Originally Posted by
greenhippo
1> Michael Jordan: You can look at his scoring titles (10) or his highest season scoring average all-time (30.12) and his MVPs (5) but that only takes into account one aspect of the greatest basketball player ever. Three times he lead the league in steals, he was nominated to the All Defensive first team a record tying 9 times. Add to that his Defensive player of the year award in 1988 and his 10 first team all NBA and his list of accolades dwarfs anyone in comparison. A 3 time All-Star MVP, he showed that even against the best players in the world he was still head and shoulders above the rest.
2> Larry Bird: A player in today's game that averages Bird's career stats of 24/6/10 is considered an elite talent, Lebron James type numbers, if you will. Now imagine averaging that over the course of 13 years. A 3 time MVP and 3 time NBA Champion, Bird spearheaded the Celtics of the 80s in their yearly rivalry with Magic Johnson and Lakers. A model of consistency you could argue his worst season (19/8.5/7) would be in line with starting All-stars of today. Bird has taken his basketball talents and become the only person to win an NBA title, Coach of the Year and executive of the year. If you want to learn and understand the game of basketball, no man will teach as well as Mr Bird.
3> Hakeem Olajuwon: By my estimation the top center in the history of the game. You don't hear mention of Olajuwon's domination like you would Chamberlain or Oneal, but there is an 8-9 year stretch where The Dream was THE big man amongst the greatest generation of big men. He twice lead the league in rebounds and 3 times in blocked shots, during the 90-91 seasons he averaged 4.6 and 3.9 blocks per game respectively. Imagine a player now who averaged over 4 blocks a game, it seems unfathomable. DHoward who seems the be the consensus top center of today has a career high season average of 2.9 bpg, Olajuwon has that beat in 9 different seasons. 2 time Defensive player of the year, MVP, 6 All NBA first team and 9 time first or second team All Defensive. I will go on the line as saying if the Rockets of 1995 met with MJ's Bulls (Jordan did play and lost to the Magic) it would have been Jordan's biggest defeat of his career and the Rockets would have won the series in no less than 5 games.
4> Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Follow the best center of all time with second best. Kareem's accolades will outshadow Olajuwon's but given timing of careers and level of opponents, gave the nudge to The Dream. A 6 time MVP and 6 time NBA Champion, Abdul-Jabbar rewrote the record books, 19 times he was selected to the All-star game, most players are lucky to be good for half that many years. 15 times selected to the first or second team All-NBA, 11 times to the first or second All-Defensive team, the guy could do anything and everything. As good as Kareem was on the defensive end, he equaled it on the offensive side, a stark contrast to a player like Russell who exceeded on one end but lacked on the other. The all-time scoring leader, Kareem shot 56% for his career and twice lead the league in scoring with a personal best 34.8 ppg early in his career.
5> Oscar Roberston: This place was for The Big O or Magic, went with my gut on this last choice. Career averages of 25.7/7.5/9.5, the guy was a walking triple double. When we get Sports Center coverage over Rondo or James getting a triple double during the regular season we need to be reminded that Roberston averaged one over the course of an entire season and has an unbreakable record of 181. Not only that but look closely, in his rookie year he put up 30/10/9.7 and his 4th year 31/9.9/11 he essentially averaged a triple double over the course of his first FIVE years. Over the course of his 14 years he was an All-star 12 times, 11 time first or second team All-NBA and league MVP. His career wasn't aided with stat pounding like those who play 17-20 years, he is 10th all time in scoring playing less games than anyone in the top 15 besides West.
Honorable mentions coming in just a minute.