HoopsCritic Hot 50 – #2 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

We know who is coming tomorrow, we knew he was coming when we started revealing this list way back on August 18th, I knew he was coming before I tallied the ballots. That being said, if you had to argue one players greatness over his airness, it’d be Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. His resume might be greater, it’s a very feasible argument. He won the same amount of rings, and he was recognized as the league MVP on more occasions.

No one had more MVP’s than Kareem, nobody. Greatest Laker ever? Even if we take away the three MVP’s he won with the Bucks, his three in the Lakers purple and gold are still one more than Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant have combined. He walked into the league as its best player in 1969 and rode that wave for nearly two decades. On nine occasions he finished in the top five of MVP voting. That means for 15 years, there were people who believed he was the leagues best player.

Kareem unsurprisingly sits first all time in scoring, third all time in blocks, and fourth all time in rebounds. His 38,387 career points are nearly 6,000 more than the closest active chaser (Bryant).

The Resume:

First Overall Pick 1969 – Milwaukee Bucks

19x All-Star

15x All-NBA

11x All-Defense

Rookie of the Year

2x Finals MVP

6x MVP

6x Champion

Hall of Fame

How did the guys rank him?

The Flag Bearer: Justin Termine (1).

The Barn Burner: Marc Griffin (8).

How did the other guys rank Abdul-Jabbar: Josh Eberley (2), Adi Joseph (2), James Holas (2), Lang Greene (2), Brian Geltzeiler (2), Will Reeve (2), Matt Drappel (3), Shane Young (3), Justin Rowan (4), Robert Littal (5), Jacob Noble (6), and Justin Salkin (7).

Average vote: 3.5

#1 Wednesday, October 7th.

 

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Contributors:

Josh Eberley – hoopscritic.com / Host of the @PullUpPodcastHC, @JoshEberley

Jacob Noble – hoopscritic.com / Host of the @PullUpPodcastHC, @JacobNoble_HC

James Holas – hoopscritic.com / BballBreakdown, @SnottieDrippen

Adi Joseph – sportingnews.com, @AdiJoseph

Matt Drappel – sportsnet.ca, @MattyD416

Justin Rowan – fearthesword.com / hoopslounge.com, @Cavsanada

Robert Littal – blacksportsonline.com, @BSO

Shane Young – hoopshabit.com, @YoungNBA

Justin Termine – Sirius XM NBA / cinesport.com host, @TermineRadio

Marc Griffin – hoopslounge.com / sportsnet.ca, @montrealmarc

Lang Greene – basketballinsiders.com, @LangGreene

Justin Salkin – hoopscritic.com / brooklynsbeat.com, @brooklynsbeat

Will Reeve – awfsports.com / Host of the All Weather Fan Podcast, contributor for hoopscritic.com @WillReeveJr

and of course,

Brian Geltzeiler – hoopscritic.com / Sirius XM NBA / the-cauldron.com / 120sports.com, @hoopscritic

 

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