The extraordinary lineup of actors, musicians, athletes and journalists participating in the Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) primetime roadblock television fundraising event (September 10, 2010, at 8PM EST & PST / 7PM CT) continues to grow.

The following supporters have now joined the broadcast: Elizabeth Banks, Kathy Bates, Sir Richard Branson, Michael Chiklis, George Clooney, Baron Davis, Emily Deschanel, Bill Hader, Dorothy Hamill, Anne Heche, Cheryl Hines, Randy Jackson, George Karl, Dr. Jon Lapook, Rob Lowe, Jane Lynch, Marlee Matlin, Shareen Mitchell, Olivia Munn, Lisa Niemi, Kelly Osbourne, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Passmore, Will Smith, Sam Trammell, Denzel Washington, Aaron Yoo and Renee Zellweger.

Musical guests scheduled to perform include: Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Neil Diamond, U2's The Edge, Delta Goodrem, Herbie Hancock, Kris Kristofferson, Lady Antebellum, Leona Lewis, Orianthi and Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson of Heart. These artists join previously announced performers including Natasha Bedingfield, Martina McBride, Aaron Neville, Dave Stewart and Stevie Wonder.

The Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) telecast will raise funds that will accelerate innovative cancer research. The live, one-hour fundraising event will be simulcast commercial-free on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Bio, Current TV, Discovery Health, E!, G4, HBO, HBO Latino, MLB Network, mun2, Showtime, Smithsonian Channel, The Style Network, TV One and VH1 and hosted by network news anchors Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer and Brian Williams. The broadcast will air in 195 countries, as well as on the Armed Forces Network.

“Plain and simple, cancer takes too much from us,” said Laura Ziskin, SU2C co-founder and executive producer of the September 10th broadcast, who is a cancer survivor. "Loved ones lost to it, pain and suffering endured by those in treatment, even the recent report that cancer has the most devastating economic impact of any cause of death…this disease exacts a very high price. We want people all over the country to rise up and say, ‘ENOUGH!’
“Tune in on Sept. 10th to see your favorite stars, who’ll ask, ‘Will you stand up with us?’ Person by person, saying ‘yes’ moves us toward a goal completely within our grasp: a world without cancer. A donation of any size brings scientists one step closer to a cure.”

Cat Deeley of FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance will host the pre-show promotion to kick off the evening as the celebrity phone bank opens at 7:30 PM EST / 4:30 PM PST.

A 30-minute online “after hours” extended play featuring jams with musical guests Fitz and the Tantrums, Orianthi, Natasha Bedingfield and Heart will conclude the night’s events.

Previously announced participants in the September 10th special include: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tatyana Ali, Dave Annable, Christina Applegate, Lance Armstrong, David Boreanaz, Abigail Breslin, Cindy Crawford, Fran Drescher, Elizabeth Edwards, Donald Faison, Sally Field, Derek Fisher, Michael C. Hall, Alyson Hannigan, Tony Hawk, Jon Heder, Marg Helgenberger, Terrence Howard, Ken Jeong, Rashida Jones, Minka Kelly, Laura Linney, Zachary Levi, Ray Liotta, Seth MacFarlane, Mandy Moore, Apolo Anton Ohno, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Jim Parsons, Aubrey Plaza, Dr. Ana Maria Polo, Yarel Ramos, Naya Rivera, Robin Roberts, Seth Rogen, The Simpsons, Eric Stonestreet, Marcia Strassman, Alison Sweeney, Maura Tierney, Gabrielle Union, Sofia Vassilieva, Sofia Vergara, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Reese Witherspoon and Ethan Zohn.

Related past articles

• Slip Into George Clooney's Tux For Charity
• Jerry Lewis Announces 2010 Charity Telethon
• Imogen Heap And Richard Branson Take Part In Charity Telethon For Pakistan
• George Clooney Challenges Hollywood To Help Charity
• Stars To Ante Up For Children's Charity

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The list for Stand Up 2 Cancer’s much-anticipated television fundraising event just keeps on growing!!!

The following supporters have now joined the broadcast: Elizabeth Banks, Kathy Bates, Sir Richard Branson, Michael Chiklis, George Clooney, Baron Davis, Emily Deschanel, Bill Hader, Dorothy Hamill, Anne Heche, Cheryl Hines, Randy Jackson, George Karl, Dr. Jon Lapook, Rob Lowe, Jane Lynch, Marlee Matlin, Shareen Mitchell, Olivia Munn, Lisa Niemi, Kelly Osbourne, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Passmore, Will Smith, Sam Trammell, Denzel Washington, Aaron Yoo, and Renee Zellweger.

WATCH: SU2C PSA

Previously announced participants include: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tatyana Ali, Dave Annable, Christina Applegate, Lance Armstrong, David Boreanaz, Abigail Breslin, Cindy Crawford, Fran Drescher, Elizabeth Edwards, Donald Faison, Sally Field, Derek Fisher, Michael C. Hall, Alyson Hannigan, Tony Hawk, Jon Heder, Marg Helgenberger, Terrence Howard, Ken Jeong, Rashida Jones, Minka Kelly, Laura Linney, Zachary Levi, Ray Liotta, Seth MacFarlane, Mandy Moore, Apolo Anton Ohno, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Jim Parsons, Aubrey Plaza, Dr. Ana Maria Polo, Yarel Ramos, Naya Rivera, Robin Roberts, Seth Rogen, The Simpsons, Eric Stonestreet, Marcia Strassman, Alison Sweeney, Maura Tierney, Gabrielle Union, Sofia Vassilieva, Sofia Vergara, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Reese
Witherspoon and Ethan Zohn.

Musical guests scheduled to perform include: Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Neil Diamond, The Edge of U2, Delta Goodrem, Herbie Hancock, Kris Kristofferson, Lady Antebellum, Leona Lewis, Orianthi, Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson of Heart, Natasha Bedingfield, Martina McBride, Aaron Neville, Dave Stewart, and Stevie Wonder.

The 2008 telecast helped raise over $100 million. Hopefully this year, we can raise even more!

The SU2C TV special will air next Friday (Sept. 10) @ 8PM EST & PST / 7PM CT!!!!!

LOS ANGELES — George Clooney, Will Smith and Gwyneth Paltrow will join an impressive list of stars taking part in September's "Stand Up to Cancer" telethon airing on major networks.

Other celebrities announced Wednesday include Denzel Washington, Renee Zellweger, Kathy Bates and Richard Branson. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lance Armstrong and Elizabeth Edwards were previously announced as participants.

Read More...
More on George Clooney

more images more images more images more images Clooney, Will Smith join anti-cancer telethon LOS ANGELES ? George Clooney, Will Smith and Gwyneth Paltrow will join an impressive list of stars taking part in September’s “Stand Up to Cancer” telethon airing on major networks. Other celebrities announced Wednesday include Denzel Washington, Renee Zellweger, Kathy Bates and Richard Branson. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lance .... Source article on Gaea Times at  : Clooney, Will Smith, Paltrow join anti-cancer telethon airing Sept. 10 on major networks.

USA Today

Kevin Durant USA Basketball Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Andre Iguodala USA Today Reid has covered everything from high schools to horse racing to the college and the pros. The only thing he likes more than his own voice is the sound of ... and more »

John3:16 wrote:

nameant wrote:Rebounds? C'mon you didn't go there.

Sure I did. Rebounds are vital to wins and losses. If discussing the greatest ever, why wouldn't it be broughtup?

Abdul-Jabbar wasn't dominating on the boards like Chamberlain was but he was excellent. You have to factor in shot blocking which The League did not keep track of until 1971[?][/?] ch would be two full seasons of un-recorded stats in that department. Abdul-Jabbar also missed a season
...

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Filed under: Basketball

 

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^

Yeah, I"ve heard that too. I like Kareem though, I probably wouldnt go up and ask for his autograph, but I respect his privacy and his career as a b ball player. He seems like a very humble guy

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Kareem is kind of an a**hole from some of things i've heard/read about him.

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^ i agree its kinda lame and over a million is a bit much lol

but kareem is right from what it sounds like... he said no and they did anyways

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Sorry Kareem, but nice try. That's a weak lawsuit. You shouldn't be able to "turn down" a basketball card company, only to find out they have made cards including you and now you want to sue for $$. Weak, sauce. That's what card companies do: make cards from those players who participate in the game in an official league.

Maybe I'm jumping the gun and not understanding what the lawsuit is truly about, but so far it sounds ridiculous.

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http://www.tmz.com/2010/08/30/kareem-ab ... nts-anchor

Abdul-Jabbar Slams Basketball Card Company

8/30/2010 12:00 PM PDT by TMZ Staff

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is outraged that a trading card company has traded on his image after he specifically shut them down ... and now Kareem is gunning for more than a

...

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Celebrities vying for $1 million on Jeopardy tonight were challenged to recall the lineage of one of New York’s seats in the U.S. Senate — but when former Los Angeles Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took a shot at the question, he got nothin’ but air. The onetime basketball star got the question in a “Daily Double” reserved [...]

*Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has filed a lawsuit against trading card company Upper Deck claiming they used pictures of him from his college days after he specifically told them they couldn’t. According to TMZ, the lawsuit filed today in L.A. County Superior Court claims The Upper Deck Company used six photos of Abdul-Jabbar as a UCLA Bruin [...]

Browns Make a Needless Power Play New York Times In 1967, Brown convened a meeting of a group of well-known African-American athletes — including Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — to support ... and more »

A couple weeks ago we asked you to vote for the top ten Bucks of all time. The first three nominees were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Sidney Moncrief, and Ray Allen with each of our nominations eligible for the forthcoming SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame ballot that will also include nominees from Brew Crew Ball, Acme Packing Company, Bucky's 5th Quarter and Anonymous Eagle.

Let me start with an admission: I've been looking forward to this one.

Not because I think Glenn Robinson was the best Buck ever...don't worry, I'm still rational.  No, to be honest he probably wasn't even the best Buck of his era. And it's not because the Big Dog was particularly, smooth, stylish, eloquent or efficient. 

But the simple fact is that I grew up a Glenn Robinson guy.  And if you followed basketball as a kid, you probably had someone like that. 

It started in 1992, when my dad made the generous (if not well-timed) decision to get Bucks season tickets. In other words, I became a Bucks fan pretty much as the franchise bottomed out. And as an 11-year-old kid excited about basketball, I was really looking to latch onto a player who could be the Bucks' long-lost superstar.

And on an early summer day in 1994, I thought I had maybe found one. That day I watched the draft lottery at halftime of whatever playoff game was being shown, and sure enough, my Bucks came up #1.  I excitedly ran out onto our deck and yelled at my dad, who was busy working in the garden. Everybody knew what winning the lottery meant.  

"We're getting the Big Dog!"   

It seems strange to think that it's been nearly a decade since Glenn last wore a Bucks jersey, and even stranger to think that many current Bucks fans are too young to remember him (these realizations are an unfortunate reminder of me getting old).

Robinson's game was itself a bit of a throwback. He was at his most impressive from mid-range, where he was equally adept at scoring from turnarounds out of the post or catching and firing off screens. His trademark delivery--casually bringing the ball from the left side of his forehead--was less reliable from deep (34%), even with his first three seasons coming while the NBA had shorted the three point line. And while Robinson wasn't an athletic freak, he still threw down his share of highlight reel dunks. 

Positionally, he wasn't a pure wing player and often struggled handling the ball on the perimeter, which helps explain why turnovers were the only thing he ever led the league in (nearly four per game as a rookie). But he also didn't have prototypical size to be a power forward, the position where he excelled in college. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call him a tweener, but slightly bigger hands and a couple more inches of length on his 235-240 pound frame could have done wonders. 

And then there was his defense. Again, his physical profile hurt, as he lacked the footspeed to track most SFs but was too small for most bigs. He also played with other poor defenders, which didn't help. And I think part of it was also just the way he looked on the court. He had a trudging sort of run that always made him look...tired. I'm not saying he was a good defender, but let's just say he was not the kind of guy who would get the benefit of the doubt either. 

Looking back, the Bucks probably made a mistake in selecting Robinson ahead of both Jason Kidd and Grant Hill. OK, they definitely did. But you wouldn't have argued with the Bucks' decision if you saw Robinson make a mockery of the Big Ten in his two years at Purdue. Dropping 30 ppg and 10 rpg in a major conference? That's just silly. The only question seemed to be how much it would cost to sign the Purdue star, with rumors rampant that the Big Dog might be the first rookie to crack the $100 million threshold. Thankfully he didn't, and I can still picture the Journal headline on the day he signed: 10 years, $68 million.

Robinson led all first year players in scoring (21.9 ppg), yet hardly registered in the rookie of the year debate that saw Kidd and Hill end up sharing the award. The young tandem of Robinson and second year PF Vin Baker helped the Bucks win 14 more games than the previous season, but at 34-48 the Bucks were still caught in the NBA's no-man's land. 

Worse yet, the improvement that most expected the following season never arrived. Instead, the Bucks were nine wins worse than in Robinson's rookie year, and the Big Dog's game took a step sideways. Robinson upped his assists to nearly four per game, but he dipped to 20.2 ppg despite playing nearly 40 mpg, and his scoring efficiency remained middling: .534 TS% after .538 his rookie year.

Of course, no one at the time even knew what true shooting percentage was, but our pre-occupation with scoring didn't offer any delusions of superstardom either. Though not all of us chose to believe it yet, the truth was that Robinson was a very good but not quite great NBA scorer. And while Glenn's rebound rate was always quite good for a small forward, we couldn't help but wonder what happened to the double-digit rebounding PF from Purdue. In hindsight, it's the same thing that happened to Michael Beasley and Carmelo Anthony--they got to the NBA and simply weren't big enough anymore.

The silver lining to the dismal 95/96 season was a high lottery pick in the following draft, which the Bucks put to good use by trading down a spot for Ray Allen. With Celtics retread Chris Ford now the head coach, the Bucks made modest improvements to 33-49 thanks to the addition of Allen to the already potent forward combo of Baker (21.0 ppg, 10.3 rpg) and Big Dog (21.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.1 apg). 

The following season looked like it could represent a turning point. Robinson bumped his scoring up to 23.4 ppg and the Bucks were clawing their way back to respectability, splitting the first 58 games evenly at 29-29. But Robinson missed the season's final two months through injury and the big scoring numbers were also a bit of an illusion (not that my high school self knew it at the time). Robinson was second in the league in minutes per game (41.0!), too 20 shots per game, his TS% fell to an even more mediocre .522, and his win shares/48 remained similarly unimpressive (.065). 

It was obvious by his fifth season that Big Dog was never going to be the franchise player we hoped for, but the additions of Allen and later Sam Cassell finally provided the supporting cast needed to be competitive. George Karl's first season saw the Bucks finish above .500 for the first time since 90/91, though both Robinson and Allen saw their minutes and raw stats dip a bit in the process. Still, after nearly a decade of futility, Milwaukee had finally found a recipe for winning games.

The Bucks needed one more year of fine-tuning and first round playoff learning, but it paid off in 00/01. They won 52 games as Robinson was an all-star for the second straight year and set new career-highs in rebounding (10.6% RR), PER (20.1), and win shares (6.7) while slightly edging Allen for the team scoring lead (22.0 ppg). Even so, Robinson ranked just third on the team in both win shares and PER, while his TS% was once again a mediocre 52.5%. Then again, those efficiency metrics weren't even around at the time, which makes you wonder how differently he would be perceived in today's age of advanced stats. 

Even so, I'm not sure Robinson was fully appreciated during his time in Milwaukee. Like Andrew Bogut, he struggled with the burden of being a #1 overall pick, made all the more difficult given Hill and Kidd's success. He never quite lived up to the stratospheric expectations set by his stunning college career, and he was never as polished or eloquent as Allen off the court. So it wasn't surprising when he became something of a scapegoat following the disastrous 01/02 season, dealt to Atlanta for Toni Kukoc and the '03 pick which became T.J. Ford. 

It was strangely cathartic as well. Robinson's departure seemed to allow many fans to sit back and appreciate what he was, rather than merely grumbling about what he wasn't. The ovations he got in his returns to Milwaukee, both as a player and as a member of the Bucks' 40th anniversary team, seemed to say it all. And watching Robinson win a title with San Antonio in 2005--even as a fringe rotation player--made me smile ear to ear. It wasn't how I hoped to see him win a title, but I was happy he was able to leave with a ring and on his own terms.

No, the Big Dog did not turn out to be the superstar I had hoped for in the summer of 1994. And he also wasn't a charismatic sneaker salesman or floor general. But for eight years he was good enough to become the Bucks' second all-time leading scorer, a two-time all-star and one of the catalysts of the best Bucks team of the past twenty years. As a Glenn Robinson guy, that's good enough for me.

It may seem strange to receive an update on Klei Entertainment's XBLA/PC/PSN action game Shank that doesn't have anything to do with brutal gun, knife, or gun/knife/knife/gun/chainsaw violence, but you'll like this anyway. In advance of next week's release (August 24 on PSN, August 25 on XBLA, "Fall" on PC), Klei has posted six songs from the game's soundtrack.

In addition, the company revealed a few of the unlockable costumes in which you'll be able to clothe Shank, including a Bruce Lee-inspired yellow jumpsuit (no Kareem Abdul-Jabbar footprint, though) and a shirtless "Red Ninja" getup.

Hear some of Shank's tracks, and see Shank's tracksuit originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Andrew Bynum may be one of the most talented true centers to enter the NBA in some time, but it's hard to tell because so far his brief career has been defined by injuries.

When the Los Angeles Lakers selected Bynum with the 10th pick of the 2005 draft, general manager Mitch Kupchak envisioned a player in the mold of Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar, but that hasn't been the case.

Kareem has instilled his knowledge of the game in Bynum, and the youngster is blessed with plenty of fundamental talent, but his body has not been a willing participant in Bynum's quest to be a great center.

It may seem like Bynum has been around forever, but some people forget he was the youngest player ever to appear in a NBA regular season game, and during his brief periods of health, Bynum has shown flashes of his potential.

I stress brief, because out of a possible 410 NBA games Bynum has appeared in only 278, and his 10 points and 6.7 rebounds per game during the course of his career would likely be higher, if he were healthy.

