In honor of "The Doctor" is Julius Erving a top ten all time great if you factor in..

[midnightpulp]

his ABA career?

[DMC]

Hard to say. He's largely responsible for the popularity of the NBA however. Dr J was "that man" when there were few others.

[baseline bum]

I don't think so. Great player, but he had good teammates in Philly in a really weak late 70s NBA and couldn't get it done. I'd take him over Drexler or Pierce, but no way I'd take him over James or Bryant.

[midnightpulp]

Hard to say. He's largely responsible for the popularity of the NBA however. Dr J was "that man" when there were few others.

I think I'm going to have to place him top 10 all-time. A lot of naysayers might look at his drop off in scoring when he went to the NBA, but the 70's NBA was more team oriented, with rosters often filled with four or five 15ppg+ scorers. Conversely, the ABA was like the NBA is now, featuring teams built around individual stars. So it's no surprise Erving was a more prolific scorer in that league. They also had the 3 point shot (which the NBA didn't adopt until 1980), which I'm sure benefited Erving's game by spacing the floor for him to drive.

Lending more credence to Erving's impact is the fact the Sixers went from a 1st round exit to an NBA Finals appearance his first year with the team.

[midnightpulp]

I think I'm going to have to place him top 10 all-time. A lot of naysayers might look at his drop off in scoring when he went to the NBA, but the 70's NBA was more team oriented, with rosters often filled with four or five 15ppg+ scorers. Conversely, the ABA was like the NBA is now, featuring teams built around individual stars. So it's no surprise Erving was a more prolific scorer in that league. They also had the 3 point shot (which the NBA didn't adopt until 1980), which I'm sure benefited Erving's game by spacing the floor for him to drive.

Lending more credence to Erving's impact is the fact the Sixers went from a 1st round exit to an NBA Finals appearance his first year with the team.

Or maybe not.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/slam_500_greatest.html

I think factoring his ABA career leap frogs him above West at 11 (but I would move Hakeem to 10, Kobe to 11th, and then Erving to 12), but I don't think it's enough to justify placing him over anyone in that particular top ten (which closely resembles mine, aside from the exclusion of Hakeem).

[Arcadian]

He doesn't fit in my top 10, but definitely top 15.

[dunkman]

Not sure, Bird was clearly better.

[whitemamba]

Was there even a major difference in competition at the time between the ABA and NBA? I would say Pro ball is pro ball, and i would count it.

[dbestpro]

Dr J was special. He could take over a game and did so prior to the age of the allstar calls. I'd take Dr J and Ice in their prime over any player today.

[Floyd Pacquiao]

Dr J saying the spurs are his fav team on inside the nba...also says tim is his fav player since gervin retired, and then he said the spurs losing 4 in a row last year to okc was a fluke....

:toast doc knows whats up

[Thomas82]

I believe he is, even without his ABA career.

[TDMVPDPOY]

if teams can count their aba titles, i dont see why j cant have his aba awards also counted...

[Indazone]

Are you kidding me? Dr. J was Michael Jordan before there ever was His Airness. When Jordan came on the scene, there were endless debates about who was better. Dr. J could take it to the hole like no other and had a variety of moves. His hang time was ridiculous.

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[JoeTait75]

I don't think so. Great player, but he had good teammates in Philly in a really weak late 70s NBA and couldn't get it done. I'd take him over Drexler or Pierce, but no way I'd take him over James or Bryant.

I don't agree about the late '70s NBA being weak. The fact that no team won more than 58 games from 1975-76 thru 1978-79 speaks to how deep the league was (only one 60-loss team in that stretch too, iirc.) The merger brought a lot of new talent into the NBA and that talent was widely dispersed throughout the league.

tbh I think the NBA of the early and mid '90s was considerably weaker than the NBA of the late '70s but that is never held against MJ...