The Best Basketball Player Ever (ZT)

Who do you think is the best basketball player of all
time? Is it Jordan, Magic, Bird, Barkley, Robertson, Jabbar,
Chamberlain, Olajuwon, Shaq, or someone else? The following is
my choice and how I arrived at that conclusion.

First, let\'s talk about what we mean by the best
basketball player. My definition of best means what player had
the best all round collection of basketball skills. All athletic
skills do not translate into basketball skills. For instance, if
someone had great acrobatic skills, but could not use them to
play great basketball, then they are not, in my opinion, true
basketball skills.

I consider Julius Erving as having the best pure athletic
ability of any basketball player that I have ever seen.
Certainly he was the most acrobatic. Now was he the best
basketball player of all time? While he was very, very good, I
think there were others who had better basketball skills.

What I consider as basketball skills are ball handling
(passing, dribbling, ability to get open to receive a pass, and
leading a fast break), shooting, scoring (point production,
ability to score when closely guarded, and ability to receive a
pass in scoring position), defense (both close to and away from
the basket, and team defense), rebounding, ability to inspire
teammates to play team basketball, and the ability/desire to win
by sacrificing individual statistics for the good of the team.

There are fourteen basketball skills listed above. I
rated players in each category with a maximum of five points,
except for rebounding which I rated a maximum of ten points.

Let\'s do the following as a way to concentrate only on
the most skillful players. The following are my choices as the
best all time players at their positions.

center: Jabbar, Olajuwon, Shaq
forward: Bird, Barkley, Erving
shooting guard: Jordan, West
point guard: Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson


The ratings of each of the above ten players in the
fourteen skills are as follows:

J O S B B E J W J R
a l h i a r o e o o
b a a r k v r s h b
b j q d l i d t n e
a u e g a s r
r w y n o t
o n s
n o
n
--------------------------------------------------------------
passing 4 3 3 5 4 1 3 4 5 5
dribbling 1 1 1 2 3 3 4 4 5 5
get opn to receive pass 3 3 5 4 4 3 5 4 4 3
run fast break 1 1 1 2 4 3 3 3 5 4
shooting 4 3 2 5 3 2 4 4 4 4
point production 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 3 4
score when guarded 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 5
receive pass in sc pos 4 4 5 3 4 3 5 4 4 4
defense close to basket 5 5 4 2 4 2 2 1 3 1
defense away frm basket 0 0 0 1 1 2 5 4 2 2
team defense 3 5 2 5 3 2 5 5 3 3
rebounding 10 10 10 6 8 4 4 2 6 4
team basketball 3 3 3 5 2 2 3 4 5 5
will to win 4 4 4 5 2 1 4 5 5 5
----------------------------------------------------------------
totals 50 50 48 53 50 36 57 52 58 54

Here Magic Johnson received the most points, closely
followed by Michael Jordan. I think that it is no surprise that
these two players would head the list. Notice how low a rating
Julius Erving had. Maybe that shows that his great acrobatic
abilities allowed him to become a better basketball player than
his purely basketball skills would indicate. Shaq with
continuing improvements, as shown in the last few years, could
be rated higher in the future.

Did Magic really have slightly better basketball skills
than Michael Jordan? Jordan was quicker, a better scorer, and a
better defender. However Magic was the better ball handler,
passer, rebounder, and team player.

I think the most remarkable game ever played was by Magic
Johnson when he played center for the injured Abdul-Jabbar in the
final game of the 1980 NBA playoffs. For a first-year point
guard to step forward and play center, and play the way he did,
was unbelievable. This was against a very good Philadelphia
team that was favored in this game. L.A. won 123-107. Johnson
scored 42 points, had 7 assists, and 15 rebounds. What other
guard or small forward could have done this? None that I know.

Another way to judge the basketball skills of these two
great talents is to ask the question: Could a team of five Magic
Johnsons beat a team of five Michael Jordans? I think they could,
and I don\'t think that it would be a very close game. Magic is
clearly the better passer/ball handler, would be much better
near the basket where his size would dominate, and his team
would play much better team basketball.

Well..... there it is. I believe Magic Johnson to be the
best all round basketball talent to ever play the game.