Top 10 best basketball players ever

[Rishkar]

This is my top 10 era-adjusted (with Mikan at 11th)
Russell
Lebron
Jordan
Kareem

Duncan
Wilt

Hakeem
Shaq
Magic
KG

My top 10 in terms of impact today would be
Lebron
Jokic
Jordan
KG
West
Russell
Wilt
Curry
Bird
Hakeem

[AEnigma]

I would pay to see modern players officiated with 50/60’s rules for a single game. It could be a pay per view special…you hear me NBA? Take my money!

It would also help out an end to this type of nonsense posting.

Yeah imagine if players ever needed to adjust to different rules. Like when the NBA changes rules. Or when officials make different points of emphasis. Or hm, oh, just spitballing, they go play FIBA basketball.

[PooledSilver]

We don't need to. Pool has made it clear that he thinks modern players, form the elite to the average in the NBA today, are considerably better than players from previous generations. Now, he only talked about the 50s and 60s so I don't know if he has a magic line in the sand where Magic and Bird are capable of playing today, or maybe Jordan and Barkley are capable of playing today, but players before them aren't. But if it's a continuum, it's at least a consistent argument even if I personally disagree with it.

I would ask that both sides refrain from the stupid, juvenile pokes at the other posters and stick to the discussion.

I mean all we get "let's get serious" "you guys are delusional" "cope" and now multiple responses of him getting in his feelings without responding to any points made. Is asking for him to actually come up with a list that much to ask after 3 pages of that? Most platforms wouldn't even keep up a thread where the poster doesn't add anything of value and then acts like this when people disagree with his bait. But you're right I'll stop with the "juvenile pokes"

“Bait”

“Tell us what you really think”

Hilarious

[70sFan]

I would pay to see modern players officiated with 50/60’s rules for a single game. It could be a pay per view special…you hear me NBA? Take my money!

It would also help out an end to this type of nonsense posting.

Yeah imagine if players ever needed to adjust to different rules. Like when the NBA changes rules. Or when officials make different points of emphasis. Or hm, oh, just spitballing, they go play FIBA basketball.

To be fair, the league never made such a drastic rules that differentiate 1960s and 2020s basketball in one moment. I'm pretty sure they'd adjust, they'd also look like fools at the first try.

[PooledSilver]

I would pay to see modern players officiated with 50/60’s rules for a single game. It could be a pay per view special…you hear me NBA? Take my money!

It would also help out an end to this type of nonsense posting.

You’re right! It would prove me completely right that players have gotten better at basketball

[SNPA]

I would pay to see modern players officiated with 50/60’s rules for a single game. It could be a pay per view special…you hear me NBA? Take my money!

It would also help out an end to this type of nonsense posting.

Yeah imagine if players ever needed to adjust to different rules. Like when the NBA changes rules. Or when officials make different points of emphasis. Or hm, oh, just spitballing, they go play FIBA basketball.

Yeah…same degree of difference.

[SNPA]

I would pay to see modern players officiated with 50/60’s rules for a single game. It could be a pay per view special…you hear me NBA? Take my money!

It would also help out an end to this type of nonsense posting.

You’re right! It would prove me completely right that players have gotten better at basketball

Name a current point guard whose game is not totally altered by only being able to touch the top of the ball when dribbling?

[PooledSilver]

I would pay to see modern players officiated with 50/60’s rules for a single game. It could be a pay per view special…you hear me NBA? Take my money!

It would also help out an end to this type of nonsense posting.

You’re right! It would prove me completely right that players have gotten better at basketball

Name a current point guard whose game is not totally altered by only being able to touch the top of the ball when dribbling?

I’m not saying they won’t be altered I’m saying they won’t look like bob cousy doing two handed layups and broken jumpers not hitting the rim

[SNPA]

You’re right! It would prove me completely right that players have gotten better at basketball

Name a current point guard whose game is not totally altered by only being able to touch the top of the ball when dribbling?

I’m not saying they won’t be altered I’m saying they won’t look like bob cousy doing two handed layups and broken jumpers not hitting the rim

Why would they be altered? And how would they be altered?

[trex_8063]

I would pay to see modern players officiated with 50/60’s rules for a single game. It could be a pay per view special…you hear me NBA? Take my money!

It would also help out an end to this type of nonsense posting.

Forget about 50s/60s rules; keep modern officiating, 3pt line, all the rest........I'd be curious to see what people thought if only optics and footwear were changed.
Because there's a ton of interesting psychology in how players are perceived based on optics alone, I think.


Suppose instead of our multi-angle, close-up, high-def, slow-mo replay, graphic and music augmented segways/transitions from commercial breaks, and so on.........suppose ALL these things were done away with; and instead all we had was a single camera of grainy black-and-white......

....Plus the players had to were the shabby uniforms and dorky short shorts of circa-1960.....

.....And they had to play while wearing these:



.....and do so on a court whose upkeep looks like this:




I would be tremendously interested to see how our perceptions of the game would be altered just from these changes alone.

