Are Moses Malone and Bob McAdoo underrated?

[pandiani17]

I was watching the other day Mad Dog say that Moses Malone was in his top 5 of centers all-time (though I think he said it to troll Shaq :lol) and it came to my mind how overlooked he is for someone who was three times the league MVP. Also, I have this image of Bob McAdoo of just a great role-player in the 80s Lakers, when in fact he was MVP one season in the 70s. What do the all-timers say? Should they be in more conversations when we talk about the all-time greats? Or are they ranked accordingly?

[John8204]

I do think once a player passes they generally get pushed aside/down the legacy ladder (Mikan, Wilt, Moses) for current/living players.

[RogueBorg]

I was watching the other day Mad Dog say that Moses Malone was in his top 5 of centers all-time (though I think he said it to troll Shaq :lol) and it came to my mind how overlooked he is for someone who was three times the league MVP. Also, I have this image of Bob McAdoo of just a great role-player in the 80s Lakers, when in fact he was MVP one season in the 70s. What do the all-timers say? Should they be in more conversations when we talk about the all-time greats? Or are they ranked accordingly?

Moses Malone is generally regarded as a forgotten all-time great. He dominated in the late 70's and 80's. Moses was relentless, no one worked harder than he did. He is known as a great rebounder but he could score with the best of them. He was also especially adept at drawing fouls. He had 6 straight seasons averaging over 10 FTA's/game and 11 straight over 8. 13x All-Star, 8x All-NBA, 3x MVP...there aren't many centers as decorated as Moses.

[Xiao Yao You]

Moses Malone is generally regarded as a forgotten all-time great. He dominated in the late 70's and 80's. Moses was relentless, no one worked harder than he did. He is known as a great rebounder but he could score with the best of them. He was also especially adept at drawing fouls. He had 6 straight seasons averaging over 10 FTA's/game and 11 straight over 8. 13x All-Star, 8x All-NBA, 3x MVP...there aren't many centers as decorated as Moses.

not the defensive player as other all time great centers. McAdoo's peak was short. I remember him as a backup to Kareem

[L.Kizzle]

He has more MVPs than Hakeem & Shaq (usually in the same era) and he overlapped them in playing as well. Moses was 16/9 the season before Shaq Git drafted.

[Thorpesaurous]

I think Malone is really awfully close to Shaq, and I have him in that second tier that runs 9-15 or so. It's basically guys who have one MVP, and multiple titles, or one title and Multiple MVPs. I feel like if you mention the name Malone, most people will think of Karl first, and Moses is definitively better than Karl to me.

McAdoo is just enough before my time that I can't speak to him as much as others, but MVPs and scoring titles are defining characteristics to me, as well as the ability to supplement other guys, which he did in LA. But I do have an interesting story about McAdoo. I went out of my way many years ago to see Lebron with the Heat one time when they came to Brooklyn to play the Nets. I splurged on top end seats, about 10 rows back of the Heat bench, toward the baseline. I had seen Lebron a few times in New York, Boston, and once in Chicago. But this was at his apex, and the chance to get good and close seats that I just couldn't get at those other places, was something I went out of my way to do. I got there early to see him (and Wade) warmup. It was impressive, but I distinctly remember being blown away watching McAdoo, then an assistant coach with the Heat, and seemingly well into his 60s. He was rebounding for the guys. Kicking out passes. Talking playfully. And occasionally ripping and jumper. I knew who he was, but clearly most of the people there had no idea who he was. As the guys headed to the locker room. He kept shooting a bit. And even moving really gingerly because of the age, there was a clear buzz about who was this guy. He clearly was at one time a special shooter. He's probably one of those guys who had he come up in the current era, may have been better, or his skillset would've been better utilized, or he'd have been differently appreciated.

[pandiani17]

[QUOTE=Thorpesaurous;14867109]I think Malone is really awfully close to Shaq, and I have him in that second tier that runs 9-15 or so. It's basically guys who have one MVP, and multiple titles, or one title and Multiple MVPs. I feel like if you mention the name Malone, most people will think of Karl first, and Moses is definitively better than Karl to me.

