Chapman_is_Gone said:
If they literally played each other 1-on-1 today, who would win? Kareem looks to be in pretty good shape. Would youth triumph?
Kareem is 73. Hughes is in his early 40s. Not much of a contest. Too much age difference. Except that I've seen Kareem play,and I've seen Solomon play, and I don't think there is a shot that Solomon had that Kareem could not block, even at age 73, unless Kareem fell down or otherwise got injured in the contest. As for the sky hook, well there are some things a basketball player never loses.
Some of my high school teammates played in an Asian-American league into their mid-70s, but the game was reduced to half-court. Norm Owyoung, who once was invited to try out with the Warriors, was in that league, and was asked how well they played. He said, "When we are on defense, we try to stand next to each other in front of the basket, making a wall. When one of us gets hit, we all fall down." He retired at 74, I believe.
This reminds me of another story of youth vs age: In the early 1990s, after Magic Johnson became HIV positive and retired, when he felt stronger, he organized a barnstorming exhibition tour of his friends from his NBA days, to raise money for HIV and AIDS as a charity. Magic was in his early 30s, while most of the players were still playing in the NBA. Magic invited Wilt Chamberlain to play with them. Wilt was in his late 50s at the time. In his first game, Wilt sat on the bench for the first half, and the two teams raced up and down the floor, fast breaking on every play, and not playing much defense. Magic put Wilt in the game to start the second half, and at the center jump, Wilt announced, "There will be no more layups in this gym." And that was the end of the fast break in that game, as he proceeded to grab most of the rebounds and block most of the shots anywhere near the basket.
SFCityBear