We’ve been doing a lot of stories about various players (and others) putting out their “best of” lists. The most recent is from Julius Erving, the one and only Doctor J. And while it’s another good addition to the big stack of lists making social media these days, there’s also some criticism.
Along with Dr. J, our man Shaq is also weighing in with a list of his own. He’s also posting about how he supports Erving’s picks. Our thanks to the Los Angeles Times newspaper for info on this story.
The newspaper says O’Neal actually reached out to their reporters to comment on Erving’s list, especially after the way the Good Doctor took some heat for leaving off a couple of big names like LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
So who’s on Dr. J’s list? In no order of greatness or position, here are the names: Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Magic Johnson and Nate “Tiny” Archibald. As for LeBron and Steph, Erving said he left them off because both are still playing in the NBA.
Is that a fair way to make a list? Maybe… maybe not. As for Shaq, he told the Times he had no problem with Erving’s list “Hey, man, I got no problem with Dr. J’s list. He’s the great Dr. J. He paved the way for all of us. He can say what he wants and nobody should say a damn thing about it.”
Not wanting to waste a good opportunity to come up with a list of his own, O’Neal quickly created his own Top 10 list for the paper. Not only that, he created a first and second team roster. Guess who’s on the first team?
Again, in no particular order, the lead lineup consists of “Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron James and then [expletive] me.” Yup, the big man included himself! No surprise, of course…
How about some of the other all-time greats? Again, Shaq: “That ain’t no disrespect to Malone, [Charles] Barkley and Kareem. Hey, that’s my list. Understand what I’m saying?”
Second squad? O’Neal has quite the bench lineup: Steph Curry, Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, Malone and Isiah Thomas. Shaq did apparently have some second thoughts. He told the paper he would put Kareem on the second team of his big list… that makes it a top 11, but who’s counting?
Even though they’re different, Shaq’s got no quarrels with Erving. “Dr. J has his list and I have my list,” O’Neal said. “I’m all good with Dr. J’s list.”