New York City has spawned a slew of NBA players and has historically made a specialty of bringing out big playmakers. Among them, Rafer Alston, who was nicknamed “Skip to My Lou” on the playgrounds of the “Big Apple”, recalled that it was even a source of pride, at one time, for the country’s major universities to be able to recruit a New York leader.
Rafer Alston is one of the players featured in the documentary “NYC Point Gods” dedicated to historic leaders from New York basketball. The Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman-produced feature airs today on “Showtime,” and it also stars Kenny Anderson, Mark Jackson, Stephon Marbury, God Shammgod, Kenny Smith, Rod Strickland and Dwayne “Pearl” Washington. “.
“It is an honor for me to be part of this community of historic leaders in the city”he said during his appearance on the VC Show, hosted by Vince Carter. “I say that because for a lot of the guys before me, the Kenny Andersons, Kenny Smith, Mark Jackson, Rod Strickland, ‘Pearl’ Washington, they’re guys they looked up to. Then there was our era, with God Shammgod, Kareem Reid, Stephon Marbury…”.
From Kyrie Irving to Allen Iverson via Stephen Curry
On the occasion of the release of the documentary, Kenny Anderson, Mark Jackson, God Shammgod and Rafer Alston answered a question and answer revolving mainly around New York streetball and the current NBA.
Each first named their best point guard of all time. God Shammgod voted for Kenny Anderson, while the latter chose Tiny Archibald, also a native of NYC. Mark Jackson nominated Magic Johnson. Rafer Alston validated all the choices of his comrades before slipping the name of Isiah Thomas.
As for the current leaders and those who could do well in a Rucker Park type atmosphere, Mark Jackson did not hesitate to quote LeBron James, recently seen in Drew League where he entertained the gallery. God Shammgod seemed more hesitant around four names: Chris Paul, Stephen Curry, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. The Nets point guard is also designated by Kenny Anderson. Rafer Alston has opted for Damian Lillard.
Finally, to the question “Which point guard do you never want to defend against?” God Shammgod quoted the late “Pearl” Washington. Kenny Anderson once again mentioned Kyrie “Uncle Drew” Irving, while for Rafer Alston, Allen Iverson was the most untenable. “He was tireless, non-stop, attack, attack, attack.”