I pretty much agree with the top 5 lists that have been stated with the odd exception...I grew up watching Magic, MJ, Bird, Kareem, etc. and those guys were great. I don't know if anyone already said this, but one thought that sticks out in my mind (to the people that talk about how the game is bigger, faster, etc.) is that the guys that play today have the benefit of watching the superstars of yesterday and seeing groundbreaking styles. I look at guys like Magic and MJ or guys before them and they were absolute standouts in the league because they did some very unique things. When someone stands out that much in the league, it's hard to say that they weren't one of the greatest. You have to compare them to players at that time, not players of today because the players of today learned from them, plus training camps get better over time (don't forget some of these guys went on to coach or manage), etc. I do think guys like Kobe and Shaq are also absolute standouts in their prime (BTW, I'm a Lakers fan if you couldn't tell

), but do they standout from the crowd of today as much as someone from 20-30 years ago?