Is Pau Gasol a top 50 player all-time?

[LAL1947]

I don't think Pau Gasol is a Top 75 player all-time, so never mind Top 50.

[70sFan]

He has a case, but it's not a given. I'd say he's comfortably inside top 70 though.

[LAL1947]

I've got him in the 7-11 tier at Power Forward, which probably puts him borderline Top 50 All Time. pWS & pWS/48 are Five Season Peak and cWS & cWS/48 are career totals...

01 Duncan (pWS: 71.8 | pWS/48: .239 | cWS: 206.4 | cWS/48: .209 | 5 RNGZ)

02 Dirk (pWS: 77.3 | pWS/48: .248 | cWS: 206.3 | cWS/48: .193 | 1 RNGZ)
03 Garnett (pWS: 77.7 | pWS/48: .236 | cWS: 191.4 | cWS/48: .182 | 1 RNGZ)
04 Giannis (pWS: 60.6 | pWS/48: .258 | cWS: 87.5 | cWS/48: .197 | 1 RNGZ)
05 Barkley (pWS: 75.5 | pWS/48: .249 | cWS: 177.2 | cWS/48: .216 | 0 RNGZ)
06 Mailman (pWS: 73.1 | pWS/48: .252 | cWS: 234.5 | cWS/48: .205 | 0 RNGZ)

07 Pettit (pWS: 63.9 | pWS/48: .222 | cWS: 136.0 | cWS/48: .213 | 1 RNGZ)
08 Dolph (pWS: 64.2 | pWS/48: .233 | cWS: 142.4 | cWS/48: .192 | 1 RNGZ)
09 Gasol (pWS: 56.4 | pWS/48: .205 | cWS: 144.1 | cWS/48: .169 | 2 RNGZ)
10 McHale (pWS: 57.5 | pWS/48: .211 | cWS: 113.0 | cWS/48: .180 | 3 RNGZ)
11 Davis (pWS: 55.4 | pWS/48: .224 | cWS: 91.3 | cWS/48: .211 | 1 RNGZ)

Agreed with the list of players you have over Pau (although I think Duncan should be on the list of Centers)... but also think there are more Power Forwards who could be above Pau too. Listing some in chronological order:

- Tom Heinsohn
- Jerry Lucas
- Elvin Hayes
- Kevin McHale
- Chris Webber
- Chris Bosh
- Anthony Davis

Honorable mention... Dennis Rodman and Jermaine O'Neal.

[Salieri]

Well, since I think ranking players is basically a subjective activity, I don't think we can talk about right or wrong answers, except obviously outlandish ones.

I'm Spanish and I've seen Pau put our national team on his shoulders and make us the biggest threat to the undisputed best country for more than a decade. That feat alone makes him incredibly valuable in my eyes, and my favorite athlete ever. When I add his NBA accomplishments, I reach a conclusion: it is my -personal and subjective- opinion that he is a top 50 player all time. I know I will be in the minority, but given that I'm no basketball scholar, my flawed perspective is that I can't find 50 players I'd pick over him in the history of this game.

[Saberestar]

Top 100 yeah. Top 75 debatable. Top 50 NO.

[SickMother]

I've got him in the 7-11 tier at Power Forward, which probably puts him borderline Top 50 All Time. pWS & pWS/48 are Five Season Peak and cWS & cWS/48 are career totals...

01 Duncan (pWS: 71.8 | pWS/48: .239 | cWS: 206.4 | cWS/48: .209 | 5 RNGZ)

02 Dirk (pWS: 77.3 | pWS/48: .248 | cWS: 206.3 | cWS/48: .193 | 1 RNGZ)
03 Garnett (pWS: 77.7 | pWS/48: .236 | cWS: 191.4 | cWS/48: .182 | 1 RNGZ)
04 Giannis (pWS: 60.6 | pWS/48: .258 | cWS: 87.5 | cWS/48: .197 | 1 RNGZ)
05 Barkley (pWS: 75.5 | pWS/48: .249 | cWS: 177.2 | cWS/48: .216 | 0 RNGZ)
06 Mailman (pWS: 73.1 | pWS/48: .252 | cWS: 234.5 | cWS/48: .205 | 0 RNGZ)

