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[QUOTE="Knicks411, post: 1778790, member: 767"]
I think Kareem's problem is he came of age in the 70's, which for whatever reason (ABA?) is kind of a forgotten era in the nba?  In the 60's you had Russell and Wilt and the Celtics dynasty, int he 80's you had Magic/Michael/Larry, but in between the 70's seemingly has no real thematic story line.  No team won back to back titles; the Knicks and Lakers kind of dominated the first few years of the decade, but by the mid to late 70's you had teams like Seattle, Golden State, and Washington, who just aren't historic teams.

I was talking with a buddy about this lately actually.  Kareem went to the Lakers in 75-76; he spent 4 years there before Magic showed up.  He averaged 26-14-5-4 on 58% shooting, which is just insane, but the Lakers won "only" 46 games per year and made it as far as the west finals just once.   So basically, Kareem had a 7 year stretch in the middle of his career where he went to one NBA finals (lost to the Celtics) and one west finals.   So, many of his best years coincided without long playoff runs, and I think he is remembered more for his mid 80's years with the Lakers when he was good but not the dominant force he once was.

I don't think I ever realized exactly how great those Bucks teams were consistently; Kareem was there 5 years, they won 304 games in 5 years.
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