[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Since everyone is going crazy over the audacity of Michael Jordan to call Kobe Bryant a "Top 10 guard of all-time" (Oh, the humanity!), I thought it might be a good time to see who people pick as their top 10 guards of All-Time. To me, this list consists of players who were known primarily as guards, so that does not include players like Hondo Havlicek/George Gervin who were considered combo forwards. I am sure people will say, "well you left out so and so" and I am sure I will, but these are the top 10 players I would define as "guards":

1. Michael Jordan

2. Kobe Bryant

3. Magic Johnson

4. Oscar Robertson

5. Jerry West

6. Isiah Thomas

7. Walt Frazier

8. John Stockton

9. Bob Cousy

10. Allen Iverson

5 close calls: Gary Payton, Bill Sharman, Steve Nash, Tiny Archibald, Jason Kidd

Of course, Dwyane Wade to me has serious potential to move up very high on this list, and if I were to rank him now he would be on the heels of Isiah, but I tend to rate players over a large time scale of their career achievement rather than say, 7 years that Wade/LeBron have played, where you kind of have to predict their next move. But, I think these are 15 of the greatest players defined as guards and I also would say that Michael Jordan, as someone who played with and against these players and grew up watching them, probably would have a very hard time ranking Kobe in a top 5. That is not to say that Kobe is not top 5, you see where I put him, but it just shows the difficulty of Michael Jordan of discerning him as such.

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 This is going to get me a bunch of negatives but Allen Iverson is better then Isiah Thomas hence the reason mostly everybody will say Allen is the best Lil Man to ever play basketball.

And Gary Payton should be on that list probably over John Stockton.  When them two played each other it wasn’t a comparison Payton would own him.

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 This is going to get me a bunch of negatives but Allen Iverson is better then Isiah Thomas hence the reason mostly everybody will say Allen is the best Lil Man to ever play basketball.

And Gary Payton should be on that list probably over John Stockton.  When them two played each other it wasn’t a comparison Payton would own him.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

 Allen Iverson is the "best lil man ever", usually just know Isiah Thomas as the coach of the Indiana Pacers. Allen Iverson was a fantastic player, hence his rating on this list at 10, but I think when judging a career, a lot goes into it, and I would say Zeke leading the Pistons to a couple titles is just one of the reasons I put him at that spot. If you look at overall impact and leadership, Isiah Thomas was the real deal, whereas Iverson never got the deal. Saying GP was better than Stockton head to head is something I am not sure is totally true, but I guess I will have to take your word for it. But, John Stockton was basically Steve Nash with the ability to play defense. Not only is John Stockton the all-time steals leader in NBA history, but he averaged more per game than Gary Payton. He was never the same shut down defender as Gary was in his prime, but his shooting and passing should not be overlooked. Why don’t you make a list, rather than just stating two players who you feel should be higher?

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

 Allen Iverson is the "best lil man ever", usually just know Isiah Thomas as the coach of the Indiana Pacers. Allen Iverson was a fantastic player, hence his rating on this list at 10, but I think when judging a career, a lot goes into it, and I would say Zeke leading the Pistons to a couple titles is just one of the reasons I put him at that spot. If you look at overall impact and leadership, Isiah Thomas was the real deal, whereas Iverson never got the deal. Saying GP was better than Stockton head to head is something I am not sure is totally true, but I guess I will have to take your word for it. But, John Stockton was basically Steve Nash with the ability to play defense. Not only is John Stockton the all-time steals leader in NBA history, but he averaged more per game than Gary Payton. He was never the same shut down defender as Gary was in his prime, but his shooting and passing should not be overlooked. Why don’t you make a list, rather than just stating two players who you feel should be higher?

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 1. Michael Jordan

2. Kobe Bryant (I wanted to put Magic here but numbers don’t lie)

3. Magic Johnson

4. Oscar Robinson (thought I don’t think he would of done what he did back then today…He did it.)

5.  Allen Iverson  (No he don’t have the rings.  But over 14 years he averaged an insane 41 MPG, 27 PPG, 6.2 assists, and 2.2 steals.  If those numbers aren’t gaudy enough for a 5’11 165 lb guard his playoff numbers are in 75 games 45 MPG, 29.7 PPG, 6 assists, and 2 steals.  A.I was a 10 time All Star. 2 Time All Star Game MVP. R.O.Y. and one time NBA MVP plus 4 time scoring champ. And even tho he didn’t win a ring his 2001 season where he willed a Sixer team full of role players into the finals against the Lakers that including 2 game 7 wings on the was proof enough that he is a winner.  Add that to the fact he revolutionized basketball with his style on court and persona he become the unlikely torch bearer after MJ retired and became in international superstar.  There was a time when there wasn’t one kid in America who didn’t want to be Allen Iverson because they knew they wouldn’t grow to be over 6 foot but were still good at basketball.  And not untill John Wall got drafted have I ever saw somebody come close to the speed Iverson played with.)