I'm guessing a number of people might be near-dumbfounded to see the difference.

[dygaction]

MJ, LeBron, Dream, Jokic, Giannis, Curry, Duncan, Kareem, Wilt, Durant
More modern players will be there as years go by

[OhayoKD]

Most people generally are going to have pretty similar lists of top 10 "greatest" and top 10 "best" players. Greatest leans more into career and best leans more into peak but there is still a lot of overlap there.

But since you're saying not relative to peers you want something different?

I meant

Greatest = best amongst your peers

Best = better at basketball

Demar isn’t a greater basketball player than, let’s say Sam Jones, but he’s obviously better at basketball

Not obvious to me. IF you mean he takes more advantage of rules, refereeing, and training techniques that weren't available in the 1960s, sure. IF you mean a better understanding, consistency of effort, and skill set relative to the rules and world of their time, Sam Jones was probably the better player.

If what you want to ask is who would be the top 10 players in the world if everyone came to today's game with a time machine then yeah, you would get a list that's greatly loaded with the 10 best players of the last 10 years with maybe a couple of the greatest of their time sneaking onto the list like Jordan.

How about if we did it for every time period and averaged the results? That's the platonic ideal of player comparison imo though it's also alot tricker than the indirect to era-comparison.

Size, mobility, length, versatility, and iq are probably the most important qualities

The greatest players ever are also the best, it's not that complicated.

Not what those words mean, no. Many people like to pretend they are substitutes for one another, but the meanings are distinct.

Unless someone describes greatness in terms of accolades etc. I don't see the distinction. The best players are the ones who dominated the field the most and these are also the greatest ones.

Unless someone decides that the best players are only the ones who play in the most modern era, but I don't think anyone does that.

Why are we acting like those are the only options. Generally players will be better now, but that doesn't mean buddy hield is jordan. And there can be exceptions who nicely fit(kobe?)

You can make the more difficult direct comparison, or the easier indirect comparison, realistically people do a mix of both

[PooledSilver]

Footwear makes a difference but not nearly as much as you’d think. People jump higher barefoot than in shoes and it’s not like chuck taylors are worse than playing in worn down slides. Gotta expand your watching beyond just the nba and a few marquee D1 games, these players know how to play in imperfect conditions pretty well

[TheGOATRises007]

Jordan
LeBron
Kareem
Russell
Wilt
Magic
Shaq
Duncan
Curry
Hakeem

[eminence]

I would be tremendously interested to see how our perceptions of the game would be altered just from these changes alone.

I'm guessing a number of people might be near-dumbfounded to see the difference.

Ball changes are also notable. It is much easier to handle an 8 panel ball than the early 4 panel versions. Compounding with that difference, the NBA ball was approximately .5 inch larger than it is now for the first few decades. Changed to what we'd think of as the modern ball in the early 70s.

[SNPA]

I would be tremendously interested to see how our perceptions of the game would be altered just from these changes alone.

I'm guessing a number of people might be near-dumbfounded to see the difference.

Ball changes are also notable. It is much easier to handle an 8 panel ball than the early 4 panel versions. Compounding with that difference, the NBA ball was approximately .5 inch larger than it is now for the first few decades. Changed to what we'd think of as the modern ball in the early 70s.

This off season I’m planning to start a thread on this subject. I agree the changes to hardware over the years is a massively underrated part of historical numbers and the game.

[trelos6]

Because we can’t bring a Time Machine and see how players would fare across generation, and partly to just be a smart ass, here’s my list.

Best 50’s:

George Mikan

Best 60’s:

Bill Russell
Wilt Chamberlain

Best 70’s:

Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Best 80’s:

Magic Johnson
Larry Bird

Best 90’s:

Michael Jordan

Best 00’s:

Shaquille O’Neal
Tim Duncan

Best 10’s:

Lebron James

HM:

Hakeem Olajuwon
Kevin Garnett
Steph Curry
Oscar Robertson
Jerry West
Guys in 2020’s

[SNPA]

Because we can’t bring a Time Machine and see how players would fare across generation, and partly to just be a smart ass, here’s my list.

Best 50’s:

George Mikan

Best 60’s:

Bill Russell
Wilt Chamberlain

Best 70’s:

Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Best 80’s:

Magic Johnson
Larry Bird

Best 90’s:

Michael Jordan

Best 00’s:

Shaquille O’Neal
Tim Duncan

Best 10’s:

Lebron James

HM:

Hakeem Olajuwon
Kevin Garnett
Steph Curry
Oscar Robertson
Jerry West
Guys in 2020’s

This is IMO the standard view. Variations here and there but basically the history of the league.

[Ol Roy]

There is nothing stopping current NBA players from simulating a 1950s-style basketball game in exhibition form.

If they are so much better (and perhaps they are), maybe they should play under those rules and conditions (to the degree they are replicable) and prove it.

[penbeast0]

for us, it's a discussion point. For them, why would they want to limit themselves in an exhibition?