Your All-Time Overrated Starting 5

[WillC]

Did I mentioned Oscar's own teammates hated him? I guess that is one of the reason's why Oscar only had one 50+ win season without Kareem.

That story is overstated. There are plenty of examples of his teammates applauding his competitive attitude. But sure, some of Oscar's teammates hated him. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Kwame Brown hated Michael Jordan and Smush Parker hated Kobe Bryant. Oscar was similar to Kobe and Jordan in that he suffered no fools and would do anything to win.

Meanwhile, one of Oscar's best teammates, Jerry Lucas, was too busy counting his own rebounds to care about winning.

[KobesFinger]

I can't think of players for all time but currently

C - Roy Hibbert
PF - Kevin Love
SF - Carmelo Anthony
SG - Paul George
PG - Deron Williams

Hibbert is 7'2 but can't rebound and shoots a low percentage. He also seems afraid or ashamed to use his size advantage.

Kevin Love puts up numbers but the Timberwolves get nowhere. Shoots way too many jumpers and is a poor defender. He also started complaining about the Timberwolves getting nowhere even though he's their leader. You never heard Kevin Garnett say anything.

Carmelo Anthony is called the best scorer in the league when he isn't even the best scorer at the 3 spot. Both Durant and LeBron are better scorers. He doesn't play defense and is a ball stopping isolation scorer.

I don't think Paul George is a bad player but I've heard people call him a star. If he were a star he would've averaged better than 19/7/5 with 4 turnovers on 43% shooting.

Utah Deron was one of the best PGs in the league, but since he went to the Nets he's fallen off. If he's still top 10, he's in the bottom of it.

[LAZERUSS]

Did I mentioned Oscar's own teammates hated him? I guess that is one of the reason's why Oscar only had one 50+ win season without Kareem.

Of course the same thing could be said about Kareem, too. He didn't come close to winning crap in the 70's without playing alongside Oscar.

A past his prime Oscar, in his first season in Milwaukee, piloted the team to a 66-16 record, and a dominating world title. Over the course of his next three seasons, the Bucks went 63-19, 60-22, and 59-23 (and a game seven loss in the Finals.) After Oscar retired, the Bucks immediately fell to 38-44, and Kareem was gone the next year.

It wasn't until Magic arrived in 79-80 that KAJ once again played on a title contender.

[kshutts1]

Most overrated? Fun. But let me begin by saying that "overrated" and "all time level great" are not mutually exclusive.

C - I can't think of an adequate player to put here. There are tons of overrated C, but which one is tops? Not sure. I want to say Rasho Nesterovic (sp?) for the simple reason that he was a starter for X amount of years, lol. But I"m sure there's a more overrated C.
PF - Duncan (overrated, to me, because I consider KG to be just as good a player, but Duncan gets #1 PF status by virtue of his awesomeness, plus his lucky circumstance. Put KG on those teams, and suddenly he's GOAT PF)
SF - Erving. Phenomenal, yes. But given too much credit as a baller for his revolutionizing of the game.
SG - Jordan. Top 6 player of all time? Yes. Undisputed GOAT? No.
PG - Nash. I don't think he's overrated now, but in 15-20 years, when people stop remembering him as a player, he will be judged on his ASG appearances (plentiful) and his two MVPs. And then he will be overrated.

To further explain on Doc... Mikan and Cousy both revolutionized the game in a similar way, yet neither is nearly as revered. Why is that? Oh, right, because it is not ESPN highlight-style revolutionizing. I can't wait until that Fox Sports channel starts...

[alexd]

Wilt Chamberlain
Karl Malone
Carmelo Anthony
Oscar Robertson
Chris Paul

interesting.why many people consider cp3 overrated?he s a great leader,very good at PnR.He used to be explosive and athletic but isn t anymore due to injuries.great vision great leader ok shooter really good ballhander and really tough

[D-Wade316]

C - Moses Malone, Bill Walton
PF - None
SF - Larry Bird
SG - Allen Iverson, Reggie Miller, Jerry West
PG - Isiah Thomas, Oscar Robertson

[Owl]

That story is overstated. There are plenty of examples of his teammates applauding his competitive attitude. But sure, some of Oscar's teammates hated him. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Kwame Brown hated Michael Jordan and Smush Parker hated Kobe Bryant. Oscar was similar to Kobe and Jordan in that he suffered no fools and would do anything to win.

Meanwhile, one of Oscar's best teammates, Jerry Lucas, was too busy counting his own rebounds to care about winning.

It's not even that. It's untrue or at least entirely without evidence. I've seen zero quotes saying players disliked or regretted playing with Oscar. Only ones which as you say, he showed a low tolerence threshold for poor performance.

It's a misinterpretation of the generally accepted point that Oscar was very demanding. Even Bill Simmons' highly critical interpretation of Oscar doesn't (iirc) suggest teammates disliked him, only that he "wouldn't be fun to play with" or words to that effect. Simmons incidentally suggests he couldn't find any quotes to suggest he made teammates better, which is amusing because he includes a footnote with just such a quote on the next page.


My all overrated team, for what its worth

C: Bill Walton - I think only briefly seeing him at his best (and feeling we missed out) causes us to overrate how good that peak was.

