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Kobe retiring

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  • Tequilla
    Tequilla Member Posts: 20,102

    Kareem won a title his last season

    Kareem got swept in the Finals ... he also was the 3rd or 4th option on that team at that point.
  • PurpleJ
    PurpleJ Member Posts: 37,643 Founders Club

    PurpleJ said:

    Race, light yourself on fire for not including the Big O.

    That's a good point. I pretty much went with who I saw and while the Big O was there at the same time, TV back in the day was Lakers, Celtics, and Sixers in the 60's. O did win title with Kareem in Milwaukee,

    Who do I take off the list?
    Probably Rick Barry. For the sake of argument, you could maybe make a case for Wilt based on the era he played in. But he put up ridiculous numbers and changed the game so I wouldn't. You could also make the case for LeBron, because he is still playing and he needs to win one in Cleveland before he can pop off. I'm pretty sure he will, so I wouldn't make that one either. It's kind of like discussing your favorite movies or music, though, because it's subjective. Unless you want to go by rings or a specific stat, of course. But that'd be like going by record sales or box office. It doesn't always tell the whole story.
  • allpurpleallgold
    allpurpleallgold Member Posts: 8,771
    Bill Simmons calls Kobe top 10. And while I don't think his opinion is the be all end all, given his Celtic colored glasses and the fact that he literally wrote the book of basketball I'd say it carries some weight.

    I'd have him 9th on DNCs list.
  • dnc
    dnc Member Posts: 56,839

    Bill Simmons calls Kobe top 10. And while I don't think his opinion is the be all end all, given his Celtic colored glasses and the fact that he literally wrote the book of basketball I'd say it carries some weight.

    I'd have him 9th on DNCs list.

    You put him over Oscar, Hakeem and Shaq? Or above others on the list?
  • Tequilla
    Tequilla Member Posts: 20,102
    dnc said:

    Both sad news and happy. Like it's time.

    The Kobe haters coming out has me feeling nostalgic.

    He had an ok game tonight. He'll continue to put up stinkers. But at some point he'll have a big game and that'll be how I'll remember the last season.

    Kobe gave everyone what they wanted. The best Michael Jordan impersonation possible. And he's a top 10 player of all time. RIP.

    I love Kobe but I'm not sure he's top 10 of all time. I'd probably put him top 12. But no question he's one of the greats.

    What's your top 10 look like? I'd go something like

    Jordan
    Russell
    Magic
    Kareem
    Bird
    Wilt
    Bron
    Duncan
    Shaq
    Hakeem
    Oscar
    Kobe

    But he's definitely in that 8-15 range. Once you get past Duncan you can argue it quite a few different ways.
    It will be very difficult to move into the Top 5 ...

    I'd go with Jordan, Russell, Kareem, Magic, and Bird ...

    Wilt is a difficult person to slot because while individually he was great it's a team game and he really struggled there. When you compare Wilt's stats against Russell versus his stats against his total stats, it really speaks to the value of Russell.

    From a talent standpoint, LeBron is great. 2 titles though and the countless Finals losses though I think at some point have to stack up against him though. When you are comparing him to guys like Duncan and Kobe who have I believe 5 titles each, there's something to be said for that. In the end, the greatest players in the history of basketball are measured by titles. I put LeBron closer to the Wilt category than some others unless he can prove me wrong going forward. Oscar is really in that category as well.

    Duncan to me is probably ahead of Wilt at this point ... I'd put him 6th in my own rankings. Wilt 7th. Kobe 8th. Lebron 9th because of his dominance. Big O 10th. Hakeem 11th. Shaq 12th out of that list.

    In general, I don't find someone to be a great player because in their prime they were genetically superior to everybody else. I give major props to guys like Jordan, Kareem, and Duncan for being such strong players as they aged. Shaq really fell off as he aged and got out of shape. Hakeem was still a strong player in his mid 30s. For guards standards, both Kobe and Oscar played well far longer than most at their positions in their generations. I'm really looking forward to seeing how LeBron adjusts as his body starts to lose some of its advantages and whether he can change his game to adjust.
  • Tequilla
    Tequilla Member Posts: 20,102

    Bill Simmons calls Kobe top 10. And while I don't think his opinion is the be all end all, given his Celtic colored glasses and the fact that he literally wrote the book of basketball I'd say it carries some weight.

    I'd have him 9th on DNCs list.

    The Book of Basketball is an encyclopedia on the game. Simmons has some Celtic bias to him, but I never really got too much of an impression of that in the book. His reverence for the history of the game is greater than his Celtic fandom.
  • PurpleThrobber
    PurpleThrobber Member Posts: 48,099
    edited December 2015

    PurpleJ said:

    Race, light yourself on fire for not including the Big O.

