Top 100 NBA Players: #3

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

(Kalb: #5, Simmons: #3, BBR: #5)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dominated the 1970's in a way no decade has been dominated before or since, then adjusted to his role as sidekick to another superstar better than any other player in history, which allowed him to finish his career with 6 championships and 10 NBA Finals appearances.

There was no doubt that Kareem (then Lew Alcindor) would be the top pick in the 1969 NBA Draft, after he led UCLA to an 88-2 record in 3 seasons and 3 straight NCAA championships, where he was named the Most Outstanding Player each time. He easily won the Rookie of the Year trophy, and should have been given the MVP as well, but it was awarded to Willis Reed, who led the New York Knicks to the league's best record and their first championship that season. Here are how their numbers stacked up that year:

Alcindor - 28.8 pts, 14.5 reb, 4.1 ast, .518 FG%, .653 FT%
Reed - 21.7 pts, 13.9 reb, 2.0 ast, .507 FG%, .756 FT%

Although Reed may have led his team to a few more wins (Milwaukee had the second-best record), it's very easy to see that Kareem had the bigger impact, leading a team in its second year of existence to the league's second-best record and a trip to the Conference Finals. In fact, from 1969-1980, a span of 11 seasons, Kareem was the best player 8 times, with the only exceptions coming in two seasons in which he missed time with a broken hand and one season in which George Gervin was on top of his game. He holds the record for most MVP's won, with 6, but I believe he should have been awarded 8.

Even with how great he was for so long, he was only able to make it to 3 NBA Finals during his time as team leader, winning twice. There were even two seasons right during his peak seasons in which his teams missed the playoffs completely, which no other top 10 player can say. That all changed in 1981, when Magic Johnson became the center of the Lakers' offense and Kareem became their #2 star.

In the final 8 seasons of Kareem's career in Los Angeles, the Lakers made it to the Finals 7 times, and Kareem was a major contributor for most of those teams, although by the time he retired he was not near the player he had once been, posting just 10 points per game along with fewer than 5 rebounds.

Kareem is the NBA's all-time leader in All-Star appearances, MVP awards, points scored, and minutes played, and he is also one of only 3 players in history to win the scoring title, MVP, and Finals MVP in the same season, along with Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal. That season was 1971, just his second season as a pro, when he averaged 31.7 points and 16.0 rebounds, took 133 out of 153 MVP votes, then led Milwaukee to the title by winning 12 of 14 in the playoffs and sweeping the Baltimore Bullets in the Finals. He was the first to do it, and it wouldn't happen again for 20 years, when Jordan won his first title.

In terms of longevity, Kareem and Karl Malone are basically even. When you look at playoff success, the edge goes to Abdul-Jabbar, who won a couple of titles as the star player and several more playing with Magic as the star. When looking at regular season dominance, there is no doubt that Kareem was better, as he was the best player 8 times, while Malone spent nearly as long as the league's #2 player. Overall, it's easy to see that Kareem was the better player, and deserves the #3 spot among the all-time greats.