Bynum played in 65 regular season games during the 2009-10 season and averaged 15 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, while shooting an astounding 57 percent from the floor.

Before falling victim to yet another knee injury in the postseason, Bynum had established himself as a pivotal member of the Lakers, and his ability to play through the pain of a torn meniscus may have been the difference in the Lakers' second consecutive championship.

Bynum's ability to recover from this latest knee injury is as important as ever, because combined with Pau Gasol, Bynum is one half of the NBA's best front line, and the strength of the Lakers' team.

Some observers would be hesitant to place Bynum among the NBA's elite centers because he is injury-prone, but considering the shallow pool of talent at the position, it's a hard argument to make.

The Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard is universally recognized as the NBA's top center, the league's most dominant physical force, and the defending NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

In terms of pure athleticism, Howard wins the battle easily, because he is simply the most intimidating post presence in the game today, but when it comes to the merits of a true center, Bynum has a place in the argument.

Bynum is much further along in the fundamental development of his game than Howard, and he has absorbed the tutelage of Abdul-Jabbar very well.

Bynum has a true back-to-the-basket game, great footwork in the paint, and he can spin to either shoulder and finish at the rim with either hand.

His true value however lies on the defensive end, because he has become an intimidating presence in his own right, and while Howard's defense is based on vicious blocks, Bynum's is rooted in philosophy.

Bynum's purpose on defense is to keep his opponent in front of him, and to defend the basket once the perimeter has been breached. He is not overly quick, but Bynum's seven foot frame lessens his recovery time if he is beaten in the post.

But protecting the basket was the area Bynum excelled in last season, and although he didn't account for a ton of blocks, he did alter the trajectory of numerous shots.

I would give the edge to Howard simply because he is a more dominant player than Bynum, but in truth Howard doesn't really fit the profile of a true NBA center.

Howard would rather play facing the basket as opposed to his back to the basket, and although he blocks numerous shots, his man-to-man defensive skills are suspect.

A better comparison for Bynum would be Andrew Bogut of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Brook Lopez of the New Jersey Nets.

Lopez and Bogut can match Bynum's size in the post, and Bogut may actually hold an edge in the category of fundamental skills.

However, Bynum is arguably stronger than either Lopez or Bogut, and although all three are around the same age, Bynum has a distinct edge in experience.

But if Bynum can manage to stay healthy for a full season there is a chance he could separate himself from the league's other centers, and draw a little closer to Howard in the process.

Bynum's numbers were decent last season, and that was accomplished as the third scoring option behind Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, so a season of health could see those numbers increase.

True NBA centers are nearing the point of extinction in the NBA, but Bynum has a chance to prove that real low post centers are not yet remnants of the past.

Bynum's game has steadily progressed as his time on the court has increased, and it's tantalizing to envision what type of player he could become if his body would allow him to do it.

LOS ANGELES — Lance Armstrong, Robin Roberts and Michael C. Hall are among the celebrities affected by cancer who will take part in a TV fundraiser next month.

"Stand Up to Cancer" announced Thursday appearances by other actors, athletes and musicians who have faced the disease, including Maura Tierney, Christina Applegate and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Elizabeth Edwards, who kicked off the first "Stand Up to Cancer" telethon in 2008 with Armstrong, is taking part again.

One of the night's musical performances will be led by Stevie Wonder and include Natasha Bedingfield, Queen Latifah, Martina McBride, Aaron Neville and Dave Stewart.

"Stand Up to Cancer" will air commercial-free Sept. 10 (8 p.m.-9 p.m. EDT) on the four major broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, as well as on a number of cable channels. News anchors Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer and Brian Williams are the hosts.

Others set to appear include Reese Witherspoon, Mandy Moore, Apolo Anton Ohno and Jim Parsons.

Film and TV producer Laura Ziskin (the "Spider-Man" franchise), a cancer survivor who produced the first telecast, has taken on the job again.

"On Sept. 10, we'll send a resounding message: We can cure cancer. It's going to take guts, brains and the ongoing support of the public, but we can do this," Ziskin said.

The 2008 event helped deliver more than $100 million for research.

The American Association for Cancer Research, the scientific partner of Stand Up to Cancer, administers grants and provides scientific oversight in partnership with a Stand Up to Cancer advisory committee.

Stand Up to Cancer is a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a nonprofit TV and film industry group that supports programs addressing health, education and social issues.

Telethon viewers will be asked to make donations by phone or on the Stand Up to Cancer website. All public donations go to cancer research, the group said.

Besides the broadcast networks, Bio, Discovery Health, E!, G4, HBO, HBO Latino, MLB Network, mun2, Showtime, Smithsonian Channel, The Style Network, TV One and VH1 also will simulcast the event.

___

Online:

http://www.standup2cancer.org

More on Lance Armstrong

The “Stand Up to Cancer” benefit set to be broadcast on September 10th is going to be star-studded with celebrities including: Christina Applegate, Maura Tierney, Lance Armstrong, Fran Drescher, Elizabeth Edwards, Michael C. Hall, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sharon Osbourne, Robin Roberts, Sofia Vergara, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Ethan Zohn. The show will honor the 12 million U.S. [...]

A couple weeks ago we asked you to vote for the top ten Bucks of all time. The first three nominees were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, and Sidney Moncrief with each of our nominations eligible for the forthcoming SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame ballot that will also include nominees from Brew Crew Ball, Acme Packing Company, Bucky's 5th Quarter and Anonymous Eagle.

Hey, it's somebody I actually saw play!

You can't argue too much with the first three nominees in our continuing series--though I'd have personally put Sir Sid ahead of Oscar simply on account of his contributions for the Bucks. Beyond that it gets a bit dicier, but the people have spoken. Named on 86% of our ballots, Walter Ray Allen checks in at the #4 spot in our tally of all-time Bucks.

After nearly seven seasons and 494 games in Milwaukee, Allen only ranks ninth in Bucks history in total points (9,681) but sixth in career scoring average (19.6 ppg), fifth in true shooting percentage (57.1%), fifth in PER (19.3), sixth in win shares, and first in three pointers (1,051). Ironically, he now trails Michael Redd in most of those categories--but it's no secret which of the two guys evokes more fond feelings in MIlwaukee.

So was Allen really that good or has his success since leaving Milwaukee perhaps colored our perception of his days in Milwaukee?  It's probably a bit of both, but Allen's legacy also shows the importance of winning with class and style. 

It's not to say it was always easy for the former UConn All-American. I still remember being somewhat disappointed when I heard the Bucks were trading the rights to their fourth overall pick Stephon Marbury for Allen (the fifth overall pick) and a future first, but I guess that goes to show I wasn't the shrewdest talent evaluator back when I was 15. Allen started all but one game as a rookie and by his second season had established himself as one of the game's best young guards (19.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 4.3 apg). Still, the Bucks were going nowhere in the win department, winning 33 and 36 games in Allen's first two seasons.

Enter George Karl. The former Sonics coach made an instant impact in the lockout-shortened 98/99 season, establishing a more balanced attack that saw Allen and fellow scoring ace Glenn Robinson play fewer minutes and score fewer point but do so more efficiently. Allen's scoring averaged dropped (17.1 ppg in 34.4 mpg vs. 19.5 ppg in 40.1 mpg the previous year) but his TS% (.564), PER (18.9) and win shares (.148/48 min) all saw a healthy boost. Most importantly, the Bucks had their first winning season (28-22) since 90/91, which made their 3-0 first round loss to Reggie Miller's Pacers a bit more palatable.

The following season saw modest progress on the court, though Allen reached new personal heights. Playing alongside Sam Cassell, Ray-Ray earned his first of three consecutive all-star berths while leading the Bucks with 22.5 ppg on 57.0% true shooting. And though the Pacers again dispatched the 42-40 Bucks in the first round, Milwaukee provided more than token resistance this time around, taking the Pacers to a pivotal fifth game that they lost by a single point.

With a year of playing experience together, the Big Three-led Bucks came into their own in 2000/2001. Allen and Big Dog each averaged 22.0 ppg and were named All-Stars for the second consecutive season, while Cassell pumped in 18.2 ppg and nearly eight assists per game to lead the Bucks to 52 wins and their only division title in the past 24 years.

I also remember the BC being so different that year as compared to the lean years of the previous decade. I was a sophomore in college and made it back from the East Coast to see about five games during the school year, thankfully including the East Finals, and the sense of expectation and confidence was just noticeably different, even among the fans. There was an expectation that we were going to see great things, not in a spoiled kind of way, but in an excited, anticipatory kind of way. I honestly hadn't felt something similar until I made it back for games three and four of the Hawks series last season.     

Allen also posted a career-high 22.9 PER, a stellar .610 TS%, and finished third in the league in win shares (13.7), further elevating his game in the Bucks' memorable playoff run with 25.1 ppg and 6.0 apg on .477/.479/.919 shooting. And Allen was never better than in game six of the East Finals against Philly. With the Bucks facing elimination after a heart-breaking game five loss in Philly, Allen scored 25 in the first half and finished with 41 points (including nine threes) to electrify the BC. If you wanted to find the climax of Allen's career in Milwaukee, this was it.  

Unfortunately, we all know the 2001 run was not the beginning of big things as we hoped. And given the mediocrity that preceded and followed it, the '01 squad now seems like a bizarre but completely fantastic aberration.  Their combination of explosive scorers and blue collar big men made them fun, endearing and likably flawed all at the same time. In retrospect it seems kind of obvious that a nucleus of Ray, Big Dog and Cassell wasn't built for the long haul, but it was infinitely better than we had gotten used to seeing.  

So it was hard to imagine that two years later Allen, Robinson and Cassell would all be gone. In 01/02 the mojo of the previous spring seemed to initially carry over, as the Bucks raced to a 9-1 start with new face Anthony Mason anchoring the front line. The Big Three continued to light up scoreboards, each averaging 20+ ppg, but down the stretch the team simply wilted. Milwaukee lost 16 of its final 22 games and was infamously (and fittingly) destroyed in the must-win season finale in Detroit.  In the span of a month, the Bucks went from fighting for home court in the playoffs to sitting at home watching them on TV.  The writing was on the wall, and Robinson was the first to go the following August.

Surprisingly, Allen would last just 46 games longer than Big Dog. Puttering along at a game over .500, Karl would help engineer a move to acquire his former quarterback in Seattle, Gary Payton, in return shipping the Bucks' brightest star to the Northwest. The emergence of Redd no doubt hastened Allen's departure, but a first round loss to the Nets and Payton's departure as a free agent left the Bucks with rather little to show for their gamble.

Allen was still only 27 at the time of the trade, and though the younger Redd wasted little time in replacing him as the team's scoring machine, there's always been a justifiable sense of frustration with how Allen was lost. The fact that he continued to excel after leaving Milwaukee is no doubt a big part of it, and it's probably not worth trying to explain that Redd's inability to match Allen's win totals has also had something to do with coaches and general talent level. Instead, Allen continued to excel as the go-to-guy in Seattle for four seasons before finally winning his title as a member of the (new) Big Three in Boston. And with Allen having already cracked 20,000 points, the Hall of Fame seems an obvious destination once he tires of launching that sweet, effortless jumper.  

The proud Los Angeles Lakers franchise is known for its many legendary centers such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal, Wilt Chamberlain, and George Mikan.

They're also known for All-Star star forwards like Elgin Baylor and "Big Game James" Worthy.

But you simply can't speak about Lakers history without mentioning the team's legendary guards. Where would the franchise be without Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Kobe "Black Mamba" Bryant, and Jerry "The Logo" West?

Here's a look at the 10 best Laker guards of all time. All of the guys on this list may not be Hall of Famers or future Hall of Famers, however they've all made valuable contributions to the gold-and-purple over the years.

Let's begin.

Begin Slideshow

A couple weeks ago we asked you to vote for the top ten Bucks of all time. The first two nominees were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson, with each of our nominations eligible for the forthcoming SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame ballot that will also include nominees from Brew Crew Ball, Acme Packing Company, Bucky's 5th Quarter and Anonymous Eagle.

Even the most casual Bucks fan could have probably guessed that the names Kareem and Oscar would lead the way in our vote of all-time Bucks. And considering both guys are Hall of Famers and among the greatest players in NBA history, no one will begrudge them that, especially given that they also spearheaded the 1971 Bucks' championship season. 

But what about Sidney Moncrief? Though his name has never had the NBA currency of Kareem and Oscar, Sir Sid was arguably every bit as important to the great Bucks teams of the '80s as Kareem and Oscar were to the Bucks of the '70s. 

After an All-American career at Arkansas, Moncrief was selected fifth overall by the Bucks in the 1979 draft. But transitioning to the NBA meant having to earn minutes for an up-and-coming Bucks squad led by fourth year coach Don Nelson. He averaged a modest 8.5 ppg in 20 mpg as a rookie in 79/80, but was a productive rotation player (15.9 PER, .150 win share/48) for a Bucks squad that improved by 11 wins. Moncrief's arrival not coincidentally marked the first of seven straight Midwest Division titles for the Bucks, and his second season saw his stature grow as the Bucks won 60 games before falling in seven games to the 62-win Sixers in the East semis.

Moncrief truly blossomed in his third season, leading the Bucks in scoring (19.8 ppg), rebounding (6.7 rpg) and assists (4.8 apg) while spearheading the NBA's most efficient defense to a 55 win season (yes, Nelly's teams were built on defense back in the day) . Moncrief earned his first all-star berth and was named to the All-NBA and All-Defensive second teams, but again the Bucks lost to Philly in the East semis.  It was the third straight season that the Bucks earned a first round bye, but also the third in a row that they failed to win a series.

The Bucks dropped to 51 wins in 82/83, but they still cruised to another Midwest title and finally snapped their playoff jinx with a 4-0 sweep of the 56-win Celtics in the East semis. The eventual champion Sixers ousted them for the third straight season in the East Finals, but by then Moncrief had solidified his status as one of the league's brightest stars.

He posted a team-high 22.5 ppg on exceptional 60.1% true shooting, a byproduct of his unique but highly efficient style. Despite lacking three point range (he made more than 10 threes in a season just three times and topped out at 33 in 1985), Moncrief used his toughness and athleticism to bully opposing guards off the dribble and even in the post, shooting 50.2% for his career with an outstanding 59.1% true shooting mark (28th in NBA history). He earned a second straight trip to the all-star game as well as first-team All-NBA (the last Buck to do so) and All-Defensive team selections. And in a fitting testament to his relentless abilities on the defensive end, he received the first ever NBA Defensive Player of the Year award.

Moncrief continued to excel in 83/84, again leading the Bucks in scoring (20.9 ppg) while ranking second in rebounds (6.7 rpg) and assists (4.5 apg). The Bucks won 50 games and defeated the Hawks and Nets in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but again fell short in the East Finals, this time in five games against the championship-winning Celtics. Moncrief was again an all-star and second team All-NBA pick, collecting a second straight DPOY for his mantle. To this day he remains the only guard to win the award multiple times and one of just three players under 6'5" to earn the honor (Gary Payton and Alvin Robertson being the others).   

Moncrief continued to stuff the box score the following two seasons, but the Bucks' inability to translate regular season wins into a Finals appearance would also continue. The arrival of young PF Terry Cummings (23.6 ppg/9.1 rpg) provided a much-needed scoring complement in the post, while third year SF Paul Pressey's development into a do-it-all point forward (16.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 6.8 apg) complemented Moncrief's all-around game in the backcourt (21.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 5.2 apg). Nelson rode his new triumvirate to 59 wins and the NBA's second best defense, beginning the playoffs with a 3-1 series win over the Chicago Bulls and rookie Michael Jordan in the first round of the playoffs. Moncrief was even better in the postseason with 23 ppg on 56% shooting, but the Sixers yet again sent the Bucks home early in the playoffs with a 4-0 sweep in the East semis.

The 85/86 season would be Moncrief's last in good health, and with predictable results. Moncrief led the Bucks in scoring (20.2 ppg on 60.4% true shooting), finished among the NBA's top five in win shares for the fifth straight season (11.7), and tallied his usual laundry list of honors: a fifth straight all-star game, All-Defensive first team, and second team All-NBA. The Bucks won 57 games and swept the Nets in the first round before exacting revenge on the rival Sixers with a seven game series win that sent them to the East Finals. Sadly, the 67-win Celtics were waiting for them, sweeping Milwaukee in four games en route to another Boston title.

Knee troubles cost Sid half of the following season, and he would never be quite the same following the injury. Though still a productive rotation player, Moncrief missed 26 and 20 games the following two seasons and saw his minutes and productivity drop from its all-star heights. He retired as a Buck at just 31, ranking among the Bucks' all-time leaders in scoring (2nd), assists (2nd), rebounds (4th), and free throws (1st). After a season on the sidelines he grew restless and returned for one forgettable season as a reserve in Atlanta, but Moncrief will forever be remembered as a Buck. 

Beloved in Milwaukee and at home in Arkansas, Sir Sid also carved out a successful business career before returning to basketball as an assistant with Nellie in Dallas in 2000. He's since followed Nelson to Golden State as the Warriors' shooting coach, but nowhere is he as appreciated as back home in Arkansas. 

The Arkansas Democrat called him "the most beloved athlete in the history of Arkansas [who had] done more for race relations in this state than anyone in the past 20 years."

After Moncrief left the NBA, people in Little Rock started bouncing around his name as a possible gubernatorial candidate. An articulate and intelligent businessman and an immensely popular personality, he seemed a natural for politics. Bill Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, once joked in the Los Angeles Times, "The only comfort I can take in having the smallest governor's salary in the nation is that it might stop Sidney Moncrief from running against me."

Despite all the wins and personal accolades, Moncrief seems destined to remain one of the under-appreciated stars in the game's history. The first and most obvious issue was his longevity. Sir Sid's career was unfortunately struck down by chronic knee problems before he hit 30, and it wasn't until his third season that he blossomed into an all-around star. The Bucks' small-market status as perennial Eastern Conference bridesmaids also didn't help his longer term legacy, which is a shame given how incredibly successful Moncrief and the Bucks were on the court. Indeed, only the Lakers and Celtics won more games in the '80s than the Bucks.

