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Nuvendil on 14 May 2017
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Soundwave said:
Nuvendil said:

Well if that's how you want to judge greatest rather than through analysus, than Bill Russel has 5 MVPs, 2 NCAA championships, an Olympic gold, 11 championships, the man is the most decorated champion in professional team sports.  You can't say "lul 2 ringz" to handwave Wilt and then get all analytical to exclude Bill Russell.  It's either a battle of lists and rings or analysis.  Pikc one.

No, Shaq would not.  He doesn't have the speed or endurance to keep up.  Wilt, Russel, Nate Thurmond, Walt Bellamy, there were plenty of very strong, physical, fast centers back then who were far better adapted to the league's fast pace, especially when you consider the league was far smaller, concentrating the talent so you had far fewer canon fodder teams that existed to be stepped on by the teams actually worth anything.  Again, more myths.  You can have Shaq, I'll take Wilt over him any day of the week.  He's faster, stronger, has a much better vertical, better defense, and has inhuman endurance as illustrated by the fact he averaged more minutes per game than the total minutes of regulation one season.  And that was in a league dominated by fast pace, run and gun play.  Should, I would put Bill against Shaq.  

As for Kobe, I would put Magic over him due to his very unique flexibility as a point guard.  Shoot, I would put Jerry West over Kobe, seeing as how he accomplished what he did as an undersized guard in a league designed for highly physical play that would put him at a serious disadvantage.  Oh and he also had no 3 point line to use.  

I like the 60s and all and they deserve credit, but times change and things improve. Shaq would demolish that league, and c'mon dude played big minutes in the modern NBA, he could play in any era. There were like two 7 footers in the entire league for some of the seasons back then, lol. He made a guy like David Robinson who looks like a 7'1 steroid test case look like a child when he dunked over him. 

My personal feeling is the 6 best players -- "best" in terms of ability, not "greatest legacies" but just straight up the best if you put them on a basketball floor would be Jordan, Kareem, LeBron, Shaq, Kobe. Honorable mention to Wilt. I think Hakeem Olajuwon (peak) would surprise people too, he would be way up there, he'd take Russell to school IMO, he'd take most centers to school. 

First off you said 6 and listed 5.  Second, Kobe over Wilt is a bad joke.   Shaq is at least an argument, though in my frank opinion not a strong one.  Jordan, Kareem, and Wilt all sit firmly in their own tier.  Bill, Kobe, West, Shaq, Oscar, Magic, Lebron etc, they all sit in a tier just below them.  And then there's all the rest.  Lebron is in between the two top tiers imo.  We'll see how the rest of his career goes.

And I'm not going to keep correcting myths, both about the 60s and the importance of heigh and size, post after post so I'll just say, do your research.  The 60s weren't a weak league, it was a league of extreme physicality, fast pace, high athleticism.  And there were excellent big men who were slightly (1 inch most of the time, 2 at others, maybe 3 inches) shorter than the magical 7 who Wilt faced and he obliterated them.  Even Russell could only hope to put bumps in the road and hope the mild slowing of Wilt would do the job.

Oh and Shaq averaged less than 35 minutes per game.  Russell averaged 42.  Wilt, just under 46.    even your less sensational greats of the time like Nate and Walt averaged more than Shaq at 37 .  And they played in a faster paced, harder hitting league.  So no, Shaq would have a rough adjustment period.