The anti-espn top 25 list

[Dragonyeuw]

MJ
Wilt
Kareem
Russell
Magic
Shaq
Duncan
Bird
Lebron
Kobe
Hakeem
Oscar
West
Moses
Dr.J
Malone
Dirk
Barkley
Garnett
Wade
Baylor
Robinson
Isiah
Mikan
Pippen

For those who spit their coffee at the sight of Mikan, even though he'd likely be a 10th man if he even made the league today, his relevance and historical significance to the league should be acknowledged IMO with a top 25 ranking.

So...better than ESPN's list? Worse? Flame shield is activated and ready.

[pastis]

MJ
Wilt
Kareem
Russell
Magic
Shaq
Duncan
Bird
Lebron
Kobe
Hakeem
Oscar
West
Moses
Dr.J
Malone
Dirk
Barkley
Garnett
Wade
Baylor
Robinson
Isiah
Mikan
Pippen

For those who spit their coffee at the sight of Mikan, even though he'd likely be a 10th man if he even made the league today, his relevance and historical significance to the league should be acknowledged IMO with a top 25 ranking.

So...better than ESPN's list? Worse? Flame shield is activated and ready.

looks very solid to me. although rank10-20 is very very difficult to rank properly, objective.

but all in all: very good list

[feyki]

Better .

But Pippen has no case to top 25(Isiah too) . And Hakeem got underrated . And Mikan , of course .

[FKAri]

MJ
Wilt
Kareem
Russell
Magic
Shaq
Duncan
Bird
Lebron
Kobe
Hakeem
Oscar
West
Moses
Dr.J
Malone
Dirk
Barkley
Garnett
Wade
Baylor
Robinson
Isiah
Mikan
Pippen

For those who spit their coffee at the sight of Mikan, even though he'd likely be a 10th man if he even made the league today, his relevance and historical significance to the league should be acknowledged IMO with a top 25 ranking.

So...better than ESPN's list? Worse? Flame shield is activated and ready.

What would Bill Russell be if he made the league today then?

[Deuce Bigalow]

Mikan would easily be better than Steph Curry today dumbass

The disrespect

[feyki]

Mikan would easily be better than Steph Curry today dumbass

The disrespect

35-15-5-1-3 with %60 TS . Curry offence with Marc Defence .

[24-Inch_Chrome]

Pippen shouldn't be there and Garnett should be moved up but for the most part I agree with the names there being the top 25.

[Dragonyeuw]

Thanks to Pastis, Fekyi,FKAri and 24-Inch_Chrome for their relevant comments. Trying to have a decent discussion( unlikely on this board I realize) without the personal attacks and stupidity of the usual suspects.

FKAri, good question regarding what would Russell be in today's league. I think with Russell, the things that made him great in his era, on top of his leadership, would translate today. What would he be like today? Difficult to say. It's hard to simply transfer players from one era to the next without considering how players are always impacted and take lessons from the generation(s) before them. So if Russell was coming along today, his game would be different. Maybe he's more of a scorer. Maybe he's not as prolific a rebounder or shotblocker. Hard to say. Mikan, what he did and was....not sure how that would translate to today. He'd likely be very average by modern standards. But he is a pioneer, and felt top 25 on that basis alone is warranted. Subjective? Arbitrary? Absolutely.

Fekyi, fair point on Pippen and I admittedly wavered on putting him at 25. As for Hakeem, very hard for me to put outside the top ten. For my list, Lebron's ascension into top ten status made Hakeem the casualty in this. It was between Hakeem and Kobe for 10th; I went with Kobe. I just don't think looking at what he has done over 17 years( not looking at the last 3), that between his skills, achievements and accolades, that he doesn't have a top 10 GOAT career. I just can't reconcile in my mind leaving Kobe out of the top 10. IMO the chasm between Lebron and Kobe isn't nine places apart like ESPN's list....that's totally ridiculous. To me, they're both top 10 years regardless of where one chooses to rank them.

24_inch, regarding Garnett's ranking, 15-20 is very difficult for me to rank. Because as far as I'm concerned, Malone, Barkley, Dirk, Garnett are on the same tier of greatness. You can throw those names up in the air, and however they land sequentially, I'd be perfectly fine with. In the same breath, Shaq, Duncan, Hakeem, Lebron, and Kobe are in that category where I may rank them differently next week. It's tough. What I mainly wanted to avoid was crazy shit like Lebron being 9 places ahead of Kobe, or Stockton being 19th, or Durant being one spot below KG. Those were a few of the major WTF outliers with ESPN's list, but there are obviously alot more examples.

[Marchesk]

And Hakeem got underrated.

Who would you rank Hakeem in front of? Shaq? Kobe?

[coin24]

Mj
Kaj
Russell
Bird
Magic. (Tier 1 guys)

Duncan
Kobe
Shaq (tier 2 guys, interchangeable how u like)

Wilt

Hakeem
Lebron (tier 3, interchangeable)




I can't rate wilt any higher due to playoffs and finals drop off in performance and failing to win with stacked casts.. Same goes for bran.

[Nuff Said]

What would Bill Russell be if he made the league today then?

Tim Duncan. A highly intelligent leader.

[jimmybball]

Clearly better than ESPN's.

[Harison]

1. MJ
2-3. Russell/Kareem
4. Wilt
5-6. Bird/Magic
7. Hakeem
8. Shaq
9. Duncan
10. Kobe
11. Lebron
12. West
13. Moses
14. Oscar
15. Garnett
16. Dr.J
17. Malone
18. Dirk
19. Robinson
20. Barkley

[coin24]

1. MJ
2-3. Russell/Kareem
4. Wilt
5-6. Bird/Magic
7. Hakeem
8. Shaq
9. Duncan
10. Kobe
11. Lebron
12. West
13. Moses
14. Oscar
15. Garnett
16. Dr.J
17. Malone
18. Dirk
19. Robinson
20. Barkley

Hakeem over shaq Duncan Kobe???

[Harison]

Hakeem over shaq Duncan Kobe???

Yes, he was more dominant and better player than either of them, especially in the Playoffs, and his championship runs were more impressive either.