OT: Who is the NBA GOAT?
- Thread starter Im The Village Idiot
- Start date
The greatest 3:
Jordan, Wilt, Bird
Kobe and Lebron round out my top five
Jordan, Wilt, Bird
Kobe and Lebron round out my top five
For me Jordan but man is this topic beat to death good lord. They are all genetic mutants. Did you know Jordan’s hands are bigger than Shaqs? 3rd biggest hands ever recorded in the NBA, ball was like a tennis ball to him
If you want to really have a worthwhile debate, it should be who is the 2nd best player in history?
Jordan
Wilt
Magic
Bird
Kobe
Shaq
Kareem
LBJ
Duncan
Steph
Wilt
Magic
Bird
Kobe
Shaq
Kareem
LBJ
Duncan
Steph
It’s definitely Jordan for cultural impact. His career was really perfectly timed to become a near mythological figure since he came along late enough to get a big push from Nike and have his games on TV a lot, but too early for the internet to make some of the more unsavory parts of his life like the gambling and generally treating some of his teammates horribly common knowledge at the time. We’ll most likely never see a phenomenon quite like that again.
For on court play alone, he still has a valid argument, but I’m not sure he’s quite as unquestionably better than a few other contenders as he’s commonly made out to be. Kareem, Wilt, Russell, and Lebron also have valid cases in my book.
For on court play alone, he still has a valid argument, but I’m not sure he’s quite as unquestionably better than a few other contenders as he’s commonly made out to be. Kareem, Wilt, Russell, and Lebron also have valid cases in my book.
It has to be broken down by era.
You can’t compare no shot clock, no 3s, no black players; to black players and shot clock still no 3s; to the hand check era with shot clock and 3s; to freedom of movement era with shot clock and 3s.
Each era had a GOAT:
Pre-integration: George Mikan
Post integration: Wilt
Hand check era: Jordan
Freedom of movement era: LeBron
You can’t compare no shot clock, no 3s, no black players; to black players and shot clock still no 3s; to the hand check era with shot clock and 3s; to freedom of movement era with shot clock and 3s.
Each era had a GOAT:
Pre-integration: George Mikan
Post integration: Wilt
Hand check era: Jordan
Freedom of movement era: LeBron
Jordan is the answer.
He might not have played a hundred years like LeBron …which is why he won’t he rank as high in the all time stats …but nobody was ever better when he did play than MJ.
He might not have played a hundred years like LeBron …which is why he won’t he rank as high in the all time stats …but nobody was ever better when he did play than MJ.
Jordan, easily, IMO. My top 10 is:
Michael Jordan
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Larry Bird
Magic Johnson
Wilt Chamberlain
Kobe Bryant
Hakeem Olajuwon
LBJ
Tim Duncan
Oscar Robertson/Bill Russell
Michael Jordan
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Larry Bird
Magic Johnson
Wilt Chamberlain
Kobe Bryant
Hakeem Olajuwon
LBJ
Tim Duncan
Oscar Robertson/Bill Russell
Its wilt and it isn't even close.
Citation needed. This contradicts what I see online (e.g., https://hub.bovada.lv/sports/basketball/nba/biggest-hand-sizes-in-nba-history/ and https://www.lines.com/guides/15-players-biggest-hands-nba/1522), and also what I saw in person (in the 1990s, a sporting goods store in southern California had a wall with handprints of several NBA players. Shaq's hands were bigger in every way.)
I was going to say surprised Bill Russell was getting no respect until I finally saw a couple giving him his due. The guy was phenominal despite not having the best personal stats.
Robert Horry won 7 NBA championships, so is he your #2 all time player behind Bill Russell?
Bill Walton at UCLA was my all time favorite player, he was bad a.ss until the knees gave out. But it's hard to argue against Bill Russell being one of the best. And Robert Horry was a hell of a player also, but played with all time greats to get those rings. But same can be said about Russell.
Wilt Chamberlain had career averages of 30.1 ppg, 22.1 rpg, and 4.4 apg. He would also be the all time blocks leader by a mile had it been an official stat. The only year they have statistics for blocks was his final season. On bad knees he averaged 5.4 bpg. He's also the only center to ever lead the league in assists at 8.6 apg.
In 1962 Wilt averaged 50.4 ppg and 25.7 rpg.
In 1962 Wilt averaged 50.4 ppg and 25.7 rpg.
Last edited:
If you’re 1 years old or 100 years old, the answer is the same. Mike! How you been doing Don? Everything going good bud?
If everyone else wasn’t smoking on the bench and doing a ton of nose candy, yeah he’d be right there. Still is top five all day. probably two or three.
Remember when Wilt lost the national championship to a UNC team full of much shorter dudes from New York? The opening tip was 7'1" Wilt vs 5'11" Tommy Chamberlain.
Basketball is a team game. Wilt went for 23 and 14 that game. Wilt's teammates went 9 for 34 26.4%. There was no one named Tommy Chamberlain on UNC's team.
That's not as bad as when MJ lost to Georgia who finished 6th out of 10 SEC teams that year or remember when MJ lost in the second round against IU and was held to 13 pts and 1 rebound by Dan freaking Dakich?
Last edited: