My All Time NBA Starting Five

Recent discussions anointing LeBron James “the GOAT” (Greatest of All Time) have gotten me thinking about what constitutes “greatness” and who the all time “greats” are in the National Basketball Association (NBA). For me, these things are what makes someone great:

• Number of Championships

• Won/Loss Record in Championships

• Impact on the League/the way the game was played

• Loyalty to the same team and city

• Ability to play team ball/adapt to the needs of the team

• Ability to take over a game

I won’t bore you with a discussion of each of these; you’ll see what I mean when I discuss my picks for all time greatness. It should also be pretty clear that I don’t consider LeBron the GOAT, nor does Kobe Bryant figure into my decisions. They are, or were, both fine players, worthy of being remembered. But they don’t fit into the GOAT pantheon. More about them at the very end if you’re interested.

Center: Bill Russell, Boston Celtics. This was the easiest pick to make. Total NBA Championships: 11. That is the GOAT if you believe in mythical magical livestock representing greatness. Eleven titles in 13 years. He played for the title twelve times, but his team lost the championship once, to the then-St. Louis Hawks in 1958, largely because Russell was injured. He did what was needed to win—always scoring around15 or 16 points per game, usually playing more than 40 minutes per game, was among team leaders in assists. But the thing that truly marked him as great, his huge change the game contribution, was rebounds. For his career, he averaged more than 20 rebounds per came; for some seasons, he averaged more than 24. Anyone who knows much about basketball will tell you that rebounds win games—they take the ball away from the opponent on defense and they keep the ball in play for your own team on offense. In one memorable sequence, Russell had 11 offensive rebounds in a row. The first ten times, he passed the ball to another teammate after a rebound, but his teammates kept missing. After the 11th rebound, he said, “Oh COME ON!” and slammed the ball in for a dunk himself.

Honorable Mention: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Bucks and Lakers), George Mikan (the league’s first Big Man—Lakers and Gears), David Robinson (Spurs,) Shaquille O’Neal (Magic, Suns, Heat, Celtics, Lakers), Moses Malone (Stars, Spirits, Clippers, Rockets, Bullets, now Wizards), Hawks, Bucks, 76ers, Spurs).

Power Forward: Tim Duncan, San Antionio Spurs. Total NBA Championships: 5. Over a fifteen-year career, he averaged more than 20 points per game, more than 11 rebounds per game, and more than 3 assists per game. He also adjusted his game according to team needs; early in his career, he played with the 7’3” David Robinson at center, he concentrated more on scoring; after Robinson retired, he increased his efforts on rebounding and making assists—helping other teammates score. He is also considered one of the best, if not the best, interior defender in league history. He is one of the few players to average a “double double”—more than 10 points and 10 rebounds per game. A fifteen-time All Star, three-time Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP), a two time NBA MVP, and a member of the All-Defensive team every year he was in the league, Tim Duncan is was a model of consistent excellence throughout his career. As a player, Duncan strove to be steady and show little emotion (some nicknamed him “Mr. Spock,” after a Star Trek character known not to show emotion).

Honorable Mention: Karl Malone (Jazz and Lakers), Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks), Elvin Hayes (Rockets, Bullets), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)

Small Forward: Larry Bird, Boston Celtics. Total NBA Championships: 3. Anyone looking at this list might think the Celtics are my favorite team. They’re not (the Mavericks are, proving, for me, loyalty triumphs over winning). Bird demonstrated versatility and teamwork over a thirteen-year career with the Celtics. He averaged more than 24 points and 10 rebounds per came (another member of the “double double” club Bill Russell and Tim Duncan are members of). He also averaged more than 6 assists per game and nearly two steals per game. Bird would dive for loose balls, fight for rebounds, and, in general, do whatever it took for his team to win. He was a 12 time NBA All Star, a 3 time league MVP, and a 2 time Finals MVP. More than that, the rivalry between Bird and Lakers star Magic Johnson helped spark a renaissance in the NBA, and most modern players with any sense of history acknowledge Bird and Johnson’s part in helping professional basketball achieve the status it has today. Bird was as brash as Duncan was humble, and even today, more than thirty years after he retired, stories abound about Bird’s trash talking—always punctuated with a coda about how he was able to back up whatever he said through his play.

Honorable Mention: Lebron James (Cavaliers, Heat, Lakers), Julius Erving (Squires, Nets, 76ers), Rick Barry (Warriors, Oaks, Caps, Nets, Rockets), Adrian Dantley (Braves, Pacers, Lakers, Jazz, Pistons, Mavericks, Bucks), James Worthy (Lakers)

