500 Greatest NBA Players of All Time

[NYSportsGuy210]

Kobe has got to be anywhere form #8-#10. Hakeem top #20.

[NYSportsGuy210]

This game is a joke....

[Reno Paul]

Glad to see Rick Barry there at #21.....Got to see him live as a Golden State Warrior....He was clutch.

He was the Larry Bird of that era.

[k13]

So what tall/athletic SG's guarded Jordan that are so great??????????

Waiting........

Reggie Miller

[k13]

Go back and do some more research and not only will you subtract a few names from that very short list you intended to mock, but you will also realize how many good defenders there were in the 90's-Or better known as the last time the NBA played actual defense..

Who guarded Jordan that was so great? Who? Dan Marjle?

[NYSportsGuy210]

Clyde Drexler.....Nique....that's about it.

[k13]

http://airjudden2.tripod.com/jordan/index.htm

Good read.

[MarlinsFan2212]

No Brandon Roy? Say what you want about his knees, but the dude can straight ball. Dont know how the rest of his career will go because of health, but when healthy was one of the purest scorers, and best closers in the NBA.

[InTheDrink]

Bird wasn't very good. Oh...well I mean except for his shooting, passing, rebounding and intangibles Did Dirk win an MVP a few years ago? I guess Bird can play today since he was 3x the player Dirk is.

Kareem is the most underrated player of all time. I'd guess that's probably because people think he was great from his later years with the Lakers when he was on his way down. He was great then, but he was the best player in the NBA by a lot in the 70's....long before the Lakers run for five titles in the 80's (granted he did miss the 80 finals). How many people mention that he's got 6 rings?

He was an unbelievable defensive player in his prime...again, not as much in the Showtime Lakers era but prior to it...he's the all time leading scorer and fourth best rebounder of all time...and he didn't play in the era of Wilt and Russell when guys were getting 30 rebounds a game because guys shot 35%.

this page is unreal http://www.basketball-reference.com/...abdulka01.html

[Goat Milk]

chandler you will like this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJjBDUhbBcs

[lakerboy]

How can Duncan be ahead of Kobe. What a joke this list is.

[Whippit]

Transnational stars like Manute Bol are ranked too low

but more importlantly, I agree with concensus that if you add up the number of guys who played in the NBA, it's way short of 500

this crackpot lists the same guy twice, sometimes thrice to build that list

the league is too young, give it another 10-15 years before you can assemble a list this size

[Chandler]

thank you goat, i'll watch the final 5 sections tomorrow

[Bradyd]

Who guarded Jordan that was so great? Who? Dan Marjle?

It's pretty clear that you don't have a clue about Jordan's era because all you are doing is randomly naming players. Ever heard of "the glove" Payton?, D Johnson? Piston's Rodman?, Dumars? Starks? just to name a few... You probably heard of them, you just didn't realize how good of a defender each of them were. Keeping in mind that in Jordan's era, you could actually play defense. Now you can barely touch an offensive player..

[k13]

It's pretty clear that you don't have a clue about Jordan's era because all you are doing is randomly naming players. Ever heard of "the glove" Payton?, D Johnson? Piston's Rodman?, Dumars? Starks? just to name a few... You probably heard of them, you just didn't realize how good of a defender each of them were. Keeping in mind that in Jordan's era, you could actually play defense. Now you can barely touch an offensive player..

I named dumars and starks.

Payton, rodman, ughhh they don't play Jordan's position.

Yeah its really hard for Jordan to beat little guards or slower forwards.

Why do you think he sucked so bad when he came back to the Wizards? If he was so "skilled", he'd still be dominating but now he was just an average athlete and everyone was faster, taller, more athletic than him.
So he shot a pathetic 41% like a bum.

People talk shit about Wilt being ahead of people physically, well that's what Jordan was too but average person can't tell because all they see is height.

[rafa martin]

This is the official List

1. Jordan
2.Wilt
3.magic
4.Kareem
5. Kobie
6. Russell
7.Kobie
8.Shaq
9. Duncan
10. Robertson


Bird is not a top 10 Player..

what??,,,,, maybe after mj,, the best and the smarter player who ever played this game,,,, ask magic and jordan about larry bird in his prime, free of injuries?? that white guy from indiana was awesome.............larry legend,

[BGS 9.5]

you need to read no further than #4 to know this list has absolutely zero credibility. Somebody should get fired over that one.

