Top 5 most skilled NBA players All Time

[Professor Emeritus]

But this goes both ways. If the game were played in a way where little guys would post each other up underneath the basket each possession or where little guys were asked to protect the rim consistently from guys their own height or slightly taller, they wouldn't be as good at it in terms of timing and footwork as the bigs who have developed those skills for years and years.

In fact, bigs are now learning to shoot the three well and even dribbling more as well as passing, whereas guards for the most part still aren't developing those big skills that I mentioned above. So one could argue that guys like Embiid and Jokic are more all round skilled than guys like Irving and Curry. Especially Embiid 'cause he can really dribble.

LeBron's chasedown blocks also shouldn't be undervalued in terms of requiring great skill on top of the athleticism.

That's not "both ways", that has nothing to do with what I was talking about.


Here is a graph of human height. Notice that the average man is 5'9" and the VAST majority of men are between 5'4" and 6'2". The # above 6'5" doesn't even register.

Now, people with a straight face are claiming that the most talented people in NBA history are ALL over 6'6". Do you seriously believe that there's more skill in the 15,000 Black American men over 6'6" than in the 20,000,000 Black American men under 6'6"? That's just not possible. Those 20 million Black men in the mass are going to have 1000x as many skilled individuals as the 15 thousand height outliers.

Height makes skill look more dominant. Height and athleticism makes it look more dominant still. But you have to have MUCH more skill to even survive in the NBA at 6' tall than to be an all-star at at athletic 6'9". 9 times out of 10 the most skilled guys will be the normal sized guys, if not 10 out of 10. That's why MJ could say that his 5'9" brother was always more skilled than him and just as athletic, but MJ's height was the difference between the GOAT player ever and a guy who couldn't even touch the league.

 

[Stick Up Kid]

Kobe
Jordan
Kyrie
Curry
Hakeem

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Chris Paul needs to be on there.

Name a weakness in CP3's game in terms of skill or ability. Great shooter, insane handle, amazing passer, quality defender, even got good post game... any deficiencies he has are related to physique which has nothing to do with skill.

People are naming players who are inferior to CP3 in literally every skill category. To be 6' tall and still putting up 30 and 10 playoff games at age 36 is fukking insane. If he were 6'6" he'd be the GOAT no questions asked. But they're letting the advantages of height blind them when they compare players.

Imagine putting Magic (whose shooting, dribbling, footwork, fakes, and defense were VASTLY inferior to CP3) on your most skilled list but avoiding a player who does EVERTHING better just because that player is 9 inches shorter.

 

[inndaskKy]

That's not "both ways", that has nothing to do with what I was talking about.


Here is a graph of human height. Notice that the average man is 5'9" and the VAST majority of men are between 5'4" and 6'2". The # above 6'5" doesn't even register.

Now, people with a straight face are claiming that the most talented people in NBA history are ALL over 6'6". Do you seriously believe that there's more skill in the 15,000 Black American men over 6'6" than in the 20,000,000 Black American men under 6'6"? That's just not possible. Those 20 million Black men in the mass are going to have 1000x as many skilled individuals as the 15 thousand height outliers.

Height makes skill look more dominant. Height and athleticism makes it look more dominant still. But you have to have MUCH more skill to even survive in the NBA at 6' tall than to be an all-star at at athletic 6'9". 9 times out of 10 the most skilled guys will be the normal sized guys, if not 10 out of 10. That's why MJ could say that his 5'9" brother was always more skilled than him and just as athletic, but MJ's height was the difference between the GOAT player ever and a guy who couldn't even touch the league.

You missed my point and your logic is flawed. What I'm saying is that these smaller guys who are in the majority don't really practice a substantial number of the fundamental skills that are a part of the game of (NBA) basketball. Athletic or not, they let their height dictate what skills to develop and thereby miss out on developing the skills big man hone.

Vice versa that is not the case anymore because bigs are practicing guard skills more and more. So it is perfectly understandable why the relatively few would develop a wider range of skills: because the majority are limited in the skills they can practice. Just like most regular folks, even if moderately athletic, are prevented from perfecting dunking or other above the rim skills simply because we can't get up high enough in the first place.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

You missed my point and your logic is flawed. What I'm saying is that these smaller guys who are in the majority don't really practice a substantial number of the fundamental skills that are a part of the game of (NBA) basketball. Athletic or not, they let their height dictate what skills to develop and thereby miss out on developing the skills big man hone.

Vice versa that is not the case anymore because bigs are practicing guard skills more and more. So it is perfectly understandable why the relatively few would develop a wider range of skills: because the majority are limited in the skills they can practice. Just like most regular folks, even if moderately athletic, are prevented from perfecting dunking or other above the rim skills simply because we can't get up high enough in the first place.

That argument's weak because it assumes that big men either practice more than smaller players or practice more effectively. You're ignoring that for every "big man skill" the smaller player doesn't practice, there are 5 other skills the small guy is practicing 10x as much as the big ever will.

A smaller player who doesn't practice his dunks is going to spend that same time practicing a FAR stronger and deeper layup package than the big has. A smaller player who has to develop 15 different fakes and releases to get his jump shot off is going to have a MUCH broader skill set than a big who can shoot his jumper the same way every time cause he never has to shoot over the trees.



I don't believe for a moment that big men have a wider skill range than smaller players. You have bigs all the time who come into the league completely raw on the offensive end (Hakeem, AD, Giannis) but who become incredibly skilled for their size despite that late start. Even Duncan didn't play basketball until 9th grade yet he stepped into the NBA as a rookie and was pretty much the most skilled big already from the jump. You're never going to hear about a 6'0" player who didn't start playing basketball until he was 15 who suddenly becomes the most skilled guard in the league.

 

[MikelArteta]

Kyrie gotta be up there, the way he finishes at the rim is second to none

 

[010101]

little.mountain would have it in the bag if he was more of a facilitator for others

goat handle goat under the rim finisher

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