Lastly, Moncrief's raw statistics never quite captured his true impact, a fact that has not surprisingly made it harder for fans who never saw him play to appreciate his contributions. Defensively, Moncrief never blocked even 40 shots in a season and never came close to averaging two steals per game--not exactly the kind of numbers we're used to seeing from the defensive player of the year. Offensively, he was exceptionally efficient, but not quite the flashy volume scorer glorified in shoe commercials. But what may have limited his legacy to casual fans in New York or L.A. only endeared him to his fans in Wisconsin.  

"I remember we reflected the city itself," he said. "We worked hard and it's the type of city that when you played for the Bucks, you felt like you were playing for the city. They knew that when we hit this basketball court, Coach Nelson had us ready to perform at our maximum."

They also knew that Philadelphia and Boston were better teams than us when they did beat us. But they never ever turned their back on our ball club. I sensed that every year for the fans was a new opportunity for us not to disappoint them.

I had a wonderful talk with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has been tussling with a form of leukemia (there are many) since December of 2008.

SPRINGFIELD - When he got to the microphone, Larry Bird griped about how, "just like always," Magic Johnson only left him 20 seconds to speak.

He got more than that - because in Massachusetts, nobody will ever tell Larry Bird to stop talking, or doing anything. But as it turns out, 20 seconds was plenty of time to deliver the line of the night at the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame's Class of 2010 Induction Ceremony.

After Johnson, who was selected to the Hall as an individual in 2002, offered his expected brand of vibrant, loquacious remembrances of the 1992 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team, he left it to Bird to put the finishing touches on the Dream Team's mass enshrinement.

The Boston Celtics legend, a member of the Class of '98 as a solo artist, congratulated all of the night's honorees - his Dream Team colleagues Scottie Pippen and Karl Malone; WNBA great Cynthia Cooper; legendary high school coach Bob Hurley Sr.; Los Angeles Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss; posthumous honorees Dennis Johnson, Gus Johnson and Brazilian star Maciel "Ubiratan" Pereira; and the 1960 version of the U.S. men's Olympic team, led by co-captains Jerry West and Oscar Robertson, that won gold in the Rome Olympics.

Yeah, he congratulated the 1960 team, all right.

"You know, there's a lot of debate going around [about] who had the best team, the ones in the '60s or the one in 1992," Bird said, echoing a note that fellow Dream Teamer Charles Barkley sounded at a Friday morning press conference. The 1960 team dominated all eight games it played, rolling up an average margin of victory of 42 points. In 1992, the margin inched up to 44.

The Dream Team's Malone said his boys would take '60 by 20 points. Co-captain West, shall we say, disagreed, pointing out in both the morning presser and Friday night induction speech how much tougher '60 had it - staying in dorms during a broiling Italian heat wave rather than top-of-the-line hotels in Barcelona, making a $1 per diem ("Magic and Michael, I think you two did a little better than that," he quipped) and generally living without all the amenities of the modern (read: pampered) athlete.

Bird, of course, felt compelled to respond.

"I don't know who had the best team, but I know the team in 1960 was a hell of a lot tougher than we were," Bird said, tongue planted firmly in cheek. "Because I couldn't imagine the '92 team getting in them covered wagons for eight days, going across the country, jumping in the Atlantic Ocean, swimming for six days, then walking 3,000 miles to the Colosseum in Rome - for a dollar a day."

(PRO TIP: LegendZings burn worse than regular zings because they have to travel all the way from French Lick to buzz your nugget.)

It was a great moment, not only because the Symphony Hall crowd responded with its biggest laugh of the night, but also because it underscored the overarching theme of the evening: Honoring the game and yourself by staying true to your essential nature.

West had to stake his claim for the '60 squad because he's Jerry West, one of the most singularly competitive athletes in sports history, and for him, the Dream Team's aggression will not stand, man. Bird had to shut it down with a withering comeback because he's Larry Bird - beneath the farm boy façade, always a showman and a closer. Magic had to bubble over with effusive praise for each of his Dream Team running mates, from Barkley to Michael Jordan to Chris Mullin, because he's ineluctably Magic, always cranked up to 11 and pumping through your speakers full-blast.

(NOTE: Christian Laettner - the Dream Team's lone college kid and ostensible mascot - caught the short end of the Magic stick: "I remember the first day of practice, brother, and Charles Barkley hit you so hard and you went down to your knees, and he said, 'Welcome to the NBA, young fella.'" And then everybody had a hearty laugh, because it's pretty fun to laugh at Christian Laettner.)

David Stern had to wave off Magic's invitation to stand in recognition of allowing the Dream Teamers to participate in the Barcelona games and shaking his head at Johnson calling him "the greatest in all of sports." Dennis Rodman had to eschew formal attire decorum by deciding to rock Rhinestone Cowboy garb.

They had to because these people are who they are. They ain't changing now, and they ain't changing ever. They help make the game our game -- they help make its identity our identity.

***

The tone was tone set by Scottie Pippen, who had to deliver a gorgeous, eloquent and emotional-but-reserved speech to start the evening because, well, Scottie's got it like that.

Ever graceful, ever smooth, ever easy despite the difficult road he had to travel - no scholarship offers, walking on at the University of Central Arkansas, always (perhaps unfairly) viewed as the G.O.A.T.'s Robin, having to prove himself every step of the way. A case study in grace 'til the casket drops.

"I played this game that I love so much, and everything I had, I laid it out there," said Pippen, presented for induction by longtime running buddy Jordan. "I've also tried to live my life in a way that will make the people I love and care about proud of me. I have so much to be thankful for. I have been able to live my dream of playing basketball, surrounded by people I love and being cheered on by the best fans in the world. It was a great ride."

After choking up, then quickly composing himself, Pippen nodded slowly and looked out to the audience: "For all of this, I say, thank God and thank you."

***

Karl Malone had to speak plainly, directly and with a stirring resonance, because his titanic marble-hewn frame has always surrounded a highly emotional core. And he had to cry, despite his stated preference for the contrary, because he had to go out the way he came in.

"Couple things I said I wasn't gonna do - I wasn't gonna talk long and I wasn't gonna cry," Malone said, dabbing his eyes with a black handkerchief and looking through tears toward the audience and Barcelona teammate Barkley. "But, Charles, I lost the bet."

Malone emphasized his North Louisiana roots, making sure to note that his route ran from "Summerfield, La., by way of Mount Sinai, La., to Ruston, La.," where he played college ball at Louisiana Tech before embarking on a stellar career with the Utah Jazz (plus a postgraduate year with the Los Angeles Lakers). The man who presented him for enshrinement, fellow Hall of Famer Willis Reed - "I say Mister Willis Reed, because I'm respectful," Malone said - hails from nearby Bernice, La.

The second-leading scorer in NBA history acknowledged that Induction Day held (and will always hold) a bittersweet duality for him; the date marked the seven-year anniversary of the passing of his mother, Shirley, who raised him largely by herself.

"I wouldn't lie to you if I tell you that ... my mom was my mom, my dad, my hero," Malone said, welling up. "I just want to say that I'm here because of her. ... It was not about me. It was about trying to do something to make everybody proud."

***

Dr. Jerry Buss had to come off like the cat that ate the canary, because everything's been coming up Milhouse for him for round about the last 40 years.

Standing onstage - shirt untucked, no tie, forever evoking Rip Taylor-cum-Cesar Romero with Uncle Scrooge bank - and about to join the ranks of the immortals, he made sure everyone knew he fully appreciated how unlikely and remarkable his journey has been.

"I'm probably happier than anyone [here], because most of the people that come up here have an inkling of the idea that someday they may make the Hall of Fame," the Lakers' irrepressible owner said with a laugh. "Believe me, when I was 21, I never thought I'd be enshrined with Magic Johnson, Larry Bird [and] Michael Jordan."

Buss bullet-pointed his road to Springfield: Undergrad studies at Wyoming, a Ph.D. in chemistry at USC, making "a lot of money in real estate" and pursuing minor-league ownership. In 1979, he bought the Lakers; the next year, the franchise drafted Magic out of Michigan State and won an NBA title. "By now, I was beginning to feel that I was walking on a golden path," he said.

In Buss' 31 years of ownership, the Lakers have featured stars like Magic, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Pat Riley, Shaquille O'Neal(notes), Kobe Bryant(notes), Phil Jackson "and a Spanish future Hall of Famer named [Pau] Gasol," and won a total of 10 NBA crowns, including the last two.

The doctor smiled. "Life is good; life is sweet," he said.

***

Bob Hurley Sr. had to deliver a speech littered with self-effacing jokes (saying he'd asked presenter Mike Krzyzewski to deliver the speech for him, saying he appreciated the support he'd received because "I need all the support I can get," etc.) that shunted attention and praise away from him, because for the former parole officer and longtime coach, the story's never been about him. It's always been about the kids, the institution and the game.

"The Jersey City that I remember from 1968 and the Jersey City of 2010 are very, very different," said Hurley, who has become a coaching and teaching legend during his 43-year tenure (38 years running the varsity) at St. Anthony High School. "But I think the kids are the same. I think the kids want to be coached. They want to try to be successful."

Success and St. Anthony's have long been synonymous, despite the annual hardships Hurley has faced at the resource-strapped inner-city Catholic school. He's led the Friars to nearly 1,000 wins, 25 New Jersey state parochial championships and three USA Today national high school titles. Most importantly, nearly all of the players Hurley has coached have gone on to college.

After thanking Reebok for enabling his varsity team to travel from Jersey and watch the ceremony, Hurley made clear that although he's now enshrined alongside basketball's titans, he's still just a fan.

"I have 13 kids who came up yesterday ... they were chasing some of the Hall of Famers last night, trying to get pictures," Hurley said, drawing laughs from the crowd. "I know in one lobby, they were annoying everybody that they could, and I apologize for that. But if I was there, I would've done the exact same thing."

***

Cynthia Cooper had to let go with both vocal barrels for nine minutes, invoking deceased family members watching her in heaven on a flat-screen in HD (because "that's how God does it"), cracking jokes on the Mailman ("My Jheri curl was not as bad as your [draft] suit, Karl") and striking inspirational notes ("Something special happens when you believe in you"), because her enshrinement - in fact, her entire being - represents the once-unthinkable culmination of a long race exceedingly well run.

Cooper's pursuit of roundball excellence took her from Watts to USC to Spain to Italy to Houston and finally to Springfield, as the first WNBA player inducted into the Hall of Fame. Her speech was more than just a victory lap. She was probably talking about the long lead-up to taking the podium when she said, "I thought I was gonna go crazy waiting so long before I was able to speak," but she may as well have been referring to the moment itself, the cathartic release of a rubber band pulled taut for nearly 30 years.

***

Perry Johnson, little brother of the late Gus "Honeycomb" Johnson, who died in 1987 at age 48, had to give the kind of warm, engaging, gently rambling speech that he did, because to him, Gus was Superman.

He wasn't necessarily alone in that assessment - it was shared by a pair of pretty reliable sources, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe and Wes Unseld, who presented Perry's brother for induction. In a prefatory video clip, Monroe called Gus Johnson "one of the best defensive forwards ever." Unseld added, "He had a presence that told you you were dealing with a man."

"From the president to Joe the Wino, [Gus] talked to everybody," Perry Johnson said, beaming at the memory of his brother. "I mean, he loved people, and people loved him."

Those who spoke for the other posthumous honorees offered similarly heartfelt remarks.

"I'm just here to say thanks for my brother," said Gary Johnson, brother of Celtics and Seattle SuperSonics great Dennis Johnson, who died in 2007 at age 52. "The NBA family is just fantastic; we've been treated just like family these last couple of days ... I love you guys, and I love you guys for loving my brother."

He also extended a special thanks to Barkley for keeping DJ's name and memory alive through frequent references on TNT's NBA broadcasts in recent years - many of which claimed it was "shameful" that the 1979 NBA Finals MVP had not already been enshrined.

Luciano Pereira spoke on behalf of his father, Maciel "Ubiratan" Pereira, a versatile big man whose leadership for Brazil during the 1960s and '70s earned him the nickname "The King."

"Ubiratan's love of playing for the Brazilian national team was so great that in 1968, he declined an offer to play in the NBA for the Philadelphia 76ers," Luciano Pereira said, recounting the brilliant international career that earned his father induction into the FIBA Hall of Fame last year. "Ubiratan's family, his fans [and] Brazilian basketball thanks the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for the decision to recognize the talent of this valuable Brazilian player."

In my attempt to rally the people together around the love of the game of pro basketball, I have completed my series on projecting which team can beat which in the NBA Finals and what not.

This challenge is designed to stretch your brains and compile an all-time team. But this is not just supposed to be any old all-time team. No, that would be too easy and no challenge at all.

What you must do is this:

1) Take only One player from each decade (60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's). The player must have played the majority his career in that decade to be considered (for example, Michael Jordan would qualify for the 90's, not 80's).

2) Take only one player per position, the position they have played the majority of their listed career, not how you would adjust them (for example, you cannot slide Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to PF so he and Bill Russell would play together, he was a C).

3) You can only list 3 reasons why you picked them (no one wants to read reasons all day long).

4) No ties (only ONE player per position, per decade).

5) Compare and debate away! 

Begin Slideshow

Filed under: Interviews, Hot Picks

The other day, Pam Grier was upset. The former 1970s blaxploitation pinup queen was lamenting the effects of the economic downturn on families.

"You're seeing more and more abuse with the economic crisis today,'' she said in an interview with Black Voices from her home in Colorado. "People are upset. It's hot. They are frustrated and angry. Abuse is through the roof. It's on the rise.''

Yes, the former gun-toting, pimp-slappin' beauty, who won the hearts of men and inspired scores of young black girls to forge their way to Hollywood, has metamorphosed into a philanthropist who helps women, children and animals. She recently released 'Foxy: My Life in Three Acts,' an illuminating and poignant memoir written with Andrea Cagan.

The reason Grier is so concerned about the effects of the economic downturn is because she knows it can destroy families in more ways than one. Grier experienced two sexual assaults as a child during household economic turmoil. The actress hid her hurtful past by playing strong women in films such as 'Coffy,' 'Foxy Brown' and 'Sheba Baby.' In addition, she writes about the glaring racism she experienced on the road and her heartbreaking romances with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Freddie Prinze, Sr. and comedy king Richard Pryor in this must-read memoir.

Excerpts of the conservation are below.

Black Voices: What made you decide to write the book?
Pam Grier: It took four year to process it. I ran it by Jennifer Beals when were talking and visiting in New York. She was saying there were so many of my experiences that people hadn't heard of and thashould write a book. I didn't write it to shock people. I wrote it to make people aware of our surroundings, our environment, our families and the dysfunction that is being passed on from generation to generation. Children emulate their parents. Back in the day, there weren't that many psychiatrists or family counselors to help you like there are today. When there is lack of food, psychological strength and structure in the home, that's when you have the real issues.

BV: What was it like being a sex symbol in the '70s?
PG: It was hard. I'm a product of the women's liberation movement. My mother and great-grandmother set that up because of what they went through. They suffered so much. So with that movement, the civil rights movement and the black power movement, it was the template of my childhood. Out of it came so many strengths, but not without a lot of pain.

BV: Was it hard to write about the sexual assaults?
PG: For so long, I was afraid to talk about it out of fear I could lose my family. That's why women and children are silent, because they fear they will lose their families. I knew that writing the book would be cathartic and it was a process of healing. It's relative to how I healed and if I healed at all. It's also about how I've managed to be healthy and revisit certain incidences that were very painful.

BV: You had a lot of interesting relationships with male stars and athletes.
PG: With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar I was comprehending Islam. Overall, throughout most of the relationships, I was understanding myself as a woman. I was asking myself, "Am I a nurturer or nurse?" Sometimes men come into your life and they are relatively okay and then they change. When you walk away from relationships, you know you absolutely adore this human being and he's making you the best person you can be. He's helping you grow and you're helping him. Then there is a point where you see it can be quite dangerous and it's not life affirming. You learn when to walk away.

BV: How did you recall everything?
PG: Part of it was through journaling, but I remembered a lot. And my family helped. I had to hold in so much for most of my life it that it was there ready to come out. I was ready to explode. I wrote about the things that kept me going, including friendships, work and surviving cancer.

BV: What is next for you?
PG: There is a lot of interests by some film companies to produce 'Foxy.' I also just finished a film with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts called 'Larry Crowne.' I play Julia's good friend. We're college professors. She meets Tom, who lost his job because he didn't have a college education. So he goes back to school to get a business degree, where he meets Julia and falls in love. It's a wonderful story.

 

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likeobama last: lol what is this affirmative action for basketball? lmao Dont even say Bird when you are talking about Kobe are you serious? Do you watch basketball? The only person remotely close to Kobe is MJ. Larry Bird does not even possess half the skill set that Kobe possesses and he would be the first to tell you that. Anybody with half a brain will tell you that, they all accept as gospel that the only person Kobe is competing with now is history and MJ. I believe Kobe has surpassed MJ in terms of skill and talent. Larry Bird Uh? lol im not even so sure he is an all time top ten player. Larry Bird better than Kobe? lol whatever you guys smoke in Boston must be pretty good lol

likeobama last: Good ole daniel lol You continually put Larry Bird in the same sentence as Kobe - for this you must apologize. Bird is nowhere near Kobe in terms of talent, skill, scoring prowess, basketball iq etc Bird is a three point specialist thats all id give him. Kobe set a record of seven buzzer beaters with two broken fingers - the most in history. If you would choose Larry Bird to choose a last second shot over Kobe raise your hands? imao thats what i thought anybody with an inch of sense in them will choose Kobe. Kobe and MJ are in the convo when it comes to taking the last shot not Larry Bird. Kobe is the one that holds the record for most three pointers in a game not bird. You should be ashamed of yourself for comparing Bird to Kobe Bryant lol As i said there is no affirmative action when it comes to g.o.a.t status. Kobe has five titles how many did bird get? Did larry bird ever outscore a team on his own? Did larry bird ever score 81 points in a game? How many times did bird score 50 points or even less still 40 points? lol Did larry bird have Kobe's offensive arsenal? lol The fact that you even put Larry Bird and Kobe in the same sentence is ridiculous Larry Bird is like Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe is like MJ, Kobe is chasing best ever period not better than the best white player lol

SouthOC 

For the record, here is my top 10.