07 Pettit (pWS: 63.9 | pWS/48: .222 | cWS: 136.0 | cWS/48: .213 | 1 RNGZ)
08 Dolph (pWS: 64.2 | pWS/48: .233 | cWS: 142.4 | cWS/48: .192 | 1 RNGZ)
09 Gasol (pWS: 56.4 | pWS/48: .205 | cWS: 144.1 | cWS/48: .169 | 2 RNGZ)
10 McHale (pWS: 57.5 | pWS/48: .211 | cWS: 113.0 | cWS/48: .180 | 3 RNGZ)
11 Davis (pWS: 55.4 | pWS/48: .224 | cWS: 91.3 | cWS/48: .211 | 1 RNGZ)

Agreed with the list of players you have over Pau (although I think Duncan should be on the list of Centers)... but also think there are more Power Forwards who could be above Pau too. Listing some in chronological order:

- Tom Heinsohn
- Jerry Lucas
- Elvin Hayes
- Kevin McHale
- Chris Webber
- Chris Bosh
- Anthony Davis

Honorable mention... Dennis Rodman and Jermaine O'Neal.

I don't think Win Shares is some kind of be all end all measurement, but over thousands of games and tens of thousands of minutes I feel like it does a pretty good job of at least breaking guys into tiers & I don't think any of these guys really have much of a case over Pau from either a five season peak or career standpoint...

Gasol (pWS: 56.4 | pWS/48: .205 | cWS: 144.1 | cWS/48: .169 | 2 RNGZ)

Heinsohn (pWS: 37.0 | pWS/48: .159 | cWS: 60.0 | cWS/48: .150 | 8 RNGZ)
Lucas (pWS: 46.9 | pWS/48: .165 | cWS: 98.4 | cWS/48: .137 | 1 RNGZ)
Hayes (pWS: 51.7 | pWS/48: .149 | cWS: 120.8 | cWS/48: .116 | 1 RNGZ)
Webber (pWS: 42.3 | pWS/48: .165 | cWS: 84.7 | cWS/48: .132 | 1 RNGZ)
Bosh (pWS: 49.3 | pWS/48: .178 | cWS: 106.0 | cWS/48: .159 | 2 RNGZ)
Rodman (pWS: 45.5 | pWS/48: .171 | cWS: 89.8 | cWS/48: .150 | 5 RNGZ)
O'Neal (pWS: 36.1 | pWS/48: .138 | cWS: 66.0 | cWS/48: .116 | 0 RNGZ)

Lucas (110 TS+) and Bosh (106 TS+) are the only ones comparable to Pau (106 TS+) from an efficiency standpoint, with Heinsohn (98 TS+), O'Neal (98 TS+), Webber (97 TS+) and Hayes (96 TS+) all slightly below league average during their careers.

The Top 6 PF (Top 5 if one has Duncan at C which is reasonable) seem pretty consensus in whatever order. As far as my ordering within the 7-11 tier, I put Pettit/Dolph in the first two spots because they were dominant #1 options during their era who scored efficiently with 109/108 career TS+. Gasol over McHale because I believe Pau was a more versatile/athletic player. By pure talent & numbers AD would be at the top of the tier but his injury issues and the flukiness of his bubble performance hold him back for me.

[soxfan2003]

There really isn't a case for top 50. I think borderline top 75 is reasonable. Pau has become one of those perpetually overrated players.

As far as top 10 PF I don't think so either.

Duncan, Dirk, KG, Pettit, Malone, Barkley, Giannis, Hayes, McHale, Schayes is 10 right there. Then you got names like Rodman, Heinsohn, Bosh, Draymond, AD, Rasheed, CWebb, and others to consider.

AD? Yes... even if his longevity as of now is lacking, at his peak/near peak just another entire level.
Rodman, Heinsohn, Bosh, Draymond, Rasheed, CWebb? Probably not even though some of their peaks were arguably a little better.

[Dutchball97]

He's in the conversation imo but I personally would probably have him right outside the top 50.

[sp6r=underrated]

Is he even a forward though? He played his best basketball as a center on the Lakers alongside Odom at the 4. He did start a few games with Bynum but those were few and far between.

Similar to Duncan, he's considered a forward even though most of his career was a C. Even on those memphis teams his best days were at C

[soxfan2003]

I've got him in the 7-11 tier at Power Forward, which probably puts him borderline Top 50 All Time. pWS & pWS/48 are Five Season Peak and cWS & cWS/48 are career totals...