Shooting Guard: Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards (formerly Bullets). Total NBA Championships: 6. Jordan is often included in discussions of GOAT status, and his name is often mentioned in current discussions of LeBron James and his status as domestic livestock. Jordan is the highest-scoring player on this list, with a career average of more than 33 points per game—in 1986-7, he averaged more than 43 points per game. He also averaged more than six rebounds, five assists, and two steals per game for his career. But his scoring only tells part of the story. Early in his career, the question was often asked, “How do you stop Michael Jordan?” The answer was, “You don’t—let him score 60 and his team will lose.” There was some truth to this. It wasn’t until halfway through his career that he adjusted his game, reducing his scoring (to a paltry 30 points per game) and actively working to involve his other teammates. When Jordan’s Bulls won its first championship in his seventh season, he didn’t score the winning basket. Instead, he drove toward the basket, drawing defenders to him, and then passed the ball to Jim Paxson, who score the winning bucket. It was his ability to, despite his ability to score virtually at will, adjust mid-game to what it took to win that day that set him apart from others. His Bulls never lost a championship series, and he lobbied hard for a teammate, Scottie Pippen, to be named MVP over himself. He is the only player on my list who didn’t spend his entire career with the same team; the two years he spent in Washington occurred long after his retirement from the Bulls and after he became part owner of the Wizards.

Honorable Mention: Kobe Bryant (Lakers), James Harden (Thunder, Rockets, Nets, 76ers, Clippers), Jerry West (Lakers), George Gervin (Squires, Spurs, Bulls), Earl “The Pearl” Monroe (Bullets, Knicks)

Point Guard: Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers. Total Championships: 5. Johnson redefined the point guard position. This pick is as close to a sure thing as choosing Russell. Johnson averaged more than 11 assists per game for his career, dominating that statistic the way Russell dominated rebounding. He averaged more than 19 points per game (giving him “double double” status like Russell, Bird, and Duncan) and more than 7 rebounds per came (a lot for a point guard). He, like Larry Bird, emphasized the “team aspects” of basketball, making assists, rebounding, fighting for loose balls, insuring that teammates were involved in the game. The rivalry with Bird helped elevate the game. More than that, the “Showtime” Lakers of the 1980s were a joy to watch, a combination of skill, speed, and entertainment that is unmatched today. I once saw Johnson dominate a game without scoring a point in a --his number of assists was ludicrous—as he worked to get new teammates involved in the offense. He was literally calling out plays and telling his teammates what to do. His opponents could hear everything he said and knew what was coming but were powerless to stop him. Johnson played joyfully, a counterpoint to Bird’s trash talking. Against all expectations the two became friends, but Larry Bird’s own mother said it was Magic, and not her son, who was her favorite player.

Honorable Mention: Steph Curry (Warriors), John Stockton (Jazz), Isaiah Thomas (Pistons), Allen Iverson (76ers, Nuggets, Pistons, Grizzlies), Tim Hardaway (Warriors, Heat, Mavericks, Nuggets, Pacers), Oscar Robertson (Royals, Bucks), Bob Cousy (Celtics, Royals)

So there you have it. It’s a quirky list, I know, and my criteria heavily favor players who stay with the same team their whole career, winning championships (lots of great players on this list who never won an NBA crown—see Malone, Stockton, Charles Barkley) and the ability to do something others didn’t do or couldn’t do.

About LeBron and Kobe.

LeBron first.

He’s a magnificent athlete and is the all-time leading scorer in the NBA. He’s also never had a lot of personal drama or been publicly involved in scandals, and he’s had the courage to address civil rights and other issues he believes about, unlike others who avoided controversy to protect a brand or insure endorsements. Part of the problem is position; he has played, and been good at, every position except center. Is he a big guard? A power or small forward?

Winning Championships. LeBron has been to the NBA finals 10 times but only has four championships—he’s lost as many championships as Jordan has won. While getting to the finals is a huge achievement, the other players on this list all had winning percentages in the NBA finals they played in. Jordan and Duncan won every championship they played in, Russell won 11 out of 13, and both Bird and Johnson won more than they lost.

Loyalty to the Same Team—LeBron has jumped teams three times, most publicly doing so in a televised special called The Decision in which he announced—to the public as a whole and to his then-team, his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers—that he was leaving Ohio for Florida. Then he went back to his hometown team, again, only to bolt for Los Angeles. I know he had many reasons and that I do not live in his shoes, but that didn’t sit right with me.

The best player ever? Not according to my yardstick. A very good player? Yes. One of the all time greats? Yes. A player I admire for the way he’s carried himself on an off the court? Except for The Decision, yes.

About Kobe: Great scorer. Exciting player. Exceptional work ethic. Did in team mates, got his coach fired, involved in a sexual harassment incident that appears to have been covered up with money. The way he died was horrific, and my horror is increased tenfold by the fact that his daughter died with him. But not one of the all time greats in my book.

So who is the GOAT? I don’t have one. I picked the best player at every position, but is a great center better than a great shooting guard? Does a power forward mean more to a team’s success than a point guard? There’s no answer to that question, because basketball is a team game. That’s why I made the ability to adjust one’s game to suit your team a criterion. All the players I mention are (arguably) the GOAT at their position.

I also may be wrong about LeBron. And I can’t tell you why Wilt Chamberlain isn’t on my list but he’s not—largely because I think he put his own scoring above winning championships (like Kobe).

Feel free to tell me how wrong I am!