Throwback: SLAM Top 50 Players All-Time list from 1997

[L.Kizzle]

Back in 1997, SLAM put out a top 50 greatest NBA players list (ranked in order) to combat the leagues official list released the previous year.

This list came out in August of 97, right after the Bulls just beat the Jazz for their 5th championship.

8 new players made this list that were not on the official 50 greatest list: Walt Bellamy, Bob McAdoo, Dominique Wilkins, Adrian Dantley, Bernard King, Dan Issel, Alex English, Artis Gilmore.
From the original 1996 list they removed: Dave Bing, Hal Greer, Sam Jones, Shaquille O'Neal, Bill Sharman, Bill Walton, Lenny Wilkens, James Worthy.

It's interesting to see how certain players were ranked almost 25 years ago.
What stands out to you on how players were looked at back in 1997?

SLAM TOP 50 from 1997
1. Michael Jordan
2. Bill Russell
3. Magic Johnson
4. Larry Bird
5. Wilt Chamberlain
6. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
7. Oscar Robertson
8. Elgin Baylor
9. Jerry West
10. Hakeem Olajuwon
11. Julius Erving (tie)
11. Rick Barry (tie)
13. Bob Pettit
14. John Havlicek
15. Moses Malone
16. Karl Malone
17. Charles Barkley
18. Elvin Hayes
19. George Gervin
20. Walt Frazier
21. Isiah Thomas
22. Bob Cousy
23. John Stockton
24. George Mikan
25. Willis Reed
26. Dave Cowens
27. Wes Unseld
28. Patrick Ewing
29. Kevin McHale
30. Scottie Pippen
31. Dolph Schayes
32. David Robinson
33. Nate Thurmond
34. Walt Bellamy
35. Bob McAdoo
36. Jerry Lucas
37. Billy Cunningham
38. Paul Arizin
39. Dave DeBusschere
40. Dominique Wilkins
41. Adrian Dantley
42. Bernard King
43. Dan Issel
44. Alex English
45. Nate Archibald
46. Pete Maravich
47. Earl Monroe
48. Robert Parish
49. Clyde Drexler
50. Artis Gilmore

Missin' The Cut
Sure they didn't make the Top 50, but there's no shame here. The following 25 players were (or are) great, great players in their own right and deserve a special mention. And so...

51. Hal Greer
52. Sam Jones
53. Gail Goodrich
54. James Worthy
55. Bob Lanier
56. Tom Chambers
57. Walter Davis
58. Lenny Wilkens
59. Dennis Johnson
60. Jo Jo White
61. Bill Sharman
62. Kevin Johnson
63. Spencer Haywood
64. Gus Johnson
65. Chet Walker
66. Lou Hudson
67. Mark Aguirre
68. David Thompson
69. Terry Cummings
70. Calvin Murphy
71. George McGinnis
72. Tom Heinsohn
73. Bailey Howell
74. Neil Johnston
75. Mitch Richmond

Up & Coming
If these guys continue to play at a high level for the next few years, their names will likely end up on the next list. Still, they've got a long way to go before they deserve Top recognition:

Shaquille O'Neal
Shawn Kemp
Grant Hill
Penny Hardaway
Gary Payton

[MadDog]

Kareem and Wilt seemed to flip as years went. For whatever reason SLAM had Wilt #5 here and #8 in their last issue. Kareem #6 here and #4 in their last issue. Bird went from #4 in 97 to recently #10.

[SouBeachTalents]

Even accounting for 20+ years of players bumping them down the list, it's crazy to see Baylor & Barry that high. You won't even see them top 25 on most lists today

Arguably the most surprising one to me is seeing Robinson 32nd. I mean sure, he had a couple of nice years with Duncan winning 2 titles, but I assume the vast majority of people rank him on his pre Duncan body of work, so considering they had him about 10 spots lower than he is now almost 25 years ago really surprises me

Ditto Drexler barely cracking the top 50. I know ESPN really shafted him during in their last ranking, but he's typically about 10-15 spots higher than that on most lists

[L.Kizzle]

Even accounting for 20+ years of players bumping them down the list, it's crazy to see Baylor & Barry that high. You won't even see them top 25 on most lists today

Arguably the most surprising one to me is seeing Robinson 32nd. I mean sure, he had a couple of nice years with Duncan winning 2 titles, but I assume the vast majority of people rank him on his pre Duncan body of work, so considering they had him about 10 spots lower than he is now almost 25 years ago really surprises me

Ditto Drexler barely cracking the top 50. I know ESPN really shafted him during in their last ranking, but he's typically about 10-15 spots higher on most lists
Drexler is the one for me. Barley making the top 50. Guys like English and King over him. Ewing inside the top 30 20 spots over him. Dan Issel over Clyde, really.

