Moses Malone vs David Robinson

[AStark1991]

As of right now these are the guys that I have ranked as the 6th and 7th best Centers of all-time behind the obvious top 5 of Russell, Wilt, Kareem, Olajuwon and Shaq. Of the two, who do you think had the better overall career?

[penbeast0]

Better player is easy, that was Robinson. Better career is not as Moses played longer, won a ring as best player on a championship team, and had more accolades (though he played in an era with less great centers).

[kcktiny]

Chamberlain
Jabbar
Robinson
Olajuwon
Malone
Shaq
Russell

In that order.

[penbeast0]

Russell
Wilt
Kareem
Hakeem
Shaq
DRob
Moses

[One_and_Done]

It's easily D.Rob, unless career is being defined as 'legacy'. D.Rob would be a big star today. Moses not so much. Not saying Moses would be bad, but his style of play would definitely not favour today's game (e.g. a 5 who doesn't give you either rim protection or 3pt shooting, and is generally slow moving laterally). Moses benefitted alot from the much weaker league he played in.

[tsherkin]

Better player is easy, that was Robinson. Better career is not as Moses played longer, won a ring as best player on a championship team, and had more accolades (though he played in an era with less great centers).

Career-wise, Moses has the longevity. Robinson has 2 rings, but he wasn't the best player on either. And D-Rob also has the DPOY, the BPG title at 4.5, the quadruple double. He also has a ROY, an MVP and a scoring title, for what it's worth. And as you say, not quite the same selection of competition. That said, he hit the NBA with Kareem doing his thing, Walton's MVP was in Moses' 2nd season, Artis Gilmore was still doing his thing and Elvin Hayes was too, for a few seasons. And then in the last 5 years of Moses being a real scorer, Hakeem and Ewing hit the league. His career was so long, and he was quite good through 91-92. Tailed off really sharply after that, but Robinson had a couple good years in there. He missed out on being relevant for Shaq and Zo, unfortunately.

Injury cutting short his prime and San Antonio's failure to put real offense help around him cut down some on his accolades and reputation, and I think a lot of people weigh the 95 WCFs far too heavily because of how often those few highlights are played.

So I agree, it's not so easy to make the selection. I'm gonna go with D-Rob, but I can see the argument either way, for sure.

[Warspite]

2 of my favorite players. DRob is the better all-round player but Moses had more success/impact. Both highly mobile and physicaly dominate.

Moses has the better resume but DRob might be the better player. Drop either of them on to my Detroit Pistons and they win 70 games next season.

[lessthanjake]

Over the 5 years from 1979-1983, Moses Malone was the NBA’s best player. He won 3 MVPs in that timeframe. He won one title, leading the best team of that timeframe (and one of the best teams of all time). He also dragged a very mediocre Rockets team to the Finals, beating the Kareem/Magic Lakers on the way there. His biggest competition for best player in that timeframe was Kareem, but Moses typically got the better of Kareem in their matchups.

I don’t think Robinson ever had a time period like that where he was the NBA’s best player. That said, I do think there’s something to be said for the fact that Robinson played in an era that was more stacked at the top. Definitely harder to be the best player in an NBA with prime Jordan than it is in an NBA with your biggest competition being a late-prime Kareem. And my eye test tells me Robinson is probably a bit better than Moses.

So basically, I think Moses Malone was a greater player, and probably better in era-relative terms, but Robinson probably was actually a better player.

[eminence]

I find Moses tricky to judge, his prime with the Rockets/Sixers is impressive, but I wouldn't have him as a 3x MVP and I get the feeling his longevity wasn't quite as good as it looks at first glance. Didn't seem to seriously impact teams after he left Philly.

His play doesn't align well with what we think of as high impact today and it reflects poorly in his some his box score all in ones that are built to match current impact measures, but we have enough impact data from his time with the Sixers that I'm confident that in prime at least Moses was a top tier player.

Currently I lean Moses, but it's close and I haven't always gone that way.

Would have them as the 7th/8th centers behind Mikan/Russell/Wilt/KAJ/Hakeem/Shaq. Duncan as PF.

[mdonnelly1989]

I’m a bit surprised that Jokic isn’t already in people’s top 6-7 Cs of all time