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Daily Featured Ranking Question for 2022-06-09

My Favorite Ranking Question and Why by Mark D. Hauser

The Top 25 NBA Players of All Time, of all the almost 2000 ranking questions on the site, is my favorite for several reasons. First of all, NBA basketball is my second favorite sport to watch (the NFL edges it out).

Second, it is easier (and hence, more likely to be accurate) to compare basketball players than, say, football. For example, it is hard to compare a quarterback with a center. But, in basketball, the position that you play (at least since 1979) does not effect how much you can dominate on the court.

Third, unlikely baseball, you actually have to have watched the players play to rate them accurately. As an astute friend of mine (a big baseball fan) pointed out when we were discussing a related topic, in baseball, he posited, you can just look at the numbers and probably be 90-95% accurate in your rankings (if there was a "true actually ranking"). This is obviously because there is a lot more teamwork in basketball than in baseball. And, hence, there is more of an opportunity in basketball to improve (or lower) your greatness with great (or a lack of) teamwork.

Fourth, in basketball, unlike football, you are required to play both offense and defense.

Fifth, in basketball, more than any other team sport (at least of the team sports that are currently popular in the US), a great player can influence a game and hence, have more of an affect on how many championships he teams wins. (Only a quarterback in football comes close.) And how much weight you put on the number championships a great player wins will influence your ranking of him. How much credit do you give Russell for the 11 Celtics' Championships? How much do you blame Chamberlain (2) and Robertson (1) for so few championships?

Sixth, in case you have not figured it out by now (by other things that I have written), Michael Jordan is my favorite athlete of all time.

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Past Featured Ranking Questions

The All Time Top 10 NBA Passers by Mark D. Hauser
The All Time Top 25 Athletes by Mark D. Hauser
My Favorite Ranking Question and Why by Mark D. Hauser
The All Time Top 10 NHL Players (non-goalies) by Mark D. Hauser
The 10 Greatest Boxers of All Time by Mark D. Hauser
The 10 Greatest Heavyweight Boxers of All Time by Mark D. Hauser
The Top 25 NBA Players of All Time by Mark D. Hauser