Top 5 Most Influential Players in NBA History

[DuMa]

Shaq changed a lot of the rules in the NBA.

[fpliii]

HM: The Big O (free agency)

[Jameerthefear]

LeBron is going to go down as one of the top 5 as well. Dude has changed the way young basketball players want to play. He's changed it from that "Be like Mike" mode to a "Team player, pass over shot"

no, that's not true.

[LongLiveTheKing]

He's changed it for the negative. His approach to the game is to play for the stats. he's a PER era player, only take high% shots not because they're the best for the team, but because they keep my fantasy stats higher. He's the opposite of Magic, Magic played team ball for the team's good. Lebron plays ball dominant force feed team ball for his personal glory. I don't get how people can't see it. Lebron's as selfish as any "chucker" in the game.

It's not like kids even know what all those stats are? And casual fans know Lebron isn't selfish. Lol @ he does it for personal glory.

[lakerspng]

It's not like kids even know what all those stats are? And casual fans know Lebron isn't selfish. Lol @ he does it for personal glory.

He's a great player, an all time great, but he has a terrible approach to the game. He is a stat padder and a glory hound. Doesn't make him bad by any means, but you can't deny it. Every tendency he has on the court is to make himself look better. He's a stat junkie and so are a ton of young players coming up. It's a bad trend in the league.

[Scholar]

Oh, God. I make a thread about who I think are the most influential players & within 2 pages, it becomes another LeBron thread.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Jordan
Iverson
Dr.J

The trinity of most influential players, both in play, athletics, swagger, demeanor, and style. Anyone else stated is a blatant lie.

[Orlando Magic]

Wilt.... enough said.

Jordan... enough said.

Magic... co-carried an era.

Bird... co-carried an era.

Shaq... rule changes and goal redesign.

/thread for non [COLOR="Black"]fa[/COLOR]ggots who know a damn thing.

[Doranku]

Wilt.... enough said.

Jordan... enough said.

Magic... co-carried an era.

Bird... co-carried an era.

Shaq... rule changes and goal redesign.

/thread for non [COLOR="Black"]fa[/COLOR]ggots who know a damn thing.

I would put Magic/Bird together and include Dr. J.

[#number6ix#]

I think dr.j should be #2 on the list... Watching his documentary I never realized his profound effect on the nba, I mean I knew he was a beast but the guy pretty much saved the nba...

Not to mention his overall influence on the youth at the time including MJ who patterned parts of his game after Dr.j...

Add to the fact that his games were televised which is a advantage over wilt because the early portion of his career cannot even be seen

[Sharmer]

Yao and Lin for bringing in the rice eaters.

[La Frescobaldi]

I think dr.j should be #2 on the list... Watching his documentary I never realized his profound effect on the nba, I mean I knew he was a beast but the guy pretty much saved the nba...

Not to mention his overall influence on the youth at the time including MJ who patterned parts of his game after Dr.j...

Add to the fact that his games were televised which is a advantage over wilt because the early portion of his career cannot even be seen

I was so glad to see that myself, and although I disagree about Doc saving the NBA.... he sure was a direct injection of energy and excitement.
But there is a lot of myth about the 70s being a bad era too. Yeah ticket sales were off after the stars of the '60s retired & there were problems with drugs etc. but it was a great time for the NBA too! In some ways the 70s has been my favorite so far - stars galore, great team play, and the league was real balanced.
TV itself had a lot to do with ticket sales in those days. They didn't have a lot of 'blackout' rules and so forth

But Erving was the real thing for sure, along with the just slightly lesser flash guys like Gervin, D Thompson, Adrian Dantley and Spencer Haywood pounding down low, John Havlicek flashing transition, Earl the Pearl... not that they rate up in this list but they are just below it really

[secund2nun]

He's changed it for the negative. His approach to the game is to play for the stats. he's a PER era player, only take high% shots not because they're the best for the team, but because they keep my fantasy stats higher. He's the opposite of Magic, Magic played team ball for the team's good. Lebron plays ball dominant force feed team ball for his personal glory. I don't get how people can't see it. Lebron's as selfish as any "chucker" in the game.

Kobe influenced the game with his shot jacking. He paved the way for me first selfish players like Jennings who put I above team and base their games on low efficient shots. Keep being delusional and and making excuses for Lebron's superior scoring ability that has high efficiency.

High efficiency shots should be what teams are based on, not low efficiency idiot shots like contested fadeaways that Kobe promotes and has negatively influenced the game with.

[secund2nun]

There are 2 types of influences. The first is how they influenced the rules and strategies. Dominant forces like Wilt influenced the rules and strategies because of they were so dominant teams had to change their way to defend against him.

However because of his rare physical talents which cannot be taught, Wilt did not really influence many player's games (2nd type of influence) as much as other players who had skills that can actually be learned like Hakeem. Hakeem has influenced fellow players a lot more than Wilt and Shaq. Dirk has also influenced players greatly, promoting the stretch PF model.

[Fresh Kid]

Jordan, Dr j., magic, Iverson and Frazier/ewing