2016-17 Running NBA Thread

I'll allow this.

 

I'd put James in Top 10.

Jordan
Kareem
Magic
Oscar
Bird
Russell
West
Wilt
LeBron

For #10.......Shaq?......Duncan?......Hakeem?.....

I'd probably go Hakeem......

 

I would go Duncan, but Hakeem is a worthy choice. Can't really be wrong about any of those three. That's why lists like this are fun but silly. It's trying to differentiate between subatomic particles using binoculars. Differences are pretty small.

 

And this highlights the other problem with ranking NBA players -- the sport is so different from era to era that it's hard to put the older guys in proper context. Jerry West was a great player, but put in-his-prime West against in-his-prime LeBron and LeBron is light years ahead of him. Russell is a similar issue: an all time great center who would be an undersized power forward today.

 

LeBron is no James Worthy. /Songbird

 

You meant to do say Vlade Divac

 

West against Westbrook would be more accurate, or Bird against LeBron. Russell would still be a great center. Look at the NBA centers today. Who're the all-timers?. Russell held his own and then some against Wilt. Why the hell should today's guys be any tougher for him? It's the same way NFL people say the 50s and 60s greats couldn't do it today because they're too small. As if they were born in the same time frame and wouldn't lift the same weights and do the same drugs as 2017 players.

 

Your point about Russell vs Wilt is a very good one.

It's still hard for me to imagine Russell being a dominant, physical defensive center when he was just an inch taller than LeBron and about 30 pounds lighter. Facing guys like DeAndre Jordan and Boogie Cousins night after night just seems like a physical mismatch that would be virtually impossible to overcome. But again, they're Wilt's size, roughly, and Russell did fine there.

Side note -- I'd think hard about Westbrook in my top 10 all-time. He may not be there yet, but I think he will be when he's done.

 

Steph Curry will crack the top 10 before Westbrook does.

 

Maybe. Steph's the greatest shooter ever, I'd say, and other parts of his game are underrated.

I realize the inherent silliness of suggesting someone is top ten all time based largely on a season that hasn't reached the all star break yet... but Westbrook is having one of the greatest seasons ever. He's averaging a triple double in an era when it's infinitely harder to do it compared to when Oscar Robertson did it... and Robertson's the only one to ever do it. The other night I watched him get a triple double by halftime. He's 6' 3" and averaging 10 rebounds a game. It's freakish. (And he may well have done this in years past, but he had Durant alongside him.)

 

When the fuck have I ever touted Worthy?

Damn straight, boy.

But neither sniff the taint of Devean George.

 

ftw