Big O is 71

Happy birthday Oscar Robertson.


And......







Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! At Hatter's top 3.

 

I agree with your MJ ranking but no way on earth is Bill Russell #3. Someone with a 50 something free throw percentage cant be included in the top 5 players, at least not in my book. Free throws are an essential element of the game and if a player cant come close to shooting what a 5'6" skinny high school girl can shoot then he doesnt belong in the top three.

 

Wilt and Kareem were both better than Russell. Wilt could score any time he wanted to and Kareem was a superstar for like 20 years. That sky hook was also amazing to watch and I thank him for helping the kick Bostons ass and ending that streak.



MJ is probably #1 right now, but I feel this will change after Kobe plays a whole career. I feel that Kobe has also played in a better league than Jordan did. The league went into a down period after the 80's and the Bulls benefited.


Magic is #3. I don't think we'll ever see a 6 foot 9 inch point guard run the floor like that again. He even played center at Philadelphia and has a huge game to clinch a title. The showtime Lakers would beat any team in NBA history. He was the leader of this and should get credit for it.



If I'm honest, I can see why you would put those 3 at the top. While I don't agree with it, its not a bad top 3 at all. I really wish you would see that you're watching an NBA great in Kobe though.

 

Reading ESPN today, I saw this:

On this date in 1960, Wilt Chamberlain grabbed an NBA-record 55 rebounds in a 132-129 loss to Boston. In this decade, only two players have gotten more than halfway to Wilt's record: Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace, who both had at least 28 in a game twice.

:shock:

Kobe will be a generally accepted top 3 when all is said and done, but as of now, he's still top 3 for me: MJ, Wilt, Kobe (insert any of Oscar, Kareem, Russell, Bird, Magic, West, Dr. J, Duncan, etc., next).

 

Russell - 56.1% Career FT% vs Chamberlain at 51.1%. Both were typically woeful from the charity stripe, as most big men are.

My take on this. You can't compare eras. How would Kobe do in the Russell/Wilt era? Not as well as he does today b/c he'd never be allowed the offensive freedom he gets now. He'd still be great, but how great? Who knows.

 

I don't think you can compare eras. Kobe and MJ are greats in their era and I think they would have been good in any era but there was a time when dunking a ball was frowned upon and what we call a crossover today would have been called traveling or carrying the ball in past eras. Russell and Chamberlin were great then but the league is now full of guys who are athletic and would certainly match up better than most big men of their era. Who knows who the best ever really was. I just try to appreciate the Bird's, Johnson's, Jordan's and Bryant's while I have a chance to.

 

O was certainly more like Russel than Chamberlain BUT Comparing players of different generations is a sinkhole of speculation and pure crap.

We can celebrate Big 'O' because he was the FIRST, not the best, of a type. Which are discussed above. Left out are decadal giants, like Wayne Embry, then Jerry Lucas, West.. yadda yadda. Tell me who could adapt and play to the game today, in same role, but Cousy?

and back to Magic. Same thing.. except it wasnt so much the beginning of something that he and Bird signified, it was THE END of 70's NBA boredom. At least it was to me... watching wilt play was... uh.. never mind, wait I know.. was like watching Patrick Ewing play.

Michael Jordan was different. He headed up probably the greatest team ever assembled. He was not just the Honcho, but he wouldnt have had the recognition otherwise. STILL deserves it, though.

 

Always fun to argue "best players".

Happy B-day to Oscar, anyone that can average a triple-double for a season has to be in the discussion. Probably the player most similar to Magic

MJ s still number 1 for me. Fog, the Bulls team the best assembled??? :?
Not even close. Chicago had 2 different teams for their 2 different 3 peats (seperated by MJ's "attempt" at baseball) They had jokes for center (Will Perdue, Luc Longley, Bill Cartwright), solid power forwards (Horace Grant and Rodman), decent shooters (BJ Armstrong, John Paxson, and Steve Kerr), the lone standout being Scottie "choked like a dog when he was the man in Portland" Pippen (yes I'm a Blazer fan, and nothing gets us pissed like hearing his name)

The Showtime Lakers w/Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Scott, etc... were the best team assembled.