ESPN'S Top 15 NBA Players of All-Time

[Elvis P]

Nos. 1-5: 1. Jordan | 2. Kareem | 3. LeBron | 4. Magic | 5. Wilt
Nos. 6-10: 6. Bird | 7. Russell | 8. Duncan | 9. Shaq | 10. Hakeem
11. Oscar Robertson 12. Kobe Bryant 13. Jerry West 14. Julius Erving 15. Moses Malone

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/nbarank1/all-nbarank-1

Mine would be

Nos. 1-5: 1. Russell, 2. Jordan, 3. Kareem, 4. Magic 5. Wilt,
Nos. 6-10: 6. Duncan, 7. Kobe 8. Shaq, 9. Bird 10. Hakeem
11. Oscar Robertson 12. LeBron 13. Jerry West 14. Julius Erving 15. Moses Malone

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[puckyeah]

Bird doesn't belong in top 10.

 

[Elvis P]

Bird doesn't belong in top 10.

The best passing small forward ever and the best player on 3 Championship teams whose career averages are 24.3 points, 10 boards, and 6.3 assists. Obviously he does. I'd put him 9th ahead of Hakeem.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

The best passing small forward ever and the best player on 3 Championship teams whose career averages are 24.3 points, 10 boards, and 6.3 assists. Obviously he does. I'd put him 8th ahead of Hakeem and LeBron.

How is Bird a better passer than LeBron?

 

[darko]

Russell is #3. No higher than that.

 

[Voight]

Magoc, Bird, Wilt, Shaq >>> LBJ

Hakeem/Duncan can also be considered.

Its just ESPN being biased for their patron saint LeBron James.

Russell is highly overrated when you take in account the era he played in.

 

[Morozov]

You're never going to get a consensus on something like this, but for me I have no issues with the names. The order I would change up.

Any list starts with MJ for me.

 

[Dominator13]

Shaq a better ball player than LeBron? LOL

 

[Porn*]

Shaq a better ball player than LeBron? LOL

Absoluetly. Shaq was a man among children. He redefined the position. Towards the end he was out of shape but in his prime he'd carry the ball up pg style.

Jury is still out if lbj would have survived playing back then.

 

[Ivan13]

How is Bird a better passer than LeBron?

Seriously?

 

[Power Man]

French paper l'Équipe recently came up with a top 100 all-time list



Shawn Marion was 90th







CROFL

 

[Power Man]

How is Bird a better passer than LeBron?

 

[Elvis P]

Kobe > LeBron. I agree with Pippen being in the top 25. I found the top 15 and I'm going with this now:

Nos. 1-5: 1. Russell, 2. Jordan, 3. Kareem, 4. Magic 5. Wilt,
Nos. 6-10: 6. Duncan, 7. Shaq, 8. Bird, 9. Hakeem, 10. Oscar Robertson
11. Kobe Bryant 12. LeBron 13. Jerry West 14. Julius Erving 15. Moses Malone

 

[Power Man]

We have to be careful with the ring argument

John Stockton was a great player yet he is ringless

Lebron didn't have prime Shaq and Gasol either

Robinson could have retired with 0 if not for drafting Tim Duncan; it wouldn't have made him less of a player; no center was going to win with Avery Johnson and Vinny Del Negro, he needed help

 

[Elvis P]

We have to be careful with the ring argument. John Stockton was a great player yet he is ringless. ...Robinson could have retired with 0 if not for drafting Tim Duncan; it wouldn't have made him less of a player; no center was going to win with Avery Johnson and Vinny Del Negro, he needed help

Nope. Malone, Barkley, and Stockton are 3 great top 20 players, but no rings (especially the Mailman and Stockton playing together) despite Jordan being retired for 2 years in the prime of all 3 are the some of the reasons they are not top 15. Robinson being outplayed in the playoffs by Hakeem pre-Duncan and not being to win w/o Duncan is not impressive either and keeps him out of the top 15 also.

 

[Power Man]

Nope. Malone, Barkley, and Stockton are 3 great top 20 players, but no rings (especially the Mailman and Stockton playing together) despite Jordan being retired for 2 years in the prime of all 3 are the some of the reasons they are not top 15. Robinson being outplayed in the playoffs by Hakeem pre-Duncan and not being to win w/o Duncan is not impressive either and keeps him out of the top 15 also.

Malone was a huge choker; tbh Stock carried his ass; the Jazz would have beaten Chicago in the Finals if that clown showed up

Yeah Robinson got outplayed but no shame in that, Hakeem was better AND he had better teammates

No player was going to win with the just the likes of AJ, Del Negro, etc ... not even Hakeem, Bird, Jordan, Jabbar

It's not 1 on 5 basketball

 

[BostonBob]

Bird doesn't belong in top 10.

If you truly believe that nothing you ever say in this section can be taken seriously.

 

[Deficient Mode]

The best passing small forward ever and the best player on 3 Championship teams whose career averages are 24.3 points, 10 boards, and 6.3 assists. Obviously he does. I'd put him 8th ahead of Hakeem and LeBron.

Lebron and Bird had a similar impact offensively, albeit in different ways, but Lebron was also one of the best defensive players in the league at his best. I can't take anyone seriously who thinks that Kobe or Bird belong ahead of Lebron (or that Russell was the best player ever) because RINGZ.

If you truly believe that nothing you ever say in this section can be taken seriously.

It's a reasonable opinion. I would probably put all the guys 7-10 on ESPN's list ahead of him.

 

[BGDDYKWL]

I've never read something I disagreed with more. Russell won 11 titles in a 13 year career and should be #1. LeBron has only won 2 rings and should be #12 after Kobe who won 5 rings. This is just a terrible list.

You put WAY too much stock into rings. Is that the ultimate goal? Sure. Is that the defining achievement when ranking a player's individual's legacy? Certainly shouldn't be. Can't fault a guy for being on bad teams. Wilt probably would've won 13 rings in 13 years on those Celtic teams. LeBron carried an AWFUL Cavs team to a competitive Finals against a team that's gonna set the all-time win mark this year. And this is coming from someone who's not a huge LeBron fan.

Absoluetly. Shaq was a man among children. He redefined the position. Towards the end he was out of shape but in his prime he'd carry the ball up pg style.

Jury is still out if lbj would have survived playing back then.

I like Shaq more than LeBron and can't say I completely disagree with anything you said, but in that I agree that Shaq was a man among children, his stats don't really bear that out. For him to have never led the league in rebounding (or blocks) at that size is downright embarrassing. Given the freak size/athleticism he had, he should have really distanced himself from guys like Hakeem, Robinson, Ewing, etc., and he just didn't statistically.

 

[Reality Check]

Is this the same list that currently has Steph Curry better than Isiah Thomas?

Pass.

 

[BGDDYKWL]

Is this the same list that currently has Steph Curry better than Isiah Thomas?

Pass.

Don't get me wrong, in terms of total body of work it's not close, but I'd be very surprised if Curry isn't considered better than Isiah when all is said and done.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Steph is currently a far better player than Isiah ever was. It depends on how much you value peak versus longevity.

 

[Power Man]

Idk in today's NBA Isiah would average 45 ppg and 20 apg tbh

 

[Deficient Mode]

Idk in today's NBA Isiah would average 45 ppg and 20 apg tbh

lol I'm just going to assume your "tbh" is a mark of sarcasm as it usually seems to me. Isiah was an inefficient scorer. Just mediocre from 3. Not big and athletic enough to get to 45 points with shots around the rim.

 

[darko]

Steph is currently a far better player than Isiah ever was. It depends on how much you value peak versus longevity.

I don't think you should value one over the other. Combination of both.