This came up just about ywo years ago, here:
http://www.gangsterbb.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=000231 Here's what I said then:
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Jordan
Chamberlin
Jabbar
Robertson
West
Magic
Bird
Russell
Erving
Bob Petit
Jordan hands down, was the best by far IMO.
Chamberlin is an easy second. Robertson & West were the Magic & Bird of their time, but it's hard to rank those four among themselves. Just about any order would be OK with me.
You could argue that Shaq belongs on the list above at about #8 maybe, and Malone is probably a better player than Petit if only because all of today's athletes are better than their counterparts of 40 years ago. (Hmmmm...If that's the case, maybe Magic & Bird should be ahead of Robertson & West)
I have Russell so low because he just couldn't score. True, he didn't have to, but still....
I also think the number of championships he won is somewhat over-rated. He had the best supporting cast, and the league only had 8 teams and two rounds of playoffs, so it was much easier to win.
Depending on how their careers play out, Garnett, Duncan, Kobe, and, of course, Shaq, have a chance to crack my top ten.
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And to that last gtoup of four I'd add Lebron James