When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired in 1989, after his ninth NBA Finals appearance, no player had ever scored more points, blocked more shots, or won more MVP awards. Abdul-Jabbar, perhaps most famous for his skyhook (which remains the game’s most unstoppable move), dominated the NBA for the better part of two decades. And yet, as Austin Burton writes, Kareem is routinely overlooked when NBA pundits rank the greatest players of all-time. From Dime:
Nobody, not even Jordan, can touch Kareem’s resume: Six NBA championships, three NCAA championships, two NBA Finals MVPs, six-time League MVP, 19-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year, inarguably the greatest college player ever, 11-time NBA All-Defensive, the League’s all-time leading scorer, and third in rebounds and blocks. And yet Kareem consistently gets left out when we talk about defining the G.O.A.T. Up against the game’s greatest giants, Kareem usually sits behind Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell in the eyes of the public, and sometimes even gets ranked behind Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaq. Against the entire field, Kareem often falls behind Jordan, Magic, Bird, Oscar and sometimes Jerry West in G.O.A.T. arguments.
How does that happen? For starters, 7-footers get an automatic bias against them when ranked against smaller players, with the idea that the Kobes of the world are more talented than the Shaquilles; that the Shaq-types are just bigger than most everybody, and because they don’t have to jump as high or shoot from as far away as perimeter players, the game is easier for them. But if that line of thinking should be thrown out the window for anybody, it should be Kareem. Though he stands 7-2, Kareem’s game wasn’t about using his size to punish folks. He was graceful and skilled. He was a basketball player. Kareem’s signature Sky Hook actually had him going away from the basket, rather than running people over to get to the basket.
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