Who do u think were the 10 most overall talented/gifted players in NBA history?

[pauk]

Remember... i am not talking about career accomplishments here... but strictly the player abilities themselves...

Why? Because you can be the most gifted player to ever lace up a pair of sneakers and not end up with a single championship (or to few) due to the bad blessing of not having the required supporting cast, championship is a team accomplishment afterall (Championships are overrated that way, but thats another subject)...
Career awards & player ability can be two entirely different subjects and i want to talk about the latter.

Example: A player like Wilt Chamberlain was probably the most overall talented player in NBA history... Bill Russell might have accomplished more than Wilt Chamberlain, but was he really more talented than Wilt? I know what my answer is.... This example works with MANY players...

Who do you think were the 10 most overall talented players to ever touch an NBA basketball?

For me it goes something like this:

1. Wilt Chamberlain
2. Oscar Robertson
3. Michael Jordan
4. Kareem Abdul Jabbar
5. Shaquille Oneal
6. Lebron James
7. Larry Bird
8. Hakeem Olajuwon
9. Magic Johnson
10. Jerry West

[bdreason]

Not a bad list. Barkley needs to find his way onto it though.

[SyRyanYang]

Chris Webb

[Rnbizzle]

Could you break down for me why you chose Jerry West on your tenth spot instead of say.. T-Mac?

[iamgine]

Remember... i am not talking about career accomplishments here... but strictly the player abilities themselves...

Why? Because you can be the most gifted player to ever lace up a pair of sneakers and not end up with a single championship (or to few) due to the bad blessing of not having the required supporting cast, championship is a team accomplishment afterall (Championships are overrated that way, but thats another subject)...
Career awards & player ability can be two entirely different subjects and i want to talk about the latter.

Example: A player like Wilt Chamberlain was probably the most overall talented player in NBA history... Bill Russell might have accomplished more than Wilt Chamberlain, but was he really more talented than Wilt? I know what my answer is.... This example works with MANY players...

Who do you think were the 10 most overall talented players to ever touch an NBA basketball?

For me it goes something like this:

1. Wilt Chamberlain
2. Oscar Robertson
3. Michael Jordan
4. Kareem Abdul Jabbar
5. Shaquille Oneal
6. Lebron James
7. Larry Bird
8. Hakeem Olajuwon
9. Magic Johnson
10. Jerry West
What is talent? Does talent include intangibles like leadership or relentlessness?

[Sakkreth]

1. Sabonis.

[Dragonyeuw]

You know by not naming Kobe somewhere in there, that this thread was doomed from the start, right?

[pauk]

Could you break down for me why you chose Jerry West on your tenth spot instead of say.. T-Mac?

1. Efficiency
2. Even better passer
3. Even better rebounder for his size
4. Defense
5. Defense
6. Defense
7. Defense
8. Defense
9. Defense
10. Defense

:)

[pauk]

Feel free to add your Top 10, i wont argue, i just think its interesting to see how other people think.

[fpliii]

not sure if they're top 10 (most likely not), but I just wanna throw David Thompson and MRR out there

[v1ncelis]

No Vince Carter no top 10.

[dzav323]

Yao????

[LBJ 23]

Pretty good list OP. Optional, you can shuffle some players and it's still a good list.

[pauk]

What is talent? Does talent include intangibles like leadership or relentlessness?

Intangibles is a mental fortitude in basketball (intensity, heart, competitive spirit, leadership, basketball iq), that indeed is included as a skill/talent but its strictly a mindset... so the priority of the level of intangibles is decieving compared to your actual ability.

You see, intellectual function of yours mean nothing if you dont have the tools/ability to generate what your mind thinks, so your actual ability to produce is a higher priority... the intangibles come by themselves when you have those tools, especially if those tools (talent/skill) is at an all-time great level.

Like Salvador Dali once said:

"Mental thought without device & action is like a bird without wings"


We are down by 2 and there is 2 seconds left, i have to stay focused and step up, i am open and i have to take the shot and make the shot (intangibles, mental fortitude)....
now its up to my shooting ability to do the rest ...