[jubuck757]

5 players that aint even on the list thats better then Bird

1.Dr j
2. Jerry West
3. Lebron James
4.Elgin Baylor
5. Scottie Pippen

Yes Scottie Pippen , what could Bird do better then Pip besides shoot. Pippen revoltionized the small forward position. And his basketball IQ was just as better as Bird..Yall just felt in love with that media hype over larry Bird back in the day..

[k13]

Bird was way better than Pippen.

Higher basketball IQ??? lol

Scottie is one of the most overrated players of all time. No one would mention him if not for the rings with Jordan.

[k13]

If Pippin was in Bird's body, he'd never would have even made the NBA.

What did Pippin do after Jordan? Nothing.

Pippin is a bum. Probably not even Top 100 all time.

[jubuck757]

Pippen and Jordan name goes hand and hand. And what i mean by that is sure pippen would not have 6 rings without Jordan,but aint no way in hell jordan would have 6 rings without Pippen. You could have gave Jordan any other player in the nba on those teams and Jordan would not have gotten no 6 rings. They like peanut butter and jelly, pants and shirt, shoes and socks, spoon and forks. Perfect combination, they complmented each other perfectly..

[jubuck757]

If Pippin was in Bird's body, he'd never would have even made the NBA.

What did Pippin do after Jordan? Nothing.

Pippin is a bum. Probably not even Top 100 all time.

Pippen top 5 defensive player of all time, top 5 allaround player of all time,. Not top 100 player stop the jokes.
Those boston teams would have not have stood a chance with thoise bull championship teams of the 90s

[kahnner]

If Pippin was in Bird's body, he'd never would have even made the NBA.

What did Pippin do after Jordan? Nothing.

Pippin is a bum. Probably not even Top 100 all time.

Wow time to start watching basketball!
Your comments are probally some of the funniest things I've ever read on this site. Congrats for being a complete idiot. Also thanks for giving me a good laugh!

[jubuck757]

Wow time to start watching basketball!
Your comments are probally some of the funniest things I've ever read on this site. Congrats for being a complete idiot. Also thanks for giving me a good laugh!

You just dum as fuccccccccc!!!!!!!! larry Bird. U just as worse them dam commentators on Espn

[rsnnh12]

5 players that aint even on the list thats better then Bird

1.Dr j
2. Jerry West
3. Lebron James
4.Elgin Baylor
5. Scottie Pippen

Yes Scottie Pippen , what could Bird do better then Pip besides shoot. Pippen revoltionized the small forward position. And his basketball IQ was just as better as Bird..Yall just felt in love with that media hype over larry Bird back in the day..

All Larry did that was better than Pippen was shoot, pass, rebound. Lol.
Bird's career avg- 24.3 ppg, 10 rebounds pg, 6+ assists pg (49.6% FG, 37.6% 3pt, 88.6% FT)
Pippen's best single yr in each stat- 22 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 7 apg
Pippen career avg- 16 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 5.2 apg (47.3% FG, 32.6% 3pt, 70.4% FT)

Bird's career averages were better than any single year of Pippen, and better than his best statistical year in each category too (Bird +2.3 ppg, +1.3 rpg, -1 apg)

How was Pippen better? Bird is a top 5-7 player of all time, without question

[jubuck757]

All Larry did that was better than Pippen was shoot, pass, rebound. Lol.
Bird's career avg- 24.3 ppg, 10 rebounds pg, 6+ assists pg (49.6% FG, 37.6% 3pt, 88.6% FT)
Pippen's best single yr in each stat- 22 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 7 apg
Pippen career avg- 16 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 5.2 apg (47.3% FG, 32.6% 3pt, 70.4% FT)

Bird's career averages were better than any single year of Pippen, and better than his best statistical year in each category too (Bird +2.3 ppg, +1.3 rpg, -1 apg)

How was Pippen better? Bird is a top 5-7 player of all time, without question

Statistics do not make him a better player. Pippen done the little things that dont show in statistics. Like lock the other teams best player down, take charges, facilitaed the triangle offense. Statistics are u serious. thats like saying Allen Iverson is the 6th best player ever to play the game, because he got the 6th highest scoring average in nba history. Get out of here with that.

[Joszan7]

Shaq is definitely too high.

