Who is the best big man of all time?

[Brunodf]

1-Russel
2-Kareem
3-Duncan

[BatManu20]

Vlade
Smits
Sabonis

[BatManu20]

And how could we forget.. Big Country

[chazley]

Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50/25 in a season. Also, go look at those Celtics teams he had to go up against, they had 6-7 hall of famers on their team during Wilt's prime. The dude was absolutely superhuman. Stronger than Arnold Schwarzenegger during his prime. At age 36, he put up 13/18/5 in FOURTY THREE MPG and shot 72% from the field.

If he played during this era he would've made Lebron's statlines look like we were comparing Tiger Woods to Sergio Garcia.

[SanAntonioSpurs23]

Manute Bol

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Jabbar went from Oscar Robinson to Magic Johnson and could not get out of the first round. He missed the playoffs. All of this was during the ABA era ie the most watered down time in NBA history. Jabbar is the most overrated player by a long long shot. He took 8 more years to beat Chamberlains scoring record and still couldn't touch his other records.

Chamberlain was the most dominant player in NBA history. He would dominate in todays big man poor NBA as well. 40 in vert. 500 lb bench. 700 lb squat. Could shoot with either hand. Blocked shots and rebounded like a boss. Could hit an elbow jumper and had a baseline fadeaway. Then you look at his stats and he dominates in every statistic.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

its probably a heavy dose of homerism, but i'm going with timmy.

kareem needed oscar robertson/magic johnson to win

bill russell throughout his career had 14 hall of fame teammates, and there were about 10 NBA teams during that era

Hakeem in his was a monster, but he only won two les, coming in a 2 year span. people like to say "oh he played in jordan's era so its excusable" and yet he NEVER faced Jordan in the postseason.

Wilt was a stat monster, arguably the greatest statistical player in NBA history, also a 2 time champ. neither of those came against Russell though, and the 2nd of his les came playing alongside Jerry "the logo" West and Gale Goodrich.

He beat Russell in the ECF in 1967 the year he won his first championship. It took him getting Greer so he could finally get past Havlicek, Cousey, Russell and the Jones brothers. He still took them to 7 games time and again on his own. And his 50 bebound game was against Russell.

He dominated Russell, Thurmond, Lucas, et al.

[Boomersgold]

Jabbar went from Oscar Robinson to Magic Johnson and could not get out of the first round. He missed the playoffs. All of this was during the ABA era ie the most watered down time in NBA history. Jabbar is the most overrated player by a long long shot. He took 8 more years to beat Chamberlains scoring record and still couldn't touch his other records.

Chamberlain was the most dominant player in NBA history. He would dominate in todays big man poor NBA as well. 40 in vert. 500 lb bench. 700 lb squat. Could shoot with either hand. Blocked shots and rebounded like a boss. Could hit an elbow jumper and had a baseline fadeaway. Then you look at his stats and he dominates in every statistic.

Kareem dominated three different eras of basketball at his position. He dominated Wilt, albeit an older Wilt, in the early 70s, dominated Parish and Walton in the late 70s/early 80s, and managed to keep up with the next generation of legendary centers in Hakeem and Patrick Ewing in the late 80s. Oscar never won a championship until Kareem got to Milwaukee, and Magic never won without him either.

Wilt played in the 60s, an era when short white players still dominated the sport and there were very few players who were over 7 feet. In other words, Jabbar played against better compe ion, and against taller, more talented players.

[Budkin]

Manute Bol

Charles Barkley on Manute's 1.9ppg scoring average: "My grandmother could score 2 points a game... if she wasn't double-teamed."

[Splits]

[look_at_g_shred]

TD all the way.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Kareem dominated three different eras of basketball at his position. He dominated Wilt, albeit an older Wilt, in the early 70s, dominated Parish and Walton in the late 70s/early 80s, and managed to keep up with the next generation of legendary centers in Hakeem and Patrick Ewing in the late 80s. Oscar never won a championship until Kareem got to Milwaukee, and Magic never won without him either.

Wilt played in the 60s, an era when short white players still dominated the sport and there were very few players who were over 7 feet. In other words, Jabbar played against better compe ion, and against taller, more talented players.

I am not arguing that the Big O or Magic were GOAT so them not being able to carry a team by themselves is besides the point. Bottom line is that while Wilt was soloing the greatest team of all time to game 7 every year in the ECF, Jabbar couldn't solo himself out of the first round in the ABA era. And Magic's burst onto the scene was about winning the finals game when Jabbar went down. You know where he took the tip and all that? Biggest game that year and Jabbar wasnt even needed to win.

Jabbar did not dominate Wilt at the Lakers. He lost to Wilt's Lakers. Wilt also held him well below his season averages in those games. Chamberlain played with West, Goodrich and Baylor in that 72 championship that they beat Alcindor. He was asked to take open shots, defend and rebound. Baylor and Goodrich had much better matchups. Alcindor outscored him sure but then again it's not like Chamberlain was asked to do that. He did his job, held Alcindor below his averages --read that press reports from the game-- and won the series.

