a level that's obsolete)

Also, please, please, please, watch this amazing documentary.

My favorite quotes:

• "Playing the game with an unspoken language, these two different people have developed a keen appreciation of each other."
• "The only thing Stockton and Malone do better than flatter each other is DEVASTATE OPPONENTS!"
• "There truly is no duo as dynamic as Stockton and Malone"

So, I guess my concluding question from all of this is: Do franchise players have to be creative players?

P.S. I'd rather have Kevin Love because I want my big men to be willing to stomp on Argentinians. Falklands War.