The 10 most significant players in basketball history

[QUOTE=Freedom Kid7]Yao Ming may not have changed the way the game was played, but he is a huge factor of why the NBA is global. That's pretty significant.[/QUOTE]

For sure. And that's why he was already on my honorable mention list.

But you think he is top 10 most significant of all-time? Maybe. But to say it's a "joke" that he's not in the top 10 is a little OTT.

[QUOTE=WillC]For sure. And that's why he was already on my honorable mention list.

But you think he is top 10 most significant of all-time? Maybe. But to say it's a "joke" that he's not in the top 10 is a little OTT.[/QUOTE]
I did not say it was a joke, that was KyrieTheFuture.
Also, I think KG is significant for reasons I stated earlier (kickstarting the prep-to-pro movement).

Surely Allen Iverson belongs on that list

[QUOTE=WillC]I've got Goose Tatum in my honorable mention list but meant to include Meadowlark Lemon too. Good call.[/QUOTE]

I will admit that I know very little about pre-NBA history, and only slightly more about the decade of the 50's.

But these two certainly deserve consideration. I grew up watching Lemon and the Trotters, and I get a kick out of the younger, or more ignorant posters here, who claim that the players of the 60's couldn't dribble. Most of the kids of my generation were doing behind-the-back, between-the-legs dribbling back in the 60's BECAUSE of Lemon (while whistling "Sweet Georgia Brown.")

As for the rest...I don't know if 10 would do the list justice. And many of the truly significant names have already been mentioned.

Mikan
Cousy
Russell
Oscar
Wilt
Lucas
West
Monroe
Hawkins
Maravich
Alcindor
Kareem
Dr. J
Walton
Moses
Magic
Bird
MJ
Shaq
Lebron

The biggest, I suppose, would be Mikan, Russell, Wilt, Oscar, Kareem, Magic, Bird, and MJ.

As for the anti-Pistol comment...he also LED the NBA in scoring, and his 68 point game against Frazier, among other's, is on YouTube. But in any case,
I have long asked this question: Most all of us have played some kind of organized basketball, and at some level, in our lifetimes (I'm not talking about friendly games with the neighborhood kids.) Be truthful, and ask yourself this...how many times have you scored 40 points in an organized league game? I know that I never came close. And yet, Maravich, with opposing players taking the challenge, and entire defenses set up to stop him, AVERAGED 44 ppg in his three-year COLLEGE CAREER. I don't care who you are...that was an amazing accomplishment, and achieved against Division I schools.

And I'll be very honest here, too. There has never been a player SINCE, that could do everything that guy could with a basketball. White Chocolate Williams couldn't hold his jock. Here again, for the uneducated who make fun of Jerry West's perceived lack of a left hand dribble, and dribbling in general, in the decade of the 60's...Maravich was playing college ball IN the 60's. Oh, and as a sidenote, ...for those that rip West (and Oscar), as talented as the Pistol was, West and Oscar were ALWAYS ranked ahead of him when they played together.

I have said it many times, too, but virtually everything you see in today's NBA, has been done before, and probably 50+ years ago, too.

Elgin Baylor should be on this list in front of The Pistol.

Mikan-revolutionized the game
Russell/Wilt-obviously
Jordan-made the league what it is today
Magic-combined with Bird to bring the league back from the dead
Bird-made the game extremely popular with the caucasian population
Kareem-perhaps the greatest impact on the game itself. He literally changed the rules of the game
Yao-brought the game to the biggest nation in the world


After these 7 its pretty much meh

[QUOTE=pauk]Its just a rating of a player stats and it doesnt lie imo if you check those players stats... check Jordans stats and consider the more modern era he played in with much less pace, possessions compared to the 60s for example (something which PER takes into account aswell, which also explains why Wilts/Oscars crazy numbers didnt give the highest career PER rating although the non recording of blocks/steals had something to do with that to, so it might be flawed that way anyways as im sure Wilt non-officially averaged probably more than 2 bpg-2 spg, god knows)...[/QUOTE]


True, but PER's one major flaw is it's relativity. It's the reason why's Jordan's best statistical years aren't necessarily his highest PER years.

[QUOTE=DuMa]Shaq has to be in there. he changed so many rules with his physicality and dominance.[/QUOTE]


This... After MJ Magic and maybe Bird, he's got to be the most well known NBA player of all time.

jeremy lin

[QUOTE=WillC]You make a convincing argument.

...oh wait, no, you didn't make any argument at all.

Constructive.[/QUOTE]

In terms of changing the game he wasn't very significant I'll give that to you easily but he single handedly brought millions of fans to the NBA and to me that's very very significant. I can't think of anyone else who brought that level of popularity to the world.