Wilt Chamberlain 
2. Michael Jordan 
3. Magic Johnson 
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 
5. Bill Russell 
6. Jerry West 
7. Oscar Robertson 
8. Larry Bird 
9. Kobe Bryant 
10. Elgin Baylor

Ethan S: I already put Kobe ahead of Russell and Wilt. All of this is subjective and my opinion of course, but my top 5 is Jordan, Magic, Kobe, Kareem, and Bird. And yes, I do think Bird was the greatest Celtic and SF of all-time.

Tony Villagomez:

1.    Michael Jordan 
2. Kareem 
3. Kobe Bryant 
4. Magic Johnson 
5. Larry Bird 
6. Wilt Chamberlain 
7. Bill Russell 
8. Oscar Robertson 
9. Shaq 
10. Tim Duncan

 

Deandre James:

Kobe in my eyes is third behind Kareem and MJ. If he gets two more titles hes the best period. 

 

antonio anderson:

 i rank kobe #3 all time behind gary payton and michael jordan.

 

Adrian Vicente:

Just my opinion...

1.    Kobe is the third best player of his time, after Shaq and Duncan

Quincy Adams:

Come on Adrian. Are you really using the MVP argument against Kobe? Cut it out. You and I both know that if it wasn't for the "Colorado incident" Kobe would have atleast 3 MVP awards by now. 

Trista Icari:

He's far better then LeBron. LeBron played in a system in Cleveland that favored him statistically. He's a statistical monster but he doesn't have the drive, the will, the work ethic or the genius to play to Kobe's level. He's got all the athletic gifts, but he's like a spoiled rich kid who feels that everyone should flock to him and bow before him before he ever lifts so much as a finger to do anything. LeBron will goof with you, Kobe will cut your throat.

On Friday, Lakers owner Jerry Buss will be among the inductees into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

It's not difficult to shower Buss with all kinds of superlatives. But one of his wiliest, most creative and, in retrospect, brilliant moves was inking 22-year-old Magic Johnson to a 25-year, $25 million contract extension in 1981.

M. Haubs of The Painted Area puts Buss' decision into historical context:

Since a $25 million contract for an NBA superstar looks positively quaint in 2010 terms, it's hard to fully explain how stunning the deal was at the time. It was the longest and richest contract in professional sports history when signed - both the length and total dollar value were just monstrous numbers compared to others of the time.

Only two other players - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Moses Malone - were making a $1 million annual salary at the time, and the league minimum was a whopping $65,000. Nolan Ryan was the highest-salaried baseball player at the time, after signing a 4-year, $4.4 million deal in 1979.

Kareem immediately voiced concerns, both publicly and privately to Buss, about whether Magic would be able to remain coachable with such an enormous contract. And given Magic's extremely close off-court relationship with Buss, many Lakers teammates were uncomfortably uncertain about whether Magic had essentially become a member of team management.

Indeed, a major controversy developed just months later, as Magic's public comments were widely perceived as the cause of the firing of head coach Paul Westhead. At 22 years old, Magic's image became that of the classic modern athlete run amok, who had been given too much, too soon, and he was even booed at Lakers home games for a time. Of course, the Lakers went on to win the 1982 NBA championship under Pat Riley, and the Magic-Westhead controversy has long since been relegated to Lakers history.

• Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com: The Boston Celtics officially waived Rasheed Wallace Tuesday, agreeing to a mutual buyout as Wallace prepares to retire from basketball after a 15-year career. ... It will be interesting to see if the team now moves swiftly to fill that spot with a veteran free agent (both Ainge and coach Doc Rivers suggested Tuesday they would like another shooter off the bench), or whether the team simply keeps a spot open moving forward and waits for the ideal body (Rivers did suggest the team could always wait into the regular season before making that move). Some had hoped the Celtics might move Wallace in exchange for a proven swingman to backup Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, but Boston clearly couldn't find a likable deal in the trade market. Hope springs eternal in the offseason, and few teams would be looking to clear cap space at this point. So Boston ultimately eats a bit of salary to facilitate Wallace's retirement and now has the flexibility to polish off its 15-man roster with training camp set to open in late September."
• Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe: "Shaquille O’Neal is a Boston Celtic. No. 36 in your program. He’s hardly the first NBA great to punch in at Causeway Street near the end of his career. Pete Maravich, Artis Gilmore, Dominique Wilkins, and Bill Walton come to mind. ... By any yardstick, the three greatest centers of the 20th century were Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Now there is Shaq. At the age of 38, an NBA veteran since 1992, O’Neal is right there with the Big Three of the Key. He is the fourth head on basketball’s Mt. Rushmore of pivotmen. ... I love this move. It’s no-risk. The Green didn’t give up any players, didn’t invest serious money, and got a player who still can score, rebound, and fill the lane. Shaq can draw fouls. And he’s going to be a presence in Boston. Kevin Garnett has been here for three seasons and has barely been sighted outside the Garden (I think he commutes via underground tunnel). Shaq is going to be out there. Taking it to the streets."
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: "If Tracy McGrady and Arnie Kander aren't familiar with each other already, they will get to know each other very well in the coming weeks before training camp. Before agreeing to the one-year, $1.35-million deal that was reported Tuesday, the Pistons insisted McGrady spend a lot of time with Kander, the team's strength-and-conditioning coach, getting his body ready for training camp. The Pistons truly believe that they have an edge with strength-and-conditioning coach Kander, who has been with the team since the spring of 1992. They think his methods are great at preventing injuries (last season notwithstanding) and helping players overcome previous injuries. Take Antonio McDyess in 2004. He came to the Pistons at a time when there were questions about whether the one-time jumping jack would ever recover from serious leg injuries. He spent five relatively healthy seasons with the Pistons before signing a two-year deal with the Spurs before last season. ... Take Ben Wallace last season. He returned the franchise where he made his name after an injury-plagued season with the Cavs. He exceeded expectations by being the team's best big man last season."
• Barbara Barker of Newsday: "Two prominent college basketball coaches said Tuesday that they are uncomfortable with the consulting deal struck by Florida International University coach Isiah Thomas and the Knicks. 'I am good friends with Isiah and I obviously like the Knicks, but I think it’s better if there is a separation between college and the pros,' said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who was in New York with Team USA. 'I would decline to do something like that.' Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim took it a step further. Not only would he decline, he said he’s not sure the arrangement should be allowed.'"I don’t understand why it would be legal either way, from the college standpoint or from the NBA,' said Boeheim, one of Coach K’s assistants on Team USA. 'It seems like a conflict. You’re coaching kids and recommending them to pro guys. Well, if a pro guy comes in and asks about a kid and you’re a consultant to a different team, you wouldn’t be able to do that. You wouldn’t be able to help that kid.' "
• David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune: "Scottie Pippen, who will be inducted Friday into the Basketball Hall of Fame, came off the bench in 79 games his rookie season, playing behind starter Brad Sellers. That eased the pressure on Pippen to make an immediate impact and gave him time to add bulk to his body with strength coach Al Vermeil. 'That first year he got beat to death in practice every day by Michael (Jordan),' Jerry Krause said. 'He had to find out how to compete with Michael, and he kept at it.' That persistence and work ethic stayed with Pippen and, in the eyes of Krause, changed the arc of his career. No matter how much controversy Krause endured as the target of criticism during Pippen's Hall of Fame career, he always will remember the effort that made Pippen into an elite player. 'I always respected Scottie as a player (because) he worked extremely hard,' Krause said. 'There are going to be things in his career that come up, but they come up with everybody. What you care about is how hard a guy plays and if he gives you 82 efforts a year and in the playoffs, and Scottie did that. There were no off nights for Scottie Pippen.' Asked if Pippen represented the biggest find of his NBA scouting career, Krause declined to say. Pippen represented his fourth Hall of Famer, joining Earl Monroe, Wes Unseld and Jerry Sloan on Krause's resume."
• Doug Robinson of the Deseret News: "I miss Karl Malone. Not for his points and rebounds. I miss his gift for gab and drama. The man could talk. Not in an eloquent way -- every time he opened his mouth, he sent English teachers screaming into the night. His subjects and verbs didn't have disagreements; they had full-scale wars. That didn't stop him. He gabbed like a talk-show host. He couldn't help himself. Sometimes he'd take a vow of silence in a moment of petulance, but it didn't or couldn't last long. I am tempted to state that he said what's on his mind, but words didn't get that far. Words tended to exit his mouth before they formed in his brain, not vice versa. He talked first, then thought about whether he should say it much later. 'This is Karl Malone speaking for Karl Malone,' he said once. 'I have every right to say what I want.' And so he did. We media types appreciate guys who speak honestly and originally. Where in the Jazz locker room are you going to find that now? Deron Williams? Pa-lease!"
• George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel: "Cancel the NBA season. Now. Be done with it, Mr. Stern. Skip all the formalities. Let’s just have the ticker-tape parade now. Break out the party favors South Florida! Crank up Will Smith’s old-school hit 'Miami', celebrating the majesty and magnificence of the Miami Heat. 'Bouncin’ in the club where the heat is on. All night on the beach til the break of dawn.' Yeah baby! Jeff Van Gundy says they are going to win every single game, or something like that. The Heat will be on TV 29 times this season, coming close to the number of times you can watch Law and Order on any given day. And King James sent out this defiant shout-out on Twitter on Tuesday: 'Don’t think for one min that I haven’t been taking mental notes of everyone taking shots at me this summer. And I mean everyone!' Now we’ve gone and done it! LeBron James is mad! We are doomed! What’s the point of playing?"
• Luisa Yanez and Jaweed Kaleem of The Miami Herald: "Miami Heat's newest superstar LeBron James allegedly hired a New York rabbi -- with South Florida ties -- to accompany him on a Tuesday morning business meeting, the entertainment website TMZ reported. Then, Tuesday night James appeared to be unhappy about something and implied on his Twitter account he was taking down names. 'Don't think for one min that I haven't been taking mental notes of everyone taking shots at me this summer. And I mean everyone!,' James wrote in a 7:45 p.m. tweet on his King James account. ... So who was James referring to in his latest tweet? Other NBA players who have been knocking his signing with the Miami Heat? The media which has been covering his every move since his 'The Decision' show? Earlier earlier in the day James met with business executives onboard a private a yacht about merchandising deals, according TMZ. The entertainment website said James attended the meeting with Rabbi Yishayahu Yosef Pinto, 'a man known around New York as the rabbi to the business stars.' "
• Ray Richarson of the Pioneer Press: "Eight months ago, Anthony Tolliver was putting on extra clothes to get through practice in a chilly gym in Boise, Idaho -- home of the Idaho Stampede, an obscure franchise in the NBA's Development League. Today, he's a YouTube sensation and is overjoyed to be a member of the Timberwolves, who signed the free agent forward to a two-year deal worth a reported $4.8 million. The fact that the Wolves won 15 games last season and haven't made the playoffs in seven years has no impact on Tolliver's feel-good moment. 'I had to go through a lot to get here,' Tolliver said Tuesday after an individual workout at Target Center. 'I'll probably appreciate this more than most guys ... guys who got drafted. I won't take a day for granted. I'm going to work hard every day and try to bring something to this team.' Tolliver, 25, was undrafted after he finished his college career at Creighton in 2007. He spent minimal time with Portland and San Antonio and had an unsuccessful tryout at the Miami Heat's training camp last fall."
• Brian T. Smith of The Columbian "One of the primary reasons the Portland Trail Blazers hired Rich Cho as the team’s general manager was because of the new-generation executive’s reputation for thinking outside the box. Cho has done just that with his first major move as GM while leading an organization that is attempting to take the next step in its evolution. The Blazers are expected to name Bill Branch and Steve Rosenberry as co-assistant GMs, sources have told The Columbian. Branch's hire is official, while Rosenberry's deal with the Blazers is '99-percent' done, a team source said Tuesday."
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: "Though she's only a rookie, Kings president and longtime Sacramentan Matina Kolokotronis seems to have a feel for what hurts and what sells. The Lakers. And the Lakers. Geez, that wasn't so difficult. Yet when the NBA schedule was released Tuesday morning, Kolokotronis and her sales staffers immediately did something the previous regime never attempted: They collaborated on a promotional ticket package in an attempt to sell out the Kings' first two home games, against the Toronto Raptors (Nov. 1) and the Lakers (Nov. 3)."
• Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: "The Celtics visit Jan. 30, and the Lakers go to Boston on Feb. 10. New Celtics center Shaquille O’Neal was asked when on Mike Wise’s radio show in Washington who is the greatest player he has teamed with considering he has followed Kobe Bryant with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. 'A lot of people rank players from different opinions, but if you wanna go with ring standpoint it has to be Kobe,' O’Neal said. 'LeBron is a great athlete, D-Wade is a great athlete, but it’s close. I’m lucky to have been able to play with both of those guys, but Kobe right now has had that eye for a long time. I’ve known him for a while. When he gets that eye there aren’t really too many people that can beat him.' "
• Bob Finnan of The News-Herald: "Some have described him as a national treasure. Joe Tait, the Cavaliers' play-by-play radio announcer for 38 years, will receive the 2010 Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Thursday in Springfield, Mass. Hugely popular among the masses, the 73-year-old is entering his final season with the Cavs. It's quite probable Tait will never get to call an NBA championship team in his career. After the 2010-11 season, he's walking away from the NBA and will retire to his home in Medina County. '(The Cavs) called me this morning and asked me if I would consider doing just the home games (beyond this year),' Tait said. 'I told them no. This was it. Game, set, match. I've had enough. It's become harder each year to perform the duties that I require of myself. I'm not going to sit around and become a cartoon character of what I used to be. I've seen that happen with other guys who stayed far too long, and the last 10 years or so, it was a joke. I'm not going to go that route.' "
• David Woods of The Indianapolis Star: "As he spoke to a reporter, he got a text from John Wall. Other texting buddies include Rajon Rondo, Chauncey Billups, Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook. Shelvin Mack has a new basketball peer group. Indeed, this summer the Butler guard has seen more of Duke's Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith than he has of his own Bulldogs teammates. ... Mack has had such a breakout summer that the question has become: How long will he stay at Butler? Just as Gordon Hayward left after two seasons, it's possible Mack could leave after three. At minimum, Mack has a chance to be Butler's first All-American since Billy Shepherd in 1970-71. Butler coach Brad Stevens has said only that he is happy the junior guard has so many opportunities. Mack said he and the coach don't talk about the NBA. 'I think every basketball player playing would love to play in the NBA,' Mack said. 'I'm not worried about it. I'm taking it one day at a time.' "
• Melissa Rohlin of the Los Angeles Times: "Lisa Leslie is working on a new goal, one that has her trash-talking Charles Barkley. If she succeeds, 'Charles won't be eating no more doughnuts,' she says, smiling. As she watched the retirement of her No. 9 Sparks' jersey at Staples Center on Tuesday night, the women's basketball icon relished another moment in an award-filled career that spanned 13 seasons and ended in 2009. But her best moment, she hopes, will come as an NBA studio analyst for TNT, sitting alongside the inimitable Barkley. When Barkley is told of Leslie's ambition, and her friendly jab, he laughs. 'We should hire her sooner. Any time TNT wants to fire Kenny, they're welcome to do it,' he says, referring to friend and fellow analyst Kenny Smith, whose on-air jousts with Barkley have made the studio show such a success. Leslie thinks she would fit right in, even with Smith. 'I want to cover men's basketball on a national level,' Leslie says, 'where people know and respect what I have to say about the game as much as they respected me playing it.' "
• Sarah Talalay of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "Returning Miami Heat guard Carlos Arroyo has his own theme music accompaniment at AmericanAirlines Arena -- El Gran Combo’s 'Fiesta de Pilito.' Now he has a new single out with reggaeton recording artist and fellow Puerto Rican, Yomo. You can listen to the song called 'Se va Conmigo' ('She comes with me') at iTunes. Arroyo, who is a reggaeton fan, released 'Oculto Secreto' ('Hidden Secret') last year."

Immediately following "The Decision," LeBron James appeared to have torpedoed his brand in an unparalleled fashion.  By announcing his intention to take his talents to South Beach on a national, primetime TV special, LBJ went from hero to hated in the course of one night.

In the following weeks, fans, sportswriters, and former NBA stars began piling on James, essentially calling him a coward for taking the easy way out in Miami.

Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan joined the fun, neglecting the fact that some of their former teammates were leagues better than anyone LeBron played with in Cleveland.  Magic Johnson jumped in too.  (Again, neglecting that Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison aren't exactly Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy.)

Some bloggers, like ESPN's Henry Abbott, have been quick to refute the legends – pointing out the very fact that Johnson, Barkley, and Jordan all played with all-time Top 50 players, while LBJ treaded water with Drew Gooden as his starting power forward. 

But to this point, there have been far more vitriolic "LeBron torched his legacy!!" opinions than the calculated responses like Abbott. 

Is a sea change afoot?

While the fans in Cleveland will likely never forgive LeBron —and really, who can blame them from feeling betrayed?—a growing number NBA fans elsewhere appear ready to defend the King once more.

Did we go so overboard in bashing King James that he's become a somewhat lovable villain?  (Think Dexter.)

Now, let's make one important distinction.  The way James and his new Miami colleagues have conducted themselves since July 8—throwing a welcome parade for themselves, saying they're going to win seven straight championships—has been arrogant, narcissistic, and downright unlikeable, at best.

Off the court, James jumped from beloved to detestable, and outside of Miami, the public adulation won't return any time soon.

But just because you hate James and the SuperFriends off the court doesn't mean you'll hate them on the court.

As CBSSports.com's Matt Moore points out, it's not like the animosity towards the SuperFriends has affected the Heat's bottom line any.  In fact, Moore says it's quite the opposite—the Heat's chief marketing officer claims that Miami has jumped to number one in retail sales, and that LBJ's new Heat jersey is the best-selling jersey in the league.

Clearly someone is buying these jerseys. 

Moore also makes the salient point that once the Miami Big Three win start winning championships, "all the talk about [their] tarnished legacies will be reformed into praise for their sacrifice.  We like winners, and we're not particularly stuck on how those wins are made."  (See: Bryant, Kobe, post-2004.)