This is what I mean. Maybe you have him in that 9-15 tier, but very few people do the same. People usually don't mention him when talking about the Top-20 players of all-time and rankings like that.

[iamgine]

I don't think Moses was that good at all. He certainly wasn't the best player in the years he won MVPs (79, 82, 83). Pretty far from it actually.

[1987_Lakers]

I don't think Moses was that good at all. He certainly wasn't the best player in the years he won MVPs (79, 82, 83). Pretty far from it actually.

Weird statement, who would you put ahead of Moses the years he won MVP?

[iamgine]

Kareem, Dr J, Bird

[L.Kizzle]

I don't think Moses was that good at all. He certainly wasn't the best player in the years he won MVPs (79, 82, 83). Pretty far from it actually.

What does "not that good" mean? That could mean Many things. That could mean he's not as good as Kareem or he's on the level of Jack Sikma.

[FKAri]

Moses isn't underrated because he has hardware that people can go back and look up. Even when the people talking have no idea what he was doing on the court, they'll see the multiple MVPs and FMVP in an era that had Bird and Magic. And since Magic and Bird have so much cache still, he gets to attach himself to their greatness.

McAdoo is more underrated imo. Not saying he's better than Moses(in this era tho who knows) but more underrated. The recipe for a player to become underrated is: Time + lack of hardware + lack of stats + lack of video content. Also, over time people tend to conflate how good someone was vs how good their resume is. Bird vs Magic for example. For example I remember how good Baron Davis and Gilbert Arenas were but a kid who never watched them won't know. And aside from video highlights there's no way of really knowing. Now think of all the players from the 80s and earlier of whom we have little to no video content.

[Round Mound]

Moses was the better team player
Karl was the better individual player
Moses was the better player overall cause he wen't to the finals with players that wheren't that good. Karl had STOCKTON, EATON AND THURL BAILY.

[FultzNationRISE]

Moses isn't underrated because he has hardware that people can go back and look up. Even when the people talking have no idea what he was doing on the court, they'll see the multiple MVPs and FMVP in an era that had Bird and Magic. And since Magic and Bird have so much cache still, he gets to attach himself to their greatness.

McAdoo is more underrated imo. Not saying he's better than Moses(in this era tho who knows) but more underrated. The recipe for a player to become underrated is: Time + lack of hardware + lack of stats + lack of video content. Also, over time people tend to conflate how good someone was vs how good their resume is. Bird vs Magic for example. For example I remember how good Baron Davis and Gilbert Arenas were but a kid who never watched them won't know. And aside from video highlights there's no way of really knowing. Now think of all the players from the 80s and earlier of whom we have little to no video content.


Yeah but people dont really bring him up like that. Which is weird because people often use the accolades/resumé argument for a bunch of others but never really put MoMa as high as HIS accolades/resumé suggest.

After the top 10 you always hear people start naming/comparing guys like Karl Malone, Dirk, KG, Barkley, West, Oscar, Isiah etc.

Moses RARELY ever gets actually name dropped when people talk about that next tier, even tho everyone seems to agree he’s in it when asked. I think a lot of people do just forget about him. On paper he seems to even have a case for Top 10 based on how a lot of people measure it.

Not gonna act like Im on expert on the guy, but he seems to check a lot of the boxes people use to rank top players, and hes very highly regarded by people who had first hand experience with him. So relative to how often anyone talks about him as an all time great, yeah Id say he is underrated.

[L.Kizzle]

The only players with more MVPs than Moses:

6 Kareem
5 Russell
5 Jordan
4 Wilt
4 LeBron

That's it!

[Xiao Yao You]

Moses was the better team player
Karl was the better individual player
Moses was the better player overall cause he wen't to the finals with players that wheren't that good. Karl had STOCKTON, EATON AND THURL BAILY.

Eaton :roll: