Nba Rushmore

What to Do About NBA Rushmore?

LeBron James gave an hour-long interview to NBA TV this week, and somewhere during the sitdown with Steve Smith, he was asked which players would be on his NBA Mount Rushmore. NBA TV teased LeBron’s answer here. He named Jordan, Bird, and Magic, but then things got tricky.

Mount Rushmore consists of four former presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. These four men accomplished inc Who should be on NBA’s Mount Rushmore? A popular filtering process used in basketball-junkie circles is the Mt. Rushmore structure. NBA.com has created a generator pre-loaded with the best players of all-time, which allows fans to.

“And I would say my fourth … Wow. This is so tough. The greatest players of all time, that I’d like to see on Mount Rushmore … This is not fair. It’s not fair. You know how many great players it is? Oh my God, uhh … Oscar Robertson.”

Will LeBron be on this fictional mountain one day?

“I’m gonna be one of the top four to ever play this game,” he said. “For sure. We gotta bump somebody. Somebody got to get bumped.”

Who would he bump?

“That’s not for me to decide,” he said, laughing at how stupid it would be to ever in a million years answer this question honestly. “That’s for the architects. That’s for the architects to chisel somebody’s face out and put mine up there.”

And that’s where it ended. This isn’t a new question, and I’m pretty sure Simmons has handled it in the past, but it’s the middle of February, so let’s talk about this. There are a few different ways we could make NBA Rushmore work.

Option #1: Take This Idea Seriously

If anyone wants to seriously argue who should be on Rushmore, LeBron’s list is the best possible answer. You might think Bill Russell has to be on there, but Russell’s been slighted his entire career. The perception that he’s underappreciated is part of what’s always made people defend his legacy so aggressively. This would just add fuel to the fire for all the people who like to think he’s secretly the best player ever. (Really, given the number of big men with a case here — Russell, Wilt, Shaq, Kareem, Hakeem — we should probably just come up with an entirely separate Big Man Mountain to memorialize everyone.)

Jerry West probably has a case, too, although he got the logo, so maybe that’s a perfect excuse to screw him out of a place on Rushmore.

Then Jordan, Bird, and Magic. These are obvious choices who will probably loom over the NBA forever. Of course they’re on the mountain. And Oscar Robertson deserves the last spot because of everything he did on the court AND everything he did for players to help force free agency and advance players’ rights. For all we talk about Russell’s overlooked legacy, Oscar Robertson’s a guy who is actually overlooked. Putting him on this fictional mountain would be a good start toward fixing that.

And that would be it. It doesn’t matter whether guys from the recent generation (Kobe, LeBron, Arenas, Durant) end up being more important. This is a historical monument. The four guys on that mountain laid the foundation for everyone else.

Option #2: Stern Mountain

Taking a page from one of the most ballerific tycoons of all time, Richard Rich Sr., David Stern builds himself a retirement home in the side of a mountain, with Adam Silver’s face on his right and Russ Granik’s face on his left. We already know Stern’s spending the rest of his life ensconced in a lair somewhere. Why not make it a part of NBA history?

Option #3: Mount Suckmore

After this season’s over, Mikhail Prokhorov buys a mountain and chisels in the faces of Billy King, Jason Kidd, Andray Blatche, and Deron Williams. Especially Deron Williams.

Mount Suckmore will shame them all for eternity.

Option #4: Mount Dunkmore

If this manufactured news story in the middle of February does nothing else, maybe it can convince Nike to rerelease one of the greatest basketball T-shirts of all time. “People are going to think we’re crazy for talking like that,” Stephon Marbury says of this idea. “But if you believe it, you can achieve it.”

Option #5: Rotating Rushmore

Instead of making this a monument to history, what if the NBA built a giant monument outside the Hall of Fame that had the four biggest names in basketball chiseled into it every year? And then it could be updated at All-Star Weekend each season. Right now, it would probably have LeBron, KD, CP3, and either Paul George or Blake Griffin. Some years there would be no updates, and others, getting removed from Rushmore would signal the poignant, emotional end of a player’s reign (like Kobe this year). The only certainty is that if this idea were real, we’d have torn down the Dwight Howard section of Rushmore at last year’s All-Star Weekend in one of the most triumphant destructions of property since the end of the Cold War.

