The Sporting News: Greatest 75 Players and Top 10 Peaks in NBA History

[LakersLegacy]

Lol @ Durant. Hakeem & Magic peaks definitely better.

To be fair Durant voted for himself using burners haha

For sure Hakeem winning it all back to back and the MVP as the only real star on the team is more impressive. As is Magic who was so amazing

[AdagioPace]

recently these Kobe-friendly rankings have been all over the place, whassup?

[MrPerfect1]

Giannis has a Higher 3 year Peak than Duncan, Durant, Steph, or Kobe.

Choose any 1 of them of your choice and we'll compare them to Giannis MVP, MVP + DPOY, Finals MVP 3 year stretch

[KGtabake]

Love the Jokic induction.

[Sofia]

Kobe's strength is longevity, not peak. He should be considerably lower IMO.

Nah Kobe had a top tier peak

When?

Bruh he invented the Kobe assist, he’s a genius

[gorz]

Bill Russell has no business being in the top 10.

How is Hakeem and Duncan not in the top?

Love Durant but he's below Curry as far as resume.

Curry should replace Shaq on the top 10.

obe Bryant is way underrated on this board.
His longevity blows guys like Shaq Magic and Larry out of the water. His peak was the best player in the entire league for 2-3 seasons.

If I never watched him play and only went by realgm comments I would have assumed he was taller version of Allen Iverson. A talented shot maker albeit low iq chucker terrible shot selection who could make the occcasional highlight reel dunk or last second buzzer beater shot to blind fans into thinking he was better than he actually was. Couldn't come up in big moments to carry his team in the finals nor carry a very talented roster deep in the playoffs during his peak with all stars like Kwame brown Smush Parker Brian cook.

[ShazamDaShiznt]

Jesus Christ they rated KD over Tim Duncan and Hakeem, nahhh not reading anything further thank you very much. It's like reading those hipster writer lists on best music albums of all time. They know nothing.

[LAL1947]

recently these Kobe-friendly rankings have been all over the place, whassup?

Kobe was basketball perfection.

Watch on YouTube

[OdomFan]

the arrogance of some sports fans man..

Before they see the list: theres no way they'd ever put this person on such an important list!
After seeing the list: Are you kidding me!? that list is a joke! How could they do that!?

Before the Hall of Fame: Theres no way this person is ever getting in the Hall of Fame. Its the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Very Good!
After: Are you Serious!? The Hall of Fame is a Joke! Anybody can Get In!!! Ugh!!

[WarriorGM]

Giannis has a Higher 3 year Peak than Duncan, Durant, Steph, or Kobe.

Choose any 1 of them of your choice and we'll compare them to Giannis MVP, MVP + DPOY, Finals MVP 3 year stretch

Sure Steph 2015-17

67 wins, 73 wins, 67 wins.

[dhsilv2]

Interesting and adds some more value. Not liking ranking people like Giannis so high... is he #15 if he retires tomorrow? They're projecting a future that no-one really knows

Do you know what a peak is?

[MrPerfect1]

Giannis has a Higher 3 year Peak than Duncan, Durant, Steph, or Kobe.

Choose any 1 of them of your choice and we'll compare them to Giannis MVP, MVP + DPOY, Finals MVP 3 year stretch

Sure Steph 2015-17

67 wins, 73 wins, 67 wins.

Maybe you missed the part where this is comparing individual players, not teams??

If going by team wins then I assume you have Draymond over Shaq? Afterall, Draymond had a 3 year stretch of 67 wins, 73 wins, 67 wins but Shaq never did.

[WarriorGM]

Giannis has a Higher 3 year Peak than Duncan, Durant, Steph, or Kobe.

Choose any 1 of them of your choice and we'll compare them to Giannis MVP, MVP + DPOY, Finals MVP 3 year stretch

Sure Steph 2015-17

67 wins, 73 wins, 67 wins.

Maybe you missed the part where this is comparing individual players, not teams??

If going by team wins then I assume you have Draymond over Shaq? Afterall, Draymond had a 3 year stretch of 67 wins, 73 wins, 67 wins but Shaq never did.

Here's the thing that is commonly missed by people regarding Steph and Draymond: Steph's true impact is undercounted in the box score because a portion of it is often attributed to Draymond. Steph's true impact if accounted for accurately would be larger than what the boxscore suggests which is funny because even without proper attributions Steph's impact is already so large.