01 Duncan (pWS: 71.8 | pWS/48: .239 | cWS: 206.4 | cWS/48: .209 | 5 RNGZ)

02 Dirk (pWS: 77.3 | pWS/48: .248 | cWS: 206.3 | cWS/48: .193 | 1 RNGZ)
03 Garnett (pWS: 77.7 | pWS/48: .236 | cWS: 191.4 | cWS/48: .182 | 1 RNGZ)
04 Giannis (pWS: 60.6 | pWS/48: .258 | cWS: 87.5 | cWS/48: .197 | 1 RNGZ)
05 Barkley (pWS: 75.5 | pWS/48: .249 | cWS: 177.2 | cWS/48: .216 | 0 RNGZ)
06 Mailman (pWS: 73.1 | pWS/48: .252 | cWS: 234.5 | cWS/48: .205 | 0 RNGZ)

07 Pettit (pWS: 63.9 | pWS/48: .222 | cWS: 136.0 | cWS/48: .213 | 1 RNGZ)
08 Dolph (pWS: 64.2 | pWS/48: .233 | cWS: 142.4 | cWS/48: .192 | 1 RNGZ)
09 Gasol (pWS: 56.4 | pWS/48: .205 | cWS: 144.1 | cWS/48: .169 | 2 RNGZ)
10 McHale (pWS: 57.5 | pWS/48: .211 | cWS: 113.0 | cWS/48: .180 | 3 RNGZ)
11 Davis (pWS: 55.4 | pWS/48: .224 | cWS: 91.3 | cWS/48: .211 | 1 RNGZ)

Agreed with the list of players you have over Pau (although I think Duncan should be on the list of Centers)... but also think there are more Power Forwards who could be above Pau too. Listing some in chronological order:

- Tom Heinsohn
- Jerry Lucas
- Elvin Hayes
- Kevin McHale
- Chris Webber
- Chris Bosh
- Anthony Davis

Honorable mention... Dennis Rodman and Jermaine O'Neal.

I don't think Win Shares is some kind of be all end all measurement, but over thousands of games and tens of thousands of minutes I feel like it does a pretty good job of at least breaking guys into tiers & I don't think any of these guys really have much of a case over Pau from either a five season peak or career standpoint...

Gasol (pWS: 56.4 | pWS/48: .205 | cWS: 144.1 | cWS/48: .169 | 2 RNGZ)

Heinsohn (pWS: 37.0 | pWS/48: .159 | cWS: 60.0 | cWS/48: .150 | 8 RNGZ)
Lucas (pWS: 46.9 | pWS/48: .165 | cWS: 98.4 | cWS/48: .137 | 1 RNGZ)
Hayes (pWS: 51.7 | pWS/48: .149 | cWS: 120.8 | cWS/48: .116 | 1 RNGZ)
Webber (pWS: 42.3 | pWS/48: .165 | cWS: 84.7 | cWS/48: .132 | 1 RNGZ)
Bosh (pWS: 49.3 | pWS/48: .178 | cWS: 106.0 | cWS/48: .159 | 2 RNGZ)
Rodman (pWS: 45.5 | pWS/48: .171 | cWS: 89.8 | cWS/48: .150 | 5 RNGZ)
O'Neal (pWS: 36.1 | pWS/48: .138 | cWS: 66.0 | cWS/48: .116 | 0 RNGZ)

Lucas (110 TS+) and Bosh (106 TS+) are the only ones comparable to Pau (106 TS+) from an efficiency standpoint, with Heinsohn (98 TS+), O'Neal (98 TS+), Webber (97 TS+) and Hayes (96 TS+) all slightly below league average during their careers.

The Top 6 PF (Top 5 if one has Duncan at C which is reasonable) seem pretty consensus in whatever order. As far as my ordering within the 7-11 tier, I put Pettit/Dolph in the first two spots because they were dominant #1 options during their era who scored efficiently with 109/108 career TS+. Gasol over McHale because I believe Pau was a more versatile/athletic player. By pure talent & numbers AD would be at the top of the tier but his injury issues and the flukiness of his bubble performance hold him back for me.

I agree with lots of your comments.

Paul had better longevity than McHale who was hurt a little by starting his career with Maxwell/Bird/Parish and probably does deserve to be considered the better athlete but McHale was noticeably the better defender and a better postup option in his prime. Gasol better ballhandler for his size and better athlete in some ways but McHale was like Spiderman with his fluidity and in a league of his own. McHale really could guard the perimeter very well and interior. He was without question in my mind better than Gasol in both players peaks. McHale also proved he could shoot from the perimeter but didn't much in mid 80's due to Bird/Ainge and some bench players that could shoot. McHale's collection of highlights is just ridiculous since the guy is quickly scoring against double teams like it is nothing.

