ISH's official ranking of the 5 greatest centers of all time

[game3524]

1. Kareem
2. Shaq
3. Russell
4. Wilt
5. Hakeem

[Iceman#44]

1 Wilt, 2 Kareem, 3 Russell 4 Shaq 5 Hakeem

[DaRkJaWs]

1. Kareem
2. Shaq
3. Russell
4. Wilt
5. Hakeem

Dummy. Didn't you see my post criticizing Shaq over Russell and wilt?

[dunksby]

Standings so far

Kareem: 172
Russell: 129
Wilt: 126
Shaq: 110
Hakeem: 67

Not a bad list actually, fact is you could argue for basically any of them, a more challenging task would be ranking them based on tiers. The list above about wraps up tier 1 although I'd add Moses Malone too.

[WillC]

1. Wilt Chamberlain
2. Bill Russell
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
4. Shaquille O'Neal
5. Hakeem Olajuwon

[Odinn]

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. Bill Russell
3. Shaquille O'Neal
4. Wilt Chamberlain
5. Hakeem Olajuwon

[RonSwanson]

1. Kareem
2. Shaq
3. Hakeem
4. Chamberlain
5. Russell

[game3524]

Dummy. Didn't you see my post criticizing Shaq over Russell and wilt?

I don't care what you say.

[HOoopCityJones]

Kareem
Shaq
Russel
Chamberlain
Hakeem

[stanlove1111]

1- Russell

2 and 3 I have a tie between Wilt and Kareem..Never have been able to decide.

4- Shaq

5- Hakeem

[La Frescobaldi]

I think people are seriously overlooking Russell's intangibles here. Having a guy who is all about the team is a priceless commodity.

How many dynasties won in-spite of each other? The Shaq-Kobe Lakers? They had one of the best locker room guys in league history and the best coach ever, who had a knack for managing egos. And the Lakers were still taken to the bring many times by less talented teams (who happened to have great chemistry, which adds to my point).

Heck, Hakeem didn't win until he became an actual leader (admittedly with more help).

Russell is the greatest winner ever, and the greatest leader ever. His game evolved around his teammates', making sure he covered up their flaws, keeping them satisfied with touches, and generally doing whatever was needed to win.

That's why guys like Russell, Duncan, Walton (given the number of healthy years he had) were so successful, even without necessarily having the natural talent of other players.

TL;DR: intangibles rule.

It's an interesting point.
You can trace a line directly from Russell, to Walton, to Duncan.
If you watch Walton on the Celtics you can see clearly what he was like 10 years earlier. Such a drag about his injuries. If I could choose between an injury-free Walton and Olajuwon it wouldn't even be close.

People who never saw Russell tend to discredit him - weak era, small league, and so forth; the typical fool's talk.

But he was an incredible, walking basketball mind, and had an astounding confidence that I've never seen in any other player.

[TheMan]

I'm not going to rank them on team success, more on their game (offense and defense) so mine goes like this...

1. KAJ
2. Wilt
3. Hakeem
4. Shaq
5. Bill

[Psileas]

1. Wilt
2. Russell
3. Kareem
4. Shaq
5. Hakeem

[LAZERUSS]

1. Wilt
2. Russell
3. Kareem
4. Shaq
5. Hakeem

Just curious...where do you rank Moses? And if you had a Top-15 all-time list (of everyone), how would it shake out?

[Psileas]

Just curious...where do you rank Moses? And if you had a Top-15 all-time list (of everyone), how would it shake out?

For my #15 contend Moses, Karl and Baylor. In short, among them, Moses has the highest peak, followed by Baylor, Karl Malone has the longest prime and durability, followed by Moses and Baylor has the biggest impact on the game, followed by Moses.