What's the criteria for ranking all time greats?

[HOoopCityJones]

What's the criteria or more specifically, your own personal criteria of ranking the all time great players in NBA History?

This is kinda inspired by the If Duncan wins again will he move up thread, but I think there's a broader discussion here that should be visited.

How do you determine if a player is in the Top 10 or not, or if he should move up or down. You have guys like Kobe, Duncan and Kareem with 5 or 6 rings, yet they weren't the goto guy for all of them, then a guy like Hondo with 8 rings all together , how come he's in no one's Top 10? Bird and Magic arguably had the most stacked Teams of all time when they were winning, yet they're ranked so high. So help doesn't seem to factor in, at least where it concerns those two specific players or Kareem for that matter.

If we're basing everything on statistics, then Wilt has everyone beat, if it's winning , then Russell is at the peak of the hill, but a combination of stats and winning, then it's clearly Jordan. Longevity is Kareem, Duncan or Kobe.

I'm just fascinated by how one can rank all of these great players without contradictions. We penalize guys like Nash or CP3 for being career losers , yet celebrate Hakeem for being able to win rings at the tail end of his prime play, forget what he didn't do up to that point.

So what's the criteria? Semblance of different things or just the whimsical opinions of the person at the other end of the question?

[RRR3]

For Kobe and LeBron: Didn't win FMVP and dominate the entire way? Worst player ever.


Anyone else: meh, I guess they were pretty great.

[HOoopCityJones]

For Kobe and LeBron: Didn't win FMVP and dominate the entire way? Worst player ever.


Anyone else: meh, I guess they were pretty great.

The way people hold Lebron and Kobe to the highest standard in history, you would think they were #2 and # 3 , right after Jordan himself.

[Lebron23]

Accumulated Stats, Number of Finals MVP, and Regular season MVP.

[HOoopCityJones]

Accumulated Stats, Number of Finals MVP, and Regular season MVP.

You missed Longevity, Defense and Championships bruh.


You honestly think any of these guys would be talked about if they didn't win in this league? Rings aren't the end all be all , but to pretend they aren't a factor isn't genuine.

[Lebron23]

You missed Longevity, Defense and Championships bruh.


You honestly think any of these guys would be talked about if they didn't win in this league? Rings aren't the end all be all , but to pretend they aren't a factor isn't genuine.

I agree. It's unfair to compare Russell's rings to Jordan 6th rings. Russell played in a era where only few NBA teams played. Russell's team were also stacked.

[Nash]

You missed Longevity, Defense and Championships bruh.


You honestly think any of these guys would be talked about if they didn't win in this league? Rings aren't the end all be all , but to pretend they aren't a factor isn't genuine.

Championships is FMVP
Longevity is a prerequisite
Defense, yeah but we all know its an offense dominated game.

[RRR3]

The way people hold Lebron and Kobe to the highest standard in history, you would think they were #2 and # 3 , right after Jordan himself.

TBH I feel that a lot of Jordan fans secretly fear Kobe and LeBron. Not that they should. But they do.

[kshutts1]

Ability relative to peers. I admit, it makes ranking older players much more difficult, because history only remembers those that won, but that's what I try and do.

I don't hold TMac's lack of postseason success against him; his play never tailed off in the postseason. He doesn't have the body of work to be as high as Kobe or anything, but that's what I consider.

I prefer doing tiers, for that reason. No tier will have two easily comparable players (same era, same position) where one is clearly better than the other. For this reason, Jordan and Kobe can not be in the same tier. Any non-stan that watched both play can clearly see Jordan is better.

What I try and accomplish is to recognize the difference in the game that comes about with era (can't really compare different eras accurately for this reason) as well as the different requirements of playing different positions (again, difficult to compare a C to a PG).

So my first tier is...
Russell
Wilt
Jordan
Kareem
Shaq
Magic
Bird
Oscar

Russell and Wilt are the only players that played the same position in the same era, but one has an extraordinary amount of team success, while the other has ridiculous personal success. Even people that saw them play find it difficult to tell which was better.

Magic and Larry didn't play the same position, so not black and white as to who was better (pun not intended).

Oscar is the lone inclusion that most people disagree with, but he was long-lauded as the greatest player ever. IMO, he's one of the most overlooked players of all time, along with Pettit, Baylor and Mikan (none of whom do I rank, since I don't have much research on them).

[scandisk_]

1. dikk size
2. alphamaleness
3. shoe sales
4. number of finals made
5. FG%

that's about it

[SouBeachTalents]

Being in MVP contention for several seasons/ winning multiple times as "the man" is really the most important criteria, which is why you typically see the same consensus group of players for the top 10 all time

[RidonKs]

which career do i want starting a franchise from square one...

most people look at it like "dominance + rings = goat"

really it should be "quality + quantity = goat"

meaning u can't just show up for a few years and win a few rings

you gotta be at a high level for a long ass time

[HOoopCityJones]

Championships is FMVP
Longevity is a prerequisite
Defense, yeah but we all know its an offense dominated game.

Championships shouldn't be equivalent to Finals MvP. What about the times Kareem won over Magic or vice versa? Magic's first Finals performance is legendary, but does he win FMVP if Kareem doesn't go down before the closeout game? I doubt it.

What does it matter if it's prerequisite? Only a handful of guys have played at a relatively high level (compared to their prime play) well into their golden years.

[Akrazotile]

1. dikk size
2. alphamaleness
3. shoe sales
4. number of finals made
5. FG%

that's about it

This but I would also add in MVP awards.

[ArbitraryWater]

OP said defense lol.. thats one side of the ****ing sport (while individual offense is obviously worth more), it should go without saying that that's taken into consideration lol..

This is an outplayed topic, that so far isn't looking like it's gonna get smart responses..