Greatest Players of All Time (Wilt wins)

[Knicks4life]

Originally Posted by bballking18

Shaq made huge impacts to the league just like MJ. Also haven't mentioned how dominating he was in prime and lasted quite serveral of years. He got rings, MVPs, jersey retired, hall of fame(eventually), etc.. Although he never appeared in Olympic(I guess?), people from the world did recgonize who he was and people desired to watch him played on court.

Entertainment and Popularity should be counted beside ability to play on court. I wouldn't waste my time watching a player(even a hall of famer) who played so boring even though averaging 30 pts in his career who only scored in limited ways and had done nothing else..

Gold in '96.

[ChrisWoj]

I voted Magic. I would have voted for Magic at number one. I believe that Jordan played with a team that was the caliber of those `80s Lakers, Celtics, the best Sixers team... And had he played, with that team, in that era... he would have had an equal share of the the rings that went around. Magic did more than anyone to elevate the team around him, and carry it when necessary. Jordan was a Magic-caliber player, but I believe Magic was a step beyond him. Had Jordan had the competition that Magic had in the `80s, in a league that had not yet properly developed a talent pool to cope with expansion, he would not have won six rings.

So, needless to say although I missed the last round of voting (and will probably miss more) - I have to stick with Magic.

[e-monk]

Originally Posted by Luke

He won two championships. That puts him behind the over half of the people in this poll. I wouldn't use the championship argument if I were you.

And I said he "falls off a cliff in the playoffs" because he regresses in every single statistical category sans rebounding in the post season. The second best player of all time should raise his game in the playoffs, you know, the real season, shouldn't he? Is Wilt the best regular season player ever? Probably. But there's a lot more to this game than the regular season.

they added a round to the play-offs when he turned 30 so he played in significantly more playoff games after his statistical peak than during

[e-monk]

Originally Posted by Ron

In 1972, Wilt was the MVP in the NBA Finals. Not sure which book you are reading or what video you watched, but you are out to lunch on Wilt.

he would have been in 66-67 too when he averaged a near triple double but that wasnt something they gave out at the time

[Marcus13]

Hard to judge between Wilt and Kareem when Ive never seen Wilt play a game in my life...but I gotta go with the numbers.

[Dee-Zy]

Haven't seen Wilt, Magic or Kareem play but I have Wilt because from everything that I have heard, he was an absolute beast who just so happened to play against a team of hall of famers. Statistically, it has never shown that he really ever choked. If anything, it is his team mates who never showed up. Winning 2 championships during a decade of the best dynasty in the history of the NBA is a great feat in itself.

[Dee-Zy]

I am curious to hear the arguments of Kareem vs Wilt though.

Especially because I have never seen either play and only have read arguments of both and seen some youtube clips.

[PauloCatarino]

Originally Posted by Dee-Zy

I am curious to hear the arguments of Kareem vs Wilt though.

Especially because I have never seen either play and only have read arguments of both and seen some youtube clips.

There's only one argument: Kareem's amazing longevity.
Kareem's peeked during the 70's (which he dominated a plenty), an era of little competition (a la Jordan). In the 80's, there was Magic (and other Lakers) around to help him sustain his extraordinary level of play.

Wilt, of course, played against the greatest competition of all time.

[XxIrvingxX]

Originally Posted by PauloCatarino

There's only one argument: Kareem's amazing longevity.
Kareem's peeked during the 70's (which he dominated a plenty), an era of little competition (a la Jordan). In the 80's, there was Magic (and other Lakers) around to help him sustain his extraordinary level of play.

Wilt, of course, played against the greatest competition of all time.

I'm sure there's a PF who's the second all time leading scorer in NBA history who would love to disagree with you on that.

And I don't know how the hell Wilt has this many votes. The guys stats are amazing yes but there's a couple things you guys need to understand here. First off the game was a lot different back then. The pace of the game was a lot quicker and as a result it was a lot easier for both teams to score a shit load of points. Hell in the game Wilt scored 100, his team in total had 169. The opposing team had at least 140 (I don't remember the exact score). So you can't base it off of stats. And this goes for everything, the rebounding, the scoring, even the assists.

[agoo101284]

I think someone would be amused by the results of this poll.

[Luke]

Originally Posted by Dee-Zy

Haven't seen Wilt, Magic or Kareem play but I have Wilt because from everything that I have heard, he was an absolute beast who just so happened to play against a team of hall of famers. Statistically, it has never shown that he really ever choked. If anything, it is his team mates who never showed up. Winning 2 championships during a decade of the best dynasty in the history of the NBA is a great feat in itself.

Russell's teammates were selected to a total of 26 all star games throughout his career. Wilt's teammates were selected to 24. Russell played with 4 members of the NBA's Greatest 50, Wilt played with six.

Why does no one talk about this?

[PauloCatarino]

Originally Posted by XxIrvingxX

I'm sure there's a PF who's the second all time leading scorer in NBA history who would love to disagree with you on that.

Nope.
There isn't.

[l0st1]

I've always wondered why Hakeem doesn't get a mention up there in the GOAT discussion. I'm not saying he's the best but I mean the man did EVERYTHING on the court. One of the best passing big men to ever play, great rebounder, best shot blocker in the NBA, scored at a very nice clip, led them to 2 championships, an INCREDIBLE offensive player, and an all-league defender.

Was it just because his success only came when Jordan left?

[l0st1]

I'm going Kareem, him and Wilt are close but Wilt is really hard to judge because of teh timeframe he played. So many things factor into his stats. Kareem had Magic so he has more rings but you can't argue his resume and longevity.

[e-monk]

Originally Posted by Luke

Russell's teammates were selected to a total of 26 all star games throughout his career. Wilt's teammates were selected to 24. Russell played with 4 members of the NBA's Greatest 50, Wilt played with six.

Why does no one talk about this?

because, bill simmons, it's intellectually dishonest to claim that Wilt should be credited for playing with Nate Thurmond for one season when Thurmond was a rookie, or playing with Elgin Baylor when Baylor was 34 years old and more often than not injured (between injuries to the both of them they played in about one full season together and they went to the finals that season)

and that in fact Wilt played with an over the hill Paul Arizin (in his final season before retiring) when he was young or Jerry West when both where in their 30s

and then to claim that this is qualitatively the same as Russell playing throughout his prime with the same core unit of guys all in their primes, in the same system, under the same arguably greatest coach in the history of the game for 5 to 8 years straight

in other words it's a bullshit claim and the worst kind of lying with statistics perpetrated by a guy who is famously biased in favor of the Celtics