Favorite NBA Players ( All Time )

[Slacker13]

I am not looking for the greatest, just those players who stick in your mind. When I was a kid I went to as many Milwaukee Bucks game as possible and I still like the players from the 80's the most.

Alex English
Kiki Vandeweghe
(The greatest 1-2 combo in Bball history IMO)

Larry Bird
George Gervin
Dr J
Kevin McHale
Bob Lanier
Marques Johnson
Moses Malone
Sidney Moncrief
Gus Williams
Darryl Dawkins
Mike Dunleavy - would stand 6 feet behind the three point line and drill them

[Michael Davis]

Jack Sikma and Fred Roberts.

I hear Sikma was a cokehead.

-Michael

[Boris]

Remember when you were a kid and you'd play one-on-one with your buddy and you'd both choose which NBA star you were going to be that day?

I always picked Kurt Rambis.

Needless to say I was a very bad basketball player. I'm even worse now.

[tyfromm]

Manute Bol

Is there even anyone close?

[WEASEL45]

vinnie "microwave" johnson

[JTrout]

Pete Maravich

[paland]

Alvan Adams. Center for the Phx Suns in 1976-1987 era.

[J_V]

Uncle Reggie Miller.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Favorite, as opposed to best, - Dave Cowens, and it isn't even close.

[Slacker13]

Good Choice. Now that's a player who had the heart and work ethic of Jordan.

[adios]

Before I get into Manute Bol as a player I'd like to say a couple of things about him as a human being. Manute actually made a lot of money playing basketball but apparently spent most of it trying to help his countrymen in Ethiopia. Apparently not everything worked out in his efforts as I don't remember all the details but I think it should be noted that he cared about his people a lot. I know Charles Barkley and Manute are friends. I don't think Manute lives in the states either but could be wrong.

Remember when Don Nelson was coaching him and had him taking an occasional 3 ptr? A great shot blocker and he used to tick of the other players with his shot blocking ability. He definitely rained on a few parades.

[adios]

Seriously I've enjoyed watching too many players to mention here. One guy that was unique IMO was Orlando Woolridge, a teamate of MJ and a decent player in his own right. Orlando Woolridge had the greatest, most shameless scream (best term I can think of) when he would get fouled and wanted to get the referees to notice. I've never heard anything like it as it would literally rise above the noise level of the crowd and actually quiet the crowd. I still laugh about it to this day.

Another unique character was Vernon "Mad Max" Maxwell. That guy had absolutely no concience when it cam to shooting. He could miss 3 ptr after 3 ptr after and not hesitate in putting up the next one. I know the bad stuff about Maxwell too. He was a psycho.

[sfer]

John Starks.

[cold_cash]

Buck Williams

Darryl Dawkins, (How can a guy nicknamed "Chocolate Thunder" not be everyone's favorite?)

Clyde Drexler

[M2d]

magic. favorite, best, smoothest.
Pistol Pete: what jason williams wishes he could be.
Larry Legend. How can you not like a guy who'd tell his defender how he'd beat him and then go do it exactly as mapped?
Doctor J. just because.
Jamal Wilkes. ugliest stroke and most beautiful shot. As an added bonus, this is a converted muslim who kept his father's name because of the respect he had for him.
Dennis Rodman: because I hit him with a foul ball in a batting cage in sacramento and he complemented me on the hit.
Jason Kidd: because i used to run into him around berkeley.
Gary Payton: because he once offered me shoes.

Waymon Tisdale/Byron Scott/Michael Jordan/Jon Sunvold: because they signed my program at a Rainbow Classic back in the 80's (it was a hell of a tournament that year!!).
Clyde Drexler: because anyone whose given name was Clyde and who lived up to the name Glide just had to be cool.

[Michael Davis]

Vernon Maxwell's missing conscience was not restricted to jacking up treys.

-Michael

[Phat Mack]

These are the guy that I most enjoyed watching.

Dr. J; invented the modern game.

