Hall of Famers Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain are widely regarded as two of the greatest centers of all time, but neither made former NBA star DeMarcus Cousins‘ all-time top five list for bigs. Cousins was tasked with creating his list on Run It Back, and the results were quite interesting.
“Five, I’mma go Dwight Howard,” Cousins said. “Four, David Robinson. Three, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Two, Hakeem Olajuwon. One, [Shaquille O’Neal].”
Dwight Howard is definitely not someone you’d expect to see in the top five. The man himself doesn’t believe he is that great. Howard thinks he is the sixth-greatest center of all time. That might be too high, but he was undoubtedly special.
Howard won one NBA title, three DPOYs, five rebounding titles, and two blocks titles. He made eight All-Star, eight All-NBA, and five All-Defensive teams. Howard was the best defensive player in the NBA at his best.
David Robinson was an exceptional defensive player, too, and he is fourth. Robinson won two NBA titles, one MVP, one DPOY, one scoring title, one rebounding title, and one blocks title. He made 10 All-Star, 10 All-NBA, and eight All-Defensive teams.
Somewhat surprisingly, perhaps, Cousins then had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at three. Abdul-Jabbar won six titles, two Finals MVPs, six MVPs, two scoring titles, one rebounding title, and four blocks titles. He made 19 All-Star, 15 All-NBA, and 11 All-Defensive teams.
Thanks to that incredible resume, Abdul-Jabbar tends to be a common pick for the third-greatest player of all time behind Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Cousins has two other centers in front of him, though.
One of them is Hakeem Olajuwon, who won two titles, two Finals MVPs, one MVP, two DPOYs, two rebounding titles, and three blocks titles. Olajuwon made 12 All-Star, 12 All-NBA, and nine All-Defensive teams. He is the NBA’s all-time leader in blocks with 3,830.
Olajuwon had to settle for second place here, though, as Cousins had Shaquille O’Neal at the top. O’Neal won five titles, three Finals MVPs, one MVP, and two scoring titles. He made 15 All-Star, 14 All-NBA, and three All-Defensive teams.
O’Neal is regarded as one of the two most physically dominant players in NBA history. The other? Chamberlain, of course. He won two titles, one Finals MVP, four MVPs, seven scoring titles, and 11 rebounding titles. Chamberlain made 13 All-Star, 10 All-NBA, and two All-Defensive teams. He would have had more All-Defensive selections, but it was only introduced at the end of his career.
Chamberlain has set many records that are simply impossible to break. He famously averaged 50.4 points per game in 1961-62, and no one’s ever even come close to that number.
Now, a big reason why Chamberlain doesn’t have more championships to show for all that dominance is Russell. He won 11 NBA titles, five MVPs, and four rebounding titles. Russell made 12 All-Star and 11 All-NBA teams. The DPOY award and All-Defensive team didn’t exist during his career, and the Finals MVP was only introduced in his final season, which explains why you don’t see those on his resume.
So, there’s a good reason why you see Chamberlain and Russell on most of these lists. Yes, it was a completely different era, but what they accomplished was remarkable.
