2014 Anger General Greatest of All Time #16

[Macrotus]

Isiah

2x champs in the toughest era in the nba.

[Y2K]

Voting closes at 7 PM CST.

[PhutureDynasty]

Voting closes at 7 PM CST.

Mikan still holding on with less than an hour to go.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Mikan:

5 titles.

The only time he did NOT win the title as the game's best player:

1. Played in playoffs with a broken leg. Still averaged 20 ppg.
2. Retired... came back late in 2nd season after 18 month layoff. (sound familiar?)


[Note: Some of you guys are ALL about the "lead dog" rings. Well... it should be interesting to see who you've voted for in this spot.]

[Yuh]

Holy shitballs Mikan is winning! Abe is influential!

I don't particularly care one way or another for Abe's "takes" on basketball, nor do I particularly care for agreeing with dwc and TDK. It's safe to say that I was voting for Mikan despite their inclinations.

[elmouse03]

Mikan:

5 titles.

The only time he did NOT win the title as the game's best player:

1. Played in playoffs with a broken leg. Still averaged 20 ppg.
2. Retired... came back late in 2nd season after 18 month layoff. (sound familiar?)


[Note: Some of you guys are ALL about the "lead dog" rings. Well... it should be interesting to see who you've voted for in this spot.]

Well I voted for Pettit. In 58 2nd year small forward and future HOFer Cliff Hagan lead the Hawks in scoring in the playoffs but Pettit lead the team in scoring in the finals.

[thedangerouskitchen]

People keep talking about Mikan's "era", yet he won the NBA Championship in 1954 (as the undisputed best/most valuable player on his team) facing many of the same players Bill Russell competed with/against his first few years in the league: Cousy, Sharman, Macauley, Johnston, Lovellette, Arizin, Schayes, Gallatin, etc. In fact, look at the participants in the 1954, 1957 and 1960 All-Star games:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/all ... _1954.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.basketball-reference.com/all ... _1957.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.basketball-reference.com/all ... _1960.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I sure don't see any huge disparity in talent during that 7 year span. So the way I see it, if we're going to dismiss Mikan's era then we should discount EVERY players' accomplishments at least through the 1960 season... including Russell's.

Further, if Mikan was still a dominating player in 1954, and the overall talent in the league was just marginally better 5-6-7 years later, it stands to reason that he would have continued to dominate during that period had he not retired.

Mikan's scoring and FG% was way down by 1954 from his best years.

But the main thing that is that the league saw an increase in size and athleticism by the time 1961 had arrived.

Red Kerr, Walt Bellamy, Russell, Wilt, and a couple others came after Mikan was the big man in a smaller man's league.

I'm not saying that Mikan would be a mere role player. But i don't see him quite being able to have the impact that he had in the 40s-1952.

He was no longer going to be playing against lesser talent, skill and athleticism.

So what if 54 Mikan wasn't as good as 51 Mikan... 96 Jordan wasn't as good as 91 Jordan. Point is Mikan was still a dominating force in 1954, still the best player on the best team in a league when the overall level of talent wasn't much different than it was in 1960.