Magic destroyed the Julius Erving 76ers as a rookie in Game 6 when Jabbar DNP'd...scoring 42 pts, 15 rbs and 7 asts playing Center, SF and PG all in one game...winning Finals MVP Then in 1988, Magic won in 7 against 4 HOFers on the Pistons with a 40 yr old Jabbar scoring 14ppg in < 30mpg, who had a terrible series against the Bad Boys (shooting 41% with 4 TRB). Jabbar was worse than an aging David Robinson at that point. Aren't you saying the same thing in two different ways? Nice debate tactics! Um, Jabbar did not play the first 17 games that season, and the Bucks started 1-13. That's why. Sorta like OKC this year losing both Westbrook and Durant at the beginning of the year. Why not mention their Rookie years? Probably because you know the story. Let's just see the video highlights. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/yYNDWaEmqto" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> We can talk more about his Rookie year vs the Jabbar, Wilkes, Dantley Lakers prior, if you want...going from 47 win mediocre team to 60 wins and the title. This is always the weakest argument of them all. What's your point? Playing with less HOFers makes you the better player? Magic won 5 rings in an era of playing NBA finals against 76ers, Celtics, Pistons and Bulls teams that also fielded 2-5 HOFers, plus the Rockets with Akeem and a HOF-bound Sampson, pre-injury. And Magic was the best player among all those HOFers. What better way to prove how good he was than to be the best player over scores of other HOFers by winning Finals MVP in '80, '82, '87 And he most certainly won one with a fairly useless 40yr old Jabbar, and went through a stacked PHO and Portland teams without him to reach the finals against MJ...
The talent at the top was strong but at the bottom it was HISD high school bad. That's why the stats in those eras are so ridiculous. 18+ rebound avg and 20+ win share for the league leaders, bull****.
Sir do you get your feathers ruffled easily??? Where exactly did I say that 1 guy was better than the other. Didn't I say fun facts?? What exactly did I write that wasn't technically true?? Your OPINION is no greater than mine or anybody else's for that matter. You like/think Magic Johnson is the greatest fine but my opinion that the Big O was just as good but in a different generation is just as valid. In fact reading most of these type posts, the older guys always get disparaged for their accomplishments and the younger guys stats are always held up as being better. Different generation, different game, different style doesn't take away the fact that whomever was the greatest player of their respective times.
My only real qualm with bringing up the old timers stats is the rebounds. There were many more rebounds to be had back then. In his triple double year teams averaged 71 rebounds per game, now teams average about 43. They played at a high pace and missed a lot of shots, on top of much less athletic competition The assists numbers are inflated as well because of the high pace, but the rebounds are more egregious.
ruffled? nah, I love these discussions. I love the opportunity to compare players and stats. I love to show how Oscar's bloated stats provide no reason to compare him to Magic. My stats show the superiority of Magic once you account for Pace and MPG. In an era of advanced analytics, where you can't prove anything by Pts/TRB/Asts numbers alone, I find it odd that these Oscar posts still come up. Pace and MPG are significant factors to include in any stat-driven discussion of Oscar. btw: I don't see how your post was "fun facts." How does team success after a player leaves matter (even despite you forgetting Kareem missed the first 17 games after Oscar left) -- kinda meaningless, shallow and flippant compared to the efforts of the OP. I'm glad the OP's post gave me the opportunity to run numbers on Magic's triple doubles. It was fun and revealing.
Wow. Saw that game too. Couldn't believe no foul was called. I moved to the DC area in 1970, so it had to be 1970 or later ..... Clyde was one cool mofo.
Most O-verrated player of all time. Nearly half the league averaged double digit rebounds/36 minutes back in 1962 because of the awful shooting and the silly pace. His triple double year, Oscar robertson averaged 12.5 per game (second on his own team) - and on a per minute basis he was only 7th out of 11 players on Cincinatti in rebounding, and 47th out of 113 players in the NBA. He wasn't an elite (or even especially good) rebounder by any stretch, he was just THERE, in an era where rebounds were cheap. Bascially, if you played 40 minutes and stood around, as HP noted,you broke 10 rebounds back then.
I don't know if I'd agree that he was overrated, because I've only ever heard great things about him from guys who played against him or watched him a lot. But that statistic is all we need to know that his triple double season is definitely overrated.
Did this site get it wrong? http://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/tag/john-k-jack-twyman http://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/tag/wayne-r-embry
"Jack Twyman... it's my distinguished honour to enshrine you as a player," the 4 minutes mark in the clip on that page. Good point re Embry, he's a 5 times all star, but it looks like he was enshrined as an overall contributor.
