lessthanjake

I just made the argument that MJ is the best player ever. His case is the fact that he was the best offensive player, best perimeter defender, and best clutch player of his era (or maybe of all time). No one else can say that, and really at its most basic level basketball is about offense, defending, and clutch play.

However, I can also argue that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the best player ever. His case is based on the fact that he had greater longevity than any player while having maybe the most dominant peak of all time, and being a proven winner.

An easy way to illustrate his longevity is to point out that Kareem was All-NBA first team in the 1986 season when he was 38 years old. And it wasnt some lifetime achievement award. He was 6th in the league in PER and 4th in Win Shares. When he was 38! He was top 10 in MVP voting for 17 straight years (finishing out of the top 5 only two of those 17 years). No one else has been that good for that long.

However, at the same time, he had maybe the most dominant peak of all time. He lead the league in PER in 9 of his first 12 years. He was a close second the other 3 years. Some of the years no one was even close to him. For instance, In 1972 Kareem had a PER of 29.9. Bob Lanier was second with 23.1. Now PER is certainly not everything; I dont consider it to be a perfect statistic by any means because it doesnt translate well across eras. However, it does illustrate who the best player in the league is pretty well and no one was even close to Kareem in those 12 years. Only Wilt and MJ were similar in their era's dominance.

Kareem also won 6 titles. Only MJ and Russell have as many out of legitimate GOAT candidates.

So basically, while MJ may have the peak and winning of Kareem, he didnt have the longevity. Wilt may have the peak too but not the longevity or winning. Russell won even more than Kareem, but first off it was in an era with far fewer teams (thus a greater statistical chance of winning the title in any given year), but secondly he wasnt even close in peak or longevity. Its pretty safe to say that Kareem had the greatest career ever if you measure it in total wins created above and beyond what a normal player in his place wouldve done.

The only knock on him is that he won a few of his titles while not being the best player on his team. This is certainly true of the 1987 and 1988 Laker titles. He was only a borderline-all-star level player those years. In 1985, it is debateable whether Kareem or Magic was better. Magic finished SLIGHTLY higher in MVP voting, PER, and Win Shares; BUT Kareem won the Finals MVP award and was the team's leading scorer. Id take Kareem that year over Magic by a hair. In 1982, Magic had more Win Shares, finished higher in MVP voting, and won the Finals MVP, while Kareem had the better PER. However, its undeniable that in 1982, the Lakers played through Kareem not Magic. He was the more important player. And while Magic won the Finals MVP in 1980 cause of his amazing game 6 performance, Kareem was the MVP of the league and played incredibly in the finals before getting hurt. He was indisputedly the best player on the team. And obviously in 1971, he was the best player on the Bucks. I'd say he was the most important player on the team for 4 championship teams, and pretty important for 2 others. Of course, MJ was the most important player for 6 and Russell for 11. However, only Tim Duncan also has 4 by my count. Shaq = 3 (Wade was far more important on that Heat team). Bird = 3. Magic = 2 (although if I switched around my thoughts on 1985 he would have three and so would Kareem). Hakeem = 2. Cowens = 2. Basically, while Kareem might not be the greatest winner in the history of the game, he is certainly one of the top 5 (I would say the top 5 winners would be: Russell, MJ, Kareem, Magic, Bird).