"If I were to have had the opportunity to face Shaq I would work to prevent him from catching the ball on the box near the basket. That would mean using physical strength to force him to catch the ball further away from the basket, and to make him use more energies on all attempts to receive the ball on offense. Many centers simply don’t have the power to do that with Shaq, but that was exactly the type of physical game I was able to play for many years and I certainly believe that would be my edge against him." -Artis Gilmore
Wow, I had never read that quote from A-Train. There's no doubt that Shaq would have struggled against both Gilmore and Wilt in the physical department.
clu4u Yeah, I have heard of those statements from Parish. I think they came when he first faced Shaq during the 1992-93 season. However, to think that as strong as Gilmore was, that he still couldn't handle Chamberlain in the post is insane!
Interestingly enough, Bill Russell maintains he would play Shaq "horizontally", make Shaq run and never stop moving to tire him out. Russell had solutions for everyone but said he had to play Wilt "4-5 different ways, or Wilt would adjust to just one style".
clu4u Yeah, contrary to what some people seem to believe, Wilt was a very cerebral player as well. Wilt was exceptionally strong, but he was not as heavy as Shaq. Wilt averaged 45 minutes a game for his career. I am not sure if Shaq has a season where he even averaged 40 minutes! That strategy would be very effective on Shaq. And Russell said that back in 1997, when Shaq was around 315-325 pounds as opposed to his Laker peak of around 350 pounds or so.
Nice one as always jaranarm. This looks like it's probably from '81-82 season Artis' last with Chicago. Yeah, Kareem by that time had bulked up to around the 260lbs range. Artis having no problems at all, and what looked to be just the use of his forearm, keeping Kareem outta the paint to create space for the play.
@@Amick44 Do you have a sad memory from 1983? Kareem embarrassing Artus in the WCF. When Gilmore was with the Spurs. Big Artis was supposed to neutralize Jabbar and give SA a path to win the series. Sadder Gilmore was in his prime still while Kareem was 36 years old.
@@realg5276 actually, for both were still good, they were both just a tad past their Primes. Anyhow, I don't think many people would trade kareem's cast for artis' cast. Gervin was great, but Magic is another level.
Similar to the short clip of Wilt brushing Russell with just his forearm, Wilt looks like he is brushing bread crumbs from the dinner table. Just staggering, as Bill can attest...
The A train was a very strong player but when he played rough with one of Wilts teammates in the lakers....Wilt watched him try the same move and he involved himself in the play and one handed he threw Artis Gilmore fifteen feet away from the action.... Thats not a common sight in basketball but when Wilt wanted to move someone, especially someone he thought was bullying his teammates he didnt worry about their reputation....
Robert Parish and I are two months apart in age-we'll both be 66 this summer-and "The Chief" was no weakling,as Bill Laimbeer will attest. As for Gilmore,he was seven-two,only two-forty,but had TWENTY-SEVEN-INCH thighs and a huge upper body which gave him his brute strength . Of course,the late Maurice "The Enforcer" Lucas laid out Gilmore with some shots when the boys brawled during a Bulls-Trailblazers game,but yes,"The A Train" in one of the NBA's criminally unsung greats .
Jahidi White? LOL Dave, he wasn't strong at all...he was 6'9 and obese by NBA standards, and didn't last long at all; He made Shawn Kemp look anorexic.
Kareem could put up more of a fight if he chose, i assume that maybe considering that Kareem was a smart player, that he could even you gilmores strength against him you never know. no question that kareem was better
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's physique didn't change in 20 NBA seasons, maintaining his 7'2 frame at a very slender 235lbs; He was NEVER any heavier than that, and he LOATHED physical play and would whine about it constantly. This goes a long way to explaining why undersized centers like Wes Unseld at 6'7 and 270lbs and Dave Cowens at 6'8 and a very muscular 250lbs could really take Jabbar out of his game. Remember in the 1983 Finals when the Lakers played the 76'ers? Moses Malone destroyed, and I mean utterly humiliated Jabbar in Philadelphia's 4-game SWEEP of LA, with Malone averaging 25pts and 22 rebounds and completely taking Kareem out of his game. The " A-train " at 7'2 and approx. 290lbs was an avid weight-lifter, certified Scuba diver and all around great athlete who possessed innate, almost super-human strength even in his ABA days. I saw many battles between him and Kareem, and although Kareem had the more polished offensive game, he had nothing on Gilmore when it came to establishing position and routinely boxed out Kareem whenever he wanted. It wasn't even close. Only Wilt Chamberlain had been gifted with unusual strength for such a tall person, and he was the strongest ever, and had he played Shaq, it wouldn't even be close, since O'Neil never took conditioning seriously, and by his fourth season, all but gave up on rebounding and playing strong defense. Artis Gilmore, in today's game would be unstoppable.
