In ranking the top 40 NBA Players of all time, I am using the following guidelines and restrictions to guide my decision making: 1) Only players who are drafted in 1957 or onward are eligible -- this is because 1957 is the first year of Bill Russell's career, and this is, in my opinion, when the contemporary history of the NBA starts. - Because of this rule we lose out on about five historical players whose case I would review in detail: Dolph Shayes, Bob Pettit, George Mikan, Bob Cousy, and Bill Sharman. - Of these five, Bob Pettit feels the most unfair to exclude, but this is the result of the markers we lay down. No matter where said marker is, someone will be left out. - I will further posit Bob Pettit's ranking in brief. He competed against Bill Russell for all but the first two years of Pettit's career, and was in that time the best player at his position, made All-NBA first year every year but one to his retirement, and also was the best player on a champion who played Bill Russell in the playoffs. I suspect he'd have landed in the 25-30ish category. 2) There are exemption clauses for two players who, on accolades alone, are indisputable inclusions, but because of their personal life choices cannot be included in a ranking over which I preside. These two players are Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone. I will not posit hypothetical rankings for them. 3) In order to be eligible for review, a player must have made at least a single first team all NBA, or multiple All-NBA second and third teams. All players who made at least 2 All NBA First Teams (within our other parameters) were reviewed without question. All other players had their case considered based on my own institutional knowledge of the league and the notable achievements of their career. 4) ABA Stats are included in the equation for this ranking as well. This means that Julius Erving receives the most notable boost to his career, and other players such as Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel, Mel Daniels, and more receive a review for their case. 5) While there is no official "games played" criteria, I could not find enough sample in his resume to fairly evaluate Bill Walton, and for that reason he is excluded from consideration, though I like him greatly and wished to see him included in this ranking somehow. 6) There is *not* a statistical rubric for this evaluation. Rather, it is a holistic review of career peak, longevity, accolades, league-difficulty, championships, winning, and importance to the history of the game of basketball. - Some players receive historical "bonus points" for any number of reasons, and I am doing my best to be fair to the history of the sport while acknowledging that some events are more important, and more significant, than others. For example: Bill Russell is the first black super star, the first black coach, the greatest winner in the history of the sport, *and* more or less invented the concept of team defense. His importance to the game is second to none. That counts for his ranking. 7) The criterion for creating tiers is that: Could player X be *reasonably* posited to be the best player in their tier? If yes, they belong in this tier, if not, they should be moved down. 8) Some examples of thoughts used to shape my evaluation include: - Ws/48 in your peak seasons (.200 is great!) - Probably the best overall single number to capture a player's level of play on the court, but hardly the only one - The degree to which your numbers dip in the playoffs - Even great players see their numbers go down in the playoffs due to the slowed pace! - The degree to which your opponents' numbers dip in the playoffs - were your matchups more affected than you when each other's opponent in a playoff series? - Number of 50 win seasons as the main guy - An arbitrary number, a little, but a useful historic marker of how successful your teams when you were in charge of them - If not main guy, how do we better contextualize you when comparing to the main guys? - Quality of supporting cast - Put another way: is it your fault your team stunk? Is it to your benefit that the team was successful?) - All-NBA teams relative to contemporaries - When compared to your contemporaries, how favored were you in your era? To be transparent I put MUCH stock into consistent First-Team All-NBA placement - How competitive are your playoff loses? - How impressive are your playoffs performances against other stars of your position? - What do your best 20K career minutes look like?