The rise and fall of certain players

[sp6r=underrated]

A basketball player's historical reputation during their playing days varies less than people realize. In part it is because basketball players generally are more consistent than in other sports. Steve Nash is a player who had a sudden rise late in his career from borderline all-star to an elite level player (please don't turn this into a Nash thread). He is an exception as most elite level players quickly establish themselves in the league. As such a consensus about the value of a player forms quickly.

Most players reputation remains the same, but some players are elevated after their retirement while others decline.

Players more valued now
Reggie Miller: A fringe all star during his playing days. People forget in the early 90s Smits was seen to be on his level. Now many view him as a true superstar guard
Hakeem Olajuwon: Now, Hakeem is seen by most as a top 10 player of all time, who was by far the best at his position during his. During his playing day most people considered Robinson better before they met in the playoffs. Even after that series they weren't seen as that far apart for the next few years. Most fans wanted to see a rematch
John Stockton: This has been discussed recently so I will move on

Edit: I forgot this one and I am including to be slightly provocative

Early 80s Magic (up till about 82): The image now, because of the Lakers team success, is that Magic instantly took the league by storm and was as a candidate for best player in the game almost immediately. At the time he didn't make an All-NBA team (he didn't make 1st team till his 4th year) or receive top 10 MVP vote placement till his third year.

Players who were more valued in their time
Charles Barkley: He beat out a peak MJ for an MVP and almost beat out a peak Magic. Now, some people debate whether he was a better player than Stockton. If he was a current player with the same reputation people would laugh if you were to suggest he could beat out a peak MJ for an MVP.
Bill Russell: During his playing days he was viewed as being as least as good as Wilt all time. He was voted in 1980 the greatest player of all time. Now, it seems, most basketball fans view Chamberlain as clearly better.
Dominique Wilkins: During his playing he was seen as a top 5 player on occasion, at least as good as Drexler, and a legitimate franchise player. Since his retirement a lot of people have turned against Nique and view him more as a one dimensional scorer.
James Worthy: After his retirement he was named to the top 50 team all time. That seems unthinkable today.

Who else do you think has seen a rise/fall in reputation since retirement?

[penbeast0]

Some of what you say is more true here on the boards where there are several of us defense/efficiency junkies . . . the ATL's push this trait further since they generally have so many scorers the ability to create offense isn't a key. Thus Nique is actually a below average ATL SF because his one real ability, creating offense, isn't valued. In the actual NBA players who score a lot, even with few other virtues (Arenas, Iverson, Anthony, etc.) are considered max players or close to it . . . at least until they join a team and prove unable to bring it out of mediocrity. (I think the board here has it a lot more correct than the average sportstalk radioTV guy who idolizes the Niques/Iversons of the world).

Some of what you say is due to the increased reliance on statistical analysis that all sports have moved into since Bill James went from a weird geeky guy self-publishing The Baseball Abstract, vol 1 in his basement. Statistics, especially the more advanced statistics, can tell us a lot more about a player and how he compares. IT would have been considered stupid and ridiculous for anyone not a Detroit/Chicago homer to compare Rodman's rebounding to the likes of Wilt and Russell before people started taking things like rebound rate and pace adjustment seriously. This has also led to some players (Nique again) being valued less and others (peers like Adrian Dantley) being valued more as people can more easily see that for the same amount of shots, Dantley's team scored a significant amount more than Nique's . . . to the point where Dantley may be getting overrated.

Some is just perspective . . . over time, as you look back, your viewpoint changes.

[JordansBulls]

A basketball player's historical reputation during their playing days varies less than people realize. In part it is because basketball players generally are more consistent than in other sports. Steve Nash is a player who had a sudden rise late in his career from borderline all-star to an elite level player (please don't turn this into a Nash thread). He is an exception as most elite level players quickly establish themselves in the league. As such a consensus about the value of a player forms quickly.

Most players reputation remains the same, but some players are elevated after their retirement while others decline.

