The Best 25 players to ever play in the NBA not named Micheal Jordan (25-21)

It had to be done, I couldn't let it go by any longer. Any basketball junkie has a list, mostly with prejudice that has all sort of emotional baggage to justify the players they like. We all do it, whether it be ranking a player to high, cause we had some emotional attachment to the way they played(ie Scottie Pippen) or not quite giving it up to a player that has rubbed you the wrong way for some reason or another (ie Kobe Bryant). So why would I, a writer of the most underrated sports blog around and a true hoops philosopher not have a top 25 list of the best players to ever lace them up? I agree it dosen't make sense.

1st of all MJ is the best player to ever play there is no need to argue it, it's just the way it is.There is no reason to explain his greatness it's wasted words.  If you disagree with MJ being number 1, stop reading this right now because you also think that Brett Farve is the best QB of all time, Babe Ruth would have sucked if they allowed black players in the league and you can't understand why Soccer is not bigger than the NFL.

Here are a couple of more things to consider: If you have a best of basketball list and you have not read Bill Simmon's The Book of Basketball you are cheating yourself. This in my opinion is the most knowledgeable and insightful sports book ever written and though I can't argue the logic of the Sports Guy's best ever list I do disagree with his order. When compiling the list I only considered 1 factor, if i wanted to win an NBA title which player would give me the best chance to do it, period. So with that rule in place and the fact that in the last 30 years except for the 2004 Detroit Pistons who played a highly dysfunctional Shaq/Kobe/Malone/Payton squad no team has won an NBA championship without being led by at least 1 superstar, 1st team, no brainer, Hall of Famer. Which prompted me to install rule #2 if you have not won an NBA championship that automatically disqualified you from being in my top 15 (Think Lebron James)

So without further Adieu here's number 25-21:
25. Dirk Nowitzki just squeaked past Bob Cousy mostly because other than Isaiah Thomas no little guard has led his team to win a championship in the last 30+ years. I just believe that a little man can't be the best player on the team and win a championship and I will give you Chris Paul as an example of a guy who will year in and year out prove my point, cause no one runs a better point guard than Mr. Paul, but his size will keep him from a title, so sorry Couz, Dirk's 2011 playoff run was one for the ages. It justified a career that up until then he came up  up small when his team really needed him. Not until Dirk started putting the ball down and taking it to the hole, did I ever consider Dirk a legit crunch time player. I don't care that his jump shot is one of the sweetest that these lovely brown eyes has ever seen(seriously in 8th grade I was voted prettiest eyes that kinda thing doesn't just leave you) Teams can live with a jump shot at the end of the game rather than penetrating the lane with the chance of drawing a foul or getting double teamed and kicking it to an open shooter, Dirk starting doing that and with his 7'0 frame and incredible skill set, Miami found out that is a hard thing to stop.

The reason he's not higher:
Dirk's 2011 performance doesn't completely eliminate his 2006 choke job in the NBA finals against Miami, followed by his best record in basketball only to be taken out in the 1st round by an 8th seeded Golden State team composed of 6'5 guys guarding him and lots of other playoff disappearing acts to go along with his subpar defensive skills and one of the worse encore performances to a championship run in quite some time. I better stop before i switch Cousy back in here.

24. Charles Barkley had an incredible 5 year run where he averaged about 26 points and 12 boards a game all the while carrying a pretty mediocre team, and the term mediocre is probably a stretch, no way those teams were even close to the playoffs without Barkley and this is not factoring in his 1st year in Phoenix where he had a monster season and showed how tough he could be when he had talent. The fact that he was only 6'4 made him a match up nightmare, in a reverse Dirk kind of way. If you put someone smaller on him he was too powerful, someone shorter than him he was quicker and still probably too powerful.  No doubt, during his peak he was a top 15 kinda player...

