Author Topic: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?  (Read 22739 times)

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Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #45 on: November 08, 2019, 04:39:50 PM »

Offline CelticsPoetry

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Maybe you want to go to a Lakers forum with that line of thinking?

Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #46 on: November 08, 2019, 05:04:53 PM »

Offline SHAQATTACK

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Bron Wade and Irving on Mt Turdmore

Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #47 on: November 08, 2019, 05:14:16 PM »

Offline johnnygreen

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Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #48 on: November 08, 2019, 05:28:07 PM »

Offline mmmmm

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Russell, Wilt, Jordan, Bird


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Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #49 on: November 08, 2019, 05:57:21 PM »

Offline GreenFaith1819

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Russell, Kareem, Michael and LeBron.

Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #50 on: November 08, 2019, 06:30:22 PM »

Offline csfansince60s

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Russ, Wilt, Magic, Bird.

Sorry, MJ...you never beat anyone for those 6 rings....nobody like the '80s C's or Fakers, not even the Bad Boys at their peak (you caught them on their downside). You have to beat the best to be the best.

Not even close, MJ.


Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #51 on: November 08, 2019, 07:15:15 PM »

Offline petbrick

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Real answer:

Russell, because he is the league's greatest winner. Also, because he was so innovative. First black coach. First black leader of a team. And a major advocate for civil rights. And he was also one of the greatest rebounders and defenders ever.

Bird and Magic because besides the talent and accomplishes, they led the NBA out of the disaster that was 1970's basketball with there being two leagues and rampant cocaine and other drug problems affecting the game. They saved basketball. Ratings soared, as did revenue and basketball overtook hockey and baseball as the country's 2nd most popular sport. All because of Larry and Magic. They were that influential.

Then, of course, Michael who took everything from Larry and Magic and built on it. He also became the best player ever. The greatest shoe salesman ever(after Bird and Magic started the basketball shoes revolution and branding). And a culture changer.

Those are your NBA Mount Rushmore players, because reaching those heights means more than just counting stats.
That's a great list based on your criteria, but I disagree about your swipe at statistic based evaluations being purely counting stat based - the use of impact metrics that actually attempt to tease out how a player affects the scoreboard have been gaining popularity the past decade. These statistics are hardly just counting stats, they're literally trying to quantify what Russell said in his statement about the "other 45 minutes of the game". Obviously there are massive outliers in such metrics (as with any other statistic), but you can form a very convincing list when you use those stats as a tool to aid what you see on the basketball court.
When determining the greatest that is on the Mount Rushmore, IMO, you want guys that did more than just ball. You want guys that changed the league for the better and did so in ways off the court as well.

It's fine to say LeBron is a better basketball player than Bird or Magic, but to be on Mount Rushmore of the NBA??? Bird and Magic completely changed the way basketball was played and perceived in this country. Ratings took off and better TV deals happened because of Bird and Magic. Shoe branding with Converse started with these guys. They saved the game. So because of that, I don't care that some advanced stats might say there are slightly better players than Bird and Magic, they weren't more important to the game.
They changed rules to account for Wilt.  MJ became the first global icon of the sport.  Lebron has taken MJ's iconness to new levels especially his use of social media, his media empire, etc.  This idea that the other great players didn't effectuate change is just strange to me.  So elevating inferior players for those reasons also seems strange to me.

A bold claim to assert that LeBron has ever been a bigger icon than Jordan. Not during his career thus far, 21 years after Jordan's retirement ( ;) ) Potentially he's a better basketball player. Not an opinion I share, but a valid opinion.


Anyway:
Russell, Wilt, Bird & Magic, MJ.
Kareem, LeBron, Dr. J, Oscar.
Iverson, Shaq, Duncan, Walton.

Not the best players, but the players I'd most like to see have their faces carved on a big mountain somewhere.
I think Lebron is known by a lot more non-basketball fans, especially around the world.  He has also used his platform and taken stands far more than Jordan ever did.  Jordan never inserted himself into issues unrelated to basketball.  Lebron's done a lot more of that.  Sure it provides more fodder, but that fodder also keeps him in the news.  He has all sorts of business interests (owned a pieced of Beats, stakeholder in Blaze Pizza, etc.). He has been in several movies (not all basketball themed) and created/produced several main stream television shows with his media company.  Then of course you have his philanthropy and political activism including the creation of a public school for at risk youths in Akron. 

