Shut up and learn from history ye´ goddam kids – the good Doctor flew higher and slammed mightier than LeBron and even MJ!

Claes Britton | Jun 16, 2007 | 2 comments

The debate is on whether LeBron James has the potential to challenge Michael Jordan as the greatest ever in my own sport basketball, the ultimate of them all, even after LeBron's and Cleveland's stale and unsexy performances in the NBA finals, where San Antonio secured an easy sweep after four boring games where they didn`t even seem to have to push themselves anywhere near their limits.

As usual, we focus far too much on our present day and the future while neglecting history. To be sure, Michael Jordan is the greatest ever, not only in basketball but in all of sports. Past times, however, holds several monumental legends who are not far behind.

The greatest and baddest slamdunker ever wasn`t Jordan, but his own personal idol, the one ond only Julius ”Dr J” Erving from the Philadelphia 76:ers of the golden seventies. If you don`t believe me, just check out the link, goddamnit, and compare with MJ:s slams. Nobody has flewn as high and graceful as this man, one of the greatest in NBA history, though he never got a ring on his finger.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s sky hooks weren`t all that bad either (don’t forget that Kareem, not Michael, is NBA:s number one all time scorer – and he had the good taste of being in his prime when I myself lived in LA, and had the privilege of seeing him live repeatedly). Not the number two scorer, Wilt ”The Stilt” Chamberlain, either for that matter, that 2,16 meter superman who claimed to have gone through no fewer than 20,000 women before checking out at the age of 63, in 1999 (I remeber a fantastic photo spread from his monstrous bachelor pad in Beverly Hills from Arena Homme Plus magazine – I promise to, one of these days, try to find the issue and put some of those images up in this column, like the one with his giant circular bed under a domed ceiling which could be opened electronically to gaze at the stars after the acts where performed...).

Placing basketball history in proper perspective is an honorary task which we’ll proudle accept. For this purpose, me and my Main Man Mats Ingerdal, the web guru and master fencer, have assembled a small link library of historic eye candy. This is all pure pleasure, so just suck it up....there’s lots more up on that Tube!

Dr J

Dr J again

Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain

Tracy McGrady: 13 points in 33 seconds

Michael Jordan Top 10 Dunks

Comments

2007-07-04 skrev jz
Was looking for Wilt and found this blog. Thanks for the slamdunkin' feast you put on! Wilt Chamberlain ruled the NBA back then. Some may argue that there just wasn't enough big men at the time to compete with Wilt and that if he would have played with today's players, it would be a different story. I'm sure that he would still dominate in today's game, just not as much.
2007-07-05 skrev Claes Britton
I totally agree with you! It´s´the usual thing, with people over-valuating their present time on expense of history. I´m glad we finally got a comment on this English blog! In the Swedish side, there is presently 115 comments on the same blog entry, witth my old basketball buddies debating various issues, and providing new links, etc. Too bad you don´t read Swedish. I promise to return to my favorite subject in the future!

Shut up and learn from history ye´ goddam kids – the good Doctor flew higher and slammed mightier than LeBron and even MJ!

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