Michael Jordan was the best basketball player ever. I know Wilt was more athletic and so on, so on, so on. You can make a case and site stats for Kareem, Magic, Bird, Lebron. But the reality, its Jordan.
Is this something we can agree on? That ....
- Thread starter Mr. Potter
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I'll disagree. I'd take Kareem first in the non three point era. Era's make a big difference.
The only thing we can agree on is that we do not agree on one thing, but I’d argue that too.
You could argue it, but you’d be wrong.
"If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save a game I'd choose Michael Jordan.. If I had to choose a player to take a shot to save my life... I'd take Larry Bird." - Pat Riley
I like Barkley too. (I watched him play for Auburn a couple times when I was in Knoxville. I recall him blowing kisses to the crowd.) But you do realize that he doesn’t hold a candle to Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Bill Russell, or Larry Bird, right?
They changed the rules because Wilt was so dominant
They stopped calling traveling for Jordan
Wilt wins
They stopped calling traveling for Jordan
Wilt wins
I think the only thing we can agree on is that this board hasn't been as much fun since the NSFW thread was deleted.
Jordan is clearly the GOAT! There is no case for James. He would have quit basketball if he had to play against the Piston when they had the bad boys. Jordan would have averaged 50 a game with the same rules they have now.
Yes, he was the best. But the NBA did change the rules to assist in his greatness. If you remember, the Piston’s and Celtics would rough him up.
Definitely cannot agree on this, game has changed so much over the yrs, hard to truly compare and as great as MJ was(On both sides of the ball) he never won anything without Pippen. Kareem had the most unstoppable shot, Russ the greatest winner we've ever seen, Magic changed the game with his size at point, Bird the same from the forward position, Lebron a different animal at his size that could do it all, Steph with how he has extended the court and the game. No one correct answer.
AS an announcer sure
not anywhere near the greatest of all time, but a damn good player for sure especially at his size and
WrongAS an announcer sure
No, we can't all agree on that, as evidenced by this thread.
We had a long thread about this on the old board, fwiw
That's a pretty good take on things. I've been a huge NBA fan for most of my life. I've seen most of the top players play in their prime (George Mikan, and players from that era I've only seen video of). Depending on the criteria that are used (as you indicated very well in your post), I can make a case for several players as the best basketball player of all time.
IMHO, Wilt was the best basketball player that I've ever seen play. But I respect those that feel that MJ, or Kareem, or Russell, or Magic, or LeBron, or Oscar, or Bird, or Duncan, etc. were the best. You can make a legitimate case for each of them, though I've not seen a case that changes my opinion that Wilt was the best.
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Can say I saw Wilt in person at Overbook (I was at Central),Kansas,The Globbies,and Warriors. He played with chumps,Russel played with Hall of Famers. Games went down to the wire. Averaged 50 points a game for an entire season,27 rebounds a game. Jordan was great,Wilt was greater.
Curious what class you were in at Central. I was class of 214, but we moved in 1957 and I then went to Springfield (Montgomery County). There is another member of the class of 214, John Vivian, who is on this board as well. The stud athlete at Central then was football player Mickey Heineken, who played at Delaware and coached for decades at Middlebury College in Vermont. Overbrook had quite a run of great players back in the mid-late 50's. I never saw any of them in high school, but I remember going to a basketball game at Lincoln to see Larry Cannon play.
Larry Bird was the greatest, most complete basketball player ever.Michael Jordan was the greatest scorer and defender ever.
take Jordan, you will win more rings
take Jordan, you will win more rings
I am John Vivian. Half the year in Phoenix,half the year in Minnesota. Actually saw a number of the Brook guys in the Summer League in Olney.. A and Champlost if I recall. Wally Jones was a great one. If I recall Central. was 5 and 0. Wilt came in tall and skinny. Final was 100 plus for the bad guys. He could make his FTs then.
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I promise to remember that you are Phoenix Lion. Walt Hazzard was the third of the Overbrook greats. I'm very close to doing what you are doing, but in my case it'll be half the year in South Carolina and half the year in Vermont.
Wilt scored 100 points in one game at the Hershey Arena where the lighting is so bad, you probably couldn't see the rim until you got to the foul line. The amazing thing about that game was that he was 28 for 32 from the foul line.
When Russell began his run, the NBA had eight (8) teams in such megalopolis's as Fort Wayne, Indiana; Syracuse, NY; Rochester, NY; to go along with Philly, NY, Boston, Baltimore, and Chicago. Six teams made the playoffs. By the time he retired, the league had "mushroomed" to 12 teams and 8 teams made the playoffs.
Cool. That doesn't make him the GOAT. I hate Jordan but I put those feelings aside when talking GOAT. My favorite NBA player of all time is Manu Ginobili. He’s not the GOAT. My favorite current NBA player is Jrue Holiday. I doubt he’s one of the top fifteen players in the NBA now.
Sounds like a good plan. Wife doesn't like humidity, thus the desert. In a perfect world I'd live on Coronado Island (San Diego) with my old Navy pilot buddies. She's heard too many sea stories already, didn't want that.
You have to believe it. I listened to that game on the radio.
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