ESPN’s Top 10 All-Time NBA Players list needs some fixin’ playas! Especially with Shaq, Kobe, LeBron and Jordan! “Making Sense”

It’s been fun to watching ESPN. com rank their 74 greatest players in NBA in honor of the league’s 74 year history. I remember when at the 50 year mark in 1996 there was a Top 50 greatest players list that wasn’t in any order and it was incredible. In this current list I only paid close attention to their Top 10 list and it’s ranking.

Here’s what they came up with:

10) Shaquille O’Neal

9) Kobe Bryant

8) Tim Duncan

7) Larry Bird

6) Wilt Chamberlain

5) Magic Johnson

4) Bill Russell

3) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

2) LeBron James

1) Michael Jordan

Now keep in mind that this is all for kicks and giggles. Nobody really cares what order most of these cats are in as long as you understand who should be on the list. I would, however, rank both Shaq and Kobe ahead of Larry Bird and Tim Duncan.

Shaq, in my opinion, was the most dominant big man I’d ever seen play the game. I didn’t see Wilt play as he averaged 30.1 ppg and 22.9 rpg. According to the numbers it doesn’t get more dominant than that right? However, who was he playing against? There were only a hand full of duns in the league that were 7-feet tall so he was killing everybody. He wasn’t playing in a league where on every team there was an athletic 7-footer and other bigs that could go.

Everyone brings up the 100 point game against the Knicks in 1962. First of all, the Knicks were terrible that year and they only had four guys on the entire roster that was taller than 6’6″. That’s not as impressive as Kobe scoring 81 points playing against real athletic and taller players.

However, the fact that Wilt averaged 30 points and 22 rebounds during his entire career, he’s got to be ranked higher than Shaq right? Well…not in my book. In my lifetime, Shaq was the most dominant big I’ve ever seen. Tim Duncan was the most proficient and fundamental but he wasn’t more dominant than Shaq. Just my opinion playas.

Bird was an assassin but he wasn’t a better player than both Shaq and Kobe. Not with the eyes I watched this game out of. NO way. Bird could shoot the rock but he wasn’t as athletic as either of the aforementioned.

All of the others I’m cool with except for the obvious Top 2. Mike is the GOAT because of his global influence on the game with the Jordan Brand etc. He globalized the game like no other and his brand has a cult following art this point. There are duns that will fight you if you disagree that Jordan is the greatest player to ever lace them up and they’ve never even seen him play. That’s crazy isn’t it. A cat has been watching highlights of this man his entire life and he’ll fight you if you said he missed a shot.

However, he’s not the greatest all-around basketball player I’ve ever seen. He only played one position. He was a shooting guard ONLY. LeBron is a point-every position on the floor most nights. He plays the 1 through 4 darn near every night and will play the 5 if necessary. We never saw Mike do that. And don’t tell me that he could have because he didn’t.

Not only does LeBron play all over the floor but he effects the game in multiple ways. He typically will lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. Mike never did that. LeBron is ranked in the Top 10 in both scoring (3rd) and assists (8th) and he’s ranked 13th in steals. The dun is ranked 49th all-time in rebounds and he’s not even a considered a big. He’s ranked in the Top 20 in three categories for crying out loud. No other player in the history of the game is Top 10 in two categories. He’s there in points and assists!!!

If we’re talking about playing the complete game of basketball it isn’t even close. Mike’s 4th all-time in scoring and 3rd all-time in steals. Great numbers but he isn’t doing everything on the floor like LeBron is doing.

And please don’t throw the usual argument on the table that he’s 6-0 in the Finals. That doesn’t make him the greatest player we’ve EVER laid eyes on. There are 12 players in the history of the NBA that have won 6 or more titles and 8 of them have more titles than Jordan. Kareem, Pippen and Bob Cousy have the same 6 Jordan has. PIPPEN HAS THE EXACT SAME SIX!!!

Mike played more than 6 seasons in the NBA. He couldn’t get out of the first round of the playoffs his first three seasons without Scottie Pippen. He was 1-9 without Pip!!! 1-9!!! Stop acting like the 7 seasons before he even sniffed a Finals don’t count on his resume.

Mike was 6-0 in the Finals because he was on the best TEAM in the NBA those 6 seasons with the best coach EVER, the best two way player in the league and eventually the best rebounder in the league. Stop it! What did he do when he was on terrible TEAMS? He couldn’t get out of the first round. That counts on his resume bruh!!!

LeBron on the other hand, took the worst team in the league, the Cleveland Cavaliers, in four seasons from the time he was drafted from the bottom of the NBA to the Finals with NO help. Sure, they got swept but they got swept by arguably the 2nd best team in NBA history at the time in the FINALS!!!! Mike couldn’t get out of the first round by himself and he got swept two out of three years in the first round!!!

LeBron took duns like Anderson Varejao, Boobie Gibson, Larry Hughes and Eric Snow to the Finals! Let that sink in. Not only did he take those guys to the Finals, he did it again in 2015 when both Kyrie and Kevin Love were hurt the entire postseason. Kryie came back for Game 1 but only for that game.

When Jordan didn’t have help he was 1-9 in the playoffs and couldn’t get out of the first round. Let me say that again, JORDAN WAS 1-9 WITHOUT SCOTTIE BY HIS SIDE. It’s easy to win when you’re on the best team in the NBA but what do to accomplish when you’ve got nothing on the roster with you? That’s how we determine who the best players are playa. Stop it.

LeBron’s been in the NBA for 17 seasons and he’s been to the Finals 9 of those seasons. This season doesn’t even count because there probably won’t even be a postseason. He’s been to the championship more than half of his career and he’s only been on the best team in the league three times. The only title he lost and should have won was the 2011 loss to Dallas.

They weren’t favored all four years in Miami. His final season in Miami both Wade and Bosh were hurt in the playoffs and San Antonio was the better team with four Hall of Famers. When they beat Golden State when he was with Cleveland. They beat a 73-9 team that was up 3-1. That was the greatest championship comeback win in sports history lead by LeBron.

He BOTH teams in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals! Don’t tell me nothing about Michael Jordan being better than that. The only stat Mike led his playoff teams in was points. Scottie led in every other category over Mike.

Please stop acting like Mike didn’t play basketball in the NBA from 1984-90 and again in 2001-03. Those years count on his resume too.

LeBron James is without a doubt the best all-around player in NBA HISTORY!!