Highest Reasonable Ranking for KG

[alexd]

Top 11 in no order
mj,Kareem,bird,Shaq,Dr j,wilt,russel,Duncan,cousy,big o,maravich
before anyone starts arguing I put these players in the top ten cause they all had impact on the game and made it what it is today.yeah cousy did what all the 10 years old can do now but he was the first to do it.i don t tend to compare players from different eras due to the game evolving as the players evolve etc.i mean if you put wilt (the exact player he was)today he would be something like Dwight.yeah he s huge and strong but couldn t shoot to save his life.him and russel were great athletes,but u can t tell me they got pure fundamentals etc.but for their era yeah they were the goats.and you can t tell hey man they would train too as players do now and they would be even more dominant etc cause that s a big if,what if they got injured etc etc.too many variables
players you could swap any order u want based on preferences after the top 11
hakeem,kg,Kobe,lebron(he can crack top 10,but we must wait to end his career)bailor,Hondo etc

[SexSymbol]

Top 15 is a reach, more like top 20. And that's only if you have some bias for him

[Demitri98]

top 15:

1. Jordan
2. KAJ
3. Russell

Big gap

4. Magic
5. Bird

Gap

6. Wilt
7. Shaq
8. Kobe
9. Duncan
10. Hakeem

Gap

11. Jerry West
12. Dr J
13. Pippen
14. KG
15. Dirk

Moses Malone, Bob Pettit and (dare I say it on this board) LeBron also have a case for 12-15 IMO.

[T_L_P]

top 15:

1. Jordan
2. KAJ
3. Russell

Big gap

4. Magic
5. Bird

Gap

6. Wilt
7. Shaq
8. Kobe
9. Duncan
10. Hakeem

Gap

11. Jerry West
12. Dr J
13. Pippen
14. KG
15. Dirk

Moses Malone, Bob Pettit and (dare I say it on this board) LeBron also have a case for 12-15 IMO.

Pippen but no Moses

[Demitri98]

Pippen but no Moses

Moses Malone, Bob Pettit, and (dare I say it on this board) LeBron also have a case for 12-15 IMO.

Which means you could easily replace anyone in 12-15 with any of those 3 and I wouldn't really argue much.

[Bob Dole]

top 15:

1. Jordan
2. KAJ
3. Russell

Big gap

4. Magic
5. Bird

Gap

6. Wilt
7. Shaq
8. Kobe
9. Duncan
10. Hakeem

Gap

11. Jerry West
12. Dr J
13. Pippen
14. KG
15. Dirk

Moses Malone, Bob Pettit and (dare I say it on this board) LeBron also have a case for 12-15 IMO.

One of the worst lists I have ever seen. Not even because of the order(even though that is really bad and pippen isnt even a top 35 player) but because of the arbitrary and utterly ridiculous gaps that are in there.

Please never talk about basketball ever again.

[Duderonomy]

Top 35-40 at top 15.

[riseagainst]

If we don't take into account accolades then Kobe Bryant wouldn't even be top 50 on my list.

[Milbuck]

Pippen has no business being in the top 15. Great player, but let's slow down.

[Cold soul]

Top 15 at best case scenario, but 20 is more reasonable.

[K Xerxes]

If we focus on individual ability on the court, his highest reasonable ranking is where Tim Duncan is. I think they peaked at a very similar level tbh, Duncan was just more fortunate with the teams around him. However, there may well be some leadership and intangibles at play here leading the Spurs to win so much more, so Duncan would always get the edge in my book anyway.

KG has a case for top 10 IMO, definitely top 15. He has a case for GOAT defender in all honesty and could up in the mid 20s PPG at his best.

[ImKobe]

My ranking:

1. Michael Jordan
2. Bill Russell
3. Magic Johnson
4. Larry Bird
5. Tim Duncan
6. Lebron James
7. Shaquille O'Neal
8. Kareem Abdul Jabbar
9. Wilt Chamberlain
10. Hakeem Olajuwon
11. John Havlicek
12. Scottie Pippen
13. Kobe Bryant
14. Dirk Nowitzki
15. Kevin Garnett

puke.gif

[BoutPractice]

Like Dirk, he's somewhere between 15 and 25. Top 10 is very much a reach. I guess you could justify it if you used only one, highly specific criterion that makes KG look better than he otherwise would, but you could do that for many other players.

I also question that advanced stats tell you the whole story about impact. Just comparing Dirk and KG here... It's an obvious comparison because they played the same position in the same conference and had mostly overlapping primes with a below average supporting cast. Yet although they were both in somewhat similar situations, Dirk never missed the playoffs (despite changing coaches several times), won 50 games or so about as many times in a row as Duncan until last year (iirc) almost won the title in 2006 with a team that frequently started Adrian Griffin and led a team heavily reliant on non-contract year Erick Dampier to 67 wins in 2007. Past his peak, he carried offensively a team with no other all-star to the title in 2011, facing and outplaying an absurd number of future HOFers. Contrast with KG who missed the playoffs several times, and only won a title when he had not one but two genuine offensive stars surrounding him. You could say Dirk needed Tyson Chandler (which, again, I question because they win that Heat series most of the time in 2006, also known as "the year where DeSagana Diop was considered relevant") but KG definitely did need both Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.

Of course, you could say that KG's cast was slightly worse - and make no mistake: it was bad- and yet something tells me that Dirk could take just about team to the playoffs in the West (heck, some might say he's doing it again - the West is ridiculously crowded this year, and although I love Monta, Carter, Dalembert and all the others the cold hard truth is that most Mavs other than Dirk are either average or below average at their position), and that he could make more out of the same casts KG had. Regardless of DRTG. Amusingly, the reason I think Dirk's impact is underrated is the same reason fliip thinks Kobe's is (even though, while the "source" of the impact is similar, there is less hard evidence for it).

[houston]

Garnett never was a true level franchise player.

[Doranku]

Garnett never was a true level franchise player.

MVP
DPOY
4x All-NBA 1st Team
9x All-Defensive 1st Team
15x NBA All-Star

Show me one other guy in NBA history with those kind of individual accolades that isn't a true franchise player.