[armchairgmParticipant]

Who is your Top 10 of All Time? Thought with sports being shutdown people have time to debate this. Mine is:
1.Kareem Abdul Jabbar
2. Michael Jordan
3. Bill Russell
4. Kobe Bryant
5. Lebron James
6. Wilt Chamberlain
7. Magic Johnson
8. Tim Duncan
9. Shaquille O’Neal
10. Larry Bird

[canadabasketballisrisingParticipant]

Jordan
Lebron
Kareem
Wilt
Kobe
Bird
Magic
Shaq
Hakeem
Duncan

[ZouldiersParticipant]

Michael Jordan
Wilt Chamberlain
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
LeBron James
Bill Russell
Magic Johnson
Tim Duncan
Shaquille O’Neal
Hakeem Olajuwon
Larry Bird

[ZouldiersParticipant]

Michael Jordan
Wilt Chamberlain
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
LeBron James
Bill Russell
Magic Johnson
Tim Duncan
Shaquille O’Neal
Hakeem Olajuwon
Larry Bird

[OhCanada-Participant]

I have trouble not putting Kawhi Leonard on this list.

[sniperParticipant]

It’s hard to compare players you’ve actually watched with those before your time. Once I would have said that Russell, Wilt and Big O have to be in any top 10 because their statistical accomplishments were so mind-boggling. But then something happened to make me question that: Westbrook averaged a triple-double for three straight seasons — the most impressive individual stat since the days of Wilt. Yet at no time during that three-year stretch did I think Westbrook was even a top-5 player in the league. So now I feel I just don’t know how to rate those legends of the ’60s and ’70s and can only make an all-time team of those who I saw play.

First team: Magic, MJ, LeBron, Timmy, Kareem
Second team: Pippen, Kobe, Dr. J, Larry, Shaq

[2quick4uParticipant]

1. MICHAEL JORDAN: The GOAT simply and by far. In just 11 full seasons with the Bulls, he changed the game of baskeball forever and won everything possible dominating both sides in the slowest paced, most physical and toughest era of all time, an era dominated by the best centers ever. The most scarry thing is that he still had time to retire almost 2 seasons when he was in his absolute prime and another one after winning the ring and still being the best, so he could arguably have won 9 rings or at least 8… My GOD…
2. BILL RUSSELL: If MJ has been the best offensive player of all time, Russell is the best defender the league has ever seen by far, in fact he invented defense and was so ahead of his time (in many ways) that he did things no one does even today… and he did it while playing against the most dominating force the league had ever seen: Wilt Chamberlain. People still minimize what BR did because they say he played with many Hall of Famers: WRONG, BR made those guys HF’s. B.Cousy, B.Sharman, E.Macauly and F.Ramsey among others had played together before the arrival of BR and not only they did not win a single championship but did not even make it to the Finals… in 1969 (BR’s last season) an old Celtics squad that barely made the playoffs beat in 7 games the 1st real big 3 or dream team in history, the LA LAkers featuring W.Chamberlain, J.West and E.Baylor; Bill Russell left the 3 previous year’s consecutive MVP Will Chamberlain with averages of 11’7 points per game, oh! and BR did that while also being the coach of the team… Did i mention he won 11 rings?
3. MAGIC JOHNSON: If MJ and BR are the best offensive&defensive players ever, Magic is the best “in between” or in transition ever, by far, because actually that’s the era he played in, the transition era between the fast paced 60-70’s and the slowed paced era of the 90-00’s. The impact of Magic not only on his team and in the league but in the game of basketball it self is just huge and difficult to measure and unfortunately gets discredited because of the narrative of playing along Kareem, but truth is that Magic saved Kareem’s career from ostracism as he had 8 years without winning a ring until Magic arrived. As hint, in the whole 80’s decade from 1980-1989 LA made it to 8 NBA Finals winning 5, they made 1 CF and one other year lost in 1st round; that 1st round exit happened in Magic’s 2 season when he got injured and missed 45 games and wasn’t 100% for playoffs… in the other hand when Kareem got injured in game 6 of the 1980’s Finals, Magic took over as a rookie with 42pts and 15rb playing as a center… Magical…
4. SHAQUILLE O’NEAL: here is where it gets difficult and i have a hard time between Shaq, Duncan and Lebron but for several reasons i’ll explain, this is my order. I truly believe that Shaq has been way more dominant than Wilt or Kareem and in fact he had a 3 year run from 2000-02 that might be one of the most dominant display we’ve ever seen. Such dominance is something Duncan or Lebron have not had in the league, and not only that dominance translated in a dynasty, again something that Lebron never achieved to build, but he made the league to change the rules of the game in a huge way because of him. Too bad he was so lazy, wasn’t always in shape and had to deal with Kobe’s ego if not who knows what could have happened. Still, as a fat 34yo player he made possible for MIA to win its 1st title after beating in ECF a bad boys team that was the RS champion with 64 wins… in 2007-08 after he moved from MIA that team won 15 games and then never passed 1st round until Lebron arrived… Could you imagine if Shaq had payed with absolutely non contact defenses like today?
5. TIM DUNCAN: This one might be controversial but Mr.Consistency might be the most underrated player in history and he did something unheard of, he kept the Spurs as contenders for every of his 19 years in the league and all that while playing against some of the best players and teams the league has ever seen. For 15 of those years the Spurs were among Top3 defensive teams and finished as best Def team in 6 seasons.. Duncan might be the 2nd most impactful defensive player in history behind Russell. In 2014 he led an old Spurs team as a 38yo franchise player to beat Lebron’s MIA while the chosen one being in his absolute prime; the Spurs beat them by the largest margen in NBA history… 5 championships as the main franchise player+15 all Def teams+2 MVP+3 Final MVP= top 5 player.

