Barkley, Giannis, Karl Malone, KG, Dirk who's highest on your all time list?

[JayMKE]

To me Giannis is in the category of guys like Shaq who had an overwhelming physical advantage and when it starts going away they don't look as great.

Category of Shaq meaning by far a more dominant player than anybody on this list? The whole perceived skillz vs athleticism narrative and whining about offensive fouls is always pure nonsense and salty af sour grapes.

[MiltownMadness]

KG ahead of Giannis in the poll is crazy, but historically KG has always been grossly overrated on realGM

[dhsilv2]

I disagree. He might be the best score but offense is more than scoring. As an overall offensive player, KG is a better screener, offensive rebounder and passer while not being that far behind as a scorer while aslo being his teams defense

Basketball isn't a check list. All that stuff I covered about not turning it over and how fast he gets rid of the ball made Dirk an exceptional offensive player. Dirk's gravity combined with that was the tipping point.

KG"s the clear best player here. But Dirk's the clear better offensive guy. There's a reason he kept leading elite offenses.

Just as I covered the various things Garnett is better at offensively than Dirk. And he also led multiple top 5 offenses with a relatively inferior cast

He had 3 such teams and they were teams built for offense. Again we're talking about top 25 all time players here. All these guys have done top 5 type stuff. Remember our rebounding discussion? Dirk lead multiple teams to first in offense in the nba.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

give me the 2* MVP, FMVP, and DPOY. he will pass most of the longevity awards and stats. Most of the guys ahead of him on the all time list had another HOFer with them to win a title. if he ends up getting shipped to the spurs or OKC and get a few more rings, he will go down as a top 12 guy.

[Big_Aristotle]

I don't rank them. I just enjoy or enjoyed (if retired) watching all of them. People are too focused on lists vs just enjoy great players.

[Baz]

If you asked this on Twitter or Reddit guarantee Giannis or KG would win the poll.

[DimesandKnicks]

Basketball isn't a check list. All that stuff I covered about not turning it over and how fast he gets rid of the ball made Dirk an exceptional offensive player. Dirk's gravity combined with that was the tipping point.

KG"s the clear best player here. But Dirk's the clear better offensive guy. There's a reason he kept leading elite offenses.

Just as I covered the various things Garnett is better at offensively than Dirk. And he also led multiple top 5 offenses with a relatively inferior cast

He had 3 such teams and they were teams built for offense. Again we're talking about top 25 all time players here. All these guys have done top 5 type stuff. Remember our rebounding discussion? Dirk lead multiple teams to first in offense in the nba.

Troy Hudson being your third best player is a team built for offense? And having a team with Terry, Daniels, Howard, and Stackhouse is built for....

Do you think could Dirk lead a team where Troy Hudson and Rasho are your second and third leading scorers to the 4th best offense in the NBA?

[dhsilv2]

Just as I covered the various things Garnett is better at offensively than Dirk. And he also led multiple top 5 offenses with a relatively inferior cast

He had 3 such teams and they were teams built for offense. Again we're talking about top 25 all time players here. All these guys have done top 5 type stuff. Remember our rebounding discussion? Dirk lead multiple teams to first in offense in the nba.

Troy Hudson being your third best player is a team built for offense? And having a team with Terry, Daniels, Howard, and Stackhouse is built for....

Do you think could Dirk lead a team where Troy Hudson and Rasho are your second and third leading scorers to the 4th best offense in the NBA?

You're referring to 2003 when the wolves were the second best offense in the league with Wally on and tied with Washington for 21st without? And extremely misleading idea here. And to that, you don't build around Dirk and KG the same way so doing this body swapping isn't really useful. But yes, a similar level of talent Dirk could have anchored results. Though with elite offensive players it's not if you can get a team to 4th but if you can be first.

[DimesandKnicks]

He had 3 such teams and they were teams built for offense. Again we're talking about top 25 all time players here. All these guys have done top 5 type stuff. Remember our rebounding discussion? Dirk lead multiple teams to first in offense in the nba.

Troy Hudson being your third best player is a team built for offense? And having a team with Terry, Daniels, Howard, and Stackhouse is built for....

Do you think could Dirk lead a team where Troy Hudson and Rasho are your second and third leading scorers to the 4th best offense in the NBA?

