The Greatest Basketball Player

[Gringo*]

MJ pa rin.. kc he is really a game changer.. during 90's halos sya ang mukha ng basketball.. until now pag may bagong player lagi kinukumpara sa kanya.. stats probably tells you he's behind pero kc there are lot of things in Basketball na di nakikita sa stats.. The impact he made was special...

[Duel of Fate]

I still have to vote for mj.

 

Yes, jordan couldnt have done it without pippen or grant or paxson or rodman or kukoc but... they tried but failed to do it without him rin

 

Another thing, "transcending" is synonymous to lifting it up the next level. Meaning getting out of the comfort zone & establishing dominance somewhere else. The nba did that with jordan: suddenly non-basketball fans were watching because of him. The dream team became THE dream team because it was led by jordan.

 

Jerry west? Baylor? They were the starters.

Bill Russel? Most rings but didnt change the world of basketball.

Jabaar? His stint was too short lived. So was magic johnson

Larry bird? "The great white hope" was a bit political & he didnt really break free from it.

Iverson? Tmac? Grant hill? Arenas? Yao ming? All didnt materialize solid enough.

Lebron? Kobe? Legends in their own right but on a different category altogether.

 

Jordan is the GOAT simply because he became bigger than the Bulls. Bigger than the NBA. Bigger than Nike. Bigger than the 90s. He became Basketball itself. You cant say Michael Jordan without relating him to basketball himself; you cant say basketball without mentioning Jordan.

[Eddy Syet]

you may have overlooked some facts in your argument.

 

1. dennis rodman won two championships BEFORE jordan won his ( as an important member of the detroit pistons).

 

2. kareem abdul jabbar played for 20 seasons

 

3. jerry west and elgin baylor came AFTER bill russel.so mr. russell should be the "starter".

 

4. larry bird being political. he shied away from controversy, he just played his heart out.

 

im not trying to be a flamer but maybe because he was the most flamboyant and flashiest nba player, many fans of the game see him as the greatest of all time. i agree that he is ONE of the greatest but in my opinion he is NOT the greatest of all time

 

Syet, I keep seeing your posts shooting down or challenging people's opinions and yet you haven't dropped a name. Not fair. Who's the greatest for you then?

Edited October 23, 2015 by Eddy Syet

[jk401]

MJ! Take all my votes.

[Eddy Syet]

Sorry i didnt mean to challenge anyone here but im just arguing my point.

 

i dont consider a single basketball player as the greatest (because its so subjective) but i do consider quite a lot of players as some of the greatest that ever played. Here's my humble list (in no particular order)

 

Oscar robertson

Magic johnson

Jason kidd

 

Michael jordan

Lebron james

Kobe bryant

 

Larry bird

Clyde drexler

Julius erving

 

Charles barkley

Tim duncan

Kevin mchale

 

Bill russell

Kareem abdul jabbar

Shaquille o neil

Hakeem olajuwon

 

IMHO these players are the greatest ever to play the game

 

Nice list. The question, I believe, was meant to be subjective though. Who FOR YOU is the greatest ever?

[Guiness]

The Best players to play at their position

 

PG - Magic Johnson

SG - Michael Jordan

SF - Larry Bird

PF - Tim Duncan

C - Hakeem Olajuwon

 

this would be my top 5

 

but overall best player based on what i saw "eye test" and on stats it would be MJ. this guy plays both ends of the court Offensively and Defensively. Everybody knows about that this guy can score. But i don't know if people give him too much credit for his defense. Mind you, he was once voted Defensive Player of the Year

and he was on the all nba defense first team list 9 times

 

1987-1993 then again on the all nba defense first team from 1995-1998. the gap from 1993-1995 were the years he was away from basketball and was playing baseball. the other years he wasn't on the list were his rookie year, 2nd year was his ankle injury that sidelined him for 60+ plus games, and the wizards years. but the other years he played, he was always 1st team defense.

 

i consider this player great since he dominates both ends of the court. not sure if anyone can make a case for the other players who are offensive geniuses but not that good on defense.

 

so i vote MJ as the greatest basketball player overall.

[Eddy Syet]

The Best players to play at their position

 

PG - Magic Johnson

SG - Michael Jordan

SF - Larry Bird

PF - Tim Duncan

C - Hakeem Olajuwon

 

this would be my top 5

 

but overall best player based on what i saw "eye test" and on stats it would be MJ. this guy plays both ends of the court Offensively and Defensively. Everybody knows about that this guy can score. But i don't know if people give him too much credit for his defense. Mind you, he was once voted Defensive Player of the Year

and he was on the all nba defense first team list 9 times

 

1987-1993 then again on the all nba defense first team from 1995-1998. the gap from 1993-1995 were the years he was away from basketball and was playing baseball. the other years he wasn't on the list were his rookie year, 2nd year was his ankle injury that sidelined him for 60+ plus games, and the wizards years. but the other years he played, he was always 1st team defense.

 

i consider this player great since he dominates both ends of the court. not sure if anyone can make a case for the other players who are offensive geniuses but not that good on defense.

 

so i vote MJ as the greatest basketball player overall.

 

And he also lead the league in steals once or twice.

[ray321]

no one touches MJ for this

[Robo Cop]

Michael Jordan

[bambolbhi26]

Michael Jordan "GOAT"

[*kalel*]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/nbarank1/all-nbarank-1

 

a nice read

[Red_Flame]

Jordan, lets face it....Larry and Magic runners-up

[BennyChang]

MJ is the best of all time

Edited March 5, 2016 by bigbert23

[Coke Zero]

MJ

[rickydomingojr]

Gotta be MJ