What players would dominate any generation?

[Mike Pemulis]

When I watch old Jerry West highlights I get the feeling he might gain the most by playing in this era out of any players from the old era. Although, in his book he said he couldn't go left. He reminded me of Dwyane Wade (or insert good defensive guard) as a tenacious perimeter guard with freakishly long arms that were in constant motion.

[Moranis]

Opinion:  The notion that Wilt, Shaq and BILL FREAKING RUSSELL would not still be dominant in today's game is just silliness.

Bill Russell never really dominated the league in the way Jordan or Larry did, he was the leader and best player on the best team but his career FG% is only 440 and his FT% was 500 and given the pace of the game at the time he never cracked 20 PPG in the regular season, it doesn't mean he wasn't an all time great especially on the defensive end but he wasn't a true dominate force...his Celtics teams were.

Shaq conditioning wise I think he would struggle, remember he played at almost all time slow pace and I think he wouldn't be able to average the same minutes and again his free throws would let him down, it's a bad example I know but Drummond has to sit at the end of games because of his poor free throws and I am sure you would say the same about Shaq. I think defensively too he could keep up getting dragged out to the three point line by versatile forwards, remember I am not talking if a player would be good or great but if the could actually dominate.

Wilt has the same problem as Shaq with his free throws but the more I think about it the more I may need to include him on my list as his athleticism would probably still dwarf most players today.

Magic Johnson can't space the floor and although he was a freak at the time, never went up against guards like todays, he would definitely struggle against keeping with Curry and Westbrook attacking him.

Well, the league average NBA FG% was .380 Russell's first year, and .441 his last... so a career .440% was actually terrific.

all true, but when you put him against an offensive force like Chamberlain who finished with a career 54% FG% it doesn't look quite as good. 

[Surferdad]

When I watch old Jerry West highlights I get the feeling he might gain the most by playing in this era out of any players from the old era. Although, in his book he said he couldn't go left. He reminded me of Dwyane Wade (or insert good defensive guard) as a tenacious perimeter guard with freakishly long arms that were in constant motion.

and Bob Cousy too, I hope.  He was the greatest ball-handler I ever saw, and that skill never goes out of style.

[slightly biased bias fan]

Man the undeserved Embiid hype is approaching the undeserved Kobe hype.

Only took roughly 18 hours for you to eat your words haha

I can’t stand ‘the process’ but if you can’t remove your green goggle once and a while we are no better than Lakers fans.

[Somebody]

Opinion:  The notion that Wilt, Shaq and BILL FREAKING RUSSELL would not still be dominant in today's game is just silliness.

Bill Russell never really dominated the league in the way Jordan or Larry did, he was the leader and best player on the best team but his career FG% is only 440 and his FT% was 500 and given the pace of the game at the time he never cracked 20 PPG in the regular season, it doesn't mean he wasn't an all time great especially on the defensive end but he wasn't a true dominate force...his Celtics teams were.

Shaq conditioning wise I think he would struggle, remember he played at almost all time slow pace and I think he wouldn't be able to average the same minutes and again his free throws would let him down, it's a bad example I know but Drummond has to sit at the end of games because of his poor free throws and I am sure you would say the same about Shaq. I think defensively too he could keep up getting dragged out to the three point line by versatile forwards, remember I am not talking if a player would be good or great but if the could actually dominate.

Wilt has the same problem as Shaq with his free throws but the more I think about it the more I may need to include him on my list as his athleticism would probably still dwarf most players today.

Magic Johnson can't space the floor and although he was a freak at the time, never went up against guards like todays, he would definitely struggle against keeping with Curry and Westbrook attacking him.

I think as much as the Celtics helped Russell he helped the Celtics just as much if not more, pretty sure half of those "x amount of HoFs" wouldn't be in the hall if not for Russell. I think it's pretty unfair to knock down Russell just because he made his teammates and team as a whole better and did not dominate in the conventional way.

[Androslav]

Domination is a strong word.
It is much more than being better than others.
My 8 from the top of the head.

Wilt
Kareem
Dr. J.
Magic
Bird
MJ
Shaq
LBJ

However, those are not my 8 best players of all-time.

EDIT:
I can't believe I left out Hakeem.
It was early in the morning.
He is the 9th.

[Celtics17]

It always amazes me how everyone seems to doubt the all time greats. Players like Wilt, Russ, Kareem, Bird, Magic, LBJ, MJ, would dominate any era. You can make arguments that they would have dominated specific eras more or less but they would still be dominant players.

