Virtually everyone who ever made a topic to bring down any of the following players..

[Kblaze8855]

...looked like an idiot:

Jordan
Kareem
Wilt
Russell
West
Magic
Bird
Shaq
Hakeem
Oscar
Duncan

If its not 100% its damn close.


Probably 90% of the topics ever made to bring down these people made the OP look like an idiot:

Kobe
Lebron
Barkley
Durant
Chris Paul
Iverson
KG
Dirk

These guys probably hover around 80%:

Westbrook
Wade(pre injury....90%)
Rose
Dwight
Gasol



Those are not player rankings at all. Has nothing to do with how good each tier is. Some people just inspire more idiocy in their detractors....better players just tend to inspire more because they leave less to reasonably use against them. SO you are left with some bullshit like.....

Calling Wilt a loser for making 6 finals and having 2 rings on 68 and 69 win teams

Saying Russell is a bad offensive player for being a 15-20ppg scorer who was top 5 in the entire league in assists..or talking about the gotdamn PER of the player who won 17 various titles from high school till retirement.


Lebron still doesnt have a post game when hes been punishing guys around the basket right in front of your eyes as you ignore it or pretend it didnt happen.

Kareems only remarkable trait is longevity...when he led the NBA in scoring, rebounds, and blocks...or acting like the sky hook would be getting blocked left and right today because of guys like Josh Smith...when guys like Larry Nance




were not doing it.

Kobe isnt a great offensive player because he shoots 45% when every single person to watch or play a game of basketball has been in awe of him for 14 years.


Making it out to mean something when KG missed the playoffs with Trenton Hassel(good defender for the record), Marko Jaric, Mccants, Mark blount, Eddie Griffin shooting 35%, Olowokandi for 32 games, ronald Dupree, Anthony Carter, Mark Madsen, 36 games of Troy Hudson, 40 games of Wally, and 36 games of Ricky Davis.

Acting like "Not getting past the second round" has ever been anyones idea of a way to measure a great point guard to hate on Chris Paul for being as good as all but like....3 people to ever play the position

Claiming that Hakeem losing in the first round while putting up literally 38/17/3/2 means...anything negative.

Pulling obscure nobody on earth cares facts out like how many times Bird lost with HCA...as if winning 56-67 games a year for 10 years wont mean that you have HCA vs most of the league and losing with it many times just means...you dont win EVERY title or make EVERY finals.

Or acting like Magic at 6'9'' should be able to guard a guy 5'11'' who other guys 5'11'' cant guard...

I struggle to believe that some of you even think you make good points when you do it....but on and on and goes. Im not saying you cant hate....I dont like Karl Malone. Find Reggie overrated. Thats being human.

But there comes a point when a guy has done so much...and is so good...you cant really hate and not look like a jackass.


And so few of you manage to walk that thin line between criticism and...being a dumbass...

I understand its a fine line...but it isnt as fine as so many make it look. So...out of sheer boredom im going to use this topic for what id consider reasonable hating on all the players listed above. Except perhaps Bill Russell. Ive yet to read anything I thought was a reasonable argument against him. Just people talking about a bunch of players he played with as if they would know most of their names if they didnt win a grip of rings with Russell...who won without all of them.

So...im gonna see who I can denigrate without looking like an idiot(with only myself as judge).

I dont think being a hater is as hard as some of you make it look.

[Kblaze8855]

Not now though. going to Zaxbys. Nobody can hate o n large wings and things with fried mushrooms. At least I hope not

[PsychoBe]

Acting like "Not getting past the second round" has ever been anyones idea of a way to measure a great point guard to hate on Chris Paul for being as good as all but like....3 people to ever play the position

I have a very strong dislike for chris paul because he has literally accomplished nothing of note yet is highly overrated for what? flashy passes and ball handling and over-passing to shy away from the big moments in playoff games?

he could not manage one win against the spurs in the post-season playing along side blake griffin.

not one.

yet stephen curry with a worse pf and center and nothing more than a shot-jacking three-point shooter beside him managed to squeak by two wins in the post-season?

something isnt adding up.

also magic, isiah, stockton, and kevin johnson i'd rank about cp3 off the top of my head. i'd also take curry over him easy. maybe chris jackson if he played longer, i also prefer rondo(won a championship, by far the better post-season performer), etc.

but nothing cp3 has done adds up to the hype-machine that he is. this is like calling t-mac a top 5 sg/sf it's just disrespectful to me.

[ArbitraryWater]

I love how Kobe's argument is the Eye Test


Btw why is Russell 15-20 PPG when its exactly 15 PPG? lol


Why add 5 more Points that aren't there?

Look, Russell in the Playoffs: 16 PPG on 43%

He simply was a bad scorer. Own up to it...

Try spinning this.

[BoutPractice]

Bad scorers don't put up 30 points in game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Or how about the fact that in the 61-62 season (I was about to say a title season, then I realized I was talking about Bill Russell), he scored more ppg in the playoffs (22.5) than Wilt Chamberlain (21.7) in what is often called his peak season, 66-67?

