The Official MSF List of the Top 20 NBA Players Ever (and where Dirk Nowitzki falls among the game’s all-time greats)

During this past NBA season’s playoffs, a topic that gained steam with each successive round was where Dirk Nowitzki ranks among the all-time greats.

Before this season, Dirk was considered “too soft” or too much of a “loser” to be included among the upper tier NBA greats. Yet, as Dirk carried his Mavs from one round to the next, vanquishing favored foes and outdated opinions every step of the way, his place in NBA history seemed to skyrocket upwards.

Off site, several MSF writers began debating where Dirk placed among the top 20 NBA players of all-time. We decided that there was only one fair way to determine it: have everyone in the debate submit their top 20 players of all-time, and let’s see what the aggregate opinion turned out to be.

Here are the results:

MSF Writers’ Top 20 NBA Players of All-Time

Rank	Player	Points
1	Michael Jordan	7
T-2	Bill Russell	17
T-2	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	17
4	Magic Johnson	23
5	Larry Bird	27
6	Wilt Chamberlain	28
7	Oscar Robertson	44
8	Shaquille O’Neal	45
9	Kobe Bryant	50
10	Tim Duncan	52
11	Hakeem Olajuwan	53
12	Jerry West	58
13	Moses Malone	59
14	John Havlick	84
T-15	Julius Erving	85
T-15	Dirk Nowtizki	85
17	Karl Malone	86
18	Charles Barkley	89
19	Isiah Thomas	93
20	Elgin Baylor	96

Honorable mention: Bob Cousy, Elvin Hayes (97 points), Scottie Pippen (99), Patrick Ewing (24), Rick Barry, LeBron James, Clyde Drexler (101), John Stockton (102), Kevin Garnett, David Robinson (103), Dwyane Wade, Robert Parish (104)

Here is how the points worked:

• Five MSF writers submitted their top 20 list: Jon Washburn, Brandon Onda, Chris Callaway, Kevin Luljak, and Josh Tinley
• Each player was given points based on where they fell on each list; #1 received 1 point, #2 received 2 points, and so on.
• If a player did not appear on a list, he was given a value of 21 points for that list.
• The total points were then added up and the players were ranked from fewest points to most.

Since assessing Dirk’s place in history was the original goal for this project, let’s highlight his placement first.

Dirk came in tied for 15th with Dr. J, Julius Erving. They are right behind John Havlicek and right above Karl Malone. Personally, I think that sounds about right.

What do you think? Is 15th too high or too low for Dirk?

Here are the individual writers’ rankings and their explanations:

Josh Tinley:

1. Michael Jordan
2. Bill Russell
3. Wilt Chamberlain
4. Kareem Abdul Jabbar
5. Earvin Johnson
6. Larry Bird
7. Kobe Bryant
8. Tim Duncan
9. Oscar Robertson
10. Shaquille O’Neal
11. Moses Malone
12. Hakeem Olajuwon
13. Bob Cousy
14. Jerry West
15. John Havlicek
16. Julius Erving
17. Rick Barry
18. Dirk Nowitzki
19. Karl Malone
20. Charles Barkley

I feel confident about my top 9, both that they are the best nine players in NBA history and that they are in the correct order.

Players 10 through 12 could fall in any order. I gave Shaq the edge because of his four rings and three Finals MVPs. Moses gets a slight edge over Hakeem thanks to his three MVPs and longevity. After Jerry West, everything gets muddy. I gave preference to players with titles, which is why Hondo (with 8) ranks above the rest, why Malone and Barkley are behind Dirk, and why Elgin Baylor is sitting at 21 or 22.

The most difficult part of putting together this list was ranking players whose careers ended before I was born. Bob Cousy was the toughest player to place. Cooz won 6 championships (“That’s the only argument I need, Shawn”) and was first-team All NBA for 10 consecutive years. The knock against Cousy is that he never won a title without Bill Russell. (You’ll notice that Scottie Pippen isn’t on this list; he’s fighting with Baylor for #21.) But Cousy was the league MVP in 1957, the Celtics’ first championship year (and Russell’s first year in the NBA). He also created the point guard position as we know it today. (Or so I’ve been told. I wasn’t there to see for myself.)

