Vote for the all-time top 85 players

[Mike G]

Right now, we have 108 votes cast. All but 4 candidates have received at least one vote.
There are 18 with 3 or more votes, and 33 have 2 or more. Again, the dilemma. I'm inclined to advance those top 18 and add 18 more.
Anyone who is withholding some of their votes might consider that they're holding the key to admitting a few more.

Cutting it off at 3, we'd not be electing Bob Cousy, who I have at #35. Next biggest omission, IMO, is Chris Webber.
Both players are unloved by contemporary stats, thanks to rather low shooting%. Both were acknowledged superstars in their time. Cousy was perennially all-NBA first team. He was the exemplary point guard of his generation.

When he retired after the 1962-63 season, Cousy was the alltime leader in minutes (regular seasons). He had almost twice as many assists (6604) as anyone else (Dick McGuire, 3419).
He was 3rd among all players in points (after Pettit and Schayes). He had scored 20% more than any other guard (Sharman).
His 4307 rebounds were more than 50% greater than any other guard (or G-F).

His TS% of .449 was 39th of 100 guards with the most minutes in the era.
Of 53 G with >5000 minutes, he ranks 24th in TS%. Also 9th in WS/48 and 3rd in PER (after Oscar and West) -- that 19.8 PER is well better than that of any other guard of his era: Sharman 18.2, Davies 18.0, Wanzer 17.2, Braun 15.8, McGuire 15.5, Gola 14.8 ...

In playoffs, Cousy had almost 50% more minutes than any non-Celtic (Pettit), more than 3 times as many assists (Slater Martin), 2nd to Baylor in points, most FT ...

[Mike G]

Chris Webber is one of 2 players in NBA/ABA known to have career Usg% > 25, TReb% > 14, and Ast% > 20
http://bkref.com/tiny/IDIp9

Relax these standards to 23, 13, and 17, require 10,000 career minutes, and it's still a club of just 6 members: Webber, Barkley, Garnett, Bird, Malone, and Cunningham (incl. ABA).

[Mike G]

OK, 5 votes arrived at the last minute. These are the rankings so far:

Code: Select all

1   Jordan     15   Robinson    29   Gilmore    43   Lanier
2   Wilt       16   West        30   Barry      44   Reggie
3   Russell    17   Erving      30   Kidd       44   Mourning
3   Kareem     18   Pettit      34   Frazier    46   Carter
5   Magic      19   Barkley     34   Hayes      47   Billups
5   LeBron     20   Baylor      34   Nash       48   Cowens
7   Bird       21   Stockton    34   Pierce     49   Isiah
8   Shaq       22   Nowitzki    34   Schayes    50   Iverson
9   Olajuwon   23   Moses       37   Payton     51   Allen
10  Duncan     24   Ewing       38   McHale     52   Ginobili
11  Oscar      25   Pippen      39   Mikan      52   Wilkins
12  Malone     26   Wade        41   McGrady    54   Gasol
13  Garnett    27   Drexler     41   Parish     54   Parker
14  Kobe       28   Havlicek    41   Paul       56   Walton

We just elected the last 20, and the poll has been refreshed with 20 more to replace them.

[Need To Argue]

I guess it is safe to say this vote is over when guys like Elton Brand have more votes than Bob Cousy.