Just picked up a very interesting book.....

[Delonte4Prez]

Its called Who's Better, Who's Best in Basketball.Its written by Elliot Kalb, known as "Mr. Stats".The book essentially goes into detail on what Kalb's top 50 players of all time are.First on his list is shaq, followed by Wilt, followed by Jordan.I'm just getting into the jordan description and its so different hearing from someone that wont just say, "MJ is the best ever, period"He goes into great detail about the accolades of shaq and wilt, and so far has been a great read. Ill get back to you guys with more if I find interesting stuff.

 

[the_pestilence]

I had an email conversation with Kalb and he admitted to me that Kareem was better than Shaq.EDIT: I found the conversation:Thanks for writing. Shaquille has surpassed 35 years old, and has playedalmost exactly the same number of games as Bill Russell, not much lessthan Wilt. His regular season and postseason winning percentage actuallycompares favorably to Russell--and his scoring compares favorably toChamberlain, considering the league averages at the time. So, 4 yearsafter I did the research (and if you read the book, I wrote that I couldhave tossed the top five around and come out with a different order,,,yes,my one regret in the book (I think it holds up quite well) is that Kareemwas given not-enough respect. However, Kareem didn't do any more to earnhis last 2 rings than Shaq did to earn his last year. Shaq has faced moredouble-teams and sophisticated defenses than Abdul-Jabbar. Shaq has beenAll-First team center how many years in a row? A ton. Yes, yes, Iprobably would put Abdul Jabbar over Shaq...but if Shaq hangs on and winsanother ring...you have to admit it's pretty close...if I was writingtoday...Dirk makes the Top 50. Thanks for writing. Elliott

 

[Pacers fan forever]

I read this book two years ago. He's an idiot, MJ is obviously the best of all time

 

[Delonte4Prez]

Yeah the book is a little out of date now. You have to imagine duncan would shoot up from 9 into the top 5 after winning 2 titles from when the book was written. Still the book is very interesting so far.