I am just going to ask this for discussion sake:

 

Does Magic get to much credit for the Lakers success? He went to a team that had multiple All-Stars, the league's all-time leading scorer and they drafted James Worthy. Would he have been as successful without those guys? He couldn't shoot and wasn't a very good defender?

 

Does Larry "Legend" get to much credit for the Celtics success? They had 2 other great post players: Parrish and McHale and 2 great point guards in his career as well: Dennis Johnson and Nate Archibald.

 

Is there success over glorified because of the state of the league and the timing of their entrance into the league? Would either of them be considered great if they wouldn't have had each other as well?

 

Just asking for a friend.

 

Piggybacking off this, does Pippen get overlooked because he played with the greatest role-player of all time? He was still able to win a playoffs series without Jordan. And remember, Chicago didn't have any titles until Scottie arrived...

 

Asking for a friend.

Similar questions could be posed for Pippen. Just sayin'.

 

So I posed them:

 

Piggybacking off this, does Pippen get overlooked because he played with the greatest role-player of all time? He was still able to win a playoffs series without Jordan. And remember, Chicago didn't have any titles until Scottie arrived...

 

Asking for a friend.

Piggybacking off this, does Pippen get overlooked because he played with the greatest role-player of all time? He was still able to win a playoffs series without Jordan. And remember, Chicago didn't have any titles until Scottie arrived...

 

Asking for a friend.

 

IMO he gets way more credit than he deserves. Winning no titles without him is more of a coincidence than not. Pippen is a really good player but he's not an All Time great such as others near the top of the dream team list are.

IMO he gets way more credit than he deserves. Winning no titles without him is more of a coincidence than not. Pippen is a really good player but he's not an All Time great such as others near the top of the dream team list are.

 

That's exactly how I feel about him. In all honesty, and this is just me and my opinion, but I would take Clyde Drexler over Scottie if I had to start a team.

I am just going to ask this for discussion sake:

 

Does Magic get to much credit for the Lakers success? He went to a team that had multiple All-Stars, the league's all-time leading scorer and they drafted James Worthy. Would he have been as successful without those guys? He couldn't shoot and wasn't a very good defender?

 

Does Larry "Legend" get to much credit for the Celtics success? They had 2 other great post players: Parrish and McHale and 2 great point guards in his career as well: Dennis Johnson and Nate Archibald.

Is there success over glorified because of the state of the league and the timing of their entrance into the league? Would either of them be considered great if they wouldn't have had each other as well?

 

Just asking for a friend.

 

The year before Bird joined the Celtics, they were 29-53. He was the only major new addition and in his rookie year, the Celtics were 61-21. Tiny and Cornbread were already there the year before. Parish, McHale and DJ did not get there for another year or two. Bird does NOT get too much credit. He simply made everyone around him much better...so did Magic.

I also want to give some love to Stockton...one of the most underrated players of all time IMO. There are five major stats in hoops...points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. Stockton is the all time leader in two of the five (steals and assists) and he is WAY ahead in both. He is 3,800 assists ahead of #2 and 600 steals ahead of #2 (both Jason Kidd). He also shot 51% from the field for his career (how many guards shoot over 50% for an entire NBA career?), 38% from behind the 3 point line and 83% from the FT line...the guy was just a total stud. Also, he almost never missed a game...he missed 4 games one year early in his career and 16 to start one other season due to a strained MCL. Besides that he never missed another game...in 17 of his 19 seasons, he played EVERY GAME...pretty amazing stuff...

I am just going to ask this for discussion sake:

 

Does Magic get to much credit for the Lakers success? He went to a team that had multiple All-Stars, the league's all-time leading scorer and they drafted James Worthy. Would he have been as successful without those guys? He couldn't shoot and wasn't a very good defender?

 

Does Larry "Legend" get to much credit for the Celtics success? They had 2 other great post players: Parrish and McHale and 2 great point guards in his career as well: Dennis Johnson and Nate Archibald.

 

Is there success over glorified because of the state of the league and the timing of their entrance into the league? Would either of them be considered great if they wouldn't have had each other as well?

 

Just asking for a friend.

 

Magic and Bird both made their teams better. The game that Magic played center when Jabar went down. Larry Bird willed his team to win too many times. No IMO they did not get too much credit for what they did. Yes, they both had immense talent on both teams but even with that, they elevated the play of all those HOFers. If you were starting a team Drexler would probably be better pick than Pippen, I don't know that I would take either one. Take out Jordan, Bird and Magic. Who would you take if you were starting a team?

 

The last question you pose is very thought provoking. One of those chicken or the egg type questions. I like it. Don't have an answer but I like it. Good deal.:thumb:

1. Michael Jordan

 

2. Magic Johnson

 

3. Larry Bird

 

4. Charles Barkley

 

5. David Robinson

 

6. Karl Malone

 

7. John Stockton

 

8. Patrick Ewing

 

9. Scottie Pippen

 

10. Clyde Drexler

 

11. Chris Mullin