Where has elementally morale been? I'd like to see his all-time player list. [Archive] - Message Board Basketball Forum

elementally morale

11-28-2019, 07:49 PM

I'm here but don't really have time to discuss it in detail right now. Maybe later or tomorrow. I'll say something but make it rather short.

I do not have an all-time player list for various reasons.

1) I'm not ranking anyone before 1980. I was a child back then but I started following the NBA that year. Meaning: when I got older and took another look at games and seasons I never went before 1980. So it's not 'all-time' but 'my time'. And that's 1980 ----> present day

2) I have tiers. I don't want to decide if it's Magic or Bird... they are in the same tier for me. I have like 4-5 of those tiers and than the rest. So I can quasi-rank some 25-30 players an that's it.

3) Even that said there are some players I leave out. Why? I haven't watched them play enough. For example: Moses Malone. He is nowhere to be found on my 'list'. Was he not good enough? I guess he was... but I can't tell.

4) Most importantly: these lists are subjective and the older I get the more unimportant and useless they are for me. I don't really care any longer who 'the best' players were... just as I don't care about best book or best music or best movie, etc. I have favorites. I can't and don't even want to justify my selections. I go with my feelings and observations and I actually don't want to be 'right'. When it comes to best, we usually have our favorites and then we rationalize. We want to give a reason as to why and want to use some numbers as 'facts'. Absolutely not necessary.

+1) I'm not sure how I should factor in longevity. If I create a list based on peak play that list is different from career. Both are fine. Kareem should have more longevity points than Bird. But was peak Kareem better than peak Bird? LeBron is also interesting in this regard. He should be higher for career than peak I'd say.

+2) Individual play or team play? Magic is a worse individual player than MJ but as for success and team play... you get the idea.

So you see it's tough and actually I'm not sure has a real meaning to me any more.

With all that being said if you are still interested I can come up with a list... if I can select a few criteria by which I'll be going. 2-3 hours from now I may be able to do that.