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AllTime ofc. How much do his deficiencies really cost him and how dominant was he (mostly peak play) where you just have to rank him no lower than a certain spot?

Tough for me to see him behind anyone but Jordan, Russell, and Kareem.

I don't necessarily agree, but you could put Wilt at 10 if you count his playoff failures heavily against him. With a heavier emphasis on postseason play, the rankings could fairly look something like:

1. MJ
2. Russell
3. Kareem
4. Magic
5. Duncan
6. Shaq
7. Hakeem
8. Bird
9. Kobe
10. Wilt

How is Wilt's playoff failures any worse than Hakeem's? If anything Hakeem's is more dubious because he only won it when Jordan was off/out of shape.

Kareem
Kobe
Hakeem
Shaq
Jordan
Bird
Magic
Russell
Duncan

Are all better then Wilt.

And their much better in the postseason

I agree that it's hard to rank Wilt lower than 4th, he had tremendous impact defensively and on the boards as well as his offensive prowess (offense didn't always translate to good team offense). His record against everyone other than Boston in the playoffs is actually slightly BETTER than Jordan's overall playoff record. If you rank Russell 1st (or even 2nd) as the GOAT, it's hard to fault Wilt quite as much for not being able to overcome Russell's team.

I actually find Wilt superior to Kareem for his game and using the Russell "excuse" to look at his playoff failures v. Kareem's playoff failures in the 70s. Notice how both Kareem and Magic both seem to get credit from some posters for being first option for the Laker championships whereas great second bananas like Pippen, Havlicek, etc. don't (and remembering how people used to say Kobe shouldn't get much credit for winning titles with Shaq).

It's hard to rank him lower than 5th.

as a basketball talent either he or Lebron have to be #1. So by that definition the lowest is 2. As being a guy who contributes to a winning team I think he likely falls in the 8-10 range. Behind

Russell
both MJs
Kareem
Duncan
Bird
Kobe

I think he,Shaq,Dream are all pretty close but he probably belongs ahead of Shaq and bhind Dream.

As an individual player, probably 1st. Who else could average 50 ppg? Or put up the insane numbers he did? However, if you look at how that talent produced results, well, 2 rings total for someone that was supposed to be superhuman, I personally think he should have won more. However, it's hard to put him any lower than 4th in my opinion. Since it is a team sport and Boston had the better "team" for many of Wilt's playing years, I can't fault him completely.

the lowest? id say somewhere between 15-20 is the lowest i could put him, and theres no way i could have him in my top 5 anymore.

Lowest 10th, highest 5th.

I cant have him lower than 10 and be ok with the ranking really

GSP wrote:AllTime ofc. How much do his deficiencies really cost him and how dominant was he (mostly peak play) where you just have to rank him no lower than a certain spot?

I have a tough time putting him below any of his prime contemporaries save Russell. This is not to say I'm not tempted with Oscar especially since I do believe in general Oscar gave his teams more lift, but I do think that Wilt did run into a bit of a ceiling where it wasn't clear that being more dominant in the regular season was going to help them against the Celtics in the playoffs.

(I realize you're probably fixated on actual ranking numbers. You can probably guess I find the idea that you should have some arbitrary ranking floor attached to a guy to be a very bad idea. )

JordansBulls wrote:Lowest 10th, highest 5th.

TheKingOfVa360 wrote:It's hard to rank him lower than 5th.

Who would be the four above him? Fifth strikes me as a strange spot for him.

Laimbeer wrote:

JordansBulls wrote:Lowest 10th, highest 5th.

TheKingOfVa360 wrote:It's hard to rank him lower than 5th.

Who would be the four above him? Fifth strikes me as a strange spot for him.

I imagine Magic is the fourth.

Laimbeer wrote:

JordansBulls wrote:Lowest 10th, highest 5th.

TheKingOfVa360 wrote:It's hard to rank him lower than 5th.

Who would be the four above him? Fifth strikes me as a strange spot for him.

If I had to make a guess, the four players he's probably thinking of is MJ, Kareem, Russell, and Magic.

10th

HeartBreakKid wrote:How is Wilt's playoff failures any worse than Hakeem's? If anything Hakeem's is more dubious because he only won it when Jordan was off/out of shape.

Yeah.....I guess Jordan forgot to eat his Wheaties in the '95 playoffs (his performances in those playoffs weren't as bad as his Jockers make it out to be) when he lost to a team that Hakeem swept as the road underdog in the NBA Finals, only time it happened since the NBA/ABA merger. Isiah went through MJ for a Finals MVP, so did Joe Dumars, Bird never suffered a playoff defeat at his hands either. I guess he wasn't as unbeatable/invincible as you make him out to be.

None of Wilt's high scoring prowess led to any titles. He had to play the deferential role offensively for his teams to be ultimately successful. Hakeem proved he could lead a team to title success as the go-to first option on offence. Hakeem across the board went up statistically in the playoffs, not so with Wilt. You won't find anything in Hakeem's playoff resume as dubious as Wilt in the '69 Finals.

Top 5, his peak is at the very worst top 3.

Laimbeer wrote:

JordansBulls wrote:Lowest 10th, highest 5th.

TheKingOfVa360 wrote:It's hard to rank him lower than 5th.

Who would be the four above him? Fifth strikes me as a strange spot for him.

Well we know the 3 well known ones of MJ, Russell and Kareem. 4th can be Magic or Duncan IMO.