I missed the majority of the 1960s but as a 70sFan I just can't let the 1970s go without my input
Player of the Year
1. Kareem Abdul-JabbarI don't think there is much debate here, Kareem is an easy choice with possibly the best RS performace of all-time. Although his postseason run left a question mark, he faced two players better suited to defend him than possibly anybody in the league history and his best offensive teammate was hurt throughout the playoffs. The sheer fact that Bucks were competitive with the Lakers without healthy Oscar shows how incredible Kareem was. In the footage available, it's also evident that Kareem possessed a lot of non-scoring value even with shooting struggles.
Here is an example of Kareem's inside presence on defensive end. His length allowed him to block shots without over-comitting, although he sometimes did (especially when he was younger):
Unlike most 7 footers from that era, Kareem usually played high drop defense on P&Rs, giving PoA defenders enough time to recover after the screen. Also, despite carrying massive load Kareem often hustled on defense during that era - more so than later when he got older:
Of course his main weakness on defensive end was the fact that he often shied away from contact and his body positioning was never top tier. Here we can see how easily Wilt could overpower him and how little effort he made to prevent that from happening:
At the same time though, you can't score easily on him in the post simply because of his combination of length and athleticism. This is a great clean block by Kareem on Wilt's finger roll - not many players could do that regularly:
On offensive end, Kareem's combination of length and mobility was unheard before and arguably after (until Wemby?). Most people recognise Kareem with his famous skyhook weapon, but few remember that Kareem was very nimble even from faceup position when he was younger. Here is a short example of him taking pull-up jumpshot against Wilt:
He could also work as a P&R partner, especially next to Big O:
Kareem usually remained active without the ball, often flashing in the paint for a deep catch and finishing it softly over helpless contests. Other than his ultimate weapon, Kareem already developed a nice turnaround from the right shoulder and he had a jumphook.
The main thing that bothered Kareem was (in spite of what most people want you to believe) not strength, but length. Kareem did just fine against shorter powerful guys like Wes Unseld or Willis Reed - they pushed him further away from the basket, but he usually scored on them anyway, because his shooting touch from around 10 feet was unmatched. It was visible that Wilt's (and Nate's) length bothered him though.
Doubling him in the post wasn't an option, Bucks did a fair job creating space around Kareem (though I think they did better in the previous season, at least based on what we have) and Kareem was very good at finding cutters when the lane was semi-open:
Kareem was also a terror on offensive glass, even Wilt struggled to contain him in that regard. He was just a complete package at this point, truly one of the greatest players in the league history.
2. Wilt Chamberlain
3. Walt Frazier
4. Nate Thurmond
5. Artis Gilmore
HM: Rick BarryWalt vs Wilt is a tough choice, but I decided to give Wilt's defense the nod over Walt's all-around game. Even taking all my praise of Kareem's work, Chamberlain's defense on him was overall very effective and you can watch my videos to get a good view of how rough it was for Jabbar to score on Wilt consistently (and he often was forced to do that, with injured Oscar):
In the finals, the Knicks lacked a full-time center and Lucas was completely dominated by Wilt.
Nate is my fourth choice for arguably outplaying Kareem in the first round:
It's really a shame that he reached his prime without the solid cast around him outside of 1967, I could see him going way further with someone like Barry for a 2nd option.
Gilmore vs Barry is a tough choice, I don't think rookie Artis was close to his peak level despite massive numbers and Colonels improvement. Watching him play before 1975 and in college, I have an impression that his offensive game was likely undeveloped in 1972. I decided to give him the benefit of doubt though, his numbers and raw impact signals are simply amazing.
Offensive Player of the Year
1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. Rick Barry
3. Walt Frazier
HM: Jerry WestDespite rough shooting playoffs (against two of the best defenders ever), I just don't see anyone approaching Kareem's offensive impact this year. I have long argued that it is arguably the greatest individual RS ever (rivaled only by the best of the best) and it didn't came all from the defensive end.
Outside of number 1, there are quite a few reasonable picks. I think you can make a solid case that West should be in the top 3 based on his fantastic RS (very underrated historically), but I just don't like the shooting slump he had in the playoffs. I am quite surprised that nobody included Rick in their OPOY ballot. Barry had probably his best ABA season that wasn't far off from his NBA peak and peak Rick was just a phenomenal offensive player.
West lost the 3rd spot to Frazier due to postseason run.
Defensive Player of the Year
1. Wilt Chamberlain
2. Nate Thurmond
3. Artis Gilmore
HM: Kareem Abdul-JabbarAgree with AEnigma here, this is the order for DPOY. I thought about including Kareem here and it would be reasonable to put him ahead of Artis, but Gilmore seemed to impact his team's defense more (though different league - as always, it's not easy).