Sopa,Kareem might have bulked up to 260 from his usual 235-240 when "The A Train" out-strengthed him,but Kareem wasn't muscular at all,he just got a bit pudgy .
A perfect illustration of how the current NBA is marshmallow soft. If the current "elite" teams had to play with the defensive/foul rules from any other era, they wouldn't be able to get open looks or even get to spots. And they wouldn't be able to stop any of the prior era teams. Just look at this short clip... in the current era Artis would've been called for a foul three or four times and maybe even warned of ejection. BTW - even Artis says Wilt Chamberlain was the strongest BY FAR. Wilt would've dominated Shaq at any point in Shaq's career.
I hope this video puts to rest the MYTH that all Chamberlain faced in his career was 6'6" white guys!!! Gilmore was just about as strong as Wilt, and he used every ounce of that strength to ward of guys like Bob Lanier, and the other rough & rugged Centers of his time in the NBA!!! Centers get no love in this league. The NBA today is a JUMP SHOT LEAGUE!!! We NEED CENTERS like Gilmore, Chamberlain, Walt Bellamy; Men who COMMANDED RESPECT WITH THEIR PRESENCE IN THE PAINT!!! I see VERY FEW, (If any) teams today that have a REAL PRESENCE IN THE PAINT, A SUSTAINED PRESENCE FOR 48 MINUTES OF A BALLGAME.
Sirr Jazz, Chamberlain never faced Gilmore in the NBA. Chamberlain retired from the NBA in 1973. Gilmore began his NBA career in 1976. It’s possible that they may have faced each other in a couple of NBA-ABA all-star games but that would be it.
This obsession with physical strength has a homoerotic tinge to it - skillset, mentality & application wins you games. Boxing Kareem out for an Offensive board needn't make a clip - feels twisted.
Gilmore was well known for his inhuman physical strength by the basketball community ever since he started playing almost 50 years ago. It is his most defining characteristic other than having the career FG% record. The point of this video is to showcase an example of it, nothing to do about winning games and there's no "obsession" either. If you're feeling homoerotic about it then that's your own insecurity talking.
225 was his weight during his early years. When he was older he put on more weight. NBA.com has his weight listed as high as 267. This was in the early 80s when the Lakers listed him at 265.
Kareem wasn't even the best player in 5 of his 6 championships. He only won 2 Finals MVPS, and his 2nd FMVP was undeserved. Magic Johnson set a Finals record 14 APG in the 1985 Finals and a playoff record 15.2 APG for the entire playoff run, Magic's record-setting assist averages were largely responsible for Kareem and the other Lakers' offense. As proof of how dependent Kareem was on his PGs, he became the only consensus top 10 player to miss the playoffs twice in his prime in 1975 and 1976 when he did not have Oscar or Magic. He won 0 scoring titles without Oscar feeding him the ball. In the only title that Kareem was the best player in 1971, all 3 teams he faced had under 50 wins including the Lakers without Jerry West (injured) and the barely 0.500 Bullets in the Finals with an injured Gus Johnson missing 2 of 4 games. In 1971, 1982, 1984, and 1987, Kareem's teams faced 0 50+ win teams to make the Finals (4 times). Since then, only the 1989 Pistons, 2002 Nets, and 2013 Heat have made the Finals without facing a 50+ win team in the previous rounds (3 times) Kareem's 1970s decade was so weak that 1. From 1960-present, it is the decade with the most sub-50 win teams to make the Finals. 