#50 NBA Player Of All-Time According to InsideHoops

[DirtySanchez]

James Worthy
Reggie Miller
Nate Thurmond

All deserve to be top 50

[fsvr54]

Thurmond or Worthy

[KOBE143]

LeBron

2x finals loss
.5 cheap ring in lock out season
One of the greatest choker of all time.. Maybe 2nd to Wilt..
Quit in Game 5 of 2nd round PO against Celtics..
Choke against the Mavs and had one of the worst finals performance of all time..
Known as the 4th quarter choker..
And many many more.....

This is the place where he belong.. Only LeBron People who disagree are just haters..

[pauk]

If you ask me, either are perfectly plausible picks at this point in the list.... and how one chooses is partially indicative of how they view the game and how they value different facets of it.

It comes down to an All-Time defender and rebounder versus an All-Time shooter.... how one votes reflects what is valued more.

Both were multiple-time All-NBA-Third Team, and multiple-time NBA All-Stars.

Championships aside (which IMO are more out of an individual's control than we give credit for) , Rodman edges out Miller by being a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and an 8-time All-NBA-Defensive team member.

Is there any "Clutch player of the Year" or "Closer of the Year"?

No.... and if there was Reggie would have plenty, even while Michael Jordan would be playing...

See where i am going? There is no award for every impactful category which should hypothetically boost your career... Majority of players you could go ahead and compare awards with.... but Reggie, you just cant, same goes for many other players and the best example is Elgin Baylor... Thankfully in Elgins case it all is recognised (and ofcourse his stats help), but Reggie continues to get underrated... and when he is recognised and lets say placed in some top 50 list then he is called "overrated" because some people were unfortunate to thoroughly see him play, so i can understand why they cant understand....

[BankShot]

Is there any "Clutch player of the Year" or "Closer of the Year"?

No.... and if there was Reggie would have plenty, even while Michael Jordan would be playing...

See where i am going? There is no award for every impactful category which should hypothetically boost your career... Majority of players you could go ahead and compare awards with.... but Reggie, you just cant, same goes for many other players and the best example is Elgin Baylor...

I'm not saying either are a definitely better choice, or that your rationale for choosing Miller is unfounded or irrational.... I just personally value elite defensive versatility and rebounding more than shooting.

For the record, I wasn't using his selections to all-defense teams and DPOY awards as an argument.... but they are more-so an indicator of his legacy as an all-time, all-world, elite defender.

[StateOfMind12]

I use to say Ray was better than Reggie but I'm starting to have second thoughts about it.

Ray had more ability and could do more than Reggie could but it's not like Ray was Lebron. Both were primarily shooters/scorers that could score off the ball and within the flow of the offense. However, Miller was much much much better than Ray at scoring when it came to scoring in the clutch and in the post-season. Ray was actually somewhat of a choker.

I don't think either deserve this spot though but with the Ray vs. Reggie comparison going in this thread, I just wanted to drop my 2 cents on the comparison.

[IGotACoolStory]

Worthy

[StateOfMind12]

James Worthy
Reggie Miller
Nate Thurmond

All deserve to be top 50

None of them are better than Pierce but of the three Worthy has the best argument.

I'm not sure who I would vote for at #50. I'm undecided between Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Chris Paul, and James Worthy.

lol at Rodman being voted above those guys.

[Deuce Bigalow]

Dwight Howard

[coin24]

None of them are better than Pierce but of the three Worthy has the best argument.

I'm not sure who I would vote for at #50. I'm undecided between Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, and James Worthy.

lol at Rodman being voted above those guys.

I'm a lakers fan and in no universe is Gasol better than Rodman all time...
Dwight has an argument but its too early in his career..

[StateOfMind12]

I'm a lakers fan and in no universe is Gasol better than Rodman all time...
Dwight has an argument but its too early in his career..

You are probably the type of Lakers fan that hates everyone on the team except Kobe so I'm not really sure if I should take you that seriously about it.

[Boston C's]

I use to say Ray was better than Reggie but I'm starting to have second thoughts about it.

