RealGM

I have combined the rankings of the best players of all-time from nine different publications to create a master list of the best players ever.

Wade is ranked 29th in my list. However, one person commented that "Dwyane Wade that high?? C'mon son...Wade like 47 places or something above Paul Pierce? Really?"

Take a look at the rankings and let me know your thoughts. I'd also appreciate your feedback on the ranking of LeBron James, Alonzo Mourning and other Heat players.

http://basketballjournalist.blogspot.co ... story.html

29 – Dwyane Wade
Awards: 1 x NBA champion, 1 x Finals MVP, 2 x All-NBA 1st Team, 7 x All-Star
Numbers: 25.2ppg, 4.9rpg, 6.7apg, 1.8spg
Words: “He scores and creates for others; he’s an excellent defender; he rises to the occasion when it matters; and, most important, he straddles the line between ‘making everyone else better’ and ‘it’s time for me to take over’ as well as anyone” (Bill Simmons).

I think most Heat fans would agree Wade will be around top 17-25 when he retires but I wouldn't say just yet, like for example I'd say hes definitely lower than Pippen right now(who hes actually ranked higher than in the list)

Chosen01 wrote:I think most Heat fans would agree Wade will be around top 17-25 when he retires but I wouldn't say just yet, like for example I'd say hes definitely lower than Pippen right now(who hes actually ranked higher than in the list)

I'm a Bulls fan, so I find that comparison interesting...

But, if I remove all bias, I don't know if Pippen could have performed like Wade did in the 2006 Finals. Wade was phenomenal. As if that wasn't enough, Wade put on another great show in this year's Finals.

Then again, Pippen has six rings! So you could argue either way.

Wade is better than Pippen. And Top30 all-time sounds good now. I'd put him Top20 all-time when he retires, assuming he continues on the same trajectory. PEACE.

Its a question of how you value things like awards, statistics, milestones, longevity, and peak play.

For example, just taking peak play and nothing else, you could make a pretty good argument for Wade in the top 10-20. But when you throw longevity into the mix, that's when guys like Pippen pass him by (even if all 6 championships came as a 2nd option). So its tough to say really.

29 seems a fair rank for now.

I really never understood why people are so obsessed with these rankings. To me if you do one of these lists you first have to explain what your basing the comparison on. Is it based on actual ability, their overall career impact or based on statistics and accolades.

It really is not possible to compare pre 70's players to players of today but we do it time and time again. Given the parameters of your list it is a well put together article. To me players ranked to high include, Dirk, Barkley, John Stockton, Kevin Mchale, Dave Cowens (way too high).

I just think all these rankings get too bogged down on longevity. I mean how is garnett not better than Malone and Barkley, b/c I would take him over either one of them any day of the week. Also are russell and Chamberlain better than Shaq or hakeem just cause they played in a time where they got to play in the finals every year.

Moggs24 wrote:I really never understood why people are so obsessed with these rankings. To me if you do one of these lists you first have to explain what your basing the comparison on. Is it based on actual ability, their overall career impact or based on statistics and accolades.

Did you read the article? I explain it in the introduction. My rankings are based on 9 different publications' rankings which, in themselves, used different criteria ranging from statistics to awards/championships to how entertaining/memorable the players were (which explains why someone like Reggie Miller is relatively high up the list despite fairly mundane statistics and awards).

Thank you for your other comments. I found them interesting and tend to agree with you.

WillC wrote:

Moggs24 wrote:I really never understood why people are so obsessed with these rankings. To me if you do one of these lists you first have to explain what your basing the comparison on. Is it based on actual ability, their overall career impact or based on statistics and accolades.

Did you read the article? I explain it in the introduction. My rankings are based on 9 different publications' rankings which, in themselves, used different criteria ranging from statistics to awards/championships to how entertaining/memorable the players were (which explains why someone like Reggie Miller is relatively high up the list despite fairly mundane statistics and awards).

Thank you for your other comments. I found them interesting and tend to agree with you.

I did read that and that's why I made that point. I understand what you did, but my point is basically that b/c you took the average of several different rankings you end up with a poll where you can not really explain why each player is where he is. It's a good read though and insightful ranking are always a fascinating topic.

