Willis is about 20 spots to high. HE WAS THE CAPTAIN OF TWO CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS, TWO NBA FINALS MVP.......AND A FULL SEASON MVP HOW THE HELL DO YOU PUT HIM BEHIND GARNET? MOSES MALONE? FREAK? ELVIN HAYES? EWING? MCHALE? ANTHONY DAVIS? WILKENS? MCGRADY? AND OTHERS!!!!!!! His first 7 seasons allstar. Only thing I can think of he played just 10 years and effective for 9 of them? How is George Gervin at 47th?? Reggie Miller ahead of Willis? No MVP? No chips? Ray Allen? Not denying his greatness but......His chips were as 3rd option and no MVP.

ESPN's Top 74 Players in NBA History
Rank
Player
1 Michael Jordan
2 LeBron James
3 Kareem-Abdul Jabbar
4 Bill Russell
5 Magic Johnson
6 Wilt Chamberlain
7 Larry Bird
8 Tim Duncan
9 Kobe Bryant
10 Shaquille O'Neal
11 Oscar Robertson
12 Hakeem Olajuwonas
13 Stephen Curry
14 Kevin Durant
15 Julius Erving
16 Jerry West
17 Karl Malone
18 Moses Malone
19 Dirk Nowitzki
20 Kevin Garnett
21 Scottie Pippen
22 Elgin Baylor
23 Charles Barkley
24 David Robinson
25 Kawhi Leonard
26 Dwyane Wade
27 Giannis Antetokounmpo
28 John Stockton
29 Allen Iverson
30 Steve Nash
31 Isiah Thomas
32 James Harden
33 John Havlicek
34 George Mikan
35 Jason Kidd
36 Kevin McHale
37 Patrick Ewing
38 Bob Pettit
39 Walt Frazier
40 Chris Paul
41 Bob Cousy
42 Russell Westbrook
43 Rick Barry
44 Elvin Hayes
45 Anthony Davis
46 Dominique Wilkins
47 George Gervin
48 Bill Walton
49 Reggie Miller
50 Wes Unseld
51 James Worthy
52 Tracy McGrady
53 Gary Payton
54 Paul Pierce
55 Vince Carter
56 Ray Allen
57 Clyde Drexler
58 Manu Ginobili
59 Bob McAdoo
60 Willis Reed
61 Robert Parish
62 Dennis Rodman
63 Alonzo Mourning
64 Earl Monroe
65 Pau Gasol
66 Dave Cowens
67 Alex English
68 Pete Maravich
69 Bernard King
70 Tony Parker
71 Bob Lanier
72 Damian Lillard
73 Dikembe Mutombo
74 Artis Gilmore

Left off but ranted by another site......Its a fair list. Great players true. Jerry Luca’s time in Cincinnati is under rated.

What about #75-100?
One of the many problems with this year’s list is that they only ranked 74 players whereas the 2016 list placed 100 players. It’s cute that ESPN wanted to create a list based on the league’s 74th year, but without those remaining 26 spots, we wondered where a player like Carmelo Anthony would have ultimately landed.

So without the real thing, we decided to take on that task and re-rank the missing players from the 2016 list while adding a couple new faces that we think deserve one of these coveted spots in the top 100.

Assuming ESPN got their list correct, which is a big leap in itself, here’s how we saw the remaining list of the 100 greatest NBA players filling out from #75 to #100.

The Greatest Players in NBA History #75-83
Rank
Player

75 Dolph Schayes 74
76 Carmelo Anthony 59
77 Hal Greer NR
78 Dwight Howard 67
79 Klay Thompson NR
80 Paul Arizin 90
81 Adrian Dantley 72
82 Tiny Archibald 76
83 Joe Dumars 7
84 Chris Bosh 86
85 Paul George NR
86 Mitch Richmond NR
87 Kyrie Irving NR
88 Jerry Lucas 79
89 David Thompson 82
90 Dennis Johnson 84
91 Grant Hill 80
92 Sam Jones 78
93 Gail Goodrich 97
94 Bill Sharman NR
95 Chauncey Billups 87
96 Dave DeBusschere 85
97 Chris Webber 66
98 Blake Griffin 81
99 LaMarcus Aldridge NR
100 Chris Mullin 83

Allanfan20 wrote:I’m not against the list. I think there are a lot of players behind Harden that I would take over him every day though, despite his sexy stats. Ewing, Frazier, Chris Paul, Klay (Yes, Klay), T-Mac, the Glove, Tony Parker, Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, Mourning, Willis Reed, possibly pistol Prte, Anthony Davis. Jeese, someone thinks that highly of Jim?