Ray had more ability and could do more than Reggie could but it's not like Ray was Lebron. Both were primarily shooters/scorers that could score off the ball and within the flow of the offense. However, Miller was much much much better than Ray at scoring when it came to scoring in the clutch and in the post-season. Ray was actually somewhat of a choker.

I don't think either deserve this spot though but with the Ray vs. Reggie comparison going in this thread, I just wanted to drop my 2 cents on the comparison.

rays does literally everything better then reggie and his accomplishments back him up his accomplishments are better then reggie as well as his game there should be no arguement...personally i dont even think ray, reggie, or pierce deserve a top 50 spot but then again iverson was voted in at 36 lol ...and i dont understand the choker label on ray at all...in his prime he carried some underachieving teams extremely far as well as raising his game in the playoffs so idk where the choker label comes from

[StateOfMind12]

rays does literally everything better then reggie and his accomplishments back him up his accomplishments are better then reggie as well as his game there should be no arguement...personally i dont even think ray, reggie, or pierce deserve a top 50 spot but then again iverson was voted in at 36 lol ...and i dont understand the choker label on ray at all...in his prime he carried some underachieving teams extremely far as well as raising his game in the playoffs so idk where the choker label comes from

I suggest you take a look at his playoff performances especially as a Celtic from 2008-2010.

2008 - Ray Allen was playing like hot garbage until the NBA finals. In the ECSF vs. the Cavs, Ray scored less than 10 ppg and wasn't even the 3rd leading scorer on the team, KG, Pierce, and even Rondo averaged more ppg than Ray did in that series.

The only reason why that series went to 7 games was because of how bad Ray played. If he played better than that, that series would have went to 5 games max. It shouldn't have went to 7 games but it did due to how poorly Ray played.

Ray vs. 2008 Cavs in ECSF- 9.3 ppg, 32.8% FG, 16.7% 3P.

2009 - Ray Allen plays like hot garbage against the Orlando Magic. This was the series where JJ Redick made a name for himself. In the past, people considered Redick a bust, a joke, and practically the Adam Morrison of the league. JJ Reddick literally shut down Ray in that series.

Ray vs. 2009 Magic in ECSF - 13.1 ppg, 34.4% FG, 19% from 3.

2010 - Ray Allen flames out in the Finals. He had a historic performance in Game 2 of the Finals but was invisible for the rest of the series. He shot 0/13 in Game 3 and 3/14 in Game 7.

Ray vs. 2010 Lakers in NBA Finals - 14.6 ppg, 36.7% FG, 29.3% from 3.


The choking label is warranted for Ray.

[G.O.A.T]

Pierce is the only player not in my top fifty who made this top 50.

He's very close for me, around #58 or so, but I had Thurmond and Dwight Howard in my top ten.

Obviously both were much better than Pierce at their peaks, but Pierce being a modern player who recently won a title, it makes sense that if a few informed fans felt he was top 50, a lot of uninformed fans would be inclined to agree over a players whose career is just peaking potentially and another guy who they didn't previously know existed.

Good work Deuce Bigelow, took you off my ignore list for your efforts. You should keep this going up to whatever number until the season starts...

My vote here is Thurmond...Howard I rate slightly higher, but for the sake of this years list, I'd rather pay homage to the guy whose career is long complete. Both were the physical specimens of their era. Small waists, huge chests and the build and definition of a man a foot shorter in peak form.

[G.O.A.T]

None of them (Thurmond, Miller, Worthy) are better than Pierce but of the three Worthy has the best argument. .

Thurmond certainly has a better case than Worthy and Pierce. Worthy and Pierce should be very close IMO. U have them both right around 60.

But Thurmond, unlike those two, proved he could be a franchise player.

In 1967 he was second in the MVP vote and lead the Warriors to the NBA Finals. That was his fourth season. Nine years later, in a limited role, he was still helping a team (The Cleveland Cavaliers of all shi[COLOR="Black"]t[/COLOR]ty teams) to the conference finals by anchoring a defense like less than ten other players in NBA history could.

Thurmond had a higher peak, that alone puts him in the debate with a guy like Pierce. Thurmond never won a title, but got close a lot more often than Pierce and unlike Pierce could lead a team that had a chance at winning the title.