8 of 17 sub-50 win teams to make the Finals from 1960-present came in the 1970s. Also, two of the three weakest teams record-wise to make the Finals from 1960-present came in the 1970s. Three worst records for 1960-present Finals teams 1971 Bullets - 42-40 1976 Suns - 42-40 1981 Rockets - 40-42 the 1978 Finals is also the only time since 1958 that both Finals teams had under 50 wins each. And in 1958, the season only lasted 72 games rather than 82. Talk about bum competition. It doesn't matter how many X amount of Hall of Famers Kareem faced. A team can have great individual players but still be a garbage team / weak competition. The statistical record is clear that the 1970s is the weakest decade from 1960-present 2. it is the only decade in which an MVP winner missed the playoffs (Kareem 1976). When the best player in the league can't even make the playoffs, that says a lot about the quality of the league as a whole 3. It is the only eligible decade with an MVP who did not make the 50 Greatest List in 1996 (McAdoo 1975). Post 1996, Derrick Rose is probably the only MVP who would not make the 50 Greatest due to injuries. 4. In 5 of 10 seasons in the 1970s, the league failed to produce a 60-win team. From 1980-2017, the 2000/01 season is the only time that the NBA did not produce a 60-win team in 38 seasons. and even in this year, the 2001 Lakers became 1 of 2 teams (2010 Lakers) to beat 4 50+ win teams in one playoffs, so the competition was still far superior to the bum competition of Kareem's era. 5. The ABA was competing with the NBA during the first half of the 1970s and removed some of the best available competition for multiple seasons. This heavily diluted and watered down the already-weak 1970s NBA Rick Barry - 1968/69 - 1971/72 Artis Gilmore - 1971/72 - 1975/76 Billy Cunningham - 1972/73 - 1973/74 George Gervin - 1972/73 - 1975/76 Julius Erving - 1971/72 - 1975/76 David Thompson - 1975/76 This would be like Shaq and Kobe competing against the Spurs without Duncan or vice-versa. or LeBron competing against the Warriors without Curry or vice-versa, etc etc. 6. It is the only decade without an all-time great dynasty, other than the 1940s which doesn't really count since the NBA began in 1947. Even the stone age 1950s had Mikan's Lakers 1960s - Celtics 1980s - Lakers and Celtics 1990s - Bulls 2000s - Lakers and Spurs 2010s - likely the Warriors The 1970s had more parity compared to any other decade, but more parity doesn't always mean better competition. The 1970s had parity because of several weak teams battling it out, not tough competition amongst many great teams. For example, from 1999 to 2005, only 2 teams represented the Western Conference in 7 NBA Finals (Lakers and Spurs). In that same timespan, 5 teams represented the East in the NBA Finals. The West had much less parity than the East, but won 5 of those 7 championships in that timespan regardless. The conference with much less parity was still of much higher quality. Kareem might be the most decorated player of all-time in terms of accolades, but in context he's nowhere near deserving of GOAT candidacy. He's better suited for the lower end of the top 10. Played in the weakest 1960-present era in his prime and was a follower on the vast majority of his Finals/Title teams rather than a leader. Replace him with Shaq or Hakeem and they end up with more than 6 rings under such favorable circumstances. They didn't have the all-time leader in regular season and playoff APG to feed them their points while facing a bunch of sub-50 win teams to the Finals. If you replace Kareem with a healthy Amare Stoudemire the Lakers/Bucks would get similar results. If Amare can average 30-11 on 54% in the 2005 Playoffs with Nash feeding him (and against far lower-scoring defenses and better competition like the Spurs) no reason he can't put up Kareem's numbers against a bunch of injured and sub-50 win teams while having the two best playmakers in history feeding him the ball.
I Never Reply to Any Comments Oh look everyone it's another millenial explaining NBA history to us and how all the players he grew up watching (past decade) are SO MUCH BETTER than the players WE grew up watching (60's-80's). NEATO!!!
Interesting analysis. But you lost your argument when you compared him with Amare Stoudemire. Kareem is one of the 3 greatest centers of all-time (and some say the greatest).
