now that lebrons officially missed the playoffs these are my new top 25 rankings

[kennethgriffen]

#1 Kobe Bryant ( lebron only made kobes accomplishments out west look twice as impressive, only ATG in history to win multiple titles without a top 70 all time sidekick, faced and beat the most competition/most 50+ win teams eliminated in history, more skilled than MJ, way better defender than magic, 2 more rings than bird, more offensive power than russell, didn't need a 2nd superstar like kareem, proved himself without shaq and shaq never proved himself without kobe, accomplished more than hakeem in just his time since shaq left, has a winning finals record unlike wilt. simply put... the most jaw dropping difficult shot making ultra skilled fundamental play station mentality supreme being that has ever touched a basketball. would easly drop 100 in todays nba.

#2 Michael Jordan ( basically kobe but with less range, less counters, less drive to push himself to the limit, more efficient than kobe only because he had limitations that forced him to attack more. only averaged more points because he had a team catered to him his entire career. plus he had intermittent breaks to heal/recharge )

#3 Kareem Abdul Jabbar ( great longevity, great defender, unstoppable go to move

#4 Bill Russell ( great leader, great winner, great defender )

#5 Tim Duncan ( great teammate, great defender, fundamental )

#6 Magic Johnson ( great leader and passer )

#7 Larry Bird ( great shooter and passer )

#8 Shaquille O'neal ( great peak )

#9 Hakeem Olajuwon ( great run in 94 )

#10 Wilt Chamberlain ( dominant scorer and shot blocker )

#11 Kevin Durant ( nearly as skilled as kobe. possible goat candidate for the future if he demands a tougher path and succeeds like kobe did )

#12 Oscar Robertson ( slightly overrated but still a pioneer )

#13 Jerry West ( way ahead of his time with the mid range game )

#14 Moses Malone ( great opportunist, very effective against kareem )

#15 Julius Erving ( the jordan of the ABA )

#16 George Mikan ( the first great big man )

#17 Dirk Nowitzki ( should be a 2 time champion and 2 time finals mvp )

#18 Kevin Garnett ( great all around big man and defensive anchor )

#19 David Robinson ( ditto )

#20 Bob Pettit ( a pioneer at the low post position )

#21 John Havlicek ( a forgotten man among all time discussions )

#22 Karl Malone ( slightly overrated )

#23 Charles Barkley ( insanely overrated, didn't give a damn and it showed defensively. but hella skilled and effective offensively. great rebounder too )

#24 Elgin Baylor ( a complete waste of life. but a pioneer at the forward position )

#25 Isiah Thomas ( very underrated. the real 1988 finals mvp and nba champion. completely robbed by a bogus call )

[highwhey]

thought we were going to have a fakkit free weekend, guess OP had other plans

[G0ATbe]

https://disqus.com/by/disqus_Re964DUbIN/

Never forget

[Mr.GOAT2408]

A few disagreements but overall solid list

[Dr Hawk]

Jordan, Dirk and Olajuwon too low.

[Spurs m8]

Wait....people actually have Kobe at Number 1? Lol wut

I dont care about the Kobe > Bron argument or anything like that....but number 1?

Hold on a sec....

[3ball]

Other than the top 2 spots

I concur

But don't forget that no perimeter player was ever required to be the league's top scorer to win except MJ, so the bulls weren't "ideally built".. it isn't "ideal" that MJ had to average 4-5 more points than everyone in history to win, and be the league's top scorer to win (biggest burden there is)

The only guys that had to be the league's top scorer to win was Kareem and Shaq once each in their peak seasons of 71' and 00'... And MJ all 6 times - so Shaq/KAJ's peak burden was mj's standard burden... Again, not "ideal" at all

But again, I concur with the rest of the rankings although I might have bird around 3

[Smoke117]

Other than the top 2 spots

I concur

But don't forget that no perimeter player was ever required to be the league's top scorer to win except MJ, so the bulls weren't "ideally built".. it isn't "ideal" that MJ had to average 4-5 more points than everyone in history to win, and be the league's top scorer to win

The only guys that had to be the league's top scorer to win was Kareem and Shaq once each in their peak seasons of 71' and 00'... And MJ all 6 times - so Shaq/KAJ's peak burden was mj's standard burden... Again, not "ideal" at all

But again, I concur with the rest of the rankings although I might have bird around 3

You shouldn't let your bias make you a complete retard. Nobody respects your opinion or takes you seriously anyway, but you just look like a silly moron if you are seriously trying to say LeBron isn't a top 25 player of all time.

[Manny98]

LeBron is not top 25 now?

lol ok if you say so

[CurryOverLebron]

curry is in my top 25

[kennethgriffen]

LeBron is not top 25 now?

lol ok if you say so

every player i mentioned would be able to lead their team to the playoffs coming back 1 game out of the 8 seed and facing absolute dog shit teams. only lebron gets steam rolled by bottom feeders with their careers/legacies on the line


kobe literally tore his leg in half doing it. he knew he couldn't miss the playoffs in 2013. it was within striking distance. they had problems but not nearly as many as 2005. that year was a write off. but in 2013 the lakers just had to play well in the 2nd half of the season to make it happen. kobe took an injured dysfunctional group on his back and dragged them into the playoffs. lebron thought making rap music and movies was more important

[3ball]

You shouldn't let your bias make you a complete retard. Nobody respects your opinion or takes you seriously anyway, but you just look like a silly moron if you are seriously trying to say LeBron isn't a top 25 player of all time.

Lebron played in a competitively flawed environment where a guy can make the Finals in one conference, and then miss the playoffs in the other conference despite a better cast and the same personal stats

This is now a historical fact..

And when you consider that he probably has zero rings if he doesn't team-hop or played in the West his whole career, I believe you can make an argument that he's not top 25... He has great stats, but those stats and style result in horrible team play that can only win with 2 other stars.. sorry, but other guys are better than that.. give prime dirk or KG a couple all-pro teammates for 8 years of their prime and they'd have more than 3 rings

So looking at it this way, you can make the case he's not top 25.. his team-hopping, weak conference (Finals record), suboptimal style, and weak jumpshot/clutch doom him..

[Ben Simmons 25]

thought we were going to have a fakkit free weekend, guess OP had other plans

[PickernRoller]

1 - Jordan
2 - Kareem
3 - Russell
4 - Kobe
5 - Magic
6 - Bird
7 - Duncan
8 - Hakeem
9 - Shaq
10 - Wilt
11 - Moses
12 - Dr. J
13 - Jerry
14 - Lebron
15 - KD/Curry (if 3-peat this year move one spot).

[The Iron Fist]

Kobe #1?

Gtfoh. Didnt even read the rest.