Hammer Time
Registered User
- May 3, 2011
- 3,957
- 10
I'm really impressed by some of you guys and gals who are extremely knowledgeable at more than one sport. Are their any hardcore fans of certain sports that can give me a quick rundown of maybe a top-ten for a sport that they feel comfortable representing? Like... I would imagine Babe Ruth is certainly top-ten material if not #1, but who else belongs up there? This is going to sound dumb, but is Derek Jeter a top-ten guy? Is Shaq? Is Tom Brady? Is Cobi Jones?
A basketball rundown by position:
PG - Magic Johnson is the consensus best. Only PG ever to get 3 MVPs, and he has the team success too. There's a bit of a drop after that: Oscar Robertson, Isiah Thomas, Stockton, Nash, and Kidd are usually the next five (and usually, either Oscar or Stockton gets #2).
SG - Michael Jordan is #1. Kobe is a close 2nd, and then there's a big dropoff. #3 is probably Jerry West, although Wade may have surpassed him.
SF - For many years, Larry Bird was the consensus #1, but Lebron has taken that crown after his extremely high peak the last few seasons. As with SG there's a gap after the top two. Julius Erving (Dr. J) might be the #3, or Pippen if you value team success, and Durant likely will surpass them in the near future.
PF - Tim Duncan, then there's a dropoff. #2 is debatable between Barkley and Malone, and Nowitzki is probably up there now too. Historically, PF has been the weakest of the five positions (in my understanding, in the pre-1980 NBA it was a defensive specialist position i.e. "the position you play if you're not good enough at shooting to play anything else").
C - The deepest position. Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are the top three. Shaq could arguably be #4, although I also see Hakeem Olajuwon there. Moses Malone is in the conversation too.
A decade ago, there was a consensus top six: Russell, Wilt, Kareem, Bird, Magic, Jordan. Among active players, Lebron James has probably joined them already, which would make him a top-7 player all time. Duncan, Shaq, and Kobe are the other active or recently retired players who have a top 10 case - where they go depends where you rank them against Hakeem, Moses Malone, Dr. J, Robertson etc.