@@tabibnialawfirm you think so? I think Kareem only became relevant after he rode magics coattail lol. Kareem got owned by Dave cowers in the finals then missed the playoffs in his MVP season. He was never relevant after that until he turned 32 And got magic in 1980., rookie magic closed out the finals series without Kareem. After that he got owned by moses Malone, then he got owned by Olajuwon. ,.And he won his 6th championship by averaging 13pts And 4 rebs in 29 minutes, clearly coattail riding magic Johnson. Kareem wouldn't even be top 5 center if he never got magic Johnson at the age of 32. Bill Russell, wilt Chamberlain, hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone And Shaq are better than Kareem whose overrated skyhook won him 2 scoring titles.
![Wolf Of Wallstreet Matthew McConaughey [FULL SCENE] [HD]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wM6exo00T5I/mqdefault.jpg)
Robert Parish said Gilmore was the strongest center he ever faced, and the Chief played against young(er) Shaquille O'neal, mind you, for example.
Whoops, you beat me by two months with your remark!
BasketballJones48021 And Artis had some moves (other than slams).
@@Amick44artis Gilmore lefty skyhook shot was unstoppable, artis Gilmore could've given jabber lefty skyhook shot lessons & private tutoring
"If I were to have had the opportunity to face Shaq I would work to prevent him from catching the ball on the box near the basket. That would mean using physical strength to force him to catch the ball further away from the basket, and to make him use more energies on all attempts to receive the ball on offense. Many centers simply don’t have the power to do that with Shaq, but that was exactly the type of physical game I was able to play for many years and I certainly believe that would be my edge against him." -Artis Gilmore
Wow, I had never read that quote from A-Train. There's no doubt that Shaq would have struggled against both Gilmore and Wilt in the physical department.
Robert Parish when asked of Shaq was theost powerful he faced, replied that A-Train was the strongest.
clu4u
Yeah, I have heard of those statements from Parish. I think they came when he first faced Shaq during the 1992-93 season. However, to think that as strong as Gilmore was, that he still couldn't handle Chamberlain in the post is insane!
Interestingly enough, Bill Russell maintains he would play Shaq "horizontally", make Shaq run and never stop moving to tire him out. Russell had solutions for everyone but said he had to play Wilt "4-5 different ways, or Wilt would adjust to just one style".
clu4u
Yeah, contrary to what some people seem to believe, Wilt was a very cerebral player as well. Wilt was exceptionally strong, but he was not as heavy as Shaq. Wilt averaged 45 minutes a game for his career. I am not sure if Shaq has a season where he even averaged 40 minutes! That strategy would be very effective on Shaq. And Russell said that back in 1997, when Shaq was around 315-325 pounds as opposed to his Laker peak of around 350 pounds or so.
YES HE WILL DEFINETLY BE A MATCHUP PROBLEM FOR SHAQ IN TERMS OF HIS LONG ARMS AND JUMPING ABILITY AND DEFENSE
Nice one as always jaranarm. This looks like it's probably from '81-82 season Artis' last with Chicago. Yeah, Kareem by that time had bulked up to around the 260lbs range. Artis having no problems at all, and what looked to be just the use of his forearm, keeping Kareem outta the paint to create space for the play.
***** I have old memories of Artis slamming on Kareem and Kareem ducking out of the way. More than once.
@@Amick44 Do you have a sad memory from 1983? Kareem embarrassing Artus in the WCF. When Gilmore was with the Spurs.
Big Artis was supposed to neutralize Jabbar and give SA a path to win the series.
Sadder Gilmore was in his prime still while Kareem was 36 years old.
@@realg5276 actually, for both were still good, they were both just a tad past their Primes. Anyhow, I don't think many people would trade kareem's cast for artis' cast.
Gervin was great, but Magic is another level.
Similar to the short clip of Wilt brushing Russell with just his forearm, Wilt looks like he is brushing bread crumbs from the dinner table. Just staggering, as Bill can attest...
Can you guide me to that clip?
It is a Wilt Chamberlain Archive clip, I will search. He also runs over Oscar in another clip, just bulldozes Oscar, staggers to the baseline.
Truly gifted player
@1:58 "Face Masked Wilt Chamberlain battles Bill Russell and Nate Thurmond", Wilt Chamberlain Archive.
ARTIS GILMORE COULD BE THE 10TH BEST CENTER OF ALL TIME. .....AND YES HE'S BETTER THAN DWIGHT HOWARD PEOPLE.....
