It seems we are driven to determine who is the best of all time in most areas of sport and in many other endeavors as well. In most cases this is simply rhetoric. I’ve yet to see an operational definition of “the best” in any venue. Is it the person who makes the greatest contribution to his team’s success? That would be a bit hard to determine, since there are a number of other players on the team. Is it the person who scores the most points? That would be easier to determine but most would reject it as a measure of the best.
To begin with some specifics, most people these days assert that Michael Jordan was the best basketball player of all time. As an old guy, I have watched most of the players who might be considered in the same breath: Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. My own personal preference would be Magic Johnson. If one looks at statistics for playoffs, the important part of the season in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Magic’s performance is superior. If you take the points that the individual scores and add two points for each assist, meaning the player passed to a team mate who Scored, Magic accounts for more points than Jordan. One could argue that assist should count for more than two points since it helps to engage one’s teammates, but I will settle for two. Finally, Magic was capable of feats that Jordan could not consider. In the 6th game of the 1980 playoff finals against the Philadelphia 76ers the Lakers’ star center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, had a migraine and cannot play. Magic, a point guard, albeit a tall one, played center in the game against the competent center for Philadelphia. Magic’s performance was outstanding and led to an easy win for the Lakers.
But that’s rhetoric; my opinion. Although I am a longtime fan, I don’t qualify as an expert. A person who qualifies perhaps is the greatest living expert (here we go again with the world’s best) is Phil Jackson, probably the most successful coach in history of the NBA. Phil asserted that Michael Jordan was indeed the best player of all time. However, he said that if he were starting a team, the first player he would choose was Bill Russell. His obvious belief was that Russell would contribute more to his team’s success than Michael Jordan could. In my mind Phil is really asserting that Russell was the best player.
While the activity of asserting who is the best is entertaining, it is not particularly useful. It might be useful if we determine clear criteria for what we need by the best, but nobody seems to do that.
An area where determining the best is financially quite important is in the process of professional basketball and football teams drafting new players. The history of early first-round draft picks were flops are quite plentiful as is the history of players who were not even drafted who became hugely successful. Failing in the draft dooms a team for the near term. The ability to choose effectively would be worth a great deal of money to teams. And yet with all their financial resources, many teams are unable to do that. But can it be done? A topic for my next blog.
To begin with some specifics, most people these days assert that Michael Jordan was the best basketball player of all time. As an old guy, I have watched most of the players who might be considered in the same breath: Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. My own personal preference would be Magic Johnson. If one looks at statistics for playoffs, the important part of the season in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Magic’s performance is superior. If you take the points that the individual scores and add two points for each assist, meaning the player passed to a team mate who Scored, Magic accounts for more points than Jordan. One could argue that assist should count for more than two points since it helps to engage one’s teammates, but I will settle for two. Finally, Magic was capable of feats that Jordan could not consider. In the 6th game of the 1980 playoff finals against the Philadelphia 76ers the Lakers’ star center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, had a migraine and cannot play. Magic, a point guard, albeit a tall one, played center in the game against the competent center for Philadelphia. Magic’s performance was outstanding and led to an easy win for the Lakers.
But that’s rhetoric; my opinion. Although I am a longtime fan, I don’t qualify as an expert. A person who qualifies perhaps is the greatest living expert (here we go again with the world’s best) is Phil Jackson, probably the most successful coach in history of the NBA. Phil asserted that Michael Jordan was indeed the best player of all time. However, he said that if he were starting a team, the first player he would choose was Bill Russell. His obvious belief was that Russell would contribute more to his team’s success than Michael Jordan could. In my mind Phil is really asserting that Russell was the best player.
While the activity of asserting who is the best is entertaining, it is not particularly useful. It might be useful if we determine clear criteria for what we need by the best, but nobody seems to do that.
An area where determining the best is financially quite important is in the process of professional basketball and football teams drafting new players. The history of early first-round draft picks were flops are quite plentiful as is the history of players who were not even drafted who became hugely successful. Failing in the draft dooms a team for the near term. The ability to choose effectively would be worth a great deal of money to teams. And yet with all their financial resources, many teams are unable to do that. But can it be done? A topic for my next blog.
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