Best Basketball Player of All-Time: Breaking it Down by the Decades

 
     Hello folks! Today I'm going to talk about a topic debated much today. The greatest basketball player of All-Time. I'm going to look at the best player of each decade starting in the 60s. Then I'll compare the best from the 60s to the 2010s. 


Best Basketball Player of the 60s: Wilt Chamberlain

What he did in the 60s: NBA Champion (1967), NBA MVP (1960, 1966-1968), NBA All-Star (1960-1968), NBA Rookie of the Year (1960)

Wilt's basketball career lasted 15 years, from 1958 to 1973. He was originally a Harlem Globetrotter before joining the NBA in 1960 and winning the Rookie of the Year Award. He played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors from 1959 to 1965. He was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers at the middle of the 1964/65 season. Three years later in 1968, Chamberlain was traded to the Lakers where he would end his basketball career in 1973. He is considered the best player of the 60s, being on the All-Star team every year of the decade.

Best Basketball Player of the 70s: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

What he did in the 70s: NBA Champion (1971), NBA Finals MVP (1971), NBA MVP (1971-1972, 1974, 1976-1977), NBA All-Star 1970-1977, 1979)

Kareem's basketball career lasted 20 years, from 1969 to 1989. He was selected as the first pick in the 1969 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks won the NBA Championship in 1971, and Jabbar was the MVP. He was traded to the Lakers before the 1975-76 Season. He was an All-Star every year of the 70s except 1978. He won the MVP Award six times in his career, five times in the 70s. He was an All-Star for all of the 80s, but isn't considered the best of that decade.

Best Basketball Player of the 80s: Earvin "Magic" Johnson

What he did in the 80s: NBA Champion (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987-1988), NBA Finals MVP (1980, 1982, 1987), NBA MVP (1987, 1989), NBA All-Star (1980, 1982-1989)

Earvin's basketball career lasted 12 years from 1979 to 1991. He was the first pick in the 1979 Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. He got to play alongside Kareem Abdul Jabbar. The Lakers won the NBA Championship Earvin's rookie season where he won the Finals MVP. He was an All-Star his rookie year as well. He won the Finals MVP two years later in 1982. He did so again in 1987. He is a 12 time NBA All-Star, 9 times in the 80s. He is considered the greatest NBA Player of the 80s.

Best Basketball Player of the 90s: Michael Jordan

What he did in the 90s: NBA Champion (1991-1993, 1996-1998), NBA Finals MVP (1991-1993, 1996-1998), NBA MVP (1991-1992, 1996, 1998), NBA All-Star (1990-1993, 1996-1998)

Michael Jordan's basketball career lasted 15 seasons from 1984 to 2003. He is widely considered the greatest basketball player of All-Time. He was the third pick in the 1984 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. He was an All-Star and Rookie of the Year in his rookie season. He led the Bulls to an NBA Championship in the 1990-91 season and won two more in 1992 and 1993. He won the Finals MVP in all three. After his third title, his father died. His dad was always a baseball fan, so Michael retired from basketball to pursue a baseball career. After two years in baseball, Michael decided to return to basketball with the Bulls near the end of the 1994-95 season. He led the Bulls to three more NBA Finals appearances from 1996-1998, which they all won. Michael was the Finals MVP in this three-peat, like the other three. Jordan retired for a second time in January 1999. In 2001, Jordan made yet another return to basketball with the Wizards. Two years later he retired for good. He was a 14 time NBA All-Star, 6 times in the 90s. 

Best Basketball Player of the 00s: Kobe Bryant

What he did in the 00s: NBA Champion (2000-2002, 2009-2010), NBA Finals MVP (2009-2010), NBA MVP (2008), NBA All-Star (2000-2010)

Kobe Bryant has been playing in the NBA for 19 years. He was the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft and was drafted out of high school by the Lakers. He was an All-Star two years later in 1998. The Lakers had a three peat from 2000-2002. Kobe and Shaquille O'Neal formed a center-guard combination. 7 years later in 2009, Kobe led the Lakers to another NBA Championship and repeated in 2010. Kobe was the Finals MVP in both. In every season in the 00s, Kobe was an All-Star. Kobe is currently 36, and has been suffering injuries the last couple of years in the 2010s. 

