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Who is the greatest basketball player of all time and why. Thanks.

Somewhat of a loaded question.

I'd say the Babe was the greatest ever.

In several ways, he changed the nature of the game itself. His exploitation of the "power game" compelled other teams to follow suit, breaking the monopoly of the "inside game" that had been the primary strategy for decades. Ruth was the focal point of the start of what has become statistically the greatest sports dynasty in history, the New York Yankees. His international fame helped fuel the rising interest in sports during the Roaring Twenties as the fan base expanded significantly and triggered major expansion of nearly all the ballparks in the major leagues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babe_Ruth

On the other hand, Ruth tended to be overweight, which limited his effectiveness on defense and in transition. Around the basket, his size could be an advantage, but without a great deal of leaping ability, he had a hard time contesting shots and rebounds.

Wrong sport chief.

I'll give you a short list.

Wilt Chamberlain has the most impressive stats and even though most would call him a "loser" he did manage to win twice with two different teams and was rarely on a team that wasn't a contender.

Oscar Robertson is probably the best overall player of all time. he averaged a tripple double(I doubt you know what that is) for an entire season! He also won a championship with Milwaukee in....77(Correct me if I'm wrong Vonk)

But...Michael Jordon is really the best IMO. People have stoped talking about him as the best ever since his second botched comeback, but he is was and will always be the greatest ball player of all time, not only as a scorer but as a defender and as a winner. He dominated the league at a position that, at the time, couldn’t dominate. He won year after year, while everyone was after him.

Also Bill Russel is worthy of note, but he was a pretty poor offensive player so I have a hard time calling him the "Greatest".

xaoshaen wrote:On the other hand, Ruth tended to be overweight, which limited his effectiveness on defense and in transition. Around the basket, his size could be an advantage, but without a great deal of leaping ability, he had a hard time contesting shots and rebounds.

HAHA

Michael Jordan, he won almost all the awards available in NBA.

Lyion, you just got

Good one, Xao.

-Arlos

Zan pretty much sums it up. My opinion its Jordan. Nobody could stop him, he was unshelfish, played TREMENDOUS defense, and scored at will. He was the epitome of a true basketball player, on both ends of the court.

The presence of him on a court changed the ways teams played defense. The way he played offense changed the way people played defense. He was the full package, shoot free throws (love the closed eye ones), shoot the three, great jump shooter inside the arc, dunk, rebound, defend, you name it he did it.

IMHO there was not a single player that had as big of an impact on the game as he did. What Ruth did to baseball, Jordan did for basketball.

Damn, I was jabowned. Only on NT would someone ask a fucking NBA question in July. I just got done reading the MLB news report.

Wilt was the greatest. Best stats, Best game, and more kids than Bill Clinton.

Wilt scored the most, 20,000 for his career.

Zanchief wrote:Wrong sport chief.

I'll give you a short list.

Wilt Chamberlain has the most impressive stats and even though most would call him a "loser" he did manage to win twice with two different teams and was rarely on a team that wasn't a contender.

Oscar Robertson is probably the best overall player of all time. he averaged a tripple double(I doubt you know what that is) for an entire season! He also won a championship with Milwaukee in....77(Correct me if I'm wrong Vonk)

But...Michael Jordon is really the best IMO. People have stoped talking about him as the best ever since his second botched comeback, but he is was and will always be the greatest ball player of all time, not only as a scorer but as a defender and as a winner. He dominated the league at a position that, at the time, couldn’t dominate. He won year after year, while everyone was after him.

Also Bill Russel is worthy of note, but he was a pretty poor offensive player so I have a hard time calling him the "Greatest".

If you're going to discount Russell in the discussion because of his offensive game you pretty much have to throw Wilt out of the discussion for his defensive game.

Wilt averaged more rebounds per game than Bill did.

Basketball = Michael Jordan

Hockey = Wayne Gretzky

Baseball = Babe Ruth or Sandy Koufax (koufax is one of the only players where they changed teh game, just to stop him from dominating as much)

Football = ? lots and lots of names here, dunno who would be top over all

Can't really name a "best overall" for Football.

Xaiveir Tanthalas wrote:Zan pretty much sums it up. My opinion its Jordan. Nobody could stop him, he was unshelfish, played TREMENDOUS defense, and scored at will. He was the epitome of a true basketball player, on both ends of the court.

He didn't like seafood?

Harrison wrote:Can't really name a "best overall" for Football.

Why not?



obviously it's harder to compare who had a bigger impact between offense, and defense, but you should be able to pick 1 person who had a bigger impact on offense, than the best defensive player had on defense (or vice versa)

Best Football.......well Jerry Rice is hard to argue againts. He imho is the best ever.

Xaiveir Tanthalas wrote:Best Football.......well Jerry Rice is hard to argue againts. He imho is the best ever.

/agree

He was the first person to come to my mind, too. Joe Montana would be arguable, as well.

Thing with quarterbacks is there were LOTS of great ones that you just couldnt distinguish against. As far as wide recievers there has never been a guy that is close to Jerry Rice. Nobody out there now even looks close to him.

If i had to start a football team, Rice in his prime would be my first pick bar none. I wouldnt even have to think about it. Same goes with Jordan and basketball.....now baseball thats another story.....i dont pick Ruth first.

Langston wrote:

Xaiveir Tanthalas wrote:Best Football.......well Jerry Rice is hard to argue againts. He imho is the best ever.

/agree

He was the first person to come to my mind, too. Joe Montana would be arguable, as well.

I'll argue against it!

mostly for fun, cause i don't necessarily disagree



Rice played in a system to showcase him, he had 2 hall of fame quarterbacks (altho i suppose you could argue that Rice made them good, instead of vice versa)
He played with an all star running back, and a really strong supporting cast

Did Jerry Rice make the 49ers?



Like him, or hate him, Frank Gifford was an amazing football player
not many players have excelled playing more than one position

OMFG MAKE A THREAD TO TALK ABOUT FAG BALL PLEASE THIS IS A BASKETBALL/Babe Ruth THREAD.

Tikker wrote:

Baseball = Babe Ruth or Sandy Koufax (koufax is one of the only players where they changed teh game, just to stop him from dominating as much)

With Koufax are you infering that they lowered the mound because of him? If you are, he was a small part of the reason. In fact the pitcher that is widely regarded as the reason the mound was lowered was Bob Gibson. 1.12 ERA in 1968 (year before they lowered the mound), and a career 2.91 ERA. Koufax's career ERA was 2.71 but never pitched after the mound was lowered. Gibson pitched 17 years and 7 seasons after the mound was lowered.

In fact Koufax's single season ERA does not rank him in the top 40 all time ERA's.

jordan ftw. while he was awesome per individual..what made him just plain pwnage was magnified with the fact that he'd do anything to win. that pass to bill wennington against the knicks was so sweet.

jim brown was the greatest football player in the history of the NFL

Phlegm wrote:jim brown was the greatest football player in the history of the NFL

Jerry Rice was in the right place at the right time, and benefitted by being with two of the top QBs of all time, as well as being in the west coast offense. The thing is, the 9ers still would've been a great team without him.

A reciever should not be considered the best football player of all time. Not even close. Best WR, sure, but it's a fucking WR.

I'd say Brown. I have a few others I'd consider also.