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rpoy is gonna go 80s soon so I was wondering. I got Dream Magic and MJ top 3 but idk who should go next. Bird and Malone both got 3 mvps tho they prob don't deserve all of em. Doctor J got 4 mvps but 3 were aba.

whose impact the highest?

Doc saved the ABA; without his star power it probably would have folded a year or two earlier instead of being able to force a merger.

Larry Bird's rivalry with Magic Johnson elevated the league in the public consciousness quite a bit.

Karl Malone was a major star but not impactful in terms of league consciousness to the same degree.

If you mean who had the greatest impact on winning (RS and PS) then you have to look at how much he carried his team(s), he well he fit with his teammates, how long he did it for, etc. but I will answer the first interpretation that came to my mind and see if OP tells me I'm looking at the wrong question.

penbeast0 wrote:Doc saved the ABA; without his star power it probably would have folded a year or two earlier instead of being able to force a merger.

Larry Bird's rivalry with Magic Johnson elevated the league in the public consciousness quite a bit.

Karl Malone was a major star but not impactful in terms of league consciousness to the same degree.

With this here. Hard to choose between Magic/Bird and Doc, but humongous for development of league popularity. Doc's presence and impact beyond on-court was pretty remarkable.

What do we mean by impact?

To me:

- Larry Bird would meet multiple definitions of having the most impact (on-court, off-court).
- Julius Erving has a similar profile but I wouldn't say to the same extent historically.
- Moses Malone who in my opinion is perennially underappreciated would have a marginal argument if focussed purely on achievements.

My first thought was Bird since he led the Celts to the biggest single season turnaround in NBA history (at the time) as a rookie and a title the following year. However, Erving took his 76ers to the Finals the first year he joined the NBA after the merger and was up 2-0 in the Finals before blowing it. He made the Finals three more times the next six seasons and won it once. The correct answer is either Bird or Erving. Malone isn’t close.

ShaqAttac wrote:rpoy is gonna go 80s soon so I was wondering. I got Dream Magic and MJ top 3 but idk who should go next. Bird and Malone both got 3 mvps tho they prob don't deserve all of em. Doctor J got 4 mvps but 3 were aba.

whose impact the highest?

Look at Bird’s MVP votes. He probably deserved more MVPs, not less.

https://oldskoolbball.com/larry-bird-mvp-votes/

I think JimmyFromNZ has it right and I had it wrong. He's talking about the 80s so it's Moses, not Karl. Answer is the same though.

Hair Jordan wrote:My first thought was Bird since he led the Celts to the biggest single season turnaround in NBA history (at the time) as a rookie and a title the following year. However, Erving took his 76ers to the Finals the first year he joined the NBA after the merger and was up 2-0 in the Finals before blowing it. He made the Finals three more times the next six seasons and won it once. The correct answer is either Bird or Erving. Malone isn’t close.

Malone was pretty clearly the best player on the team Erving won with.

OhayoKD wrote:

Hair Jordan wrote:My first thought was Bird since he led the Celts to the biggest single season turnaround in NBA history (at the time) as a rookie and a title the following year. However, Erving took his 76ers to the Finals the first year he joined the NBA after the merger and was up 2-0 in the Finals before blowing it. He made the Finals three more times the next six seasons and won it once. The correct answer is either Bird or Erving. Malone isn’t close.

Malone was pretty clearly the best player on the team Erving won with.

Mmmm, but how much does that matter, after Erving got them to the Finals in 77, 80 and 82 already? Like, any amount of extra help was going to push them over the top at that point. He'd run into the 77 Blazers and the Magic/Kareem Lakers, after all.

SNPA wrote:

ShaqAttac wrote:rpoy is gonna go 80s soon so I was wondering. I got Dream Magic and MJ top 3 but idk who should go next. Bird and Malone both got 3 mvps tho they prob don't deserve all of em. Doctor J got 4 mvps but 3 were aba.

whose impact the highest?

Look at Bird’s MVP votes. He probably deserved more MVPs, not less.

https://oldskoolbball.com/larry-bird-mvp-votes/

Additionally -

In the nine-year stretch, three astonishing stat line indicates that 1-he never finished MVP race lower than 4th place. 2-he was in the race in his rookie season and 3-received 66.97 % possible votes. - see quoted link.

For 9 years, Bird got 2/3rds of all mvp votes.

That level of impact is astounding.

2/3rds.

For 9 years straight.

Doc didn't save the ABA - maybe strung it out a couple more years. It was on the way out when the NBA offered a surrender deal. As low profile as the NBA was nationally, the ABA was virtually non-existent. I don't think league trajectory would be much different if Doc and the ABA had never come along. Heck, you could argue the ABA stunted the popularity of pro basketball by hiding some stars in obscurity.

