Jerry West honored with Presidential Medal of Freedom

[footey]

i think chucks sold more than jordans right?







i would need 2 pair of socks and a ankle brace to run in dem chucks

I still wear Chucks.  I even play hoops in them sometimes. 

I remember my first pair of Cons (what we called them as kids).  I was in 7th grade, and they cost $8.95, which was a fortune back then for sneakers.  The only other options then were Keds and PF Flyers, which sucked but only cost about $3.50. 

Black low tops. Man they were so awesome.

Sadly, they are now made by Nike, which bought Converse many years ago for a pittance.

[gouki88]

I think the league criteria goes  for me goes, Wilt .

Then the list of very good players which includes all time greats like MJ, Lebron, Bird, Russell, etc. certainly there is more.

Then good players

There's a definite argument for West to be on a similar tier to guys like Magic, who is someone that would be on that "second tier" you have.

I don't agree with your rankings, but West had a career with averages similar to LeBron, and repeatedly lifted his game in the playoffs

[Moranis]

Still one of the top ten guards of all time

I think he was an elite GM, and a very good player but top 10 all time?

For guards?  Absolutely, West is in that discussion.

The only guards I'd put ahead of him are MJ and Magic.

Agree...and don’t forget the Big O!  If he was surrounded with more talent, he may have been the best.

I'm kind of skeptical that the Big O would've put up the stats he did in Cincy if he was surrounded with more talent earlier on. Not a huge fan of his skillset if the offense didn't revolve around him handling the ball. Great player who had a more valuable career than West though.

In 63-64, he basically put up 31/10/11 with 3 other HOFers in their 20's on the team, followed that up with 30.5/9/11.5, then 31/8/11, lost a few HOFers and started his decline in the 66-67 season and was no where near the player he was by the time he ended up in Milwaukee with Kareem.  In other words, Oscar did just fine statistically with multiple HOFers on his team, until he got old.  And the reality is, those guys played so many minutes, so many games, and didn't exactly travel in style that they got "old" pretty young in those days. 

As for this discussion, I'd take Oscar ahead of West, but they are both pretty clearly top 10 guards in league history.  Even being very liberal with who you put ahead of both of them, I have a very hard time knocking them out of the top 10.  And by liberally I'm including Kobe, Curry, Thomas, Stockton, Wade, and Drexler (and obviously Magic and MJ).  After that it is almost impossible to argue anyone with a straight face and if you put them behind all of those players that would make them 9 and 10.  The simple truth is, guard is incredibly weak historically, especially SG. 

[Celtics4ever]

There's a definite argument for West to be on a similar tier to guys like Magic, who is someone that would be on that "second tier" you have.

West is definitely in that tier.