Ranking the best seasons of 12 all-time great bigs since the merger
How would you rank the listed players?
1976-77 Bill Walton
1976-77 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (or 1979-80)*
1981-82 Moses Malone (or 1982-83)*
1989-90 Patrick Ewing
1991-92 Karl Malone**
1992-93 Charles Barkley
1993-94 Hakeem Olajuwon
1994-95 David Robinson
1999-00 Shaquille O'Neal
2002-03 Tim Duncan
2003-04 Kevin Garnett
2005-06 Dirk Nowitzki
*: It's up to you. You can put more weight to being the best player of a championship team than usual.
**: It's too hard to choose Karl Malone's best season.
Re: Ranking the best seasons of 12 all-time great bigs since the merger
Quote:
Originally Posted by Odinn
I guess you started to watch basketball at the beginning of the '90s, so that's why you left KAJ, Moses and Walton outside?
Yea, I can't comment on things I didn't see in context. Sorry for leaving it out of my response post without explanation. I just don't feel comfortable talking about stuff I really don't know much about. Seen games from Walton's season, though. And that man pre injuries was AMAZING.
Re: Ranking the best seasons of 12 all-time great bigs since the merger
Quote:
Originally Posted by Legends66NBA7
11) 2005-06 Dirk Nowitzki
12) 1989-90 Patrick Ewing
Only one that bothers me. '89 - '90 was Ewing with athleticism. The last time we'd ever see it too. He dominated the game on both ends, and didn't have significant talent surrounding him.
Re: Ranking the best seasons of 12 all-time great bigs since the merger
I believe you are truly underrating 1989-90 Ewing. He is the most efficient scorer of those group. Or only 2nd to KAJ.
RS; 28.6 ppg on .551 fg .775 ft
PO; 29.4 ppg on .524 fg .823 ft
His rebounding and passing weren't among the best. But his scoring, especially his efficiency with this volume, and defense were. I can take 1989-90 Ewing over 1994-95 DRob. It's a pretty big surprise for me seeing ranking Ewing this low.
Re: Ranking the best seasons of 12 all-time great bigs since the merger
Quote:
Originally Posted by Money 23
Only one that bothers me. '89 - '90 was Ewing with athleticism. The last time we'd ever see it too. He dominated the game on both ends, and didn't have significant talent surrounding him.
It's a tough pick for sure, but when someone does talk about an entire season... I think I favor more heavily on the playoffs andI don't think that 05-06 Mavericks team was very talented either. Infact, just looking at the rosters, one could probably favor the Knicks over the Mavs. They definitely overachieved that season and in the playoffs, but off course be more remembered about blowing that 2-0 series lead.
I can see what you mean, though. A two way player in Ewing, averaging 29/10 with great defense and was definitely playing like he was the best player in the game in spurts. I think Dirk was playing very well all-season long too and I think had an outside case or at least could have been the "safe pick" for MVP (Bryant or James were MVP over Nash, IMO).
Both went up against great competition, but I think with a Finals apperance, a 60 win season, and overachieving in the playoffs... gives Dirk the edge IMO.
Last edited by Legends66NBA7 : 02-03-2013 at 07:46 PM.
Re: Ranking the best seasons of 12 all-time great bigs since the merger
Quote:
Originally Posted by Odinn
I believe you are truly underrating 1989-90 Ewing. He is the most efficient scorer of those group. Or only 2nd to KAJ.
RS; 28.6 ppg on .551 fg .775 ft
PO; 29.4 ppg on .524 fg .823 ft
His rebounding and passing weren't among the best. But his scoring, especially his efficiency with this volume, and defense were. I can take 1989-90 Ewing over 1994-95 DRob. It's a pretty big surprise for me seeing ranking Ewing this low.
Like I mentioned in the post above, I do think getting farther in the playoffs (especially the Finals) while playing at a high level and having some significant individual awards was my main factoring. While Dirk didn't have an award, he was the best player on an overachieving Finalist Mavs team, but I can see the similar opponents in context, like both facing the defending champions that season and playing really well against both.
