The Pool of 46 for my 2018 "Top 36" and an indicator of the Top 27 "locks"

With 10 guys eliminated in the last Blog entry, we now have 46 guys left.  I deem 27 of those guys to be "absolute locks" such that no one in their right mind could keep them off the all-time NBA/ABA list of the Top 36 Players of All-Time.  So, here are the 27 locks in alphabetical order.


Abdul-Jabbar, Barkley, Barry, Baylor, Bird, Bryant, Chamberlain, Duncan, Durant, Erving, Garnett, James, Magic Johnson, Jordan, Karl Malone, Moses Malone, Mikan, Nowitzki, Olajuwon, O'Neal, Paul, Pettit, Robertson, Robinson, Russell, Stockton, West.


There is, in my opinion, no reasonable argument that these 27 guys are not Top 36 overall.  I mean, who is the absolute WORST guy on that list?  Probably Rick Barry or Chris Paul.  Rick Barry was NINE TIMES first-team in the league in which he played (5x all-NBA, 4x all-ABA).  Chris Paul is 4x first-team all-NBA, 7x all-defense, 165 WS, #1 in the history of basketball in WS/48.  So, yeah, those guys are all locks.


Here are the 19 guys fighting for the last 9 spots, so, when I return to this effort in the coming days, I will need to drop 10 of these guys and keep the other 9, then rank the entire 36:

Ray Allen
Bob Cousy
Steph Curry
Clyde Drexler

Patrick Ewing
Walt Frazier
George Gervin
Artis Gilmore
James Harden
John Havlicek
Elvin Hayes
Neil Johnston
Jason Kidd
Reggie Miller
Steve Nash
Gary Payton
Scottie Pippen
Dolph Schayes

Dwayne Wade

It will not be easy.