[UcanUwill]

There really isn't a case for top 50. I think borderline top 75 is reasonable. Pau has become one of those perpetually overrated players.

As far as top 10 PF I don't think so either.

Duncan, Dirk, KG, Pettit, Malone, Barkley, Giannis, Hayes, McHale, Schayes is 10 right there. Then you got names like Rodman, Heinsohn, Bosh, Draymond, AD, Rasheed, CWebb, and others to consider.

AD? Yes... even if his longevity as of now is lacking, at his peak/near peak just another entire level.
Rodman, Heinsohn, Bosh, Draymond, Rasheed, CWebb? Probably not even though some of their peaks were arguably a little better.

I agree that AD at his best is clearly better. But Pau is better than the rest of the guys mentioned, easy cut for me there.

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[LAL1947]

Well, I can not agree with placeing Pau Gasol over Kevin McHale, Chris Webber or Anthony Davis.

Webber was a bonafide #1 option for a time. Even though he wasn't among the best #1s we've seen in the league, he still had the ability to be a bus driver. Pau couldn't handle that smoke, i.e., he was a bus rider.

McHale: soxfan2003 did a good job explaining why.

Davis: AD is a #1B to #2 option. Pau was a #2 to #3 option.

[sp6r=underrated]

Agreed with the list of players you have over Pau (although I think Duncan should be on the list of Centers)... but also think there are more Power Forwards who could be above Pau too. Listing some in chronological order:

- Tom Heinsohn
- Jerry Lucas
- Elvin Hayes
- Kevin McHale
- Chris Webber
- Chris Bosh
- Anthony Davis

Honorable mention... Dennis Rodman and Jermaine O'Neal.

I don't think Win Shares is some kind of be all end all measurement, but over thousands of games and tens of thousands of minutes I feel like it does a pretty good job of at least breaking guys into tiers & I don't think any of these guys really have much of a case over Pau from either a five season peak or career standpoint...

Gasol (pWS: 56.4 | pWS/48: .205 | cWS: 144.1 | cWS/48: .169 | 2 RNGZ)

Heinsohn (pWS: 37.0 | pWS/48: .159 | cWS: 60.0 | cWS/48: .150 | 8 RNGZ)
Lucas (pWS: 46.9 | pWS/48: .165 | cWS: 98.4 | cWS/48: .137 | 1 RNGZ)
Hayes (pWS: 51.7 | pWS/48: .149 | cWS: 120.8 | cWS/48: .116 | 1 RNGZ)
Webber (pWS: 42.3 | pWS/48: .165 | cWS: 84.7 | cWS/48: .132 | 1 RNGZ)
Bosh (pWS: 49.3 | pWS/48: .178 | cWS: 106.0 | cWS/48: .159 | 2 RNGZ)
Rodman (pWS: 45.5 | pWS/48: .171 | cWS: 89.8 | cWS/48: .150 | 5 RNGZ)
O'Neal (pWS: 36.1 | pWS/48: .138 | cWS: 66.0 | cWS/48: .116 | 0 RNGZ)

Lucas (110 TS+) and Bosh (106 TS+) are the only ones comparable to Pau (106 TS+) from an efficiency standpoint, with Heinsohn (98 TS+), O'Neal (98 TS+), Webber (97 TS+) and Hayes (96 TS+) all slightly below league average during their careers.

The Top 6 PF (Top 5 if one has Duncan at C which is reasonable) seem pretty consensus in whatever order. As far as my ordering within the 7-11 tier, I put Pettit/Dolph in the first two spots because they were dominant #1 options during their era who scored efficiently with 109/108 career TS+. Gasol over McHale because I believe Pau was a more versatile/athletic player. By pure talent & numbers AD would be at the top of the tier but his injury issues and the flukiness of his bubble performance hold him back for me.

I agree with lots of your comments.

Paul had better longevity than McHale who was hurt a little by starting his career with Maxwell/Bird/Parish and probably does deserve to be considered the better athlete but McHale was noticeably the better defender and a better postup option in his prime. Gasol better ballhandler for his size and better athlete in some ways but McHale was like Spiderman with his fluidity and in a league of his own. McHale really could guard the perimeter very well and interior. He was without question in my mind better than Gasol in both players peaks. McHale also proved he could shoot from the perimeter but didn't much in mid 80's due to Bird/Ainge and some bench players that could shoot. McHale's collection of highlights is just ridiculous since the guy is quickly scoring against double teams like it is nothing.