Darryl Sloan fuck yeah. D12 is overrated. I cannot believe they ever compared him to Shaq.
Probably better than 10. Around 7 or 8.
And Wilt was casually dunking and blocking Artis Gilmore in the paint and people still Believe Wilt can't beat Kareem😂
you can see artis gilmore's fur coat at the nba hall of fame in springfield....very groovy....
The A train was a very strong player but when he played rough with one of Wilts teammates in the lakers....Wilt watched him try the same move and he involved himself in the play and one handed he threw Artis Gilmore fifteen feet away from the action....
Thats not a common sight in basketball but when Wilt wanted to move someone, especially someone he thought was bullying his teammates he didnt worry about their reputation....
Robert Parish and I are two months apart in age-we'll both be 66 this summer-and "The Chief" was no weakling,as Bill Laimbeer will attest. As for Gilmore,he was seven-two,only two-forty,but had TWENTY-SEVEN-INCH thighs and a huge upper body which gave him his brute strength . Of course,the late Maurice "The Enforcer" Lucas laid out Gilmore with some shots when the boys brawled during a Bulls-Trailblazers game,but yes,"The A Train" in one of the NBA's criminally unsung greats .
Hello, is there any possibility to get the copy of this full game? Please, contact with me if you still have this material.
Is there any possibility to watch copy of this game? I'd love to see it, but I can't find it on YT. If you can help me, please contact with me.
artis, the 2nd strongeest player to ever play the game only behind wilt
Artis Gilmore amongst the strongest NBA players with Shaquille O'Neal& Wilt Chamberlain. Maybe Jahidi White too.
Jahidi White? LOL Dave, he wasn't strong at all...he was 6'9 and obese by NBA standards, and didn't last long at all; He made Shawn Kemp look anorexic.
DAAAAMN
Wilt can do that to him!
Early 1960s wilt pre knee surgery would've ateup jabber with 50s points & 🚫 🚚 truckload of jabber skyhook shots
According to Robert Parrish, A-Train was the strongest man he competed against.
I think artis was 2nd strongest player in NBA history after wilt
After Wilt Chamberlain Artis Gilmore WAS the strongest player in NBA history.
Kareem could put up more of a fight if he chose, i assume that maybe considering that Kareem was a smart player, that he could even you gilmores strength against him you never know. no question that kareem was better
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's physique didn't change in 20 NBA seasons, maintaining his 7'2 frame at a very slender 235lbs; He was NEVER any heavier than that, and he LOATHED physical play and would whine about it constantly. This goes a long way to explaining why undersized centers like Wes Unseld at 6'7 and 270lbs and Dave Cowens at 6'8 and a very muscular 250lbs could really take Jabbar out of his game. Remember in the 1983 Finals when the Lakers played the 76'ers? Moses Malone destroyed, and I mean utterly humiliated Jabbar in Philadelphia's 4-game SWEEP of LA, with Malone averaging 25pts and 22 rebounds and completely taking Kareem out of his game. The " A-train " at 7'2 and approx. 290lbs was an avid weight-lifter, certified Scuba diver and all around great athlete who possessed innate, almost super-human strength even in his ABA days. I saw many battles between him and Kareem, and although Kareem had the more polished offensive game, he had nothing on Gilmore when it came to establishing position and routinely boxed out Kareem whenever he wanted. It wasn't even close. Only Wilt Chamberlain had been gifted with unusual strength for such a tall person, and he was the strongest ever, and had he played Shaq, it wouldn't even be close, since O'Neil never took conditioning seriously, and by his fourth season, all but gave up on rebounding and playing strong defense. Artis Gilmore, in today's game would be unstoppable.
Sopa,Kareem might have bulked up to 260 from his usual 235-240 when "The A Train" out-strengthed him,but Kareem wasn't muscular at all,he just got a bit pudgy .
A perfect illustration of how the current NBA is marshmallow soft. If the current "elite" teams had to play with the defensive/foul rules from any other era, they wouldn't be able to get open looks or even get to spots. And they wouldn't be able to stop any of the prior era teams. Just look at this short clip... in the current era Artis would've been called for a foul three or four times and maybe even warned of ejection. BTW - even Artis says Wilt Chamberlain was the strongest BY FAR. Wilt would've dominated Shaq at any point in Shaq's career.