You're referring to 2003 when the wolves were the second best offense in the league with Wally on and tied with Washington for 21st without? And extremely misleading idea here. And to that, you don't build around Dirk and KG the same way so doing this body swapping isn't really useful. But yes, a similar level of talent Dirk could have anchored results. Though with elite offensive players it's not if you can get a team to 4th but if you can be first.

Troy Hudson being your third best player*. Doesn’t make much of a difference. It also helps to have other good offensive players on your team

[ShootersShoot]

Giannis, dirk, kg, malone, barkley

Giannis because he is an elite defender and also a true #1 option

Dirk because he is a true #1 option. People talk about kgs supporting cast all the time but dirk took his team to the finals with jason terry and josh howard.. and able to beat the duncan spurs in the playoffs.

[DimesandKnicks]

Giannis, dirk, kg, malone, barkley

Giannis because he is an elite defender and also a true #1 option

Dirk because he is a true #1 option. People talk about kgs supporting cast all the time but dirk took his team to the finals with jason terry and josh howard.. and able to beat the duncan spurs in the playoffs.

Terry, Howard, Stackhouse and Devin Harris. You act like that isn’t a good team. He also lost the next year with a better version of that roster to an 8th seed and never made it to the finals with talented rosters that included allstars and future MVPs

[DimesandKnicks]

Giannis - Ring, MVPs, DPOY
KG - Ring, 9x all NBA, 12x All NBA defense
Barkley - would have had an argument for being the best player in the 90s if Jordan didn’t exist, extremely efficient score and elite rebounder
Dirk - Ring, Elite score and decision maker
Malone - Really never got the opportunity to watch him play much in his prime, but I guess his numbers and two finals trips and an MVP speak for themselves

[Effigy]

My god KG is wildly overrated. I think its between him and AI on this forum.

He for sure is, but lumping him with all these players seems perfectly fine. I have Dirk first but no idea who I have second.

Dirk is an elite offensive scorer and fairly average or even subpar everywhere else, including passing/playmaking. KG is an elite defensive anchor and a #2 on offense.

You can pair KG with any competent teammates and his team will deliver. Cassell and Sprewell weren't even close to years of Finley/Nash, but they pretty much immediately delivered, reaching the WCF's until Cassell got injured. Then Sprewell had trouble feeding his family.

KG's next chance came in Boston and they also delivered immediately, with the following 2 years enduring a KG injury and Perkins being injured in the finals after being up 3-2.

Meanwhile, Dirk had Finley and Nash, to which KG would have easily gotten multiple rings with. Then Dirk enjoyed years of being the highest payroll team in the league.

Dallas Nash was not Phoenix Nash.

And KG's Minny teammates were better than the team Dirk won the title with in 2011. KG had to team up with 2 other hall of famers to get his ring. (Dirk had a very past his prime Jason Kidd who was not an all star that year, in fact he had no all stars that year, I don't believe) KG obviously had 2. If you insist on counting Kidd then make sure to count Rondo also.

[ShootersShoot]

Giannis, dirk, kg, malone, barkley

Giannis because he is an elite defender and also a true #1 option

Dirk because he is a true #1 option. People talk about kgs supporting cast all the time but dirk took his team to the finals with jason terry and josh howard.. and able to beat the duncan spurs in the playoffs.

Terry, Howard, Stackhouse and Devin Harris. You act like that isn’t a good team. He also lost the next year with a better version of that roster to an 8th seed and never made it to the finals with talented rosters that included allstars and future MVPs

You mean 51% TS jerry stackhouse and devin harris who averaged 9.9ppg? Umm okay? Yea it was a good team but not exactly a finals caliber supporting cast except to a guy like dirk.

How did kg do after he made the wcf in 2004? Out of the playoffs right?

[DimesandKnicks]

Giannis, dirk, kg, malone, barkley

Giannis because he is an elite defender and also a true #1 option

Dirk because he is a true #1 option. People talk about kgs supporting cast all the time but dirk took his team to the finals with jason terry and josh howard.. and able to beat the duncan spurs in the playoffs.

Terry, Howard, Stackhouse and Devin Harris. You act like that isn’t a good team. He also lost the next year with a better version of that roster to an 8th seed and never made it to the finals with talented rosters that included allstars and future MVPs

You mean 51% TS jerry stackhouse and devin harris who averaged 9.9ppg? Umm okay? Yea it was a good team but not exactly a finals caliber supporting cast except to a guy like dirk.

How did kg do after he made the wcf in 2004? Out of the playoffs right?

Basketball is a team sport. You can’t make the playoffs with Mark Blount and Randy Foye playing significant minutes, and Harris averaged 9 off the bench while being a great defender. There’s a reason why he was the center piece for the Jason Kidd trade.

And Stackhouse and Sprewel were pretty much the same player by the time he was in Minnesota, but that was KG’s third best teammate. Stackhouse was coming off the bench. Not to mention the Wolves beat a Kings team that year that the Mavericks could not, despite the Mavs have a lot more talent than KGs wolves

[DimesandKnicks]

He for sure is, but lumping him with all these players seems perfectly fine. I have Dirk first but no idea who I have second.

Dirk is an elite offensive scorer and fairly average or even subpar everywhere else, including passing/playmaking. KG is an elite defensive anchor and a #2 on offense.

You can pair KG with any competent teammates and his team will deliver. Cassell and Sprewell weren't even close to years of Finley/Nash, but they pretty much immediately delivered, reaching the WCF's until Cassell got injured. Then Sprewell had trouble feeding his family.

KG's next chance came in Boston and they also delivered immediately, with the following 2 years enduring a KG injury and Perkins being injured in the finals after being up 3-2.

Meanwhile, Dirk had Finley and Nash, to which KG would have easily gotten multiple rings with. Then Dirk enjoyed years of being the highest payroll team in the league.

Dallas Nash was not Phoenix Nash.

And KG's Minny teammates were better than the team Dirk won the title with in 2011. KG had to team up with 2 other hall of famers to get his ring. (Dirk had a very past his prime Jason Kidd who was not an all star that year, in fact he had no all stars that year, I don't believe) KG obviously had 2. If you insist on counting Kidd then make sure to count Rondo also.

Kidd was an allstar the year before. Chandler was an all star the following year and DPOY the year after that. Trey was 6th man two years prior. This was a quietly deep team where outside of Kidd and Dirk no one played heavy minutes. You had Chandler and Haywood. Marion and Peja. Terry and D-Steve. Kidd and JJ. This is a roster full of battle tested NBA veterans

[Black Jack]

To me Giannis is in the category of guys like Shaq who had an overwhelming physical advantage and when it starts going away they don't look as great.

Category of Shaq meaning by far a more dominant player than anybody on this list? The whole perceived skillz vs athleticism narrative and whining about offensive fouls is always pure nonsense and salty af sour grapes.

Are you denying that Giannis's best attribute is being athletic?

I mean, come on.

[Walmart]

Dirk, took two completely different teams to the finals as the #1 option each time.

[dhsilv2]

Troy Hudson being your third best player is a team built for offense? And having a team with Terry, Daniels, Howard, and Stackhouse is built for....

Do you think could Dirk lead a team where Troy Hudson and Rasho are your second and third leading scorers to the 4th best offense in the NBA?

You're referring to 2003 when the wolves were the second best offense in the league with Wally on and tied with Washington for 21st without? And extremely misleading idea here. And to that, you don't build around Dirk and KG the same way so doing this body swapping isn't really useful. But yes, a similar level of talent Dirk could have anchored results. Though with elite offensive players it's not if you can get a team to 4th but if you can be first.

Troy Hudson being your third best player*. Doesn’t make much of a difference. It also helps to have other good offensive players on your team

This is a weird world where I'm trying to argue against KG on the general board.

Take teh 2005 mavs, Terry was great. Finley was ok but played 64 games. Van Horn sounds great ut 29 games. Stack was 30 and on the decline but 56 games. That wasn't an espectually great team on offense as you go down the line. And that's what matters. The offense can only be as good as the worst link sometimes or it can be limited by it.

[dhsilv2]

Giannis - Ring, MVPs, DPOY
KG - Ring, 9x all NBA, 12x All NBA defense
Barkley - would have had an argument for being the best player in the 90s if Jordan didn’t exist, extremely efficient score and elite rebounder
Dirk - Ring, Elite score and decision maker
Malone - Really never got the opportunity to watch him play much in his prime, but I guess his numbers and two finals trips and an MVP speak for themselves

Chuck peaked in the 80's on the 76ers. He has zero case over Shaq, Hakeem, Malone, or Robinson for best 90's player