[TheAthletic] Top 75 players in NBA history - Number 11: The Dream

Stern died knowing where the skeletons in the league are buried. Only other team that has a legitimate reason to complain are the Kings for the Donaghy coverup.

 

...

 

On offense, I'd agree.

 

100% A+

 

I'm tempted to say anywhere in the top ten

 

Damian Lillard making this list is atrocious

 

He ended up #10 as stated earlier...

 

Thanks for catching me up lol -- I'm a skimmer...

 

That’s because the media of the 80s and 90s promoted Magic, Bird and Jordan

99ers know Dream
That’s why we are brothers

 

Duncan at #9.

 

I feel like Hakeem in his prime was one of the top 5 most complete players to ever play the game - he is right there with Lebron and MJ in being able to impose his will on anyone at any time - offensively or defensively. My only knock on Dream is that while he was still the greatest center of his generation, he didn't sustain that "impose your will" dominance as long as those other GOATS - but for a window of 5 years or so he was definitely THAT dude. Curious to see who finishes above him - I could see arguments for MJ, Lebron, Bird, Duncan, Russell, Kareem, Magic, Wilt - basically we are at the point of the list where if you imposed your will for some length of time as the greatest in your era AND won multiple titles....but you gotta have 3+ titles or have broken multiple records no one can touch(like Wilt's 100pt game or 50pt/gm season)

I don't agree that Kobe was a better player than Hakeem over the course of his career, but Nike(hats off to them -I guess?) signed him to a HUGE deal right before he raped that girl so they had to make sure he would be a cultural icon despite being a rapist, a bad teammate, and unpopular among his peers for most of his career. I watched the NBA fervently during Kobe's career and it wasn't until the last 5 or 6 years of his career when people started to embrace him - people didn't even want to play with him before that. I distinctly remember articles about how Derek Fisher was the only guy Kobe hung out with on the Lakers even while they were a contending team....he tended to blame his teammates for everything, was a low efficiency/volume shooter, passed only when someone wrote an article about how he was a ball hog, refused to shoot to prove a point in games - Mamba Mentality was largely revisionist history. He worked hard, was a tough competitor, and was feared in a league of competitors(although he wasn't a great clutch shooter like people think) - but he was a great scorer and an aggressive defender when he wanted to be...and has a lot of rings to his name playing on the premier NBA team which bumps him up in a lot of respects....but if Kobe plays for Memphis his entire career, he probably only wins a couple of titles like Hakeem and probably doesn't get signed by Nike, and probably doesn't quite have the fan base, and probably is ranked well below Hakeem.

 

Shaq #8

 

Dream is ranked pretty close to right. I think Kobe should be lower, but splitting hairs. Kobe's going to get a boost because of this tragic death, which is still fresh on peoples minds.

Shaq and Dream are about as equal as it gets, so I think they should have been side by side on the list.

 

Bill Russell at #4 which means Jordan, Lebron, Kareem are left...

 

Kareem at #3... kinda shocked that they placed Kareem ahead of Russell and Wilt plus having an 8 place gap between him and Dream.

Panelists ... kinda surprised by the lack of... New York and Chicago presence... Dallas area seems over-represented.
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True. I like Lillard, but really what’s the difference between him and say, Rolando Blackman?

 

Damn, greatest international player of all time, Tim Duncan?

 

Here's your answer:
https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm...m=0&player_id1=blackro01&player_id2=lillada01

6.6 more PPG and x2 more assists per game

 

You take out Ro’s first season and last two seasons (when he was a reserve) and they’re not even that different.

 

These lists always put Shaq and Duncan ahead of Hakeem. He was easily better than both.