The Top 10 NBA Players Ever - #4

This is yet another installment in my list of the top 10 NBA players of all time. It is admittedly a subjective list. Are individual statistics more important than the number of championships a player led his team to? These types of lists will always be contentious. However, it should be known that this list was compiled with an embarrassing amount of thought.

#4 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was voted the MVP six times. His teams won six NBA championships. His career is a combination of greatness and longevity. There were two defining images of the man. The first, as Lew Alcindor with the Milwaukee Bucks, releasing sky hooks, his electric Afro rustling in the wind. The second, a bald-headed goggle-wearing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leading his Lakers as something like an elder statesman.

Abdul-Jabbar scored an enormous amount of points. His 38,387 career total is the most in NBA history. He totaled the most points in the league each of his first three seasons. He averaged over 30 ppg four times. He averaged the most points in the league in five different postseasons.

The 7'2" center's patented shot was the sky hook. It was unstoppable, unduplicated, and utterly graceful. Kareem best showed off this weapon in Game 6 of the 1974 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. With the Bucks down by 1 in double overtime, Abdul-Jabbar hit a game-winner with 3 seconds left and two Boston men draped all over him.

The sky hook was a shot Abdul-Jabbar always displayed, but its prevalence in his arsenal gained a boost in college. He was so dominant that the NCAA outlawed the dunk to try and stop him. It didn't work. He won player of the year and MOP of the Final Four all three years.

Kareem's NBA longevity served to raise his totals and lower his averages. Kareem played 20 seasons in the NBA. He played the 2nd most games, the most minutes, took the most field goals, and made the most field goals. Despite the fact that blocks weren't kept by the NBA for his first 4 seasons, he has third most in history. But Kareem's career is top heavy in its excellence. He never scored over 30 points a game after his 6th season. He averaged double figure rebounds each of his first 12 seasons (topping the totals list twice), but none of the rest. He averaged at least 3 blocks per game each of the first 7 seasons the stat was kept, but none after.

Abdul-Jabbar averaged under 20 points per game only 3 times in his 20 year career. Those were the last 3 years of his career. Despite that, he put up career averages of 24.6 ppg, 11.2 rpg, and 2.6 bpg. Kareem averaged nearly 56% from the field.

The numbers are impressive, but so are the wins and the accolades. Kareem's teams missed the playoffs just twice during his Medusa-like career. Besides his 6 MVPs, he won two Finals MVPs, grabbed 14 years apart. He was voted to the All-NBA 1st team 10 times. He made the 2nd team 5 more times. He made the All-Defensive 1st team 5 times and the 2nd team 6 times. On both sides of the court, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was one of the best... for a very long stretch.