What a delicious article. It's almost fair to put the GOAT discussion into a top 5 and a second tier into a top 15, there's been too much talent in the NBA not to.
One can easily put MJ, Kobe, KAJ, Wilt & Bill Russel into a top 5 GOAT discussion.
One can also put Tim Duncan, Shaq, Magic, Bird, LBJ, Moses Malone, Oscar Robertson, Karl Malone, KD, KG, Hakeem, Havlicek, Jerry West, Dirk and Steph in that next tier.
Its tricky to add in the championship aspect, which I actually love as a criteria. It does leave us with a dilemma of Bob Cousy ( 6 ) holding more rings than Barkley, Euwing, David Robinson, Elgin Baylor and Willis Reed combined.
It's interesting that you said five because that would kind of make sense in a sport that starts five players, but even when it comes to that, you have the superstar, the star, and role players. When Jordan was uncontested as the GOAT, pre-LeBron, who was heavily in that conversation with him? MAYBE Kareem. But it sort of never went past KAJ. And that point there was also a lot of talent that went through the Association.
I think Jordan and LeBron is a valid tier one with no one from my proposed tier two sneaking in, although I'm pretty sure a lot of Angelinos/Lakers fans would disagree and cite Kobe. However, as great as he was, it's just tough to because of his shooting numbers, as well as him perceived by some as the sidekick to Shaq during his first three titles. Jordan was always the alpha.
That next tier has some really good names in there. I'd really have to think about that one. If I did a third tier, I'd definitely have Magic, Bird, and Oscar Robertson in there. I'm surprised you have LeBron in that group too.
As far as Cousy, and this was on my mind with Russell as well, there weren't many other teams in the league. In fact, during his last full year, and championship season, there were only EIGHT teams in the NBA. For players like Barkley and Ewing, I put some weight into how many playoffs they made, how they did, how far they got, and most importantly - they played during Michael Jordan's prime. Ha! No one was beating him then!
What a delicious article. It's almost fair to put the GOAT discussion into a top 5 and a second tier into a top 15, there's been too much talent in the NBA not to.
One can easily put MJ, Kobe, KAJ, Wilt & Bill Russel into a top 5 GOAT discussion.
One can also put Tim Duncan, Shaq, Magic, Bird, LBJ, Moses Malone, Oscar Robertson, Karl Malone, KD, KG, Hakeem, Havlicek, Jerry West, Dirk and Steph in that next tier.
Its tricky to add in the championship aspect, which I actually love as a criteria. It does leave us with a dilemma of Bob Cousy ( 6 ) holding more rings than Barkley, Euwing, David Robinson, Elgin Baylor and Willis Reed combined.
It's interesting that you said five because that would kind of make sense in a sport that starts five players, but even when it comes to that, you have the superstar, the star, and role players. When Jordan was uncontested as the GOAT, pre-LeBron, who was heavily in that conversation with him? MAYBE Kareem. But it sort of never went past KAJ. And that point there was also a lot of talent that went through the Association.
I think Jordan and LeBron is a valid tier one with no one from my proposed tier two sneaking in, although I'm pretty sure a lot of Angelinos/Lakers fans would disagree and cite Kobe. However, as great as he was, it's just tough to because of his shooting numbers, as well as him perceived by some as the sidekick to Shaq during his first three titles. Jordan was always the alpha.
That next tier has some really good names in there. I'd really have to think about that one. If I did a third tier, I'd definitely have Magic, Bird, and Oscar Robertson in there. I'm surprised you have LeBron in that group too.
As far as Cousy, and this was on my mind with Russell as well, there weren't many other teams in the league. In fact, during his last full year, and championship season, there were only EIGHT teams in the NBA. For players like Barkley and Ewing, I put some weight into how many playoffs they made, how they did, how far they got, and most importantly - they played during Michael Jordan's prime. Ha! No one was beating him then!