But hey whatever, look at raw plus-minus and rpm and then get back to me. Steph in one of his regular years was still a better player in what you attribute as one of Giannis' peak years.

[dhsilv2]

Well we have a new worst list I suppose. A few amazing moments in this.

1. Parker on it, Manu not.
2. Hakeem is 13th in terms of PEAK! Let that sink in!
3. KG/Giannis at 15-16 but Jokic is 37?
4. The writer felt the need to say it was hard to place when Duncan's peak was, but figured he's go with 2003...well no duh moron!
5. Walton is at 33...a guy many think could be in the debate for GOAT if not for injuries based largely on basically 2 healthyish years
6. Stockton over CP3 - as bad as that might be, read what they wrote to personify stockton's peak. "Retired with over 5,000 more assists than any other player. At his retirement, the gap from Stockton to second was larger than the gap from second to 48th."
7. Luka over Pettit? Pettit at 40?
8. This quote "Frazier — by far the best player in “The Willis Reed Game” — finishing one in front of his co-star running mate? You can’t make this stuff up." Umm - you literally just made this list up and this comment up!
9. Just another amazing cluster of stupid here. Zo is 68 with Rose at 65 and the guy who was never close to MVP level...Worthy at 64.


And I don't even think I touched on half the completely idiotic crap here.

[dhsilv2]

Giannis has a Higher 3 year Peak than Duncan, Durant, Steph, or Kobe.

Choose any 1 of them of your choice and we'll compare them to Giannis MVP, MVP + DPOY, Finals MVP 3 year stretch

Duncan 01-03 vs Giannis 19-21?

Regular Season
VORP 21.1 vs 19.6
WS 47.5 vs 35.7
PER 25.9 vs 30.6
RPM Ranking (7, 2, 2) vs (4, 1, 5)

Playoff
VORP 5.6 vs 4.7
WS 9.8 vs 7.5
PER 28.3 vs 27.9

C Finals, Simi Finals, NBA champ vs C Finals, Simi Finals, NBA Champ

I really don't see a big difference here in terms of peaks. Kinda up to how you evaluate era differences, teammates, health, or whatever else.

[PizzaSteve]

recently these Kobe-friendly rankings have been all over the place, whassup?

Tragic death while relatively young, bumps a stock. Sad but true. Jimmy Dean, Elvis, MLK.

[Impuniti]

Jordan at #1 is merely the last remnants of MJ nostalgia.

LeBron will be #1 on that list eventually once more people understand how improbable it was that he went to 8 consecutive finals in a tough era filled with loaded teams and two dynasties (Warriors and Spurs) without the help of absolute masters like Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen and Jerry Krause.

In other words, Michael Jordan was not capable of doing what LeBron did at his peak.

On the other hand, LeBron on the 1990s Bulls probably would've won 8 titles minimum.

Honestly, this is utterly ridiculous.....You state that he went to 8 consecutive finals, then list 2 West teams that he didn't have to go through to get to those finals because the East was a shambles in that era.

He played 1 first all nba player in those 8 years on route to the finals.

[CharityStripe34]

Interesting and adds some more value. Not liking ranking people like Giannis so high... is he #15 if he retires tomorrow? They're projecting a future that no-one really knows

He has quite a peak. Five seasons with 28-12-5 (or better) averages, all-time great offensive efficiency and destructive defensive presence. Add the two MVPs, DPOY trophy and Finals MVP and it's got a case for one of the GOAT five-year peaks. I'd be comfortable putting him Top 25 all-time at absolute lowest (first draft) and probably get him into Top 20.

[CharityStripe34]

Also, Bob Pettit being so low is some down-syndrome stuff. His game essentially created and defined what a PF is from then on. And out of the Wilt/Russell/Oscar/West era (60's), he's often the forgotten superstar and was putting up incredible numbers right alongside his peer superstars that I mentioned.

[dhsilv2]

Also, Bob Pettit being so low is some down-syndrome stuff. His game essentially created and defined what a PF is from then on. And out of the Wilt/Russell/Oscar/West era (60's), he's often the forgotten superstar and was putting up incredible numbers right alongside his peer superstars that I mentioned.

It's like they just had 50 writers pick their 75 favorite players and then at the end the final guy was like "lets call this greatest peaks"