RealGM

At any threshold / level of goodness, am curious to see people’s opinions (thinking relative to mainstream views, even if they may be less nuanced - for lack of better wording).

My view , which somewhat aligns with my T-100 voting thusfar:

• Chris Paul
• Walt Frazier
• Steve Nash
• Jerry West
• Reggie Miller
• Kevin Garnett
• Hakeem Olajuwon

Mark Jackson's mass game is seriously underrated. Curry has been mostly healthy since his church healed his ankles.

Kobe

I think any pre-1980 player is underrated (or forgotten) maybe outside of Wilt and Russell.

Kevin Garnett
Dirk Nowitzki
Draymond Green
Bam Adebayo
David Robinson

Ironically, this is just a list of Dirk and elite Big Men who were knocked for not being good enough offensive center pieces and the knocking of their scoring volume ended up underrating most of these guys in terms of how they affect the game.

RE Kobe: This is mainstream underrating. Most people who are not die-hard NBA fans have Kobe Top 5. Probably the most overrated player ever in that regard, which is sad because he is a Top 10-20 guy [for me] and was one of my favorite players growing up. Definitely the player I most emulated as a kid/teen.

Russell
Thurmond
Garnett
Barry
Frazier
Miller
AK-47
Pettit
Jason Kidd
West
Hondo

Other than the obvious (KG, Dirk, Hakeem, Nash...), I can think of these top 100 guys:

Cliff Hagan
Artis Gilmore
Gus Williams
Bob Lanier
Nate Thurmond
Manu Ginóbili
Bob McAdoo
Terry Porter
Eddie Jones (he's around my #100, probably a bit lower but close enough)
Vince Carter (pegged as a dunker)
James Harden and Chris Paul (arguably)

70sFan wrote:I think any pre-1980 player is underrated (or forgotten) maybe outside of Wilt and Russell.

Oscar's not really underrated cause of triple double reasons.

Jaivl wrote:Other than the obvious (KG, Dirk, Hakeem, Nash...), I can think of these top 100 guys:

Cliff Hagan
Artis Gilmore
Gus Williams
Bob Lanier
Nate Thurmond
Manu Ginóbili
Bob McAdoo
Terry Porter
Eddie Jones (he's around my #100, probably a bit lower but close enough)
Vince Carter (pegged as a dunker)
James Harden and Chris Paul (arguably)

70sFan wrote:I think any pre-1980 player is underrated (or forgotten) maybe outside of Wilt and Russell.

Oscar's not really underrated cause of triple double reasons.

I really like your list, all of these players are criminally underrated.

I'll go with 90s players for this one

Underrated 90s:
- Reggie Miller (easily top 5 SG all time, 3a/3b career with Wade for me pending further analysis, closest to beating 3peat MJ)
- Mark Price (the original 50/40/90 club playmaking PG, wrong era, not quite Nash but better than Kyrie)
- Scottie Pippen (more than just a sidekick)
- Dale Ellis (original 3 point sharpshooter, not padded by shortened line, name never comes up in "best shooters")
- Alonzo Mourning (overshadowed in the era of Hakeem/Shaq/DRob/Ewing, debatably Mutombo)

SilentA wrote:- Reggie Miller (easily top 5 SG all time, 3a/3b career with Wade for me pending further analysis, closest to beating 3peat MJ)

I'm not sure he's easily top 5 SG of all-time. Depending on who you consider an SG and your criteria, you have Jordan, Kobe, West, Wade, Harden, Gervin, Drexler, Jones, Moncrief etc. Although Miller has a solid case for top 5 (especially if you consider West a PG, like I do), it's far from given.

Reggie Miller - didn't receive half the accolades he deserved so now people think he was a fringe All-Star instead of a top 10 SG.

Steve Nash - people absolutely eat up Shaq's whiny comments about his MVPs so now too many people think Nash was some fraud who couldn't win and only got accolades because of his skin color.

Oscar Robertson - legitimate GOAT case in his time and even over a decade after he retired, nowadays he barely even gets brought up in discussions about the best PGs, let alone the best players period.

George Mikan - pre-modern players in general often get forgotten or heavily underrated but I feel like most casual fans haven't even heard of him and if they did they see him as the ultimate milkman who wouldn't even make a highschool team now.

