TOP FIVE NBA PLAYERS OF ALL-TIME (POSITION)

NBA ALL-TIME TOP FIVE AT EVERY POSITION 

POINT GUARD

1. Earvin "Magic" Johnson
2. Oscar Robertson
3. Bob Cousy
4. John Stockton
5. Jason Kidd

SHOOTING GUARD

1. Michael Jordan
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Jerry West
4. Clyde Drexler
5. Reggie Miller

SMALL FORWARD

1. LeBron James
2. Larry Bird
3. Kevin Durant
4. Julius Erving
5. Scottie Pippen

POWER FORWARD

1. Tim Duncan
2. Karl Malone
3. Charles Barkley
4. Dirk Nowitzki
5. Kevin Garnett

CENTER

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. Bill Russell
3. Wilt Chamberlain
4. Shaquille O'Neal
5. Hakeem Olajuwon

This obviously is one man's list. Created to satisfy and disturb, placate then upset. The Ancient Greek philosopher Democritus is quoted as stating: "Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion." Consider this to be the latter. 

It was difficult to leave Isiah Thomas off this list. Oscar Robertson is the toughest player to categorize. Quite simply he could easily be in the top five at both backcourt positions. Quite simply he could very well be listed as a top five small-forward as well. The man was that good.

The center position was another position were one could spend all day and night deliberating as to who goes where. I'd like to see you argue with what Bill Russell did on the collegiate, international, and professional level. 

Only the Michael Jordans and Magic Johnsons of the basketball world and lineage have achieved similar accolades during their distinctive careers.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar rarely looks up to anyone, literally or figuratively. He may however have to look down, in a show of respect and reverence that is, to Russell, as he was never able to garner an Olympic gold medal in basketball similar to Jordan and Johnson. Abdul-Jabbar chose to boycott the 1968 Olympics which saw the United States win their seventh gold medal in a row in the sport. It is a forgone conclusion to come to the realization that Jabbar would have won the one thing which is now absent from his trophy case. 

These things matter and then they do not. 

I have always contended that Magic Johnson may be the greatest basketball player of all-time, based upon what the game of basketball is. The very nature of it being at its core a team sport. How then could one player who when at his zenith could become all five players on the court at anytime due to his passing as facilitated by stature, awareness, and I.Q. not be considered to be the greatest? 

If Jordan was the index finger marauding as the trigger finger on the firearm of any offensive attack, then Johnson was the hand which held the firearm and pointed it in the proper direction to do the most damage. Johnson also may have had the more difficult task of running an entire team. 

In contrast, Jordan was a cold-blooded assassin with a singular approach who could do it all when necessary. He did what he knew how to do better than anyone else. Especially when it mattered: the playoffs. 

Ultimately it is difficult to choose between the two, at least for me it is, considering how I view the game now after watching it for most of my life. It also is hard for me to choose between the four when you invite Russell and Abdul-Jabbar into the the discussion. In my estimation these four just may be the most accomplished of all-time in NBA and basketball history.

                                                                      

                                                                            

MURDER BY NUMBERS

The UCLA Bruins squeaked by the Texas A&M Aggies 45-44 Sunday night, on this the first weekend of the college football season. Anyone who did not see the game could safely assume that this was a game that came down to the wire based upon the score alone. In a contest which was decided by a point, one could also imagine that the game itself may probably have been a back and forth affair, by either two potent offenses, or two teams that had no interest in playing defense. These are all possibilities.

However, a lifetime of watching football has taught us that the score, important as it may be to deciding the final outcome, does not always reveal to us exactly how a game transpired. Such is the case with Sunday night's affair between the Bruins and Aggies. Playing in front of a home crowd, the Bruins found themselves in a hole, of the 34-point deficit variety, late in the 3rd quarter. They would rally to win, scoring the game's next five touchdowns for the score that flashed across your screen, as you dozed soundly, already put to bed by the score of 44-10 late in the 3rd quarter.

There have been games in which teams despite winning the turnover or possession battle (you know those little nuances of the game which generally ensure success) still ended up losing to the team that turned the ball over more than they or did more productive things with their time of possession than the team that actually possessed the ball longer. Although infrequent, it seems to happen all the time. This is why I am never blown away when I see a comeback in football. Football seems to mirror life in a multitude of ways almost too numerous to enumerate here.

One particular way in which it does seem to parallel the real world is with regards to late starts and procrastination. People delay and procrastinate all the time. Some, it would seem, thrive on it. It's not a formula one would suggest as the way to success, but it does let you allow the notion that when the task at hand is put off, whether directly or indirectly, there may or may not be the chance that the job can still get done. Dependent now upon how compliant the ancillary components of whatever it is that is trying to be achieved is willing. There still is a chance, and a chance is all you need.

Now back to the Bruins-Aggies game of Sunday night vintage. This particular contest featured another way that a close score, or any score for that matter, could be interpreted. The comeback. A team gets down by a considerable margin to another team only to mount a comeback of extreme proportions often resulting in an epic win soon to become an "instant classic". The term "unanswered points" usually gets bandied about during the broadcast of said event. Enlightening the viewer or tuner of how quickly the tide can turn into an avalanche.

Earlier this year, fans of the NFL were treated to another "epic" comeback, this time on the greatest of stages, the Super Bowl. You would have to be living under a rock to have no idea about what transpired in that particular contest. Down in similar fashion, with regards to time and score, the New England Patriots overcame a 25-point deficit at the hands of the Atlanta Falcons, ultimately emerging victorious and hoisting yet another Lombardi trophy.

So, it happens. Teams race out to big leads based upon what seems like their opponent's taking to heart the notion of "Murphy's Law". Anything that can and will go wrong does, resulting in huge deficits. However sometimes the football gods are in the business of leveling the playing field and "Murphy's Law", momentum, the tide, or whatever you want to call it decides to change dancing partners. It is then that the outcome which was played out in Super Bowl LI, and most recently this past Sunday night in California, becomes a reality. No one questions how scoring happens when one team gets down and another goes up, but yet questions abound when the team that was down gets up and the team that was up gets down as far as the score is concerned. Life has taught us at times that "things were all good just a week ago." Things change and life changes with it. Same as in sports, same as in football. Professional or collegiate. No one ever says: "Things were all good just a half ago. Just a quarter ago. Heck, just five minutes ago." But they should.

"This is why you play the game...", or something close to that is what the great broadcaster Chris Berman trained us on when any two opponents collide on any given Sunday, or any given Saturday for that matter. With apologies to Mr. Berman, "...and this is why you play the game until it's over..." should be the other part of that great saying. Expecting a certain outcome before a game commences is one thing. After all, expectation is the mother of disappointment. Is it not? Expecting a certain outcome once a football game starts and begins to develop? Well now, that's just sheer torture. The type of torture that both Bruins and Aggies fans were feeling on Sunday night.