McHale was always refererred to as shoulders in my house growing up. Even long after he retired if my mom or dad saw him on tv it was always hey look shoulders is on and everyone knew who they were talking about.

His absurd wingspan combined with his high shoulders made him extremely effective on perimeter players. He was the rare man defender who was effect 1-1 on interior players and the wings. Only reason he doesn't make the list of GOAT defenders is he wasn't quite impactful enough on team D. Though I wonder with modern video tracking coaching whether he could have been one.

Dude is one of the most unique players in NBA history.

[Doctor MJ]

In their defense, they were working with the unofficial rule that no one could be kicked off the list. That makes it much harder for them

Nope, can’t give credence to that.

The NBA has done lists like this a number of times over the years in both the NBA and WNBA, including the WNBA 25 happening close to the NBA 75. The norm is for some players to get removed from one list to the next.

Those close to the 75 list might have convinced themselves it was okay to not take sides on older players, but this was them punting on a part of the task that no analogous committees punted on in the past, and quite frankly it kills all credibility of the list. ALL of it.

In their - the voters - defense, it’s way harder to actually be able to know 75 years of history well enough to be competent at it than a smaller scale. So one might say that this “unofficial rule” was what had to be done because the NBA apparently has either no ability to find people who can make such lists effectively, or simply doesn’t care about about how “good” the list is.


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1. The WNBA is an immature, not calling it minor, but immature league. When a league is still in its infancy its all time list is much more flexible.

2. Sports leagues when they put out lists like this aren't playing the role of pure historical analysts. They have stakeholders they answer to and this is as much a marketing tool as a historic document. It is much harder NBA for the NBA to conduct honest historical analysis than MLB and NFL, don't know enough about other sports to comment. In those sports there are clear positions which makes it much easier for them to leave off "name" players whose rep vastly exceeds their value. The NFL can easily say to a player and his fans:

We'd love to add you to our NFL team, useless ball hawking CB who gave up a ton of points trying to gun interceptions, but we have to have X number of linemen on our team. And you know you weren't a top 4 CB all time. But rest assured we consider you a top 100 football player all time.

They can easily say that even if the people who vote against him consider him trash and who know his interceptions were empty calories.

3. The low level of importance on positions in the NBA takes away that excuse. I've read your posts long enough to know your opinion on Melo. I share it. He wouldn't make my top 200 all time list. Horace Grant, Rasheed were all better. Manu is almost comically better.

But almost all the NBA stakeholders (media, players, most fans) would mutiny if it turned out those guys got more votes than Melo.

Some great points here.

My main objection pertains to #2:

This was a crappy marketing tool because they kept guys on the list from the previous time around who are not only completely unworthy of being on the list as players, but are also completely irrelevant to any modern fans.

Dave Bing, for example, almost certainly shouldn't have been on the 50 list, but really, really doesn't matter at all to people today, yet there he is again. (And let's note, including him in the voter pool probably contributed to people feeling like they couldn't not vote for him.)

Then there are the '70s Knicks who occupy a full 5 spots on the list while actual dynasties (drastically more successful than the Knicks) from later eras are given way less love. While in general you have to assume a narcistic bias by New Yorkers in everything they do, in this case it was clearly simply about having a voter based without the balls to actually judge the guys on the '70s Knicks in comparison to the dominant Lakers/Bulls/Spurs/Warriors of more modern times.

All this to say:

There are reasons why making this 75 list was hard, and I could be kinder to the people who did their mediocre best, no one should be under the impression that what the NBA did here was based on some kind of super-smart marketing strategy. They just clearly had no one running the project who understood the problems well enough to guide it to something that resulted in something that was actually analogous to the previous lists they were claiming to be analogous to.

[Doctor MJ]

Agreed with the list of players you have over Pau (although I think Duncan should be on the list of Centers)... but also think there are more Power Forwards who could be above Pau too. Listing some in chronological order:

- Tom Heinsohn
- Jerry Lucas
- Elvin Hayes
- Kevin McHale
- Chris Webber
- Chris Bosh
- Anthony Davis

Honorable mention... Dennis Rodman and Jermaine O'Neal.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but I'll say that it's really only McHale & AD in that list that were more effective at basketball than Gasol.

Heinsohn, Lucas, Hayes & Webber are all guys that got significantly overrated the people of their day because of their volume scoring numbers.

(I wouldn't call Bosh overrated. In general I find him underrated for reasons very similar to why Gasol gets underrated.)

