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Reggie Miller and Chris Webber on Top 5 Current NBA Stars, Top Quotes of B/R AMA

Rob Goldberg

With the start of 2019-20 NBA season just weeks away, TNT analysts Reggie Miller and Chris Webber joined Bleacher Report for an AMA session Wednesday.

The two former players agreed on several topics, including heavily debated ones from the past and present. 

Given a choice between the 72-win Chicago Bulls and 73-win Golden State Warriors, both chose Michael Jordan and the Bulls, which was the clear best team from their own era.

They also went old school when asked who was the better shooter between Ben Simmons and Charles Barkley. Both chose Barkley, their TNT colleague, though Miller at least noted that Simmons stroke' "looked good" in Tuesday's preseason game.

Perhaps the most surprising agreement came when listing their top five current players in the NBA.

"I'm going to go Bron, Kawhi, Giannis, Harden, healthy Anthony Davis," Miller said.

"Bron, Kawhi...This is impossible...Harden, Giannis, healthy AD," Webber added, although he clarified that his picks weren't in order.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden dominated the regular season last year, while Kawhi Leonard took over the playoffs, but it's clear there is still a lot of respect for Lakers teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis after quiet seasons. 

There was also plenty of agreement that each player would be even more successful in today's game than they were 20 years ago.

"I was built for today's game," Webber said. "We both came in during a transition period. It would be fun and it would definitely translate. I would definitely want to play center today. It's just a different position."

Miller praised his partner in agreement:

"Oh man. C-Webb was one of the originators of what we are calling the stretch 4. What made him so unique was that he had a back to the basket game as well. He had the best of both worlds. Ahead of his time. Then you had the Sheeds [Rasheed Wallace], Dirks [Dirk Nowitzki], but there has to be someone that was the originator. It's a 3 point game now so it's perfectly suited for my game now."

Miller retired as the all-time leader in three-pointers but was passed by Ray Allen and will soon fall further down the list. Five of the top nine players on the all-time list are active, with Stephen Curry likely to move to No. 2 this season.

Though Miller always had a green light when he played, he could've had even bigger numbers in the league's current style. 

One area where they differed was attempting to select teammates for their ideal three-on-three lineups.

"You need a penetrator and a shooter," Webber said. "I'm going with Harden and Curry. They can pop back, they can switch, they can do you 1-on-1. 1 person can't check Harden."

"I'm going to go just a little bit different," Miller countered. "Was going to go with Curry, but I'm going to go with Kyrie Irving and I'm going to go big and I'm going with Joel Embiid." 

The AMA did sometimes venture into other topics, like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or why the glue doesn't stick to the tube.

"Well a compound forms plastic to make sure that it doesn't coagulate to form the glue," Miller explained.

Of course, most people came for their basketball knowledge.

The NBA regular season begins on Oct. 22 with a TNT doubleheader, as the New Orleans Pelicans face the NBA champion Toronto Raptors and then the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Los Angeles Clippers.

Both Miller and Webber believe the Clippers are the better of the two L.A. teams for the regular season because of their defense, but we will get a chance to see it on the court in two weeks.

   

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