This is going to be a quick post, just so I can say that I’ve done something on the Countdown during the month of March. Several weeks ago, SLAM magazine produced its list of 100 greatest NBA players of all time. You can see the final results here, and an ESPN list that came out a year earlier here. I like both lists, and they were compiled by folks with a lot more NBA know-how than I. But there were still some puzzlers that struck me as false– Barkley over Karl Malone in the SLAM list? Ridiculous. Barkley made better copy, for sure, but Malone had a longer, significantly better career that culminated in two MVPs and the second-most points scored of all time. There was also a tendency to favor players with the allure of legend (such as Pete Maravich and Connie Hawkins) over more substantively accomplished athletes.
Here, then, is my own list of the top 100 NBA players of all time. While I tried to accommodate questions that will necessarily come from ranking players across ages– would George Mikan’s game hold up today? Would Russell Westbrook’s ranking be reasonable if he stopped playing tomorrow?– I ultimately came back to a single question: who gave their team the best chance of winning it all? If there’s demand, I might elaborate on my choices, but for now, I’ll just list my choices.
- Michael Jordan
- Lebron James
- Bill Russell
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Magic Johnson
- Tim Duncan
- Kobe Bryant
- Larry Bird
- Wilt Chamberlain
- Shaquille O’Neal
- Jerry West
- Hakeem Olajuwon
- Moses Malone
- Oscar Robertson
- Kevin Durant
- Karl Malone
- Stephen Curry
- Julius Erving
- Kevin Garnett
- John Havlicek
- Dirk Nowitzki
- John Stockton
- Elgin Baylor
- Scottie Pippen
- Isiah Thomas
- Bob Pettit
- David Robinson
- Charles Barkley
- Dwyane Wade
- Jason Kidd
- Chris Paul
- Walt Frazier
- Elvin Hayes
- Patrick Ewing
- Allen Iverson
- Russell Westbrook
- Steve Nash
- Bob Cousy
- Gary Payton
- Dolph Schayes
- Clyde Drexler
- Willis Reed
- Rick Barry
- Paul Pierce
- Kevin McHale
- Reggie Miller
- Ray Allen
- James Harden
- George Mikan
- Wes Unseld
- Earl Monroe
- Dominique Wilkins
- George Gervin
- Dave Cowens
- Alonzo Mourning
- Kawhi Leonard
- Tony Parker
- Bob Lanier
- James Worthy
- Sam Jones
- Bill Walton
- Bernard King
- Nate “Tiny” Archibald
- Bob McAdoo
- Hal Greer
- Paul Arizin
- Dennis Johnson
- Nate Thurmond
- Dikembe Mutombo
- Robert Parish
- Dwight Howard
- Vince Carter
- Adrian Dantley
- Carmelo Anthony
- Alex English
- Kyrie Irving
- Sidney Moncrief
- Chris Mullin
- Bill Sharman
- Joe Dumars
- Chris Bosh
- Chris Webber
- Dave DeBusschere
- Tracy McGrady
- Jerry Lucas
- Draymond Green
- Dave Thompson
- Pete Maravich
- Pau Gasol
- Chauncey Billups
- Grant Hill
- Lenny Wilkens
- Anthony Davis
- Manu Ginobili
- Ben Wallace
- Paul Westphal
- Jack Twyman
- Maurice Cheeks
- Mark Price
- David Bing
An overwhelming majority of people who live here in the Philadelphia area absolutely know that Moses Malone was not a better player than Julius Erving! Wesaw both of them for years. I’d bet you Malone would agree with me.
It’s possible, but there’s a certain degree of what Charles Barkley calls “homerism” involved. Moses had 3 MVPs and a Finals MVP to Dr. J’s 1 and 0. Erving is not presently in the top 25 career for any category whatsoever. Moses is. To be sure, Erving’s best years were in the ABA, which I’m not counting. And Erving is certainly the more exciting and historically significant player. But who gives their team the best chance to win it all? I’m still sticking with Moses.
Was Dr. J. killing flies in the ABA? In the 70s Erving, McGinnis, Gilmore, Barry, Issel in the ABA were as good as any players in the NBA. In any case if you don’t get the top ten right you can discard list and I mean more or less in right order. Wait till my book comes out. 1. Magic, 2. Russell, 3. Wilt, 4. LeBron, 5. Oscar, 6. Kareem, 7. Jordan, 8. Hakeem, 9. Erving, 10. Bird. I can defend this until kingdom come. 80s was the toughest decade and Magic clearly the player of the decade. 60s was the next toughest decade as far as the competetion a the top is concerned. Erving once said he cannot imagine Baylor not being in the top 5, well he comes in at no. 11 and Duncan 12. Now, I have 12 I will defend till kingdom come.
This is pretty good but where is Heinsohn?