Most Dominant Ever

[penbeast0]

Shaq used to claim this but it gets easier to be dominant as the league gets smaller so earlier players will probably have an advantage here. Who was the most dominant NBA player in terms of dominating their opposition in the era they played in (NBL or ABA count too, ABL, barnstormers, and foreign leagues do not)? For NBL or ABA v. NBA, if an ABA player was more dominant in the weaker league than the best NBA of the same era was in the harder league, please rate the ABA player higher.

By dominant, also I specifically mean biggest contribution to winning. Not necessarily on the best team but the one who makes the biggest difference between being a winning team and a losing team weighted toward ceiling raising as more difficult and more valuable than floor raising if that helps).

Finally, let's limit it to roughly a 5 year stretch (4 or 6 is fine) to avoid severe longevity differential discussions which are discussed more elsewhere, so not total career value but more dominant in a 5 year stretch.

Some Candidates:

Mikan
Russell
Chamberlain
Jabbar
Erving

Bird
Magic
Jordan
Shaq
LeBron

[Mavrelous]

I think you're on the wrong board.
Steph definitely belongs in this discussion though.

[BK_2020]

I would trade for Shaq.

[Top10alltime]

Why is Bird on this list, above KG & others

[jdzimme3]

Why is Bird on this list, above KG & others

Birds best 6 year stretch was 3 MVPs, 3 runner up MVPs, 6 all NBA firsts teams, and 3 NBA titles. We can scoff at awards and team success being flawed, everything is, but that is an insanely dominant run.

[kcktiny]

David Robinson 1989-90 to 1995-96 (7 seasons):

- one MVP (1994-95)
- 4x all-NBA 1st team, 1x all-NBA 2nd team, 2x all-NBA 3rd team
- one DPOY (1991-92)
- 4x NBA all-defensive 1st team, 3x NBA all-defensive 2nd team
- averaged 55-27 W-L record over the 7 seasons
- 1st in the league in blocked shots (2006)
- 2nd in the league in points scored (14260), 1st among Cs
- 2nd in the league in rebounds (6563), 1st among Cs
- 2nd in the league in FTM and FTA (4134/5536), 1st among Cs in both
- 1st among Cs in assists (1718)
- 2nd among Cs in steals (934)

[mojomarc]

David Robinson 1989-90 to 1995-96 (7 seasons):

- one MVP (1994-95)
- 4x all-NBA 1st team, 1x all-NBA 2nd team, 2x all-NBA 3rd team
- one DPOY (1991-92)
- 4x NBA all-defensive 1st team, 3x NBA all-defensive 2nd team
- averaged 55-27 W-L record over the 7 seasons
- 1st in the league in blocked shots (2006)
- 2nd in the league in points scored (14260), 1st among Cs
- 2nd in the league in rebounds (6563), 1st among Cs
- 2nd in the league in FTM and FTA (4134/5536), 1st among Cs in both
- 1st among Cs in assists (1718)
- 2nd among Cs in steals (934)

And yet at the same time you had Patrick Ewing, Hakeem, and Shaq leading Orlando to the Finals. It was definitely a great stretch, worthy of HOF and best 50/75 players ever teams, but when I think of "dominant" I'm thinking the gap between the player and his next best peer considering all aspects of the game. No one during that time was thinking Robinson had massive separation with Olajuwon, Ewing, Shaq, etc. He has been historically underrated IMO because of his loss to Hakeem after the MVP season and the fact that he didn't win a championship in a very tough era to win championships until Duncan arrived, but that doesn't mean anyone was thinking he had a massive advantage over other top tier centers he overlapped with in this peak. You wouldn't trade Hakeem or 1995 Shaq for DRob straight up, for example, because the benefit you'd see would be so minimal compared to the team disruption you would see. For me, a dominant player is worth restructuring your roster for because they are so head and shoulders better than the next best.

As an example, I doubt Chicago would have traded Jordan for Drexler straight up in 1992 when they were first and second in the MVP race. But I definitely think Portland would have done that in a heartbeat.

[penbeast0]

Was there a 5 year stretch where Curry was more dominant than LeBron?

Tim Duncan should be on the list for me, though. I don't think there are any 5 year stretches where I consider KG better than Duncan but if you feel KG is seriously better, go for it.

I do agree that if I have my top 5, it's probably some variation on the following with Mikan as the top player. The gap between him and whoever was second (Bob Davies?) was pretty extreme with Kurland not coming to the NBA and Groza getting kicked out.

Mikan
Kareem (Russell had Wilt as a rival, Kareem never had anyone as close to him)
Jordan
LeBron
Russell

[f4p]

mikan seems like the easiest choice. dominated statistically in the regular season (when the stats existed). then actually one of the great playoff risers from there so he obviously dominated statistically in the postseason. won 5 titles in 6 years and that actually included a lot of delta between actual titles and expected titles as his teams weren't necessarily just running away with things in the regular season like russell. he's basically the winning of russell with the statistical dominance of wilt with the playoff resilience of hakeem.

