A lot of high-scoring stars were damn good, but over-praised, such as:
Elvin Hayes George Gervin
OTOH, I disagree about Bill Russell. His play changed the rules of basketball. Literally. The rule agaisnt offensive goaltending did not exist until Russell showed how devastating it was to allow it.
You can argue that the Celtics surrounded him with great talent and that was the reason for his eleven titles, but then how do you account for his college carreer?
Or how do you account for the Lakers having Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West, yet the Celtics consistently took the title anyway? In large part it was because Russell played Wilt to a standstill in game after game, especially in the final minutes - and Wilt was almost unstoppable by mere mortals. Russell sweated blood to win those titles.
― Aimless, Sunday, 23 March 2008 16:45 (sixteen years ago) link
vince carter t-mac
― 6335, Sunday, 23 March 2008 18:07 (sixteen years ago) link
yah russell is an compelling question. hes only overrated in the sense that a lot of people include him in their best player ever argument. he is def not nearly the best player ever.
i do think you kinda answered your own question. the celtics had great teams. basketball is a team sport. way way way too much weight is given to winning when assessing individual greatness. this drives me bonkers. or maybe robert horry should be a first ballot hall of famer.
i dont really give a fuck abt college when analyzing the nba. and neither should you. unless you think kenny anderson was a great nba player or whatever.
as for the old a retarded canard that russell played chamberlain to a standstill - its simply not true! or did russell average 30/30 when they played. correct me if im wrong here.
and lastly wilt chamberlain of course never had the pleasure of playing with arguably the greatest player ever oscar roberston. but he did win the title when already well past his prime he was teamed w/jerry west and elgin baylor on the lakers.
― jhøshea, Sunday, 23 March 2008 18:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Kobe? Really? Why not say LBJ is overrated, too?
― David R., Sunday, 23 March 2008 18:32 (sixteen years ago) link
u think kobe should be mention in the same breath as lebron lololololol
― jhøshea, Sunday, 23 March 2008 18:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Elgin Baylor, yes My bad. Leaky memory.
I did watch Russell v. Chamberlain in living black and white at the time. (I am that old.)
However, I was not a student of the game when I was 12 years old. All I know was that it was hella wonderful basketball, and that Russell could and did block some of Wilt's shots, which was damn near a physical impossibility for a 6'9" guy. And I'd love to see his rebounding stats from those series.
― Aimless, Sunday, 23 March 2008 18:37 (sixteen years ago) link
chamberlain 30/28 - russell 14/22
cant find anything more complete
― jhøshea, Sunday, 23 March 2008 18:40 (sixteen years ago) link
sarcasm/joke/or are you having a stroke?
― tremendoid, Sunday, 23 March 2008 23:13 (sixteen years ago) link
i mad u nuts
― tremendoid, Sunday, 23 March 2008 23:14 (sixteen years ago) link
how many games of russell's have you watched?
― Granny Dainger, Monday, 24 March 2008 04:11 (sixteen years ago) link
0
― tremendoid, Monday, 24 March 2008 04:13 (sixteen years ago) link
You think Kobe's overrated when he's the 2nd best player in the league behind only a guy that's averaging 30 ppg and a near triple-double? It's not like he's Derek Jeter, where you have to defend him by using nebulous shit like his clutchness or his captaining or his ability to not spread his herpes -- Kobe actually IS that good (and STD free, as far as I know).
― David R., Monday, 24 March 2008 12:48 (sixteen years ago) link
chris paul is having a much better season than kobe fyi and lebron is much better than both of them
― jhøshea, Monday, 24 March 2008 13:39 (sixteen years ago) link
ron artest
― J0rdan S., Monday, 24 March 2008 13:41 (sixteen years ago) link
oh this says great players
― J0rdan S., Monday, 24 March 2008 13:43 (sixteen years ago) link
i mean as per the thread title kobe is great but all this shit w/people comparing him to jordan always saying he should be mvp asking might he be the best ever when hes done???
hes never even had 1 season where he was obv the best player in the game
also: never forget 2nd half hissy fit game 7 v suns
― jhøshea, Monday, 24 March 2008 13:44 (sixteen years ago) link
c's also didn't start winning titles until he showed up.
― chicago kevin, Monday, 24 March 2008 17:46 (sixteen years ago) link
kobe is great u mad.
― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 24 March 2008 19:22 (sixteen years ago) link
for the last time, if you read carefully, jhoshea is conceding that he's great, it's those shit for brains strawmen he has a problem with.(altho nice try slipping that "mvp waht?" rider into the bill)
― tremendoid, Tuesday, 25 March 2008 01:52 (sixteen years ago) link
dwyane wade
― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 27 March 2008 03:51 (sixteen years ago) link
kobe does know how to play defense much better than any other 'superstar' swing man of the post-youknowwho era.
also kobe is like the evil rich frat boy in a movie. the game needs him. lebron and dwade and chris paul all have no personality and dwight is just mike huckabee. we need villains.
― hytop, Thursday, 27 March 2008 17:56 (sixteen years ago) link
re thread topic: karl malone and pat ewing. both warriors but let's not get crazy.
― hytop, Thursday, 27 March 2008 17:57 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.epiccarnival.com/2008/03/kobe-bryant-is-more-important-than-he.html
― carne asada, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:12 (sixteen years ago) link
David Robinson and Patrick Ewing both get overstated as "great" players.
Scottie Pippen is also probably overrated (although there is a strong case to be made that being the "perfect" player for your team is probably the most valuable skill a player can possess--see also: Russell--the fact that he was unable to quite duplicate it elsewhere kind of takes the shine off a touch.)
― Alex in SF, Thursday, 27 March 2008 18:14 (sixteen years ago) link
pippen's leadership skills turned out to be questionable but he did go on a pretty dominant tear during/after jordan's first retirement. I think he's rated about right. needless to say he doesn't lol.
― tremendoid, Thursday, 27 March 2008 23:36 (sixteen years ago) link
demarcus cousins
― k3vin k., Saturday, 22 April 2017 18:12 (seven years ago) link
russell westbrook
― k3vin k., Saturday, 22 April 2017 18:15 (seven years ago) link
Nothing really compares to kobe, a top 40 player who is treated like he's top 10
― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, 23 April 2017 06:19 (seven years ago) link