6. Jerry West (The Logo….I did have him higher, but after being a team with Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain and being unable to dominant the league with that team I dropped him a spot for the reasons above.)

7. Gary Payton (The best defender on this list hands down.  The Glove would lock you down.  It also helped he was a great scorer and passer and the only thing that stood between him and chip when he was in his prime was…wait for it…..MJ)

8. Isiah Thomas (the lil dude won, was tough, and just balled)

9. Pete Maravich (revolutionized passing, still holds the records the most PPG in the NCAA by averaging over 40 and was a lights out shooter)

10. John Stockton (The Guy won shot over 50% which is insane for a player his size, and racked up assists.  Of course he did it in the structure of sloans offense.)

Honorable Mention: Bob Cousy ( The was PG and leading scorer on ten championship teams despite not being able to shoot a lick, his career shooting average is 37%.  It of course helped he played on a stacked team with Bill Russell.)

Will Be On This List Very Soon: Dwayne Wade

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 1. Michael Jordan

2. Kobe Bryant (I wanted to put Magic here but numbers don’t lie)

3. Magic Johnson

4. Oscar Robinson (thought I don’t think he would of done what he did back then today…He did it.)

5.  Allen Iverson  (No he don’t have the rings.  But over 14 years he averaged an insane 41 MPG, 27 PPG, 6.2 assists, and 2.2 steals.  If those numbers aren’t gaudy enough for a 5’11 165 lb guard his playoff numbers are in 75 games 45 MPG, 29.7 PPG, 6 assists, and 2 steals.  A.I was a 10 time All Star. 2 Time All Star Game MVP. R.O.Y. and one time NBA MVP plus 4 time scoring champ. And even tho he didn’t win a ring his 2001 season where he willed a Sixer team full of role players into the finals against the Lakers that including 2 game 7 wings on the was proof enough that he is a winner.  Add that to the fact he revolutionized basketball with his style on court and persona he become the unlikely torch bearer after MJ retired and became in international superstar.  There was a time when there wasn’t one kid in America who didn’t want to be Allen Iverson because they knew they wouldn’t grow to be over 6 foot but were still good at basketball.  And not untill John Wall got drafted have I ever saw somebody come close to the speed Iverson played with.)

6. Jerry West (The Logo….I did have him higher, but after being a team with Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain and being unable to dominant the league with that team I dropped him a spot for the reasons above.)

7. Gary Payton (The best defender on this list hands down.  The Glove would lock you down.  It also helped he was a great scorer and passer and the only thing that stood between him and chip when he was in his prime was…wait for it…..MJ)

8. Isiah Thomas (the lil dude won, was tough, and just balled)

9. Pete Maravich (revolutionized passing, still holds the records the most PPG in the NCAA by averaging over 40 and was a lights out shooter)

10. John Stockton (The Guy won shot over 50% which is insane for a player his size, and racked up assists.  Of course he did it in the structure of sloans offense.)

Honorable Mention: Bob Cousy ( The was PG and leading scorer on ten championship teams despite not being able to shoot a lick, his career shooting average is 37%.  It of course helped he played on a stacked team with Bill Russell.)

Will Be On This List Very Soon: Dwayne Wade

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 Iverson was the product of bad management.  Billy King had no idea what he was doing.  He would bring in players like Kenny Thomas give them 50 mil contracts and think that would be Iverson second option.  There should be no doubt that if Iverson played with Dumars, Laimbeer, Rodman, Mahorn and the rest of that stacked Bad Boy Pistons team they would of probably 3 peated.   Compare them to Eric Snow, George Lynch, Kenny Thomas, Keith Van Horn, Tim Thomas, and the other scrubs King surrounded Iverson with.  Iverson had to carry the whole show himself and he did.  He never have enough talent around him to challenge for the chip but Iverson alone always gave you hope you could beat any team on any night.  But during a seven game playoff series the better and deeper "Team" will always prevail.

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 Iverson was the product of bad management.  Billy King had no idea what he was doing.  He would bring in players like Kenny Thomas give them 50 mil contracts and think that would be Iverson second option.  There should be no doubt that if Iverson played with Dumars, Laimbeer, Rodman, Mahorn and the rest of that stacked Bad Boy Pistons team they would of probably 3 peated.   Compare them to Eric Snow, George Lynch, Kenny Thomas, Keith Van Horn, Tim Thomas, and the other scrubs King surrounded Iverson with.  Iverson had to carry the whole show himself and he did.  He never have enough talent around him to challenge for the chip but Iverson alone always gave you hope you could beat any team on any night.  But during a seven game playoff series the better and deeper "Team" will always prevail.

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 Why did you start another thread Mikey?

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 Why did you start another thread Mikey?

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

The same reason why anyone posts on the main forum rather than actually putting it in the correct forum.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

The same reason why anyone posts on the main forum rather than actually putting it in the correct forum.

[Author]

Posts