Sloan,Howard couldn't carry Gilmore's sneakers when it came to strength or pure game !!!!!
I hope this video puts to rest the MYTH that all Chamberlain faced in his career was 6'6" white guys!!!
Gilmore was just about as strong as Wilt, and he used every ounce of that strength to ward of guys like Bob Lanier, and the other rough & rugged Centers of his time in the NBA!!!
Centers get no love in this league. The NBA today is a JUMP SHOT LEAGUE!!!
We NEED CENTERS like Gilmore, Chamberlain, Walt Bellamy; Men who COMMANDED RESPECT WITH THEIR PRESENCE IN THE PAINT!!!
I see VERY FEW, (If any) teams today that have a REAL PRESENCE IN THE PAINT, A SUSTAINED PRESENCE FOR 48 MINUTES OF A BALLGAME.
Sirr Jazz, Chamberlain never faced Gilmore in the NBA. Chamberlain retired from the NBA in 1973. Gilmore began his NBA career in 1976. It’s possible that they may have faced each other in a couple of NBA-ABA all-star games but that would be it.
BULL SHIT !!!!!! Kareem never weighted 265 pounds ....
This obsession with physical strength has a homoerotic tinge to it - skillset, mentality & application wins you games. Boxing Kareem out for an Offensive board needn't make a clip - feels twisted.
Gilmore was well known for his inhuman physical strength by the basketball community ever since he started playing almost 50 years ago. It is his most defining characteristic other than having the career FG% record. The point of this video is to showcase an example of it, nothing to do about winning games and there's no "obsession" either. If you're feeling homoerotic about it then that's your own insecurity talking.
jaranarm he'll like any ex-pro rather reminisce about rings than raw power - it's basketball damn it!!!
Kareem is 225 not 265. But he could definitely do that to anybody else besides maybe wilt or shaq.
225 was his weight during his early years. When he was older he put on more weight. NBA.com has his weight listed as high as 267. This was in the early 80s when the Lakers listed him at 265.
Kareem wasn't even the best player in 5 of his 6 championships. He only won 2 Finals MVPS, and his 2nd FMVP was undeserved. Magic Johnson set a Finals record 14 APG in the 1985 Finals and a playoff record 15.2 APG for the entire playoff run, Magic's record-setting assist averages were largely responsible for Kareem and the other Lakers' offense.
As proof of how dependent Kareem was on his PGs, he became the only consensus top 10 player to miss the playoffs twice in his prime in 1975 and 1976 when he did not have Oscar or Magic. He won 0 scoring titles without Oscar feeding him the ball.
In the only title that Kareem was the best player in 1971, all 3 teams he faced had under 50 wins including the Lakers without Jerry West (injured) and the barely 0.500 Bullets in the Finals with an injured Gus Johnson missing 2 of 4 games.
In 1971, 1982, 1984, and 1987, Kareem's teams faced 0 50+ win teams to make the Finals (4 times). Since then, only the 1989 Pistons, 2002 Nets, and 2013 Heat have made the Finals without facing a 50+ win team in the previous rounds (3 times)
Kareem's 1970s decade was so weak that
1. From 1960-present, it is the decade with the most sub-50 win teams to make the Finals. 8 of 17 sub-50 win teams to make the Finals from 1960-present came in the 1970s.
Also, two of the three weakest teams record-wise to make the Finals from 1960-present came in the 1970s.
Three worst records for 1960-present Finals teams
1971 Bullets - 42-40
1976 Suns - 42-40
1981 Rockets - 40-42
the 1978 Finals is also the only time since 1958 that both Finals teams had under 50 wins each. And in 1958, the season only lasted 72 games rather than 82. Talk about bum competition.
It doesn't matter how many X amount of Hall of Famers Kareem faced. A team can have great individual players but still be a garbage team / weak competition. The statistical record is clear that the 1970s is the weakest decade from 1960-present
2. it is the only decade in which an MVP winner missed the playoffs (Kareem 1976). When the best player in the league can't even make the playoffs, that says a lot about the quality of the league as a whole
3. It is the only eligible decade with an MVP who did not make the 50 Greatest List in 1996 (McAdoo 1975). Post 1996, Derrick Rose is probably the only MVP who would not make the 50 Greatest due to injuries.
