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[Maladict]

I'll pitch in to discuss the GOAT film career.

Wilt Chamberlain: Conan the Destroyer
MJ: Space Jam
LeBron: Space Jam 2
Kareem Abdul Jabbar: Airplane!, Game of Death (and a bunch of cameos).

Kareem carries this one comfortably.

Kobe won an Oscar 

[Barrister]

I'll pitch in to discuss the GOAT film career.

Wilt Chamberlain: Conan the Destroyer
MJ: Space Jam
LeBron: Space Jam 2
Kareem Abdul Jabbar: Airplane!, Game of Death (and a bunch of cameos).

Kareem carries this one comfortably.

Kobe won an Oscar 

That's a good response!

[Eddie Teach]

Bill Russel, who surprisingly didn't get shortlisted here.

I saw a YouTube video where the guy scoured interviews of current & former NBA players being asked this question. These were the guys who received votes.

[celedhring]

I'll pitch in to discuss the GOAT film career.

Wilt Chamberlain: Conan the Destroyer
MJ: Space Jam
LeBron: Space Jam 2
Kareem Abdul Jabbar: Airplane!, Game of Death (and a bunch of cameos).

Kareem carries this one comfortably.

Kobe won an Oscar 

Forgot about him 

But I don't think anybody on here (or the world at large) will care much for a 5-minute animated film, as good as it might be.

[celedhring]

FWIW I think that the best film performance by an NBA player is Ryan Allen in He Got Game, but I don't think he'll be in any GOAT conversation.

Honorary mention for Kevin Garnett in Uncut Gems, but he's playing himself 

[jimmy olsen]

This always comes up in GOAT discussions though - peak performance versus career length.

Agreed, LeBron and Abdul-Jabbar are best candidates on career value. LeBron's year-to-year consistency, in particular, is extraordinary.  The only thing I can think of that comparable is Eddie Collins in baseball.

Kareem and LeBron are 1 and 2 in Win Shares and the rest aren't close.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ws_career.html

[crazy canuck]

Bill Russel, who surprisingly didn't get shortlisted here.

I saw a YouTube video where the guy scoured interviews of current & former NBA players being asked this question. These were the guys who received votes.

On YouTube you say, a guy on YouTube?  Well then he must have been right.

[grumbler]

I saw a YouTube video where the guy scoured interviews of current & former NBA players being asked this question. These were the guys who received votes.

On YouTube you say, a guy on YouTube?  Well then he must have been right.

This isn't an issue of "right" and "wrong."  It's just an issue of what criteria ET used to compile the list.  If you personally think that his choices are "wrong," then just start your own poll with your own "right" choices. It's free.

[crazy canuck]

I saw a YouTube video where the guy scoured interviews of current & former NBA players being asked this question. These were the guys who received votes.

On YouTube you say, a guy on YouTube?  Well then he must have been right.

This isn't an issue of "right" and "wrong."  It's just an issue of what criteria ET used to compile the list.  If you personally think that his choices are "wrong," then just start your own poll with your own "right" choices. It's free.

Or, and hear me out on this, I can say that any list of the NBA players that does not contain one of the greatest NBA players isn't good list.

And I can criticize somebody for deciding who to put on the list for simply following some guy on YouTube.

Further, if you wanted to think about this a little deeper, you might contemplate how people are affected by what they see on social media.

[Eddie Teach]

Bill Russell himself called Wilt the greatest. Also he never averaged 20 points. Awesome defender though.

[crazy canuck]

Bill Russell himself called Wilt the greatest. Also he never averaged 20 points. Awesome defender though.

Yeah, JR's contention that Wilt was the greatest has a lot of merit to it. One of the endearing things about Russell is he was very modest.  He never claimed any status for himself. He was always a team first kind of player. Which, I suppose, is why I always argue his case when threads like this come up.

And to JR's point about The Admiral, another characteristic Russell and him had in common.