Best Basketball player of the 10s: LeBron James

What he has done in the 10s: NBA Champion (2012-2013), NBA Finals MVP (2012-2013), NBA MVP (2010, 2012-2013), NBA All-Star (2010-2015) 

LeBron James was the first pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was the Rookie of the Year his first season. He was in his first All-Star game in 2005 and has been in every one since for ten straight years. He won the MVP Award in 2009 and again in 2010. After his second MVP season, LeBron became a free agent. He signed with the Heat, along with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, forming the big three. The Heat lost in the 2011 NBA Finals to the Mavericks. The next year, the Heat beat the Thunder and won the NBA Championship. They did it again the next season against the Spurs. In both, Championship seasons, LeBron was Finals MVP and the NBA MVP. In the 2014 NBA Finals, the Spurs beat the Heat. After this season, LeBron was a free agent. He decided to come home and resign with Cleveland.

     So it's Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James. There are plenty other greats, but I feel that breaking it down by the decades is a good way to decide. Who do you think is the greatest of All-Time? Is it someone I listed or maybe someone else? Larry Bird? Dr. J (Julius Erving)? Bill Russell? Shaquille O'Neal? Write your opinion of the greatest ever in the comment section.

 

The Ghosts of Columbus

     Columbus, Mississippi. The good ole' hometown. I've been in Columbus or the more rural areas outside of Columbus for my whole life, and it doesn't look like that's going to change. It may get a bit boring sometimes, but it's a pretty town with a historic Downtown area as shown in the picture above. Columbus has been compared to Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show, one of my favorite shows. That's a compliment in my opinion. However, even though Columbus is a pretty southern town, that doesn't mean some strange things haven't happened in Columbus. I looked up Columbus on Wikipedia and saw something strange. I know Wiki isn't really a reliable source so I did some more research on the strange thing I read. What was wrote on Wikipedia turned out to be true. I'm guessing you want to know what happened that was so strange and horrible, so I'll tell you. 

 July 8, 1996 in Columbus, MS

     Mack Fowler, a retired farmer, is found stabbed and strangled in his kitchen. He was 78 years old.

November 2, 1997 in Columbus, MS

George Wilbanks, is found stabbed and strangled in his home. He was 75 years old. 

October 13, 1998 in Columbus, MS

Robert Hannah is found hog-tied, gagged, and strangled in his home. He was found because the killer turned the gas on in Hannah's home and the house caught on fire. He was 61 years old.

October 21, 1998

Louise Randall is found hog-tied, gagged, and strangled in her home. She had a sock shoved down her throat. The gas was also turned on. She was 80 years old.

November 17, 1998

Betty Everett is found hog-tied, gagged, and strangled in her home. The gas was also turned on. She was 67.

     Five senior citizens found murdered in their homes. All within a 2 year, four month period. They all lived in a three mile radius of each other. Are they connected? Now you may think this is the work of a serial killer. But the term "serial killer" is one the Columbus Police Department have been reluctant to use regarding these murders. After these murders, senior citizens make sure there houses are secure and have security systems. The murders gained national attention on national news. The show 48 Hours did an episode about these murders in 2000. 

     Spring 1999

     Chief Freshour, age 51, of the Columbus Police Department is accused of embezzling $4,400 from a fund put aside for solving the murders of the elders. He gave the money to a girlfriend whom he was cheating on his wife with. 

     No, the fact that the Chief of Police was stealing money from a fund for solving the cases didn't help these cases get cracked. 

January 14, 2012

Earnest Terell Talley is arrested for a burglary charge along with four other men. Little did the Police know then, that in a month, Earnest would be charged for a 14 year old murder cold case.

February 17, 2012

At the Columbus Municipal Complex, Earnest Talley is charged with the murder of George Wilbanks 14 years prior. Many local reporters watch Earnest's bond hearing. His bond is set at $2 Million.

     In 1997, when George Wilbanks was found strangled, Selvain McQueen was just a lieutenant in the CPD's Investigation Division. In 2012, when Earnest Talley was arrested for the murder, McQueen was the Chief of Police. He had became the chief the year prior in 2011. After 14 years, Selvain finally got his man.  

     Yes, Wilbanks' killer was found, but what about the other four? Come Summer of 2016, it will have been 20 years since Mack Fowler was killed. It's been over 16 years since the Hannah, Randall, and Everett murders. Personally, because of the similar fashion in which they were killed, and the short time period between them, I think the last three are related. Fowler and Wilbanks were killed in a similar fashion to each other. However, the Wilbanks and Fowler cases were a year and four months apart. The last three were within a month and three days of each other. Nonetheless, there are still four cold cases that haven't been solved. As time goes by, our Police Department moves on to other things. The cases may end up going unsolved. It's sad that after all this time, the families of the victims don't have closure. Some elders in my town still live in fear. I hope that eventually put these cases to rest. You wonder, "these elders were murdered, they were living their final years, we don't know how much time they had left." These peoples last years were taken from them by a killer, and we still hunt for answers, even almost twenty years later.