Poll of the Day

Wilt

Yeah, got to give it up to Wilt. I'm still saying Jordan, but I wonder how the Pistons would have handled Wilt? Would Brendan Malone have devised the "Chamberlain Rules"?

I mean, is there anyone on that team that could have put Wilt on the ground? Maybe once, but repeatedly? Wilt seemed like a pretty nice guy, but once you got him angry, look out. Scott Hastings does radio here in Denver, and he tells this story where he asked another legendary center of that era about how he played Kareem versus how he played Wilt. I forget whether that center was Willis Reed or Bob Lanier, but his answer was this. With Kareem, he would pester him and talk trash, because if you got in Kareem's head it would affect his game. But with Wilt, whenever Wilt scored he'd say something like "Nice shot Mr. Chamberlain", because you never, ever wanted to piss him off.

I grew up in the 80's watching Larry Bird. The dude was simply outstanding and pulled his team up to Championship levels. I probably have to give GOAT status to MJ overall, but Bird is definitely close to him on my list. (The '92 Olympic Dream Team was magical!)

Comparing players from different eras is always a difficult and mostly fruitless task. Wilt was by far the best in his time. Larry Bird and Magic were the greats I mostly watched when first interested in basketball. Some might add Kareem's name to the list; after all, was her not at one time the highest scorer ever? MJ dominated his years while with the Bulls. Kobe, Lebron, th elsit will continue to grow.

In hockey, my dad would have said Maurice Richard was the greatest of all time. Others would say Bobby Orr. Most would say Gretzky. Some would say Lemieux. Others would add other names.

This is the same for all sports including racing, tennis, golf, etc. The problem is that it is the more recent popularity vote that will get the most nods.

Dan Patrick will frequently point out that every generation wants to ad their guy to whatever list, top 1 or 5, etc...  Patrick points out, who do you take out? 

To me it seems like it is splitting hairs. The pool of players will always get larger. The business of the NBA is constantly changing, the rules, style of play, even the court itself. 

Bill Russell.  Most dominating title run.

Kurt Rambis.

It's Bill Russell. LeBron is more like one of those fainting goats...

I've been thinking about this poll off and on all day as I ran errands. I went MJ right away, his best years were during my late high school and right after high school, so I thought about ALL of the games that I watched with my close friends. 

But then I think about Russell and playing in Boston when he did and also his "political" causes that he gave so much of himself to. 

I appreciate the fact that he took a stand for something. Obviously I will abide by the forum rules. But he didn't care about selling sneakers or give a absolutely self serving HOF speech. 

I would change my vote to Russell. I have 2 kids and I can't help but to think what human being would I want my kids to grow up to be.

Goat is the most useless thing ever thought up for a profession....
Maybe for an era or something, but all time is so ignorant....

Considering they played against different players....