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THE 50 GREATEST PLAYERS IN NBA HISTORY
One of the most frequently asked questions that I encounter besides “how tall are you?” is either “who is the greatest player you’ve ever played against?” or “who is the toughest player you’ve ever played against?” Depending on who's asking the question and their knowledge of basketball, I typically give a couple of different responses. There's a big difference between “the greatest” and “the toughest.”
The game of basketball has been around for a long time now and it has evolved over the years from when Dr. James Naismith first tied a peach basket to an old barn post and the players were shooting two-hand set shots, to today where the game is played on a global scale with some of the finest athletes in the world. There were great players back in the beginning of the game, just as there are great players now. I don't know if it's ever totally fair to compare players from one era with players of another. Periodically you see sports aficionados coming up with hypothetical computerized scenarios of, say, the great Green Bay Packers of the Sixties versus the New England Patriots of the new millennium. It's impossible to really say who the best players are or which team would come out on top. But it's a fun exercise and it creates a lot of heated conversation among the fanatics and all of us.
I was lucky to play during perhaps the greatest era of NBA basketball. My NBA career spanned two decades essentially, 1980 – 1996. Some of the greatest NBA players ever to play the game played during those years. I remember as a rookie in 1980 marveling at the incredible Dr. J. and I’ve also been able to witness the new era of NBA basketball that was brought to us by Ervin “Magic” Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.
All in all, I was privileged to play against over thirty of the all-time fifty greatest NBA players. I'm going to go through the whole list and share my thoughts with you in regards to either actually playing against them or watching them while I was still a youngster. They are listed in alphabetical order, and if you want to find the actual numerical order in which they are listed by the NBA, you can check out their website at NBA.com
As a special addition, I’ve asked a couple of my mentors – Tom “Satch” Sanders, eight-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, and Lenny Wilkens, NBA Hall of Famer both as a player and coach – to contribute their real-life experiences in what it was like to play against some of the all-time greats of their era. Thanks, guys! I really appreciate you.
It was truly one of my first tests as far as trying to establish myself as an NBA player. I was nervous as all-get-out, but after jostling with Kareem and “bodying” with him for a few minutes, I started to calm down and felt a little more comfortable.
In my estimation, Kareem was the most unstoppable player to ever play the game. With that fantastic skyhook of his, he could shoot and score at will and with great accuracy. There was nothing you could do to slow down Kareem other than hope and pray that his teammates didn't feed him the ball all night long and/or he was having an extremely rare night off…but that hardly ever happened.
So that's one variation of the question I'm asked as far as “who's the toughest or greatest player you’ve ever played against?”… I always answer that Kareem was the most unstoppable, hands- down!
Happy Holidays!James Donaldson
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