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Who's higher on your All Time List? Kevin McHale or Bob Pettit

Hopefully this thread inspires a thoughtful discussion of eras, etc.
I love the poll question.

Pettit is a different caliber.

Pettit, not close.

Pettit was much closer to best in the world in his era than mchale in his

Hard for me to go mchale here

Robert E. Lee "Bob" Pettit (seriously wtf was up with pettit parents) is probablt the answer here

I have Pettit about 30 spots higher.

falcolombardi wrote:Pettit was much closer to best in the world in his era than mchale in his

Hard for me to go mchale here

Robert E. Lee "Bob" Pettit (seriously wtf was up with pettit parents) is probablt the answer here

A lot of kids used to get named after southern civil war generals in the south way back when. Suffice to say many of them were thought of as heroes.

I have Pettit at like 30 and McHale at like 40. Despite the small difference I feel I have McHale at the absolute highest I could, so I don't feel it's particularly close.

Cavsfansince84 wrote:

falcolombardi wrote:Pettit was much closer to best in the world in his era than mchale in his

Hard for me to go mchale here

Robert E. Lee "Bob" Pettit (seriously wtf was up with pettit parents) is probablt the answer here

A lot of kids used to get named after southern civil war generals in the south way back when. Suffice to say many of them were thought of as heroes.

Unfortunately people still hold them as heroes.

falcolombardi wrote:Robert E. Lee "Bob" Pettit (seriously wtf was up with pettit parents)

A Chicago Black Panther (born in the south) was also named after him. It came in handy when the Panthers wanted to form the original "Rainbow Coalition" and sent him to recruit the Young Patriots, a white leftist organization who based themselves on the Panthers and used the Rebel battle flag as part of their look.

I have Pettit at around #19 and McHale at around #62

I have Pettit about 30th and McHale around 47th.

I actually think McHale peaked marginally higher.
But his 1-2 peak(ish) years are semi-outlier for him, whereas there isn't even a solid consensus on Pettit's peak (he has 2-3 years which can be argued for it).
Additionally, Pettit was an All-NBA 1st/2nd-team level player right out of the gate as a rookie, and remained so thru his 11th and final season (being at least near-MVP tier basically every year in between).

McHale, otoh, wasn't really even solid All-Star level until his 4th season, and fell back out of true All-Star calibre by his 12th season.

So I think Pettit accumulated more career value by a small amount. He also strikes me as more important (in terms of trend-setting, prototype sort of things) to the game's evolution.

Bob easily. He played on competitive ground with titans of two different eras and was in argument for best player in the league for several years. Kevin was never close to that.

I have Bob in my top 25. Kevin is closer to top 40.

Pettit gives Moses Malone a run for his money when it comes to underrated players, even on a board this good.

IIRC, Pettit dropped 50 to win an NBA title in 1958. Then he got better.

Next two seasons, he was the man on the best offenses in the league. In 1961, he led his #2 SRS team to a legendary 7-game series win over Baylor and West's Lakers before succumbing to Boston in the Finals. In 1962, in a season with Wilt scoring 50, Oscar averaging a triple-double, and Russell winning MVP, and in an era where they took the All-Star game seriously, Pettit was the best player on the court in that year's All-Star game. No doubt this guy was a top-of-the-food-chain superstar.

I used to think Kevin McHale was insanely overrated. I've softened greatly on that stance. McHale was a great, great player. But all-time, I'd have Pettit ahead pretty clearly.

falcolombardi wrote:Pettit was much closer to best in the world in his era than mchale in his

Pettit was not close to being the best player in the world in his era. His segregated era meant that half of the best players couldn't even play in the NBA. We would be talking about Kevin Love being an all-time great if today's NBA had similar conditions.

colts18 wrote:

falcolombardi wrote:Pettit was much closer to best in the world in his era than mchale in his

Pettit was not close to being the best player in the world in his era. His segregated era meant that half of the best players couldn't even play in the NBA. We would be talking about Kevin Love being an all-time great if today's NBA had similar conditions.

Bob was an all-nba caliber player until the mid 60s when Chamberlain, Russell, West and Robertson were in the league, 3/4 of those players are black.

What black players are you thinking of that were not in the NBA who were better than Bob Petitt?

Poll results speak for themselves lol.

Bob Pettit. He was a Top 5 player for nearly a decade. And even during the Russell/Wilt/Oscar/West 60's era he was still All-NBA and putting up monster numbers. 1962 was remembered for Russell winning MVP during a year when Wilt went for 50/25 and Oscar had a 30 pt triple-double. Bullet Bob casually put up a 37/19/4. 11x All-NBA (10 1st-team), 2x MVP, Finals MVP. His play helped define the PF position since he had long-range shooting (an actual jumper, not a set shot). You could say he was that era's version of Malone/Barkley but with a ring. I would have him Top 25 all-time, IMO.

colts18 wrote:

falcolombardi wrote:Pettit was much closer to best in the world in his era than mchale in his

Pettit was not close to being the best player in the world in his era. His segregated era meant that half of the best players couldn't even play in the NBA. We would be talking about Kevin Love being an all-time great if today's NBA had similar conditions.

The league was fully integrated during the mid-60s and Pettit was still all-nba level player.

colts18 wrote:

falcolombardi wrote:Pettit was much closer to best in the world in his era than mchale in his

Pettit was not close to being the best player in the world in his era. His segregated era meant that half of the best players couldn't even play in the NBA. We would be talking about Kevin Love being an all-time great if today's NBA had similar conditions.

2 time mvp and 2 time scoring champ. Took Russell to the limit in 57 and 60 and had a winning record against him in 59. Also winning a title in 58.
Not close the best player in the world in his era though.

Pettit was in a fully integrated league. I mean look how diverse his Championship Hawks roster looked.