Posted on 07/31/2023 2:54:04 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Julius Erving has had the same five best players of all time ever since he was 15. He’s not changing it now for the modern game.
Dr. J sat down with an interview with Joy DeAngela and she asked him about his top 10 players of all time list. His answer is not what you expect (hat tip Basketnews for the transcription).
“I have five guys who are untouchable — Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, and Elgin Baylor. That’s my all-time best team. Everybody else has to be on the second or third teams, and I made this decision when I was 15 years old. I’m sticking with it now all these years later. There is no order. I think West and Robertson would be in the backcourt. Elgin Baylor would be in the frontcourt with Wilt and Bill Russell.
The next group of guys would be Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Ervin ‘Magic’ Johnson, probably Karl Malone. I always argue with my son where Tim Duncan belongs, and he’s like, ‘He belongs ahead of Karl Malone for sure.’ I’m taking Karl Malone and that last position... I like Tiny Archibald.”
When DeAngela asks him about current players such as Stephen Curry or LeBron James, Erving said he only names players whose careers are over.
He’s Dr. J, a Hall of Famer and Philly legend, and we won’t argue his list. Baylor may be the star player most underrated by modern fans, who don’t always understand he was the first to popularize playing above the rim. Karl Malone over Tim Duncan may not be the call I would make, but one can argue it, at least. No active players? I think we have reached the point in LeBron’s career where there is a large enough body of work to say he is top 10 all-time. But it’s Dr. J’s list, and if he wants the also underrated Tiny Archibald on there, so be it.
It’s definitely a deviation from the standard, but it’s an interesting top 10.
I loved Dr J. Haven’t watched much basketball the past 20 years but the Doctor was way to cool back in the day
Dr J was the most elegant, graceful athlete I’ve ever seen...and a classy man.
I had the Converse poster with Dr J wearing the Chuck Taylors, big afro and ABA red, white and blue ball lifting off from the foul line on my wall for years
I worked with a guy who played against Dr J in the NBA. He said his only hope was to keep him laughing.
I remember hearing Isiah Thomas once say that Larry Bird was the “toughest” guy he ever played against...Magic Johnson was the “smartest”...and Micheal Jordan was the “best”.
If you played basketball in the 70s you wanted to be Dr. J.
You’d tune into the local sports report hoping they would show a couple of highlights of Dr. J.
I like Red Auerbach’s 12 best list:
https://celticswire.usatoday.com/lists/nba-boston-celtics-red-auerbach-playoff-dirty-dozen/
Dr J makes the list as #10.
Barkley? I don’t think he would make my top 50.
Agreed. Dr. J, 8Mo Cheeks, Moses, Bobby Jones with Billy Cunningham at the helm...great Philly team that showed how teamwork mattered.
Isaiah Thomas also said Larry Bird got the notoriety he did because he was white. But that’s okay
Larry Bird.
Just ask Magic Johnson and Doc Rivers.
5.56mm
Huge hands and long fingers. Like a human spider.
Barkley was so good he makes lists like this even when playing on crap teams. Imagine if he played on a championship caliber team.
Did Charles Barkley know the players in the NBA were allowed to play defense?
He was in 123 playoff games in his career. His teams only missed the playoffs one time in his first 14 years. He made it to the finals with the Suns. Then he was traded to Houston, which had two players better than him.
Interesting list from Dr. J. No one on that list played beyond about 1970-1973…. ish.
Still hard to discount any name on that list though!
Magic, Karl Malone, Jordan.
I’ve seen several things were famous black players would talk about Bird. They all noted that he was white but they didn’t do it in a bad way. They all spoke of how good he was for a white guy...again,not in a bad way.
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