Jordan was a global icon, but it was all basketball related.  I think James has taken that to the next level with all of the non-basketball stuff.

Was? At the risk of sounding old, I'd say he still is. Additionally, I'd say LeBron carried an air of fallibility with him that, to my mind, keeps him from being instantly synonymous with winning (in a way that arguably transcends basketball) in the same way Jordan was.

And for the fiscally-centric folks: only one NBA player has accumulated enough money to own an NBA franchise (not to mention the whole "becoming a billionaire" bit). 

I think it's possible James could hit those second two criteria, though. I don't think whoever the future's equivalent of Drake will be will write songs about him decades after he retires.

Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #52 on: November 08, 2019, 07:39:47 PM »

Offline KGs Knee

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Captain America: William Felton Russell

Mount Rushmore: Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Honorable Mention: Shaquille O'Neal

Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #53 on: November 08, 2019, 07:55:17 PM »

Offline SHAQATTACK

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Red , Bird , Russel , Dr J


not putting any **** ****  Lakers holes on anything Im going to look at.  ;D

Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #54 on: November 08, 2019, 08:39:41 PM »

Online hwangjini_1

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perhaps i missed it, but no jerry west?

i go with russell, west, chamberlain, and...sigh...james.

upon further review and thought....i substitute jordan for james...barely.
« Last Edit: November 08, 2019, 09:24:00 PM by hwangjini_1 »
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Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #55 on: November 08, 2019, 09:21:18 PM »

Offline slamtheking

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4 greatest players:

Wilt
Kareem
Jordan
Lebron


4 greatest winners:

Russell
Magic
Bird
Jordan
I wanted to blind myself after reading that blasphemy

Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #56 on: November 08, 2019, 09:30:38 PM »

Offline RockinRyA

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Russ, Wilt, Magic, Bird.

Sorry, MJ...you never beat anyone for those 6 rings....nobody like the '80s C's or Fakers, not even the Bad Boys at their peak (you caught them on their downside). You have to beat the best to be the best.

Not even close, MJ.

Sorry but this is sooo wrong. MJs impact alone outside of the court puts him there. add the fact that he has set record and was playing against better athletes instead of uncoordinated guys. Then you have the fact that Magic and Bird both have acknowledge MJ as a better player, makes me see this as a questionable nostalgic bias post.

Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #57 on: November 08, 2019, 09:34:16 PM »

Offline gouki88

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Might have posted in this thread, but at this point in time: Jordan, Russell, Bird & Magic.

Kareem is 5th, and LeBron would be 6th.

This is only talking player only contribution, otherwise Red & Jerry West would have to be in consideration too.
'23 Historical Draft: Orlando Magic.

PG: Terry Porter (90-91) / Steve Francis (00-01)
SG: Joe Dumars (92-93) / Jeff Hornacek (91-92) / Jerry Stackhouse (00-01)
SF: Brandon Roy (08-09) / Walter Davis (78-79)
PF: Terry Cummings (84-85) / Paul Millsap (15-16)
C: Chris Webber (00-01) / Ralph Sampson (83-84) / Andrew Bogut (09-10)

Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #58 on: November 08, 2019, 09:35:49 PM »

Offline Celtics17

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Wilt, Russ, MJ, and Bird.

Any discussion here that doesnt include Wilt and Russ is just not right. Put either in today's league and they are immediately the best player in the league! Also, if you didnt watch MJ play much you may want to rank Lebron ahead of him but Lebron can't close out games the way MJ did.

I put Bird here because of his ability to control the game with his mind. John Wooden was once asked who the mentally quickest player to ever play was and he replied that no one was every quicker then Larry Legend.

Re: What's your NBA Mount Rushmore?
« Reply #59 on: November 08, 2019, 10:02:55 PM »

Offline jambr380

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I go with Russell, Jordan, Magic/Bird (half face each)...and either Wilt or Lebron. I just can't decide right now.