#42 NBA Player Of All-Time According to InsideHoops

[pauk]

Wes Unseld.

[Kblaze8855]

Saying he led the Spurs to the conference finals sounds a lot more impressive before you look into it. The playoffs were setup differently then. They went 3 times. By beating a 45 win Nuggets team, a 47 win Philly team, and the Sonics...and thats it. IT was one series to the conference finals with a high seed. Only one of those series was an upset record wise and that was vs the Sonics.

And when you have 2 20ppg teammates in the playoffs one of the years, a teammate putting up 25/10 on 53% along with the leagues assist leader the second time, and then in the 3rd time have a teammate who puts up 23 points and 15 assists in the playoffs(11 games), along with Mitchell who did 21/10 on 51%...and Artis Gilmore on top of that?

Lets not make this team out to be worse than it was.

Is leading a team with teammates performing like that to one series win really more impressive than Dwight leading a team with nobody playing as well as that teams 4th best player to the finals by beating a 60+ win Cavs team?

Dwight is 26 and has as many all NBA first teams already as Gervin had in his career...and he has half the spots at his position which more than offsets the center weakness these days.

Kevin Durant and Dwight are gonna be to this list what Dirk was on the 07 list. End up like 49-50 when there are guys in the top 20 who didnt actually accomplish anything they didnt.

Dwight or Durant over some of the guys being talked about now just...doesnt sound right. But they are MVP level players while a lot of these guys never were, they lead finals teams when a lot of these guys never did, they put up better numbers than most, and were flat out more highly regarded in their time.

But we just arent gonna care for 4-5 more years when...just like I said about Lebron in 09....we will look back and the players ranked top 10-30 in the future...will be the Dwight and Durant who exist now and have for 3 years.

Dwight...2011 Dwight....is gonna be ranked over players already on this list...but not until its like 2016. Which is....really ****ing stupid.

But thats sports.

[ripthekik]

Lebron James

[RaininTwos]

lol at Kidd being ahead of Payton and Pierce.

Vote - Paul Pierce

stop it, pierce is not top fifty

[nycelt84]

Elvin Hayes

[wally_world]

Wes Unseld, one of the most underrated players of all time

[WillC]

Hate to nit-pick, but the Spurs were in the Eastern Conference until the 1981 season. They did make consecutive WCF appearances in 82 and 83 losing to the Lakers both times.

The 1979 team was actually pretty good. Kenon and Silas were ABA all-stars and among the more athletic young players of the seventies. Kenon was the second best player and had a few 20-20 playoff games for the Nets when they won the 1974 title. Their center Billy Paultz was a borderline all-star ion the ABA and a tough as nails guy who gave Cowens, McAdoo and even Kareem some trouble.

As good as Gervin was, he was really only elite as a scorer. Consider the 1970's answer to Allen Iverson from the last decade.

And look where Iverson was voted in these rankings....

[Kblaze8855]

If Gervin led a finals team and won an MVP he would be higher. But he didnt so....what are we talking about here?

[Kblaze8855]

And im not sure id take Gervin over Gilmore. and in their best season team wise....Gervins best record in the NBA? Gilmore finished one spot ahead of Gervin in the MVP voting. Doesnt mean people just...ranked him higher. But I felt it was worth mentioning.

[WillC]

If Gervin led a finals team and won an MVP he would be higher. But he didnt so....what are we talking about here?

Oh, sorry, I didn't realise we could only vote for players who won Finals MVP awards.

I look forward to you voting for Cedric Maxwell, Chauncey Billups and Tony Parker ahead of George Gervin.

[WillC]

For what it's worth, in his excellent book 'The Expert's Picks: Basketball's Best 50 Players in the Last 50 Years', Kenneth Shauler ranks George Gervin as the 5th best guard of all-time.

1 Michael Jordan
2 Magic Johnson
3 Oscar Robertson
4 Jerry West
5 George Gervin
6 Walt Frazier
7 Isiah Thomas
8 Bob Cousy
9 John Stockton
10 Clyde Drexler
11 Dave Bing
12 Pete Maravich
13 Nate Archibald
14 Earl Monroe
15 Sam Jones
16 Lenny Wilkens
17 Hal Greer
18 Gail Goodrich
19 Dennis Johnson
20 Walter Davis

[Kblaze8855]

What did I say about finals MVP? All finals MVPs arent even sure starters. An actual full season MVP is always a great player.

And whoever that is has him ahead of Isiah and others have him as the second most overrated player of all time. So what?

Everyone in these discussions is great. Gervin was great. But he didnt actually....do...anything. Not compared to a number of these guys. He won scoring titles.

You value them highly...ok then. But he didnt actually accomplish anything Kevin Durant has not already done.

[WillC]

What did I say about finals MVP? All finals MVPs arent even sure starters. An actual full season MVP is always a great player.

And whoever that is has him ahead of Isiah and others have him as the second most overrated player of all time. So what?

Everyone in these discussions is great. Gervin was great. But he didnt actually....do...anything. Not compared to a number of these guys. He won scoring titles.

You value them highly...ok then. But he didnt actually accomplish anything Kevin Durant has not already done.

Gervin was one of the most talented offensive players in basketball history. Not only did he put up huge numbers - and lead the league in scoring regularly - but he did so with style and on extremely high percentages.

Sure, he didn't win a championship, but that requires a team of championship calibre. Gervin didn't have that luxury. In fact, I'd argue that his teams overachieved due to his brilliance. Instead, he won plenty of individual awards - more so than anyone else left on the board.

Is it fair to penalise Gervin for not winning a championship? If you want to, that's fine. But you then need to use that same criteria for other players. It means you need to heavily penalise Karl Malone and Charles Barkley for not winning championships. Same goes for Ewing, Baylor, Maravich, etc.

Fans need to realise that it's perfectly possible to be an incredible basketball player but not win championships. Equally, some players' careers and legacies are enhanced by being in the right place at the right time (i.e. on a great team).

Look past the championships and you should recognise Gervin as a superior basketball player to everyone else receiving votes in this thread.

[Kblaze8855]

Ive never had trouble with the idea that not all greats win titles. But really...Gervin is a scorer. And when all you have to mention is scoring...and other people scored 30 a game too...but accomplished more?

Eh.

As I said...Kevin durant has already done everything Gervin did. They are pretty much the same player...only Durant has had more playoff success.

A lot of scorers left who didnt actually do much of anything. We could throw Adrian Dantley, Alex English, Nique, and so on out too.

Gervin scored. Scored and did nothing with it. Others scored...and accomplished things. How does he go over them? The fingerroll being silky?

Nique was out there scoring 30ppg too. Scoring 38ppg for months at a time. And scoring with quite a bit of flair himself. And he took teams with less talent than Gervin did....in a tougher conference...to more wins. And he managed to win a round and then lose to a contender too. All Gervin can say he did.

Too many of those guys to really act like one is just clearly standing above the rest.

[INDI]

Gary payton