[Kblaze8855]

Spin? Russell needs no spin. I said 15-20 because he put up over 15 for 6-7 years in a roww of his prime. A 15+ a game scorer who got as high as top 4 in the entire league in assists as a bigman while being among the best outlet passers ever and stepping up scoring in the playoffs when it matters most is just not a bad offensive player. This dude had 30 point game 7s. Hes hardly some inept offensive player.

[JT123]

My favorite is when idiots try and say Lebron has no skill and can only score on fast break dunks, or by bullying his way to the basket. Then he gets knocked out of a game for the first time in years and those same idiots start claiming he is the softest superstar in NBA history.
These fools need to make up their minds. He is either soft or he is a bully, it can't be both.

[ArbitraryWater]

Spin? Russell needs no spin. I said 15-20 because he put up over 15 for 6-7 years in a roww of his prime. A 15+ a game scorer who got as high as top 4 in the entire league in assists as a bigman while being among the best outlet passers ever and stepping up scoring in the playoffs when it matters most is just not a bad offensive player. This dude had 30 point game 7s. Hes hardly some inept offensive player.

If he had 6-7 years of over 15 he also had 6-7 years of under 15.... you can't just add 5 points.

Neither did he really "stepped up in scoring in the playoffs"

From 15 ppg on 44% to 16 ppg on 43% ? Not much stepping up there.

And then picking out one arbitraty G7 of his? Why not talk about his Finals Game 7 in which he scored 6 Points in? Quite the scorer huh. I can pick out random games like this too, in fact more G7's of under his average than over.

So yes, he was an inept scorer. Inept offensive player? His passing was hardly better than Wilt's. 4 APG that would likely be 3 with Adjusted Pace. Meh, doesn't change much for me on Bill offensively.

Concentrate on my Scoring points though.

[fpliii]

I love how Kobe's argument is the Eye Test


Btw why is Russell 15-20 PPG when its exactly 15 PPG? lol


Why add 5 more Points that aren't there?

Look, Russell in the Playoffs: 16 PPG on 43%

He simply was a bad scorer. Own up to it...

Try spinning this.

30-40 in G7 of the 62 Finals, and this:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...65_finals.html

still the record for FG%.

Obviously not on the level of the GOAT scorers, but c'mon man.

[Prometheus]

I completely agree with the truth of the OP, but not with the purpose. Without haters and trolls, none of this talk would be any fun at all.

[Pushxx]

What grinds my gears the most is people who say Kareem, Bird, Wilt, Magic, West, and Russell wouldn't dominate the NBA today.

There are great players who bridge every generation gap that prove those all-time greats would be every ounce as special.

[fpliii]

What grinds my gears the most is people who say Kareem, Bird, Wilt, Magic, West, and Russell wouldn't dominate the NBA today.

There are great players who bridge every generation gap that prove those all-time greats would be every ounce as special.

[ArbitraryWater]

30-40 in G7 of the 62 Finals, and this:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...65_finals.html

still the record for FG%.

Obviously not on the level of the GOAT scorers, but c'mon man.

Picking out some Random Game? Dude also scored under double digit in plenty g7's/elimination games/closeout games...


Rodman scored 34 Points once, so what?

Basketball-Reference tells me Russell had 1 Playoff 30+ Point Game in his Career. 1966 Finals vs Lakers: 32 on 13-23.

Of course they only date back since 1964. Next best was 28, same series. Next ones would be 5 25 point games. So 7 25+ Point Games.

You know how many he had from 1975-1963? (30+)

[fpliii]

Picking out some Random Game? Dude also scored under double digit in plenty g7's/elimination games/closeout games...


Rodman scored 34 Points once, so what?

Basketball-Reference tells me Russell had 1 Playoff 30+ Point Game in his Career. 1966 Finals vs Lakers: 32 on 13-23.

Of course they only date back since 1964. Next best was 28, same series. Next ones would be 5 25 point games. So 7 25+ Point Games.

You know how many he had from 1975-1963? (30+)

Anyhow, you can't criticize a guy who wasn't asked to score for scoring when he was asked to do so.

Here's his gamelog BTW if you want points prior to 64:

http://nbastats.net/01NBA/07playerlogs/Russell.xls

probably not many high-scoring games early on either. It was by design, look at the Celtics system.

Russell obviously wouldn't be a great featured scorer if asked, but he wasn't an offensive liability because of his rebounding/passing/screens. I don't mind if he's called a non-scorer. I do mind when that becomes a big part of the conversation, when he's arguably the GOAT defender and rebounder (as well as a tremendous athlete in any era), and met the needs of the position.

There are plenty of scorers in league history. Russell gave you everything else, so he'd fit anywhere.

[navy]

What grinds my gears the most is people who say Kareem, Bird, Wilt, Magic, West, and Russell wouldn't dominate the NBA today.

There are great players who bridge every generation gap that prove those all-time greats would be every ounce as special.

Im not saying that these players wouldnt be good in todays NBA, but you would be delusional to say Wilt and Russel , would average the same numbers if they played today. That is what grinds my gears.