Top 15 Bigmen in NBA History (post-shotclock era)

[iggymcfrack]

1. Duncan
2. Shaq
3. Kareem
4. KG
5. Hakeem
6. D-Rob
7. Russell
8. Wilt
9. Dirk
10. Karl Malone
11. Barkley
12. AD
13. Dwight
14. Moses
15. Gilmore

[70sFan]

1. Duncan
2. Shaq
3. Kareem
4. KG
5. Hakeem
6. D-Rob
7. Russell
8. Wilt
9. Dirk
10. Karl Malone
11. Barkley
12. AD
13. Dwight
14. Moses
15. Gilmore

What is the case for AD having better career than Moses/Ewing/Pettit, other than higher PER?

Why do you have Dwight over Ewing, Moses and Gilmore?

[KobesScarf]

Wilt
Duncan/Russell
Moses/Shaq/Kareem

Hakeem
Robinson/Petit/Daniels

Malone/Dirk/KG/Gilmore

Cowens/Ewing/Reed/Unseld

[Cavsfansince84]

1. Kareem
2. Russell
3. Duncan
4. Shaq
5. Wilt
6. Hakeem
7. KG
8. Dirk
9. K Malone
10. Barkley
11. Robinson
12. Moses
13. Pettit
14. Gilmore
15. Ewing

[TT8198]

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. Bill Russell
3. Tim Duncan
4. Wilt Chamberlain
5. Hakeem Olajuwon
6. Shaq
7. Kevin Garnett
8. Giannis Antetokounmpo
9. David Robinson
10. Karl Malone
11. Dirk Nowitzki
12. Moses Malone
13. Charles Barkley
14. Patrick Ewing
15. Dwight Howard

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[dygaction]

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. Tim Duncan
3. Wilt Chamberlain
4. Shaquille O'Neal
5. Hakeem Olajuwon
6. Bill Russell
7. Moses Malone
8. Giannis
9. Dirk Nowitzki
10. Jokic
11. Kevin Garnett
12. David Robinson
13. Karl Malone
14. Charles Barkley
15. Bob Pettit

[falcolombardi]

No particular order in each tier. Big men are defined by size and style of play. Lebron's arguably peaked as a 4 but I'm not ranking him here. He is tier one obviously if you do.

Tier One
Russell, Jabbar, Garnett (possible if you are heavy plus/minus person with stock in longevity)

Tier Two
Chamberlain, Garnett, Shaq, Robinson (possible if you are heavy plus/minus person with less stock on PS issues), Hakeem Duncan

Tier Three
Robinson, K Malone, Dirk, Pettit (Edit: fully admit I know little about him. He did fully transition into the desegregated era.)

Tier Four
Ewing, Howard, McAdoo, Hayes, Gilmore, Barkley, M Malone,

duncan plus-minus metrics are comparable to garnett so if garnett has a tier 1 case duncan probably should too

i also may honestly be higher on mutombo or draymond than in howard overall longevity accounted for (unsure about what to make of gilmore, McAdoo and hayes, not as knowledgeanble about them)

[trex_8063]

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. Tim Duncan
3. Bill Russell
4. Wilt Chamberlain
5. Shaquille O'Neal
6. Hakeem Olajuwon
7. Kevin Garnett
8. Karl Malone
9. Dirk Nowitzki
10. David Robinson
11. Charles Barkley
12. Moses Malone
13. Patrick Ewing
14. Bob Pettit
15. Artis Gilmore

*George Mikan would be in there, except you stipulated post-shotclock.

[DQuinn1575]

Post your top 15 bigmen in NBA history (post-shotclock era), for overall careers (not peaks). Mine:

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. Bill Russell
3. Tim Duncan
4. Wilt Chamberlain
5. Hakeem Olajuwon
6. Shaquille O'Neal
7. Kevin Garnett
8. Karl Malone
9. David Robinson
10. Dirk Nowitzki
11. Moses Malone
12. Charles Barkley
13. Bob Pettit
14. Patrick Ewing
15. Artis Gilmore

HMs: Dolph Schayes, Kevin McHale

Your list is really good, could move guys up or down a spot or two, but nothing major .
I would probably put Parish in at 15, and give mention to Reed and Lanier.
And just about ready to think about adding Giannis

[LewisnotMiller]

Post your top 15 bigmen in NBA history (post-shotclock era), for overall careers (not peaks). Mine:

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. Bill Russell
3. Tim Duncan
4. Wilt Chamberlain
5. Hakeem Olajuwon
6. Shaquille O'Neal
7. Kevin Garnett
8. Karl Malone
9. David Robinson
10. Dirk Nowitzki
11. Moses Malone
12. Charles Barkley
13. Bob Pettit
14. Patrick Ewing
15. Artis Gilmore

HMs: Dolph Schayes, Kevin McHale

Your list is really good, could move guys up or down a spot or two, but nothing major .
I would probably put Parish in at 15, and give mention to Reed and Lanier.
And just about ready to think about adding Giannis

I dunno...I'd have McHale in ahead of Parish if that's what the choice came to.
Parish has the longevity argument of course, but McHale's peak as a two way player was pretty special.

