SLAM Magazine's Top 50 from 1997

[Swagnificent]

Cover

Back of mag

#1 and #2 all-time.

Perfect symmetry.

 

[YoungMoneyCashMoneyBoy]

Pip was gettin endorsement money to blow

Rodman was eatin too

 

[Blessings]

Interesting read

 

[Hey_zeus]

I keep telling yall Oscar and the logo are slept on. They are victims of time. Wilt too obviously.

 

[King Harlem]

That list gets bad quickly.

Edit: Okay, I see this list was made by sports writers in 1997 and back then a lot of them were older. It makes sense the list is more geared to older generation.

 

[viktordoomsecretwars]

Kareem used to get shafted in these rankings, he should have never been ranked that low to begin with

Magic was the main man in the Lakers. Kareem needed Magic MUCH more than the other way around. Actually, Kareem always needed the presence of an elite point guard to win. Whether it was Oscar or Magic. Magic was easily the best player in the Showtime Lakers.

I think back then they just appreciated that fact more. Today they analyze Kareem more through overall career accomplishments

 

[MikelArteta]

isiah over stockton

 

[boskey]

Kareem absolutely deserves to be in the GOAT conversation but I definitely noticed when he got added to the convo. He wasn't always there

Pip was gettin endorsement money to blow

Rodman was eatin too

This is just more proof that these lists mean nothing. You would get looked at funny for even mentioning half these guys in 2020. Too many players, too many positions over too many years...

 

[YoungMoneyCashMoneyBoy]

 

[YoungMoneyCashMoneyBoy]

Kareem absolutely deserves to be in the GOAT conversation but I definitely noticed when he got added to the convo. He wasn't always there



This is just more proof that these lists mean nothing. You would get looked at funny for even mentioning half these guys in 2020. Too many players, too many positions over too many years...

Funny thing is, when you ask who bill, wilt and kareem dominated, its some of these guys you would wipe out this list. But even more from their era aren't even on this list

 

[YoungMoneyCashMoneyBoy]

 

[CROM]

The disrespect of Dominique Wilkins has always puzzled me. Somehow, not on the NBA 50 Greatest Players list...but Pippen and James Worthy were. Hell, even Bill Walton made it. Now, according to ESPN, he's top 50 all-time. Never understood what the people who put this stuff together are using as the criteria for rankings.

 

[murksiderock]

All the Kareem Stumpers in here like flies, I need some answers. Very interesting that 23 years ago there were people who didn't perceive him as Top 5, yet nowadays he's arguably #1 and people are arguing he shouldn't be lower than #2...

Explain to me what his case is over any of the guys voted ahead of him here? His entire portfolio hinges on cumulative, longevity accomplishments. We've romanticized him as being more dominant than he actually was:

•played in the 70s where the biggest competition at his position was Walton, who couldn't stay healthy; an over the hill Wilt; Cowens, somebody less talented but somehow got more rings in "Kareem's era" (imagine if someone actually won more chips than LeBron in "Bron's era"); and young Moses, who was putting the beats on a Year 8/9/10 Cap as a Rookie/Y2/Y3 player...

Watered down era for C competition...

•missed the playoffs in consecutive years (Y6, Y7) right in the middle of his fukking prime...

•10 years of "domination" in which he racked up 5 MVPs and monster scoring and rebounding numbers.........and made it to The Finals twice. In an era in which there was no consistent quality competition at his position, an era where there is no All-Time great team from, an era of pure parity, this guy managed to have a losing record in the conference finals (2-3). Wonder if the "everybody eats in ______ era" is applicable here?

•Explain to me why his "dominance" didnt translate to the postseason? Oh, he put up numbers, I'm asking where were the results on winning?

 

[murksiderock]

This was Kareem before Magic. Perennial MVP and the most celebrated stat stuffer of all time. Two Finals appearances. One championship. Early playoff exits. Missed playoffs. Losing conference finals record...

Stat stuffer like Wilt, today would be called a "stat padder", yet can't even justifiably use Wilt's excuse that there was a dynasty impeding his championship potential...

Magic came and took the reins and relegated dude to a more comfortable role of #2, because there was a decade of evidence on deck to show you what your ceiling was with Kareem at #1. This is the original KD, 9 years with OKC, joins/creates a dynasty and your reputation gets a massive boost...

What player today could have statistical dominance and be an annual MVP candidate and repeatedly fail in the playoffs and people say he's arguably the best player ever? Harden does that now and you nikkas swear he ain't Top 50 yet (even though he is)...

Highly ironic that 23 years ago when more people his age were still alive, in the industry, talking about these kinds of things, highly ironic that apparently a number of them didn't think he was a Rushmore player.....yet years later, a bunch of us who never saw him without Magic, many of us who never saw him at all, very interesting WE say he's no lower than Top 3 with the best argument at #1 besides Mike...

This nikka candidacy doesn't hold up well under scrutiny and while obviously I think he's an All-Timer, I'll be waiting for someone to give me the argument for Cap over Mike/Bill/Magic/Bird/Wilt, without using the accolades he racked up because he played way longer than these guys (Mike-15 years, Bill 13, Magic 13, Bird 13, Wilt 14)...

There isn't a single player in Top 15 discussions whose reputation is helped more by playing a long time. Thank god Magic got him those other 5 titles...

 

[Shadow King]

All the Kareem Stumpers in here like flies, I need some answers. Very interesting that 23 years ago there were people who didn't perceive him as Top 5, yet nowadays he's arguably #1 and people are arguing he shouldn't be lower than #2...

Explain to me what his case is over any of the guys voted ahead of him here? His entire portfolio hinges on cumulative, longevity accomplishments. We've romanticized him as being more dominant than he actually was:

•played in the 70s where the biggest competition at his position was Walton, who couldn't stay healthy; an over the hill Wilt; Cowens, somebody less talented but somehow got more rings in "Kareem's era" (imagine if someone actually won more chips than LeBron in "Bron's era"); and young Moses, who was putting the beats on a Year 8/9/10 Cap as a Rookie/Y2/Y3 player...

Watered down era for C competition...

•missed the playoffs in consecutive years (Y6, Y7) right in the middle of his fukking prime...

•10 years of "domination" in which he racked up 5 MVPs and monster scoring and rebounding numbers.........and made it to The Finals twice. In an era in which there was no consistent quality competition at his position, an era where there is no All-Time great team from, an era of pure parity, this guy managed to have a losing record in the conference finals (2-3). Wonder if the "everybody eats in ______ era" is applicable here?

•Explain to me why his "dominance" didnt translate to the postseason? Oh, he put up numbers, I'm asking where were the results on winning?

Bob Lanier? Nate Thurmond? Artis Gilmore? On top of the names already listed that's fairly deep era.