Many people feel that the players make the era but I would argue the era makes the player. Does anyone really think that Bird would not be shooting, and making, a ton more threes in today's game? Would the use of more comprehensive stats show how dominant Wilt really was? I mean, blocked shots were not even kept when he played and an assist was evaluated differently. How dominant would Kareem have been had that circle beneath the basket been there when he played?

Players adapt to their environment, not create it. They play under the current 'system' and their games are molded to play in that system. I guess the truly dominant players are the ones who cause the league to change the system due to their dominance. Wilt is the player who comes to mind the most here.

It's early and I am rambling but maybe it's 'transcendent' players we should be discussing. Those players whose abilities would work well in any era? At any rate, I still argue that these type players will do just as well in any today's game and adapt their games to fit it.

[gouki88]

Man the undeserved Embiid hype is approaching the undeserved Kobe hype.

It's pretty common knowledge amongst legit media figure that Embiid is a hall of fame level talent for someone who only took up the game at 15 and the growth he's made including sitting out 2 years because of injury is amazing, he is a carbon copy of Hakeem...I just don't think his body will allow him to have that dominate career.

Yeah, except Hall of Famer =/= one of the most dominant players of all time. Putting Embiid and Giannis in that group is just insane.

And he isn't, in fact he's not that close. He's a really good big man, but they play completely differently. Additionally, The Dream is arguably the second best defensive player, alongside being one of the best post scorers ever.
Embiid has a very long way to go before he's even close

[Big333223]

It's always such a hard question because there's no way of knowing how these players might have adjusted. Could Wilt have developed a 3 point shot? His free throw shooting suggests no. But then there is that video of him draining hook shots from 3-point territory like it was nothing. So what does that mean?

And then there's the question of athleticism. How would modern training and equipment have improved someone like Wilt or Russell's game? How about being a millionaire and taking chartered flights to road games? How does all that change a player's body?

And the league is always changing. Would a player be just as good in the run-and-gun 80's as the grind-it-out 00's or the pace-and-space 10's? Or maybe the league only changes because different players with different strengths come along and the league would only reflect the best of its players.

There are just too many questions.

But the answer is Lebron.

[Celtics4ever]

LBJ

If we are judging from finals records, he does not belong on this list.  He can fill up a stat column but has he truly dominated in the finals?

[Moranis]

LBJ

If we are judging from finals records, he does not belong on this list.  He can fill up a stat column but has he truly dominated in the finals?

He has as many titles as Bird.  Does Bird not belong on the list? 

[Tr1boy]

Not dominate but be good

Shane Battier
Iguadala
Derek Fisher
Rober Horry
Sam Cassell
Charles Oakley
Draymond Green

[mmmmm]

One of my pet favorite players was Fred Brown (Sonics).   He played most of his career before the 3PT line was added.   Yet his nickname of "Downtown Freddy Brown" came because he drained soooooo many shots from the deep corner.  I.E., he was _already_ routinely taking shots from beyond where the arc currently is.   The first year the 3PT shot was added, he immediately was the league's first leader in 3PT% at 44.3% albeit was only on 88 attempts.  He also shot 43.8% at age 34.   Unfortunately, by the time the 3PT shot was added he was by then reduced to just a role-player, no longer getting 2000+ minutes each season like in his prime.

I have always wondered if he had played in the modern era, how many more points he might have scored on his career because he probably would have taken 300+ 3PA each season, adding several thousand points to his career totals.

[Ed Hollison]

Russell. In today's modern NBA he would have been able to switch onto anyone in the pick-and-roll, guard multiple positions, bang down low, defend the rim, handle the ball, catch lobs at the rim, etc. In other words, the perfect big for 2017. If he'd been born 20 years ago, he'd have been practicing the three point shot since he was little and who knows how that would have developed (they had no 3s in his day). Oh, and add in the fact that he was a vicious competitor and one of the great teammates of all time.

[Moranis]

Russell. In today's modern NBA he would have been able to switch onto anyone in the pick-and-roll, guard multiple positions, bang down low, defend the rim, handle the ball, catch lobs at the rim, etc. In other words, the perfect big for 2017. If he'd been born 20 years ago, he'd have been practicing the three point shot since he was little and who knows how that would have developed (they had no 3s in his day). Oh, and add in the fact that he was a vicious competitor and one of the great teammates of all time.

the perfect big that doesn't shoot the ball well from anywhere on the court?  I've been one of the few that has consistently argued on this board that you don't need a 3 point shot as a big guy, but the vast majority think I'm crazy on that subject.