Who is your all-time basketball "Mount Rushmore?" | Page 3 | Syracusefan.com

Who is your all-time basketball "Mount Rushmore?"

Jordan
Russell
Oscar
Pistol Pete

Many other greats to choose from but those are my four. After them, would be Magic, Wilt, Dr J, Kareem, Bird, West, Kobe, Cousy, Shaq and Walton for his win streak and forcing NCAA to change the rules. Lebron is not even in my top 15. He does not dominate games every night out. And in no way one of the biggest whiners to ever play going up on my mountain. He still has a long way to go, just to catch Kobe.
 
Lebron is not even in my top 15. He does not dominate games every night out.
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This is an...unconventional take on things.

I was just doing this as my opinion of the top 4 guys of all time; Moqui took it in an interesting direction, and I assume the love for Dr. J and Pistol Pete are coming from a similar place.

Aleksandr Gomelski (Russian national coach who showed the world this was not just a US dominated game)
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Showed the world that not just NBA refs were crooked?
 
Knicks411 said:
Showed the world that not just NBA refs were crooked?
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he actually didn't coach the 72 team; the KGB revoked his passport because he was Jewish (leading some to think that they knew in advance that the PLO was going to attack the Olympics)

Gomelski took the Russians to several FIBA championships before and after 72 and turned the Russians into a legitimate opponent for the US
 
Don't worry according to the Russian Media NBC/IOC decided to take away that 3rd period goal from Russia. So we got our revenge on them for 1972 as long as the USA hockey team wins gold.
 
moqui said:
he actually didn't coach the 72 team; the KGB revoked his passport because he was Jewish (leading some to think that they knew in advance that the PLO was going to attack the Olympics)

Gomelski took the Russians to several FIBA championships before and after 72 and turned the Russians into a legitimate opponent for the US
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Ok, I'll admit I was just having some fun and didn't look up the particulars of the situation.
 
here's another way of looking at it

James Naismith - invented the sport
Wilt Chamberlain - the games most physically dominant player
Michael Jordan - the modern genius
David Stern - marketer of the modern, global game
 
moqui said:
David Stern - marketer of the modern, global game
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What did Stern do personally to modernize/promote the game? Other than the dress code, I tend to give more credit to the teams who have to scout and find talent than to the league office. That inevitable demand for top players is what brought the international players to the US, so I tend to discount Stern's influence in that regard. Did he do something that any other commish wouldn't have done?
 
UnderHisOwnPower said:
What did Stern do personally to modernize/promote the game?
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Literally everything - the NBA was a disaster when he took over in the early 1980s and he turned it into an extremely successful global enterprise. Obviously he benefited timing-wise from Michael Jordan entering the league, but he was masterful as the CEO.
 
Jordan
Russell
Wilt
Kareem

I don't even have an Oscar Robertson in my top 12 at this point
 
RandygoCuse said:
Jordan
Russell
Wilt
Kareem

I don't even have an Oscar Robertson in my top 12 at this point
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You know Oscar averaged a triple double the same year Wilt averaged 50 ppg. What's crazy about Wilt is that year he only shot 51% from the field. He took just under 40 shots a game to get to his 50 point average. I never realized his shooting % was that low. I would have thought he would have had a ton of dunks and his dipper shot. Plus he averaged over 22 rpg every year for his first 12 years. I don't think anyone would argue that guys are much better shooters now.
 
Daryll Watkins, Andy Rautins, Demtrius Nichols and Josh Pace
 
moqui said:
he actually didn't coach the 72 team; the KGB revoked his passport because he was Jewish (leading some to think that they knew in advance that the PLO was going to attack the Olympics)
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Wow.. I had never heard that. Is that common knowledge (or belief).
 
I love Magic and his accomplishments speak for themselves. I don't dispute that he belongs in this discussion, or that he doesn't belong on the Mt. Rushmore.

Just curious why more people don't list Oscar instead of Earvin. Is it only winning one championship, or... ?
 
Apparently, Magic is quoted as saying the he didn't realize how good Oscar was until he tried to do the things he did and couldn't. He said Oscar was the best as did Jerry West, Bill Russell, Bob Pettit, Kareem and many others.

If you are too young to have seen him play you will never understand. If they still scored assists as they did in his day he would have the record forever.
Edit: Kareem says Oscar Robertson better than Jordan or LeBron
 
I'm going with a 3-man Rushmore! Reason being, there are 3 that I feel (and I think many would agree) absolutely must be included, leaving a debate between several other guys for filling the 4th spot.

Magic, MJ, Russell.

I'm inclined to go with Bird in the 4th spot but choosing between him and Kareem and Oscar and potentially LeBron (by the end of his career) is just too tough.
 
Read Bill Simmons book of Basketball and you realize Oscar Robertson's stats are overrated. Teams shot terribly and teams played a lot faster which made rebounds, points, assists available. Oscar couldn't win a title in Cincinnati and rode Kareem's coattails for his title in Milwaukee. Kareem saying Oscar was better than Magic is nuts, and is just Kareem protecting his legacy. He played with Oscar past his prime and with Magic during his prime. Kareem is bitter that Magic's Game 6 performance in 1980 overlooked all the work he had done and the sacrifice he made in staying in LA to get treatment for a Game 7 that never happened. Their is absolutely no doubt in my mind I would take Magic in his prime over Oscar. Magic is by far the greatest PG in NBA history and its not even close. Oscar is in the discussion for the 2nd greatest SG over all time behind Michael Jordan with Jerry West, Kobe Bryant.
 
RF2044 said:
I love Magic and his accomplishments speak for themselves. I don't dispute that he belongs in this discussion, or that he doesn't belong on the Mt. Rushmore.

Just curious why more people don't list Oscar instead of Earvin. Is it only winning one championship, or... ?
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For me that is probably a lot of it, which obviously isn't totally fair to Oscar, since Magic got to play with Kareem for a lot longer.

Oscar's numbers are inflated a tad due to the era he played in as well. My list was MJ, Russell, Kareem, and Magic. Magic was clearly 4th on the list to me. The other 3 I felt I needed to have on there.
 
My post 1998 Mt Rushmore-

Kobe, Lebron, Shaq, Duncan.
 
cap2nine said:
I'm going with a 3-man Rushmore! Reason being, there are 3 that I feel (and I think many would agree) absolutely must be included, leaving a debate between several other guys for filling the 4th spot.

Magic, MJ, Russell.

I'm inclined to go with Bird in the 4th spot but choosing between him and Kareem and Oscar and potentially LeBron (by the end of his career) is just too tough.
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There is no way you can put Magic ahead of Oscar.
 
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