WillC wrote:

29 – Dwyane Wade
Awards: 1 x NBA champion, 1 x Finals MVP, 2 x All-NBA 1st Team, 7 x All-Star
Numbers: 25.2ppg, 4.9rpg, 6.7apg, 1.8spg
Words: “He scores and creates for others; he’s an excellent defender; he rises to the occasion when it matters; and, most important, he straddles the line between ‘making everyone else better’ and ‘it’s time for me to take over’ as well as anyone” (Bill Simmons).

whos bill simmons

i need to see a top 30 list to determine if this thread skates

Bill Simmons is arguably the best basketball writer out there. Also, the funniest.

WillC wrote:Bill Simmons is arguably the best basketball writer out there. Also, the funniest.

Quite arguable on both points. I'm not a fan of writers who infuse their articles with opinion. Haberstroh really grew on me a lot this year. So did Skoljnik. PEACE.

Nope

To add an interesting point to this discussion, the RealGM PC boards says he is a Top 30 player of all time. 22nd, to be exact:

viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1123731

When you really consider it, he has to be very high up there. The guys peak is pretty insane. I think he'll be in most people's top 15 at the end of his career, but for the time being, people still want to hold his potential for injury against him. I don't like it, but I get it.

Tim_Hardawayy wrote:When you really consider it, he has to be very high up there. The guys peak is pretty insane. I think he'll be in most people's top 15 at the end of his career, but for the time being, people still want to hold his potential for injury against him. I don't like it, but I get it.

Yea, this pisses me the most, I think the first thing that pops in people's heads when talking about Wade's future is the "health factor" its like people are just ignoring the fact that hes been healthy for basically 3+ years and either hoping or waiting for him to get injured again.People keep saying with Wade's style of play he wont last long because he has "mileage"(ignorant to the fact that Wade has logged a lot less minutes than the other stars in the league due to the injuries and 1 year out of college basketball) they also ignore the fact that his lone injury was a freak injury of him trying to steal the ball from Battier!You have people saying well Wade will lose his athleticism soon due to injury or such and will just be another Keith Bogans, despite us already seeing a preview of Wade with no athleticism, Wade put up All-star numbers when he had no lift/couldn't dunk due to his knee and was playing with a dislocated shoulder.

If Heat win 2-3 championships, which I think is fair to say(assuming lockout isn't for the whole season) then Wade will definitely retire as a top 15-ish player.

You know, I've had such a hard time from people for ranking Wade so high.

My favourite player of all-time is Scottie Pippen (I'm a Bulls fan) and I have Wade one place ahead of him. People are up in arms about it. But I think people look back at history with a warped view. They remember Pippen as some kind of legendary superstar but he wasn't.

Wade has been a top 5 player in the league pretty much since his second year in the NBA. I agree with Chosen01 that Wade might retire as a top 15 player if he wins a few more championships.

WillC wrote: I agree with Chosen01 that Wade might retire as a top 15 player if he wins a few more championships.

The operative word is IF.

Brenice wrote:

WillC wrote: I agree with Chosen01 that Wade might retire as a top 15 player if he wins a few more championships.

The operative word is IF.

You mean its not guaranteed?

WillC wrote:Bill Simmons is arguably the best basketball writer out there. Also, the funniest.

Very arguable indeed. I can hardly consider him a basketball writer. I see him as an entertainer that genuinely loves basketball. He's a very different sort of writer from your usual basketball writers. As opposed to truly good basketball writers like Haberstroh who interprets statistics effectively and employs a slight amount of analysis or David Thorpe that straight up serves you insightful basketball analysis without any use of statistics, Bill Simmons is someone who you can't expect to break down a basketball game for you and explain the subtle nuances of a set or give you the defining points of a certain coach's offensive system.

Rather, he's incredibly good at putting players and events in the history of the NBA into perspective and does an impressive jobs identifying major trends and evolutions in playstyles of teams, players, and coaches in the NBA over the years. He's a basketball historian at its truest sense and the one word I can use to describe Simmons is perspective. Because he's damn good at understanding how players across eras can relate to each other, but he also has a good feel for how much certain accolades and intangibles should affect all-time rankings. He's as close to a RealGMer without being one as you can possibly expect. Because just like most of us he likes to talk about all-time rankings and can't be expected to give you detailed analysis of a game or set (except for a few good posters on each team's forum, for us Heatles I really enjoy Tim's, mopper's whenever he comes around, Flash's, and Dwadeno3's posts for analysis and of course unowen for DAT COMEDY).

Out of all the people that write about basketball (I don't like calling Simmons a basketball writer, he's a basketball historian and entertainer, but he doesn't really write basketball in my book) I trust Simmons the most on all time rankings. But he's very very far down on my list when I'm looking for insightful basketball talk (right next to Ric Bucher and Chad Ford).