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
Moses Malone
The types of centers that gave me the most difficulty were the ones who were a little bit smaller than I was, just as strong, and super-quick. That was Moses Malone. On top of that, he was an extremely hard worker who never seemed to tire! Moses would go down in my book as the most difficult player for my position to play against over the years. He would just keep coming at you every single minute of the game and could play real solid defense on the other end (a trait that he doesn't get much recognition for). I knew going into a game playing against Moses Malone it was going to be a long night, no matter who came out on top.
The game that I remember most was when I was with the Seattle SuperSonics and we played against his Houston Rockets in the playoffs. This was during my second or third year, but I was in the starting lineup most nights and playing a lot of minutes in the rotation just about every night. Jack Sikma was the starting center and I was the backup center. Moses wore out both Jack and me to the tune of 38 points and 32 rebounds! Every NBA player has a game he can remember in which his opponent just went off on him and there was absolutely nothing he could do. That playoff game back in 1983 was that game for me (and I'm sure for Jack too).
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Happy Holidays!
James Donaldson
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