PF: Elvin Hayes - Awesome raw stats compiler, but the metrics suggest he wasn't that great (in one season was he in the top 10 ws/48, no times in top 10 PER). High raw totals based on big minutes disguise inefficient scoring. Not considered the best locker room influence and had a reputation, fair or otherwise as a playoff choker.

SF: James Worthy: Not bad at all. But a short prime (was already falling off in 90-91 then did so badly once Magic retired) and pedestrian numbers. Obviously his role held his scoring down slightly (though it also beneffited his %s as did playing in a fast break style with Magic), and he showed some flexibility on D allowing Magic to cover forwards. I'm not sure whether his numbers, his accolades (1 time MVP vote reciever, 2 time All-NBA 3rd team) or his status as a really good 3rd best player warrant top 50 consideration. A mention goes to Rick Barry for the "difficult teammate" stuff and the fact that he didn't dominate in a weak early ABA.

SG: Anyone not MJ, West or Sharman (maybe Drexler, Sam Jones and Wade are pegged accurately too, depends where you put them). Kobe, well I don't want to get into that, he's very good, I think some overrate him. Gervin, great by the numbers, but no more so than, say, Adrian Dantley. Gervin also has worse D and worse professionalism. Has a bunch of 1st All-NBAs because would be rivals aged or got injured (Bing, Monroe, Goodrich, Maravich, Hudson, Scott, Westphal, Collins, Thompson etc). Monroe, Bing and Maravich to varying degrees have numbers that don't match their 50 at 50 status though injuries might explain that to a degree. Monroe and Maravich weren't great on D either so far as I can tell (though its hard to get a good gauge on this sort of thing).

PG: Isiah Thomas - Has a reputation as a top 3-4 all time pg. The numbers simply don't support that. Whether people just look at raw numbers and ignore pace and turnovers. Whether they look at his stats from the mid 80s and team performance of the late 80s and imagine he and his teams performed at those levels for his entire career. Whether they're looking at his raising his game in the playoff and ignoring that his regular season play meant he didn't have to be that great (career playoff PER 52nd All-time, 50th NBA only; career WS/48 72nd all time, 65th NBA only, and that's with the benefit of a) excluding players who didn't meet the required minutes and b) without having his numbers dragged down by non-prime years, his 3 worst seasons - rookie year and his last two - the Pistons didn't make the playoffs). Whether people forget he only one made top 5 - 5th in '84 - in MVP voting when they suggest he was right up there with Magic and Bird. Whether people think he was an elite defender because he got lots of steals even though he started his career as reckless gambler who made Bob Ryan's All-Sieve team in summer '83 and was never much better than average. The stats suggest he was in the ballpark of (usually slightly worse than) KJ, Tim Hardaway and Mark Price (and they had more competition at pg). You can elevate him a bit because of his playoff play but I see him as badly overrated. Like Maravich but in a different way (Maravich because of his style, Thomas because of being the perceived "star" on some very good teams) he's more significant than he was great.

None of which is to say the above players weren't good. It's all relative.

Edit: At sg should have included Hal Greer, not that he was bad but never a spectacular player amongst the games very elite.

[qrich]

Griffin is without a doubt the most overrated player in the league today, dude has no skill.

Why make suchcomments when you don't watch someone actually play?

[FatComputerNerd]

Chauncey Billups
Kevin Love
Jermaine O'Neil

[Jailblazers7]

If anything, Dr. J is probably underrated especially on ISH.

[Dionysus]

C. Wilt Chamberlain (most overrated Center ever next to Bill Russell. Stats during weak era.)

PF. Chris Bosh (Never was a great player, just overrated in Big 3 hype. Never a legit 20-10 player. Possible homosexual.)

SF. Carmelo Anthony (fat lazy player who will never win a. Title because he's fat, plays no defense, and plays for the Knicks)

SG. Michael Jordan (viewed as overrated because blokes still rate him above LeBron. Jordan was carried to titles by Pippen and a great defensive unit and coach. Especially during his second 3 peat. He shot under 42% for 3 finals, but media hype votes him finals mvp over Pippen. When Jordan left the Bulls high and dry due to gambling debt, Bulls kept going and still contended for a title without Jordan. Will always be a overrated shotjacker.

PG. Oscar Robertson (overrated triple double average and a product of weak inflated era. If LeBron played that triple double average year, LeBron's numbers would be 47ppg 15reb 18ast.

There you have it.

[crisoner]

LeBron
Kobe
Grant Hill
Vince Carter
And Harold Miner

Only knowledgable fans will understand my list and agree.

[livingby3's]

Current players in league

Drummond
Griffin
George
Kobe
Rose

I like this list, but for my personal taste I'll swap the guards for Harden and Irving

[Zodiac]

Currently in the NBA

C-Hibbert
PF-Griffin
SF-Melo
SG-Wade
PG-Jrue Holliday

[NumberSix]

Did I mentioned Oscar's own teammates hated him? I guess that is one of the reason's why Oscar only had one 50+ win season without Kareem.

The funny thing about Oscar is, how the fcuk did ONLY 1 guy average a triple double in an era that had 150+ possessions per game? You have guys now coming close with possessions in the 90s. LeBron would average like 39/17/13 with 150 possessions.