These weren't Moore's only thoughts on the issue recently.  Last Friday, Moore also crafted a comparison between the career arcs of Kevin Garnett and James, openly wondering how K.G. could be lauded as a hero for heading to Boston while LBJ gets vilified for deciding he wants more help from his teammates too.

Yes, Garnett was traded from Minnesota to Boston, and yes, LBJ turned his back on his adopted hometown.  But again, those are off-the-court factors that lead you to judge the respective superstars separately.

Moore writes, "You don't have to like how James pulled off this career correction. No one does. But to question his legacy opens up a Pandora's Box that is linked throughout some of the greatest players in the history of the league. "

So, there goes the "legacy" question.  But, let's be honest with ourselves…that was a ridiculous argument to begin with.

If James wins multiple (more than two) titles with Miami, it won't matter that D-Wade and Bosh stood next to him on the championship podium.

And, really, couldn't we argue that James' "Decision" special cemented his legacy, one way or another?  No matter what, LBJ will be remembered as "the guy who screwed Cleveland on national TV" from here on out.

Either way, James' legacy now rides on Miami.  If the Heat win the seven titles they're predicting, LBJ goes down next to Jordan as one of the greatest to play the game.  If the Heat epically flame out, LBJ goes down as the next T-Mac, a guy who's immensely talented, but couldn't get his team over the hump when it mattered.

Something tells me an epic flameout isn't the way this Miami train is headed.

Jeff Van Gundy recently stoked those flames, declaring that the Heat can win 73 games this year to break the 1995-96 Bulls' single-season record for wins.  A number of statistical analyses don't go that far, but you'd be hard-pressed to find an analysis that projects the Heat for less than 60 wins this coming season.

And that all leads back to LeBron.  The Heat may still be "D-Wade's team," but if LBJ

Hate them off the court.  It's deserved, given their two-month long premature celebration.

But 

Los Angeles Lakers' guard Kobe Bryant will be recognized as one of the greatest players in NBA history once he finally decides to hang up his sneakers, but exactly where will he fall on that hallowed list?

I consider the top five players in NBA history to be Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, and Wilt Chamberlain in no particular order.

Those five players, along with Larry Bird, are each responsible for revolutionizing their respective positions, and changing perception on how the game was viewed.

Magic and Jordan are universally considered to be the greatest players to ever man their positions, while Jabbar, Russell, and Chamberlain are the standard that any center will ever be measured by.

Does Bryant's resume place him in this elite company?

It's always a tricky subject discussing Bryant and his place in NBA history, because his polarizing nature creates critiques which fall outside the lines of basketball.

For this reason opinions on Bryant vary wildly, and while some observers may place him firmly in the top 10 of legendary players, others do not even consider him to be among the top 20.

Bryant's career accomplishments however paint a different picture, and if a person were to go solely by the statistics he has accumulated, it's hard to argue with those numbers.

Magic holds a special place in the hearts of many Lakers' fans, but Bryant's numbers suggest he has already surpassed Magic as the greatest player in the history of the franchise.

Bryant has more career points than Magic, and if he manages to win one more championship he will be considered the most successful Laker to ever play the game.

But Magic's contributions to the game transcend the court, as he Bird and Jordan are credited to renewing interest in what was once seen as a dying sport.

Likewise, Jabbar, Chamberlain, and Russell each touched the game of basketball in fundamental ways that Bryant will find it difficult to match.

Jabbar stands as the NBA's career leader in points scored, while Chamberlain may simply be the greatest offensive talent the game has ever seen.

Russell is to defense what Chamberlain was to offense, and his dominance in the paint is seen as the main reason the Boston Celtics were able to win an inordinate number of championships during his time.

It will be hard for Bryant to be mentioned among this hiearchy, because even though he has had a spectacular career, nothing he has done could ever really be considered revolutionary.

But what if Bryant eventually eclipses Jabbar for career points, and charges ahead of Magic for the number of championships won as a Laker?

Could anyone justify not ranking Bryant among the game's top 10 players then?

I will go one step further and say if Bryant does end his career as the NBA's career leader in points scored and surpasses Magic in championships, then he deserves strong consideration for residency among the top five.

Bryant's career has reached a point where his accomplishments make it hard to deny him a place among the NBA's greatest players, and personality issues aside, his game speaks for itself.

The hardest thing for Bryant to overcome will be the constant criticism he has endured throughout his career, and the perception that his first three championships were won on Shaquille O'Neal's coattails.

Bryant's critics often point at his career 45 percent shooting from the field, and the amount of talent he was surrounded by during his championship runs, but other players in the top five also benefited from advantages.

Chamberlain was the most dominant physical specimen of his time, while Magic, Jabbar, Bird, and Russell were surrounded by talent that rivals anything Bryant has seen throughout his career.

I recently wrote an article concerning Bryant's ability to establish a superior legacy despite the criticism and negative perception that has dogged his career, but the story is far from finished.

Bryant has a few more seasons left as an elite player, and who knows what else he may accomplish before his playing days are finally done.

Some people will never view Bryant as a top five talent regardless of what he ever does on the court, but his career numbers could make their opinions a moot issue after history has its say.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been blessed with the greatest collection of centers any NBA franchise has ever had.

Most basketball aficionados are aware of this great lineage, George Mikan the first dominant NBA star and five time NBA champ, Wilt Chamberlain who re-wrote the record books and won two NBA championships, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the all-time scoring leader and six

...

---

According to the Chicago Bulls' website, Michael Jordan will present Scottie Pippen when Pippen enters the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday in Springfield, Mass.

After years of Pippen being Jordan's wingman, Jordan will be setting up Pippen on the biggest stage in basketball.

In the 1990s, the two won six NBA championships together and both were named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history.

Pippen won two Olympic gold medals, had seven All-Star appearances, and was selected to the all-defensive first team eight times. Pippen was part of the all-NBA first team three times. Pippen trails only Robert Horry and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for most postseason games played, appearing in the playoffs in 16 straight seasons.

Pippen is also the only player to win both an NBA championship and Olympic gold medal in the same year twice.

Pippen holds the records for most career assists (6,135) and steals (2,307) by a forward to go along with the most steals (232) by a forward in a season, which he set in the 1994-1995 season.

One needs to look no further than two games to see what Pippen and Jordan were to the Chicago Bulls.

On February 18, 1996, the two became the ninth pair of teammates in NBA history to score 40 or more points in the same game.

Pippen finished with 40 points, 10 rebounds, and five steals, while Jordan had 44 points, seven assists, and five rebounds. The Bulls beat the Indiana Pacers 110-102.

Pippen and Jordan were the first pair of teammates to record a triple-double in the same game on January 3, 1989.

Pippen scored 15 points, dished out 12 assists, and brought down 10 rebounds. Jordan had 41 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists in the 126-121 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in overtime.

Jason Kidd and Vince Carter became the second pair to do so in 2007.

Currently, Pippen is a Chicago Bulls ambassador.

JAMAAL Spicy' AL-DIN - Muslim, to observe RAMADAN starting Aug. 12, 2010! 227's YouTube 'RAMADAN-Chili'-NBA! 227's YouTube 'RAMADAN-Chili'-NBA! KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR Los Angeles Spicy' Lakers! NBA & Islam! Muslim pro athletes. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar!

When Yao Ming was drafted as the number one overall pick in 2002, the Houston Rockets looked forward to a future filled with championships. Yao, the biggest import ever seen in the NBA, figuratively and literally, brought the expectations of an entire nation with him.

Eight years later, the Houston Rockets have no championship to show for Yao.

Yao, on the other hand, has a laundry list of injuries that have caused him to miss 175 games, including the entire 2009-10 season. If you call that a bust, I suppose some people would agree.

There is no doubt that the first pick of any draft is the player teams feel will benefit them the most. Being selected as the number one pick means you’re the man, you’ve got expectations to be met, and you’ll be praised if you do, damned if you don’t.

With names like Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the list of past number ones, sometimes teams do succeed when they roll the dice on promising rookies.

Then, there are these guys, the fifteen biggest number one pick busts of the past fifty years.

15. Art Heyman – No. 1 selection of the New York Knicks (1963)
14. Cazzie Russell – No. 1 selection of the New York Knicks (1966)
13. Austin Carr – No. 1 selection of the Cleveland Cavaliers (1971)

12. Greg Oden – No. 1 selection of the Portland Trail Blazers (2007)

Though it’s a little unfair to Oden to place him on this list after he’s only played for two seasons and a combined 82 games (22 of which he didn’t start) he’s on this list because of his production on the floor as compared to the other 50 picks.

It doesn’t help that 2007’s second pick, Kevin Durant, has led an Oklahoma City franchise to the Playoffs while grabbing the scoring title and being an excellent player.

Between the injuries, the lack of production, and who he was chosen over, Oden may fit in on this list when it’s all said and done. With any luck, though, Oden will be able to turn it around and use his youth to his advantage. Only time will tell.

 

11. Danny Manning – No. 1 selection of the Los Angeles Clippers (1988)
10. Fred Hetzel – No. 1 selection of the San Francisco Warriors (1965)
9. John Lucas – No. 1 selection of the Houston Rockets (1976)
8. Bill McGill – No. 1 selection of the Chicago Zephyrs (1962)

7. Pervis Ellison – No. 1 selection of the Sacramento Kings (1989)

Ellison ended up playing 474 games with four teams during his time in the NBA. He was never voted an All-Star and left the league in obscurity after starting only 52 percent of his games.

He was drafted ahead of Tim Hardaway, Shawn Kemp, and Vlade Divac, but his place here isn't about who he was drafted above, it was his play.

Despite three decent years between 1990 and 1993, when the '94 season concluded, it was all downhill from there, with Ellison never averaging double-digits in scoring again and playing less than forty games per season in four consecutive years.

When he left the game after his final season in 2000-01, he had career averages of 9.5 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 1.5 APG.

 

6. Michael Olowokandi – No. 1 selection of the Los Angeles Clippers (1998)
5. Kent Benson – No. 1 selection of the Milwaukee Bucks (1977)
4. Jim Barnes – No. 1 selection of the New York Knicks (1964)

3. LaRue Martin – No. 1 selection of the Portland Trail Blazers (1972)

Martin played in 271 games during his short NBA career, all with Portland. He never averaged more than 17 minutes per game, and his career averages were 5.3 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 0.7 APG when he called it quits after the 1975-76 season.

The center, who was picked up by Portland because of his performance against Bill Walton, lost his position to Walton when Portland chose him as the number one pick of the 1974 NBA Draft.

Had Martin played for another team or given himself more time to adjust to the NBA, perhaps he could have kept himself off of this list, but Martin clearly lacked the bang for the buck.

 

2. Kwame Brown – No. 1 selection of the Washington Wizards (2001)

Two words: ‘Nuff Said

Though many people would place Kwame at the top of this list, he is only the second-worst first pick of the past fifty years.

In a way, that’s a success for him.

Playing on four teams since he was drafted, Kwame’s been quite the under-achiever. How’s this for career averages of someone who’s not even in his thirties: 6.7 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 1.0 APG?  His best year, if you can even call it that, was the 2003-04 season when he averaged 10.9, 7.4, and 1.5 per game.

Oh, and just to piss you off a little bit, his estimated career earnings are just over $50 million.

 

And, the biggest number one bust of the past fifty years is... Joe Smith.

Who?

1. Joe Smith – No. 1 selection of the Golden State Warriors (1995)

Considering that the 1995 class had Antonio McDyess, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Kevin Garnett, and Damon Stoudamire, it’s easy to see why Smith’s time in the league would seem like a bust.

Add to that the following year’s class, which featured Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, and Marcus Camby, and it becomes even clearer why the hype around Joe Smith’s number one pick would be forgotten.

Though his per-game production is better than Kwame’s, Smith’s travels around the NBA (ten teams so far), earned him the top spot.

Starting in only 61 percent of the games he’s played, Smith’s 11 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and 1.0 APG averages seem almost respectable.

Well, compared to Kwame, they are.

 

You know what, on second thought, Kwame Brown was the biggest No. 1 pick bust in the past fifty years.

“With the number one selection of the 2001 NBA Draft,” David Stern should have said, “Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards select Kwame Brown, the biggest bust the league will ever see.”

Note: Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and rankings based on season statistics in points, rebounds, and assists, along with team loyalty, All-Star selections, individual awards (Rookie of the Year, MVP, and Finals MVP), championships, and the Hall of Fame.

A couple weeks ago we asked you to vote for the top ten Bucks of all time. Last Monday we began by revealing our first nominee, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with each of our nominations eligible for the forthcoming SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame ballot that will also include nominees from Brew Crew Ball, Acme Packing Company, Bucky's 5th Quarter and Anonymous Eagle.

Ask any NBA fan to succinctly summarize Oscar Robertson's NBA resume, and you'll inevitably hear one term over and over.

Triple-double.

Yes, Robertson remains the only NBA player to average a triple-double over an entire season, though in isolation his incredible line from the 61/62 season--30.8 ppg, 11.4 apg and 12.5 rpg--is a bit misleading. For one, the ridiculous pace of the NBA game at the time meant that everyone's stats were inflated relative to today's game by around 30%. That helps explain Robertson's triple-double and Wilt's 50.4 ppg the same year, and how Oscar was only fifth in the league in scoring and third in win shares despite numbers that are jaw-dropping by today's standards.

Still, pace doesn't explain Robertson's incredible assist rate, which is even more impressive when you consider a) the less generous scorekeeping for assists at the time and b) the fact that Oscar averaged 3.4 more apg than anyone else in the league.  And perhaps most amazingly, the focus on single-season stats glosses over the fact that Oscar averaged a career cumulative triple-double through his first six seasons in the league. He was a better rebounder early and a more prolific passer later, otherwise he'd have had more than just one triple-double season. Through his first 460 career games: 30.4 ppg, 10.7 apg, 10.0 rpg.  Not too shabby.

Yet The Big O's statistically stupefying legacy in Cincinnati has in many ways overshadowed his evolution as a player and the team success he had later on with the Bucks. Robertson won 50 games just once as a Royal, in the process garnering a reputation as a lone gunner never able to translate personal accolades into team success. Was it fair? Perhaps not. For those who haven't seen or heard much about Robertson aside from the numbers, ESPN's SportsCentury feature on him is a must watch (part III is above), as it paints a more complete portrait of Robertson the man, not just the player. Growing up an NBA fan in the '90s and '00s, it's easy to forget the segregation and prejudice which players like Oscar dealt with on a daily basis.

Fortunately for Oscar and the Bucks, he eventually got his chance to show he was a winner. Following a tumultuous relationship with then-coach Bob Cousy, Robertson was dealt to the Bucks in April 1970, joining a 56 win team that already featured Kareem, Jon McGlocklin and Bobby Dandridge. We all know what happened next. The Bucks steamrolled their way to a league-best 66-16 record and dropped just two games in three playoff series, culminated by a 4-0 sweep of the Bullets in the Finals.

And while he sacrificed some of his prodigious scoring, the 31-year-old Robertson was hardly just riding Kareem's coattails. He scored 19.4 ppg on 50% shooting while leading the Bucks in assists (8.2 apg, third in the league), grabbing nearly six boards per game, and garnering his 11th straight all-star selection and an All-NBA second team berth. And he saved his best for last, dominating Earl Monroe in the finals with 23.5 ppg and 9.5 apg on 52%, compared to just 16.3 ppg on 35% shooting for The Pearl.

And while Oscar's tenure in Milwaukee peaked in the incredible '71 season, he didn't just ride off in the sunset, averaging 16.0 ppg and 7.5 apg in 288 career games in Milwaukee. He was an all-star again in 71/72 (17.4 ppg, 7.7 apg, 5.0 rpg) and was still a productive starter even in his 14th and final season (12.4 ppg, 6.4 apg). Oscar was a winner, too, helping the Bucks win 59 or more games in each of his four seasons in Milwaukee. Unfortunately his final game was a game seven loss to the Celtics in the '74 Finals, but by that time his legacy was secured.

There's been an interesting debate that has been stirred up in regards to who the greatest player in NBA history is. The debate centers around Michael Jordan or Wilt Chamberlain. 

While it is tough to determine who's the greatest, the edge goes to Jordan, and I'll go over why. The truth is that it's very difficult to compare the eras both played in, as well as the fact that Jordan and Chamberlain played two completely different positions with different responsibilities. 

Also, what's difficult to see is who left their mark defensively because during Chamberlain's time, blocks and steals were not recorded and All-Defensive teams were around, but only towards the latter part of his career. 

The first player I will examine is Chamberlain. Let's start off with his accolades, accomplishments, and then examine the era he played in. 

For his career, Chamberlain ranks first in NBA history with 23,924 rebounds, first in minutes per game at 45.8, first in rebounds per game average at 22.9, averaged 30.1 points which is good for second, third in field goals with 12,681, fifth in minutes played with 47,859, and sixth in field goal attempts. 

In terms of recognition, he won the 1959-1960 Rookie of the Year award, won four Most Valuable Player awards, one Finals MVP, was a seven-time First Team All-NBA selection, and a three-time Second Team All-NBA selection. 

As for the playoffs, Chamberlain ranks second with 3,913 rebounds, second in rebounds per game with 24.5, and fourth in free throw attempts with 1627.

Looking at the numbers in his 14 seasons, they definitely were impressive, but most people aren't happy with just numbers. 

In fact, there's a comment I ran across today regarding Chamberlain: "You can't base Wilt's dominance on statistics because there was no competition in his era."

The problem with that statement is that Chamberlain had competition: Bill Russell, Walt Bellamy, Dolph Schayes, Nate Thurmond, Jerry Lucas, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bob Petit, Elvin Hayes, Willis Reed, and the list could go on and on for big men of that era. 

It wasn't exactly the lack of big men in the era that puts Chamberlain a step below Jordan, in actuality, it was the guard play.

There's no question that guards could score in Chamberlain's era, but they were not efficient scorers and assist numbers from point guards weren't impressive either. 

Looking at Chamberlain's rebounding numbers, they were tremendous, but it doesn't take long to figure out that there were other big men putting up big-time numbers as well.

Take a look at Walt Bellamy's rookie season in 1961-1962. Bellamy averaged 31.6 points, 19 rebounds, and 2.7 assists, on 51.9 percent shooting which led the NBA, and he shot 64.4 percent from the free throw line. 

