Wow Lebron, look at the firestorm you caused. Apparently you hit a nerve. I’m not saying I agree with you but boy did you hit a nerve.I’m sure there are plenty of fans now who would agree with your assesment of who you consider the NBA’s version of Mount Rushmore. For those of you who are sure of who James’ considers his Mount Rushmore it is Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Oscar Robertson. Nice but other than Oscar I would have to disagree with LeBron. Not that I dislike the other 3 but it does a disservice to so many others like Bill Russell, Kareem, Wilt Chamberlin, Jerry West, Dr.J and others. Even if you did a top 10 whoever was number 11 who be an issue for debate. As I read somewhere else this is a lose lose for LeBron and while on a slow sports month like February it livens up things, it still doesn’t make this any easier. LeBron did stir the drink with this Mount Rushmore talk and so I did start thinking about if there was 4 just 4 who would I pick …so right away I thought…Wilt, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and Kareem…no Bird, No Magic, no Michael Jordan, no LeBron, no Jerry West,(the NBA Logo) No Dr.J no body else. Then I thought Why limit it to just 4 when there was so many great players to play in the NBA, sadly this is one of the reason why I cringe when people touted Michael Jordan as the greatest player to play in the history of the NBA. Based on what?… Championships? Kareem has as many as Jordan why isn’t he considered the greatest player? Russell has 11 or almost double what Jordan has so why isn’t he considered the greatest player? The problem is all that talk does is make a disservice to all the others who played in the NBA. Wilt was the most dominant player of his time how do you explain in 1962 he averaged…50 points and 25 rebounds per game. Something that has never happened again in the history of the NBA. By the way Wilt for his career average 30 points per game 22 rebounds per game and 4.4 assist per game. The NBA did not keep blocked shots as an offical stat until the 1973-74 season, if they did, it would have added to Chamberlin’s career totals as well. Just the way I could make a case for Chamberlin as one of the top four I could do the same for Oscar Robertson triple double stat. If the NBA keep triple double (scoring, assist, rebounding) for point guards Oscar would have had a record that Jason Kidd would have never came close to. For today’s generation LeBron may be the closest thing to the NBA’s complete and greatest player, in some circles he may have eclisped Michael Jordan, but consider the point of reference. If you lived long enough to see even some of the greatest players… Russell, Wilt, Oscar, West, Kareem etc. then you might feel differently about labeling anyone the greatest player without feeling that you are disrespecting so many others. Don’t forget, you can make the case that Kareem was not only one of the greatest players in the NBA but also was the greatest college player ever! In 3 of his years at UCLA they went 88-2…Kareem was twice named Player of the Year (1967, 1969); was a three-time First Team All-American (1967–69); played on three NCAA basketball champion teams (1967, 1968, 1969); was honored as the Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament (1967, 1968, 1969); and became the first-ever Naismith College Player of the Year in 1969.
I said all this to say LeBron opened up a can of you know what with his Mount Rushmore remark. It opened the debate again about who are the greatest players in the NBA and how we measure greatness when it comes to NBA. Do we measure greatness in who has the most championships? If that’s the case Russell wins hands down end of discussion. If it is dominance …Wilt Chamberlin wins going away … If it is complete game …Oscar Robertson would be a likely choice, clutch shooting …Jerry West see my point? It becomes very subjective and it does come down to point of reference. This is true also in Baseball, Football,Boxing and Hockey. This will not be the last time this debate rages on, it maybe only scratching the surface. But boy look what LeBron did with his remarks.
smallthoughtsinasportsworld 