I think its between Bird and Dr. J but my initial reaction would be the Doctor. While there were obviously people who dunked the ball before Erving, he brought a sense of flamboyance to the shot which is still seen in the NBA today. Whenever I see guys doing all sorts of impressive dunks today, and there are a ton of them, I can't help but to think that Dr. J did that before these guys and probably even their parents, were born. That is a huge impact still felt today.

OhayoKD wrote:

Hair Jordan wrote:My first thought was Bird since he led the Celts to the biggest single season turnaround in NBA history (at the time) as a rookie and a title the following year. However, Erving took his 76ers to the Finals the first year he joined the NBA after the merger and was up 2-0 in the Finals before blowing it. He made the Finals three more times the next six seasons and won it once. The correct answer is either Bird or Erving. Malone isn’t close.

Malone was pretty clearly the best player on the team Erving won with.

Mo was obviously the difference maker for the 76ers that season but he didn’t have the overall impact that Doc and Bird had in their careers.

Samurai wrote:I think its between Bird and Dr. J but my initial reaction would be the Doctor. While there were obviously people who dunked the ball before Erving, he brought a sense of flamboyance to the shot which is still seen in the NBA today. Whenever I see guys doing all sorts of impressive dunks today, and there are a ton of them, I can't help but to think that Dr. J did that before these guys and probably even their parents, were born. That is a huge impact still felt today.

Actually, I think Connie Hawkins was a more impressive dunker than Erving, my picture of him is flying in from the foul line for an iron cross. It wasn't just Erving's dunks that made him the iconic high flyer though, it was his hang-in-the-air and spin the ball off the backboard after everyone else came back to earth shots that I remember most. Connie couldn't match that. Only a young Jordan pulled off those kind of moves as consistently as young Erving. To be fair, Hawkins was doing it in canvas shoes on floors that were frequently just boards laid over concrete or sometimes over a hockey rink. The equipment and floors in Erving's ABA days were garbage compared to modern ones as well.

SNPA wrote:

ShaqAttac wrote:rpoy is gonna go 80s soon so I was wondering. I got Dream Magic and MJ top 3 but idk who should go next. Bird and Malone both got 3 mvps tho they prob don't deserve all of em. Doctor J got 4 mvps but 3 were aba.

whose impact the highest?

Look at Bird’s MVP votes. He probably deserved more MVPs, not less.

https://oldskoolbball.com/larry-bird-mvp-votes/

how do mvp votes prove he deserve more mvp votes?

ShaqAttac wrote:

SNPA wrote:

ShaqAttac wrote:rpoy is gonna go 80s soon so I was wondering. I got Dream Magic and MJ top 3 but idk who should go next. Bird and Malone both got 3 mvps tho they prob don't deserve all of em. Doctor J got 4 mvps but 3 were aba.

whose impact the highest?

Look at Bird’s MVP votes. He probably deserved more MVPs, not less.

https://oldskoolbball.com/larry-bird-mvp-votes/

how do mvp votes prove he deserve more mvp votes?

The guy got basically 2/3rds of all votes over nine years. He easy could have won another 1-2 MVPs. Voter fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon.

Voter fatigue is not why he missed out on 1987 — which is the only year it would be legitimately applicable.

SNPA wrote:

ShaqAttac wrote:

SNPA wrote:Look at Bird’s MVP votes. He probably deserved more MVPs, not less.

https://oldskoolbball.com/larry-bird-mvp-votes/

how do mvp votes prove he deserve more mvp votes?

The guy got basically 2/3rds of all votes over nine years. He easy could have won another 1-2 MVPs. Voter fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon.

or he was just overrated for 9 yrs

penbeast0 wrote:

Samurai wrote:I think its between Bird and Dr. J but my initial reaction would be the Doctor. While there were obviously people who dunked the ball before Erving, he brought a sense of flamboyance to the shot which is still seen in the NBA today. Whenever I see guys doing all sorts of impressive dunks today, and there are a ton of them, I can't help but to think that Dr. J did that before these guys and probably even their parents, were born. That is a huge impact still felt today.

Actually, I think Connie Hawkins was a more impressive dunker than Erving, my picture of him is flying in from the foul line for an iron cross. It wasn't just Erving's dunks that made him the iconic high flyer though, it was his hang-in-the-air and spin the ball off the backboard after everyone else came back to earth shots that I remember most. Connie couldn't match that. Only a young Jordan pulled off those kind of moves as consistently as young Erving. To be fair, Hawkins was doing it in canvas shoes on floors that were frequently just boards laid over concrete or sometimes over a hockey rink. The equipment and floors in Erving's ABA days were garbage compared to modern ones as well.

are there clips of them dunking?

ShaqAttac wrote:

SNPA wrote:

ShaqAttac wrote:how do mvp votes prove he deserve more mvp votes?

The guy got basically 2/3rds of all votes over nine years. He easy could have won another 1-2 MVPs. Voter fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon.

or he was just overrated for 9 yrs

Yeah, it’s one or the other. But mostly obvious which it is.