12. Oscar Robertson -- It really pains me to not have Oscar in the Top 10, largely because virtually every single guy aged 65 to 85 I have ever spoken with has told me that Oscar was the best player, period. Here is the thing - he was clearly an outstanding player, and he has some amazing positives. Only player in the Top 10 in APG and PPG; 9x first-team All-NBA; MVP placements over an 8 year stretch of 5-3-3-1-2-3-4-5. Was 5th in MVP balloting playing WITH Kareem on a title team. 189 WS, 11th most all-time, and he rolled them up every single year. (4-3-2-2-1-3-2-2-3-5-6).
But Oscar got 0 titles on his own, and his teams were not exactly knocking on the door. Bob Cousy actually said that he felt Oscar didn't play enough to win. Whether that is true or not, he didn't win without Kareem. And his PER and WS/48 don't show him as a top 10 player. That said, his regular season stats are superior to Jerry West's, and he has an MVP and a title. I think Oscar may be a little diminished in my eyes because I did not see the great Oscar play. I saw the Milwaukee Oscar play. While I was always impressed with West and Wilt and Kareem, the Oscar I saw backed the ball up the floor and fed it to Kareem in the post. I mean, that is 100% the right thing to do, but I really cannot bump him up any spots by saying, "Well, you guys don't know. You didn't watch him play!"
I am going to put him here and hope that guys born between 1936 and 1956 don't all show up at my house looking to kick my ass.
11. Kobe Bryant - I will move him ahead of Oscar. 5x champion, 1x MVP, 11x first-team All-NBA, 2x Finals MVP. When you the top 20 of this list, you are playing in some really rarified air. I mean, I saw Barkley play a LOT and know how good he was. He was 20th. Doc (4x MVP) is 17th. Now you are fighting for spots in the Top 10. Virtually everything you have done in your career will be analyzed. Look at Kobe's advanced stats:
Win Shares - 19th
WS/48 - 62nd (!!)
PER - 27th
BPM - 30th
VORP - 12th
In these categories, Kobe NEVER led the league for a year. NEVER.
There are a number of players who are high-volume, low-efficiency players (Isiah, Iverson, Westbrook). Kobe is basically their king. He did the high-volume, low-efficiency schtick better than everyone else. His adjusted shooting is about +1,100. That is good, not top 10 good. 100% of Kobe's adjusted shooting + is......free throws.
But anyway, Kobe had a great career. Could it be argued that he maybe ought to be Top 9? Yeah. Could it be argued that he could be dropped several spots? Yep. I think 11 is fair.
#RIP.
10. Jerry West -- we have just gone through a list of great players, many of whom were hurt by their post-season play. Jerry West may have never won a regular season MVP (10x First-Team All-NBA, MVP placements of 2-2-2-2-3-5-5-5, adjusted shooting plus 2700) but his playoff stats are crazy. There are 4 players in the history of the NBA with 20+ playoff Win Shares playing at a .200+ rate. Jordan, James, Johnson, West. That is it.
https://stathead.com/tiny/3wMcZ
He is 3rd in playoff PPG. He leads the Finals in total points and is 3rd in Finals PPG. Jerry West has 1,679 Finals points. Steph Curry has 741. IF we are going to give Kawhi Leonard Top 36 consideration (which I did) based upon his great playoff stats, we should recognize that Kawhi Leonard has 362 Finals points. If he quadruples his 362, he'd have 1,448. Do you think we wouldn't be talking "Kawhi Leonard top 10" if he did that?
I realize that Jerry West went 1-8 in NBA Finals. He was Finals MVP one of those loss years. In 1962, Frank Selvy had a wide open jumper to win Game 7 and beat Russell - miss.
In any event, Jerry West is a top 10 player. I tell you what - the next guy to get 1,500 Finals points and average 30 PPG, I will put him in my Top 10 also. So if Steph Curry more than doubles his production while pushing his Finals average up 4 1/2 points per game, he is in. I think LeBron would need to average 35 PPG for his next 20 games to push his Finals average up to 30PPG. Kevin Durant? He has the average, he just needs...........1045 more Finals points.
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