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The most athletic bball player ever is MJ and it isn't even close.
So what you are saying is that you don't necessarily have to be athletic to play point guard? But you agree that most point guards are super athletic? They are usually the quickest guys on the team, guys like iverson wade tim hardaway etc come to mind. An unathletic point guard is a team killer in a lot of ways IMO because it kills ball movement.
The most athletic bball player ever is MJ and it isn't even close.
Exactly right on the athleticism. I think you underrate his court vision, more like 99%. And he probably was the smartest basketball player ever, with the exception of Russell.
AI is pretty atheletic..
DRob
Not a better athlete than Akeem.
^Fixed
Could Hakeem ever walk across a court on his hands?
Mav fan doesn't understand that the fastest dribbler in the world is slower than any good pass. That's how you generate ball movement. AI is quick as lightning, but with the exception of the few years he played for LB, his teams had some of the worst ball movement in the history of the L. Fast ball hogs generate . Slow guys with court vision can run the break and open up any offense. I agree that a slow guy who tries to dominate the ball will kill your offense, but so will a fast guy who does the same. He'll get his, but damn near nobody else will. Even MJ figured out that if he played off Pippen and cut his numbers about 10% that the Bulls were lethal. The easiest way to score on an unselfish team is to give up the ball. Most defenders, such as they are in today's NBA, only keep track of where the ball is, not where their man is back cutting to.
FIFY
Hakeem had post footwork in the top 3 I ever saw in the NBA, Dream, McHale, Duncan, but he was about 90% of the pure raw athlete that David Robinson was, and that ain't no . That's also not an insult, as it puts him in the 90th percentile. Robinson was off the bell curve.
Redundant thread le is redundant
I understand all of this perfectly clear, but point guards are still athletic. Parker, Wade, Iverson, Ellis, Nash, Williams, Paul, etc are all lightning quick and excellent footwork being able to change directions. Nash could have gone pro at 2 sports, he's very athletic. They all qualify as being super athletic I don't see what you're trying to argue. Point guards are athletic period, hence why I agreed with Galileo. Nothing to do with MJ, the Bulls, or any other irrelevant things you're talking about, nothing more or less.
Pete Maravich and Jason Kidd are examples of athletic. PGs are generally the most athletic position in basketball because they handle the ball and run the offense most of the time.
I would not say Wilt.
If you ever saw Wilt play he was a bit awkward and stiff but he was just so much bigger than most everyone else he over powered them.
To me there is a difference between being a great basketball player and being a great athletic basketball player. My top 10 is
1. Michael Jordan
2. Julius Erving
3. Dominue Wilkens
4. David Thompson
5. Connie Hawkins
6. Kobe Bryant
7. Darrell Griffith
8. David Robinson
9. Vince Carter
10. Dennis Rodman
Robert Pack!
No but seriusly, Toni Kukoc was as athletic as you can get. He could dribble like no one before him (however Mutombo was close). He could drive and dunk on you and you would no even realize it was him! He was as fast sprinter as Bolt, could swim as good as Phelps, he was running long distances like Kenenisa Bekele and all that in one person. You can't argue!
Umm, I think Wilt need to be considered no1 no matter what - he was ahead at that reagard in his era. (btw. at his times player were mesured without snickers).
I winder why nobody mentioned Karl Malone, guy could smash the dunk on your face real quick and with his size it was demolition.
Mikan and Pet were quite athletic in their times ... then came the black human and changed the face of NBA. Elgin Baylor, Unseld, dr J ... Kukoc
are you high, my racist little friend?
It's hard to compare athletes now to ones back in the day.
Athletes now just have much better training and conditioning as well as shoes and related gear. Almost everyone nowadays lifts weights versus back in the day it wasn't as encouraged like it is now becuase they thought it would slow you down and you'd lose mobility and that was that.
Not to mention how far stuff like supplements and shoe technology has come.
But its like this in every sport. There's a reason that world records keep getting broken and athletes keep getting faster and faster and are able to jump higher than they were.
Sure Wilt was dominant back in the day but its hard to argue his effectiveness if he were to play in today's NBA. I'm not saying he wasn't a great athlete back then, i'm just saying you really can't compare them. If you do want to be hypothetical though, just think about how dominant someone like Tony Parker or Dwade would be if they could play 35 years ago.
