#5 NBA Player Of All-Time According to InsideHoops

[Sarcastic]

Wilt should be top 3, but now he's in danger of not making top 5?

[jongib369]

Hey, that may have to do with people's Top 5 not being in line with what the ISH consensus is yet at the same time not going with the idea that Bird ain't top five. If Wilt had won #4, I'd still be voting Bird against Magic here.

I also think it has to do with what posters are online when the voting for the thread is taking place...the absence of a lot of there votes has to do with them possibly not being online...idk though..Like Ive said before I dont give a damn where the majoity of people rank a player....Just because roughly 75% of the world believe in a Religion doesn't make it true

[Sarcastic]

If Wilt won more he'd easily be #1, with other players having a zero percent chance to pass him.

[ZeN]

Larry Bird

[AlonzoGOAT]

I'm torn between Wilt and Shaq.

**** it, I'm going with Shaq.

[Notitlesince73]

wilt

[Legends66NBA7]

It's not facepalm worthy.

[Deuce Bigalow]

Put any top 10 player on Wilts Warriors...Do they beat the Celtics? Do they win in 68 when key players get injured? Put any top 10 player on those great lakers teams with Jerry and Baylor with injuries, Baylor past prime and a DERP coach? Do they win? Do they win in 72 despite only having a good front court and basically no bench? I think it COULD be argued the it would be the same outcome....what if's though so w.e

I don't think you'd want to put Shaq in that era...

[Asukal]

[Legends66NBA7]

If Wilt won more he'd easily be #1, with other players having a zero percent chance to pass him.

I get what your saying, but context would still matter on what he contributed to those "X" more titles.

[jlauber]

If Wilt won more he'd easily be #1, with other players having a zero percent chance to pass him.

A prime Chamberlain was better at scoring, rebounding, shooting, passing, and defense than a prime Kareem. Had Kareem not had the good fortune to have had the game's greatest faciltator in Magic for TEN seasons, Kareem would have been somewhere in the bottom ten, or maybe even fighting for a top-15 spot.

In his ten year prime, Chamberlain battled the Celtic Dynasty in EVERY season. And often with rosters that couldn't have beaten a middle-school girl's team without him.

How about a prime Kareem. He won one ring, and went to two Finals, in the weakest decade for champions in NBA history. Teams with records of 52-30, 49-33, 48-34, and 44-38 were winning titles. Hell, teams with records of 42-40 and 40-42 were in the Finals (and that 42-40 team played Kareem's lone title team.) Kareem couldn't win rings with team's that went 53-29 (best record in the league BTW), 56-26, 59-23, 60-22, and 63-19. He played with LOADED rosters in the late 70's, and his team's were blown out by Sonic's teams with half the surrounding talent he had.

Bird? Only won three rings, and lost SEVEN times with HCA, and playing with HOF-laden rosters in his entire career. Some of his post-season series were just pathetic, too. In his five Finals, he was the best player on the floor in two of them. And, at best, he was only the third best player on the floor in two more.

How about Russell? If ESPN would have been around in the 60's, and televised every game between Russell and Wilt, Chamberlain would have been considered even greater than he was then. Where were Russell's 40-30 games against Wilt? Hell, where were his 40-40 games against Chamberlain? How often did Russell hang a 50-35 game on Wilt? Or a 62-28 game against Chamberlain? Yet, Chamberlain had 24 games of 40+ against Russell, including 17 that were 40-30 games. Chamberlain scored 50+ against Russell, FIVE times, and had a high game of 62 against him. Wilt held a 7-1 margin in H2H 40+ rebound games (and Russell's high was an even 40, while Chamberlain outrebounded him by as much as 55-19 in one game.) Wilt also held a 23-4 H2H margin in 35+ rebound games. Oh, and over the course of their 143 H2H's, Chamberlain outshot Russell by about a .500 to .400 margin. In their post-season H2H's, Wilt had series as high as .555 and .556 against Russell, while ROUTINELY holding Russell under .399, and as low as .358.

And these idiotic posts about Wilt "choking" in his post-season are truly laughable. We have posters praising Bird and Kareem for being "clutch" when the two had FAR more CHOKE jobs than Wilt did. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find single playoff GAMES in which Wilt was outplayed, much less ANY series or entire post-season.

I would put Wilt's BIG GAME performances up against ANY other player in NBA history. Especially if you factor in just how dominant he was against his OPPOSING centers, as well (which very few here ever mention.)

MJ has a case over Wilt. He is the ONLY one.

[Legends66NBA7]

Jonas Jerebko, the Swedish Eagle ?

[BrickingStar]

Wit. It's not even close

[jlauber]

Wit. It's not even close

It wasn't even close after MJ was voted #1. For him to be ranked below #2 is a disgrace.

[G-train]

It wasn't even close after MJ was voted #1. For him to be ranked below #2 is a disgrace.

I've seen you rank Russell ahead of him Flippity Flop.