I tend to agree. Usually guys that win MVP’s are HOF talent and Harden has some pretty dominant stats.
Vince Carter at least got to two finals with Nets. Why MCGRADY and not Melo? Just throwing it out there.
I Forgot Moses Malone had acquired 2 league MVP’s which could elevate above Reed.
Interesting that Derek Rose an MVP not even listed in any top 100?
Only man to have lead the league in scoring and Assists in single year, Nate “Tiny” Archibald is behind Lillard? “Dame” is a great player, but..........

Sambakick wrote:Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, David Robinson... all played on great teams with other great players. Patrick never had the support those dudes had. I don't put Ewing behind them on a fair list. This is 100% BS.

Fair or not, they all played in the same era and have MVP awards. Ewing does not have that.
Karl Malone is #2 all time scoring and two MVP’s, 9th in Rebounding.
Moses Malone 9th in scoring,5th in rebounding with 2 MVPS.
Elvin Hayes,has has a chip, 10th in pts, 4th in rebounding ALLTIME!
David Robinson has 2 chips, shorter career, an MVP. This is where I protest Willis Reeds position.
Barkley is a league MVP. Ewing not. Barkley Averaged nearly 2 more rebounds per game than Ewing. Patrick Career 9.8. Rebounding and Lack of MVP’s make it a tough argument to rank him higher.

Sort of helps my point. Melo is HOF bound and statistically relevent. not sure why he is so far out given who is way ahead of him. George Gervin was a great player, but not MVP, not championship.... Mostly A big time scorer.

Sambakick wrote:

Nalod wrote:

Sambakick wrote:Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, David Robinson... all played on great teams with other great players. Patrick never had the support those dudes had. I don't put Ewing behind them on a fair list. This is 100% BS.

Fair or not, they all played in the same era and have MVP awards. Ewing does not have that.
Karl Malone is #2 all time scoring and two MVP’s, 9th in Rebounding.
Moses Malone 9th in scoring,5th in rebounding with 2 MVPS.
Elvin Hayes,has has a chip, 10th in pts, 4th in rebounding ALLTIME!
David Robinson has 2 chips, shorter career, an MVP. This is where I protest Willis Reeds position.
Barkley is a league MVP. Ewing not. Barkley Averaged nearly 2 more rebounds per game than Ewing. Patrick Career 9.8. Rebounding and Lack of MVP’s make it a tough argument to rank him higher.

MVP's tend to be given out not on merit but based on which team has a great year. Ewing's Knicks were consistently a 50 win team. Once in a while a Jazz or a Suns team would pop in 60+ wins not due to the greatness of one player, but due to the ensemble around that player. MVP is a media award and the media rewards the best player on the best teams. Face it, Jordan should've been MVP every year he played. Going by MVP's is an excuse not to think too hard.

I might agree that David Robinson was not as good a player as Ewing but it can't be quantified. Robinson has 2 chips. No doubt having Tim is the key. But he did have an MVP season prior.
Barkley side by side both had similar non chip careers. But Charles has an MVP. Points he ahead. Rebounding career nearly two a game more.
100% BS? Not really. Subjective perhaps.
Karl Malone? He is number two all time points in a low offense era. Did "The last dance" taint his reputation? Perhaps. Jordans buddies were exec producers and he had final say on it all. Patrick might have been a better player but did not have a better career.

Sambakick wrote:

Nalod wrote:

Sambakick wrote:

Nalod wrote:

Sambakick wrote:Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, David Robinson... all played on great teams with other great players. Patrick never had the support those dudes had. I don't put Ewing behind them on a fair list. This is 100% BS.