[Shooter]

D. Schayes at 30th :lol

Made it because of the weak 90s era :lol

[imdaman99]

How many new players are making the top 50 if you do a list in 2020? Is it in the 15 range?

[Rake2204]

Even accounting for 20+ years of players bumping them down the list, it's crazy to see Baylor & Barry that high. You won't even see them top 25 on most lists today

Arguably the most surprising one to me is seeing Robinson 32nd. I mean sure, he had a couple of nice years with Duncan winning 2 titles, but I assume the vast majority of people rank him on his pre Duncan body of work, so considering they had him about 10 spots lower than he is now almost 25 years ago really surprises me

Ditto Drexler barely cracking the top 50. I know ESPN really shafted him during in their last ranking, but he's typically about 10-15 spots higher than that on most lists1997 was around the time I began reading SLAM and I swear I remember them calling Robinson soft in the Noyz section from time to time. Considering the street edge they really pushed to portray back then, I wouldn't be surprised if Robinson took a hit for not fitting in that SLAM sort of mold. Then again, having championships attached to your name works wonders, even if you won them mostly after your prime.

[L.Kizzle]

1997 was around the time I began reading SLAM and I swear I remember them calling Robinson soft in the Noyz section from time to time. Considering the street edge they really pushed to portray back then, I wouldn't be surprised if Robinson took a hit for not fitting in that SLAM sort of mold. Then again, having championships attached to your name works wonders, even if you won them mostly after your prime.
Judging by this list, SLAM was very high on scoring.
I mean how else do you explain Walt Bellamy at number 34 or Drexler behind Nique, AD, King and English.

[L.Kizzle]

Elgin Baylor over Jerry West is interesting.

Kevin Johnson and Mitch Richmond made the 51-75 section but Reggie Miller is no where to be seen.

[kawhileonard2]

D. Schayes at 30th :lol

Made it because of the weak 90s era :lol

He didn't play in the 90's.

[John8204]

It's an interesting list...

Top 10
Worst call - Elgin Baylor, Elgin as a top ten guy isn't right...you could have pushed the next seven guys above him easily
Best call - Wilt over Kareem, Wilt should be higher top 3/4 but putting him over Kareem is the right call

Top 20
Worst Call - Elvin Hayes over George Mikan how can you have Bill Russell at #2 and then not rank Mikan in the top twenty. Rick Barry is another bad pick but for me Hayes is worst.
Best Call - Walt Frazier over Isiah, Walt has definitely been crapped on the last 30 years getting a top five PG spot on the list is a good call

Top 30
Worst Call - Dave Cowens - you can see in the 20's they were trying to line up the PG's and C's and while I don't agree with the order Cowens sticks out like a sore thumb over Robinson, Ewing, Reed, Unseld and Thurmond (and Walton was committed when he's clearly in this class of centers)
Best call - Ewing/McHale/Pippen - that's a solid order right there

Top 40
Worst Call - the entire order...you could reverse it and it would make as much sense. DeBusschere, Cunningham, and Bellamy likely aren't top 75 guys let alone top 40.
Best Call - Arizin and Schayes making the cut often times on these lists those are the two guys that always get dumped off it's a good spot for both guys

Top 50
Worst Call - English, Archibald, and Maravich could be 20 spots higher
Best Call - giving Clyde the nod over all the other 90's misses (Mullin, Miller, Richmond, Oneal) for the time it makes sense

Top 5 biggest misses -
1. Mel Daniels - this seems like an Basketball list not an NBA list...Daniels belongs in the top fifty
2. Bill Walton - MVP, MVP runner up the bullets got two guys on the list, Cowens is ridiculously high but Walton who beat Dr J and Kareem doesn't rank
3. Joe Dumars - you got to explain to me how Dantely and Aguirre made the cut and Dumars missed it
4. Chris Mullin - I get Laetner not making the list but every other dream team guy ranked and ranked highly and he was a double medalist
5. Joe Fulks - Once again this seems like a basketball list...Fulks belongs in the 75 not the 50
.

[TheGoatest]

Elgin Baylor over Jerry West is interesting.

