Kobe NOT Top 10 Argument

[DOT]

I think the thing is, when you hear the phrase "top 10", you imagine what a top 10 player would look like, and Kobe could fit it

But then you start listing out how many players are in your top 10, and there's more than 10, so some guys have to get cut

10 being the cutoff point is just a product of us growing up in mathematics based around base-10. Nothing special about 10, nothing saying the 11th-15th best players aren't in the same tier, numbers are just something we made up

With that being said, anyone having him top 5 or worse top 3 is just nuts.

[dhsilv2]

I agree with OP around being an original impacting rankings. It should.

But an even easier measure is to be top ten a player one must have been the clear cut best player on the planet for serveral years straight. The traditional top ten all meet that standard.

Jordan/Bird/Russell/James/Hakeem/Shaq/Wilt/Magic/KAJ/Duncan

This is the baseline. If a player doesn’t meet it, how can he be top ten?

How can Magic and Bird both qualify based on this criteria?

That's a good question with Magic. His 2nd and 3rd MVP at least came once MJ was pretty clearly the best player. Bird's 3 MVP's looked pretty solid and stat based. So he's got a good case.

[kivancb]

OP's argument is a flawed one. Mine's simpler:

There have been 10+ players who have been better than him in basketball.