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Player being greatest in his era, I would define as a player for which overwhelming majority would say that he was the best in a period of 6-10 years. By overwhelming I mean something like 66.66% of people in agreement that this player was clearly best. There is a possibility that someone had a better year arguably in that stretch, but that it was still clear to most of the viewers who is the man.

With this actualy it seems to me that there is a very small number of players that could go for this title.

LBJ late 00's and early 10's
MJ early and mid 90's
Jabbar seventies

and perhaps Mikan in 50's (though I have no clue bout 50's), perhaps Wilt in 60's but in 60's you could also argue for Bill, Big O and some others. 80's were Magic and Bird, but not one clear cut great. Late 90's early to mid 00's you have Shaq and Tim and perhaps Kobe.
Would this be right?

So to just make it clear, I think there were only 3 players that could pass the standard of greatest in their era. LBJ, MJ and KAJ, no one else really satisfies the condition.

I guess it depends a little on how you slice eras. E.g., Russell entered the league 3 years before Wilt did. Russell won his 5th MVP award before Wilt won his second one. Then Wilt won three straight during the last four years of Russell's career. So there's a reasonable basis for saying they were each the consensus best player over different stretches of time, first Russell's prime + late prime, then Wilt's late prime.

Bird won three straight MVP awards before Magic won any of his three, but Bird was always perceived as having close rivals in Erving and/or Magic, and by the time Magic won his second MVP Jordan had already won his first.

70's - Kareem
80's - Magic/Bird
90's - Jordan
00's - Duncan/Kobe/Shaq
10's - Lebron

Fencer reregistered wrote:I guess it depends a little on how you slice eras. E.g., Russell entered the league 3 years before Wilt did. Russell won his 5th MVP award before Wilt won his second one. Then Wilt won three straight during the last four years of Russell's career. So there's a reasonable basis for saying they were each the consensus best player over different stretches of time, first Russell's prime + late prime, then Wilt's late prime.

Bird won three straight MVP awards before Magic won any of his three, but Bird was always perceived as having close rivals in Erving and/or Magic, and by the time Magic won his second MVP Jordan had already won his first.

Yeah, but as I said before. Era can not be just three years. I am not talking about MVPs or such. At least 5-6 years for which a large majority of fans would agree he was the best. Therefore Magic and Bird do not enter as I am sure they would be 50 - 50. That is not to disrespect them, but to single those which were truly singular in long stretches of the league.

OriginalRed wrote:70's - Kareem
80's - Magic/Bird
90's - Jordan
00's - Duncan/Kobe/Shaq
10's - Lebron

AS stated before , only ONE for the stretch of time. So 80's and 00's actually never had their greatest player, unlike the times LBJ,MJ and KAJ ruled. For me it is a singular title as goat, with caveat that there are stretches for which a reasonable fans, will actually agree that there was the ONE.

Stribor wrote:

OriginalRed wrote:70's - Kareem
80's - Magic/Bird
90's - Jordan
00's - Duncan/Kobe/Shaq
10's - Lebron

AS stated before , only ONE for the stretch of time. So 80's and 00's actually never had their greatest player, unlike the times LBJ,MJ and KAJ ruled. For me it is a singular title as goat, with caveat that there are stretches for which a reasonable fans, will actually agree that there was the ONE.

I don't think Jordan meets your stated standards. He only had 4 seasons in which he won an outright majority of the first-place MVP votes, and those were separated by his 2-year first retirement.

For me:
60s - Wilt Chamberlain
70s - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
80s - Magic Johnson
90s - Michael Jordan
00s - Tim Duncan
10s - LeBron James

Joao Saraiva wrote:For me:
60s - Wilt Chamberlain
70s - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
80s - Magic Johnson
90s - Michael Jordan
00s - Tim Duncan
10s - LeBron James

People in the early-mid 60s didn't agree with you. Neither did people in the early-mid 80s.

Fencer reregistered wrote:

Stribor wrote:

OriginalRed wrote:70's - Kareem
80's - Magic/Bird
90's - Jordan
00's - Duncan/Kobe/Shaq
10's - Lebron

AS stated before , only ONE for the stretch of time. So 80's and 00's actually never had their greatest player, unlike the times LBJ,MJ and KAJ ruled. For me it is a singular title as goat, with caveat that there are stretches for which a reasonable fans, will actually agree that there was the ONE.

I don't think Jordan meets your stated standards. He only had 4 seasons in which he won an outright majority of the first-place MVP votes, and those were separated by his 2-year first retirement.

I think he does. Even in this 2 year retired time, TODAY if you would build a team in mid 90's I bet you would as a first choice took MJ. I certainly would. It is with a benefit of a hindsight, but that is the point. You have to move away in order to get more objective historic perspective, and in this question I never said what would happen in one day in that period. It is to volatile, from historic perspective I do not think you would take in this periods any of the players that are not those I mentioned.

