There are 7 contenders for NBA's greatest player of all time. Then there's everyone else.

In the history of the NBA, we have seen some great basketball and some great basketball players. When talking greatest of all time, there are so many factors that to into that. How good was their competition at the time? How many points did they score? What were some of their best games? Were they good under pressure? Were they well rounded? Did they play defence and offence? What's their averages look like? What's their career totals? Did they dominate games? Could they take over games? What if this? What if that?

After much research and much debating, I've found there to be what I call the "Tier 1" of basketball players. This is made up of 7 players who can be argued as the greatest player of all time. They are:

TIER 1:  (MVPs)

Bill Russell (5)

Oscar Robertson (1)

Wilt Chamberlain (4)

 Kareem Abdul-Jabbarr (6)

Ervin "Magic" Johnson (3)

Michael Jordan (5)

LeBron James (4)

These are players who dominated the game. (I personally like to leave LeBron out of the conversation because he's not done yet.) These are players that have stats that will blow your mind. These are players that have 4 MVPs or more (besides Oscar Robertson smushed in between Wilt and Bill). These are players with multiple championships. These are players that are well rounded. These players play good defence and offense. These players make their teammates better (except maybe Wilt...). These players can pass, rebound, shoot well, steal, block... they do it all. They all have great leadership and are all winners. I've heard great arguments for each of those players as the greatest of all time. If you want to argue one of seven, that is respectable and you might be right.

After tier 1, we have:

TIER 2:  (MVPs)

Bob Pettit (2)

Elgin Baylor (0)

Moses Malone (1)

Jerry West (0)

Julius Erving (1)

Larry Bird (3)

Isiah Thomas (0)

Charles Barkley (1)

Patrick Ewing (0)

Hakeem "the dream" Olajuwon (1)

John Stockton (0)

Scottie Pippin (0)

Shaquille O'neal (1)

Allen Iverson (1)

Kobe Bryant (1)

Tim Duncan (2)

(etc.)........

These guys are great players. However, they simply didn't dominate as did the tier 1 players.

Some of these guys are specialists who dominate some things (Iverson at scoring, Stockton at passing/stealing...). These guys have around 1 MVP. Some of these guys were victims of circumstance (Stockton played against Jordan, Iverson had bad teams, Pippin was always number 2...) Others were benefited by circumstance (Kobe drafted by the Lakers, played with Shaq and for Phil Jackson) (Hakeem won his only 2 championships the 2 years Jordan didn't play). Some of these guys lacked leadership or had problems with attitude. Some of these guys hid weaknesses by playing their role perfectly. Some of them never won a single ring or MVP.

Do you think Magic Johnson or LeBron James would have complained about having Shaq as a teammate and forced him out as Kobe did? No. Instead, they would have lead that team to win 8 championships with Shaq and Phil Jackson.

People who argue tier 2 players as "greatest of all time" are usually baseless and without facts. They maybe top 10 all time, or perhaps make your team of top 13, but you cannot convince me that any one of these players is the G.O.A.T. All the facts, the stats, the eye test, and everything else point to one of the seven players in tier one being the best of all time.

For more stats on the tier 1 guys and on a few tier 2 guys, check out my top 10 I did a while ago: http://keelesports.blogspot.com/2014/03/top-10-nba-players-all-time-keeping-in.html