Choosing a perfect NBA Top 75 team was impossible

The results are in and what happens now was inevitable.

The top 76 players in NBA history have been announced , with the full 75th anniversary team having been revealed by the league. Now the debate begins to decide who must have been No. 77.

Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Bernard King all are solid candidates. So, too, are Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving, Tracy Mcgrady, Pau Gasol and Tony Parker. And so on.

And so on.

And so on.

Fact is, no team was going to be perfect, even with the extra player that got on this one because of a tie in the voting — which included The Associated Press. There was no way to avoid arguments about who should have been on the list, or who shouldn’t have been. It wasn’t perfect. But it’s right. “From where I come from I’m simply LOST FOR WORDS!! BEYOND HONORED & BLESSED!!” Lebron James tweeted in response to his selection.

Clearly, being part of the team meant a lot to those who were selected, and therefore it stands to reason that those who didn’t make the team are justifiably disappointed.

“Just looking at the list, and then thinking about the history of the NBA, how do you differentiate? I looked at it and it seems like there’s 50 or 60 guys who

were kind of automatic,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said after the final installment of the list was revealed. “And then, just pick one. You can’t go wrong or you can’t be right, depending on how you look at it.”

Kerr — who was one of the voters — said Thursday that there was a strong case for two of his players, Thompson and Draymond Green. Both were perfectly valid arguments, and Thompson has taken to Instagram since the team was announced to express his disappointment.

ADAM HUNGER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE In this June 5, 2021, file photo, Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving (11) reacts against the Milwaukee Bucks during the second half of Game 1 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series in New York.

JEFF CHIU — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson poses for photos during the NBA basketball team’s media day in San Francisco, Monday, Sept. 27, 2021.