Also Tim Duncan should never be on a list above Hakeem. Its not close. Duncan was a great player whole played much his career as a role player in a great system. Hakeem WAS the system
The case against he only won 2 instead of 3 or 4. I don't think it's Duncan, Kobe should not be in there because he had that tragic accident. Kobe is 11th or 12th in reality and shouldn't have gotten that bonus. Latter can duke it out with KD and Curry and Jokic. Guys like Russell and Wilt should go down a little due to the game not having that many players back then. The number of two end players has increased dramatically.
Shaq isn't even in the conversation for top 3 centers, imo. That list is Wilt, Kareem, and Dream. 4th would be Robinson and Shaq in a push. Shaq had no defensive finesse, no midrange game, abysmal FT%. Zero DPOY. Career essentially died at the age of 30. Shaq is big time overrated. Keep in mind, Robinson didn't start the NBA until 24. That's 4 years of stats that he did not accumulate compared to Shaq.
As someone said, if it were just who is the better player, I'd definitely have Dream over Shaq, Duncan and Curry. However, factoring in career stats and titles, I would still have him top 10.
I’m taking bill russell out. Dude is the most overrated nba player ever. no offensive ability, played on stacked team in small NBA.
Hakeem Olajuwon is the greatest player in NBA history. Steph Curry being ahead of Olajuwon is hilarious. Tim Duncan is an all-time great - but he wasn't as good as Olajuwon on either side of the court. Hell - Curry wasn't as good as Durant.
I think the point of this list is overall career contributions and Shaq got MVP votes for 13 straight years including his 20yr old rookie season and he didn't really fall off until his age 33 season which seems about right for a guy of his size. Imagine if a rookie came into the league today and put up 24pts/14 reb with 3.5 blocks? Wemby is considered a generational talent and had as good a rookie season as you could hope and he didn't do that.
I can see a fair argument for most of those names. I do think Magic is rated too high because he wasn't much of a two-way player. I'd also put Dream above Kobe and Steph for the same reason. I, personally, think Dream was much better than both Duncan and Shaq, but I get the rings argument.
Agree. The only person I can actually see the argument for is Jordan, because he was almost as complete a 2 way player. Dream was a complete player with almost no top-level team mates to back him up (as much as I love all of the guys.) And obviously just from the personal bias side, I've never seen a player more spellbinding to watch than Dream on the block.
These GOAT rankings always come down to framing. Is it Peak v Peak or Career v Career? Like the reason that the MJ or LeBron "debate" is still so polarizing is because the criteria still isn't clearly defined. For peaks it's definitely, 100% Jordan but LeBron has a case for careers because of his longevity. Usually lists have a "hybrid" criteria that tries to take both into account but it's never really clear which is meant to weigh more. Now in Dream's case, if we're talking Peaks I think he's easily in the top 5 with maybe Jordan, LeBron, Magic, and Kareem because of his 2-way impact. I think that at his peak, he was the GOAT defender. But careerwise, this list is someone justifiable though I would put him ahead of Kobe and Curry and maybe even Wilt (which conveniently slides him into the top 10). I do have to give this list props for leaving Kobe out of the top 10 though. I don’t know if that's an intentional hot take but that's some real ball knower stuff right there.
Considering today’s game, which values 3-point shooting, efficiency, defense, and playing fast (scoring before the defense can set): Curry – The greatest shooter ever, essentially a pure shooting guard who’s also an elite playmaker. Kawhi – MJ is the GOAT, but Kawhi is a more efficient 3-point shooter and an elite, low-mistake defender. LeBron – The best transition weapon of all time, an elite playmaker, and an elite defender. Durant – Extremely efficient from all scoring areas, runs the floor well, and provides solid rim protection. Anthony Davis – Tough choice over Hakeem, but AD spaces the floor with his 3-point shooting and is also an elite defender.
One thing to consider in these top 10 debates to make it interesting is portability through eras. What players could you take from 1950s/60s eras and rules to now in 2025 and have the best impact overall? Personally guys like LeBron, Hakeem, Bird even others like Jerry West are extremely portable. As the rules of past eras were modified to help guards and offensive players. Centers like Wilt, Mikan etc had rule changes in later years to lower their dominance and hand checking rules helped guards. Pre and post three point line and ABA merger etc. Guys like LeBron and Hakeem may be some of the most portable across eras. As Hakeem had shooting touch, would be shooting threes and would basically be a more athletic, much better defensive and healthy Embiid in this era imo. Who are the top 10 most portable in two way impact, offensively and defensively across all eras?
