NBA All-Time Leaders Quiz

I'm not really an NBA fan, but I've always been a sports fan in general and have always known the "big names" of the day, at least for the last 25 years or so. That said, I was completely shocked that Larry Bird didn't end up in the top 15 of any category at the end of his career.

Or Charles Barkley. Or Elgin Baylor. Says something about the danger of relying too much on statistics, which recognize Mookie Blaylock and Shawn Bradley, over performance.

All of these statements are correct. Statistics are an accurate tool for evaluating skill level, but they also neglect a lot of intangible qualities that make the all-time greats great. Bird would probably be considered a top-10 all-time caliber star, but the fact that he does not make it into any category is amazing. He was a great scorer, but he was on teams that had so much talent, he didn't need to score 30 points per game. If the 3-point line were where it is now, he probably would be considerably higher in career points, but he still might not be on the list. That being said, Bird is an all-time great because he was clutch, and he was smart enough to know what his team needed him to do to win, and he made all of his teammates better every day. He was also smart enough to get out when he felt his talent wasn't up to his standards, and ended his career at a younger age than most of the guys on this list.

me too the NBA wouldn't be the same without larry bird

Julius Erving scored 30,026 points and is not on this list. this needs to be upgraded

I forget Barkley on EVERY NBA quiz that I do...the one time i actually remember to try him...he's not on there.

over 4 years later...apparently I still feel the same way.

51/52 Forgot Blaylock

Ha! Threw in Bol for a laugh as time was running out for an undeserved point.

more people got karl malone than they did jordan? would have thought that jordan would have been the most guessed...someone that has no clue about basketball, still knows jordan

I read an article once trying to make the case that Karl Malone was the greatest basketball player of all time over Jordan. But I'm pretty sure the author of said article is the only person who ever thought that.

I doubt even Karl Malone thinks that.

100% with 0:34 to go.

Update for Dirk passing Olajuwon on scoring. Oh, wait a little bit for Kobe to pass Jordan too. He's within 100 points.

Update Kobe passing Jordan

Who's the best? I was surprised Dennis Rodman didn't make it. If you look at the number of rebounds players have had divided by the number of minutes they have been on the court, Rodman is #5. But #1 is Bill Russell, who is 2nd on the above list. Russell made over 1 rebound for every two minutes that he spent playing. The only guy to even come close to that was Chamberlain, and he also shows up on the above list. So who do you think is the best?

I wonder how many more rebounds Rodman would have gotten if he didn't get suspended, fouled out, or otherwise kicked out of games so much.

Why isn't Bird on here?

Presumably because he wasn't high enough in any one of those statistics to make the list.

Kind of hard to believe that so many people forgot all of these all time greats.

Unless, like me, they don't watch basketball and only got this quiz by clicking on Random Quiz. I typed the only names I remembered hearing from news broadcasts and then just typed random common names which gave me a total score of 14. (Those random names gave me Harper, Bradley, Williams, Jackson, Miller, Thomas, and two Robertsons.)

Still surprised that Pistol Pete didn't make the list, though. He is one I remember. Hubby says Maravich's bad knees may have cut his career too short to make the list.

duncan is now 7th n rebounds

chris paul is now 15th all time assist

Makes me kind of happy that LeBron isn't in any of these! It also seemed funny how each player's personality seems to have an impact on their category - like Duncan, Nash, and Johnson, 3 of the most widely-considered "nice" guys in the NBA to be assist leaders. :)

First of all, LeBron is the 3rd greatest player of all time. Hes 2 rings away from #1 all-time. Right now he is 11th All-Time in scoring. He is on track to become #1 all time. Right now he is also 18th All-Time assists. He is on track to become at least 10th all time. He is also 24th in steals. He is on track to become top 15 in those also.

Tagline says "Can you the..." missing a "name"

At the start of next season you will have to swap out Havlicek because Paul Pierce is only 79 points away from him, he will probably move up to at least 11th scoring all-time this year, thats only 600 points away.

Elvin Hayes was the hardest

Lebron James passed Hakeem Olajuwon a few days ago

45/52

Please update that list, those stats are from 2 years ago at least

The description needs to be updated to be accurate.

The most avid NBA fans among you should take my NBA Stats Leaders by Year quiz.

Seconded. The same thing bothered me with counting Schmidt when we typed in Smith on baseball quizzes, but at least there, it's not *not* counting some other Schmidt. And I think you recently rectified that situation to boot.

I cannot believe Rodman is not on the all-time rebounds list.

*UPDATE* LeBron James just moved to 5th in scoring!