    That's a good point. I pretty much went with who I saw and while the Big O was there at the same time, TV back in the day was Lakers, Celtics, and Sixers in the 60's. O did win title with Kareem in Milwaukee,

    Who do I take off the list?
    Rick Barry.

    Edit: Moses Malone and Karl Malone have to be in the discussion. Jerry West is horribly overrated - Havlicek has as strong a resume and way more rings.

    And dare I say, The Iceman was as good as it gets.

  • Swaye
    Swaye Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 41,739 Founders Club
    What, no Shawn Kemp?
  • allpurpleallgold
    allpurpleallgold Member Posts: 8,771
    dnc said:

    Bill Simmons calls Kobe top 10. And while I don't think his opinion is the be all end all, given his Celtic colored glasses and the fact that he literally wrote the book of basketball I'd say it carries some weight.

    I'd have him 9th on DNCs list.

    You put him over Oscar, Hakeem and Shaq? Or above others on the list?
    Ahead of those 3, behind Duncan. Lebron is the wildcard in there. If his career ended today I'd probably put him behind Kobe, Duncan.
  • RaceBannon
    RaceBannon Member, Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 114,030 Founders Club

    dnc said:

    Bill Simmons calls Kobe top 10. And while I don't think his opinion is the be all end all, given his Celtic colored glasses and the fact that he literally wrote the book of basketball I'd say it carries some weight.

    I'd have him 9th on DNCs list.

    You put him over Oscar, Hakeem and Shaq? Or above others on the list?
    Ahead of those 3, behind Duncan. Lebron is the wildcard in there. If his career ended today I'd probably put him behind Kobe, Duncan.
    I completely forgot about Duncan. As usual. He has to be on my list somewhere. Sorry Rick Barry you're out.

    I'm not a Kobe hater but the reason neither he or Shaq makes my list is because both of them should have more rings that Jordan. Regardless of who was to blame they are fucking stupid for ruining that team and kicking away a couple titles even before they broke up.

    Then Shaq got fat. I'd put Kobe ahead of Shaq because he led a team to two more titles and Shaq kind of rode Wade's coat tails to one more. (insert CuntWaffle you mean like Lebron)

    The top 50 list would have to be revisited these days for guys like Dirk and Wade etc.
  • Doogles
    Doogles Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 12,728 Founders Club
    The athletes have changed so much from era to era it's hard to really compare. Pretty much any athletic big man from today could be Wilt-esque if they played way back when.

    The Larry Bird just being another guy if he was black also rings true. No doubt he was a winner, but he was an important part of a team loaded with Hall of fame guys. Do you think he could dominate against today's athletes? I bet Iguadola and Lebron have harder challenges every week than Bird.

    It's easy to get nostalgic, but if we're taking all the studs in their prime to one court via time capsule i'm going to lean harder on the newer generation guys.
  • RaceBannon
    RaceBannon Member, Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 114,030 Founders Club
    Yeah it should be by era
  • PurpleThrobber
    PurpleThrobber Member Posts: 48,099
    edited December 2015

    Yeah it should be by era

    Just put white guys on one team and bruthas on the other.
  • PurpleThrobber
    PurpleThrobber Member Posts: 48,099
    Btw - Larry motherfucking Bird would be just fine in today's NBA. In fact, he'd probably score more with the preponderance of 3 point shooting.
  • dnc
    dnc Member Posts: 56,839
    There are plenty of athletes who are overrated just because they are white. Larry Fucking Bird is not one of them.
  • Tequilla
    Tequilla Member Posts: 20,102
    If you don't realize why Larry Fucking Bird was the great 3-4 in the history of the game, then you should probably sit out the rest of the discussion.

    Bird defined efficiency offensively whether it was his shooting ability or to make things easier on other players by getting them easy opportunities ...

    It's been said, and something I absolutely believe, that one way you can tell the best players is that they can be the most important player in the game with limited shooting. You talk to anybody that played in that era and they will tell you that both Magic and Bird were the best players on the court whether they shot or didn't. That's greatness.

    The idea that Bird was great because of the players that he played with as being a strike against him is ridiculous. If anything, it speaks to how great he was as he was far more willing to share touches with what others could do.

    For his career, Bird averaged 24-10-6 on 19 shots per game. Many have tried to crown LBJ as being superior to Bird ... and let's be honest, LBJ has played on inferior teams which has required him to do more ... so we should expect better numbers from him. LeBron is at 27-7-7 on 20 shots per game.

    The big difference between the two is that Bird's got him on championships and his numerous trips to the Finals came against decidedly better competition than what LBJ has had.
  • RoadDawg55
    RoadDawg55 Member Posts: 30,143
    Top 10 lists are fucking retarded.
  • allpurpleallgold
    allpurpleallgold Member Posts: 8,771

    Top 10 lists are fucking retarded.

    That guy makes an appearence.