Wilt played with Lucas, Russell, Thurmond, Pe , Reed, Bradley et al in what was then an 8 team league. That is 6 HoFers that Chamberlain absolutely dominated for a decade. Jabbar played the majority of his career in the ABA era ie when half of the talented players played in another league. He got to duck HoF big men like Daniels, Gilmore, Issel, and Malone who played in the ABA.

On a final note, the one thing that I really despised about Jabbar was the he needed an enforcer. He was a ing big man but he was such a pussy that he needed a guy like Washington to scrap when things got too physical.

Jabbar is the most overrated player in any sport ever.

[lefty]

[Galileo]

Where is Artis Gilmore? Gilmore was always better than Jabbar.

[tesseractive]

In the mid-90s, sure. At his absolute prime, after he took ahold of his 80s ego and silenced it via his religion, he was unstoppable.

But:::He couldn't get it done before or after 94 & 95.

Career-wise, Duncan has a strong case for superiority

At his peak, Olajuwon had a combination of skills (totally complete arsenal of skills on both ends of the court), talent and athleticism, and determination the likes of which the league has never seen. If I had to pick a player at his peak to beat any other big man on Earth in one game, it's got to be Hakeem.

Russell, Duncan, and Kareem had the best careers overall, in that order. Kareem was amazing, but nobody would have ever, ever traded Russell or Duncan in their prime.

Wilt was one heck of a statistical player, but Russell beat him for les over and over. It wasn't just having different teams around them, it was mindset.

[Russo21]

Oh no where is Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitski, Christopher Bosh and Dwight Howard on the list of choices

[Robz4000]

The only bigman I'd take over Dunan at this point is Kareem tbh.

[Rummpd]

Jabbar next stupid question and move on. He is not only the best big but a case can easily be made the greatest NBA player per Pat Riley and others = and overall HS and Collegiate etc best all time basketball winner and player easily. Russell is the only other to deserve consideration with Chamberlain 3rd and pick em with Hakeem at his best my number 4 but case can be made for Shaq and many others including Tim.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For the National Football League player formerly known as Karim Abdul-Jabbar, see Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Abdul-Jabbar (center) against the Boston Celtics in the late 1980s.
No. 33
Center
Personal information
Born (1947-04-16) April 16, 1947 (age 66)
New York City, New York
Nationality American
Listed height 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)
Listed weight 225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High school Power Memorial
(New York City, New York)
College UCLA (1966–1969)
NBA draft 1969 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1st overall
Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks
Pro playing career 1969–1989
Career history
1969–1975 Milwaukee Bucks
1975–1989 Los Angeles Lakers
Career highlights and awards
6× NBA champion (1971, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987–1988)
2× NBA Finals MVP (1971, 1985)
6× NBA Most Valuable Player (1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980)
19× NBA All-Star (1970–1977, 1979–1989)
10× All-NBA First Team (1971–1974, 1976–1977, 1980–1981, 1984, 1986)
5× All-NBA Second Team (1970, 1978–1979, 1983, 1985)
5× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1974–1975, 1979–1981)
6× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1970–1971, 1976–1978, 1984)
NBA Rookie of the Year (1970)
NBA All-Rookie Team (1970)
2× NBA scoring champion (1971–1972)
NBA rebounding champion (1976)
4× NBA blocks leader (1975–1976, 1979–1980)
NBA all-time leading scorer
NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team
Los Angeles Lakers #33 retired
Milwaukee Bucks #33 retired
3× NCAA champion (1967–1969)
3× NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player (1967–1969)
2× Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year (1967, 1969)
2× Oscar Robertson Trophy winner (1967–1968)
Naismith College Player of the Year (1969)
UCLA #33 retired
As assistant coach:

2× NBA champion (2009, 2010)

Career statistics
Points 38,387 (24.6 ppg)
Rebounds 17,440 (11.2 rpg)
Blocks 3,189 (2.5 bpg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Basketball Hall of Fame as player
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2006
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr., April 16, 1947) is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the leading scorer in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his career, Abdul-Jabbar was a record six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA selection, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. A member of six NBA championship teams, Abdul-Jabbar twice was voted NBA Finals MVP. In 1996, he was named one of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.

In college at UCLA, he played on three consecutive national championship teams, and his high school team won 71 consecutive games.[1] During his NBA career, he played with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers. At the time of his retirement, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA’s all-time leader in points scored, games played, minutes played, field goals made, field goal attempts, blocked shots, defensive rebounds, and personal fouls. In 2008, ESPN named him the “greatest player in college basketball history.”[2] Others, including Pat Riley and Isiah Thomas, have argued that he is the greatest basketball player of all time.[3][4][5][6]

Abdul-Jabbar has also been an actor, a basketball coach, and a best-selling author.[7][8] In 2012, he was selected by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be a U.S. global cultural ambassador.[9]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kareem_Abdul-Jabbar

[RD2191]

