I think you start with the former MVPs and Finals MVPs. no one should be in the top 20 without being an MVP or Finals MVP at least once. from that list, add the total number of the following awards: MVPs: the more they won, the better the player. obviously. Finals MVPs: This shows you weren't just along for the ride, but were the reason they won. Rings: winning counts, obviously. NAME - MVP - FMVP - RINGS = TOTAL 1) Jordan - 5 - 6 - 6 = 17 *2) Russell - 5 - 0 - 11 = 16 (keep in mind FMPV didn't exist in his time) 3) Jabbar - 6 - 2 - 6 = 14 4) Magic - 3 - 3 - 5 = 11 5) Duncan - 2 - 3 - 5 = 10 6) Bird - 4 - 2 - 3 = 9 7) Shaq - 1 - 3 - 4 = 8 8) Lebron - 4 - 2 - 2 = 8 9) Kobe - 1 - 2 - 5 = 8 10) Wilt - 4 - 1 - 2 = 7 11) Cousey - 1 - 0 - 6 = 7 (no FMVP in his time) 12) Hakeem - 1 - 2 - 2 = 5 13) Reed - 1 - 2 - 2 = 5 14) Moses - 3 - 1 - 1 = 5 15) Walton - 1 - 1 - 2 = 4 16) Dirk - 1 - 1 - 1 = 3 17) Unseld - 1 - 1 - 1 = 3 18) Cowens - 1 - 0 - 2 = 3 19) Mcadoo - 1 - 0 - 2 = 3 *20) Dr J - 1 - 0 - 1 = 2 (with ABA MVPs and Rings he would have a score of 7) what was so interesting to me was that last year's NBA Finals was a battle for top 5 all time, between Duncan and Lebron. had Lebron won, we would've presumably been FMVP as well giving him 10 total points and placing him #5 all time. instead, duncan became the 5th player to reach double figures on this list.
It's an interesting list, but a number of those championships were obtained past players' prime. For example, I'd value Dirk's championship 10 times more than any of McAdoo's championships.
Semantics. He means quality. In terms of quality at his peak, I'd put Shaq even higher. But I'd put Bird and Wilt higher than they are on that list too.
Tim Duncan has had a tremendously successful basketball career. LeBron James is easily (EASILY) the better overall player but hasn't had the success Timmy has had on the court. That being said. In a match up with Duncan vs Dream? Really? People here would choose Duncan? And with these guys like Kareem, Wilt, and Russell...why has no one mentioned Moses Malone as a top 20?
By this metric..where is Horry? Sorry about my comment about Malone not being on the list. I overlooked him when I read the first page only.
Guess we'd be comparing: MJ (86-93) Russell (60-66) Jabbar (70-77) Magic (83-88) Bird (81-87) Wilt (61-66) Shaq (95-03) Dream (89-97) Kobe (02-10) Duncan (98-07) Robertson (60-70) Baylor (59-70) LeBron (06-14) West (61-72) Dr.J (71-82) J.Havlicek (66-73) K.Malone (89-99) M.Malone (78-86) Thomas (83-90) C.Barkley (88-96) Stockton (89-98) D.Robinson (90-96) KG (99-07) Frazier (69-75) McHale (83-90) Drexler (86-93) Wilkins (84-94) Hayes (68-77) Gervin (76-82) Ewing (88-96) Webber (96-03) Iverson (99-07) Pippen (90-97) Wade (06-11) Payton (93-02) Paul (07-now) Barry (66-75) Worthy (83-91)
Good list. I'd definitely add Dirk, in my view he has a legit case as the best PF after Duncan. He arguably should've been MVP in both 06 and 07 (between him and Kobe in 06). Also, I'd have Penny Hardaway above many players on the list. Short prime. But he was great. I might take him as the second best PG. Durant too. Bill Walton. Short prime too. Bill Walton depends if we are talking about how good these players were in their era, or how good we think they'd be in our era. Walton was a legit rival to Kareem in his era. Would he be an MVP caliber player today, I'm not sure, he was very light and slow in his prime, that's harder to hide today because teams space the floor much better. Jason Kidd, Grant Hill. I doubt that these two would end up in my top 20 of "best at their primes," but I'd consider them ahead of a few guys on that long list.
