Doug Gottleib's Top 10 All-Time NBA Players is Crazy
There was a point in my life where I respected Doug Gottleib's basketball opinion. That point is now in the distant past. I saw this picture on twitter yesterday and literally laughed out loud.
The fact that Doug Gottleib, who somehow has the distinction of "NBA Expert," could arrive at such a ridiculous list is beyond me. I'm going to go through the list and show Mr. Gottleib how truly wrong he is.
#1: Michael Jordan - I have no complaints here. 100% agree.
#2: Magic Johnson - I don't necessarily agree with this one, but the argument is at least there. I'd probably put LeBron, Bill Russell, or Larry Bird here.
#3: Larry Bird - I'm again fine with this. I'd personally put Bird ahead of Magic, but I'm not upset.
#4: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - I don't agree with this one, but I'm not up in arms about it. I'll take Bill Russell and his 11 rings over Kareem and his "I've never really carried a championship team" reputation.
#5: Bill Russell - Definitely deserves to be higher and far above Kareem.
#6: LeBron James - Again, he needs to be higher. I'd put LeBron above Kareem and Magic for sure and potentially Larry Legend and Bill Russell. If he wins another championship, he will cement himself as #2.
#7: Jerry West - Not sold here. I don't personally think West is a top-10 of all-time guy, but I think there's an argument to have him at #10. Not a good one, but there's a chance.
#8: Kevin Durant - LOL! This one legitimately made me laugh. Durant did play amazingly in last year's finals, but he's also playing off the best shooter of all-time and two of the best 20 players in the league (Klay Thompson and Draymond Green). He had to join up with other superstars to win a championship and still only has 1 championship to his name. And that's after joining a team that had already won one without him. If I talk anymore about this, I'll combust.
#9: Shaquille O'Neal - In terms of dominance in his time, Shaq is right up there. I'm not opposed to him being in this spot. I think it's about where he should be, but I do think he's ahead of West and Durant.
#10: Isiah Thomas - I don't have too many qualms with this choice, but there are definitely guys that need to be added to the list ahead of him.
The Snubs:
Kobe Bryant - Hear me out... This guy won 5 championships. Sure he did it with great big-men (Shaq and Pau Gasol), but if you wanted killer instinct, nobody outside of MJ had more than Kobe. Just listen to some of these Kobe Stats:
2nd Most points in a single game 81
Only player with 30,000 points and 6,000 Assists
Has 42% of the 60 point games since 1996 6/14
Has 17% of all 50 point games since 1996 26/153
Averaged 40+ppg in a month 4 times
2nd most 30+ point games 519
3rd most 50 point games with 26
In 2003 had 9 straight 40+ point games
In 2007 had 4 straight 50+ point games
Only player to score 600+ points in 3 playoffs 2008-2010
3rd all-time in scoring 33,643
2nd in assists for a non point guard 6,306
Most All-NBA team selections 15
Most All-NBA 1st team selections 11
Most All-Defensive 1st team Selections 9
Kobe is also one of maybe three or four players that I would be ok being one of my "if this guy doesn't score 50 points tonight, I lose my life" guys. Him and Jordan might be the only two guys in the modern era that I could say I have the utmost confidence that this guy will take it upon himself to win a game. I can't say that about too many other guys.
Tim Duncan - I'll try to be as unbias as humanly possible, but that will be difficult since Timmy D is my favorite basketball player of all time. The man won 5 championships and his first and last came 15 years apart. That's absolutely insane. Duncan led the Spurs (who by the way never won fewer than 50 games while he was on the team) in all of their finals appearances and lost only one championship on a flukey shot by Ray Allen. He then exacted his revenge the following year.
Duncan was a 15-time All-NBA player and 15-time All-Defense guy. On the flip side, he was also one of the most selfless players in the NBA. He was the first to give up his own salary to help the team, and was one of the only star players to give up touches to benefit his team. Duncan's role shifted from scorer to defender and locker room leader in one of the most seamless transitions ever. But really, if you need more, just remember that this guy won championships 15 years apart.
Wilt Chamberlin - I will be the first to say that I think Chamberlin is overrated. His stats were inflated due to his sheer size and playing against guys that were not anywhere close to his level of physicality. He won only two championships in a time where he easily should have dominated the game.
Compare him to Bill Russell who is Wilt's closest comparison and you will see the difference. Russell knew how to win. WIlt knew how to gather stats and look like he knew how to win.
With all that being said, it's hard to argue with Wilt's stats. He has the most total rebounds of all time and also has the highest rebounds per game number ever. Not only could he rebound like a bat out of hell, he also has the second highest points per game average of all time. I wouldn't say Wilt is in the top 7, but I think he definitely fits that 8-10 range.
I wish I had gotten to hear what Gottleib's rationale was for each player because I think it would have been great comedy. I understand that it's his opinion, but I think we can definitively say that his opinion is just wrong on this one.
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No Lebron in top 3, no Kobe in top 10 but has KD over him....who the fuck made him an analyst
Totally agree. LeBron not in the top 5 even! KD has the chance to be in the top 10 for sure, but if his career ended today he wouldn't even be close.
Agreed 100%
NBA top 10's are near impossible with the different era's players played with but if you go with players who would dominate any era (MJ, LBJ, Magic etc) then maybe it would b as close as we could get...I mean Russell won too many titles to count but he also played with other all-stars of his time but would he be as good as he was in another era?
Completely agree that it's extremely difficult to compare across different era's, but if you compare their dominance in their own era it gets a little better. Russell absolutely demolished his time and yes he played with all-stars, but so did Wilt and their championship numbers are drastically different.
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My favorite all time; John Stockton, not saying he was the best
no complain with jordan hehe :)
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