Hoopshype top 75 list

[Spud2nique]

Bob Pettit-31

Nique- 42

Pistol - 66

 

https://hoopshype.com/lists/75-greatest-nba-players-ever-the-hoopshype-list/

[Spud2nique]

In honor of it being the NBA’s 75th season, the league plans to release something they’re calling the NBA 75, which will feature a list of the 75 greatest players of all time.

So we had the brilliant idea to do the exact same thing first.

We held a team vote with the opinions of eight HoopsHype staff members, removed the highest and lowest rank for each and awarded points 75-1 for the rest.

There are nine players dropping out from the league’s original 50 Greatest list and 34 new entries – including five players who could have made the 1996 list. (Yes, Dominique Wilkins makes the cut this time).

[capstone21]

Its nice to see that Nique is finally getting respect he deserved ... ironically he is in the top 50 now and wasn't then.

[AHF]

I don't think Pistol would make my top 75 but Pettit and Nique deserve to be on there for sure.  Pettit is probably underrated.  He was basically the first version of Tim Duncan (#10 overall).  I'd put him above Iverson, Havlicek and others for sure.

[NBASupes]

27 minutes ago, AHF said:

I don't think Pistol would make my top 75 but Pettit and Nique deserve to be on there for sure.  Pettit is probably underrated.  He was basically the first version of Tim Duncan (#10 overall).  I'd put him above Iverson, Havlicek and others for sure.

I agree with everything but first Tim Duncan. Duncan still is in my top 5

[AHF]

20 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

I agree with everything but first Tim Duncan. Duncan still is in my top 5

Both were power forwards.  Both were immediately dominant.  Starting as a rookie, Timmy made the All-Star game 9 of his first 10 seasons and was first team All-NBA 8 of his first 10 seasons.  Pettit made the ASG and was first team All-NBA for 10 consecutive seasons starting in his rookie year.  (Pettit retired after his 11th season when he made the ASG and was 2nd team All-NBA).

Both were standouts as scorers and rebounders Petit was top 5 in rebounding and scoring 10 times.  Timmy was top 20 in scoring 8 times and top 5 in rebounding 11 times.   Timmy was an outstanding passer out of the post while Pettit benefited from the shallower talent pool to post top 20 finishes in assists 6 times.  

Both dominated their peers: Timmy finished top 5 in PER 8 times versus Pettit's 11 top 5 finishes.  (Career 24.5 TD; 25.3 BP).  Pettit had 9 top 5 finishes in Win Shares versus 8 times for Timmy.  (Career .209 WS/48 TD; .213 WS/48 BP).  

Both were dominating players.  Both won 2 MVPs and Pettit finished top 5 in voting 8 times compared to 9 times for Duncan. 

 

Duncan had the longer career but there is no reason to think that Pettit was washed when he hung it up.  They aren't the same player and I'd rank Duncan higher on a list like this but there are so many similarities between their impact and versatile skills and parallels between their impact.

[NBASupes]

5 minutes ago, AHF said:

Both were power forwards.  Both were immediately dominant.  Starting as a rookie, Timmy made the All-Star game 9 of his first 10 seasons and was first team All-NBA 8 of his first 10 seasons.  Pettit made the ASG and was first team All-NBA for 10 consecutive seasons starting in his rookie year.  (Pettit retired after his 11th season when he made the ASG and was 2nd team All-NBA).

Both were standouts as scorers and rebounders Petit was top 5 in rebounding and scoring 10 times.  Timmy was top 20 in scoring 8 times and top 5 in rebounding 11 times.   Timmy was an outstanding passer out of the post while Pettit benefited from the shallower talent pool to post top 20 finishes in assists 6 times.  

Both dominated their peers: Timmy finished top 5 in PER 8 times versus Pettit's 11 top 5 finishes.  (Career 24.5 TD; 25.3 BP).  Pettit had 9 top 5 finishes in Win Shares versus 8 times for Timmy.  (Career .209 WS/48 TD; .213 WS/48 BP).  

Both were dominating players.  Both won 2 MVPs and Pettit finished top 5 in voting 8 times compared to 9 times for Duncan. 

 

Duncan had the longer career but there is no reason to think that Pettit was washed when he hung it up.  They aren't the same player and I'd rank Duncan higher on a list like this but there are so many similarities between their impact and versatile skills and parallels between their impact.

Duncan did it in the modern NBA. That simply holds a lot more value to me with all due respect to Pettit. 

[AHF]

20 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Duncan did it in the modern NBA. That simply holds a lot more value to me with all due respect to Pettit. 

I don't disagree with that but I'm not going to downgrade Pettit for having beaten Bill Russell's Celtics in the finals.  Pettit played against Wilt, Russell, Elgin Baylor, The Big O, Jerry West, etc.

All those guys would have been greats in any era and Pettit stood out as a legend even against them.  Notably, Pettit has more All-Star MVPs than any players in league history as far as trying to measure where he stood up against his HOF peers.  You'd probably expect Wilt to have dominated this but he only won 1 time compared to 4 for Pettit. (Next on the list are Kobe who tied him and MJ, Shaq, Oscar, and LeBron who won one fewer.) Unfortunately for his legacy relative to his peers, he did it in St. Louis and not in Boston, Philly, LA or NY.

(Example:  In the playoffs, Pettit's Hawks went 10-13 against Boston over the years with Pettit averaging 28.9 points and 16.4 rebounds against Russell.  Pettit won the Finals against Russell, Cousy, et al. and took them to 7 games the season before. Given that the careers of Pettit and Havlicek overlapped it brings up an obvious question.  WTF is Pettit under Havlicek on this list when Havlicek made only 4 1st Teams over his career and was never even top 3 in the MVP vote compared to Pettit's 10 1st teams, 5 top 3 MVP votes, and 2 MVP awards?  Shouldn't be close.)

[Atlantaholic]

23 hours ago, AHF said:

I don't think Pistol would make my top 75 but Pettit and Nique deserve to be on there for sure.  Pettit is probably underrated.  He was basically the first version of Tim Duncan (#10 overall).  I'd put him above Iverson, Havlicek and others for sure.

He was a monster, but yea, tough to judge players from that era in general the league was so completely different. I do think they get overlooked waaay too much though, because people bring up "there was only 8 teams!" and they were all short and white, which are terrible arguments lol. Also there's just not enough footage to watch them in so people don't get the chance to see with their own eyes how good they were. 

And yea, if you played in Boston or LA then you are automatically put above every other player just because. 

[AHF]

23 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

He was a monster, but yea, tough to judge players from that era in general the league was so completely different. I do think they get overlooked waaay too much though, because people bring up "there was only 8 teams!" and they were all short and white, which are terrible arguments lol. Also there's just not enough footage to watch them in so people don't get the chance to see with their own eyes how good they were. 

And yea, if you played in Boston or LA then you are automatically put above every other player just because. 

Just saying, if you are going to fully credit Wilt, Oscar, Russell, etc. (and I think there are some good reasons for doing so) then you better give full credit to Pettit but he is the forgotten one of that tier from that era.

[JayBirdHawk]