4. In 5 of 10 seasons in the 1970s, the league failed to produce a 60-win team. From 1980-2017, the 2000/01 season is the only time that the NBA did not produce a 60-win team in 38 seasons. and even in this year, the 2001 Lakers became 1 of 2 teams (2010 Lakers) to beat 4 50+ win teams in one playoffs, so the competition was still far superior to the bum competition of Kareem's era.
5. The ABA was competing with the NBA during the first half of the 1970s and removed some of the best available competition for multiple seasons. This heavily diluted and watered down the already-weak 1970s NBA
Rick Barry - 1968/69 - 1971/72
Artis Gilmore - 1971/72 - 1975/76
Billy Cunningham - 1972/73 - 1973/74
George Gervin - 1972/73 - 1975/76
Julius Erving - 1971/72 - 1975/76
David Thompson - 1975/76
This would be like Shaq and Kobe competing against the Spurs without Duncan or vice-versa. or LeBron competing against the Warriors without Curry or vice-versa, etc etc.
6. It is the only decade without an all-time great dynasty, other than the 1940s which doesn't really count since the NBA began in 1947. Even the stone age 1950s had Mikan's Lakers
1960s - Celtics
1980s - Lakers and Celtics
1990s - Bulls
2000s - Lakers and Spurs
2010s - likely the Warriors
The 1970s had more parity compared to any other decade, but more parity doesn't always mean better competition. The 1970s had parity because of several weak teams battling it out, not tough competition amongst many great teams.
For example, from 1999 to 2005, only 2 teams represented the Western Conference in 7 NBA Finals (Lakers and Spurs). In that same timespan, 5 teams represented the East in the NBA Finals. The West had much less parity than the East, but won 5 of those 7 championships in that timespan regardless. The conference with much less parity was still of much higher quality.
Kareem might be the most decorated player of all-time in terms of accolades, but in context he's nowhere near deserving of GOAT candidacy. He's better suited for the lower end of the top 10.
Played in the weakest 1960-present era in his prime and was a follower on the vast majority of his Finals/Title teams rather than a leader. Replace him with Shaq or Hakeem and they end up with more than 6 rings under such favorable circumstances. They didn't have the all-time leader in regular season and playoff APG to feed them their points while facing a bunch of sub-50 win teams to the Finals.
If you replace Kareem with a healthy Amare Stoudemire the Lakers/Bucks would get similar results. If Amare can average 30-11 on 54% in the 2005 Playoffs with Nash feeding him (and against far lower-scoring defenses and better competition like the Spurs) no reason he can't put up Kareem's numbers against a bunch of injured and sub-50 win teams while having the two best playmakers in history feeding him the ball.
I Never Reply to Any Comments
Oh look everyone it's another millenial explaining NBA history to us and how all the players he grew up watching (past decade) are SO MUCH BETTER than the players WE grew up watching (60's-80's). NEATO!!!
Kareem was smart enough not to rock the boat when he had good teammates. Kareem is the G.O.A.T.
Interesting analysis. But you lost your argument when you compared him with Amare Stoudemire. Kareem is one of the 3 greatest centers of all-time (and some say the greatest).
@@tabibnialawfirm you think so? I think Kareem only became relevant after he rode magics coattail lol.
Kareem got owned by Dave cowers in the finals then missed the playoffs in his MVP season. He was never relevant after that until he turned 32 And got magic in 1980., rookie magic closed out the finals series without Kareem. After that he got owned by moses Malone, then he got owned by Olajuwon.
,.And he won his 6th championship by averaging 13pts And 4 rebs in 29 minutes, clearly coattail riding magic Johnson.
Kareem wouldn't even be top 5 center if he never got magic Johnson at the age of 32.
Bill Russell, wilt Chamberlain, hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone And Shaq are better than Kareem whose overrated skyhook won him 2 scoring titles.
@@realitybites629 So that means if he chose to play 42 mins he would be avg about 20pts a game for a 42 yrs old man. Not bad isn't it?