Players more valued now
Reggie Miller: A fringe all star during his playing days. People forget in the early 90s Smits was seen to be on his level. Now many view him as a true superstar guard
Hakeem Olajuwon: Now, Hakeem is seen by most as a top 10 player of all time, who was by far the best at his position during his. During his playing day most people considered Robinson better before they met in the playoffs. Even after that series they weren't seen as that far apart for the next few years. Most fans wanted to see a rematch
John Stockton: This has been discussed recently so I will move on

Edit: I forgot this one and I am including to be slightly provocative

Early 80s Magic (up till about 82): The image now, because of the Lakers team success, is that Magic instantly took the league by storm and was as a candidate for best player in the game almost immediately. At the time he didn't make an All-NBA team (he didn't make 1st team till his 4th year) or receive top 10 MVP vote placement till his third year.

Players who were more valued in their time
Charles Barkley: He beat out a peak MJ for an MVP and almost beat out a peak Magic. Now, some people debate whether he was a better player than Stockton. If he was a current player with the same reputation people would laugh if you were to suggest he could beat out a peak MJ for an MVP.
Bill Russell: During his playing days he was viewed as being as least as good as Wilt all time. He was voted in 1980 the greatest player of all time. Now, it seems, most basketball fans view Chamberlain as clearly better.
Dominique Wilkins: During his playing he was seen as a top 5 player on occasion, at least as good as Drexler, and a legitimate franchise player. Since his retirement a lot of people have turned against Nique and view him more as a one dimensional scorer.
James Worthy: After his retirement he was named to the top 50 team all time. That seems unthinkable today.

Who else do you think has seen a rise/fall in reputation since retirement?

Pippen comes to mind honestly. People make it as if he was a star his whole career and as if he came into the league a star. Very few people acknowledge that it took a good 3-4 years before he became an allstar and 5 years before he became a superstar.

[sp6r=underrated]

I agree with you about Jordanbulls. A lot of people overrate the late 80s Pippen and view him as an elite level player when he was not close to being one.

[MysteriousMystery]

A basketball player's historical reputation during their playing days varies less than people realize. In part it is because basketball players generally are more consistent than in other sports. Steve Nash is a player who had a sudden rise late in his career from borderline all-star to an elite level player (please don't turn this into a Nash thread). He is an exception as most elite level players quickly establish themselves in the league. As such a consensus about the value of a player forms quickly.

Most players reputation remains the same, but some players are elevated after their retirement while others decline.

Players more valued now
Reggie Miller: A fringe all star during his playing days. People forget in the early 90s Smits was seen to be on his level. Now many view him as a true superstar guard
Hakeem Olajuwon: Now, Hakeem is seen by most as a top 10 player of all time, who was by far the best at his position during his. During his playing day most people considered Robinson better before they met in the playoffs. Even after that series they weren't seen as that far apart for the next few years. Most fans wanted to see a rematch
John Stockton: This has been discussed recently so I will move on

Edit: I forgot this one and I am including to be slightly provocative

Early 80s Magic (up till about 82): The image now, because of the Lakers team success, is that Magic instantly took the league by storm and was as a candidate for best player in the game almost immediately. At the time he didn't make an All-NBA team (he didn't make 1st team till his 4th year) or receive top 10 MVP vote placement till his third year.

Players who were more valued in their time
Charles Barkley: He beat out a peak MJ for an MVP and almost beat out a peak Magic. Now, some people debate whether he was a better player than Stockton. If he was a current player with the same reputation people would laugh if you were to suggest he could beat out a peak MJ for an MVP.
Bill Russell: During his playing days he was viewed as being as least as good as Wilt all time. He was voted in 1980 the greatest player of all time. Now, it seems, most basketball fans view Chamberlain as clearly better.
Dominique Wilkins: During his playing he was seen as a top 5 player on occasion, at least as good as Drexler, and a legitimate franchise player. Since his retirement a lot of people have turned against Nique and view him more as a one dimensional scorer.
James Worthy: After his retirement he was named to the top 50 team all time. That seems unthinkable today.

Who else do you think has seen a rise/fall in reputation since retirement?

More valued now:

Kevin McHale

Less Valued now
Moses Malone

[DwayneSchintzus]

i agree completely with the op.

in 5 years ppl will be saying hakeem discovered a cure for AIDS but didn't release the cure because he didn't want magic to come back.