Jokic is better than Curry and Duncan. My personal ranking: Jordan Kareem Lebron Bird Magic Kobe Russell Jokic Wilt Duncan Shaq Curry Hakeem Durant KG I think Wemby can break into that. I’m not sure that Luka or Giannis can. I also don’t rate SGA that highly - just like I don’t Harden. Great players but not all time greats, they’re on the Wade level. That’s where I can see Flag, although it’s way too early to call.
Not a bad list, I just can't place Bird, over Magic or Kobe though. Luka has to win a couple of rings, but he can slide past KG and Durant. Wemby...I don't know if his body will hold up long term. He's super skinny and athletic, but at 7'2 , he's prone to be getting injured frequently IMO.
luka had a better start to his career than almost anyone ever. you're saying that if he wins a couple rings, he can't crack a list of guys who he's probably outperformed? durant would have zero rings without the cap smoothing rejection.
Maybe better phrasing should be used, I believe Wemby will if he can stay healthy regardless, he is that good that he’ll win a few rings without help. Luka needs to win 2-3 rings and stay healthy for another decade at this level. If he does that and if Giannis wins another ring, I think I’d have my list like this: Jordan Kareem Lebron Bird Magic Kobe Russell Jokic Wilt Duncan Shaq Luka Curry Hakeem Giannis Durant KG I know everyone loves Curry, but he benefitted from that KD trade a lot by gaining two Mickey Mouse rings, I do believe that LeBron takes at least one of those years if it wasn’t for KD being the most mentally weak all time great. Now you have young generations saying Curry is better than Kobe.
I toss up Magic and Kobe all the time. Magic gets a lot of love, but I do think Kobe was the better player in a vacuum, better defender, better shooter and scorer. But then Magic raised the level of those around him significantly - but I ask myself with today’s modern defense would he still be as useful or would he be a better decision making Westbrook? Then I see Halliburton be successful and I think Magic would still be great. I say all this to bring up why I have Bird above both - that guy was a cold ice in his veins hillbilly who could shoot, playmake, defend and rebound. Plus I think he was the most clutch player of all time. If you put him in his prime and every player of today in their prime, where does he rank? He is the second best player today in my opinion. Lebron Bird Jokic Luka Curry Kleber Durant Giannis Kawhi CP3 Harden SGA Westbrook Bird would be epic today. He would be a great 4 and be able to defend 4’s well, he’d be great at team defense. He’d average over 10 rebounds, over 3 stocks, 8 assists and over 30 points. He’s also a better shooter than Luka from everywhere on the floor, offensively he isn’t as good as Jokic (not far off) but a better defender. Guy would be a menace today in a way I don’t think Magic would be. So ultimately I put him higher. But I sometimes talk myself into Kobe above him. So it’s fluid.
i think luka can do anything bird could and some things he couldn't. i guess bird was a better midrange shooter, but that could be an era effect (nobody takes them anymore). for all the fussing about luka not being an athlete, he's more athletic than bird was. if luka played with the quality of players bird did early in his career, he'd have a couple rings already, too. bird and magic had stacked teams basically from the jump.
Lakers lose to the Kings 117-116 Smart 14 pts 3 reb 2 ast 4 stl good to see him creating havoc Gabe 14 pts 4-5 from the 3 line AR 0-7 from the 3 line
I know it’s just preseason, but this team is missing a lot that LeBron won’t fix. Defense. Athleticism. True Defensive Anchor. Bench. Coach who realizes that small ball sucks. Defense. Defense.
Hopefully as sixth man he can help the bench. Our shortcomings are even more obvious when AR has a PP shooting game.
Did the list go from generational to top all time players? Not exactly the same. Curry is high on a generational player list bc of a specific skill set and championships. As far as all time greats I wouldn't rank him nearly so high. Most people tend to go with the generation they grew up with bc of familiarity. I like your placement of Bird. I kind of do a side by side with Bird and Magic.
