As for DK, man he was cricket to me and to basically everyone as child in the 70s and early 80s. He was the template for the modern fast bowler, the model on which they've all been based and compared to since. And, as he would admit himself, improved upon.
Tearaway at the start - seriously quick. If you don't htink so, watch the highlights of his bowling against the ROW in 71-72. Then a serious injury, the recovery from which he pioneered. Came back smarter and harder. The period 74-77 with Thommo was like Johnson and Harris in 13/14 but on steroids. No helmets, no quarter. No hope. They bounced everyone. Repeatedly. DGAF. There would have been no WSC without Lillee. If he hadn't gone it wouldn't happen. He was the biggest name in cricket at the time - more than the Chappells, any of the Windies, Poms, Kiwis or guys from the SC.
The Zapata mustache, shirt undone to the navel, the long hair, heart bigger than even Siddle's. The attitude. He was the Viv of bowlers - just had a massive presence like no other. When they clashed it was like nothing else I've seen on a cricket field, albeit your impressions as a kid are always skewed. He had such a great action. Hadlee modeled himself on Lillee and you can understand why. Not just this action, but his mantra - when things got hard he'd think "Lillee", and ask himself what DK would do.
Blokes who played with and against him still revere him. Viv rated him highest of those he played against and feared him most when it was flat and the ball doing nothing, because he'd never give up and would find a way He taught Marshall how to bowl a leg cutter, ffs. He's one of the blokes you can see on highlights thinking blokes out. The way he nailed Boycott with an off cutter without playing a shot in 79-80 after bowling nothing but leg cutters to him for about 90 minutes, or how he bowled a couple of outies to Viv on that day in Melbourne before tailing the last ball in to catch the edge and bowl him. **** he was smart. Smart and dangerous. His bowling in the Centenary Test was incredible. Rolling England for less than 100 then grinding them out in the second dig when the pitch flattened out. Amazing. How Randall got MOTM ahead of him is still a mystery.
Became a grumpy old man after WSC (can sympathize) and his behaviour at times was ordinary - the Miandad stoush, the aluminium bat throwing, bouncing Kim Hughes constantly in the nets because he thought Marsh should have been skipper, trashing a dressing room with Botham after a Shield game. All black marks against him. But what a bowler. Some of my fondest memories as a kid are of going to the cricket, being on the Hill at the SCG and getting his autograph. They way he brooded at fine leg, thinking about the next over. Flicking the sweat off the forehead with the index finger, just like every kid in Australia did to copy him. Then he'd bowl and the crowd would go up with the chant. Still gives me goose bumps. What a cricketer he was.Then in retirement, has given shitloads back to aspiring fast bowlers the world over. Always generous with his knowledge and experience. He's a proper legend.
Apologies for the long post. He was my childhood hero has a cricket loving kid. IMO he's still the standard by which others are judged. Some are better, the vast majority aren't.