If the NBA insists on referring to what happened 35 years ago as a merger, and not a four-team expansion, then players’ ABA careers have to count. Thus Dr. J and Rick Barry both make the list. Barry especially feels a bit high. The 17th-best player in history shouldn’t change teams as frequently as Barry did. And the advanced metrics do him no favors. (#44 all time in PER; #62 in win shares per 48 minutes.) But Barry gets credit for winning titles in both leagues and leading a Warriors team with marginal talent to a four-game sweep of the Washington Bullets (led by Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes) in the 1975 Finals. Barry also made 5 All-NBA First Teams (as many as Barkley and one more than Dirk) and 4 All-ABA First Teams.

Jon Washburn:

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Michael Jordan
4. Magic Johnson
5. Larry Bird
6. Bill Russell
7. Tim Duncan
8. Jerry West
9. Shaquille O’Neal
10. Wilt Chamberlain
11. Hakeem Olajuwan
12. Isiah Thomas
13. Oscar Robertson
14. Moses Malone
15. Dirk Nowitzki
16. Scottie Pippen
17. Charles Barkley
18. LeBron James
19. Kevin Garnett
20. Dwyane Wade

Editor’s note: I immediately balked at Jon’s list because he *gasp* does not have MJ at #1, so I asked for his explanation. Here it is:

Kareem: 20 years, 18 quality.
Kobe: 15 years and counting, 13 quality and counting.
Jordan: 15 years, 11 quality. (Broken foot in 86, comeback year in 95, both Wizards seasons.)

Don’t worry, I will make the argument (in a future post) that Jordan’s PEAK was higher than anyone’s…but Kareem and Kobe had better CAREERS.

If u are starting a team, and u have the first overall pick, who do u take?

• A center who will be the greatest scorer of all time, win 6 rings (3 basically by himself), and play for the next 20 straight years.
• A SG whose peak is unmatched, but will leave the team in 2 years during his absolute prime (and oh, by the way, he only beat ONE transcendent star while that star was in his prime).
• Or a SG that gives u 95% of the second guy, but gives u (at least) 3 more quality years, never leaves ur team high and dry, and wins only one less title in a FAR MORE competitive era.

Lots of people (including you) might still take Jordan, and I’m cool with that. I just think we should measure someone’s entire career, rather than pull out 6 years during the weakest era in NBA history when a player may have had the second best player in the league as well as the greatest coach of all time on his own team.

Brandon Onda:

Click here to see Brandon’s list, which was posted last week.

Chris Callaway:

1. Michael Jordan
2. Bill Russell
3. Larry Bird
4. Magic Johnson
5. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
6. Wilt Chamberlain
7. Oscar Robertson
8. Tim Duncan
9. Jerry West
10. Shaquille O’Neal
11. Hakeem Olajuwon
12. Moses Malone
13. Kobe Bryant
14. John Havlicek
15. Julius Erving
16. Dirk Nowitzki
17. Elgin Baylor
18. Karl Malone
19. Charles Barkley
20. LeBron James

After this years finals, Dirk Nowitzki deserves to break free from the “Best Players to Never Win a Championship” group, but I think he still sits at the bottom of the “Best Players Ever” group.  Dr. J, Moses Malone, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson are the only players above him to only won one title, and yeah, they are pretty good. I think this is as far as Dirk will ever move up a list like this, as I don’t see the Mavs winning any more titles with him. He will inevitably get passed by the likes of Dwyane Wade and LeBron if the Heat can win not 1, not 2, not 3…titles, which I think will unfortunately happen.

As for the top of the list, I think it’s fairly hard to go against Jordan and Russell 1-2. Russell may have more titles, but c’mon, it’s MJ. I like Bird over Magic and Kareem, as I think Bird was the better player whose body broke down too soon. Havlicek and West had brilliant careers, but if Kobe can find a way to win one more title, I think he vaults all the way up to #7.

Kevin Luljak:

Kevin definitely had the most unique picks. It will be coming soon as its own post…

So…we showed you ours; now show us yours. What does your list of the top 20 NBA players ever look like? Chime in below.

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