See what i mean?

[Dragonyeuw]

I'm going to name the ten most talented I've seen, at their positions.

In no particular order:

PG: Magic, Isiah
SG: Jordan, Tmac( Kobe is better than Tmac obviously, but I feel Tmac was more naturally gifted. Kobe obviously is incredibly talented, but alot of his skill seems to come more from countless hours of gymwork).
Sf: Bird, Lebron
PF: Barkley, Garnett
C: Hakeem, Shaq


I base that strictly on raw god given talent and ability

[OldSchoolBBall]

Wilt, Jordan, Shaq, DRob, Hakeem, Lebron, Magic, Bird, KG and either Barkley/Oscar/Kobe.

[HardwoodLegend]

1. Efficiency
2. Even better passer
3. Even better rebounder for his size
4. Defense
5. Defense
6. Defense
7. Defense
8. Defense
9. Defense
10. Defense

:)

T-Mac was an exceptionally TALENTED defender. He was drawing comparisons to Scottie Pippen in his early Toronto days. The issue about T-Mac's defense didn't have anything to do with talent/gifts but rather effort. You didn't see more of that in Orlando because he had to expend most of his energy towards spearheading the offense.

He put forth a great defensive effort in the 2005 Playoffs with the Rockets though as he was mostly responsible for forcing Dirk into shooting 35% for the series.

[raprap]

I'm not going to list my top 10, but
Derrick Coleman and Rasheed Wallace are talents that imo did not reach their potential.

[pauk]

I'm going to name the ten most talented I've seen, at their positions.

In no particular order:

PG: Magic, Isiah
SG: Jordan, Tmac( Kobe is better than Tmac obviously, but I feel Tmac was more naturally gifted. Kobe obviously is incredibly talented, but alot of his skill seems to come more from countless hours of gymwork).
Sf: Bird, Lebron
PF: Barkley, Garnett
C: Hakeem, Shaq


I base that strictly on raw god given talent and ability

Good choice!

[pauk]

T-Mac was an exceptionally TALENTED defender. He was drawing comparisons to Scottie Pippen in his early Toronto days. The issue about T-Mac's defense didn't have anything to do with talent/gifts but rather effort. You didn't see more of that in Orlando because he had to expend most of his energy towards spearheading the offense.

He put forth a great defensive effort in the 2005 Playoffs with the Rockets though as he was mostly responsible for forcing Dirk into shooting 35% for the series.

Absolutely, he wasnt a bad defender at all, but compared to Jerry West he wasnt equally good of a defender wouldnt you agree? Jerrys defense is renowned.

As a T-Mac fan do you feel he was better than Jerry West at anything?

[iamgine]

Intangibles is a mental fortitude in basketball (intensity, heart, competitive spirit, leadership, basketball iq), that indeed is included as a skill/talent but its strictly a mindset... so the priority of the level of intangibles is decieving compared to your actual ability.

You see, intellectual function of yours mean nothing if you dont have the tools/ability to generate what your mind thinks, so your actual ability to produce is a higher priority... the intangibles come by themselves when you have those tools, especially if those tools (talent/skill) is at an all-time great level.

Like Salvador Dali once said:

"Mental thought without device & action is like a bird without wings"


We are down by 2 and there is 2 seconds left, i have to stay focused and step up, i am open and i have to take the shot and make the shot (intangibles, mental fortitude)....
now its up to my shooting ability to do the rest ...

See what i mean?
So what do you mean by talent? Everyone seems to have their own interpretation.

[scm5]

Shaq should be #1 on this list.

If he had applied himself and stayed in shape, he had a good shot at GOAT.

