Best NBA Player Ever

[TPhoenix]

I know this subject is highly debatable and all that, but when you look back, there have been many upon many of phenomenal NBA players that came along, showed us their amazing court skills and either retired or continue to play in the name of love for basketball. Who do you think is the best of all time? Is it Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O'Neil, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James or someone else you have in mind? And why?

 

[Maxeem]

I do agree with you- it's highly debatable. Especially since the different "players of the decade" usually don't overlap very much, and if they do, one is in their prime and the other is inexperienced or worn out.
However, despite this, I would say that Michael Jordan is the best player of all time.
If you look at his play, there is no doubt that he was indisputably the best player of his time (during his prime). Whether it be the fever game, the clutch shots, or the 6 Championships and MVPs, MJ has shown throughout his career that he is the best and deserves that title. He not only changed the game, but also was allowed the Bulls to become a dominant force for most of an entire decade. That's pretty impressive!
If not #1, MJ is at the very least 2nd (in my opinion, 1st) of all time. His dominant and impressive play style just offered so much to the NBA and shaped what it is today.

 

[thejamal]

Taking the opposite approach here: It's not really debatable at all.

The much better question is who is the #2 player ever as you reasonably could make arguments for about 7 or 8 different players in that spot. But the top spot is unequivocally Jordan's spot. There just hasn't been anyone to come close to his statistical dominance and playoff success. The only guy who's somewhat close is LeBron and he'd probably need another 5 or 6 years of his prime play+ another 2 or 3 titles to even make that a discussion.

 

[basketball newbie]

Looks like this question is not really debatable at least for the 3 of us who have so far answered this thread. My best NBA player of all time is Michael Jordan too. He is good in all departments, scoring, rebound, assist and above all, he is superb in dunking. I know it is part of scoring but I just have to mention that specifically because he is the dunking king! He flies high and he's got a lot of styles.

 

[downsouth]

I think Lebron James will surpass Jordan and Kobe as the best player of all time. Not statistically as Jordan and Bryant were prolific scorers. Bryant still is. But I think James is more an all around better athlete. He surpasses Jordan and Bryant in every other dynamic of the game besides scoring.

 

[Sugarhill]

I don't know if I believe that Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time, I do know that he is one of the best that I've ever seen. However, I honestly believe if Allen Iverson had the opportunity to have played on a team like the Denver Nuggets team he was on for the majority of his career, Allen would've truly challenged that notion.

Even with Allen not having played on a team like that, he ranks in my top 5 of what I've seen and I do believe that his talent would've not only translated in every era of basketball, but would've been more successfully utilized and appreciated. I won't even begin to consider what would've happened if he were 6'2" to 6'4".

And before anyone says that Allen wouldn't have been able to do what he did at 6'4", please realize that Dwyane Wade is nothing but a taller, but much less talented, less athletic, less prolific and much more fragile Allen Iverson. His entire game was built on Allen's, but people are actually trying to consider him a top 10 SG of all time! Ridiculous.

 

[joshposh]

I watched basketball since the Bird and Magic era and I have to say that my vote for the best player of all time is none other than Michael Jordan. What hasn't been said in this thread about Jordan? Need I be redundant go over the same as everyone else? But I will add this tid bit, I do watch a lot of interviews of other great players from the NBA past and present, and they all say the same thing. Michael Jordan is the greatest player that ever played. When other great players all point to one person that they say is the best, then why should I even voice my vote?

 

[Sugarhill]

While I do believe that many people think that Jordan is the greatest, I also believe that many aren't willing to be the one that answers differently and then deal with all of the that would come along with it. They have better things to do than justify why they may not bow down to Michael Jordan.

 

[downsouth]

While I do believe that many people think that Jordan is the greatest, I also believe that many aren't willing to be the one that answers differently and then deal with all of the that would come along with it. They have better things to do than justify why they may not bow down to Michael Jordan.

We are all entitled to our opinions. This is not politics, religion or about money for godsakes. We are talking about who we think the greatest basketball player of all time is. There is absolutely no reason for anyone to be afraid to state who they truly feel is the best. If anything dissension is good for the forum as people are forced to back up why they feel so and so is the greatest player of all time.

 

[joshposh]

While I do believe that many people think that Jordan is the greatest, I also believe that many aren't willing to be the one that answers differently and then deal with all of the that would come along with it. They have better things to do than justify why they may not bow down to Michael Jordan.

I'm not afraid to voice a different opinion. It's just that if you look at his entire career and what he has done, he does appear to be the #1 guy. It's not peer pressure, it's just a opinion.

 

[downsouth]

Also you have to consider how players height and weight have increased over the years. The average guard is at least 2-3 inches taller than a decade ago. The game is physically more demanding now like with all sports. That is not taking away from guys like Jordan or Kareem or Magic because they played the same level of opponents. But I wonder if they could put up those numbers in today's physical basketball game against guys much stronger and bigger.

 

[downsouth]

A prime example of this is the NCAA. You have teams from regional conferences knocking off teams in the SEC and ACC ranked top 10 in the country much more than before. The field is much more even than it was a decade ago. Guys are all trying to make a name for themselves, playing hard every night and there are only a limited number of talented players teams like Kentucky or Duke can add to their roster. So those guys go to Wichita State or Northern Iowa and put up big numbers.

 

[Sugarhill]

Um yeah, to both Josh and downsouth, I was responding to Josh using the reasoning that "other great players all point to one person that they say is the best, then why should I even voice my vote?" There are plenty of players for whom someone else was their greatest of all time, but if they held strong to that opinion, it would be the question they'd have to answer in every form of media.