[2quick4uParticipant]

6. LEBRON JAMES: People will squirm for having Lebron here, but as great as Lebron is and for as much as he’s done for the game he actually gets more credit than deserves when you analyse closely his career. The chosen one has had too many big fails during his career to have him higher than this, although that being said his career is still not over and could potentially climb 1 to 3 spots. Lebron had a 5 year run where he looked as arguably the most complete player in history, but that doesn’t mean better or more impactful. Possibly, Lebron will finish 1st in the all-time scoring list and will break many records but that’s just a matter of seasons played and consistency and as great of a virtue as that is itself, we cannot put those numbers over other more important things and aspects like winning, domination or even changing the game of basketball itself and the players above have had more of that than the King in less seasons played.
Lebron has had black holes in his career hard to forget like his fails with CLE in 2009 and 2010 against ORL&BOS where he didn’t even make it to the finals after finishing as the best RS team and winning consecutives MVP’s, or in 2011 where he suffer the biggest melt down a superstar has ever seen, losing against and old DAL team and averaging less than 18ppg or his lost against a very old SPURS in 2014 by the largest margin in history and his “almost lost” against Spurs in 2013 when they were 26sec away from losing until R.Allen saved his career.. or when he won just 1 game in 2 Finals against the Warriors… Still the KING has some more time and whatever happens we have to thank him for all these great years. SAVE the KING!
7. LARRY BIRD: If the “Bird” sits this low is only due to his very short prime career as he entered the league as a 23yo rookie and got injured in late 88 and was never the same player as before. But truth is that Bird dominated the game and the league like very few in history and not only he was respected but feared in a way i’ve only seen with MJ or Shaq. His 3 year run from 1984-86 was unbelievable and looked literally unstoppable and in 9 years up until he got injured in 1988 his Celtics had 6 seasons of 60+ wins… sometimes he gets discredited for playing along McHale and Parish but people forget that Parish was not even an all-star during his 4 seasons prior to joining the Celtics and McHale was a rookie that did not become all-star until his 4th season.
8. KOBE BRYANT: It was tough to choose between the black mamba and Bird, but truth is that even though Kobe has 2 more rings than Bird, 3 of them came under the wing of Shaq whom was really the most devastating force in the league. Reality is that Kobe never dominated the league the way Bird did…Kobe was unable to pass the 1st round or even make the playoffs without Shaq and teammates are not an excuse; during Larry Bird’s rookie season he took a team that had won 29 games the year before and made them win 61 games, 1st in RS… that’s impact and domination. Still Kobe overachieved expectation and will always be remembered for his assassin mentality and will or even desire for improvement, collecting arguably the biggest repertoire of moves in history. RIP MAMBA.
9. KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR: This one might be the most controversial of all, but again, when you study closely his career you understand that people get fooled by his “inflated achievements” and that he might be the most “overrated” player in the top10 list. Kareem took the league by storm winning the ring in his 2nd year already, but when everyone thought he would dominate the 70’s like Russell did in the 60’s but with Chamberlain’s offensive package, he failed to win another championship in 8 years until Magic arrived to LA. Not only that, but he failed to succeed in arguably the weakest NBA era of all time as the league was divided in 2 and superstars like Dr.J were playing for the ABA. What’s even worse, during 1975 and 1976 he did not even make the playoffs for 2 consecutive years (even though he was named MVP) while him being in his absolute prime, that is just inexcusable. Could you imagine MJ or Lebron not making the playoffs in their primes? NO and specially in the 70’s.
Again, Magic save his career in such way that no one wants to recognize, but if it wasn’t for Magic I’m not sure if Kareem would even have made the top 10. Still, Kareem holds the all time Points record, he remained competitive until he was 40 and had one of the most beautiful shots we’ve ever seen in the game.
10. WILT CHAMBERLAIN: Another difficult one that some might not understand, but Chamberlain is the paradigm of inflated stats and a “victim” of the pace of game… Some say he’s the most dominant player in history because of his 50pts/25rb season but truth is he did not even win the MVP that year. Why? well cause he “only” won 49 games and that doesn’t seem too dominant. Again people tend to confuse numbers with impact. In fact the next year he averaged 45pts/24rb but his team won 31 games but these are the things that happen when your team plays at a 131 pace and today we understand better the consequences of pace, if not ask Westbrook.
Wilt always whimpered because he said he never had the teammates that Russell had as an excuse for not winning. but that is absolutely FALSE. Once he moved to PHI he actually was surrounded with as many superstars as BR was, stars of the size of Hal Greer, Ched walker or B. Cunningham that made PHI the BEST team in the league for the 3 years he stayed there, but “only” won 1 ring and was ridiculed by an old Celtics team in the ECF in 1968. Then he moved to LA to join a super team or the 1st dream team in history featuring him, Jerry West and E.Baylor. But his 1st year lost again in the 1969 Finals against an even older Celtics team and got absolutely stopped by Russell leaving him under 12ppg. In 1970 and 1973 LA’s super-team lost in the Finals twice against NY, so he had no excuse there about the Celtics, and then the ring he won with the Lakers in 1972 against the Knicks again happened because Willis Reed got injured and didn’t played the finals…
The Great Wilt was amazing, arguably the best specimen we’ve ever seen, but he’s the perfect example of how PACE can manipulate perspectives and make people confuse between numbers VS impact.

[markpionParticipant]

1)MJ-Most grizzled shot maker at playoff time, great defender and multi dimensional player.
2)LeBron-Complete player, nice resume and great attitude.
3)Wilt-Dominant big man in his era.
4)Shaq-Ditto.
5)Magic-Changed the game with flash and was a flexible talent.
6)Bird-Great clutch player and complete.
7)Kareem-Underrated big man. Superb player and resume.
8)Dr.J-Innovator and high flyer.
9)Russell-Best defender on this list. Led with will.
10)Duncan-They don’t call him The Big Fundamental for nothing.

Note:Alltime underrated The Admiral.

[Deathly HollowsParticipant]

1.Michael Jordan
2.Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
3.Kobe Bryant
4.Tim Duncan
5.Hakeem Olajuwon
6.Wilt Chamberlain
7.Shaquille O’Neal
8.Larry Bird
9.Kawhi Leonard
10.Dirk Nowitzki

[markpionParticipant]

On second thought, Kareem should be 2 or 3. Underrated. Wow.

[Author]

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