Option #6: You know what? Fuck all this. Let’s just carve Russell Westbrook’s face into a giant mountain somewhere.

Filed Under: NBA, LeBron James, Mount Rushmore, Oscar Robertson, Russell Westbrook American Hero

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You have reached a degraded version of ESPN.com because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.For a complete ESPN.com experience, please upgrade or use aESPN.com6yWill LeBron be on Mount Rushmore?Where will LeBron James land on the NBA's all-time list when he retires? We know how he feels about the question: 'I'm going to be one of the top four that's ever played this game, for sure. And if they don't want me to have one of those top four spots, they'd better find another spot on that mountain. Somebody's gotta get bumped.' Do our 5-on-5 writers agree?1. Who gets the first spot on your current NBA Mount Rushmore? Kevin Arnovitz, ESPN.com: Michael Jordan.

MJ is a six-time champion and the NBA's career leader in win shares per 48 minutes and PER. In an era when the NBA was broadcasting Finals games on tape delay and in danger of slipping behind the NHL, he propelled the league forward. No disrespect to Joe DiMaggio and Mr. Coffee or Joe Namath and Hanes underwear, but Jordan was also the first pro athlete to fully realize the market potential of the individual team sport athlete.Amin Elhassan, ESPN Insider: Michael Jordan.

He was a transcendent talent at shooting guard, redefining our perception of the position and pushing the league into the marketing machine it is today. In an era of unprecedented talent throughout the league, Jordan dominated in every way imaginable and is perhaps the strongest influence in the playing style of today's players.Curtis Harris, Hardwood Paroxysm: Bill Russell. Thanks to superior speed, great leaping ability and impeccable timing, Russell revolutionized defense and controlled the game with his blocks and rebounds. The Celtics center remains an underrated passer (4.3 APG) and was money in big games. As a rookie in Game 7 of the 1957 Finals, Russell had 19 points and 32 rebounds. In Game 7 of the 1962 Finals he had a mammoth 30 points and 40 rebounds.

That's how you get 11 titles in 13 seasons.Marc Stein, ESPN.com: Bill Russell. The NBA's ultimate champion and ultimate statesman. I know Michael Jordan is bound be the popular pick here, but let's not forget Mr.

Russell - small-time as the league might have seemed in his heyday - had to go head-to-head with Wilt Chamberlain to achieve all that success. Keeping Wilt off this mythical mountain gets you serious bonus points.Ethan Sherwood Strauss, TrueHoop: Michael Jordan. He transcended the sport, exceeding the popularity of every player before and after his reign.

There are easy statistical cases to be made on behalf of Jordan's preeminence (four seasons with a PER exceeding 31), but that's merely a thin reflection of how Jordan made people feel, the world over. Nobody had seen a man dominate a game so thoroughly and so gracefully. I often doubt we'll see it again.2. Who gets the second spot on your current NBA Mount Rushmore?

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Arnovitz: Wilt Chamberlain. We need a big man on our Mount Rushmore and it's a very tough call as to whose likeness we sculpt into the rock. Bill Russell could easily go here, and the data suggests he was the superior defender. But Wilt holding up that slip of paper with '100' scribbled on it might be the most iconic photo in NBA history.

If you gave truth serum to today's NBA players and asked them if they'd rather win a title or break Wilt's record, I suspect the majority would choose the latter.Elhassan: Bill Russell. Another transcendent talent who changed the way the game is played and influenced future styles in the league, Russell was the original indomitable competitor, winning more championships than any other person in NBA history. He was the first superstar to make his impact primarily on the defensive end.Harris: Wilt Chamberlain. The Big Dipper lived for the gargantuan and scored 100 points in a game. He also had a game of 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists, the only 20-20-20 game in NBA history. For all his noted individualism, though, it's important to remember that Wilt twice set the record for team wins in a season. His 1967 champion 76ers won 68 games.

His 1972 champion Lakers won 69 games. Not bad for the four-time MVP.Stein: Michael Jordan. I've always said that, as a child of the '70s and '80s, I'm more of a Magic-and-Bird devotee than a member of MJ's congregation. But I can't ignore the way most of the world feels about Michael and what he did to take this sport to levels of popularity they never would have dared to dream of in the Russell era. My biggest challenge in judging Jordan's place in history is the fact he didn't get the head-to-head push from a standout rival or team as Russell did with Wilt, as Magic and the Lakers did with Bird and the Celtics or even as LeBron is getting now from Kevin Durant. But even a stubborn nag like me concedes that MJ's greatness is one of the main reasons no one in the '90s could reach his airspace.Strauss: Bill Russell is the greatest defensive player of all time, and defense is (at least) half the game.