[WillC]

Based on size and physical gifts at the age of 20, the 10 most talented players (physically and in terms of talent) were as follows:

1 - Shaquille O'Neal
2 - Wilt Chamberlain
3 - LeBron James
4 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
5 - Magic Johnson
6 - Kevin Garnett
7 - David Robinson
8 - Chris Webber
9 - Ralph Sampson
10 - Tim Duncan

My top 30 can be found here: http://basketballjournalist.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/nbas-ultimate-fantasy-draft.html

[Rubio2Gasol]

God given talent basically equals athleticism and propensity to learn basketball.

[Noyze]

other then the ones that were listed. As far as pure talent

T-Mac was probably the most gifted wing behind Jordan and LeBron.
Hakeem Olajuwon
Jalen Rose
Rasheed Wallace

You'd be surprised at how many of these players don't reach their potential. Whether it's off court distractions, injury, or lack of mental strength their abilities aren't in question. Usually when you watch these players the perception is that they can do more then what they are because they make it look so easy.

[lilgodfather1]

I think that other than LeBron, Shaq, Jordan, and maybe Yao, Vince Carter is the most naturally gifted player I have ever seen play more than a handful of games. Guys like Magic, Bird, KAJ, etc were all very talented, but I don't think their god given abilities were greater than Carters.

The players that I have the most information/experience on/with is LeBron/Westbrook/Rose/VC/Shaq/Yao/Jordan/TMac/Durant/Dwight

Mostly modern players obviously, but I was born in the 90's and didn't see enough games to rank any of the others properly. With an all time list I can rank them based on accomplishments, and the things I have seen in games I have seen, but in terms of their natural talents I don't feel I can accurately rank them. Even Jordan is hard for me to include, but I feel fairly confident in saying he is one of the top 5 athletes I have ever seen.

[Rubio2Gasol]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Durant.

[kennethgriffin]

top 10 most talented / gifted


and he puts shaq and leaves kobe out of the top 10




kobe is one of the most fundimentaly sound offensive/defense complete players in nba history


shaq cant even hit a free throw

lol

[funnystuff]

Intangibles is a mental fortitude in basketball (intensity, heart, competitive spirit, leadership, basketball iq), that indeed is included as a skill/talent but its strictly a mindset... so the priority of the level of intangibles is decieving compared to your actual ability.

You see, intellectual function of yours mean nothing if you dont have the tools/ability to generate what your mind thinks, so your actual ability to produce is a higher priority... the intangibles come by themselves when you have those tools, especially if those tools (talent/skill) is at an all-time great level.

Like Salvador Dali once said:

"Mental thought without device & action is like a bird without wings"


We are down by 2 and there is 2 seconds left, i have to stay focused and step up, i am open and i have to take the shot and make the shot (intangibles, mental fortitude)....
now its up to my shooting ability to do the rest ...

See what i mean?
Dat Vocabulary.

[DatAsh]

top 10 most talented / gifted


and he puts shaq and leaves kobe out of the top 10




kobe is one of the most fundimentaly sound offensive/defense complete player skill wise in nba history


shaq cant even hit a free throw

lol

Skills are often indicative of talent, but it's not a one to one correlation. I think what most people mean by talent here is "With equal amounts of practice, who would be the best basketball player?".

Guys like Kobe and Jordan owe a lot of their "skill" to their obsessive work ethic. Although they're certainly some of the most talented players ever, guys like Shaq and Wilt were undoubtedly more naturally blessed(in basketball terms).

[lilgodfather1]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Durant.
Literally right above you I mention Durant...

[kennethgriffin]

Skills are often indicative of talent, but it's not a one to one correlation. I think what most people mean by talent here is "With equal amounts of practice, who would be the best basketball player?".

Guys like Kobe and Jordan owe a lot of their "skill" to their obsessive work ethic. Although they're certainly some of the most talented players ever, guys like Shaq and Wilt were undoubtedly more naturally blessed(in basketball terms).


then the title should say top 10 most physically gifted players


skills are something people practice to become good at.

skill and how big, fast, quick you are or how high you can jump or how much you can bench isnt a talent or skill... its just an physical attribute