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Who are the 10 greatest NBA Players of all Time?

Batman

Batman

Well-Known Member
I'm curious to hear a few different opinions. You don't have to number them 1-10 if you don't want to. Just relay who you have in that group.
I'll start:
LeBron James
Michael Jordan
Magic Johnson
Oscar Robinson
Kareem
Larry Bird
Wilt Chamberlain
Kobe Bryant
Tim Duncan
Karl Malone


It's worth noting that I think Steph Curry and KD will be in this list by the end of their careers, probably bumping Wilt and Malone off. I want to take Kobe off this list, but he has 5 rings so it's hard to do.
 
I'm gonna go

Jordan
Bill Russell
Bron
West
Isiah Thomas
Magic
Bird
Shaq
The Big O
The Dream
 
Jordan

Lebron

Bill Russell

Larry Bird

Magic Johnson

John Stockton

Shaq

Kobe

Tim Duncan

Steph Curry


I didn't put Malone on the list because he wasn't clutch enough. Stockton was incredibly clutch. The rest of the players on the list led their teams to championships and could deliver performances that took over games on the biggest stage.
 
Russell, Wilt, Kareem, Magic, Jordan, Hakeem, Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, Lebron would be my top 10. Order changes from day to day, but general tiers would be:

Jordan, Russell, Kareem

Duncan, Wilt, Shaq, Lebron(maybe not quite in 2nd tier yet, but very very close and still has a shot at tier 1 in my book)

Magic, Kobe, Hakeem

Just outside: Bird, West, Oscar, DrJ, KG, Robinson, Dirk

Not looking at pre-shot clock, sorry Mikan.
 
No Order
Bird
Magic
Jordan
Wilt
Kareem
Lebron
Jerry West
Bill Russell
shaq
Oscar Robertson

I didn't see Wilt, Oscar, Russell or West play but they make it because none of the others I have seen are in the class as the ones I have that are on this list. And they deserve it by reputation. Anybody putting Stockton or Malone on this list are huge homers. I could add 6 more guys I have seen play, before either of them even deserves a consideration.
 
gregbroncs said:
No Order
Bird
Magic
Jordan
Wilt
Kareem
Lebron
Jerry West
Bill Russell
shaq
Oscar Robertson

I didn't see Wilt, Oscar, Russell or West play but they make it because none of the others I have seen are in the class as the ones I have that are on this list. And they deserve it by reputation. Anybody putting Stockton or Malone on this list are huge homers. I could add 6 more guys I have seen play, before either of them even deserves a consideration.
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Huge homer, huh? You need to bow down and respect the Stock. And Malone could make the list very easily, too; by reputation, by stats and by achievements.

Just wondering, who are the other six?
 
str8line said:
Huge homer, huh? You need to bow down and respect the Stock. And Malone could make the list very easily, too; by reputation, by stats and by achievements.

Just wondering, who are the other six?
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Stockton was my 2nd favorite player of all time next to Bird. But he's not a top 10 all time great. Neither is Malone though he's closer than Stockton. Duncan, Kobe and Hakeem are all ahead of both. Outside of that I'm sure I'm forgetting some old timers. Bottom line yes putting Stockton or Malone in the 10 best players of all time without them ever winning a title is being a huge homer. NOBODY but a Jazz fan would even consider them on a list like this.
 
gregbroncs said:
Stockton was my 2nd favorite player of all time next to Bird. But he's not a top 10 all time great. Neither is Malone though he's closer than Stockton. Duncan, Kobe and Hakeem are all ahead of both. Outside of that I'm sure I'm forgetting some old timers. Bottom line yes putting Stockton or Malone in the 10 best players of all time without them ever winning a title is being a huge homer. NOBODY but a Jazz fan would even consider them on a list like this.
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Stockton was a good enough player to be considered top 10 all-time and I bet a lot of people would agree with me. His numbers support it. His clutch, injury-free play support it. The fact that he played for a team that never won it all shouldn't be held against him. He was the best facilitator ever and one of the best competitors in the history of sport. He played 19 seasons. He was still one of the best PG's in the league at 41 yr. old. What other player is so far ahead in one category all-time, much less two categories(assists and steals)?

Read this:

https://saltcityhoops.com/the-numbers-dont-lie-the-greatness-of-john-stockton/
 
Ehh, Stock was great, but I really can't see putting him in the top 10 all time. He's up there with the best in terms of longevity, but never had the success or was good enough at his best to be ranked up there with these guys.
 
Stockton
Malone
Eaton
Hornacheck
Ron Boone
Thurl Bailey
Okur
Dominique Wilkens
Jordan
Magic
 
str8line said:
Stockton was a good enough player to be considered top 10 all-time and I bet a lot of people would agree with me. His numbers support it. His clutch, injury-free play support it. The fact that he played for a team that never won it all shouldn't be held against him. He was the best facilitator ever and one of the best competitors in the history of sport. He played 19 seasons. He was still one of the best PG's in the league at 41 yr. old. What other player is so far ahead in one category all-time, much less two categories(assists and steals)?