In Chamberlain's era, the lower field goal percentages explain why you see guys like Bellamy, Bill Russell, Chamberlain, and others put up big rebounding numbers.

Having a center in that era shoot over 50 percent from the field was a major accomplishment. 

Here's a list of how many players shot over 50 percent throughout the years that Chamberlain was in the NBA: 

1959-1960: 0

1960-1961: 1

1961-1962: 2

1962-1963: 5

1963-1964: 3

1964-1965: 2

1965-1966: 4

1966-1967: 3

1967-1968: 6

1968-1969: 7

1970-1971: 8

1971-1972: 10

1972-1973: 11

On average, only four players a season would shoot over 50 percent during Chamberlain's career.

Let's take a look at some of the guards from that era to put that stat into context. Bob Cousy, a Hall of Famer from the Boston Celtics, had a field goal percentage of 38.4 percent during Chamberlain's time in the league.

Guy Rodgers, a teammate of Chamberlain's, shot 37.7 percent from the field, McCoy McLemore shot 39.4 percent, Nate Thurmond 41.2 percent, Fred Hetzel 42.1 percent, and Paul Arizin 42 percent.

There's many more players who didn't shoot the basketball very well at that time, but it's also interesting to see the team shooting percentages.

In 1959-1960, the Philadelphia Warriors shot 40.9 percent, Detroit Pistons 39.7 percent, Minneapolis Lakers 38.6 percent, Cincinnati Royals 41.2 percent, Syracuse Nationals 41.4 percent, Boston Celtics 41.7 percent, St. Louis Hawks 41.9 percent, and the New York Knicks 42.1 percent. 

1960-1961: Celtics 39.8 percent, Lakers 40.3 percent, Knicks 41 percent, Hawks 41.1 percent, Pistons 41.7 percent, Nationals 41.8 percent, Warriors 42.4 percent, and Royals 43.8 percent. 

1961-1962: Chicago Packers 41.2 percent, Pistons 41.5 percent, Knicks 41.8 percent, Nationals 41.8 percent, Celtics 42.3 percent, Lakers 42.7 percent, Hawks 43 percent, Warriors 43.9 percent, and Royals 45.2 percent. 

1962-1963: Celtics 42.7 percent, Knicks 42.9 percent, Hawks 43.1 percent, Pistons 43.2 percent, Lakers 44.1 percent, Nationals 44.5 percent, Warriors 45 percent, Chicago Zephyrs 45.3 percent, and Royals 45.9 percent. 

1963-1964: Celtics 41.3 percent, Philadelphia 76ers 41.8 percent, Pistons 42.1 percent, Hawks 43 percent, Warriors 43.8 percent, Lakers 44 percent, Baltimore Bullets 44 percent, Knicks 44.5 percent, and Royals 45.3 percent.

1964-1965: Warriors 40.3 percent, Celtics 41.4 percent, Pistons 41.8 percent, 76ers 42.2 percent, Hawks 42.4 percent, Knicks 42.6 percent, Lakers 43.7 percent, Bullets 44.2 percent, and Royals 44.7 percent.

1965-1966: Pistons 40.9 percent, Celtic 41.7 percent, Warriors 41.8 percent, Hawks 43.1 percent, Bullets 43.8 percent, Royals 44.4 percent, Lakers 44.4 percent, 76ers 44.6 percent, and Knicks 45 percent.

1966-1967: Pistons 41.2 percent, Chicago Bulls 41.9 percent, Bullets 42.7 percent, Warriors 43.3 percent, Hawks 44.3 percent, Celtics 44.7 percent, Lakers 44.7 percent, Royals 44.9 percent, Knicks 45.3 percent, and 76ers 48.3 percent.

1967-1968: San Diego Rockets 41.7 percent, Warriors 42.3 percent, Bulls 42.9 percent, Bullets 43.8 percent, Seattle Supersonics 43.9 percent, Celtics 44 percent, Pistons 44.8 percent, Hawks 45.1 percent, Knicks 45.6 percent, Royals 46.8 percent, 76ers 47.1 percent, and Lakers 47.7 percent. 

1968-1969: Warriors 41.5 percent, Bulls 41.8 percent, Milwaukee Bucks 42.8 percent, Rockets 42.8 percent, Phoenix Suns 43 percent, Celtics 43.1 percent, Supersonics 43.5 percent, Bullets 44 percent, Pistons 45.1 percent, 76ers 45.4 percent, Knicks 45.9 percent, Hawks 46 percent, Royals 46 percent, and Lakers 46.9 percent. 

1969-1970: Warriors 43.2 percent, Rockets 43.6 percent, Celtics 44.3 percent, Bulls 44.4 percent, Royals 45.5 percent, Bullets 45.8 percent, Lakers 46.1 percent, Supersonics 46.2 percent, Pistons 46.6 percent, Suns 46.8 percent, 76ers 46.9 percent, Knicks 47.7 percent, Hawks 48.3 percent, and Bucks 48.8 percent. 

1970-1971: Rockets 42.1 percent, Cleveland Cavaliers 42.4 percent, Portland Trail Blazers 43.5 percent, Buffalo Braves 43.6 percent, Suns 43.7 percent, Bullets 44.2 percent, Celtics 44.2 percent, Warriors 44.8 percent, Pistons 44.9 percent, Knicks 45 percent, 76ers 45 percent, Bulls 45.2 percent, Royals 45.4 percent, Supersonics 45.6 percent, Hawks 46.5 percent, Lakers 47.6 percent, and Bucks 50.9 percent. 

1971-1972: Cavaliers 42.8 percent, Rockets 43.4 percent, Warriors 43.9 percent, Trail Blazers 44.2 percent, 76ers 44.4 percent, Bullets 45 percent, Braves 45.1 percent, Bulls 45.1 percent, Celtics 45.3 percent, Pistons 45.4 percent, Suns 45.7 percent, Knicks 45.9 percent, Royals 45.9 percent, Haws 46 percent, Supersonics 46.4 percent, Lakers 49 percent, and Bucks 49.8 percent. 

1972-1973: 76ers 42 percent, Cavaliers 43.5 percent, Bulls 44.4 percent, Celtics 44.8 percent, Braves 44.9 percent, Supersonics 44.9 percent, Warriors 45.5 percent, Suns 45.5 percent, Rockets 45.7 percent, Trail Blazers 45.8 percent, Hawks 46.1 percent, Pistons 46.3 percent, Bullets 46.4 percent, Knicks 46.7 percent, Kansas City-Omaha Kings 47.8 percent, Lakers 47.8 percent, and Bucks 48.1 percent. 

According to these numbers, only one team in the 14 years that Chamberlain was in the NBA shot over 50 percent, and that was the Milwaukee Bucks in 1970-1971. 

Now field goal percentage isn't the only thing that keeps Chamberlain from being the greatest of all time. Chamberlain has two championship rings and in seven Finals appearances, his teams went 2-5.

There's no question that Chamberlain was a dominating force in the regular season, and the NBA will never again see a player average 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds in a season. Also, the NBA will struggle to find a center among the leaders in assists with Chamberlain accomplishing that feat a total of four times, including leading the league in total assists (702) and coming in second in assists per game (8.6) once.

It also wasn't like Chamberlain didn't have help either. As a Warrior, he played with Hall of Famers Tom Gola, Paul Arizin, and Nate Thurmond. When he was with the 76ers, he played with Hal Greer and Billy Cunningham. Finally, with the Lakers he had Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Gail Goodrich. 

So, in total, he played with eight Hall of Famers.

He faced three teams in the Finals, the Boston Celtics, San Francisco Warriors, and the New York Knicks. 

Those teams had players like Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, Tom Heinsohn, Rick Barry, Nate Thurmond, Bailey Howell, Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, and Earl Monroe. 

Chamberlain definitely had competition in the Finals when he got there, but there's something to be said about dominating in the regular season and then dominating in the playoffs. 

Speaking of that, now it's time to take a look at why Jordan just edges out Chamberlain. Since there were no All-NBA Defensive Team selections during a majority of Chamberlain's career, I'm going to leave those out. 

Jordan ranks first all time in points per game with an average of 30.1, third in points with 32,292 points, third in field goal attempts, fourth in field goals, fourth in free throws, and ninth in free throws attempted. 

Accolades include a Rookie of the Year award like Chamberlain, five Most Valuable Player awards, and going further and showing his dominance, six Finals Most Valuable Player awards. 

For the playoffs, Jordan is tops all time in points per game at 33.4, first in points, first in field goals attempted, first in free throws, second in free throw attempts, second in field goals, and seventh in assists. 

As for competition, Jordan had to play not only against some of the greatest big men in NBA history, but some of the best guards as well. These names include Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Gary Payton, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin McHale, Dominique Wilkins, Chris Webber, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, and plenty more. 

In Jordan's era, players were far more efficient scoring the basketball and point guards put up impressive assist numbers. 

What about the field goal percentages of players? Did they differ from Chamberlain's time? Well, 50 percent shooting wasn't a big deal anymore as players got more fundamentally sound and shot the ball increasingly well. 

To give you a hint, in 1984-1985, Jordan's rookie season, every player who made the top 20 in field goal percentage shot above 50 percent from the field. 

What's even more impressive is the number of teams that shot over 50 percent for the season. Here's a look at those teams throughout Jordan's career. 

1984-1985: 7

1985-1986: 5

1986-1987: 3

1987-1988: 2

1988-1989: 2

1989-1990: 1

1990-1991: 2

1991-1992: 2

1992-1993: 0

1994-1995: 2

1995-1996: 0

1996-1997: 1

1997-1998: 0

2001-2002: 0

2002-2003: 0

If you recall, only one team in Chamberlain's career shot over 50 percent in a season and that was the Royals. In Jordan's time in the league, 27 teams shot over 50 percent from the field in a season. 

That's one of the reasons why in Jordan's era, and in the NBA today, there will not be a player who averages 20 rebounds a night. It's also a reason why grabbing 20 rebounds in a game today is a significant accomplishment because shooting the basketball has come such a long way from when Chamberlain was playing. 

Before Chamberlain came into the league, look at any year and at any team: Shooting over 40 percent was difficult. For example, look at the 1956-1957 NBA Champion Boston Celtics—only two players shot over 40 percent. 

So, what NBA fans have seen is how the level of competition has gotten better throughout the years. 

And it's not just about field goal percentage, as Jordan dominated the Finals unlike Chamberlain. Jordan appeared in six NBA Finals and the Bulls came out on top every time. 

As I mentioned before, Chamberlain played with eight Hall of Famers during his career, but what about Jordan? Jordan had just one other Hall of Fame teammate, Scottie Pippen. 

What about the teams that the Bulls beat? What Hall of Fame players did Jordan go up against? James Worthy, Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, and Karl Malone. 

Chamberlain went up against more Hall of Famers in the Finals, but he also had more help than Jordan.

Ultimately, the determination of the greatest player in NBA history is very difficult.

Jordan beats Chamberlain out because of the six rings, the domination in the playoffs, and his superior competition.

 

The Los Angeles Lakers have been blessed with the greatest collection of centers any NBA franchise has ever had.  Most basketball aficionados are aware of this great lineage, George Mikan the first dominant NBA star and five time NBA champ, Wilt Chamberlain who re-wrote the record books and won two NBA championships, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the all-time scoring leader and six time NBA champion, then came Shaquille O'Neal, aka Superman, the self proclaimed "Most Dominant Ever," and four time NBA champ, and we can add power forward and center and seven footer Pau Gasol to this list of great Laker bigs.  Can the Lakers current young center Andrew Bynum fill these shoes and take his place as the next dominant Laker center?

Bynum has shown he has the skills. This postseason he proved his toughness playing hurt, he has had flashes of dominance, and has statistically improved every year.  He is the youngest player ever to be drafted and had limited high school experience, but incredible potential.  By the age of 22, Bynum already has won two NBA championships and is on a team that should contend for the next few years.  So far the biggest obstacle in young Bynum's career has been injury, so remaining healthy will play a huge part in how much better Bynum will be.

The comparison to the past great Laker bigs is difficult, Mikan's era is not really comparable, and Wilt, Kareem, and Shaq are (along with Bill Russell) in the uber-elite almost untouchable level.  Gasol is a hybrid power forward and center whose game is much different than his younger teammate.

I do see Hall of Fame potential in Bynum, it just remains to be seen if his health holds up and if he has the work ethic and hunger to be the best.  So if Bynum is not Wilt, Kareem, or Shaq level, what is his upside, his ceiling, what player could we compare him to as an example of how good he can be?  For me the player that came to mind was not fortunate enough to win any NBA titles, but he was blessed with good health and a long productive Hall of Fame career...that would be Patrick Ewing.

I'm not saying Bynum is identical to Ewing, I'm sure their are many differences, but when I look at their size and their skill sets I think Bynum could potentially put up numbers similar to what Ewing did.  Bynum has played five years in the league and is now 22 years old, Ewing's pro career started at the age of 23, so we can look at Bynum's career so far but also take into consideration that these were in effect, his college years.

Let's compare their numbers:

Andrew Bynum

Age 18) 1.6ppg  1.7reb  0.2ast  0.5blk  7.3min per game   

Age 19) 7.8ppg  5.9reb  1.1ast  1.6blk  21.8min

Age 20) 13.1ppg  10.2reb  1.7ast  2.1blk  28.8min

Age 21) 14.3ppg  8.0reb  1.4ast  1.8blk  28.9min

Age 22) 15.0ppg  8.3reb  1.0ast  1.4blk  30.4min

Patrick Ewing

Age 23) 20.0ppg  9.0reb  2.0ast  2.1blk  35.4min

Age 24) 21.5ppg  8.8reb  1.7ast  2.3blk  35.0min

Age 25) 20.2ppg  8.2reb  1.5ast  3.0blk  31.0min

Age 26) 22.7ppg  9.3reb  2.4ast  3.5blk  36.2min

Age 27) 28.6ppg  10.9reb  2.2ast  4.0blk  38.6min  

As you can see Bynum with five years of NBA experience is still younger than Patrick Ewing was as a rookie.  Ewing came in at age 23 on a team where he was required to play big minutes and be the main option, Bynum is asked to do neither.  I am about to play the "IF" game so play along with me...if Bynum were able to stay healthy for a long stretch (say five or more years) and the Lakers increased his minutes and went to him more, I could see his statistical progression looking a lot like Mr. Ewings numbers. 

To do this will also take hard work and dedication from Bynum, he should never average below two blocks a game for the next decade and he needs to continue to improve his range and offensive repertoire, he is already more advanced than the reigning best center in the league Dwight Howard.  If some of Kobe's work ethic rubs off and some of Gasol's finesse and if he can channel that inner beast we've seen on occasion when he dunks on his opponents with Shaq-like authority (as a 18-year-old NBA baby he did this to Shaq), we then may need to make a new place at the table among the pantheon of great Laker centers.

Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Hugh Laurie, Halle Berry, Ricky Gervais, Daniel Radcliffe, Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie, Mark Zuckerberg, Mike Scioscia, Martha Stewart, Paul Rudd, Rachel Weisz, Cheech & Chong, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Alyson Hannigan, Danica Patrick, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Joe Mantegna Among Guest Voices for Upcoming Season Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Amber [...]

Several members of the "Glee" cast will pull double duty on FOX this fall when they lend their voices to "The Simpsons."Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Amber Riley will guest-star in the season premiere on Sunday, Sept. 26. The episode, "Elementary School Musical," has Lisa (Yeardley Smith) going to a performing arts camp where the New Directions kids are fellow campers. Even better: Two of the counselors will be voiced by Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, aka Flight of the Conchords.After returning home, Lisa becomes frustrated with her suburban lifestyle and heads to Sprooklyn where the cool kids live.Other guest voices for the 22nd season of "The Simpsons" include "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe and "House's" Hugh Laurie, both of whom will be in the annual "Treehouse of Horror" episode. Paul Rudd, Kristen Wiig, Alyson Hannigan, Rachel Weisz, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and baseball statistical guru Bill James will also guest, as well...

via press release: STARS ALIGN IN SPRINGFIELD FOR SEASON 22 OF “THE SIMPSONS” Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Hugh Laurie, Halle Berry, Ricky Gervais, Daniel Radcliffe, Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie, Mark Zuckerberg, Mike Scioscia, Martha Stewart, Paul Rudd, Rachel Weisz, Cheech & Chong, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Alyson Hannigan, Danica Patrick, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and [...]

A couple weeks ago we asked you to vote for the top ten Bucks of all time. Today we begin revealing the results, with each of our nominations eligible for the forthcoming SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame ballot that will also include nominees from Brew Crew Ball, Acme Packing Company, Bucky's 5th Quarter and Anonymous Eagle. 

As someone who began following the Bucks as a kid in the early '90s, I have to admit that it's always been difficult for me to fully comprehend and appreciate the early history of the franchise. Reading about superstar players, 60 win seasons, an NBA title--it always seemed somewhat surreal and divorced from the NBA reality I knew growing up. You mean the franchise existed before Todd Day and Eric Murdock?   

And no one seems a more curious member of Bucks mythology than the NBA's all-time leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Kareem arrived in Milwaukee as Lew Alcindor, arguably the greatest college player of all time. And though he left Milwaukee in a storm of controversy, it's easy to forget that he spent a full six years in a Bucks uniform, racking up totals in points (14,211) and rebounds, (7,161) that have yet to be threatened in the 35 years since he left. Indeed, the man who most think of as a Laker through and through actually scored nearly 40% of his record 38,387 points in a Milwaukee jersey. And forty years after he first arrived, there's little doubt that that he's still the great player to wear a Bucks uniform. 

After the Bucks went 27-55 in their inaugural 68/69 season, a coin flip saw the Bucks win the first overall pick and the right to select Alcindor, the three-time NCAA champion and consensus number one pick. The Bucks won 56 games the following season as Kareem (28.8 ppg/14.5 rpg) was named an all-star and Rookie of the Year, leading the Bucks past the Sixers in the first round of the playoffs before falling to the eventual champion Knicks. In 10 playoff games, the rookie averaged a stunning 35.2 ppg and 16.8 rpg, a warning of what was to come.