[f4p]

Was there a 5 year stretch where Curry was more dominant than LeBron?

yeah curry is kind of a different version of the kobe vs jordan argument, where kobe was like jordan but jordan just basically did everything better. steph never cleared his own era because we have lebron right there, putting up better numbers, dominating the impact numbers that also say curry is good, and then severely outplaying him in all of their head to head matchups.

Tim Duncan should be on the list for me, though. I don't think there are any 5 year stretches where I consider KG better than Duncan but if you feel KG is seriously better, go for it.

i mean this is all-time dominance of an era. duncan clearly doesn't have that at any point. shaq 3-peats in what might be duncan's best stretch and he maybe slightly clears KG if he clears him at all. he would be more "first amongst equals". certainly not the way the mikan's, jordan's, and lebron's of the world dominated their era.

[LeoClark]

yeah curry is kind of a different version of the kobe vs jordan argument, where kobe was like jordan but jordan just basically did everything better. steph never cleared his own era because we have lebron right there, putting up better numbers, dominating the impact numbers that also say curry is good, and then severely outplaying him in all of their head to head matchups.

Steph took down Bron 3–1 in the finals. His brand of basketball just translates to wins — Bron’s, not so much. I get that Steph’s been cooking your team for years, but come on, try to stay objective.

[eminence]

Players to win 4+ consecutive RPOY votes ever:
'50-'54 Mikan (5) - likely would be 2-3 more if we'd held votes for pre-1950, new RPOY only (only back to '55 on the original)
'59-'63/'59-'66 Russell (5/8) - old project first, new 2nd
'71-'74/'70-'74 KAJ (4/5)
'77-'80/'76-'80 KAJ (4/5)
'88-'93 MJ (6) - old project only
'12-'15 LeBron (4) - new project only (new project ended with '15, presumably would've given him at least '16 and possibly more)

[Ian Scuffling]

yeah curry is kind of a different version of the kobe vs jordan argument, where kobe was like jordan but jordan just basically did everything better. steph never cleared his own era because we have lebron right there, putting up better numbers, dominating the impact numbers that also say curry is good, and then severely outplaying him in all of their head to head matchups.

Steph took down Bron 3–1 in the finals. His brand of basketball just translates to wins — Bron’s, not so much. I get that Steph’s been cooking your team for years, but come on, try to stay objective.

You know you lost the debate when you comeout swinging with "Rannnnggggggzzz".

[Cavsfansince84]

Steph took down Bron 3–1 in the finals. His brand of basketball just translates to wins — Bron’s, not so much. I get that Steph’s been cooking your team for years, but come on, try to stay objective.

Steph without KD is 1-2 vs Bron in the postseason. Also, he played 4 straight finals against LeBron without winning fmvp even once.

[Special_Puppy]

yeah curry is kind of a different version of the kobe vs jordan argument, where kobe was like jordan but jordan just basically did everything better. steph never cleared his own era because we have lebron right there, putting up better numbers, dominating the impact numbers that also say curry is good, and then severely outplaying him in all of their head to head matchups.

Steph took down Bron 3–1 in the finals. His brand of basketball just translates to wins — Bron’s, not so much. I get that Steph’s been cooking your team for years, but come on, try to stay objective.

Compare the teams around them in the finals

[Jaivl]

Week 1 Wemby

[SHAQ32]

When I think "the most dominant," I think "unstoppable." And LeBron wasn't dominant.

[jalengreen]

Sadly I will be counting the 2021 play-in game as part of the LeBron v Curry postseason canon. 3-3 in my book

[KayDee35]

Bill Russell was the most dominant defensive force the league has ever seen.

When it comes to Defensive Win Shares, Russell has the 6 best individual seasons. In fact, his best season is +5 over Wilt's best season. Wilt has the 7th and 8th spots.

Every (qualifying) season Russell played ranks in the top 20 in DWS. Bill has 10 of the top 20 best DWS seasons. Wilt has 3, Hakeem has1, and Ben Wallace has 1 season in the top 20.

Russell has the highest total career DWS by a margin of +27 over the person in 2nd place (Duncan) despite playing just 13 seasons. He also hold the top spot for DWS in the playoffs.

[tsherkin]

What counts as dominance?

Russell's defense shut down the league, for example. It was pretty much all Boston for nearly a decade and a half. That was built on the back of his defense and rebounding.

Individual performance? Wilt comes up. You could discuss Kareem in terms of accolades, though his specific numbers got a lot less interesting after he left Milwaukee (still incredible, though). Jordan is a discussion to have.

Definitely not Shaq, though he was obviously a dominant player and frequently claimed the title.

This becomes a question of semantics VERY quickly.