Stephen A.: This is BLASPHEMY but I would REPLACE Wilt with Steph Curry! 😱 | First Take

Stephen A. Smith discusses who he would replace in the Top-10 NBA Players of all time if Steph Curry were to win a fourth ring.
#ESPN #NBA

[gedrictudio]

I'd remove Oscar first. Yeah, I understand the triple double stats, but he didn't win a ring until Kareem got him one. He's out (he shouldn't be in there in the first place, Shaq should be there)

[axegrind]

First of all any list of this nature that doesn’t include Shaq is absurd to begin with….secondly Wilt Chamberlain is on a very small list of pro athletes that literally forced their respective sport to change the rules, which in turn changed the game itself.

[odigomez]

The list is automatically invalid with no Shaq. Shaq has 4 ships and 3 finals MVP but he’s not on ESPNs top 10?? Come on man.

[bubblelex]

In all the finals series of Bill vs Wilt, the total amount of point difference was in single digits. Bill had a stacked team vs Wilt alone. It wasnt fair.

[ghfdt]

Its a tough choice but I'd personally move The Big O out of the top 10 although I'm not downplaying how great he was. Also people need to stop this nonsense with Wilt. He was the most dominant player in basketball history period. He can't help the era he was in, the average to below average teammates and teams he had to carry most of his career other then when he had another hall of famer in their prime with Jerry West. Bill Russell was surrounded by HOF's including Red Aurbach as head coach one of the greatest coaches of all time for pretty much his entire career. Wilt never had consistent great coaching like that except for 2 short stints in his career, He had Hannum for 3 seasons on the warriors and 76's where the second season with Wilt they held the NBA record for most wins in a season and dominanted the 8 times champs led Russell celtics in the conference finals on the way to Wilts first Chip, and Bill Sharman with the lakers for 2 when wilt retired in 73 where on the title run in 71 they won the most games in a row in NBA history a record that still stands. Also I don't think people realise that in his 14 year career he made the conference finals 12 times and made it to the finals 6 times and was regular season MVP 4 times and a Finals MVP, he would have likely won it earlier in his career but the award didnt exist yet as it was introduced in 69 the last 3rd of his career. By any eras standards that's A grade level hall of famer.

[MindfulAttraction.]

People are so disrespectful towards old school players that balled. 30 years from now they're going to be doing the same thing to LeBron James and don't complain cuz y'all did it to those in the past

[andysauro]

Oscar is EASILY the replacement. Go watch him play. He really only had a right hand dribble and a hitched jumper. He was more a product of his time than anyone else IMO.

[VICTOR-pyhn]

Michael, Kobe, Kareem, Wilt, Magic, Bird, Curry Lebron, Duncan, Russell.

[InvestBetter.]

THAT is BLASPHEMOUS!
Robertson is clearly the weakest link, and Wilt is one of the strongest in the Top 10
Wilt should never move out of the Top 5
The most unstoppable player in NBA history

[BrettMaverick]

Wilt would practically be Giannis in today's game.

[ErnestoGotti]

It would be Oscar Robertoson that’s gotta go because Steph has to go down as the 2nd best Pg ever

[RobertMichael]

Kobe should be higher. Shaq should be on the list. Wilt should still be in the top 10. When it’s all said and done I think Steph will enter the top 10 but I wouldn’t put him above anyone other than the big O right now

[robeigner]

It's very difficult to go through the entire history of professional basketball and determine a top 10. Basketball has changed throughout its history. Wilt was a fluke (in the good sense). He was taller than anyone else, was very athletic but the rules also allowed him to stand in the key at both ends for as long as he wanted to. Rules on this changed because of him. Should he be removed? Difficult to say. LeBron is the same way. A huge player with skill who makes use of rules that allow him to "legally" run people over to get to the hoop. When people bring up Steph (75th???), they degrade his abilities because people have been programmed to give credit to large players, not necessarily skilled players. Yes there are skilled players in the top 10 but how many of them actually made teammates play better than they usually played. Basketball is a TEAM sport, it's not golf. Look at Wiggins improvement after joining the Warriors. He's a TEAM player who contributes by working within a system that creates wins. Wilt got a lot of wins but it was against players who hadn't learned how to really play basketball. I'd rather see top 10 listing by generations, comparing skills and rules they played under. People keep saying MJ would absolutely kill in today's game, especially with its rules. His teammates would not know how to play with the current rules, fouling out in the first period.

[XaviorJordan]

Anybody taking Wilt off the list is insane. If Curry wins. Big O comes off.

Kobe at 10 is insane

[blackbond]

Kobe #10 is blasphemy ... like are you kidding me?? In his prime he cooks everyone on this list other than MJ

[josephschmizzo]

Why isn’t Kobe in your top 5?:

“He played w Shaq!!!!”

But why do you have both Kareem and Magic BOTH in your top 5?:

crickets

[JoeSmith-bknr]

Here’s my argument to everyone who comes at Wilt about championships, you can’t change the rules against only one man (as SA openly said) that basically handicapped Wilt and then say he only got two in a era when Bill Russell played, everyone really think about that, they changed the rules against this man so he wouldn’t be able to get all the championships and then be hypocrites and say he doesn’t have enough

[quietanger]

You can't take Wilt off the list. This take is ridiculous.

[gerardlavergne]

the disrespect towards wilt is almost mind boggling. The man has 70 nba records that will never be broken. he's been retired now almost 50 years and no player has come even remotely close to breaking them. in terms of dominance there's no player you can compare to wilt other then jordan.

[DecAllTimeAlways]

If Finals MVPs existed when Bill Russell played, how many do you think he would've won? 6 to 8? That's along with his 5 MVPs. When he went to USF, they were a nothing school. Then took them to the Promise Land like he did in Boston.