If Jordan was the best player of the last 30 years, who was/is the second best?

Wonder why he skipped over the 10 year thread? I think he needs to go back and start that one before we can move on to 40.

 

... because awful defensive players often lead the league in steals. TWICE.
(3.43 spg in '80-'81, 2.67 spg in '81-'82.)

 

Shawn Kemp with a special nod to Travis Henry.

Oh, wait we were talking about basketball playing skills.

 

Exactly what I was going to post. Don't even read his stat line; read the part where it says "rookie." That's INSANE, especially in the golden days of the NBA where there were many, many great players. Magic could do it all on the court, and I would put Bird in the third position.

 

You'll have to pardon starman, I believe his view on Magic is clouded by those "always crack on anything related to Sparty" glasses he tends to wear around here.

 

But in those days, teams had a better idea of what they were getting in the draft and as rookies. Did teams bust picks then? Of course. But today's draft is more like the MLB Entry and NHL drafts where the picks are based more on potential than they were 20-30 years ago. Understandably, someone will disagree on this, but these days, too many three- and four-year college players are downgraded for that fact. It's a shame ... some of them are much more mature and NBA-ready. Some don't have the ceiling that the 19-year-old wunderkind has, but some of those wunderkinds are like unpopped kernels. It seems as if too many these days are the unpopped kernels.

Yes, Magic came out after just two years, almost unheard-of more than 30 years ago. But back then, it could be argued that the great majority of players who came out early were ready. These days, they're putting their one year because David Stern and the owners were tired of running a babysitting service, instead basically forcing the NCAA to burp and rock the youngsters. Problem is, while the rookie scale finally got the Glenn Robinsons of the world off their $100 million demands before ever gracing an NBA court, it also sped up too many unprepared kids' matriculation into the league, in essence getting their initial three-year "indentured servitude" (and yes ... I'd like to be indentured at those salaries) out of the way.

 

You're absolutely right, and the funny thing is Magic did NOT win the Rookie of The Year Award, Bird did. And it was the right call.

The two greatest rookie seasons I can ever remember, and they both happened the same season.

 

Granted I am too young to have witnessed Magic and Bird but David Robinson and Shaq had monster rookie seasons as well. Not saying they were better but they are at least in the conversation. Of course there is the MJ rookie season too.

 

Not a big NBA guy but I went with Magic as well. There is more to the game than jacking up shots and piling up points. As has already been mentioned, Johnson made those teams go and made the cast around him better.

As for Shaq, yeah he was dominant in his prime but his prime wasn't very long comparatively. I'd probably pick Olajuwon over him at center.

 

If we go back 40 years, it would be Calvin Murphy, and it would not even be close.