[jubuck757]

Wow time to start watching basketball!
Your comments are probally some of the funniest things I've ever read on this site. Congrats for being a complete idiot. Also thanks for giving me a good laugh!

Wow i confused your comments i thought u was saying pippen was a bum . my comments was not directed to you.

[k13]

Statistics do not make him a better player. Pippen done the little things that dont show in statistics. Like lock the other teams best player down, take charges, facilitaed the triangle offense. Statistics are u serious. thats like saying Allen Iverson is the 6th best player ever to play the game, because he got the 6th highest scoring average in nba history. Get out of here with that.

so Bird never did those little things that don't show up?

Get out of here with Pippen.

[rsnnh12]

Statistics do not make him a better player. Pippen done the little things that dont show in statistics. Like lock the other teams best player down, take charges, facilitaed the triangle offense. Statistics are u serious. thats like saying Allen Iverson is the 6th best player ever to play the game, because he got the 6th highest scoring average in nba history. Get out of here with that.

So despite being a worse scorer, rebounder, and passer, and not being as smart of a player, Pippen is better? Because he took charges? Seriously?

Weak example with AI, btw. Using PPG you could argue he's the 6th best SCORER of all time (his %s would kill that argument pretty quickly tho). Bird beats out Pippen in every single big stat, by a large margin.

You don't think Bird could have run the triangle offense? Only way Pippen running that makes him better than Bird is if Bird wasn't good/smart enough to, which he clearly is. The only thing Pippen has on Bird is individual defense, and even then, Bird was more opportunistic than Pippen. Better with team defense as well.

[k13]

Wow time to start watching basketball!
Your comments are probally some of the funniest things I've ever read on this site. Congrats for being a complete idiot. Also thanks for giving me a good laugh!

Going by your avatar your opinion is bias.

Stop drinking the jordan/bulls cool-aid.

[kahnner]

Going by your avatar your opinion is bias.

Stop drinking the jordan/bulls cool-aid.

I'm not bias at all! Not even a bulls fan. Anybody who thinks Jordan was overrated must not watch or know anything about basketball. Also thinking Scottie P. was not a top 100 player makes you look even more stupid.

[Bradyd]

I named dumars and starks.

Payton, rodman, ughhh they don't play Jordan's position.

Yeah its really hard for Jordan to beat little guards or slower forwards.

Why do you think he sucked so bad when he came back to the Wizards? If he was so "skilled", he'd still be dominating but now he was just an average athlete and everyone was faster, taller, more athletic than him.
So he shot a pathetic 41% like a bum.

People talk shit about Wilt being ahead of people physically, well that's what Jordan was too but average person can't tell because all they see is height.

You named Dumars and Starks to mock them. You had no idea they were actually good defenders. And once again if you knew about the Jordan era, you would realize that Payton and Rodman did guard MJ from time to time and pretty effective at it.. Well, as much as anyone could be against Jordan.

I can't believe you are even bringing up the Wizards Jordan when he was almost 40. I think it's time I leave this conversation alone because not only are you just plain wrong about so many things, your arguments are inaccurate and don't even help your point(s)....whatever your point is now as it seemed to have legs and walked off...

[Goat Milk]

its not about shooting %.
its about points per shot attempt. how don't nba gamblers know this common knowledge?

[Goat Milk]

Wilt Chamberlain is the most overrated player in the history of the NBA. The players in the NBA during his time were equivilent to college players today (maybe even D2 college). He had a significant height advantage almost every game, and most of his points came off layup and putbacks. His accomplishments are blown up because he played at a time where he was just completely dominant. There were only about 15 superstars in the league at that time, so there was a huge dropoff between these guys and the rest of the league. Basketball was evolving. Guys were still revolutionizing the position. Now- every position has already been revolutionized, and if you have something to add to the game that hasn't been seen, its usually something minor. So the game is evolving less and less and mainly staying the same--Since the Jordan era, the game really has not changed much.

As far as the stats during the Wilt time, there were way more possessions per 48 minutes, which led to inflated stats.

For those that don't believe me, just go and watch the game I provided during a '60s playoff game. The link I provided will allow you to watch the full game. Players are just not very good aside from Wilt and Russell and maybe Palv. Bad handling, bad intangibles, lack of explosiveness, no creativity, bad shooting form, missing wide open jump shots.

So why are Wilt/Russel getting so much credit playing against clearly wayyy inferior guys?