Bill "The Hill" McGill; his jump hook shot from the corner (or rather, my emulation of it), singlehandedly ended my high school basketball career.

Walt Frazier; the brains behind the last "great" Knicks team.

Latrell Sprewell; always in the game (skip over this one if you want).

Dolph Shays; the last player-coach that I remember seeing play live. (There must have been more recent ones, but I've got a head cold this morning. (Go Nats!)) He always gave the impression of being a great shool-yard player who wandered onto an NBA court.

[BeerMoney]

My Least Favorite:

Kobe
Karl Malone
Isiah
Gary Payton

[ericd]

Hawthorne Wingo

[Philuva]

n/m

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

And if Mike Tyson or Lennox Lewis looked at him funny on a basketball court he'd throw the first punch. /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[mosta]

Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Eddie Jones. smooth, classy.

re Manute. What I read about him on cnn.com a few months ago was that he is currently destitute in Sudan after having invested all his savings in the war. whether that makes him more a "good" guy or a "bad" guy for "supporting" his people, I don't really know.

[Uston]

Manute lives in Hartford.

[scotnt73]

favorite player/favorite player to watch-michael jordan

favorite player(non super star)-john paxton

[DougBrennan]

The guy I most enjoyed watching at the time: Rick Barry.

He's kind of a jerk of a person, but he was fascinating to watch, particularly early in his career.

Doug

[mosta]

maybe the story I saw was more than "a few months" ago. this is from 2001:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1626514.stm

He earned millions of dollars in a 10-year career, setting records that still stand to this day.

But things are different now.

He suffers serious rheumatism, and his fortune has disappeared, largely due to his ceaseless support for Southern Sudan's largest rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

Waiting game

Earlier this year he managed to flee Khartoum where the authorities had been refusing to let him leave.

He has made it as far as Cairo now, where he is trying to return to his family in the United States.

He explained that after his step-mother was killed in a car accident three years ago, he has been looking after his nine-year-old half-sister, as well as his wife and son.

But the US consulate in Cairo has said he must have the correct custody papers to bring his half-sister back to the United States.

So having filled out the forms, he is just sitting in Cairo waiting to hear from lawyers.

But since the 11 September tragedy, he has heard nothing, and he now waits in Egypt, living off money sent by relatives

and from 2002:
http://cbn.org/700club/profiles/manute_bol.asp

After leaving the NBA in 1995, Manute moved to Italy to play pro ball, but he injured his knee. Meanwhile in Sudan, after years of fighting with neither side giving in, Manute supported a peace treaty aimed at ending the decades-long civil war. Manute was promised a job and many privileges if he would return to his homeland. But after he got to Sudan, getting a job was conditional upon him converting to Islam. When the peace agreement never materialized, Manute attempted to come back to the United States but was held against his will by the ruling Islamic government as they confiscated his travel documents. And he suffered debilitating rheumatoid arthritis.

Last fall Manute and his family were finally able to bribe their way out of Sudan to Cairo. Then it took some time to be admitted back into the U.S. after all the changes due to 9-11-01 as well as the paperwork to bring in his half-sister, who Manute is now raising after his stepmother died three years ago.

[Joe Tall]

It's obvious that no one in this thread has any clue about basketball fundamentals or how to win basketball games.

Bill Russell has not been mentioned, shame on you all.

Peace,
Joe Tall

[JTrout]

Bill Russell has not been mentioned, shame on you all.

I'd rather watch Nypsey Russell! /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[andyfox]

How about the hardest working player ever, who also knew what it took to win?

John Havlicek.

[M2d]

Gheorgi Mueresan (sp?) is pretty close.

[Rushmore]

Two things:

1.) One of the funniest things I can recall from the 80's (which isn't much, admittedly) was the SNL cruise line skit where you "get Manute Bol." The scene with him in the couple's bed was genuinely hysterical. It's always good to see a "star" laugh at himself.

