In a recent interview, Julius Erving aka ‘Dr. J’, shared his top ten list of the greatest NBA players ever. Since then, many NBA players and analysts have voiced their disapproval of the supposed biases in the list, especially the lack of any active NBA players. One of the several detractors of the list has been ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith. Even though Smith respected Dr. J’s opinion, he disagreed with snubbing names like Larry Bird, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant from the list.
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Julius Erving’s contributions to the NBA are immeasurable. He has earned the respect of his peers and enlightened the younger generations with his approach towards the game. During his time, he was considered to be one of the greatest to ever step on the court, who ended up influencing the game of arguably the greatest player of all time, Michael Jordan. Erving is a part of the top 50 Greatest players to ever play the game, ranking only behind LeBron James and Larry Bird as the best small forward of all time.
Stephen A. Smith humbly disagreed with Dr. J’s list
Upon sharing his list of his top 10 NBA players of all time, Dr. J received backlash from NBA players and analysts alike. He had left out some notable names like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant, and Larry Bird, who arguably had better careers than some of the names on his list.
On ESPN’s First Take, Stephen A. Smith disapproved of Erving’s list. He understood that active players were not a part of the list. But he was still in disbelief that LeBron James’ name was not mentioned in an all-time list of the greatest basketball players. Smith told host Molly Qerim on First Take:
“Listen, this is Dr. J, Julius Erving and people just talking about that they are angry, ridiculous. He is entitled to his opinion. I just think he is wrong. You cannot have, I don’t care what players you have mentioned, you cannot have an all time top ten list and LeBron James is not on it. You just can’t. I’ve got LeBron James as a top two player all time.”
He went on to say that Dr. J has included only pioneers who have paved the way for younger generations. Smith then compared the players and their accolades to provide some perspective. The veteran analyst continued:
“Dr J with his all time list, that’s just showing deference and respect to pioneers who paved the way…Jerry West, one of the All Time greats, the silhouette, but he has only got one championship and lost 8 NBA finals. We look at an Elgin Baylor, he’s got a title or two, we get all of that. LeBron’s got 4. Steph as got 4.”
Here’s the list of players Erving listed in his tally:
Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Karl Malone, and Tiny Archibald.
Trae Young calls out Dr. J for his biasedness
With Julius Erving’s list getting a lot of backlash from fans, some of the current players have also found it very biased. Trae Young is one such player who felt that Dr. J has shown favoritism towards his peers. He humbly called out the NBA legend with a few words.
“This gotta be fake.. #WithAllDueRespect”
The angst with the NBA fans and player are understandable as their favorite players were not mentioned. However, we cannot deny the greatness of the players mentioned on the list as most of us have not watched them play. Dr. J probably simply wanted to remind the younger generations of the pioneers of the game and how much they have paved the way for players today.
