Thursday, March 6, 2014

Top 12 NBA players all time - Keeping in mind DOMINANCE

When looking at the all time great players of all time, one important thing I look for is dominance. Someone who can take over a game. Someone who dominates all season. Someone who dominates post-seasons. Someone who dominates their entire generation.

The 5 are NOT IN ORDER. One simple cannot be above the other in the top 5. They all should be number one. You can't hardly compare them. Some of them played in different time periods. All 5 were so dominate but in such different ways.


1) Bill Russell. Russell played 13 season and had 12 championship appearances and 11 championships. He was so well rounded. He could score if he needed to, but focused on everything else. Over his career, he averaged almost 5 assists a game and 22.5 rebounds. He is as one of the greatest defenders of all time. Blocks and steals were not recorded back then, but stories say that he was an incredible blocker. He was very athletic. Russell was the ultimate team player. He made everyone else around him better. He didn't care about records; he cared about winning. And he dominated winning.

1) Wilt Chamberlain. He was so athletic. He would run up and down the court unlike anyone else in that time period. 32 times he had 60+ point games, which is more than everyone else ever combine. His 100 point game. He lead the league in assist one year to prove that he could. Great shot blocker. He had good jump shots. He's the only player to have season average 50+ points. No one else has ever averaged 40+ points. He was just as good a rebounder as scorer. 22.9 rebounds a game in he career (1st all-time. Russell is 2nd). To give some perspective, he had one season where he scored 50 points in a game 45 times. Michael Jordan had 39 games where he scored 50 or more in his career (including playoffs). Also, he did things like this:
  • On February 2, 1968 - 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists (Only double-triple-double ever).
  • March 18, 1968 - 53 points, 32 rebounds, 14 assists (Most points scored in a triple-double game).

1) Michael Jordan. Dominated his era. I feel like I don't need to say much here. Most people already accept Jordan as best ever or at least one of the best ever. 6 championships. 6 Bill Russell MVP Championship awards. No one in that era could stop him. They could "only hope to contain him." Averaged a record 30.12 points a season. He also lead the league in steals three times.

1) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. All time leader in points. He was unguardable. He was also well rounded. 3rd all time in rebounds and 3rd all time in blocks. He has 6 rings (same as Jordan). 6 regular season MVPs (more than anyone else). Dominate. Lead the league in blocked shots 4 different seasons.







1) Oscar Robertson. Averaged a triple double in his second year in the league. He was the Magic or LeBron of his time. He was a big guard. As Jordan is to LeBron, Oscar was to Jordan. People who grew up watching Jordan say MJ is better than LeBron, and people who grew up watching Oscar say he was better than Jordan. Here's some quotes:
  • Former Cavaliers general manager Wayne Embry (who is one year older than Robertson) said "Pound for pound, inch for inch, I think Oscar was the greatest player of all time."
  • Kareem Abdul Jabbar - "LeBron is awesome, MJ was awesome, but I think Oscar Robertson would have kicked them both in the behind.''
Oscar Robertson averaged 30.5 points per game his rookie year, and 30.3 points per game in his first 8 seasons (all while average nearly a triple double all 8 years). He was a great defender. He was really big and was really fast and really strong. It's hard to compare him with Jordan or LeBron because it was such a different Era, but Oscar was really, really good and dominated his era.


Bottom 5 - I'll try to keeps these a bit shorter.


6) Magic Johnson. So dominate. He played center once when Kareem couldn't make it to a playoff game and still won the game. 2nd most triple doubles behind Oscar Robertson. 2 most 20+ assists games behind John Stockton. He has the season record of 13.1 assists a game, and the record career of 11.2. Had his career not been cut short, I have no doubt he would be in the greatest of all time conversation.