Chris Paul - probably the most disrespected active player, casuals will legitimately get offended if you dare say he might be a top 5 PG. Harden gets similar treatment but he has it a bit easier because he won a MVP.

Tim Duncan is the biggest. I mean we just had another "list" put out and he's barely in the top 10. No idea what more this guy needed to do, but clearly he needed to self-promote and its crazy how well that works for guys who do.

Honorable mention to Mr. Russell

Nice to see players like Andrei Kirilenko and Gus Williams get a mention. Williams was the classic very good on offense and defense player, but never looked at as great, when in his prime he was in fact one of the very best in the league. Kirilenko in his prime was the absolute best non-C one man wrecking crew on defense, and on offense was an excellent passer.

Reggie Miller (easily top 5 SG all time

Miller was an exceptional shooter and good scorer that was a poor rebounder (especially for his height) and not much of a defender that forced few turnovers on defense. Rating him that high means one seriously does not understand how defense impacts winning.

A guard like Dennis Johnson in his prime (Seattle/Phoenix) was a better player in terms of helping his team win games, a player who could score (but nowhere near the shooter Miller was) yet was exceptional on defense.

Texas Chuck wrote:Tim Duncan is the biggest. I mean we just had another "list" put out and he's barely in the top 10. No idea what more this guy needed to do, but clearly he needed to self-promote and its crazy how well that works for guys who do.

Honorable mention to Mr. Russell

Not talked about =/= underrated. I've yet to see a list that doesn't have Duncan on its top 10, while the similar caliber, much more talked about Hakeem never touches the single digits.

I'm a broken record but Draymond

Even a lot of Warriors fans underrate him

Kyle Lowry too I'd say

Moses

I think Buck Williams, Bruce Bowen, Hal Greer, Paul Arizin, Bobby Jones, Maurice Cheeks, and Rudy Gobert also come to mind. Steve Nash is a great shoutout as well, top 3 offensive player all time to me whereas most people just see the lack of points he scored and assume he wasn't a legitimate MVP

Bob Pettit - Dude has a top 20 all time resume barely gets a look in.

Rick Barry - I don’t even hear his name compared to what he has achieved.

John Havlicek - Incredible longevity and very very impressive finals performances to go along

Chauncey & Ben Wallace - Link them together but they are definitely more impactful than their raw stats would suggest. Luckily we have more advanced metrics to shine them in much better light

HM: AK-47, Marion, Battier, Bowen, Diaw, Horry, Odom (overall), both Green’s basically any serious defender that offered something on the other side of the ball, a key cog in a successful team due to their skill/attributes/personality that meshes perfectly with a superstar or ball dominant player.

Just quickly but to me personally Horry should def get a shout in the top 100 all time. His equity in playoff moments basically the hardest situation bar none is at the highest point and rivals any of the greatest players that to me the value placed is unquantifiable of course but it’s super high. And it wasn’t a one off thing either.

Jaivl wrote:

Texas Chuck wrote:Tim Duncan is the biggest. I mean we just had another "list" put out and he's barely in the top 10. No idea what more this guy needed to do, but clearly he needed to self-promote and its crazy how well that works for guys who do.

Honorable mention to Mr. Russell

Not talked about =/= underrated. I've yet to see a list that doesn't have Duncan on its top 10, while the similar caliber, much more talked about Hakeem never touches the single digits.

I don't have Dream as a similar level player. He's always right outside the top 10 and frankly that's where I personally think he belongs.

For me Duncan is a GOAT candidate, but outside of me and a couple others on this board, nowhere else is that even considered and would be roundly mocked if someone tried. Yet, you look at his resume and where is the argument he isn't? That he wasn't a highlight machine? So what.

Texas Chuck wrote:
For me Duncan is a GOAT candidate, but outside of me and a couple others on this board, nowhere else is that even considered and would be roundly mocked if someone tried. Yet, you look at his resume and where is the argument he isn't? That he wasn't a highlight machine? So what.

Keep in mind Chuck that Duncan came in 5th in the last two top 100 projects so I think its probably more than just you and a couple others on here that think he has a case to be in the goat tier. I see him as just below it but almost there.