Time strain on the legends

[fgrep15]

I think someone who gets horribly forgotten is Oscar Robertson. I never saw him play, but the guys statistics are unbelievable... go to BasketballReference.com and have a look, everyone knows about the 1 season he averaged a triple double but he almost did it like 6 times... add to that he was regularly getting 30ppg aswell, it's crazy.

You have to think of the pace though, in Oscars second year in the league, his team averaged 123.1 points a game, and they grabbed 70.8 rebounds a game. The highest rebounding team in the league today averages 44.4 rebounds a game.

Oscar was grabbing 17.7% of his teams rebounds, a guy like Lebron grabs 17.2%, in todays day if , that would be about 7.4 rebounds a game for Oscar. Then you also have to consider that he played 44.3 minutes a game.

Oscar was also said to be an extremely selfish player, he was said to hog the ball like crazy, but I like the guy. In this day he'd be a 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 8-10 assists a game player which would still land him in the HOF for sure.

A guy like KG would have averaged 22 boards a game back in the day, so just adding that when comparing stats from really long ago, think of the pace of the game. Those players now would still be stars, but guys averaging 22 rebounds would be averaging about 13-14 rebounds.


When I think of older player though, outside of Jordan, I think Bill Russell, I've read and watched a lot of stuff on him, and he impressed me more than a Wilt Chamberlain. If I was to rank the greatest players, I'd go Jordan, then Russell.

I don't think you have to win a championship to be great, but you do have to have a winning team. Many of these players had to face teams we consider dynastties right now in order to get the crown, and if their team just couldn't matchup to them, it's not their fault, but as long as they aren't averaging 30 points for their career, and their team makes the playoffs only once

[The GOAT]

Although I have never seen most of the legends play besides random games on ESPN Classic and Highlights, I have great respect for them. three will never be a next Magic, or Bird, or Dr. J, or MJ. There will be someone better than one of them eventually, yes, but there will NEVER be a next one.[ I always get annoyed when there are comparisons like that and I immediately hate any player compared to Jordan (Kobe, LeBron, etc.)

[Shakes]

Yeah, I think it's a bit unfair on players to expect them to be the next Jordan too. Look at LeBron, he's only just turned 20, he hasn't finished figuring out how to be the first LeBron James yet, let alone the next Michael Jordan.

[Andrew]

I think someone who gets horribly forgotten is Oscar Robertson. I never saw him play, but the guys statistics are unbelievable... go to BasketballReference.com and have a look, everyone knows about the 1 season he averaged a triple double but he almost did it like 6 times... add to that he was regularly getting 30ppg aswell, it's crazy.

You have to think of the pace though, in Oscars second year in the league, his team averaged 123.1 points a game, and they grabbed 70.8 rebounds a game. The highest rebounding team in the league today averages 44.4 rebounds a game.

Oscar was grabbing 17.7% of his teams rebounds, a guy like Lebron grabs 17.2%, in todays day if , that would be about 7.4 rebounds a game for Oscar. Then you also have to consider that he played 44.3 minutes a game.

I agree. I highly doubt The Big O would have been able to average a triple double in more recent eras, though I believe he would come close. Additionally, I don't think Robertson's teams were successful enough for him to be ranked above all others. Four times his Cincinnati Royals failed to make the playoffs (and only twice making it past the first round) and his only title came as Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's sidekick in Milwaukee.

His statistical accomplishments are nothing to be brushed aside, but there are other players who had great numbers of their own while also leading their team to much greater success.

[Matt]

good call on Kevin Johnson being forgotten....

[Sauru]

let me first say great post, very nicely said and the replies have been great aswell. now, as i was reading the posts i started thinking, no one mentioned oscar. finally i got to jae's post and saw that he did infact get a mention here. i mean i dont understand it really. alot of todays fans like to base greatness on stats alone yet no one mentions the man who averaged a tripple double one year? makes no sense to me. now i am not one of these people, i know players and the stats they got in thier time do not have that much in common. stats serve only as a starting point when compareing players and by no means should act as the ruler. if that was the case then you could run off a list of 100 guys better than bird based on stats alone, but in reality you can only name 2 that are better(and imo 1 as i refuse to say magic or bird was better). its a nice point you made with with and bill. i still think bill is easily the best center to ever play the game. alot of centers need the ball to make any kind of impact in a game, bill didnt need it at all. he could actually generate points by playing defense. another thing that most people dont realize(and i can only gather from old video and player testimony) is when he blocked a shot he never threw it out of bounds, instead he would catch the block and quickly launch it down court for a easy 2. anyway i could and had planned to go on a bit more but my gf is giving me crap right now so i will have to post again later.