7) LeBron James. Out of respect that he is not yet retired, I put him down here at #7. (I'm not the only one. Bill Simmons recently said LeBron James is one of the best eight players of all time.) 4 MVP's already and 2 MVP championships. Dominate. So many dimensions to his game: 
  • Passing: He makes passes I've only seen Magic make. Bob Ryan recently said that LeBron is "the best passer in the NBA... PERIOD! Better than guards.... PERIOD!"
  • Defense: He is a great one-on-one defender and he can guard anyone. I saw him shut down reigning MVP Derrick Rose on multiple isolation plays in the 2011 conference championship. In the 2012 conference championship, he was the only player on his team that could contain Kevin Garnett. His help defence is also second to none. 
  • Scoring: 3rd ALLTIME in PPG behind only Wilt and Michael Jordan. He's got a great post game, mid range game, and a very respectable 3 point game. All around a super dominate player. Has never finished less than top 4 in PPG every season for the last 10 years.
  • FG% - This year he is shooting 58.2% (4th place), behind only DeAndre Jordan, Andre Drummond, and Dwight Howard. Last year he finished shooting 56.5 % (5th place) behind DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard, Javale McGee, and Serge Ibaka.
  • Career average so far: 27.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6.9 assists.
And he's not done.


(big drop off here - the top 7 are in contention for greatest player of all time and nobody else really is.)



8) Larry Bird. Clutch. Confident. Very skilled. Complete player. He got lots of Triple Double. Not quite as dominant as the other 7 in front of him, but definitely top 10.
9) Shaquille O'Neal. Dominate. 4 rings, 3 MVP championship awards. He imposed his will on everyone else. Interesting note: Only got dunked one once in his career (by Derrick Coleman).








10) Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon. (Edit 7/28/2014) - Let's hear what Jordan, who played against Hakeem, had to say about The Dream - "If I had to pick a center... I would take Olajuwon. That leaves our Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all the facets of the game, I have it give it to him."


Take that with a grain of salt as MJ has proven to be a not-so-good judge of talent with his horrible decisions as an owner, but I have Olajuwon rounding out my top 10. Olajuwon got kind of lucky and won his two rings when Jordan was experimenting with baseball. Only won one MVP award, but is a top 10 leader in points, blocks, and steals and top 20 in rebounds. Well rounded big man.




11) Tim Duncan. With Duncan winning his 5th rings, and with how dominate the Spurs have been since they drafted Duncan in 1997, I am putting him just above Kobe for number 11. He now has the most double-doubles in playoff history. He also has the most minutes in playoff history, because he always gets to the playoffs and goes far. Like LeBron James, I believe Duncan is even better that the stats show. His leadership, experience, personality and determination make him and his team that much better.

12) Kobe Bryant is a poor man's version of Michael Jordan. Laker fans will put him higher than 12th and people who don't have a horse in the race put him lower. I grew up watching Kobe be a top NBA player so I have him a bit in between the bias and the unbias. (Sports analyst Bill Simmons had him at 15th in 2010 now probably has him 16th seeing as he already had LeBron at 20 and considering all LeBron has done since 2010 http://www.nbadraft.net/node/16527.)

Just Missed: Jerry West and Moses Malone are just outside of my top 12.



To back myself up a little bit, I think this stat speaks of itself:

The list of players who have won at least four MVP trophies:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6)
Michael Jordan (5)
Bill Russell (5)
Wilt Chamberlain (4)
LeBron James (4)





-Fun video of highlights of Bill Russell and Wilt - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O63ohddcYM
-Where I got the two quotes about Oscar Robertson being better than Jordan or LeBron http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2013/11/any_greatest_of_all_time_discu.html
-Where is where I found out LeBron is 3rd in FG % this year and 4th last year (and 3rd in points per game this year and 4th last year) http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/field-goals
-Quotes about Bill Russell:
        -"Russell single-handedly revolutionize this game simply because he made defense so important." -Red Auerbach
        -"If we played Boston four on four, without Russell, we probably would have won every series. The guy killed us. He's the one who prevented us from achieving true greatness." -LA Lakers forward "Hot Rod" Hundley
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