#8 is dubious, definitely not a great spot to find yourself historically.
Maybe some of the more seasoned members of the forum would know better but I might consider Tom Chambers or Detlef Schrempf ahead of Robert Parish.
https://www.basketballinsiders.com/history-of-the-nba-draft-by-pick/history-of-the-nba-draft-pick-number-8/
Definitely not Detlef. Parish vs. Chambers could be debated, I guess, but Parish was a 9x All-Star with four championships and is a Top-75 player.
I think the most debatable spot is probably #1. So many greats were taken there. Kareem, Magic, Shaq, etc., etc.
agreed. very much a recency-bias/Lebron-lovefest. Saw Lebron at the top and immediately thought of Magic at once and shamefully didn't consider Kareem or Shaq.
Looked up Wilt's draft spot noticing he was the most glaring omission but found he was a territorial pick.
He was also the 3rd pick and pretty much everyone would put Jordan ahead of him.
and pretty much everyone would be wrong then. I'd take Wilt over Jordan and not think twice.
While Wilt put up the most amazing numbers ever, he definitely has some negatives going against him. Here's somethings mentioned in Bill Simmon's Book of Basketball (and reading it all reminds me a lot of Russell Westbrook - amazing stats, obsession with getting his stats, played with great teammates, but lack of team success).
Also, if you’re scoring at home: Russell played with four members of the NBA’s Top 50 at 50 (Havlicek, Cousy, Sharman and Sam Jones); Wilt played with six members (Baylor, West, Greer, Cunningham, Arizin and Thurmond). And Russell’s teammates from 1957 to 1969 were selected to twenty-six All-Star games, while Wilt’s teammates from 1960 to 1973 were selected to twenty-four. Let’s never mention the supporting-cast card again with Russell and Chamberlain. Thank you.
Wilt was continually obsessed with a bizarre streak—for whatever reason, he wanted to make it through his entire basketball career without fouling out, so he’d stop challenging shots with four or five fouls even if he was hurting his team in the process. I’m not making this up. (Seriously, I’m not making this up.) (Wait, you don’t believe me? Here’s what John Havlicek wrote in Hondo: “Wilt’s greatest idiosyncrasy was not fouling out. He had never fouled out of a high school, college or professional game and that was the one record he was determined to protect. When he got that fourth foul, his game would change. I don’t know how many potential victories he may have cheated his team out of by not really playing after he got into foul trouble.”)
Suddenly Wilt was passing up easy shots to set up teammates, checking the scorer’s table multiple times per game, complaining if he felt like he hadn’t been credited for a specific assist, lambasting teammates for blowing his passes and taking an inordinate amount of delight in leading the league in ’68 (a record he bragged about more than any other).
When things finally fell apart on the ’65 Warriors, legendary L.A. Times columnist Jim Murray wrote, “[Wilt] can do one thing well—score. He turns his own team into a congress of butlers whose principal function is to get him the ball under a basket. Their skills atrophy, their desires wane. Crack players like Willie Naulls get on the Warriors and they start dropping notes out of the window or in bottles which they cast adrift. They contain one word: ‘help.’
When San Fran shopped him in ’65, the Lakers were intrigued enough that owner Bob Short asked his players to vote on whether or not he should purchase Chamberlain’s contract. The results of the vote? Nine to two … against. Nine to two against!
no doubt he had some negatives. doesn't negate the point that he's the most talented individual player to have played.
Anyone I've personally had a discussion with concerning who's the best basketball player (or top 5, best team, etc..), almost all of them have put Jordan as #1 and a handful have put Lebron as #2.
Their reasoning was what I consider to be faulty.
-Some claimed Jordan's 6 titles make him the greatest while remaining ignorant of Russell's 11 in 13 years while having to win them with Wilt in the league. Jordan didn't win titles until Bird and Magic were well past their primes. When pointing that out to them, most admitted begrudgingly I had a point. A couple refused to acknowledge basketball existed pre-1984 when Jordan was drafted.
-Those claiming Lebron as #2 proclaim his all-around skill as unseen in the NBA. I point out Wilt was a better scorer and rebounder. was an excellent passer and defender - nothing that would take a backseat to Lebron. Then piling on the ability of Bird to outscore Lebron, outpass Lebron, out rebound Lebron --generally being the smartest guy on the court always a step ahead of the competition. Bird won 3 titles while having to compete against a beast of a team in Philly in the East as well as having to compete against a stacked Lakers team through the decade. That's not including Magic's all-around incredible game and ability to elevate the games of his teammates as well as his ability to step up and be 'the man' in crunch time. 5 titles for Magic.
-Those proclaiming Jordan and Lebron as the greatest athletes to have played, I offer Russell's world class athleticism in track and field. Don't recall Jordan or Lebron hitting that level of athleticism outside of basketball but Russell did. They very well may have been good enough to do it but we'll never know while Bill did manage to include that with his basketball endeavors.
-Those proclaiming Jordan and Lebron are the greatest scorers couldn't really defend that against Wilt's accomplishments. Closest thing to a rebuttal was that there were no great centers to defend Wilt but that's pretty weak considering he still has to make the shots and a high percentage of them to get those scoring figures.
-Those proclaiming Jordan and Lebron are the greatest 2-way players fail to recognize the league protection afforded them that became prominent in Jordan's title years. Jordan and Lebron have not had to worry about fouling out of games. They've gotten away with so many fouls that would be called on anyone else. The story of Wilt shying away from fouling out lends credence to the idea that Wilt was not a recipient of heavily biased star calls that the latter two have enjoyed. Any disbelievers only need to see the number of streaks Lebron has had of games where he wasn't called for any fouls. Anyone watching those games knows Lebron has gotten away with hacks, hits to the body, etc... that no other player would get away with. Subject Jordan and Lebron to the same rules as everyone else and their defensive reputations would take a hit. Same goes for their offense, particularly Lebron. Travels, pushes, offensive fouls called as defensive fouls, etc... Again, if they were officiated the same as other players, their stats would take a hit.
I stand behind my opinion that Russell and Wilt are the 2 top players in league history. Any measuring stick used to justify Jordan or Lebron at the top doesn't hold up when also applied to Russell and Wilt.