You and Money23 do make good points on Ewing, though. It is a pretty tough pick.
Re: Ranking the best seasons of 12 all-time great bigs since the merger
Quote:
Originally Posted by Odinn
How would you rank the listed players?
1976-77 Bill Walton
1976-77 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (or 1979-80)*
1981-82 Moses Malone (or 1982-83)*
1989-90 Patrick Ewing
1991-92 Karl Malone**
1992-93 Charles Barkley
1993-94 Hakeem Olajuwon
1994-95 David Robinson
1999-00 Shaquille O'Neal
2002-03 Tim Duncan
2003-04 Kevin Garnett
2005-06 Dirk Nowitzki
*: It's up to you. You can put more weight to being the best player of a championship team than usual.
**: It's too hard to choose Karl Malone's best season.
Shaq
Walton
Hakeem
Kareem
Duncan
KG
Robinson/Moses (can't decide)
Ewing
Dirk
Karl Malone
I'm having some difficulty placing Barkley. I'll add him in and possibly revise the rest of my list when I have a chance.
Re: Ranking the best seasons of 12 all-time great bigs since the merger
Quote:
Originally Posted by fpliii
Shaq
Walton
Hakeem
Kareem
Duncan
KG
Robinson/Moses (can't decide)
Ewing
Dirk
Karl Malone
I'm having some difficulty placing Barkley. I'll add him in and possibly revise the rest of my list when I have a chance.
I believe despite how great Bill Walton was, I don't believe he has a case over Kareem or Hakeem or Moses or Duncan. He was top 3 in terms of passing ability. Great rebounding. Great defense. Incredible footwork and fundamentals but his scoring was not good enough for me to put him ahead of Kareem/Hakeem/Moses/Duncan.
Re: Ranking the best seasons of 12 all-time great bigs since the merger
Quote:
Originally Posted by Odinn
I believe despite how great Bill Walton was, I don't believe he has a case over Kareem or Hakeem or Moses or Duncan. He was top 3 in terms of passing ability. Great rebounding. Great defense. Incredible footwork and fundamentals but his scoring was not good enough for me to put him ahead of Kareem/Hakeem/Moses/Duncan.
I tend to value rebounding/defense most in a center, and offense is a bonus (unless you're Shaq; fwiw I do have a thing for great passing centers though, so there might be an inherent bias). Walton was by no means a dominant scorer, but it's not what was needed on his teams per se (a lot like Russell, in a sense). Moses was excellent, but I have to penalize him for not being a true defensive anchor. I might actually put Duncan ahead of Kareem as well (KAJ is tough—I rate players based on their ability to lead a team to a championship with similar rosters/circumstances; from the research I've done there seemed to be an underlying belief that Walton was superior on the part of sportswriters, and this continued even into Bill's time with the Clippers...it's hard for me to reconcile this).
One other note on Ewing: if he had his athleticism/quickness from the late 80s a few years later when he and the Knicks peaked defensively (92-93 and 93-94 IMO) then he'd be much, much higher on this list.
Re: Ranking the best seasons of 12 all-time great bigs since the merger
Quote:
Originally Posted by fpliii
I tend to value rebounding/defense most in a center, and offense is a bonus (unless you're Shaq; fwiw I do have a thing for great passing centers though, so there might be an inherent bias).
As do I. Scoring is something you can always get from any of the other positions. It doesn't have to come from the center. It might even be more preferable, as centers need to be passed the ball. However, a big man's defense is something you can't get from anywhere else. Same with rebounding unless you have Rodman.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fpliii
Walton was by no means a dominant scorer, but it's not what was needed on his teams per se (a lot like Russell, in a sense). Moses was excellent, but I have to penalize him for not being a true defensive anchor.
I dock Moses a bit for that. As I said, you can always get scoring from the other positions, but if a center can't anchor a defense, then it's hard for me to justify him being on the floor.
Ranking the best seasons of 12 all-time great bigs since the merger