Much is made of how Russell won 11 titles, but it should also be noted that his Celtics finished first on defense in 11 consecutive seasons, mostly because Russell pioneered a whole new way of playing it. It also doesn't hurt Russell's case that he was a brilliant, fascinating, principled person.3. Who gets the third spot on your current NBA Mount Rushmore? Arnovitz: Oscar Robertson.

If Robertson had been drafted a Knick or a Laker or won more than a single NBA championship, he'd be more than just a historical curiosity to most fans. The Big O was the prototypical modern NBA point guard, a 6-foot-5 master of the court with vision, dexterity and strength. But the most enduring element of his legacy was as president of the players' association in the early-'70s, when he led the charge to modernize the rules that governed player movement and instituted free agency.Elhassan: Magic Johnson.

ANOTHER transcendent talent who changed the way the game is played! Magic defined for us what a point guard should be, and he is the standard with which we compare all point guards as far as vision, passing accuracy, and best of all, ability to maximize the talents of teammates and keep everyone happy.Harris: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The prolonged peak of his career is astounding and still not matched. As a rookie in 1969-70 he averaged 28.8 points. As a 38-year-old, 17-year veteran in 1986 he was still dropping 23.5 points a game.

His skyhook was so unstoppable it made his greatness too routine and boringly automatic. Just a ho-hum six titles and six MVPs for the Lakers and Bucks great.Stein: Magic Johnson. He revolutionized my favorite position and did it all with flair and charisma that, to this day, is pretty much peerless. The Big O, like Wilt, is on this mountain's waiting list because Earvin Johnson came along and, alongside Bird, changed the course of the game's history.Strauss: LeBron James. While the story isn't over yet, few stories have been better through 10 seasons. He went from exceeding an almost mythic hype to prompting a public rage, to finding redemption in victory.

Jordan was perhaps more famous, but no player was so scrutinized from so early an age. James posted advanced stats comparable to Jordan's, but the greatest testament to LeBron's legacy just might be how awful the Cavs are without him.4. Who gets the fourth spot on your current NBA Mount Rushmore?Arnovitz: Magic Johnson. We could place any number of players here - Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Jerry West, Bill Russell, David Robinson (yeah, that's right), but Magic took Robertson's sketch of the modern NBA point guard and ran with it.

Had he not contracted HIV, the five-time champion would've padded his sensational career numbers - but he wouldn't have educated a nation about a condition that, prior to his announcement, existed only in the shadows.Elhassan: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Transcendent, of course. Kareem was the original LeBron, dealing with massive expectations out of high school and college and meeting those expectations seamlessly. Owner of the most devastating and unstoppable weapon in NBA history (the sky hook!), Kareem also showed players that they need not be defined by the game alone, and has distinguished himself with his varied interests, as a historian, author, actor, social activist and intellectual.Harris: George Mikan. He played pro basketball for eight seasons and won seven titles. Prior to him, intelligent basketball observers viewed 6-foot-10 centers as sideshow freaks.

Mikan emphatically tore down that notion, averaging an unheard of 28 points per game for the Minneapolis Lakers. Basically the George Washington of the NBA, Mikan's dominance attracted casual fans and media attention, thus keeping the struggling league alive.Stein: Larry Bird. By the slimmest of margins. Did LeBron really say in that interview that this was an 'easy' call? That Michael, Magic and Larry were 'no-brainer' choices? My brain hurts after trying to reconcile the fact that I'm going to be hitting send on these answers without including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in my top four. I ultimately decided that I can't separate Magic and Bird here, because they had to save the league first before Jordan could take it another level.

But leaving Kareem off feels very wrong.Strauss: Magic Johnson, who remains the best passer in NBA history. His credentials are well known, so I'll just use this paragraph to beg something of you: Please, please, go on Youtube and watch his highlights. They hold up better than any player's from that era. Magic didn't just play basketball; he puppeteered time and space with a smile on his face.5. Will LeBron go down as one of the top four players of all time?