Luka Dončić and Zion Williamson should get there, too, health permitting. Embiid could if he stays healthy, and so could someone like Klay Thompson. Herring: As the greatest passing big man of all time, Jokić will. To me, this exercise should be more about the breadth of history and less about the present.īeck: Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić, Joel Embiid, Trae Young. The entire thing is arbitrary, and the inclusion of active guys is important to help bridge the gap generationally and drum up interest, but I don’t quite get the rush to include quite so many current stars. It would have been easy to just roll those guys in later and reward more retired stars with complete bodies of work, rather than make them wait to find out if they’ve made the cut two decades from now. Those guys are all great, but you have to figure we’ll get an 100th Anniversary Team 25 years from now. Woo: I feel like the decision to include some of the younger active players-more specifically Damian Lillard and Anthony Davis-came at the expense of some deserving names. I also wasn’t expecting everybody who made the NBA 50 at 50 list to be put back on this one? That seemed a little too nice. Howard has more individual accolades, and Irving has the championship resume. (No offense to the Mikan family, but I also was not watching hoops in the '40s and '50s.) Lillard also doesn't have an airtight case compared to modern guys like Howard and Kyrie Irving. Dame is obviously incredible, and do I think he's more talented than someone like George Mikan? Yeah, probably. Nadkarni: You know, I was not expecting to see Damian Lillard on this list. Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard are deserving, but what separates them from Nikola Jokić (an MVP winner), Paul George, Klay Thompson and Jimmy Butler? Or the likes of Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter and Tony Parker? Pina: For some reason I wasn’t expecting some of the active players to make it, being that their careers remain unsettled. Davis has always been fantastic but was never able to single-handedly carry his club the way a prime Howard did. Howard never won it as a star but was largely responsible for giving his team a chance to earn a ring. The body of work is undeniable, but seeing him on the list, but not Dwight, makes me wonder just how much Davis benefited from winning the title alongside LeBron James. I thought for sure that one or two old-timers would get cut in favor of more current stars. I’m also surprised the entire 50th Anniversary Team made it on the 75th-anniversary list. I didn’t vote for him, but I thought most others would. Beck: That Dwight Howard didn’t make it. It was the right thing to do to preserve the sanctity of the original top 50 (and I’m too young to really have strong takes on the older guys), but if the goal had been to relitigate the entire thing in earnest, this list looks different, I think. You can argue the same for Gasol, who was a multiple-time champion with longevity. It’s extremely hard for me to believe Tim Duncan should be the only player from the later era of Spurs title teams on the list, particularly when you consider the sheer number of guys from the various Celtics dynasties of yore who made the cut. An injury-riddled prime and short peak didn’t keep Bill Walton off the list. Injuries obviously scuttled what would have been an obvious case for Rose, and he and Nikola Jokić are the only two MVP winners not to make the list. Jeremy Woo: It’s hard to pick just one, and I don’t think it’s worth making a stink, but at a glance, I’d argue strongly for Derrick Rose, Manu Ginóbili, Tony Parker and Pau Gasol. I blame Howard Beck for letting this happen. It’s hard to justify leaving him off this list for what he’s done on the court. Dwight has eight All-Star appearances, eight All-NBAs, and three DPOYs. He was the league’s most dominant center and defensive player for years. For all his antics, Howard is a surefire Hall of Famer. Rohan Nadkarni: The biggest snub has to be Dwight Howard, who I think is more accomplished than his current teammate Anthony Davis, who made the list.
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