Fair or not, they all played in the same era and have MVP awards. Ewing does not have that.
Karl Malone is #2 all time scoring and two MVP’s, 9th in Rebounding.
Moses Malone 9th in scoring,5th in rebounding with 2 MVPS.
Elvin Hayes,has has a chip, 10th in pts, 4th in rebounding ALLTIME!
David Robinson has 2 chips, shorter career, an MVP. This is where I protest Willis Reeds position.
Barkley is a league MVP. Ewing not. Barkley Averaged nearly 2 more rebounds per game than Ewing. Patrick Career 9.8. Rebounding and Lack of MVP’s make it a tough argument to rank him higher.

MVP's tend to be given out not on merit but based on which team has a great year. Ewing's Knicks were consistently a 50 win team. Once in a while a Jazz or a Suns team would pop in 60+ wins not due to the greatness of one player, but due to the ensemble around that player. MVP is a media award and the media rewards the best player on the best teams. Face it, Jordan should've been MVP every year he played. Going by MVP's is an excuse not to think too hard.

I might agree that David Robinson was not as good a player as Ewing but it can't be quantified. Robinson has 2 chips. No doubt having Tim is the key. But he did have an MVP season prior.
Barkley side by side both had similar non chip careers. But Charles has an MVP. Points he ahead. Rebounding career nearly two a game more.
100% BS? Not really. Subjective perhaps.
Karl Malone? He is number two all time points in a low offense era. Did "The last dance" taint his reputation? Perhaps. Jordans buddies were exec producers and he had final say on it all. Patrick might have been a better player but did not have a better career.

My point was that having an "MVP" or a "Chip" doesn't mean much. It's a shorthand calculation that glosses over what goes into making a player. MVP basically means "this guy had the best story this season". That's one season. What does Giannis have that puts him so much higher than guys who took their teams into the finals like Iverson and Ewing? Ewing did what he did by himself. Why is Allen Iverson so much higher than Patrick? Patrck had to go through the Bulls. Allen Iverson walked through the most watered down version of the Eastern conference.

Having "Chips" means you played with other great players.

CHIPS and MVPs are lazy ways of evaluating players.

Try to respond without relying on them.

Derrick Rose has an MVP and not on the list. MVPs and chips matter. Jordans mental fortitude got him Goat status. Was pippen great on his own or did Jordan elevate him? Bill Russell, 5 mvp's and 11 rings, did he elevate Auerbach and this team? Youbetcha! Did Ewing? Yes. But not enough. Maybe it was Jordan and Hakeem and the bad time to be great. Then Shaq came.
Stats, MVP's and Chips all add up. But like I said, if you don't agree it don't matter. Its not a quantifiable list. Its Subjective.
Might say that about some other players. It blows my mind Willis Reed is 60th. Shorter career and not statistically up there given the lack of longevity.
One might argue Kareem is no. 1 by some measures. Wilt statistically was miles head of anyone in his era. But his lack of winning hurts his historical stature.
Ewing is 37th and no slouch!!

Sambakick wrote:Stop with the MVP argument. MVPs are a popularity award. The media gives it out and there's always been a reluctance to popularize teams and players whose value shines on the defensive end. We SAW these guys play and i would never say Charles was better than Patrick based on my eyes. Not based on media balloting.

When starting a team in that era you would never choose sir charles before Patrick. Charles was 6'5 on a good day. Ewing was dominant defensively. He allowed the entire team to become defense-oriented. Charles had to escape Philadelphia to play in a run and gun system to pad his stats while Ewing grinded it out in an ugly style.

Did Patrick ever have a Kevin Johnson or Dan Majerle on his team? Did he ever have a John Stockton? Did he ever have the Western Conference to break through into the finals? Patrick always ran into MJ and Pippen and usually gave them a harder series than they would see from whoever came out West. Patrick was an intimidator who blocked and changed many shots, whose teams won games with combined scores under 170 points. You're not going to have as many points or rebounds when you play that pace.

Thats slow ball era makes what Karl Malone point career even more impressive.
I have learned to put my Ewing fan boy aside and found a greater appreciation of what Jordan did and how good Barkley was.
At the same time nothing detracts from Ewing. He was a flawed passer, by 32 his knees took a lot of his defense away and he became avg there, he was not a great rebounder. By 1996 he was on the decline. I think thats when Allan Houston got there?
He was great, 37th. Is no slouch. You only have issues with three guys ahead of him? You saying Mase and LJ were not as good as Majerle? I agree with Ewing never had greatness around him. Ever consider why?