WHO’S THE NBA’S BEST?
One writer takes a crack at ranking the league’s top 40 of all time.
Sports is about more than playing the game.
It’s about talking about the game, too. And the best talking is focused on yesterday vs. today, or sometimes yesterday vs. yesterday. Is LeBron better than Michael? Is Shaq superior to Wilt? Is Curry a better ballhandler than Steve Nash? Could 1950s star Dolph Schayes average 20 points in today’s NBA? (I’m answering yes to that last one.) You get the picture. This is my annual look at the top players in NBA history. This year, the list has grown to 40.
Every year, I hear from friends — and enemies — who wonder why, for instance, Pete Maravich didn’t make the cut. (Maravich is one of history’s best college players, but he’s not a top-75 NBA player.) I hear arguments about Wilt vs. Kareem, or Magic vs. Bird, or Oscar vs. West. The talking can get heated. Three years ago, I observed that LeBron wasn’t the greatest player of all time. The response from his youthful supporters was often obscene and even more often baffled. The argument for LeBron as No. 1 basically went like this: He’s my favorite player, and he’s playing right now, and I’ve never even heard of a lot of these old people. And yet . The LeBron Fun Bunch has a point.
Most of the players on this list are finished. LeBron is not done. He has a half-dozen years to continue climbing. He might even pass Jordan. This is starting to look like a possible quest instead of an impossible one.
Still, remember this: Michael Jordan played in six NBA Finals. He won them all.
Basketball is the ideal sport for the best-ever discussion. The game has only lived on the national stage since the early 1950s, which simplifies arguments.
In basketball, the first greatestever candidate is Bill Russell, who led his Celtics to 11 titles in 13 seasons. He retired in 1969. Russell is still walking among us. He’s not ancient history.
That makes picking a top 40 an easier task. And more fun.
Here’s my top 40.
1 MICHAEL JORDAN
You can argue this choice, but it would be silly. Jordan played in six NBA Finals. And won them all. He never quit growing as a player. He started his career as the ultimate skywalker. He ended his Bulls career — please, let’s just forget those days with the Wizards — as the game’s ultimate mid-range jump shooter. I will be stunned — happily stunned — if ever I see a better player than Michael Jordan.
2 LeBRON JAMES
LeBron could carry any team to the NBA playoffs. And we’re talking any team. (Yes, even this season’s Brooklyn Nets.) This is a huge statement, but it’s not an overstatement. James has long been an overwhelming force in the regular season. In the last seven seasons, when he led the Heat and the Cavs to seven rides to the NBA Finals, he’s proved he can deliver clutch and magnificent work in the playoffs, too. LeBron is the most physically talented player ever, a mutant combination of Karl Malone, Magic Johnson and Jordan, with a touch of Wilt Chamberlain’s ultra-complicated psyche thrown into the mix.
3 KAREEM ABDULJABBAR
His hook shot remains the most effective offensive weapon in basketball history. Nobody was so dangerous for so long. He was named MVP of the NBA Finals at 38.
4 BILL RUSSELL
Eleven titles in 13 seasons. No one will ever top that. No one will ever come close. He’s the greatest winner in the history of team sports. So why doesn’t he rank at the top? That’s easy. He was always surrounded by overwhelming talent. He was the lead actor in a dynasty jammed with superior chemistry and a deep collection of gifted players.
5 MAGIC JOHNSON
A revolutionary. A point guard in a center’s body. If Magic had not been stricken with HIV, he might have tangled with Jordan for the top spot. He’s the greatest team player ever. What I mean is, any teammate who stepped on the court with Magic instantly transformed into a superior player.
6 WILT CHAMBERLAIN
An amazing talent who could have been even better. Many basketball historians make a strong case Chamberlain was better than Russell. Wilt did compile mindboggling numbers, and when he was surrounded by talent he won two NBA titles.
7 TIM DUNCAN
For years, Spurs fans have commanded me to place Mr. Boring closer to the top of this list. During the past two NBA Finals, the scales fell from my eyes, and I could see one of NBA history’s finest defenders and winners. 8 OSCAR ROBERTSON Until Jordan arrived, he ranked as the most complete player ever. I’ve talked with a couple dozen players who competed against him. When they talk about The Big O, they are filled with immense respect.
9 JERRY WEST
The most downto-earth superstar ever. And maybe the most tormented superstar ever. He never will recover from all those NBA Finals defeats to the Celtics.
10 LARRY BIRD
Overrated by overzealous fans, but a fantastic competitor and offensive player, even if he often looked lost as a defender. I’d place him lower, but a multitude of basketball people I respect place him high on their lists. He is one of history’s most charismatic players. And, like Magic, it’s difficult to imagine what he might have done if he had remained healthy.
11 KOBE BRYANT
Didn’t appreciate Kobe as much as I should have during his long prime. Didn’t appreciate him primarily because I despised him. He’s an astounding talent. He’s not the most charming character, but he’s one of sports history’s most relentless competitors. And he’s the rare ball hog who also is a winner.
12 SHAQUILLE O’NEAL
A dangerous man. The least-skilled player on this list. And the leastskilled great player in basketball history. Still, he was enormously healthy. If he had been hungry for greatness — and he wasn’t — he could have climbed much higher.
13 ELGIN BAYLOR
The first skywalker. A revolutionary and a basketball gentleman. He should have a much higher profile.
14 RICK BARRY
I once instigated heated basketball arguments by telling friends and enemies that Barry was a superior player to Larry Bird. Still, please, at least consider that the Bird-Barry discussion has merit. Look at Barry’s numbers: he averaged 24 points in his career, same as Bird. Look at the way Barry carried — as no other player ever carried — the Warriors to the 1975 title. Bird and Barry were remarkably similar players and belong right next to each other on the all-time list.