Kevin Johnson and Mitch Richmond made the 51-75 section but Reggie Miller is no where to be seen.

Another proof that Reggie Miller's entire legacy is a handful of rearviewmiorrored big shots.
Also, this list should give an indication of how controversial it was for the NBA to include Shaq in the top NBA 50th anniversary squad that same season. Obviously it was the right decision is retrospect, but at that point no way did he deserve to be top 50 ever based on his 4½ seasons in the league.

[John8204]

Another proof that Reggie Miller's entire legacy is a handful of rearviewmiorrored big shots.
Also, this list should give an indication of how controversial it was for the NBA to include Shaq in the top NBA 50th anniversary squad that same season. Obviously it was the right decision is retrospect, but at that point no way did he deserve to be top 50 ever based on his 4½ seasons in the league.

We're talking about 1997 Reggie Miller...which I'm fine with him not being on the list this would have come out at his 10th/11th seasons.

1998 - The Bulls 7 game series
1999 - Conference finals
2000 - made the finals
2004 - the 60 win rebuild season

He was also under 15,000 points and 0-2 in conference finals which wouldn't have been enough to justify having him as a top 75 guy.

[Axe]

Why tf are you freaks still bringing up miller if y'all suggesting that he's so forgettable anyway? Lmfao.

[L.Kizzle]

We're talking about 1997 Reggie Miller...which I'm fine with him not being on the list this would have come out at his 10th/11th seasons.

1998 - The Bulls 7 game series
1999 - Conference finals
2000 - made the finals
2004 - the 60 win rebuild season

He was also under 15,000 points and 0-2 in conference finals which wouldn't have been enough to justify having him as a top 75 guy.
So all of this bumped him above Clyde Drexler?
Non of this is ever even mentioned other than the Jordan push off shot. All you hear about Reggie is 8 points in 9 seconds.

[John8204]

So all of this bumped him above Clyde Drexler?
Non of this is ever even mentioned other than the Jordan push off shot. All you hear about Reggie is 8 points in 9 seconds.

25K is the big thing that hurts Clyde, especially for a SG never being a seasonal scoring leader or a champion as a #1.

[L.Kizzle]

25K is the big thing that hurts Clyde, especially for a SG never being a seasonal scoring leader or a champion as a #1.

Clyde has over 22k and played less seasons. He'd have 25K if he played more. ����*♂️
Clyde also has double rebounds, assist, blocks and steals in 3 less seasons as well.

[LeGoat4Life]

25 years later

Jordan is still the undisputed and unchallenged GOAT

Jordan legacy keeps aging like fine wine

[John8204]

Clyde has over 22k and played less seasons. He'd have 25K if he played more. ����*♂️
Clyde also has double rebounds, assist, blocks and steals in 3 less seasons as well.

He didn't play more seasons though....he doesn't even stand out as the best in the 20K under 25K class either. Looking at his position, his generation and his accomplishments you can put him in the top ten if you want but I feel like he's not there. He wasn't good enough for any team to carry him at 36. 25K isn't an end all be all for standards but even looking at the SG's that didn't hit 25K. Would you rank Clyde ahead of...Allen Iverson, Dwayne Wade, Pete Maravich, and James Harden.

[L.Kizzle]

He didn't play more seasons though....he doesn't even stand out as the best in the 20K under 25K class either. Looking at his position, his generation and his accomplishments you can put him in the top ten if you want but I feel like he's not there. He wasn't good enough for any team to carry him at 36. 25K isn't an end all be all for standards but even looking at the SG's that didn't hit 25K. Would you rank Clyde ahead of...Allen Iverson, Dwayne Wade, Pete Maravich, and James Harden.
Don't forget the rebounds, steals, assist and blocks. Clyde peak avgq at 8 assist per game and 8 rebounds. Reggie avg 4 assist once and never 4 rebounds.

[97 bulls]

My question is why are Wilt and Kareem ranked where they are? Kareem is ranked no less than 3rd on any list today. What has he done to garner the extra spots? The same for Wilt.

[L.Kizzle]

My question is why are Wilt and Kareem ranked where they are? Kareem is ranked no less than 3rd on any list today. What has he done to garner the extra spots? The same for Wilt.
Interesting is this list is 25 years old.
Some active players (at that time) have relatively stayed around the same place. Other have gone up or down tremendously.

Tom Chambers at 56 is the most interesting selection. I've never seen him in anyone's top 150 list let alone a borderline top 50.