The Athletic has finished its list of best 75 NBA players of all time for the 75th anniversary, can you guess the top 3?
- Thread starter Morrison71
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Nash was a PG that was a great distributer but couldn’t play defense.
Iverson needed a ton of shots to get points
Reggie was a great shooter, but I wouldn’t say he was a defensive player at all
Nique couldn’t shoot, but was a phenomenal
Ewing couldn’t shoot, but was great inside
Clyde would be a a pretty decent comparison, but didn’t win a championship. Had he been on those Bulls teams he would have won, but he wasn’t the same caliber of defensive player
Out of curiosity, what is keeping LBJ out of y’all’s top 3? Is it because he’s still playing? Is it because of only moderate postseason success? Or is it because he’s got just a touch of whiny bitch to him when things don’t go his way?
There are aspects to his game that leave something to be desired (i.e. he’s a mediocre FT shooter, and doesn’t seem to have MJ’s same drive to win, as he too often defers to teammates to make clutch shots - guys of his caliber should WANT the ball in their hands in crunch time) but for a guy that’s got that much mileage under his belt (nearing 40 and next season will be his 20th in the NBA) and can still realistically be one of the 10 best players currently in the league even in his advanced age, that’s basically unheard of. The only comparable sports figures that were still consistently excellent in what should have been their twilight years are Nolan Ryan and Tom Brady. If LeBron channels his inner Ryan or Brady and stays healthy, he could be flirting with 2000 career games and 50000 career points, completely obliterating both records. I don’t necessarily think he is the GOAT but he is at least in the discussion.
There are aspects to his game that leave something to be desired (i.e. he’s a mediocre FT shooter, and doesn’t seem to have MJ’s same drive to win, as he too often defers to teammates to make clutch shots - guys of his caliber should WANT the ball in their hands in crunch time) but for a guy that’s got that much mileage under his belt (nearing 40 and next season will be his 20th in the NBA) and can still realistically be one of the 10 best players currently in the league even in his advanced age, that’s basically unheard of. The only comparable sports figures that were still consistently excellent in what should have been their twilight years are Nolan Ryan and Tom Brady. If LeBron channels his inner Ryan or Brady and stays healthy, he could be flirting with 2000 career games and 50000 career points, completely obliterating both records. I don’t necessarily think he is the GOAT but he is at least in the discussion.
To me I probably would have him in my top 3, but at number three. I do think that the reason for the question you're asking is this:
MJ came in when Magic and Bird "owned" the NBA. After a handful of years of growth in his game and his team he owned both of them and then he was by far the top dog in the NBA for his entire rest of his career(excluding Wizards time which nobody cares about since Jordan wasn't really trying to win titles anymore there). From 90-98, when he wasn't retired, nobody could really come close to Jordan in the NBA. Hakeem and Barkley were probably the closest during that time, and as good as they were they weren't MJ.
Wilt, as i said in an earlier post, was so dominant that they had to change multiple rules of the game to account for him. He was easily the best player in the league for so many years of his career. He didn't win all of the titles but he was greatness.
Lebron was probably the best player in the league for most of his career, but he's had contemporaries during his entire career that have been pretty damn close to him. Kobe at the beginning. KD through the middle. Giannis now towards the end. All three of those guys could make claims to being the best player in the league at different times during Lebron's tenure. This leads to a consideration that Lebron couldn't say that he was head and shoulders above everyone else in the league for any extended period of time in his career like a few other players (for example MJ and Wilt) could say.
Fun highlights here. Brett Musberger and Bill Russell just called him 'Ice' or 'Iceman' most of the time.
