Greatest players to only play for one team

[Moranis]

George Mikan was the best player in the world on the best team in the world for 6 straight years (well I guess technically they were the best team for only 5 of the 6 years).  Now he only played those 6 seasons, retired for a year and then came back and played a partial season at a lower level.  So is 6 years not enough for him to be considered even though he was clearly the best player in the world on the 2nd most dominant team in the sports history (basing that on most titles in shortest time).  Obviously a different sport back then, but you have to compare players to their era and you won't find many better than Mikan in that regard.  Now his career only being 7 years obviously sets him apart but in that time (it was pre-MVP award, but he'd have at least 5 if not 6), he has 6 1st Team All NBA and 5 Championships, which makes his resume comparable to most everyone on that list and better than a lot of them.

So is his career just too short to be considered. 

Speaking of older guys you have Bob Pettit, Bob Cousy, and Dolph Schayes.  Pettit and Cousy won MVP's and Schayes never did, but was close several seasons.  They all won titles and had a whole bunch of 1st Team All NBA seasons.

For a top-10 list, Mikan’s career wasn’t long enough.

greatest player isn't the same thing as greatest career though.  I know that length matters to a degree, but the gap between years between Kobe and Thomas is more than the gap in years between Thomas and Mikan (as an example). 

[Roy H.]

George Mikan was the best player in the world on the best team in the world for 6 straight years (well I guess technically they were the best team for only 5 of the 6 years).  Now he only played those 6 seasons, retired for a year and then came back and played a partial season at a lower level.  So is 6 years not enough for him to be considered even though he was clearly the best player in the world on the 2nd most dominant team in the sports history (basing that on most titles in shortest time).  Obviously a different sport back then, but you have to compare players to their era and you won't find many better than Mikan in that regard.  Now his career only being 7 years obviously sets him apart but in that time (it was pre-MVP award, but he'd have at least 5 if not 6), he has 6 1st Team All NBA and 5 Championships, which makes his resume comparable to most everyone on that list and better than a lot of them.

So is his career just too short to be considered. 

Speaking of older guys you have Bob Pettit, Bob Cousy, and Dolph Schayes.  Pettit and Cousy won MVP's and Schayes never did, but was close several seasons.  They all won titles and had a whole bunch of 1st Team All NBA seasons.

For a top-10 list, Mikan’s career wasn’t long enough.

greatest player isn't the same thing as greatest career though.  I know that length matters to a degree, but the gap between years between Kobe and Thomas is more than the gap in years between Thomas and Mikan (as an example).

Mikan wasn’t particularly great, he was just bigger and better than most in the early NBA.  He shot below 40% for his career.

[Moranis]

George Mikan was the best player in the world on the best team in the world for 6 straight years (well I guess technically they were the best team for only 5 of the 6 years).  Now he only played those 6 seasons, retired for a year and then came back and played a partial season at a lower level.  So is 6 years not enough for him to be considered even though he was clearly the best player in the world on the 2nd most dominant team in the sports history (basing that on most titles in shortest time).  Obviously a different sport back then, but you have to compare players to their era and you won't find many better than Mikan in that regard.  Now his career only being 7 years obviously sets him apart but in that time (it was pre-MVP award, but he'd have at least 5 if not 6), he has 6 1st Team All NBA and 5 Championships, which makes his resume comparable to most everyone on that list and better than a lot of them.

So is his career just too short to be considered. 

Speaking of older guys you have Bob Pettit, Bob Cousy, and Dolph Schayes.  Pettit and Cousy won MVP's and Schayes never did, but was close several seasons.  They all won titles and had a whole bunch of 1st Team All NBA seasons.

For a top-10 list, Mikan’s career wasn’t long enough.

greatest player isn't the same thing as greatest career though.  I know that length matters to a degree, but the gap between years between Kobe and Thomas is more than the gap in years between Thomas and Mikan (as an example).

Mikan wasn’t particularly great, he was just bigger and better than most in the early NBA.  He shot below 40% for his career.

different game back then.  He had 3 seasons in the top 5 for FG% and another 3 in the top 17.  The average height and weight in 1952 was over 6'4" and about 195 pounds.  Today it is over 6'6" and about 215 pounds.  So a bit bigger today but not nearly as much as people think.  Mikan was 6'10" 245, a guy like Shaq, for example, was much bigger by comparison to the average player than Mikan was.

[tazzmaniac]

George Mikan was the best player in the world on the best team in the world for 6 straight years (well I guess technically they were the best team for only 5 of the 6 years).  Now he only played those 6 seasons, retired for a year and then came back and played a partial season at a lower level.  So is 6 years not enough for him to be considered even though he was clearly the best player in the world on the 2nd most dominant team in the sports history (basing that on most titles in shortest time).  Obviously a different sport back then, but you have to compare players to their era and you won't find many better than Mikan in that regard.  Now his career only being 7 years obviously sets him apart but in that time (it was pre-MVP award, but he'd have at least 5 if not 6), he has 6 1st Team All NBA and 5 Championships, which makes his resume comparable to most everyone on that list and better than a lot of them.

So is his career just too short to be considered. 

Speaking of older guys you have Bob Pettit, Bob Cousy, and Dolph Schayes.  Pettit and Cousy won MVP's and Schayes never did, but was close several seasons.  They all won titles and had a whole bunch of 1st Team All NBA seasons.

For a top-10 list, Mikan’s career wasn’t long enough.

greatest player isn't the same thing as greatest career though.  I know that length matters to a degree, but the gap between years between Kobe and Thomas is more than the gap in years between Thomas and Mikan (as an example).

Mikan wasn’t particularly great, he was just bigger and better than most in the early NBA.  He shot below 40% for his career.

Cousey averaged 37.5% for his career and never reached 40% in any season.  Mikan did get above 40% in three seasons.  He also shot 78% from the line.