2.) I used to live about 200 yards from Manute Bol's nightclub off Logan Circle in Washington, D.C., called, strangely enough, Manute Bol's. He would stand in the doorway and shake everyone's hand as they walked in. Seemed like a decent sort.

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
Jason Kidd: because i used to run into him around berkeley.

[/ QUOTE ]

I used to see him around too. Lamond Murray would usually shoot around at the RSF on Friday afternoons with a half-court to himself. He would nail jumpers from just about anywhere.

[M2d]

Jason Kidd seemed like the real deal. No airs about him, even after he was drafted and got the big money. Still said what's up to anyone around the way. I think that's a sign of greatness. The good and very good ones often have the attitude to prove that they're superstars. the very best already know it, so they don't have to act.

Now I'm going to get hundreds of replies contradicting this, but, hey, it's just my opinion.

[Punker]

I really enjoyed watching Danny Ainge spend all year every year preparing for the three point competition, talking about it in every interview about how it was really important to him and watching Bird come out in his warmups "Oh is that today?" and blow his doors off.

I also enjoyed watching Dominique Wilkins. And you had to respect an NBA player wearing a jeri curl and admitting his virginity in AC Green.

For pure comic value, I enjoyed Chuck Nevitt.

[Nepa]

Wow, No one mentioned Dennis Rodman.

I'll leave a Rodman quote "Fifty percent of life in the NBA is sex. The other fifty percent is money...."

[offTopic]

[ QUOTE ]
I am not looking for the greatest, just those players who stick in your mind.

[/ QUOTE ]

As a long-suffering Warrior fan, I'm hoping some of the Bay Area folks will identify.

Purvis Short, pulling up from the deep corner, the ball leaves the top of the screen because of the crappy KTVU-2 angle, only to reappear in the vicinity of the shot clock before dropping through the net.

Swish.

Sonics 110
Warriors 80 /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

...but Purvis could flat-out shoot the ball!

[Sundevils21]

Reggie Miller. Especially in the playoffs. It's Miller time.

[Ray Zee]

cousy
west
lou alcindor
wilt the stilt
russell

few will know all the names

[Nepa]

[ QUOTE ]
cousy
west
lou alcindor
wilt the stilt
russell


[/ QUOTE ]

I know 4 of 5. Who is cousy?

[Punker]

Wilt's preferred nickname was "The Big Dipper" rather than "the stilt"; he picked it up when he was young because he always had to dip down walking through doors to avoid banging his head.

[deacsoft]

Excellent choices Mr. Zee.

[Joe Tall]

Who is cousy?

Bob Cousy, the orginal hardwood magician.

Peace,
Joe Tall

[B00T]

No love for Vinnie Del Negro? VINNIE DEL FUEGO? A little tiny white guy that fires up 3's and that kind of name, definitely my favorite.

[Mayhap]

Bill Russell -- heart
Cedric Maxwell -- made goofy look good

[J_V]

If you know anything about basketball, you better know all five names.

[Oski]

[ QUOTE ]
Jason Kidd seemed like the real deal. No airs about him, even after he was drafted and got the big money. Still said what's up to anyone around the way. I think that's a sign of greatness. The good and very good ones often have the attitude to prove that they're superstars. the very best already know it, so they don't have to act.

Now I'm going to get hundreds of replies contradicting this, but, hey, it's just my opinion.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perhaps, just one: I remember when I was at Cal, Kidd got in an auto accident and fled. This showed a lack of character. I've always had a hard time getting over that.

I guess I still look at sports through the lens of my youth (long past) but I suppose that is part of the attraction. I root for the "good guys" and if they happen to also be good at the sport, so much the better.

So, even though I liked to watch Kidd play, I did not root for him (personally), whereas, I do root for the likes of Kevin Garnett or Tim Duncan.

If this seems dumb, fine. I still root for teams before the player - that is how it was when I was a kid.

[hetron]

Drazen Petrovic, Michael Jordan