60's russell

70's kareem

80's magic

90's jordan

2000's
shaq/duncan/kg

2010's lebron

Prediction:
2020's
giannis/luka/ad with giannis having the best shot at ruling the decade

Stribor wrote:

Fencer reregistered wrote:

Stribor wrote:
AS stated before , only ONE for the stretch of time. So 80's and 00's actually never had their greatest player, unlike the times LBJ,MJ and KAJ ruled. For me it is a singular title as goat, with caveat that there are stretches for which a reasonable fans, will actually agree that there was the ONE.

I don't think Jordan meets your stated standards. He only had 4 seasons in which he won an outright majority of the first-place MVP votes, and those were separated by his 2-year first retirement.

I think he does. Even in this 2 year retired time, TODAY if you would build a team in mid 90's I bet you would as a first choice took MJ. I certainly would. It is with a benefit of a hindsight, but that is the point. You have to move away in order to get more objective historic perspective, and in this question I never said what would happen in one day in that period. It is to volatile, from historic perspective I do not think you would take in this periods any of the players that are not those I mentioned.

OK, and similarly you pick Russell first at any point in a 7-9 year stretch, from his first or second season through the time that you judge the younger Wilt finally overtook him. What's the difference, other than the lesser knowledge among present-day fans about the more distant era?

60s - Wilt/Russell/Oscar/West
70s - Kareem/Dr J
80s - Magic/Bird/Isiah
90s - Jordan/Hakeem
00s - Shaq/Duncan/Kobe
10s- Lebron/Durant/Curry

50s - Mikan (3 rings, 1st superstar)
60s - Russell (8 rings, 3.332 MVP shares, 2-time All-NBA 1st)
70s - Kareem (2 rings, 4.555 MVP shares, 7-time All-NBA 1st)
80s - Magic (4 rings, 4.579 MVP shares, 8-time All-NBA 1st)
90s - MJ (6 rings, 5.206 MVP shares, 6-time All-NBA 1st)
00s - Kobe (4 rings, 3.403 MVP shares, 8-time All-NBA 1st)
10s - Lebron (3 rings, 4.999 MVP shares, 9-time All-NBA 1st)
^
Outside of Mikan, funny enough this is my Top 6.

60s and 00s were the most competitive, sicne the 60s has less teams(more star dense), and the 00s had more Top 30 players in their prime at one time. 70s was the weakest since leagues were split and Dr. J was in the ABA.

Finally!!! A much more appropriate question when it comes to player ranking. Kudos to the OP!!!


Wish media heads would do the same.

Fencer reregistered wrote:

Stribor wrote:

Fencer reregistered wrote:
I don't think Jordan meets your stated standards. He only had 4 seasons in which he won an outright majority of the first-place MVP votes, and those were separated by his 2-year first retirement.

I think he does. Even in this 2 year retired time, TODAY if you would build a team in mid 90's I bet you would as a first choice took MJ. I certainly would. It is with a benefit of a hindsight, but that is the point. You have to move away in order to get more objective historic perspective, and in this question I never said what would happen in one day in that period. It is to volatile, from historic perspective I do not think you would take in this periods any of the players that are not those I mentioned.

OK, and similarly you pick Russell first at any point in a 7-9 year stretch, from his first or second season through the time that you judge the younger Wilt finally overtook him. What's the difference, other than the lesser knowledge among present-day fans about the more distant era?

Perhaps. I am not from USA, and I started following NBA mid - late 80's. I know about seventies and sixties mainly from history, so I am clearly happy to acknowledge different rating. So you think Russel would be the clear cut man for early - mid 60's ? Watching at the stats I do not see this to be honest, and I am not sure that people would vote for either with overwhelming majority. Why do you think Bill would be certainly chosen?

WHITE_HOT_HEAT wrote:Finally!!! A much more appropriate question when it comes to player ranking. Kudos to the OP!!!


Wish media heads would do the same.

Thanks, though I am afraid people will actually relatively easy agree. And when there is no fight, the topic dies as it usually is

I agree with the OP. I'd have Jordan and Lebron as the only clearcut greatest of the last few decades. I suspect I agree with Kareem too, but I wasn't around to get a feel for how people thought of him. My only consideration is how far above Dr. J he was held, as Erving was winning multiple MVPs in a row in the ABA the same time that Kareem was doing it in the NBA.

This is one of those tough questions as it doesn't just depend on how good the player is, but how good their peers were. I wouldn't say there was a true "The Man" in the 80s, but that doesn't make Magic and Bird worse. They were just playing at the same time (and toward the end at the same time as MJ).

Stribor wrote:So to just make it clear, I think there were only 3 players that could pass the standard of greatest in their era. LBJ, MJ and KAJ, no one else really satisfies the condition.

The standard of being the greatest in an era means.....being the greatest in an era. Not sure why you think being "clear cut" is a factor. All that tells you is an era was particuallry weaker.

70's - Kareem
80's - Magic/Bird
90's - Jordan
00's - Duncan/Kobe
10's - Lebron
20's - Luka