RED AUERBACH TOP 12 OF ALL TIME IN 1990 (no order)

[Round Mound]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7IqJZJIjFE

:bowdown:

[red1]

great post. :cheers:

[1987_Lakers]

Notice he didn't name Wilt. lol.

[Round Mound]

Yeah i know but Wilt's numbers speak for themselves. He has Barkley in as a top player of all time basically because of his prime and that year 1990 he was the most valuable player robbed from the MVP. He also mentions that Malone would become a great player and he did even passed his prime in the late 90s.

[Horatio33]

You only linked this because he picked Barkley. If he hasn't, you'd wouldn't be showing this.

[red1]

Notice he didn't name Wilt. lol.

yup.


plus lebron was only six years. still a few years too early.

[tpols]

he sounds like a mobster :lol

[jlip]

Notice he didn't name Wilt. lol.

The first thing that stood out to me also. LOL!

[bizil]

From a GOAT or FUTURE GOAT perspective, Red NAILED it for that time period pretty much. When u look at the top 3 GOAT PG's at that time, Magic, Big O, and Cousy would have been my top 3. At the 2 spot, West and MJ would have been the top 2. Actually at that time, I would have given West the edge over MJ GOAT wise. When u look at the SG's like Gervin, Pete, Monroe, Sam Jones, Thompson, etc. at the time, MJ's resume was ALREADY on par or better than those guys! And his peak-prime status of course was better! West was the only one u could put ahead of him at that time.

At the 3 spot, Bird, Doc, Hondo, and Baylor would have been the top 4. At the PF, Bob P would have been the GOAT at that time. And his honorable mentions of Barkley and Malone were the FIRST TWO to pass Big Bob by down the road. And at the 5, Kareem and Russ are still the top 2 to this day. Peak-prime wise, of course I would have went with Wilt and Kareem at that time. But GOAT wise, Kareem and Russ are the top two. So for that time, u can't really beat the list Red put out there. Maybe u could have Isiah on there in place of Cousy at that time. But then again, Cousy was his guy.

[AussieSteve]

He names 12 and then says that he had Barkley in there also and that he had trouble keeping out Malone as a guy who should be in there eventually. I'm not sure if this means he had Barkley #13 or if one of the other 12 weren't actually in his list and Barkley was.

For those who don't watch it, his list is

Russel and KAJ as centers

Dr J, Bird, Baylor, Petit and Barkley as forwards

Havlicek as a swingman

Cousy, Magic, MJ, Oscar and West as guards.


Barkley and Jordan were both only 26/27 in 1990 and only 6 seasons into their career. Jordan is a given, but it seaks to the level of both of their play that Red already had them in his top dozen all time.

[Psileas]

RED AUERBACH TOP 12 OF ALL TIME IN 1990 (no order)


Well, not quite, since I expected some definitive picks. He did say he had mentioned some all-time team in an earlier interview at SI, but he had to go off memory to recall his picks, which means he didn't have a fixed choice, he first and foremost admitted that you can't really do it.
Not picking Wilt isn't that striking, since an all-time team usually only includes 2 centers. Russell would be an obvious choice for him and Kareem, having just retired (assuming his SI interview even came in 1990) and coming off his late rings and stopping at 6, would also be a very standard, for that specific period, pick. He's a standard choice nowadays as well, but he had in general lost popularity points in most of the 90's and 00's.
Notice, btw, how he also makes a deal out of players not just being great, but selling tickets. He's only mentioned Wilt and Russell as the bigs who sold tickets, not Kareem.

[fsvr54]

Opinion would have been invalid if he excluded Dr J or Moses, so good on him for recognizing one of the GOATS in Dr J.