Paul Pierce's top 5

[FrancoPizza]

I Lost interest in the nba when it was obvious how the officials protect and coddle the stars. It’s bad in college but the pros are so much worse.

 

[dasher]

1. Jordan
2. Kobe
3. LeBron
4. Kareem
5. Magic

Bill Russell won 11 titles in 13 years and he doesn't make that list?

 

[OrangeDW]

Kobe Bryant lol. CuseRunners basketball takes a terrible too.

As a Laker fan who was a teenager when we got Kobe - and rooted for him his entire career: I do not want CuseRunner as a Kobe supporter.

 

[OrangeDW]

I Lost interest in the nba when it was obvious how the officials protect and coddle the stars. It’s bad in college but the pros are so much worse.

Fair. But at least they are far more consistent than college in the amount of contact they allow on perimeter ball handlers and on the block/charge call.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I find it interesting that people will devote so much time and energy to college basketball with all its issues. But refs coddling the best players in the world? DEAL BREAKER!

 

[FrancoPizza]

Fair. But at least they are far more consistent than college in the amount of contact they allow on perimeter ball handlers and on the block/charge call.

Yea which is pretty much zero contact.

 

[OrangeDW]

Yea which is pretty much zero contact.

Which is much better, IMO. I’ve seen our guards get mugged more than enough times by Pitt, Marquette, Virginia Tech, etc. Hate that kind of ball.

 

[Briancuse]

Mj
Russell
Kobe
Oscar
Lebron

 

[FrancoPizza]

Which is much better, IMO. I’ve seen our guards get mugged more than enough times by Pitt, Marquette, Virginia Tech, etc. Hate that kind of ball.

I think there needs to be a balance. When I played in high school you had to expect contact. It’s a contact sport.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Blows my mind when people make these lists and Wilt Chamberlain is not on them.

Averaged 30/23 for his career.
One year averaged 50/26.
Led the league in assists one year.
Averaged 46 min per game in his career.
One year averaged 48.5 min per game (that's not a typo).
Never fouled out of a game.
They didn't keep blocked shot stats back then but his would have been off the charts.

Never fouled out of a game. As a center. That completely blows my mind.

 

[DoctorBombay]

 

[OrangeDW]

Blows my mind when people make these lists and Wilt Chamberlain is not on them.

Averaged 30/23 for his career.
One year averaged 50/26.
Led the league in assists one year.
Averaged 46 min per game in his career.
One year averaged 48.5 min per game (that's not a typo).
Never fouled out of a game.
They didn't keep blocked shot stats back then but his would have been off the charts.

It seems to me like Wilt and Dr. J are the guys whose status has fallen in these types of lists/discussions over the years and I’m not sure why.

 

[Shawn91111]

It seems to me like Wilt and Dr. J are the guys whose status has fallen in these types of lists/discussions over the years and I’m not sure why.

I'd say more Oscar Robertson than Dr. J, at least in the last five years or so of these lists. I haven't really noticed Dr. J near the top 10 in a long time.

 

[OrangeDW]

I'd say more Oscar Robertson than Dr. J, at least in the last five years or so of these lists. I haven't really noticed Dr. J near the top 10 in a long time.

Agree Oscar has slipped recently. And yeah, I was talking about a long time ago as far as Wilt and Dr. J.

Seems like there were way more “Wilt is the best ever” lines of thinking back some years, and Dr. J was way up there too.

 

[Alsacs]

Never fouled out of a game. As a center. That completely blows my mind.

Simmons book debunked this. When Wilt got 5 fouls he would play differently because he was mindful of That record of not fouling out.

Russell mind gamed Wilt. Wilt didn’t want to foul out.

 

[Briancuse]

Agree Oscar has slipped recently. And yeah, I was talking about a long time ago as far as Wilt and Dr. J.

Seems like there were way more “Wilt is the best ever” lines of thinking back some years, and Dr. J was way up there too.

I mean I would have wilt at 6 I think his off the court shenanigans it held against him by some people.

 

[Eric15]

I'd say more Oscar Robertson than Dr. J, at least in the last five years or so of these lists. I haven't really noticed Dr. J near the top 10 in a long time.

Dr. J is definitely a Top 20 player of all-time. I would probably put him somewhere in the 10-15 range with guys like Olajuwon, Oscar and Moses Malone.

 

[Shawn91111]

Dr. J is definitely a Top 20 player of all-time. I would probably put him somewhere in the 10-15 range with guys like Olajuwon, Oscar and Moses Malone.

Meh, top 30 just guessing right now off the top of my head.

 

[miamicuse]

Wilt has another "team sport" scoring stat of 20,000+.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

People can have LeBron at 2, that’s fine. I’ve got him top 5, somewhere 3-5. MJ and Kareem are my top 2. Jordan is without question number 1. Here’s a fun stat- wilt averaged 30+ points 7 times. Jordan did it 8!

Not that FTs are Jordan's fault, but I wonder what a 70% ft Wilt would have averaged? Also, how many 3s a game int there for Jordan. Wilt led league in scoring (numerous) rebounding (which is all Russell really worried about) and assists. No other center ever led the league in assists.
This says it's speculated that he had several seasons averaging 10 blocks, but they only tracked blocks for 112 games he played in.

Shot block data of Wilt Chamberlain's 112 NBA games might be his most impressive stat

Wilt Chamberlain is probably the best pure athlete ever. Standing at 7'1" and weighing in at around 300 pounds, Wilt was a force to be reckoned with who still

www.basketballnetwork.net

 

[bpo57]

Simmons book debunked this. When Wilt got 5 fouls he would play differently because he was mindful of That record of not fouling out.

Russell mind gamed Wilt. Wilt didn’t want to foul out.

lol.
Did Wilt ever foul out? He sure as hell wouldn't have to worry about fouling out against Russell who was usually not the first, second or sometimes third scoring option on his team. Btw over the course of his career Wilt averaged less than two fouls per game so that's nonsense re worrying about fouling out.
Yeah but count on unbiased Bill Simmons who wasn't even alive to watch when those two squared off.

 

[bpo57]

Agree Oscar has slipped recently. And yeah, I was talking about a long time ago as far as Wilt and Dr. J.

Seems like there were way more “Wilt is the best ever” lines of thinking back some years, and Dr. J was way up there too.

Yeah I think that's a function of the age of the people making these lists. If they weren't alive to see the guy play then he's probably not going to be on their list.

 

[bpo57]

I mean I would have wilt at 6 I think his off the court shenanigans it held against him by some people.

Off the court shenanigans? lmao Like these other players didn't do the same?

 

[Briancuse]

Off the court shenanigans? lmao Like these other players didn't do the same?

They have not to the extent of wilt though lol.

 

[orangefog]

Off the court shenanigans? lmao Like these other players didn't do the same?

They have not to the extent of wilt though lol.

Please, please...let us not argue. Are we not all Wilt's children?