[70sFan]

Post your top 15 bigmen in NBA history (post-shotclock era), for overall careers (not peaks). Mine:

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. Bill Russell
3. Tim Duncan
4. Wilt Chamberlain
5. Hakeem Olajuwon
6. Shaquille O'Neal
7. Kevin Garnett
8. Karl Malone
9. David Robinson
10. Dirk Nowitzki
11. Moses Malone
12. Charles Barkley
13. Bob Pettit
14. Patrick Ewing
15. Artis Gilmore

HMs: Dolph Schayes, Kevin McHale

Your list is really good, could move guys up or down a spot or two, but nothing major .
I would probably put Parish in at 15, and give mention to Reed and Lanier.
And just about ready to think about adding Giannis

That list was from 2019, so of course no Giannis here I wouldn't have him there yet, 5 years peak at extremely high level is not enough for my longevity-focused brain. It's the same problem I have with Reed - I LOVE his peak (extremely overlooked) but his whole relevant career is like 1967-71, only 5 years (and one injured in postseason). 1965-66 and 1973 aren't useless, but aren't super valuable either in such discussion.

Lanier has a better case, as he has both excellent peak and long prime. His only concern is durability and I like Gilmore's two-way impact over Lanier's offensive brilliance.

[Jaivl]

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Bill Russell
Tim Duncan
Hakeem Olajuwon
Kevin Garnett
Shaquille O'Neal
Wilt Chamberlain
Dirk Nowitzki
Karl Malone
David Robinson
Moses Malone
Patrick Ewing
Bob Pettit
end-of-season projection of Giannis
Kevin McHale

Is Charles Barkley a "big man"?

[Eagle4]

I really don't get how people can put Hakeem over Diesel (and I LOVE the Dream) but meh.

[Gibson22]

Probably something like

1) KAJ
2) Russell
3) Shaq
4) Duncan
5) Wilt
6) Hakeem
7) Karl Malone
8) DROB
9) Garnett
10) Dirk
11) Moses
12) Barkley
13) Mikan
14) Pettit
15) Ewing

Then we pretty much have the current bigs: Giannis Jokic Embiid AD, gilmore, schayes, reed, gasol, howard, mchale, cowens, lanier, mutombo, hayes, parish, mourning, thurmond, unseld, rasheed and ben wallace, etc..

[70sFan]

I really don't get how people can put Hakeem over Diesel (and I LOVE the Dream) but meh.

Defensive edge is colossal.

[migya]

1. Wilt Chamberlain - Really is unmatched
2. Bill Russell - Did what he had to win. Could've scored more and looked individually better.
3. Kareem - Would've been nice to see his career lineup with one or two other alltime great Centers.
4. Olajuwon - Most skilled.
5. Shaq - Had skill but being allowed to barge through others was why he did so well.
6. Duncan - Probably second most skilled.
7. Robinson - Would've been better if he had wanted to play the post more.
8. Karl Malone - Craftiest.
9. Kevin Garnett - If he had been on better team earlier his value could've been better seen.
10. Moses Malone - Among the best peaks.

HM - Barkley, Ewing, Nowitzki, Gilmore

[asindc]

I’m surprise people put Moses Malone so low. He’s 3 time nba mvp. He was no slouch.

I really do not see how Malone can be behind guys like Barkley/Malone/Garnett/dirk/Robinson. He’s clearly better than all those guys.

In my opinion. He’s in the second tier behind Kareem/wilt/Russell

Moses beat Lakers in 1981 when they were defending champions with crap Houston team.

And neck and neck with shaq/Duncan/the dream. I’d would actually put him ahead of all shaq/Duncan/dream actually.

Dude is a top 15 nba all time great among ALL positions.

Probably the best center for close to 10 years from 1978-1987.

Quoted for truth. For some reason, Moses has always been severely underrated on these message boards.

[prolific passer]

I’m surprise people put Moses Malone so low. He’s 3 time nba mvp. He was no slouch.

I really do not see how Malone can be behind guys like Barkley/Malone/Garnett/dirk/Robinson. He’s clearly better than all those guys.

In my opinion. He’s in the second tier behind Kareem/wilt/Russell

Moses beat Lakers in 1981 when they were defending champions with crap Houston team.

And neck and neck with shaq/Duncan/the dream. I’d would actually put him ahead of all shaq/Duncan/dream actually.

Dude is a top 15 nba all time great among ALL positions.

Probably the best center for close to 10 years from 1978-1987.

Quoted for truth. For some reason, Moses has always been severely underrated on these message boards.

Moses is odd because after 83 when he was still in his late 20s his shooting % went from the 50s to the 40s and he missed a few playoff series for the 76ers due to injuries. Shame to not see how him and Barkley would have been long-term. Moses probably would have taken more of a Russell role with the rise of Barkley's scoring.

[tsherkin]

Quoted for truth. For some reason, Moses has always been severely underrated on these message boards.

Doesn't really stand out against decades worth of other centers we saw subsequent to him, mostly. He was obviously very good. The '81 mention is an interesting one. It was a 2-1 series victory, and it was more about the Lakers needing to move on from Norm Nixon setting the table, and about Magic needing to grow as a scorer, than it was about Moses dominating. It was also about LA's total inability to protect the basketball over those three games.

I think Moses does get forgotten a little, but he certainly wasn't better than Shaq. Wasn't a better scorer, wasn't a better defender, wasn't a better passer. He had offensive rebounding, and then he grabbed a couple more MVPs as people got tired of Kareem (and as KAJ slowed down) and before Magic and Bird really got going. Very good player, didn't have a ton of positional competition at his peak. Great peak, for sure. Certainly up there with plenty of names, but he wasn't the same level of player as Shaq or Olajuwon, or healthy D-Rob.

[Colbinii]

1. Tim Duncan
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
3. Bill Russell
4. Kevin Garnett
5. Wilt Chamberlain
6. Shaquille O'Neal
7. Hakeem Olajuwon
8. Dirk Nowitzki
9. Karl Malone
10. David Robinson
11. Moses Malone
12. Giannis Antetokounmpo
13. Charles Barkley
14. Bob Pettit
15. Patrick Ewing