15 JOHN HAVLICEK
He played in eight NBA Finals. He won them all. And he scored nearly 5,000 more points than Bird.
16 HAKEEM OLAJUWON
Sure, The Dream Shake was a walk, but what an astonishing talent. I saw Hakeem play for the University of Houston when he was a confused freshman. Two years later, he was America’s finest college basketball player. He started the NBA’s flood of international players.
17 BOB PETTIT
One of the great power forwards in NBA history. He retired in 1965 and is largely forgotten, which is sad. He overwhelmed everyone in his day, and everyone includes Bill Russell.
18 JULIUS ERVING
The most entertaining, dazzling basketball player ever? Maybe. For pure thrills, only Jordan and David Thompson could battle with Dr. J. What a show. And what a ‘fro.
19 MOSES MALONE
If Moses had been blessed with bigger hands, he would have been illegal. His little hands limited his shooting. He handled himself like a boxer in the lane. Another dangerous man.
20 KARL MALONE
Not a big fan, but it’s difficult to argue with The Mailman’s numbers. Too bad Malone and John Stockton never quite found a way to bring a title back home to Salt Lake City.
21 DIRK NOWITZKI
I’d seen Dirk play in person a dozen times and seen him play on TV dozens of times, but never truly appreciated him until the 2011 NBA Finals. Through dogged, exhaustive effort, Dirk constructed one of the most dangerous offensive machines in basketball history. He’s one of the greatest jump shooters ever, but he’s not soft. He dropped his biggest baskets in the 2011 series on courageous drives to the basket.
22 GEORGE MIKAN
I’ve talked to a dozen players — NBA pioneers — who battled against Mikan. Many of these players later battled against Russell and Chamberlain. These pioneers speak with immense respect for Mikan, one of the game’s all-time winners. If you’re doubtful about this selection, please consider a few facts: Mikan finished his career with seven — yes, seven — straight titles, and in his best three seasons averaged 28 points, 14 rebounds and three assists.
23 JOHN STOCKTON
What an imaginative passer. Like Magic, he could make any teammate — well, almost anybody — look good.
24 ISIAH THOMAS
No, he’s not Mr. Sunshine, but he was the soul of those Bad Boys from Detroit.
25 DWYANE WADE
Wade in 2008-09: 30.2 points, 7.5 assists and 5 rebounds per game. And he finished third — a distant third — in MVP voting behind winner LeBron James and runner-up Kobe Bryant. Wade, like Carmelo Anthony, had the misfortune of competing in an era of sensational swing players.
26 KEVIN GARNETT
Mr. Versatile even during those years when he labored in exile in Minnesota.
27 CHARLES BARKLEY
Oh, what might have been. Stupendously talented. Not so stupendously disciplined.
28 BOB COUSY
Basketball’s first great showman. But, like Dr. J and Jordan and David Thompson and many of his other fellow entertainers, much more than a mere showman.
29 WALT FRAZIER
Leader of one of basketball history’s ultimate teams, the championship Knicks.
30 ELVIN HAYES
In the ancient days of the late 1960s, even the finest of rookies arrived in the NBA after four years of college. Hayes, fully formed at Houston, averaged 28 points and 17 rebounds in his debut season.
31 GEORGE GERVIN
The Iceman was not the most devoted defender, but he was blessed with an arsenal of shots. Yet another showman from the ABA.
32 DAVID ROBINSON
Robinson arrived at Navy as a skinny, 6-foot-8, lightly regarded freshman. He departed as a dominating 6-foot-11 center, the best college player in the land. Robinson would be higher on this list, but he didn’t arrive in the NBA until he was 24, after his Navy commitment. Check out his 1993-94 season: 29.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and, most remarkably, 4.8 assists per game.
33 STEPH CURRY
The Age of the Dunk has ended. Curry is leading us all — whether we want to go or not — into The Age of the Long Shot. Curry is a triumph of skill over athleticism. An obsessive worker, he willed himself into the world’s best guard.
34 KEVIN McHALE
He had the great fortune and great misfortune of playing beside Larry Bird in Boston. He would have been the main attraction of almost any other NBA franchise. McHale offered an astonishing, and entertaining, collection of pivot moves. Always fun to watch this master at work in the paint.
35 SCOTTIE PIPPEN
Yes, he was Michael Jordan’s sidekick, but he ranks among the NBA’s all-time best defenders and winners. And in his post-Jordan life, he almost carried the Trail Blazers to the Finals.
36 DOLPH SCHAYES
One of the great stars of the 1950s. Dolph’s game was remarkably similar to the dazzling Larry Bird show from decades later. A superb long-range shooter, a ferocious rebounder and basketball’s all-time king in persuading refs to call fouls on the other guy. He led the Syracuse Nationals to the 1955 NBA Title.
37 PATRICK EWING
While at Georgetown, Ewing specialized in defense. While laboring for the Knicks, Ewing became a premier offensive weapon. If his knees had not betrayed him, would have soared even higher on this list.
38 HAL GREER
A star for the Syracuse Nationals and 76ers in the 1960s, Greer ranks among the quickest and fastest players to ever compete in the NBA. A specialist in the 15-foot pull-up shot, a shot his fans swear he never missed.
39 WILLIS REED
In the old days, the NBA was dominated by centers. Reed, a warrior in the middle, twice led the Knicks to NBA titles while outbattling Wilt and Kareem.
40 DAVE BING
A superstar with the Detroit Pistons in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bing returned to the economically depressed Motor City in the 1980s to open a steel company. Against all odds — and we’re talking serious odds — his company became a success. Bing later was voted mayor of Detroit.