[Rich Michmond]

Oh, I'm completely comfortable saying that the folks who voted for the Top 75 weren't nearly good enough at this sort of task to have any credibility compared to RealGM.

Probably so, but hard to see how a guy who never made All-NBA 1st team or Top 8 in MVP voting is Top 75

Robert Parish, Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, Dennis Rodman, Hal Greer, Lenny Wilkins, and Dave DeBusschere made the Top 75 list without making an all-NBA 1st team, although I didn’t check to see if any of them finished top 8 in MVP voting.

I think Gasol has an argument against some of those guys, especially Lenny Wilkins, who never made an all-NBA 3rd team, but then you could argue for players like Dwight and Tmac ahead of Gasol.

Off the top of my head, I recall Parish finishing top 4 (I think it was 1982), and I know that Wilkens finished once as high as second in MVP voting.
And surely Wilkens has zero 3rd team appearances - they were created in the late eighties.

[Doctor MJ]

He wasn't at the top long enough. After 2010 , he dropped off pretty noticeably and stayed down there , ending up as a journeyman his last third of his career.
If he had stayed elite enough through 2 more years w the Lakers and perhaps brought in one more banner w Kobe, I'm sure you could make a case for him being at the door of top50.

Has to be brought up that Gasol was still making all-star in 2016 more than a half decade after you believe he fell off a cliff.

Now, I do think Gasol in those Bulls all-star years was well past his best and don't mean to imply otherwise, but Gasol's career arc is actually pretty dang close to the ideal and his decay is not why the Lakers fell off a cliff.

[G35]

I think he is in the top 100 area.

But imo there are a lot of players that are better than Pau that do not even get discussed as top 50/75/100 players, especially relative to position:

Guards - Kevin Johnson, Sidney Moncrief, Gus Williams, Tiny Archibald, Mark Price, Tim Hardaway, Joe Dumars, Mitch Richmond, Tracy McGrady, Chauncey Billups, Manu Ginobli, Klay Thompson (12)

Forwards - James Worthy, Spencer Haywood, Elvin Hayes, George McGinnis, Dan Issel, Alex English, Adrian Dantley, Tom Chambers, Dennis Rodman, Shawn Kemp, Grant Hill, Chris Webber, Shawn Marion, Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce, Blake Griffin, Kawhi Leonard (17)

Centers - Robert Parish, Dikembe Mutombo, Alonzo Mourning, Ben Wallace, Amare Stoudemire, Dwight Howard (6)

These are 39 other names that imo, could be argued over Pau, and all of them have made All-NBA teams.

The biggest thing Pau has going for him is his longevity, international record, and being an integral part of winning two championships.

But he is not statistically dominant, has been outplayed many times by his counterparts on the court, and when he was the #1 player at Memphis, they went 0-9 in the playoffs...they lost every game.....

[70sFan]

Agreed with the list of players you have over Pau (although I think Duncan should be on the list of Centers)... but also think there are more Power Forwards who could be above Pau too. Listing some in chronological order:

- Tom Heinsohn
- Jerry Lucas
- Elvin Hayes
- Kevin McHale
- Chris Webber
- Chris Bosh
- Anthony Davis

Honorable mention... Dennis Rodman and Jermaine O'Neal.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but I'll say that it's really only McHale & AD in that list that were more effective at basketball than Gasol.

Heinsohn, Lucas, Hayes & Webber are all guys that got significantly overrated the people of their day because of their volume scoring numbers.

(I wouldn't call Bosh overrated. In general I find him underrated for reasons very similar to why Gasol gets underrated.)

I'd say that Hayes was misunderstood. He was very strong defensive player who played forever and never missed games, while his offensive game was absurdly overrated. Still, from production and defensive standpoint I can see a case for him over Gasol, both in terms of careers and primes.

I agree with the rest, they are not close to Gasol.

[NZB2323]

Well, I can not agree with placeing Pau Gasol over Kevin McHale, Chris Webber or Anthony Davis.

Webber was a bonafide #1 option for a time. Even though he wasn't among the best #1s we've seen in the league, he still had the ability to be a bus driver. Pau couldn't handle that smoke, i.e., he was a bus rider.

McHale: soxfan2003 did a good job explaining why.

Davis: AD is a #1B to #2 option. Pau was a #2 to #3 option.

Webber played on an incredibly stacked Kings team, often times got wide open shots due their ball movement, and he was afraid to touch the ball in clutch time due to his timeout fiasco in college. I don’t know if I’d call him a bus driver.