51 replies to this topic

[Pilla]

Big O triple double average

I dont know what happened to the poll but we can all type

[princeof56k]

Looking at the record books I would pick Wilt Chamberlain

[oldirtyharry]

that was me by the way, not a guest

[princeof56k]

Wilt wasn't even the best of his era, Russell was.

It's MJ, who are we kidding here.

I knew someone would say this. The single greatest player is an impossible debate. We're talking about 4 or 5 guys here. My list in no order:

Wilt
Russel
Jordan
Kareem
Oscar

All those guys could claim the greatest player and have a strong agrument.

Who was better in the Wilt/Russel era? I think it was Wilt, and I dont think its close. I understand the other side, but the fact is that Russel had far better teammates. The Celtics were stacked. Russell was probably the best player on those teams (remember, Cousy played on those teams too), but they won titles because they were loaded. Russell and Wilt basically have identical rebounding numbers but Wilt absolutely dominated him on points. Russell was an average scorer at best.

[tripdeuces]

As far as greatest player is concerned. Wilt is far and away better than Russell. Whenever the Celtics would trample the Lakers or Philly Wilt would still outplay russell and score 30 or more. Again greatest player not greatest leader. For that Russell wins hands down

[The Czar]

Ummm, are you guys serious? You cannot simply look at stats to determine this, you have to use your own judgement. Use clutch performances, stats, championships, etc. How do these not point to Jordan? Wilt shot free throws like Shaq.

[princeof56k]

Ummm, are you guys serious? You cannot simply look at stats to determine this, you have to use your own judgement. Use clutch performances, stats, championships, etc. How do these not point to Jordan? Wilt shot free throws like Shaq.

The argument between Wilt and Jordan is the one thats impossible. They played different positions and in different eras. Either one could have the top spot. The fact that people bring up Wilts poor free-throw shooting shows its close. Is the greatest player debate actually going to come down to free throw shooting? LOL

And championships do count for a lot, but its still more of a team effort though. Without good teammates you wont win the title. For the greatest individual player (which I assume we're talking about here), I give stats a little more weight. Other things like awards recieved (All-NBA, All-Star, MVP, ect) also count alot.

I think stats give Wilt the edge. While Jordans number are great, Wilt OWNS the record books. Some of his records fall into the unbreakable category.

Now I totally disagree with clutch performances though. Very, very subjective. It's made even worse that a lot of Wilts games (even his 100 point effort) weren't even televised. So while you no doubt had a chance to see all of Jordan's clutch shots, and tons of replays of those moments on ESPN, you've probably never actually seen Wilts greatest performances. Seriously, can you name one of Wilts great games that you've actually seen?

[SlySelea]

Connie Hawkins

[wsox8]

Michael Jordan, no doubt about it.

[fckthis]

Lebron James

[CaneBrain]

Michael Jordan, no doubt about it.

it may be Michael Jordan....but there is certainly doubt about it.

[ROGUE06]

Lebron James

Michael Jordan

FYP

[greatwhite]

Is this even debatable? Michael Jordan, and it's not even close.

[sinc]

Uhh how about Magic? He was an all star at all 5 positions, has what 6 rings? He at least deserves a mention.

[SuitedAces21]

I would have to say Jordan. But If Lebron keeps getting better, it may be him one day.

[LAS22]

Hard to say who is the greatest ever, since they played different positions, played in different eras and for teams that they were the only superstar or ones that they had great supporting casts.

The big men of the past were great, but they played in an era where a 7' was not that common on every team. In today's game every team has at least 1 guy who is that tall and a bunch who are 6'10".

Some guys had horrible teams and they carried them as far as they could. It's hard to win when you have to score 40, grab 20 boards, dish out 15 assists and D-up the other teams best player.

That is why it's great to have a list of the 50 greatest, because I don't know if you can ever narrow it down to just 1.

[keith crime]

I'd go Michael, Magic, Oscar

I'm not sure about Wilt - I do think he was way better than Russell

The thing that Michael Had was that killer I have to win instinct - Wilt didn't have that - If you put Russell's will to win in Chamberlains body - then it wouldn't be close it would be Wilt all the way

I'm not really ragging on Wilt I think he was a great guy - but he wanted to be liked and it hurt him that he got no respect because he was so big and didn't win like Russell

If you read about him - you'll see that even though he could have just been jamming on guys every time - he would often shoot hooks or fadeaways trying to show people that he was a skilled athlete

That's fine but the object is to win not to be pretty

On the other hand if the Celtics had Chamberlain instead of Russell - they win every single one of those Championships - and the one Wilt won in 1967 as well.

[aadams_22]

Michael Jordan

AINEC

[JadeTiger]

I would have to say Jordan. But If Lebron keeps getting better, it may be him one day.

QFT