The reason he's not higher: his peak wasn't long enough. Not that he was ever a bad player but in my opinion Barkley never made anyone better. he wasn't a great defender and his being 6'4 and absorbing the punishment he took I'm sure wore him down quicker than other star players. If I had those 6 years from Barkley and had paired him with another star I would have felt good about my chances with him but ultimately thats not enough to move him in front of this guy...

23.If I had Charles Barkley at his absolute best or Karl Malone at his absolute best I would take Barkley in a heartbeat. But that's not how I rank them. When you talk about consistency Karl Malone was a 27-11 guy year in and year out. The greatness in Karl Malone lies in the fact that when all of his peers got old and their played suffered, Malone still played at a high level. He was an above average defender who had a dominant mid-range game and maxed out on his strengths, you woulda thunk he would have had deeper playoff runs...

Why he's not higher: It's like I said earlier Karl Malone's greatness lied in the fact that he played at a high level when his peers, Barkley, a fat Shawn Kemp, Olajuwon, Ewing, Drexler all got old. He didn't start consistently having deep playoff runs until year 11 in his career. How many times did Karl Malone in his playoff career pull off an upset cause he was like I will not be denied? I can't remember any. Jordan's last run with the Bulls, who missed clutched free throws, Malone! Whose name did Bill Walton keep yelling at after he was in the process of going 7-17 from the field 5-9 from the free throw line with only 7 rebs as his team was tied 2-2 in the finals against the Bulls in '97, with the game... IN UTAH, Malone! Who did MJ steal the ball from before he hit his series winning shot in against in the 98 finals...MALONE!!! I can't deny his numbers, but I can deny that Malone would give me a better chance at winning an NBA title than these other 22 players

22. No one talks bout how incredibly skillful Rick Barry was, because one, he dominated in the 70's and the 70's was not exactly the NBA's heyday and secondly he was a dick. I remember 1 time calling when he was on NBA radio and I had him backed into a corner as he was trying to explain why Pete Maravich wasn't a one trick pony but Dennis Rodman was, you can always tell when someone's a dick when you have them backed into a corner and he hangs up on you, or that time when he was complaining that no team wanted to give him a chance to coach, or the time when he was not speaking to his kids blah, blah, blah. The dude averaged 23 pts 6.5 boards and 5 dimes that's impressive stuff and he was an all time great free throw shooter who played decent defense all the while leading his team to a championship and a runner-up did Barkley and Malone ever do that? Plus you gotta give it up for a guy that gizzed out 3 NBA kids

Why he's not higher:
The 70's in the NBA is arguably the worst decade for any of the 3 major sports. His attitude would have been hard to win with consistently and he left the NBA for the ABA, not the other way around. Who does that? Plus he gizzed out 3 mediocre kids in the NBA. Joe Bryant played in the NBA and had 1 kid that turned out better than all 3 of them combined.

21.Iconically speaking Dr. J is one of the top 5 players to ever play the game. He was the man before Magic and bird came along. Those massive hands and freakish athleticism made Dr. J a phenomenon. In a way, The Doc was unlucky, his best years were probably in the ABA where he was unstoppable but the league was too gimmicky and clearly the second tier in basketball. Dr. J being the considered the best player in basketball at that time was like considering Herschel walker of the USFL the best running back in football, plausible but not likely. Then even though he played with some very underrated 76er teams he had to go up against Bird AND Magic every year. it's one thing to beat one of them but to have to win beating both of them in the same season was a tall order.

Why he's not higher: Look I love me some Dr. J, but his jump shot was mediocre at best, he wasn't a great defender or ball handler. His team choked a 3-1 series lead to Boston and almost choked up another before winning 4-3. At home against the Lakers when the Lakers were without Kareem, down 3 games to 2 you would have thought that Doc would have been like I'm about drop 40 on these Mofo's but nope he got dropped off for 42 by a rookie named Magic Johnson. His only championship happened cause Moses Malone came alongand Doc got to be second fiddle which is exactly the kind of role he probably should have been in his whole career. Doc was always good for 25 points but when your whole game is built around your ability to score he didn't have enough I'm about to drop 40 on these Mofo's to move into my top 20!