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Greatest Players in NBA History: Earvin

In this weekly blog I'm going to pick one of the top players in NBA history as voted on in this project and discuss some of his career accomplishments…in other words, what made him so great that he deserves a spot among the greatest?  This week’s player is Magic Johnson, a player with the body of a power forward, the skills of a point guard, and the mind of an offensive genius.  Johnson case is built on that unique combination that made him effectively unstoppable offensively in a team setting, contributing strongly to one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history.

For those that would like to see a great collection of Magic's box score stats and accolades, check out his B-R page.  Here are four of the  facts about Magic that I find most interesting:

1. Magic finished in the top-3 of the MVP vote nine times, good for second all-time (tied with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one behind Michael Jordan at 10).  Magic had finished top-3 in nine straight seasons, and top-2 in four of the last five seasons, before his untimely retirement due to HIV at only 31 years old.  

2. Much like Bill Russell to defense, Magic was the architect of one of the greatest offensive dynasties in NBA history.  From Magic's rookie season (1980) through 1990, the Lakers finished 1st (7 times) or 2nd (twice) in team offensive rating in every season that Magic played at least 72 games.  The "Showtime" Lakers were an offensive juggernaut, including three of the top-25 offenses of All-Time according to basketball-reference.

3. Magic retired as the NBA all-time leader in assists, and still has the highest assist-per-game average in NBA history.  He was also incredibly efficient, with a career true-shooting percentage of 61% that is the second highest ever by a guard (Reggie Miller) and eighth of all-time at any position.  And he made the "triple-double" a household word, notching more of them than anyone in NBA history outside of Oscar Robertson.

4. Magic is on the  short list of players with an NCAA championship, Olympic Gold medal, and NBA championship.  He was the Most Outstanding Player in the 1979 NCAA Final Four, then the FInals MVP in the 1980 NBA Finals.   With five NBA championships, three MVPs, and three Finals MVPs he is one of the most decorated players in NBA history.

Bonus fact: Magic Johnson will always be historically linked with his great rival, Larry Bird.  They met head-to-head on the big stage four times altogether, with Magic going 3 - 1 overall (one NCAA championship, two NBA championships to Bird's one NBA championship).  Bird fans would argue that Magic had more talented teams...that's what makes it such a fun debate.

In the project linked above, Johnson finished no. 4 overall, just behind Abdul-Jabbar.  I actually voted Magic above Kareem, based on the notion that he had a more impressive peak/higher impact and a long enough prime (despite having his career cut short) to warrant the vote.  I'm interested to hear if any of you have any takes on where Magic rates on your GOAT list, and where you think he may have ended up had he not had to retire while still in his prime.

Comments

By: PMain
On: 1/18/2012 9:06:00 AM		 I'm old enough to have seen Magic vs. Larry for the NCAA championship.

I know I'm in the minority but I think Magic is the best basketball player of all time.

I still remember the night we all found out he was HIV positive.
My brother and I were just about to go out and play pickup at the local
community center when the news announcement came on the tv.

I wonder how many more awards he would've won had he not contracted the virus.
 
By: Erik Siegrist
On: 1/18/2012 9:55:00 AM		 How many more Magic vs Michael finals would we have gotten?
 
By: vtadave
On: 1/18/2012 9:43:00 PM		 Bird had McHale, Parrish, DJ, etc., so that's a weak argument.

As a life-long Lakers fan in his early (very early) 40s, Magic was THE guy for me growing up and the best I ever saw...until Jordan.

I still remember the tears upon hearing The Announcement in 1991 and the goosebumps when he returned and hit that three-pointer in the All-Star game.
 
By: Jason Thornbury
On: 1/19/2012 10:20:00 AM		 Timeout Los Angeles. I like Magic as much as the next guy, but did he ever play defense? He didn't even guard opposing point guards most of the time, did he? He'd play the passing lanes with his height and wingspan. A great defender? No. Still a great player, of course. But if you're talking top 3 all-time (or even perhaps top 5), you have to be a great player in all phases, I think.
 
By: nayfel
On: 1/20/2012 5:27:00 AM		 I think it is worthwhile listing his stats. You can show career numbers for regular stats and for advanced stats, maybe also show his career best season numbers. I know stats are only a portion of the story but I still think there's room for it in such a blog.
 
By: nayfel
On: 1/20/2012 5:28:00 AM		 The being top 3 in MVP for so many straight years is truly a ridiculous fact. Wow.
 
By: nayfel
On: 1/20/2012 5:28:00 AM		 Last thing, who else other than Kareem have you done? You haven't done MJ, right?
 
By: The Professor
On: 1/20/2012 9:02:00 AM		 So far I've done Dirk Nowitzki, Bill Russell, Kareem and Magic. But Dirk and Russell were done as sections of the Hoops Lab, it wasn't until Kareem that I separated this off into it's own blog. But no, I haven't done Jordan yet. I'll obviously be doing him at some point, but right now I'm doing some of the more...controversial isn't the right word...say the more easily debated players. The ones that I think could generate some good discussion. I'm not fully decided who to do next...I'm leaning Oscar, but one guy keeps bringing up Wilt so that's another possibility as well. All in all, though, I think I'll end up doing somewhere between 15 and 20 players (unless there's a heavy demand for more, in which case I could go further down the list).

And as for the stats, those are easy enough to include. Or maybe I'll just add a link to the basketball-reference profile for each player, which includes all types of stats and accolades in an easy to read form.
 
By: The Professor
On: 1/21/2012 4:03:00 PM		 Magic contracting the virus while still at his peak is one of the craziest things I've seen, and someone mentioned Jordan...I wrote a blog one time about the perfect storm of events that led to Jordan being generally unchallenged for supremacy in his generation. Between Magic's virus, Bird's back, Bias' cocaine, Sampson's knees all happening in the period from 1985 - 19900s...it'd be like if Kobe and Garnett would have had to retire in 2007 with Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade both having tragic ends to their careers before they ever started, leaving the field open for LeBron to have just dominated.
 
By: The Professor
On: 1/21/2012 4:08:00 PM		 Thorn, I don't really agree with you on the necessity for a fully rounded player to be the best. I think the bottom line is about impact more-so than skillset. Putting some numbers to it, if player A is a 12 on offense and a 3 on defense, while player B is an 8 on offense and 6 on defense, I'd still rather have player A. Said another way, I think both Russell and Magic, with games that dominated on one end but not the other, still could have (and, in fact did) have more impact on their team winning games than more rounded players like Kareem or West.
 

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