I'd like to know who your favorite players are and also who you think the all time greats are.

My personal favorites

PG - Tiny Archibald, gotta love any player who can lead the league in scoring and assists in the same season. In the twilight of his career with the Celtics "Tiny" was consistently blowing by Danny Ainge in practices prompting coach K.C. Jones to say "the guys 40 years old and you can't keep him in front of you!", to which Ainge responded, "I couldn't keep him in front of me if he was in a wheelchair"

backup PG - Fats Lever, Fats routinely scored 13 PPG, 8 REB, 8 ASSISTS, 2+ STEALS, and 1 BLOCK per game. Fats was a triple double waiting to happen for about 8 years.

SG - Ron Harper, Before blowing out his knee Harper was a Jordan clone, only better! rookie season 22 a game, 400+ rebounds, 400+ assists, 200+ steals, 100+ blocks. I shudder to think what he would have done had he stayed healthy.

backup SG - Alvin Robertson, best defensive player of all time, guy averaged almost 4 steals a game 1 year and could SHUT DOWN anyone. guy also had a quadruple double.

Swingman/SF - Alex English, Smoothest shot in the world. you look at him and go why can't anyone stop him!?!??!

backup swingman - Dominique Wilkins, need points? Dominique can take care of that problem.

Power forwards and centers to follow

EDIT* PF - Larry Bird, tough, gritty, arrogant, and skilled. This guy talked the talk and walked the walk. Always had his teammates backs, brought an attitude on the court that I've never seen before or since.

backup PF - Charles Barkley, This guy could play, 25+ points, 12+ rebounds shoots over 55% from the field and to top it off he D'ed up.

C - Hakeem Olajuwon, the first 7' athlete, ran the floor, could handle the ball if need be, and was a phenomonal post up player. 2nd best defensive player of all time behind Alvin "the silencer" Robertson. Hakeem also had a quadruple double.

backup C - Rony Seikaly - Another guy who's career was cut short by injury. Just a perfect center, shot great from the field, rebounded, and clogged the lane. I loved watching the Orangemen in the late 80's with Seikaly, Coleman, Sherm Douglas, and Stevie Thompson, Alley Oop after Alley Oop

Personal favs. Since these are personal, I'm sticking with my generation and I'll give my best team afterwards:

PG- Allen Iverson
SG- I've lived my whole life in Chicago, M F'n J.
SF- Dominique
PF- Rodman, post-Detroit, of course.
C- Ewing, even though I hate the Knicks, it was hard to hate Ewing.

Backup:
PG- Stockton
SG- Allen
SF- Pippen
PF- Barkley
C- Shaq

All time Best on the floor:
PG- Oscar
SG- Jordan
SF- Still, Dominique
PF- Bird
C- Russell (Uh-oh, did I touch a nerve)

Russell and Chamberlain are #1 and #1A to me with Jabbar as #2 and Shaq as #3, IMO.

Best all time

PG - Magic
SG - Jordan
SF - DR. J
PF - Bird
C- Chamberlain

Honorable mention - Oscar, Pistol Pete, Karl Malone, Hakeem, Russell, Isiah, Kareem

I was sooo close to throwing Dr.J in there, but I had to throw Dominique in there similar to why you love Ron Harper. There was a time when R. Harper, Charles Smith, and Danny Manning were on the best team (2nd most talented behind Golden State) in California. Injuries killed him and if there's no Michael Jordan, Nique is the most electric player in the NBA, leads the league in scoring, dominates the game and Allen Iverson is the 21st century Nique- the best player in the NBA with no one around him. I wanna say that in Nique's Hawks days, Kevin Willis was the best player that he ever played with.

Imagine those Knicks or Pacers teams in the early 90's with Nique, but I can't argue with you for throwing Dr.J in there.

Here's a question, Steve? Russell or Kareem? Or is Shaq in that top 3? I know your #1 is Chamberlain and I can't really argue with that, but I'd think that if you're putting Chamberlain #1 over Russell, you're putting Kareem as #2.

Where do you rank Pippen among the SF's of all time? He was officially an SF, but he was always the PG, BJ and Paxson were the 2's, and Jordan was the swingman. Remember the year after Jordan retired the first time, Pippen led the Bulls to Game 7 against the Knicks in the Conf. Finals. The Bulls were one bullshit foul and a Hubert Davis flop away from facing the Rockets in the finals.

He was always #2 on the team in boards, led the league in steals and the years he didn't, Jordan did and Pip was #2, always #2 on the team in points, always led the team in assists and was in the Top 10 in the league. He led those Bulls teams in blocks a lot of those years as well. That 6'7" frame has a 7'+ wingspan. Most years, he led those Bulls teams in 3ptFG's made.

Winning and defense has to be a key intangible. Is Pippen Top 5 all time in your book among small forwards? Hard position to be Top 5, but is he?

Horace grant struggled with grabbing boards against Charles Oakley in that series. What if Rodman is on that team? No one's stopping the Rockets that year, but the Knicks took them to 7 games. Do the Bulls beat the Knicks with a tougher man on the inside?

when harper was with the clips he blew out his other knee, he was spectacular then and even more so before the first blowout.

Danny Ferry to the cavs, most lopsided trade in sports history???

I would take Russell over Kareem and Hakeem over both of them.

Russell had hall of famers on all sides and had 2 jobs, clean the boards and defend the goal. Kareem was a scorer with average rebounding and defensive skills.

All time centers

Chamberlain
Hakeem
Russell
Shaq
Kareem

I'm surprised with your inclusion of Iverson, 27 a game, 42% from the floor, 6 assists, 4 turnovers a game.

I think he is nothing more than a razzle dazzle player. if he was 3 inches taller I think you have an all time superstar.

Good call with Hakeem and I just thought of that as I was discussing Pippen. I have to put Hakeem #4 and Shaq as #5. Where does Ewing rank, in your opinion? Is he #6 or are David Robinson and Tim Duncan ahead of Ewing putting him at the bottom of the Top 10 among big men. Is he even Top 10?

I never liked Robinson, but his greatness can't be argued. Injuries cut his career short. Where does that and sharing the end of his career alongside Duncan fit into the equation as the ball was shared more along with the inside Duncan. Remember, Robinson was always 3rd to Hakeem and Mutombo among blocks, in the Top 5 for boards, Top 5 for scoring, Top 10 in STEALS, passed the ball around. Ewing's the only one who can come close to having a jump shot like Robinson as a big man.

Originally Posted by Steve-O

I think he is nothing more than a razzle dazzle player.

His toughness is unmatched. He actually has NO razzle-dazzle. He's scrappy, if anything. His tattoes and mouth give the image that he's razzle-dazzle, but he's far from it.

if he was 3 inches taller I think you have an all time superstar.

I think you the second coming which is my point. No one takes a beating like him by players so much bigger and stronger and performs every night. Bear in mind that John Thompson told Mourning and Ewing to stay in school when they wanted to leave early. He gave AI a "Go get 'em" after Iverson's freshman year.

Iverson's performance is as amazing as Emmitt Smith's toughness at 5'8". Yeah, the Cowboy line was killer and Barry was better, but Smith broke a ton of tackles at a time when LB's were a lot better and that was after he had passed the line. Iverson is a more dominant Emmitt with no one to block for him.