Jabbar next stupid question and move on. He is not only the best big but a case can easily be made the greatest NBA player per Pat Riley and others = and overall HS and Collegiate etc best all time basketball winner and player easily. Russell is the only other to deserve consideration with Chamberlain 3rd and pick em with Hakeem at his best my number 4 but case can be made for Shaq and many others including Tim.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For the National Football League player formerly known as Karim Abdul-Jabbar, see Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Abdul-Jabbar (center) against the Boston Celtics in the late 1980s.
No. 33
Center
Personal information
Born (1947-04-16) April 16, 1947 (age 66)
New York City, New York
Nationality American
Listed height 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)
Listed weight 225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High school Power Memorial
(New York City, New York)
College UCLA (1966–1969)
NBA draft 1969 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1st overall
Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks
Pro playing career 1969–1989
Career history
1969–1975 Milwaukee Bucks
1975–1989 Los Angeles Lakers
Career highlights and awards
6× NBA champion (1971, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987–1988)
2× NBA Finals MVP (1971, 1985)
6× NBA Most Valuable Player (1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980)
19× NBA All-Star (1970–1977, 1979–1989)
10× All-NBA First Team (1971–1974, 1976–1977, 1980–1981, 1984, 1986)
5× All-NBA Second Team (1970, 1978–1979, 1983, 1985)
5× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1974–1975, 1979–1981)
6× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1970–1971, 1976–1978, 1984)
NBA Rookie of the Year (1970)
NBA All-Rookie Team (1970)
2× NBA scoring champion (1971–1972)
NBA rebounding champion (1976)
4× NBA blocks leader (1975–1976, 1979–1980)
NBA all-time leading scorer
NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team
Los Angeles Lakers #33 retired
Milwaukee Bucks #33 retired
3× NCAA champion (1967–1969)
3× NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player (1967–1969)
2× Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year (1967, 1969)
2× Oscar Robertson Trophy winner (1967–1968)
Naismith College Player of the Year (1969)
UCLA #33 retired
As assistant coach:

2× NBA champion (2009, 2010)

Career statistics
Points 38,387 (24.6 ppg)
Rebounds 17,440 (11.2 rpg)
Blocks 3,189 (2.5 bpg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Basketball Hall of Fame as player
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2006
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr., April 16, 1947) is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the leading scorer in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his career, Abdul-Jabbar was a record six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA selection, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. A member of six NBA championship teams, Abdul-Jabbar twice was voted NBA Finals MVP. In 1996, he was named one of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.

In college at UCLA, he played on three consecutive national championship teams, and his high school team won 71 consecutive games.[1] During his NBA career, he played with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers. At the time of his retirement, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA’s all-time leader in points scored, games played, minutes played, field goals made, field goal attempts, blocked shots, defensive rebounds, and personal fouls. In 2008, ESPN named him the “greatest player in college basketball history.”[2] Others, including Pat Riley and Isiah Thomas, have argued that he is the greatest basketball player of all time.[3][4][5][6]

Abdul-Jabbar has also been an actor, a basketball coach, and a best-selling author.[7][8] In 2012, he was selected by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be a U.S. global cultural ambassador.[9]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kareem_Abdul-Jabbar

Stacked team, Tim Duncan is the greatest, Don't try to deny it.

[Sean Cagney]

Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50/25 in a season. Also, go look at those Celtics teams he had to go up against, they had 6-7 hall of famers on their team during Wilt's prime. The dude was absolutely superhuman. Stronger than Arnold Schwarzenegger during his prime. At age 36, he put up 13/18/5 in FOURTY THREE MPG and shot 72% from the field.

If he played during this era he would've made Lebron's statlines look like we were comparing Tiger Woods to Sergio Garcia.

What if D ROB played in this era of weak Centers? How do you think he fares?

[Johnny RIngo]

Peak Shaq is definitely the most dominant. Unfortunately, his cancerous personality and lazy work ethic probably cost him a chance at being the 2nd greatest player of all-time behind Jordan. Still a top ten player and an amazing career but he had potential for more.

[-21-]

Kareem and Hakeem are clearly better than Duncan and Shaq had a better prime so depends on what you value more (consistency or peak) although it's a bit of a moot point since both won les 4 times.

Then there's the never ending debate on how to grade Russell and Wilt.

Kinda agree with this. Russell and Wilt were just ahead of their time.

its probably a heavy dose of homerism, but i'm going with timmy.

kareem needed oscar robertson/magic johnson to win

bill russell throughout his career had 14 hall of fame teammates, and there were about 10 NBA teams during that era

Hakeem in his was a monster, but he only won two les, coming in a 2 year span. people like to say "oh he played in jordan's era so its excusable" and yet he NEVER faced Jordan in the postseason.

Wilt was a stat monster, arguably the greatest statistical player in NBA history, also a 2 time champ. neither of those came against Russell though, and the 2nd of his les came playing alongside Jerry "the logo" West and Gale Goodrich.

Nice answer but I would say that even though Hakeem never faced Jordan's Bulls in the playoffs, he played in a tougher era compared to Timmy.

[spurraider21]

If Duncan was 10 years younger, and the Spurs had him and Robinson throughout the 90's, how many les would they win?