Is Oscar Robertson overrated?

[Fire Colangelo]

I've never seen him play aside from film, obviously he put up great stats, but is his impact overrated?

He played with the Royals for 10 seasons, only amounted to 50+ wins once, and got out of the first round twice despite having someone like Jerry Lucas (or the 60's equivalent of Kevin Love according to some) in his prime as a 2nd option. Didn't win, or even come close to winning a title until he joined Kareem on the Bucks in 1971.

Yet I see him in most top 20, or even top 15 lists. When pretty much everybody on the top 15 list won a ring as the most important piece (or atleast had deep playoff runs).

Overrated? Not overrated?

[SouBeachTalents]

I've never seen him play aside from film, obviously he put up great stats, but is his impact overrated?

He played with the Royals for 10 seasons, only amounted to 50+ wins once, and got out of the first round twice despite having someone like Jerry Lucas (or the 60's equivalent of Kevin Love according to some) in his prime as a 2nd option. Didn't win, or even come close to winning a title until he joined Kareem on the Bucks in 1971.

Yet I see him in most top 20, or even top 15 lists. When pretty much everybody on the top 15 list won a ring as the first option.

Overrated? Not overrated?

That's not true. Players like West and Dr. J never won as the first option either

[IncarceratedBob]

Nobody alive has seen him play so we have to go strictly by word of mouth and we know how reliable that can be. There's no proof that he averaged a triple double for a season so it's hard for most people to judge him correctly. Personally I think he's the greatest point guard ever but that's only because my dad used to tell me stories about him all the time growing up

[L.Kizzle]

I've never seen him play aside from film, obviously he put up great stats, but is his impact overrated?

He played with the Royals for 10 seasons, only amounted to 50+ wins once, and got out of the first round twice despite having someone like Jerry Lucas (or the 60's equivalent of Kevin Love according to some) in his prime as a 2nd option. Didn't win, or even come close to winning a title until he joined Kareem on the Bucks in 1971.

Yet I see him in most top 20, or even top 15 lists. When pretty much everybody on the top 15 list won a ring as the first option.

Overrated? Not overrated?

Think of T-mac. Now imagine him avg a triple double for ten straight seasons.

[LAZERUSS]

Nobody alive has seen him play so we have to go strictly by word of mouth and we know how reliable that can be. There's no proof that he averaged a triple double for a season so it's hard for most people to judge him correctly. Personally I think he's the greatest point guard ever but that's only because my dad used to tell me stories about him all the time growing up

Statisticians and score-keepers were PAID to produce the statistics of that era. And we have box-scores to prove it.

BTW, Oscar averaged a triple-double in his first SIX seasons...COMBINED.

[IncarceratedBob]

Statisticians and score-keepers were PAID to produce the statistics of that era. And we have box-scores to prove it.

BTW, Oscar averaged a triple-double in his first SIX seasons...COMBINED.

Yeah and people were paid to write the Bible. Doesn't make it fact. Statisticians can be bought. You're preaching to the choir, there's no player I'm taking over Rob personally.

[Fire Colangelo]

That's not true. Players like West and Dr. J never won as the first option either

Dr. J won two titles in the ABA, if we're counting ABA rings. If not, Dr J doesn't belong in the top 15-20.

Jerry West at least came close to winning the title, 9 times. And even during the year he won, it was arguable that he was the first option. 26/4/10 in the RS and 23/5/9 in the Playoffs.

[L.Kizzle]

Dr. J won two titles in the ABA, if we're counting ABA rings. If not, Dr J doesn't belong in the top 15-20.

Jerry West at least came close to winning the title, 9 times. And even during the year he won, it was arguable that he was the first option. 26/4/10 in the RS and 23/5/9 in the Playoffs.

Doc J's 11 season NBA career featured a NBA title, MVP and NBA Finals appearances four times.

[DatAsh]

Dr. J won two titles in the ABA, if we're counting ABA rings. If not, Dr J doesn't belong in the top 15-20.

Jerry West at least came close to winning the title, 9 times. And even during the year he won, it was arguable that he was the first option. 26/4/10 in the RS and 23/5/9 in the Playoffs.

I would say West was the first option.

But Russell, Wilt, Dr. J, and Baylor never really won as first options, and all those guys have an argument for top 15, two of them top 5.

[Fire Colangelo]

Doc J's 11 season NBA career featured a NBA title, MVP and NBA Finals appearances four times.

Impressive as hell.

Though Dwyane Wade, who averaged similar stats to Doc's stats in the NBA along with 3 NBA titles, and 5 NBA Finals appearances is arguable in the top 25 (and his career hasn't even ended yet).

[Fire Colangelo]

I would say West was the first option.

But Russell, Wilt, Dr. J, and Baylor never really won as first options, and all those guys have an argument for top 15, two of them top 5.

You have a point.

I should rephrase my wording a bit. Instead of first option, most won a ring as the most important piece on the team. Wilt and Russell were no doubt the most important piece to their respective title runs.

Baylor, and West at least came close to winning, and had a couple deep playoff runs while Oscar only had one 55+ win season.

[Young X]

If everybody is held to the same standards when it comes to winning except for him, then he's overrated.

People point out Kobe's "sidekick rings" when Oscar's only ring came as a "sidekick" at 32. He also missed the playoffs 3 straight times in his prime and took 10 years to get to the finals. Any player with that on their resume would get sh!tted on today.

[houston]

yes he was

[Marchesk]

Would Magic have made the Royals better during the 60s? That's who Oscar is measured against.

[Marchesk]

He played with the Royals for 10 seasons, only amounted to 50+ wins once, and got out of the first round twice despite having someone like Jerry Lucas (or the 60's equivalent of Kevin Love according to some) in his prime as a 2nd option. Didn't win, or even come close to winning a title until he joined Kareem on the Bucks in 1971.

The Boston Celtics were in his division, and Wilt's teams for most of those years.

But let's ask a different question. If Oscar got to start his career in 69 with Kareem instead, how many titles would he have now?