Jemele Hill on Dirk being a potential Top 10 Player

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Inb4 Dirk v KG comparisons.

Too late.

 

[thenatural]

Dallas gets another ring this year and if he's their best player, the discussion is valid.

Dirk had a better career than Garnett. I had a hard time accepting it since I was a KG fan growing up, but he did.

 

[I AM WARHOL]

Dirk ain't top ten. More importantly did I hear that light skinned negro put Bron in the top ten? Top 15 but homie ain't in no top ten yet. The wheels are already falling off

 

[SchoolboyC]

While still speaking about Oscar, ESPN had Jabbar a while back. They asked about one-on-one match-ups and Skip said he thought Jabbar could beat Jordan because all of Jabbar's shots would be close-to-the-basket shots deep in the paint. But Jabbar said, "There's one guy left off these match ups that would have whipped everybody and that was Oscar." On ESPN's First Take YouTube page they edited that part out but another YouTuber uploaded the entire interview. Basically, Oscar for a long time was seen as one of the very best to ever play. So it's interesting how he is forgotten. People name John Stockton as the 2nd best point guard like Oscar never existed. Skip to the 11:05 mark for everything.

.

Legends get forgotten or overlooked as time goes on, it happens. In every generation there's a couple guys that stand the test of time, but for the most part a lot of legends get overlooked as time passes on. There's a bit of a recency bias.

 

[holidayinn21]

dirk is in the 21-30 range. he has absolutely no case for the top-10. anyone that says otherwise is simply being a contrarian.

on another note, the underrating and disrespect of KG is just

 

[SchoolboyC]

He's not a number 1. He's not going to get you clutch buckets in crunch time. He's not going to put the team on his back and win a series.

As Malta has said on this board, KG is arguably the greatest complimentary player of all time.

Defense is nice, but it's far lower on the pecking order compared to offensive ability and output. Scoring is at a premium in the NBA. It's why offensive players like Melo, KD, and Curry outrank defensive wizards like Tony Allen, Kawhi Leonard, Mike Conley, and Rajon Rondo.

At the end of the day, Dirk was a guy who anchored 50 win teams for over a decade and lead his team to the NBA Finals as the best player on said teams 2 times. KG was never bout that life. He needed superstars, facilitators, and more importantly scorers to win/finish/close out games around him.

#1 option >>>>> complimentary player


But this is The Coli, and I've had somebody argue with me that Allen Iverson is a better player than Dirk, sooooooooo...

Are you implying that KG wasn't the best player on the 08 Celtics?

 

[VBM]

Dirk ain't better than Dun-Gawd or Kobe, and people still argue whether either of those two are top-10 all-time.

 

[Big Mel]

Possibly kicking Larry Bird or Oscar Robertson out for Dirk? I don't like how Dirk and Larry get compared just because they are white. Larry was one hell of a passer like LeBron from the forward position. Dirk was never that kind of passer. And Oscar was unfortunately stuck on crappy teams but still won a ring and there is an interesting thread comparing Oscar favorably (or more evenly) to Magic Johnson that is an interesting read.

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1354089

While still speaking about Oscar, ESPN had Jabbar a while back. They asked about one-on-one match-ups and Skip said he thought Jabbar could beat Jordan because all of Jabbar's shots would be close-to-the-basket shots deep in the paint. But Jabbar said, "There's one guy left off these match ups that would have whipped everybody and that was Oscar." On ESPN's First Take YouTube page they edited that part out but another YouTuber uploaded the entire interview. Basically, Oscar for a long time was seen as one of the very best to ever play. So it's interesting how he is forgotten. People name John Stockton as the 2nd best point guard like Oscar never existed. Skip to the 11:05 mark for everything.



Dirk is great. But Top 10?

Michael Jordan
Bill Russell
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Wilt Chamberlain
Magic Johnson
Larry Bird
Hakeem Olajuwon
Shaq
Jerry West
Oscar Robertson
LeBron
Tim Duncan
Dr. J
Moses Malone
David Robinson

How many of those guys is Dirk better than? ESPN really rides the "hot in the moment" type of wave all the time. Dirk is great but probably more of a Top 15 or Top 20 guy than a Top 10 guy.

 

[Lucky_Lefty]

(oscar ain't top 10 sorry, maybe 11th or 12th place, still better than dirk)

;

 

[Damnshow]

;

what's wrong with that? In no order these players are better all time imo:

MJ
Kareem
Bill
Wilt
Magic
Bird
Shaq
Hakeem
Timmy
Kobe
And LeBron

Who would exclude from the list and why? Where do you rank Oscar?

 

[Reggie]

Dirk is a beast but he's not top 10 to me. He has to be included in the top 20 to 30 players in the league for sure but top 10 is hard to get when you think about the amount of players that could make up that list. Jordan Magic KAJ Wilt Bron Duncan Kobe Bird Shaq Dream is a top ten list right there. Not even failing to mention players like Bill Jerry Oscar Erving Elgin Moses etc. So while Dirk is one of the all time greatest to ever do it he's still not in the top ten of all time discussion.

 

[CaughtInTWebb]

Dirk can't be in the top 10 for the fact he doesn't play D.....and this is from a Mavericks fan

 

[duckbutta]

Of all time...

I mean I can make a case for him in the 23 - 25 range...

To many limitations on his game...he does NOTHING at even an average clip besides shoot...

And yes I am well aware he averaged around 10 boards a game...so does all other great big men...it's mandatory for big men to get 10 boards a game I don't understand why when Dirk come up people always post that stat like it means something...

I seen Tiago Splitter destroy dirk in that series last year AND hold him to less than 40% shooting 3 out of 7 games

Epic playoff run...epic sonning of lebron...

But also had an epic flop against one of the worst defenses teams of all time in Golden State...got sonned by wade and the refs so bad Cuban contacted an fbi official to look into it...

If you are calling him an all time great then your all time list got to be AT least 20 deep...

I can't think of any player in the NBA who's legacy benefited most from a title than Dirk...

 

[malbaker86]

Strongly disagree & here's why. When KG was in minnesota he brought it on BOTH ends EVERYNIGHT. At that point he was the best PF in the game, better than abdul-rahim, rasheed wallace, dirk, c-webb & duncan. .

he's better than Duncan?

 

[duckbutta]

Also it's pretty much impossible to get in a top 10 list now...

Jordan...Kobe...Shaq...Duncan...Bron...Magic...Wilt...Kareem

Are in virtually 99% of all top 10 list...and Bird is in 97% of all top 10 list...

That is 7 or 8 players right there and it is going to be almost impossible to bump any of them out...

It will be interesting to see where KD ends up when his career is over cause he the only guy in the league now with a sustainable track record and a shot to eventually win a title to MAYBE challenge someone on that list...