by Morgan Rouleau

Created on: September 20, 2009

The best NBA players of all time is a much more interesting discussion than the greatest NBA players of all time. There are obviously some over laps as you can't be great without being good, but greatness is defined by championships, where as how good you are in an all time ranking is defined as your on court abilities. For example you could make a case, and a very good one at that for Bill Russell being a greater player than Michael Jordan and nobody would make a gripe about it because eleven championships are a hard thing to over look. But if you tried to make a case for Bill Russell being a better basketball player than Michael then people would most likely dismiss such a claim. I am going to preface this list by telling you that it took me a very long time to write, and a lot of research was put into it, so if you do not want a long read then look else where for your information. If however you want to learn something, or spark a conversation with someone, then I suggest that you give my article a chance.

I will do a list of players that are inarguably in the top 10 best players of all time and then later explain why each player is on such a list.

Michael Jordan

Wilt Chamberlain

Larry Bird

Magic Johnson

Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Oscar Robertson

Tim Duncan

Shaquille O'Neil

Bill Russell

Kobe Bryant

Each player on that list has amassed amazing statistical averages, and with the exception of Oscar won as the inarguable best player of the team.

Kobe Bryant has averaged 25 (25.1)points per game for his career to go along with 5 (5.3)rebounds, and 5 assists (4.6). In the entire NBA's history and the ABA's history there have only been sixty six cases of a player averaging 25/5/5 for a season, and Bryant is almost there for his career. If not for the slow start of coming of the bencch, and playing very few meaningful minutes for the first two seasons of his career he would easily be in the 25/5/5 club for his career. There are still very few players that for their careers have 25/5/4.5 like Kobe does. Larry Bird doesn't make the cut, not enough points, Elgin Baylor can't make the assists, Rick Barry can't make the assists or points, Havlicek can't hack it either, neither can English and Wilt Chamberlain misses the cut by .1 assists, Julius Erving misses the cut as well. In fact the only players that can claim averaging 25/5/4.5 for their careers are Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry West. That is six total NBA players that have ever

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