It didn't take long for the Bucks to bounce back. The arrival of Oscar Robertson and further improvement of Kareem saw Milwaukee race to a 17-1 start in 70/71, cruising to a 66-16 record that also included a then-record 20 game winning streak. Abdul-Jabbar won the first of his six MVPs and the first of two consecutive scoring titles (31.7 ppg), also leading the league in PER (29.0) and win shares (22.3). Milwaukee beat the Warriors and Wilt Chamberlain's Lakers in five games before sweeping Wes Unseld's Bullets in the finals. Kareem would officially adopt his Muslim name a day after being named Finals MVP.

The Bucks would win 63, 60 and 59 games the following three seasons, but a second title proved elusive. Kareem snagged his second straight MVP and averaged a career-high 34.8 ppg in 71/72, the last time he led the league in scoring, but the eventual champion Lakers got their revenge by beating the Bucks in the West Finals in six games. The following season saw another step backward with a loss in the West semis, despite another dominating season of 30.1 ppg and 16.1 rpg from Kareem. He also added 5.0 apg, the first of three seasons in which he dropped five or more dimes per game. 

The Bucks bounced back by taking the Celtics to seven games in the 1974 Finals, but a third MVP season from Kareem ended without a second NBA title. A double overtime Milwaukee win in Boston forced a game seven, but the Bucks couldn't take care of business at home, losing by 15 to Havlicek, Cowens and the Celtics.

Kareem's final season in Milwaukee saw him once again put up big numbers, but for the first time it didn't translate into the win column. More importantly, Kareem wanted out. The NBA's most dominant player informed the Bucks before the season began that only New York or L.A. could meet Kareem's "cultural" needs. 

"Live in Milwaukee? No, I guess you could say I exist in Milwaukee," Abdul-Jabbar said in a early magazine interview. "I am a soldier hired for service and I will perform that service well. Basketball has given me a good life, but this town has nothing to do with my roots. There's no common ground."

Statistically it was more of the same from Kareem, but the team wasn't the same. After missing the season's first 16 games with a broken hand, Kareem dropped 30.0 ppg and 14.0 rpg--the last time he would crack the 30 point mark in his career. But following Oscar Robertson's retirement, the Bucks finished just 38-44 and missed the playoffs for the first time. And on June 16,1975 the Bucks reluctantly granted Kareem's request, sending him to L.A. for Junior Bridgeman, Brian Winters, Dave Meyers and Elmore Smith. Bridgeman and Winters would eventually see their jerseys hung from the Bradley Center's rafters, but there was no replacing Kareem. 

At the 1997 NBA All-Star weekend, the league introduced its 50 greatest players in commemoration of its 50th anniversary. The selection process had actually been completed several months earlier by media personnel, former players and coaches, and former and current general managers and team owners.

As its web site boasts at NBA.com , the list – at the time of its release – consisted of “one hundred and seven NBA championship rings. More than 400 hundred NBA All-Star Game selections. Nearly one million points scored.”

Some of its members reach back to the late 1940s such as George Mikan and Dolph Schayes. Others were more recent retirees such as Larry Bird and Isaiah Thomas. The list also included active players at that time such as Karl Malone and Patrick Ewing. Even Shaquille O’Neal, though only playing in his fifth NBA season, found a place amongst the 50 greatest.

The list rightfully spans both the foundation, innovation and modernization of the game.

No true guidelines exist for its compilation. For one, the names were presented sans-position, which allows only the best on the list. Secondly, statistics dominate the selections but can differ greatly from player-to-player.

32,172 points separate the list’s top and bottom scorers (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38,327; Bill Walton 6,215).

44 MVP awards appear, but 33 of those awards have gone to just 9 of the players (Jabbar 6, Jordan 5, Russell 5, Chamberlain 4, Magic Johnson 3, Bird 3, Moses Malone 3, Karl Malone 2, Bob Pettit 2).

Of the over 100 NBA championships on the list, 9 of those players never won (Gervin, Ewing, Thurmond, Maravich, Baylor, Barkley, Karl Malone, Bing, Stockton).

The reasons various, the accolades vast, the selection venerable.

Thirteen NBA seasons have now passed since the 50 greatest were chosen. Two more NBA seasons will complete the NBA’s 65th year, so why not start thinking about adding 15 players to expand the greatest list to 65 – one for each year of the NBA’s existence.

Now, this is not a novel idea and has been done at the 60th anniversary by TNT. Their ten additions can be viewed at Hoopedia . That list, however, is not an official addendum to the NBA’s.

This has also been previously discussed right here on Bleacher Report .

I would like to discuss adding fifteen players to the already 50 greatest list. Such discussions can and will be biased, especially for those, like me, that may be limited in which players they have been able to actually see play. Regardless, the point here is to discuss and not necessarily determine a "correct" addendum.

My fifteen additions would be as follows (in no particular order):

Bob McAdoo - Hall of Famer. 2X NBA champion. Won an MVP in 1975 with Buffalo with whom he also won Rookie of the Year in 1973. An innovator at the post position because of his ability to shoot from the outside consistently (at 6′9″ tall). Though his total points and rebounds put him near the middle of the list of 50 greatest, remains the last player to average 30 points and 15 rebounds in a season.

Kobe Bryant – 5X NBA champion, three of those as the team’s No. 2 guy and the last two as the No. 1. Won a regular season MVP and last two Finals MVPs. Scoring champion twice who averaged just over 35 ppg in 2005-2006. Has over 25,000 career points, which would put him at eleventh on the 50 greatest list.

LeBron James – Over 15,000 career points in just seven NBA seasons. Back-to-back MVPs in that time. Averages 27.8 ppg, 7 assists and 7 rebounds (his playoff averages in each category are better). Teams have never missed the playoffs. 34 career triple-doubles with 6 of those coming in the playoffs (had a triple-double in first career playoff game).

Tim Duncan – 4X NBA champion, 3X Finals MVP, 2X MVP. Only other plays to win multiple MVPs in regular season and Finals are Jabbar, Bird, Jordan, Magic. Great passer (3.2 apg) for a big man and good defender (2.3 bpg). Easily a double-double for career (21.1 ppg, 11.6 rpg).

Allen Iverson – In less than 1,000 career games: 24,368 points (26.7 ppg), 5,624 assists (6.2 apg), and over 2 steals per game. Won MVP award in 2000-2001. Helped modernize the game today by creating an east-to-west style of play that opened the floor and encouraged ball-handling and penetration like never before. Uncanny ability to score around the basket despite often being smallest player on floor (6'0").

Tom Heinsohn – Hall of Famer. 8X NBA champion with Bill Russell’s Celtics. All-NBA second team for four straight seasons (1960-1964). Career averages of 18.6 ppg and 8.8 rpg in nine seasons.

Maurice Stokes – Hall of Famer. Career averages: 16.4 ppg, 17.3 rpg, 5.3 apg (as a F/C, mind you). Played in only three NBA seasons (two with the Rochester Royals), yet his total rebounds would actually be better than six other players on the 50 greatest list. Scored over 1,000 points in each of his seasons (202 career games, only eclipsed 70 games in a season once when he played in all 72). Led the league in rebounds per game in 1955-1956 as a rookie and won rookie of the year. Finished fifth in MVP voting twice. Finished third in assists the following two seasons. Made all-star team and second team all-NBA each season he played. (Thanks to Crossword Pete for bringing Stokes into the discussion!)

Kevin Garnett - 2004 MVP. Finished in top 5 in MVP voting six times, finishing as the runner-up twice (to Shaquille O’Neal in 2000 and Tim Duncan in 2003). NBA champion with the Celtics in 2008. 19.8 career ppg and 10.8 rpg. Great passer for a post player at 6′11″ with 4.2 apg in career. His 4,719 career assists would make him seventeenth on the 50 greatest list. Nearly a career 50% shooter, which is remarkable when taking into account that he takes a lot of mid-range shots and likes to face up to the basket.

Dominique Wilkins - Hall of Famer. Over 26,500 career points. Put up a lot of shots but was a relentless scoring threat. Averaged over 30 ppg twice (one scoring title) and 29 ppg three times with a career average of 24.8 (could be higher if he hadn’t returned to the league at 37 and 39). Chosen for nine consecutive all-star game appearances. Played during an era of Eastern Conference dynasties (Celtics, Pistons, Bulls) on an average team. Eliminated every year by either the Bulls, Celtics or Pistons except for Bucks in 1983-1984 and 1988-1989.

Dennis Johnson – Hall of Famer. 3X NBA champion (twice with Boston and once with Seattle). Won Finals MVP in 1978-1979 season with the Sonics. All-NBA first team in 1980-1981, second team in 1979-1980. 6X first team All-Defensive, 3X second team All-Defensive. Perhaps one of the greatest perimeter defenders of all time.

Artis Gilmore – Career averages: 18.8 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 2.3 apg (combined 5 ABA seasons, 12 NBA seasons). His 16,330 career rebounds would be fourth on the 50 greatest list, behind only Chamberlain, Russell and Jabbar. Led NBA in field goal percentage for four straight seasons (shot 67% in 1980-1981 season). Shot nearly 60% for his career in the NBA which remains first all-time. (Thanks to Wally for bringing Gilmore into the discussion!)

Alex English – Hall of Famer. 25,613 career points. Career 50% shooter with over 21,000 field goal attempts (makes him eighth all time in attempts). Only players to shoot over 50% with more attempts are Chamberlain, Jabbar and Karl Malone.

Adrian Dantley – Hall of Famer. Over 23,000 career points in less than 1,000 games. Finished in top three of scoring title five times (scoring champ in 1980-1981, 1983-1984). Averaged 30 points or more in four straight seasons. Sixteenth in NBA history for field goal percentage at 54%. (Thanks to Chas for bringing Dantley into the discussion!)

Gary Payton – Fifth all-time in steals (2,243) and seventh in assists (8,966). 9X first team All-Defensive; 1995-1996 defensive player of the year. Finished in top-10 for MVP voting for eight straight seasons. Won 2006 NBA championship with Miami Heat. *Note: I would place Alvin Robertson in Payton’s place, but I just can’t based on his recent troubles with the law. The guy could flat out play though. Maybe one of the best all-around players ever in the NBA. His playoff numbers are excellent even though his teams never advanced. Against San Antonio in the first round in 1988, he averaged 23.3 ppg, 9.3 apg, 4.7 rpg and 4 spg.

Steve Nash – Back-to-back MVP in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 (top-10 finisher five times). Ranks eighth all-time in assists with 8,397. Excellent free throw shooter with career 90% average. Thirteenth all-time in 3-point field goals made. Hard time putting him on this list because he is a defensive liability on and off-the-ball, but only eleven other players have won multiple MVPs.

Yes, there are some glaring omissions that I know some will be adamant about including. So let's hear it whether you want to agree, refute, or just add your fifteen players you deem worthy of such enshrinement.

Looking back through NBA history, there has been a common thread to all the great teams. A similar pattern has emerged repeatedly throughout the years, no matter the era.

On all great teams there was a definitive hierarchy. A top dog. An alpha male.

All great teams had a clear leader.

When LeBron James made "The Decision" to join his two pals, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, on the shores of South Beach, immediate discussion erupted as to who will  become the leader of the Miami Heat.

When the threesome were introduced together for the first time the next day, Dwyane Wade used the word "sacrifice" as the key for the three to thrive together.

However, if one looks throughout NBA history, a clear leader was out in front of each successful team.

George Mikan. Bill Russell. Jerry West. Bill Walton. Julius Erving. Magic Johnson. Larry Bird. Isiah Thomas. Hakeem Olajuwon. Michael Jordan. Tim Duncan. Kobe Bryant.

Sure, each of these players had very good talent surrounding them. For instance, Russell had such greats as John Havilicek, Tom Heinsohn, Bob Cousy, KC Jones, and Sam Jones—and these were only some of the Hall of Fame players he played with! But clearly, it was Russell's team.

Which player will emerge to lead Miami?

Sometimes, a great young player joins an older veteran.

A few such instances were the Spurs drafting Duncan onto David Robinson's squad, the Rockets draft of Olajuwon to play alongside Ralph Sampson, the Bucks drafting young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to star alongside Oscar Robertson.

If one looks at the Showtime-era Laker teams as an example, it is clear that Magic was the star seemingly from his first game in the league. Kareem's Lakers had floundered for several years, but with Magic's arrival, the squad was rejuvenated.

Magic's Game Six performance in Philadelphia in the 1980 Finals, the legendary game in which he played all five positions, while Kareem was home in L.A. nursing a badly sprained ankle cemented his position as top of the Lakers hierarchy.

Magic wisely even continued to call Kareem "Cap," short for captain, throughout his career. However, there was no doubt to anyone who the real captain of the team was.

The Heat have brought together three players whom were drafted in the same year, and whose ages vary by only two years, so clearly leadership through age differential is not the case here.

There are also examples of complementary stars coexisting together, players whose positions do not overlap on the court. History says, such instances lessened the necessity for a clear leader to emerge.

Examples are the Robertson/Abdul-Jabbar Bucks, the West/Wilt Chamberlain Lakers, the Erving/Moses Malone 76ers. The Karl Malone/John Stockton Jazz.

The 76ers acquiring Malone is a good example of a star-laden team bringing in another star to join them. In this case, however, such 76er stars as Erving, Mo Cheeks, and Andrew Toney were receptive—the result of having lost two of the previous three NBA Finals to the Magic-led Lakers.

Malone mostly though played a position they needed to shore up, center. Malone came to them as reigning league MVP, and through his assertive nature was quickly embraced as a leader. Malone's famous "fo fo fo" prediction previous to the start of the '83 playoffs followed almost true to form—they only lost one game during their title-winning run.

The 2000-2002 Lakers showed that even feuding superstars, as long as they play differing, complementary positions, can triumph.

However, the Miami Heat have two players in Wade and LeBron whose games somewhat overlap.

Both have fairly similar skill sets. Both play essentially the same position on the court, necessitating a position move by one or both. Both have also been the focus of their teams' offenses prior to their union. Perhaps more importantly, one or both will need to change their style of play.

Bosh is the complementary piece of the trio. It is Wade and LeBron that will need to coexist in order for the team to thrive.

This will be the biggest challenge that the Heat face, but Miami was Wade's team before both of the other big-three components arrived. LeBron though is the two-time reigning MVP, and clearly is the one under the most pressure due to the way he handled his free agency.

In some ways, this Heat squad is charting through uncharted waters. Never have we seen a team put two backcourt players with such similar skill sets together—at least not at this elite-level caliber. Wade and LeBron are both arguably top three as far as talent.

There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. Who takes the last shot? Which player subjugates his game more? Who emerges as team leader?

The Heat hope their final script is written similar to the New York Knick championship teams. Those squads featured some of the finest, most unselfish play the league has ever seen. Bill Bradley, Clyde Frazier, Earl Monroe, Dave DeBusschere, Willis Reed. Those squads even featured a young Phil Jackson, ironically losing to and then beating Pat Riley's Lakers in successive Finals.

Sacrifice is a word that sounds great in theory, but in this time we live in it remains to be seen if it takes a back seat to such words as marketability, status, and branding.

The fact is, for the Heat to succeed they will need to break the historical mold in the NBA, and tread a new historical path through the jungle.

Succeed, and they will be looked at as pioneers. Fail, and it's their respective legacies that will have been sacrificed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scoring more points than any other player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made basketball history during his career with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969-1989. He even was the special assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers and made his movie debut in Bruce Lee's 1978 film Game of Death. It seems as if there isn't anything that Kareem can't tackle, even cancer! The basketball star has partnered up with the to create Team Kareem, a national team whose goal is to raise money for cancer research and raise awareness about blood cancer.

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If last month's conference realignment madness didn't already prove that football is king in college athletics, one glance at the Pac-10's glitzy new website should remove all doubt.

The page devoted to Pac-10 football is pristine, eye-popping and error-free. The pages devoted to men's basketball and the rest of the Pac-10's sports are ridden with mistakes that would have a high school web designer cringing.

Readers who visited the Pac-10's website the past two days found a countdown clock on the homepage building anticipation for the relaunch 5 p.m. EST on Tuesday. Perhaps conference officials needed more time to correct some of the gaffes below:

 

If you look closely at the photo that corresponds with this USC press release, you'll notice it's of the late John Wooden and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sitting behind the bench at a UCLA game. USC fans have long accused Wooden of recruiting violations during his dynasty, but even they probably don't think he had much to do with the cash and gifts O.J. Mayo received. 

 

Curiously, Wooden and ex-UCLA star Kevin Love seem to be the feature photo for this story on Abdul Gaddy leading the U.S. U-19 team to a victory last month. Pretty sure Wooden didn't coach that one and Love's probably a few years too old to be eligible. 

 

Before you get the idea that the conference is anti-Wooden, here's the Pac-10's story on the Knicks selecting Landry Fields in the second round. Kudos for getting the school to correspond with the photo this time, but how did a shot of Mark Madsen's game-winning dunk against Rhode Island in the 1998 Elite Eight pop into the queue? 

 

You could argue that this shot of UCLA's Mustafa Abdul-Hamid is a perfectly acceptable shot to run with a review of last year's Pac-10 basketball season. Of course, you could also argue that there might have been a better choice than a photo of a walk-on guard from a 14-18 team that finished tied for fifth in the league.

 

Just so you know that all the problems weren't limited to the men's basketball page, check out the photo that ran with the press release announcing a discount for Arizona State women's basketball tickets next season. Yes, that's a team from the state of Arizona. No, that's not the Sun Devils.

There are plenty of other blunders to choose from on the pages of the other sports, but there's no sense in piling on.

Again what's telling here is that someone obviously quality-checked the homepage and the football page but didn't bother to look at the other sports. Next time a Pac-10 basketball coach complains that every decision is made with football in mind, he might have a point.  

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball legend and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, is asking his supporters to join him in taking a shot at beating cancer by joining his team – Team Kareem.

In 2009, after Kareem’s diagnosis with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia, (Ph+ CML), a slow progressing type of blood cancer1, he initiated a CML education program with Novartis Oncology to show people that they are not alone in fighting this disease. Now, Kareem and Novartis Oncology have partnered with The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) to create Team Kareem, a national team whose aim is to raise money for cancer research, through participation in LLS’s annual Light The Night® Walk.

