Kareem Abdul Jabbar was the greatest center of all-time. He actually had the most indefensible shot in the history of the game. He was a great passer and rebounder and a good if not great defender. Wilt couldn’t do anything but finger roll and dunk. When the centers caught up size wise his offense deteriorated. Jabbar was great all the way until the end. Hakeem was a better all around player than Wilt, although the difference in eras makes it difficult to pick one over the other. Wilt and Shaq were pretty much identical in their physical dominance for their eras. If Wilt played in the same era as Shaq and Hakeem he would be in the 2nd tier of centers. I saw them all play by the way and was a huge LA fan through the Wilt and Jabbar years.
Whilst Dream will always be my GOAT, I actually can't argue with this. I actually think Kareem gets disrespected a lot being left out of the GOAT conversation. When you look at it he matches up against Jordan a lot better than Lebron does on the accolades in the NBA years and beats them all in his college years. I'm too young to have seen it happen but Kareem really is that dude on paper...
This guy, a Jordan fan, objectively proves Dream is the GOAT. https://hickamsdictum.com/the-g-o-a-t-who-is-the-best-basketball-player-of-all-time-e43c7e53a9a7
Everybody credits showtime and Magic for their dominance, but Kareem was nails in the half-court. Anytime they needed a crucial basket they looked to Kareem on the right low block. His great passing ability made it their go to play 50% of the time. I also think Magic was the best PG of all time. Talk about a loaded team.
Yeah I must admit I was surprised when I looked at the numbers (obviously I've gone back and watched all the big playoff runs etc, but it's not the same as having lived it as a contemporary) and Kareem is still a superstar player, I was expecting more like an ageing past it kind of numbers but Kareem has an MVP in 80, Finals MVP in 85, All NBA and All Defense throughout the 80's and never averaged less than 20 pts until the 86/87 season. Absolute monster numbers on paper, especially when you consider he didn't shoot 3's. 20 years in the league and he stayed a top tier player through the vast majority of it. Impressive when you consider he did that when medical/sports science was nothing compared to today, he had none of those things helping him the way today's athletes do, he did that in a time when players really didn't play forever like that.
Kareem was incredible. At an age when most NBA players were working hard in an attempt to stretch out their time in the NBA, looking for an assistant's job to stay on the bench and in the league, or retired? Kareem was Finals MVP in 1985, at age 38, adding another championship to his collection. The next season the Rockets eliminated the Lakers in the WC finals in 5 games, closing them out with Sampson's "The Shot." Years later, Jabbar was asked who he considered the 6 toughest players to go up against. Rockets fans will enjoy this:
He played from 1959 to 1973. I saw him play many times during that period. His dominance was surreal.