Comparing era's talk, 3Peat's Greatest players
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 11:43 pm
I actually went over to Tom's for the 1st time in a long while and was reading some Posts. The great Tate Posted some video regarding Wilt and than a debate broke out on how great Wilt would be in this era? It's really impossible to compare era's because play back in the 50's and 60's was much different than play in the 80's/90's/and now since 2000. I think Rev said it best, when he basically said I should just do my list's from the 1977 Season and on because that is when the ABA/NBA merged. The NBA then had all the best athlete's and 7 footers combined into 1 league. Best way to probably say who the best players are is to break it down from 1947-1976, and 1977 through the present.
IMO the Top 8 players from the 1947 Season when Basketball started through the 1976 Season were:
1. Wilt Chamberlain - Yes he would be #1 on this list
2. Bill Russell
3. Oscar Robertson
4. Jerry West
5. John Havlicek
6. Elgin Baylor
7. George Mikan
8. Bob Cousy
From the 1977 Season- present I would say:
1. Michael Jordan
2. Magic Johnson
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
4. Kobe Bryant
5. Tim Duncan
6. Shaq O'Neal
7. LeBron James
8. Larry Bird over Hakeem Olajuwon, Bird won more league mvp's and championships being the best player on his team.
-based on stats, overall games won, championships won, league mvp's won, finals mvp's won, clutch play by these players, dominance at their position, and eye test. Of course before 1977 I had no eye test but have seen film on the players from 1947-1976 and to me Wilt was #1 on that list. Kareem belongs in the 1977-present era, he won 5 Championships during that time and 2 of his League MVP's + 1 of his 2 Finals MVP's getting it against the Celtics in 1985! + He played 13 seasons in that era compared to 7 in the other. Kareem did win League MVP in 1977 right after the merge which is big.
IMO the Top 8 players from the 1947 Season when Basketball started through the 1976 Season were:
1. Wilt Chamberlain - Yes he would be #1 on this list
2. Bill Russell
3. Oscar Robertson
4. Jerry West
5. John Havlicek
6. Elgin Baylor
7. George Mikan
8. Bob Cousy
From the 1977 Season- present I would say:
1. Michael Jordan
2. Magic Johnson
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
4. Kobe Bryant
5. Tim Duncan
6. Shaq O'Neal
7. LeBron James
8. Larry Bird over Hakeem Olajuwon, Bird won more league mvp's and championships being the best player on his team.
-based on stats, overall games won, championships won, league mvp's won, finals mvp's won, clutch play by these players, dominance at their position, and eye test. Of course before 1977 I had no eye test but have seen film on the players from 1947-1976 and to me Wilt was #1 on that list. Kareem belongs in the 1977-present era, he won 5 Championships during that time and 2 of his League MVP's + 1 of his 2 Finals MVP's getting it against the Celtics in 1985! + He played 13 seasons in that era compared to 7 in the other. Kareem did win League MVP in 1977 right after the merge which is big.