I hate to break it to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fans, but he is an attention whore. Not that there is anything wrong with that, because to be an attention whore, you need people to give you attention.
Whatever the reason Kareem is searching for the attention (his movie, future statue or just bored) it is working.
His latest stunt is to jump on Scottie Pippen’s assertion that Lebron at one point could be a better all around player than Michael Jordan. Kareem writes an open letter to Scottie, telling him he needs to brush up on his history.
Dear Scottie,
I have nothing but respect for you my friend as an athlete and knowledgeable basketball mind. But you are way off in your assessment of who is the greatest player of all time and the greatest scorer of all time. Your comments are off because of your limited perspective. You obviously never saw Wilt Chamberlain play who undoubtedly was the greatest scorer this game has ever known. When did MJ ever average 50.4 points per game plus 25.7 rebounds? (Wilt in the 1962 season when blocked shot statistics were not kept). We will never accurately know how many shots Wilt blocked. Oh, by the way in 1967 and 68, Wilt was a league leader in assists. Did MJ ever score 100 points in a game? How many times did MJ score more than 60 points in a game? MJ led the league in scoring in consecutive seasons for 10 years but he did this in an NBA that eventually expanded into 30 teams vs. when Wilt played and there were only 8 teams.
Every team had the opportunity to amass a solid nucleus. Only the cream of the basketball world got to play then. So MJ has to be appraised in perspective. His incredible athletic ability, charisma and leadership on the court helped to make basketball popular around the world — no question about that. But in terms of greatness, MJ has to take a backseat to The Stilt.
In terms of winning, Michael excelled as both an emotional and scoring leader but Bill Russell’s Celtics won eight consecutive NBA Championships. Bill’s rebounding average per game is over 22.5 lifetime, MJs best rebounding years was eight per game (1989). But we will never know exactly how many shots Bill Russell blocked because again, they never kept that statistic while he played. However, if you ask anybody that played against Russell, they will just roll their eyes and say he blocked all the shots he wanted to block in the crucial moments of a game.
Bill played on a total of 11 championship teams and as you very well know, Scottie, the ring is the thing, and everything else is just statistics. So I would advise you to do a little homework before crowning Michael or LeBron with the title of best ever. As dominant as he is, LeBron has yet to win a championship. I must say that it looks like Miami has finally put the team together that will change that circumstance. Its my hope that today’s players get a better perspective on exactly what has been done in this league in the days of yore.
Affectionately,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
NBA’s All-Time Leading Scorer
I have learned over the years to see through BS. Kareem could have summed up this entire letter by saying what he really feels which is that he is the best player ever.
Don’t insult our intelligence.
While he does raise some valid points, lets not forget when Russell & Wilt played it was a different era. Just like Jordan played in a different era than Lebron. Doesn’t mean we don’t know out history.
Doesn’t mean that you can’t believe Kareem, Wilt or Russell is the greatest player of all time, but it doesn’t mean we are all idiots if we think Jordan is.
That is the elitest uppity attitude that his Kareem whining and complaining about not getting his statue.
I understand what is going on and Kareem should be happy now, because I just helped his attention whoring ways, congratulations.