 

[downsouth]

Um yeah, to both Josh and downsouth, I was responding to Josh using the reasoning that "other great players all point to one person that they say is the best, then why should I even voice my vote?" There are plenty of players for whom someone else was their greatest of all time, but if they held strong to that opinion, it would be the question they'd have to answer in every form of media.

Well some people are plenty vocal about voicing their opinions and others aren't . Depends how a player is in front of the media and his personality. I think more often than not most players say what they really think is on their minds especially regarding an innocuous question like "Who do you think is the best NBA player of all time?"

 

[lindbergh]

Kobe. Lol! No way. Michael Jordan is the best NBA player, the GOAT. Yes, Lebron James has some very impressive numbers which would probably surpass MJ someday but Jordan has made basketball so much fun to watch. He made it watchable to those who don't even know how to dribble a basketball. It's not just his skill with the ball that makes him so great. It's also his aura. His presence when he was in the court was electrifying.

Oh, and that tongue makes him even extra special.

 

[Choi]

I think Lebron James will surpass Jordan and Kobe as the best player of all time. Not statistically as Jordan and Bryant were prolific scorers. Bryant still is. But I think James is more an all around better athlete. He surpasses Jordan and Bryant in every other dynamic of the game besides scoring.

First of all, I respect your post but I don't agree with your statement that James would surpass Jordan. James's tarnished NBA Finals record of 2/5 would forever bring down his case as the GOAT. Jordan's intangibles such as hard work, mental toughness, the ability to make clutch shots are some of the things that LeBron doesn't FULLY have. Just think about this, he needed Ray Allen's corner three to save his ass in order to force a Game 7 on the 2013 NBA Finals. Jordan didn't even allow his opponents to reach a Game 7.

Jordan also didn't change teams. Way before he won his first title, the Pistons also known as the Bad Boys are the ultimate obstacle to Jordan and the Bulls. The Pistons played tough and it took a toll on the Bulls mentally and physically. What did Jordan do? He trained his body more to take the elbows and the punches thrown by the Pistons and he was able to overcome them. That's what great players do and LeBron, as far as I'm concerned, don't have the mental toughness to overcome obstacles.

 

[Sugarhill]

Well some people are plenty vocal about voicing their opinions and others aren't . Depends how a player is in front of the media and his personality. I think more often than not most players say what they really think is on their minds especially regarding an innocuous question like "Who do you think is the best NBA player of all time?"

But, it wouldn't be seen as an innocuous question or just an honest answer. It would be seen as major disrespect and a lack of knowledge of the game. Just as no one inside the League will go ahead and admit that it's time for Kobe to stop playing and that it was actually time a season or two ago. They don't want to "upset" him, they wouldn't want to upset Michael Jordan or the many people that refuse to let go of their childhood that consisted of watching Michael and admit that yes, LeBron is a better player and Michael really wouldn't have wanted much to do with him on the court.

 

[thejamal]

First of all, I respect your post but I don't agree with your statement that James would surpass Jordan. James's tarnished NBA Finals record of 2/5 would forever bring down his case as the GOAT. Jordan's intangibles such as hard work, mental toughness, the ability to make clutch shots are some of the things that LeBron doesn't FULLY have. Just think about this, he needed Ray Allen's corner three to save his ass in order to force a Game 7 on the 2013 NBA Finals. Jordan didn't even allow his opponents to reach a Game 7.

Jordan also didn't change teams. Way before he won his first title, the Pistons also known as the Bad Boys are the ultimate obstacle to Jordan and the Bulls. The Pistons played tough and it took a toll on the Bulls mentally and physically. What did Jordan do? He trained his body more to take the elbows and the punches thrown by the Pistons and he was able to overcome them. That's what great players do and LeBron, as far as I'm concerned, don't have the mental toughness to overcome obstacles.

Oh cmon, here we go. Another "Jordan walked on water and never had any help from teammates" Never mind the fact that Jordan was armed to the teeth with 3pt shooters, a top 30 player all time in Scottie Pippen, and one of the greatest coaches of all time. LeBron's best player that he played with in Cleveland was freaking Mo Williams... hard to really blame him for not winning a title with that team.

And you don't win titles alone. Jordan never did, LeBron never did, Kobe never did. That's one of the most silliest arguments I hear make when people say "Player X had to save LeBron's ass in order to win..." well, they never would have gotten to that point without LeBron in the first place.

 

[dyanmarie25]

I would definitely have to go with Michael Jordan. I consider him as the best/greatest NBA player of all time. That man is a legend, no doubt about that. He was everything you want in an effective basketball player.

 

[alexjackson]

I haven't seen Chamberlain or Russel play, but from what I can tell they're dominant centers, much like Shaq was and to me, that doesn't take much talent as being a dominating point guard like Magic or shooting guard like Jordan.

Larry Bird is definitely considered among the greatest and rightly so. Him and Magic were the first players to play in that point forward role which is a very difficult role to guard and creates some difficult match ups. Bird was an intelligent player above all, but he lacked the athleticism of say Michael Jordan and he couldn't be an all around defender like MJ. Arguably a better shooter, but that's all in my opinion.

Magic Johnson was another highly intelligent player, the headpiece of the Showtime Lakers in the '80s, but he lacked few areas in his game to call himself the greatest. Arguably one of the most entertaining players ever to watch. I was a point guard as a kid and I loved his passing.

Kobe and Lebron are this new breed of basketball players, both taking after Jordan's attitude and understanding of living and breathing basketball. Lebron to a lesser extent, but I could still see him play 6-7 years from now, no doubt.

But, the greatest ever is Michael Jordan. Nobody brought intensity like him. He could do it all and he proved that time and time again. One argument I always use is that a 33 year old MJ came back to basketball after two years of retirement and won three championships and then bowed out again. No player has ever had that much impact on the game.