[QUOTE=28renyoy]Mikan-revolutionized the game
Russell/Wilt-obviously
Jordan-made the league what it is today
Magic-combined with Bird to bring the league back from the dead
Bird-made the game extremely popular with the caucasian population
[B]Kareem-perhaps the greatest impact on the game itself. He literally changed the rules of the game[/B]
Yao-brought the game to the biggest nation in the world


After these 7 its pretty much meh[/QUOTE]

Actually, aside from the banning of the dunk shot in college for a few years, there were no major rules changes because of Kareem.

Mikan and especially Chamberlain brought about the most rule changes.

****ing Kobe stans....

As others have suggested, I think Allen Iverson has to make the list. His influence on the game was crazy.

There are a lot of posts saying that "player X should make the list" but no justification of who you'd take out of the top 10 and why.

Where would the NBA be without the basketball God himself, GOATbe?



Without Kobe, basketball would be hockey, and everyone here would watch baseball instead.

the list is simply incomplete without AI.

A couple of those old names on there.. people today in the playgrounds would not know. Ask them about AI? Yeah.. their idol growing up.

Cousy should be in the Top 5.

[QUOTE=BuffaloBill]Where would the NBA be without the basketball God himself, GOATbe?



Without Kobe, basketball would be hockey, and everyone here would watch baseball instead.[/QUOTE]
this and not even close.. :bowdown:

It's pretty hilarious how no players post MJ is in there while they are responsible to uphelding the NBA as it extremely high standard. :yaohappy:

Well...

Russell
Wilt
Kareem
Dr. J.
Bird
Magic
Jordan

for sure.

I think the way to look at it is pioneers. Fulks was the first big time scorer, Mikan first great big man, Arzin first great jump shooter, Cousy the first great point guard, Russell first player to use defence to win games, Baylor the first guy to introduce above the rim play, Chamberlain first unstoppable force, Robertson the first great all rounder guard, West the prototype clutch player, Barry the first great passing forward, Kareem with the greatest hook shot, Dr J the man who bought dunking to prominence, Magic the first big point guard, Bird the best all round forward, Jordan being the greatest, Barkley the greatest undersized big man, KG first high schooler.

I'm sure LeBron will make it one day.

[QUOTE=WillC]Don't get this confused with 'best players ever' or 'greatest players ever'. These are the most [I]significant [/I]players ever; they were remarkable players, they resonate with fans to this day, they are well remembered, and their play resulted in some kind of change to the game that we love. I fully expect this list to go over the heads of the average reader who will no doubt petition for Kobe Bryant and Johnny-come-lately while not understanding what it means to be significant (probably because they won't read this paragraph).

[B][U]The top 10:[/U][/B] (in alphabetical order of surname)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Most points in NBA history
Larry Bird - 3 consecutive MVP awards
Wilt Chamberlain - Most rebounds in NBA history
Julius Erving - 16 time ABA/NBA All-Star
Magic Johnson - Highest APG in NBA history
Michael Jordan - Highest PPG in NBA history
Pete Maravich - Most points in NCAA history
George Mikan - Voted Greatest Player of the First Half Century*
Oscar Robertson - Voted Player of the Century in 2000**
Bill Russell - Most championships in NBA history

*Voted by the Associated Press
**Voted by the National Association of Basketball Coaches

[B][U]Toughest omissions:[/U][/B]

Elgin Baylor - 10 time All-NBA 1st Team
LeBron James - Youngest player in NBA history to score 15,000 points
Shaquille O'Neal - 15-time NBA All-Star

[B][U]Others gaining strong consideration:[/U][/B]

Rick Barry
Kobe Bryant
Bob Cousy
Tim Duncan
Joe Fulks
Kevin Garnett
John Havlicek
Nat Holman
Allen Iverson
Hank Luisetti
Karl Malone
Moses Malone
Yao Ming
Earl Monroe
Dirk Nowitzki
Hakeem Olajuwon
Bob Pettit
Dolph Schayes
John Stockton
Goose Tatum
Bill Walton
Jerry West[/QUOTE]
I would have Bob Davies and Marques Haynes at least on the consideration list.

But I can't really argue with the top 10.
Semi-Arguable would be
Cousy vs Maravich: Cousy came first and played on a winner. But I'd go with Maravich because he is so often cited by ballhandlers from 80s on as an influence (e.g. Isiah, Magic). I probably wouldn't justify his inclusion on LSU though, that college career simultaneously built his legendary status and, to my mind, damaged Pete and Press in the long term.

Baylor vs Erving: Baylor came first with the aerobatics, and was probably a better player, Erving might have had more impact because his stuffs were captured on video. I'd want to say Baylor because I think he was probably better, but again video (clips) of early, mainly ABA Erving is/was more available and more spectacular. The case for Baylor would be that perhaps without Baylor, Erving wouldn't have been what he was.

Shaq was uber-dominant at his apex but maybe not influential so I can understand him not being in the top 10, for LeBron it's too early to judge historical significance and influence but a player of his calibre would, I think, be likely to land in the top 10.

Chronological order it has to be these guys:

Mikan
Russell
Wilt
KAJ
Dr. J
Magic
Bird
Jordan
Shaq
Lebron