This all depends on what criteria you are using to define athletic.
Magic wasn't athletic in regards to speed or jumping, but I've always admired his agility at such a large size. The way he moved and his body control were both incredible. Just think back, on all those showtime fast breaks how many times can you ever remember Magic being out of control and commiting offensive fouls? Very very rarely.
The OP said no one the size of Magic has played PG since him... well, there is um, you know, LeBron James. He doesn't quite have the absolute control and balance of Magic but obviously murders him in raw speed, jumping and strength.
It is true that you must define athletism before to compare players.
I am almost certain, Baby Shaq (Sofoklis Schortsanitis) is stronger that anyone on that list except (maybe) Shaq and Wilt... is it enough to qualify him as athletic?
If you consider quickness, Parker is obviously very athletic... but what about strength?
Nowadays, Lebron is a nice athletic combo... but is not the quickest, not the strongest...
I wonder if, as the 208th pick in the 1984 draft, Carl Lewis qualifies as an athletic basketball player.
How on earth is LeBron not on this list, let alone not #1? He's just as tall as Magic AND he's bigger(wide, PF-type frame). He has just as good of vision as Magic, if not better. Remember, Magic played with HoF's, LeBron doesn't even play with All-Stars. Plus, he's asked to score way more than Magic. He's also fifteen times the defender Magic was. Just look at Team USA this year, he was their best defender, and it wasn't even close. LeBron is #1, Wilt is #2, Vince Carter is #3.
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Wilt's rebounding rate hovered around 20-22 most of his career, which is about Dwight Howard level, and a lot less than Dennis Rodman.
When you consider he was playing in a much shorter league than todays, i would say his rebounding was highly over rated. Looking at raw totals was a little mis leading.
Rebounding average:
Chamberlain: 24
Howard: 12
Rodman: 12
Chamberlain = Howard + Rodman
Well Magic should be nr.1 but Walt should not be nr.2....
i got more curious about wilt's statistics so i went over to bball reference and checked out the league leaders for the 60's... and i think the conclusion is is that wilt's stats arent really the best thing to base his status on. Yes, they are godly stats and will never be repeated. But on the other hand, there are several players in his era that did things that are very uncommon now- play 45+ minutes, average 15+ and even 20+ rebounds, average 30+ points, and most of them arent considered "best ever" or "most athletic ever," although many are highly distinguished players in their own right (pet , russel, west, robertson to name a few being the most recurrent, but others being totally unknown to me).
so i think its fairly safe to say that, regardless of differences in athleticism between eras, there are significant differences in multiple areas that make it impossible to compare them based on numbers.
if anything, wilt's status and what makes him different is the fact that there is a legend around him to begin with. but i dont think you can say he is twice the scorer as someone today because he averaged 50+ one season. or that he is twice the rebounder because he averaged 27 one season- that season you had russel with 24, pe with 20 and baylor with 20. Distinguished players to be sure, but is anyone going to argue that baylor is a better rebounder than duncan?
anyway for pure athleticism i dont take baskeball skill or accomplishments into account, and given the eras I am familiar with i think of guys like kemp and larry johnson who fit the lebron mold of size, speed, strength and hops as the real athletic freaks of the NBA. i dont see what court vision or ball IQ have to do with athleticism, sorry magic!
If it gives me even more advantage on you, yup I'm high.
Not only Wilt was lifting weights back then.
The difference is medicine and knowledge about human body.
It is always a problem to compare guys from different era, not only they played in different environments (teammates, opponents, coaches etc). Their development abilities are far from equal.
IMO when you look at Baylor and LeBron you can see the difference in being athletic, but their play was quite similar.
this has got to be the stupidest ing list i've ever seen
and Lebron is unquestionably the most gifted athlete in NBA history, and is among the all times greatest all-around athletes ever, with guys such as Bo Jackson and Deion.
and the idiots saying Wilt. he played in an era that MAJORLY lacked athleticism. dunking and rebounding on a bunch of unathletic 6'6 white guys is nothing too special. im sure Shaq could have averaged a good 60-70 PPG in that era if he wanted to.
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