Originally Posted by Fool
Yes, I would consider the one time MVP of the entire league, 17th greatest scorer (6th in ppg) a great player.
I guess if I'd have known that only getting one NBA MVP honor and being one of the 20 greatest scorers the game has ever seen wasn't even enough to crack your "great" status we wouldn't have had two waste the last three pages on your temper tantrum.
Well, we just have different standards then. Tmac is a 7 time all star, 2 time scoring champ, and were it not for injuries would have better career numbers than AI (not quite in points, but certainly in other categories). He's not a great player either. Just a great individual scorer that wasn't as durable as AI. In my eyes the only for sure all time great players in the NBA that are actively playing are Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, KG. I think AI is in the debateable group with Nash, Kidd, Dirk, etc that have never lead their team anywhere. There are others that will be considered such when they put in the years.
I didn't gloss over any facts. Averaged a double double, went to 8 all-star games, was named the best defensive player in the league 4 times (the first player to ever achieve that feat), started for a decade, meaningfully contributed to teams for 2 decades.
DPOY started for the 83-83 season. You can't tell me Bill Russel wouldn't have won that at least 10 times.
As I said, he was a good player overall. Great defender. The type you need on a great team. Just not a great player overall. I wouldn't consider Pippen a great player either, but the type of guy you can win with for sure.