Read this:

https://saltcityhoops.com/the-numbers-dont-lie-the-greatness-of-john-stockton/
Click to expand...
Every player on my list dominated the game at some point in their career. Every one got an MVP. Every one got a title. There are a lot of things against Stockton and it's not just the titles. Like I said besides Larry Bird, Stockton was my favorite player ever. He does not belong in this conversation. Simply put he would not be considered by anybody but a serious Utah Jazz homer, and shouldn't be even then.
 
gregbroncs said:
Every player on my list dominated the game at some point in their career. Every one got an MVP. Every one got a title. There are a lot of things against Stockton and it's not just the titles. Like I said besides Larry Bird, Stockton was my favorite player ever. He does not belong in this conversation. Simply put he would not be considered by anybody but a serious Utah Jazz homer, and shouldn't be even then.
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Stock dominated in his own way. Malone got an MVP. Malone was incredible, and they were a great combo, but Stockton could have made a lot of players MVP's. He was that good. What other player saddled with playing in Utah could have done what he did? With a few bounces here and there he could have been a two time NBA champion. He ran into the best player of all time and a bench that was deeper than his bench.

"lot of things against Stockton". The system? Mailman? Imagine Stockton on any NBA champion team of the last 35 years and ask yourself how much they would have dominated if he were at the helm.


"Stockton's career is especially notable for its consistency. He maintained an extremely high level of play to the very end. For instance, as late as the 2000-01 NBA season, when he was 38, he led the league in the "advanced stats" of true shooting percentage (a measure of points per shot attempt that factors in three pointers and free throws), offensive rating (a measure of points per 100 possessions a player's team scores while he is on the floor), and assist percentage (which measures the percentage of teammates' field goals a player assists while on the floor). Stockton led the league in assist percentage 15 times, including his last season (2002–03) at age 40.[28]" Wiki
 
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As much as I love Stockton, he isn't a top 10 player of all time. You gotta have at least 1 championship to make it on this list and sadly Stock never did.
That being said Stockton is the 2nd best PG of all time IMO.
My list in no particular order
Jordan
Bird
Magic
Russell
Duncan
Kobe
Lebron
Hakeem
Wilt
Kareem
 
I'm trying to drive up the value of my John Stockton autographed basketball here and you guys are blowing it.

BTW, Tom Pitt has Isiah Thomas on his top ten. Would you guys put him over Stock?
 
str8line said:
I'm trying to drive up the value of my John Stockton autographed basketball here and you guys are blowing it.

BTW, Tom Pitt has Isiah Thomas on his top ten. Would you guys put him over Stock?
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I wouldn't. But I seriously hated Isiah Thomas. An unbiased opinion would probably put him over Stockton, I just can't do that I love Stock and hate Isiah too much.
 
str8line said:
I'm trying to drive up the value of my John Stockton autographed basketball here and you guys are blowing it.

BTW, Tom Pitt has Isiah Thomas on his top ten. Would you guys put him over Stock?
Click to expand...
No
 
I don't think you can put Bill Russell in the top 10. I know he won 11 titles in 13 years, but he had the best coach and the best team in the league. He was a poor offensive player, Wilt dropped huge numbers against him. I mean, I understand he was a great defensive player for his time, but it does not seem he was able to slow down Wilt at all. I also just realized I left off Hakeem. The Dream has got to make the top 10. As much as I hate to admit it, he probably makes it over Malone. I'm also surprised Barkley is on nobody's list. In his prime, he was incredible.
 
Batman said:
I don't think you can put Bill Russell in the top 10. I know he won 11 titles in 13 years, but he had the best coach and the best team in the league. He was a poor offensive player, Wilt dropped huge numbers against him. I mean, I understand he was a great defensive player for his time, but it does not seem he was able to slow down Wilt at all. I also just realized I left off Hakeem. The Dream has got to make the top 10. As much as I hate to admit it, he probably makes it over Malone. I'm also surprised Barkley is on nobody's list. In his prime, he was incredible.
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Barkley has the same problem as Karl and John. No titles. There are other reasons to keep him off but simply he's not one of the 10 best. As for Russell he was the main piece to 11 titles. Can't keep that guy out. It doesn't matter what one of the other 10 best did against him, because Wilt did not beat him for those titles.
 
Stockton over Thomas for me. I think at their best they were similar level players (slight edge Stockton), Isiah had the better teams, and Stockton is way ahead on longevity. Overall Stockton by a small but clear margin, probably right around #20 alltime for me.

Went back through my list today and tried to clarify it a bit:

1)Jordan
2)KAJ
3)Duncan
4)Shaq
5)Lebron
6)Wilt
7)Russell
8)Magic
9)Robinson -Woops, forgot poor David last time.
10)Hakeem
11)Bird
12)Kobe - so just outside the top 10 for me
 
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