Held on fall evenings in communities across the U.S., Light The Night Walk is LLS’s fundraising event to pay tribute and bring hope to people battling cancer. More than 250,000 people participate in these leisurely walks throughout the country to help raise funds for vital, lifesaving research. Kareem will participate in the walk at the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City on October 14th.

“I couldn’t believe it when I found out I had leukemia,” Kareem says. “But I was lucky. Thanks to life-saving research, I can take a medication every day to keep my cancer in check, and this gives me hope for the future. Please join my team so we can bring this hope to others by raising funds for this important cause.”

Team Kareem teams will be established in each of LLS’s U.S. chapters and members will fundraise and participate in walks in their own communities. Team members who meet certain fundraising goals will be eligible to win signed Kareem basketballs and other items.

“We are thrilled to have legendary basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar involved in our Light The Night Walk and I look forward to seeing him at the Brooklyn Bridge walk on October 14th,” said Nancy L. Klein, chief marketing and revenue officer of LLS. “Kareem’s message of hope is so inspirational and we anticipate that many of his fans will be eager to join the Team. To that end, he created a special video on the importance of signing up for Team Kareem, which you can view at www.lightthenight.org/TeamKareem.”

Kareem credits decades of research, assisted by funding from LLS, with leading to FDA-approved therapies that help him to manage his leukemia. Ph+ CML is characterized by an abnormality known as the Philadelphia chromosome, which produces a protein called Bcr-Abl, identified as the sole cause and driver of CML. Kareem encourages others living with Ph+ CML to regularly have their blood tested to know their Bcr-Abl score, and speak with their doctors to set a disease management goal2. He also encourages them to seek support from their peers via CML Earth, a social network dedicated to helping people affected by CML.

To learn more about Team Kareem or to join the Team, visit www.lightthenight.org/TeamKareem. To follow Team Kareem on Facebook, become a fan of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – CML Patient and Advocate and the Light The Night Friends & Family fan pages.

Related past articles

• Michael McKean Wins $1 Million For Charity In Jeopardy Final
• Celebrities Put Their Votes Where Their Hearts Are

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Shut the hell up, Michael Jordan. Nobody should be listening to you. You were an amazing basketball player—probably the best ever—but you are showcasing your arrogance and selfishness. We all know that about you by now.

So nobody should care that you said you would never have called Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and asked them to join you on the same team: “There’s no way, with hindsight, I would’ve ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s get together and play on one team.’” Oh, really? “With hindsight” you wouldn’t make drastic changes to what pretty much everyone agrees was the greatest professional basketball career of all time? Shocking.

What about without hindsight? What about when you were 25, like LeBron James is now, and you, like LeBron James, had never won an NBA title?

“In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.” But, presumably, you were not trying to beat future Hall-of-Famer Scottie Pippen, who was on your team for all six of your championships. Oh, and good job with the whole “trying to beat those guys” thing. Your 0-8 playoff record against Larry Bird is truly the crown jewel of your legacy.

Which brings us to Magic Johnson, who Jordan did ultimately succeed in beating, for his first NBA Title in 1991. Magic, who just echoed Jordan’s sentiment by saying he would never have joined forces with LeBron James. Magic, who never won an NBA Finals without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s all-time scoring leader. Magic, who won four of his five NBA titles playing for the man who just recruited LeBron to Miami.

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Troy Sparks is a Jabberhead and an SJ contributing author. Read more of Troy at Troy's Thoughts on Sports .

Join in the discussion on this and other topics in the NEW Sports Jabber Forums!

Here are my long overdue thoughts on the Wilt autobiography. I hope you have some time because this is without a doubt my LONGEST POST on the LTB (perhaps one of the longest LTB posts ever). Hopefully you'll find it worthwhile. Naturally, I enjoyed Wilt's book immensely. Once I started reading it, I finished it much quicker than the I typically read books. I don't think any fan could have asked for a more open and honest autobiography from any pro athlete. To say that Wilt was larger than life would be a considerable understatement. There were times when I would stop reading for a moment, laugh, shake my head, and say to myself "man, that Wilt was something else." It was interesting to discover that Wilt wrote the book after the 1972-73 season, which I believe was the last one he played. That would have made him almost 37 years old when he played his final game in the NBA. Looking at Wilt's stats for that final season, he had averaged a league leading 18 rebounds per game, and set the all-time record for field goal percentage at over 72% for the season. Wilt also averaged over 13 points per game, over 4 assists per game, and god knows how many blocks; All-Star numbers by today's standards for NBA Centers. Can you imagine 37-year-old Shaq playing 43 minutes per game and putting up those kinds of overall numbers right now? LOL. Even a center as great as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar never posted those kinds of defense stats, even in his prime. Wilt was 35 years old when he won the Finals MVP. Who else, other than maybe Michael Jordan, has done that? I don't know, but it's impressive none the less. It was incredible that in a 14 year career, Wilt had I think, 8 different coaches. That's basically a new coach every other year, and three times over the course of his career some of those coaches asked him to radically change the style of his game for the betterment of the team. He went from being the most dominant scorer in league history, to being the best passing big man ever, to being the most dominant defensive player in the league! He basically mastered the 3 major skill sets of basketball (scoring, passing, defense) and demonstrated his mastery by being the most dominant player in the league in each of those categories for at least 1 full season. If that isn't greatness, I don't know what is. Wilt did a lot of amazing things in his career and one need only consult the NBA record books to understand just how amazing a career he had. Other than winning more titles, there really isn't anything more he could have accomplished in his career, and it's remarkable just how close he came to winning quite a few more than the 2 rings he eventually did win. A bad call from the ref, a lucky shot, a loose ball that didn't bounce his team's way; all these things proved to be the difference between winning and losing championships, and it happened so many times to Wilt's teams in his storied career. Despite a number of tough breaks in the playoffs, Wilt still gets credit for accomplishing something that his eventual teammates Elgin Baylor, Gail Goodrich, Happy Hairston, and Jerry West cannot say they did: Wilt beat the Celtics in a playoff series. Not only did the 1967' Sixers beat the Celtics, they snapped a Celtic streak of 8 consecutive championships, a fact that was surprisingly not mentioned in the book. The Celtics went on to win back-to-back titles immediately after that season, beating Wilt's teams each time, so perhaps that's why not much was made of that 67' Philadelphia team. Still, had Wilt's team not snapped that Celtic streak, the Celtics would have won an even more impressive 11 consecutive titles. Because of Wilt and his superior team that year, the Celtics had to settle for 8 straight titles (world's smallest fiddle playing for the Celtics. LOL). Wilt just had so many interesting thoughts and observations in this book, I don't even know where to begin. With the book being originally released in 1973, many of the hard feelings and grudges were still fresh in Wilt's mind at the time. Some of Wilt's comments about Bill Russell were very interesting. While he acknowledged Russell's unyielding and passionate desire to win, Wilt was honest in his appraisal of Russell's offensive ineptitude throughout his entire career. For a player of such legendary status as Russell, his offensive statistics certainly don't support that viewpoint. Wilt was quick to bring this to light when speaking openly of Russell's strengths and weaknesses as a player. Among other interesting comments in the book was the stuff Wilt said about Chick Hearn. For Wilt to suggest that Chick Hearn's commentary often displayed open favoritism toward Jerry West was surprising. It was downright shocking to find out that during games, Chick would speak of Wilt in precisely the opposite fashion, sometimes showing a subtle antipathy for the great Laker center. In all the years I've listened to Chick Hearn, that was one of the toughest things to imagine as being true. Though if Wilt said it, perhaps there is some element of truth there, hard as it is to believe. In fact, one of the most fascinating things that I discovered about Wilt was that he was such a vilified character for much of his career. You know, the kind of player that everybody loves to hate. At least that's how Wilt felt about his treatment by the media, opposing teams' fans, players, and coaches around the league. As one who's been the victim of harsh and sometimes unfair criticism in my life, I can certainly sympathize with Wilt's situation. Being really the first truly great player over 7 feet tall, the sensitivity that Wilt had about being regarded as a over-sized freak was something that really resonated in my mind. Though I've never gone up to someone who appeared to be approximately seven feet tall and asked them how tall there were, I can certainly imagine how old that must get for tall folks. I certainly wouldn't go up to an extremely obese person and ask how fat there were, and I make it a point to never ask a woman's age. Asking a tall person about their height definitely falls in that same category for me, and it's probably right that it should. There is something to be said for common courtesies. There were some things that Wilt said about his former Laker teammates Jerry West and Elgin Baylor that caught my interest. There was the part about how Jerry West sometimes couldn't handle the pressure of being "Mr. Clutch" and after repeatedly failing in the playoffs to live up to that nickname, he would even go so far as to take a separate flight home from the rest of the team. That way he didn't have to face his disappointed fans as he got off the plane. Then there was how Jerry was extremely careful when it came to controlling and maintaining his clean cut, all American, family guy image; even to the point where he would be dishonest to the media when questioned about certain things that happened during the game. Wilt mentioned that various times Jerry would feel strongly about something that was wrong with the team, and he would admit as much to Wilt in private, but he always refused to openly speak his mind about it. When it came down to it, I guess Jerry West just wasn't a very confrontational guy. For example, all of the Laker players, including Jerry, thought Van Breda Kolff was a sh*tty coach, but Jerry would never say anything about it, nor would the other players. That must have alienated Wilt, who was generally open and honest about most things. In reality, Van Breda Kolff should have been fired long before he had a chance to sabotage the Lakers in the 1969 NBA Finals, and if more players like Jerry or Elgin had openly voiced their opinions to the Laker front office, highlighting Van Breda Kolff's incompetence, history might have played out more favorably for the Lakers in that season. There are certain parallels that one can draw from modern day Kobe and Jerry West in the later part of his career. Consider how controlling Kobe has been in terms of his "family guy" image since the Colorado incident. I suppose a lot of players are overly concerned about their image these days, but it's still interesting because Kobe has always idolized Jerry West, and still does to this day. As far as Wilt's thoughts on Elgin Baylor, I was surprised to find out that Elgin was apparently not much of a defensive player. In Wilt's own words, "defense was something Elg did only to help pass the time between shots." When you consider how many times the Lakers failed to beat the Celtics, who were such a consistently great defensive team back in those days, the things Wilt said about Elgin certainly gives me a new perspective on all those tough losses in the Finals. Can you imagine if Kobe, MJ, or Duncan didn't play the superb defense that we have grown accustomed to seeing from them over the years? Would they have been nearly as successful without that vital element to each man's game? I think not. Knowing what I now know about Elgin Baylor, he certainly drops a few spots on my list of All-Time greats. Through it all, Wilt was still careful to point out that men like Elgin and Jerry were undoubtedly great players, despite all their failures. I believe he called Jerry West one of the greatest guards of all time, which is no small praise coming from Wilt. Wilt also called Bill Russell the greatest defensive player he'd ever seen and the greatest competitor ever. It was remarkable to discover just how much winning meant to Russell and how it was quite literally the most important thing in his life. According to Wilt, winning meant everything to Russell and his desire to win was so strong that all the stress and nervous energy would cause him to throw up before every important game. Most interesting of all was how Wilt utterly dominated Russell in virtually all of their head-to-head matchups. Nobody loved a personal challenge more than Wilt, which is the primary reason why he holds so many league records to this day. When people would say that Russell was better than him, Wilt would absolutely crush Russell in terms of individual statistics. In fact, I don't think there is another example in NBA history where great player A repeatedly dominated great player B in the head-to-head matchups, while great player A's team still failed almost every time to beat great player B's team. It was an anomaly to say the least, and it's a true testament to the greatness of those Boston Celtic teams and their vaunted dynasty. I think I vomited in my mouth a little bit when I said that. Okay, sorry, moving on... One last point of interest was how close Wilt came to becoming a Celtic. I thought it was fascinating that Red Auerbach, of all people, was Wilt's coach at the Kutcher's Country Club, which had a sort of hotel league back when Wilt was a teenager and still in high school. Going up against top ranked collegiate players and NBA pros, even then Wilt dominated the competition. The guy's precociousness had no bounds (LOL) and he eventually had Auerbach's full attention. Auerbach tried to get Wilt to go to Harvard to play college ball. Of course, the rule back then was that NBA teams got first dibs on drafting players from the colleges in the immediate surrounding areas of each NBA team (or something to that effect). That sneaky Red saw how awesome Wilt's talent was and he wanted to make sure that when Wilt eventually turned pro, he'd be a Celtic. Of course, the rule changed shortly thereafter so that NBA teams could draft players who played in high schools considered local to the nearest NBA Franchise. How might it have changed history if that rule had never been changed, and if Wilt had gone to Harvard for his stint as a college player? Can you imagine a Celtic team with Wilt Chamberlain AND Bill Russell? Chamberlain at center, Russell at power forward, plus Cousy, the two Jones's, Havlicek, Heinsohn, .... talk about jaw-dropping talent. Add Chamberlain to those Celtics teams and you'd have a roster that makes any other NBA team in history look like a sad mockery of talent by comparison. Furthermore, how differently would Wilt's career have been remembered if he had played under Auerbach, and he had won all those titles? Would there be any doubt that he was the single greatest player of all time? Likely not. Wilt would have his own standard of individual greatness that would be entirely untouchable. In terms of greatness, there would be Wilt, and then there would be everyone else. So after reading Wilt's book and learning pretty much all there is to know about Wilt's career, as well as his thoughts and opinions about other players, coaches, and teams of his generation, I'm actually now convinced that he WASN'T the Greatest of All Time (or for quick reference the G.O.A.T.). There are a number of reasons why I now feel this way, and I'll go over each of them: 1) Wilt was NOT the greatest competitor. He actually admitted that he sometimes lacked motivation on the court and often had to set certain individual goals in order to keep things interesting for him (like trying to break scoring records, or leading the league in assists, or leading the league in rebounds, etc...). Otherwise, Wilt would get bored, frustrated, and eventually uninterested in the game of basketball. I mean, the guy flat out admitted that he sometimes lacked a killer instinct on the basketball court. Who says something like that? Certainly not someone who is trying to be considered the greatest player ever. This is damning evidence for those of us who would make a case for Wilt at the G.O.A.T. I think that failing to win a championship more often than not, along with all the subsequent criticism he took for being a "loser" was something that drove him to seek new heights of greatness, both as an individual and from a team perspective. To Wilt's credit, he admittedly displayed a consistently strong sense of teamwork and believed in the concept of team basketball. This is ironic because he was so ridiculously dominant from an individual standpoint, but apparently Wilt was always a great teammate and he never felt that he placed his individual goals ahead of the team's goals. In truth, it was his coaches who should get the credit for Wilt taking so many shots and scoring so many points throughout his illustrious career. His early coaches felt that he was virtually unstoppable (which he basically was) and they told him to shoot, and shoot often. Because he was a very coachable player and tried to adapt his game to whatever the coach and the team needed from him, Wilt scored the hell out of the ball. Wilt was often criticized by the media for being a selfish, me-first scorer who didn't play team ball. In reality, Wilt's coaches should have been the ones to take the blame for Wilt shooting so much. In the end, none of them did. That leads me for reason number 2 why Wilt isn't the G.O.A.T. 2) When he lost, Wilt blamed everyone but himself. Maybe he always felt that he gave everything on the court and could never have done anything more to help his teams win more championships. Still, the way Wilt constantly blamed his coaches, other players, the refs, and bad luck for his team's failures... I find it somewhat offputting. Nobody likes a whiner and I sometimes got the sense that Wilt didn't want to own his failures, which is something that I find difficult to respect. Wilt had a lot of pride in himself and his accomplishments. He really didn't feel like he could have contributed more to the game and he hated all the criticism that he had to take over the years. Considering the racial tensions of the time, I'm sure a lot of the criticism was unfair, but I'm sure some of it wasn't, and apparently Wilt didn't want to hear any of it. Like it or not, that's the way the man felt, but I think he did himself a disservice by thinking that way, and it certainly weighs against him in the G.O.A.T. debate. 3) In the end, Wilt is NOT the G.O.AT. Why you ask? It's because I'm now convinced that there is no such player as the G.O.A.T. It is a fictitious and imaginary title that no longer holds any meaning to me. This is perhaps a conclusion that some of you may have already realized, and it's certainly the one I've settled on. Reading Wilt's book simply reminded me that basketball is ultimately a team sport. In a team sport, it's logical to conclude that too much focus cannot be placed on team accomplishments when discussing the greatness of individual players. This has to be taken into consideration when defining the meaning of the G.O.A.T. Jordan won 6 titles and Wilt won 2 titles. What if the ball had bounced Wilt's way a few more times in so many of those tightly contested playoff series against the Celtics? What if Butch Van Breda Kolff's idiot @ss hadn't kept Wilt out of the game in the 4th quarter of game 7 in the 69' Finals? What if Wilt had been coached by one of the greatest coaches of all time like Red Auerbach, instead of some of the idiot coaches that Wilt had to suffer in his career. Wilt might have had 4, 5, or 6 titles; maybe more. That certainly would have changed history, wouldn't it? No, there's no G.O.A.T. and I see that clearly now. The only thing MJ has over Wilt are the rings, and that just doesn't carry enough weight for me to agree beyond a shadow of doubt that MJ was the better, greater player. If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to pick a G.O.A.T. (unlikely as that may be, LOL), I would still choose Wilt. For all his greatness, Wilt was a flawed player. He lacked a killer instinct, and ultimately he lacked the wealth of championships to accompany his various individual accolades. Still, he was the single most impressive physical specimen the league has ever seen, and there was virtually nothing the man couldn't do on a basketball court. He accomplished everything one could hope to accomplish in an NBA career, and he did it with style, grace, and magnificence. Then, of course, there was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He's moved up a notch on my G.O.A.T rankings for sure. As I take some time to learn more about the Cap, he might even pass Wilt as the G.O.A.T., assuming I thought there was one to begin with. There were just so many interesting things about this book and so many fascinating things that Wilt did on and off the court, I'll be here all night typing a novel of my own if I keep going. All in all, it was a joy to learn so much about the great Wilt Chamberlain (sometimes more than I cared to know, LOL), and it's a must-read for any student of basketball history, or any fan of the Big Dipper. To Randy, Thanks so much for sending this book my way. I appreciate it more than you know, and I hope that one day I can find a way to return the favor. Your good friend, Steve