Celtics Don’t Measure Up as Greatest NBA Team in This Survey

The 1967 and 1983 Philadelphia 76ers got most of the votes as the greatest NBA team ever from a nationwide group of journalists that also favored players from the 1960s as the all-time best.

Taking part in the AP survey were Dick Stockton of CBS, former NBA star Rick Barry of WTBS in Atlanta, former player Steve Jones of Portland station KOIN, David DuPree of USA Today, Jack McCallum of Sports Illustrated and Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News.

In picking the 1967 Sixers as the best team in basketball history, Stockton was typical of survey participants in saying that the Boston Celtics teams that won 11 championships in 13 years in effect canceled each other out when the all-time great teams are considered.

“It may be unfair to pick the Sixers because of the great Celtics teams of that era, but how can you pick one team out of those championship teams as the best?” Stockton said.

Barry, the mainstay of Golden State’s championship team in 1975, picked the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers as the all-time best team, citing its 33-game winning streak that season. Barry said he might have considered one of the Bill Russell-era Celtic teams, but added that Celtics President Red Auerbach “called last year’s team the best of the Boston clubs, and he should know better than anyone.”

Jones and Jasner joined Stockton in picking the 1967 Philadelphia 76ers, who were led by Wilt Chamberlain, Luke Jackson, Hal Greer and sixth man Billy Cunningham.

DuPree and McCallum, citing a 50-7 start and a 12-1 playoff record en route to the championship, picked the 1982-83 76ers led by Moses Malone, Julius Erving, Andrew Toney and Maurice Cheeks.

On the panel’s list of all-time best players, only three current players were named on any ballot. Bird was listed by five of the six participants, and Magic Johnson and Julius Erving one each.

Only Lakers guard Jerry West was a unanimous choice, while Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson joined Bird with five votes. Chamberlain got four votes as the all-time best center and Russell got the other two.

Jones selected fellow panelist Barry, who was not present when Jones made his selections, as one of the all-time best forwards. “He doesn’t get the credit he deserves,” Jones said. “He’s mellowed some now, but he could be very nasty when he put on a uniform.”

The widest difference of opinion was at center, continuing the time-tested debate between Chamberlain’s individual accomplishments and Russell’s team success with the Celtics.

“This is not a team to go out and play together,” Barry said in picking West, Robertson, Chamberlain, Bird and Baylor. “These are the five best individuals.”

“Wilt could have destroyed the sport with his ability,” Jasner said in explaining his choice of Chamberlain.

As the only panelist to choose Erving, Jasner said, “It’s easy to say he doesn’t shoot well enough or dribble well enough, but for the last 10 years, the 76ers have had as good a winning percentage as anybody, and those teams have been constructed around Julius Erving.”

McCallum, who selected Russell to go with Johnson, Bird, Baylor and West, said he took Russell over Chamberlain because “if you have those other four, you don’t need another scorer.”

As one of only two panelists to select two active players as one of the five best of all-time, McCallum said, “Everyone says the game is better today, so you can’t leave today’s players off the list.”

The panelists also picked a team of the best active players.

Bird and Magic Johnson were named by all six participants, while Houston center Akeem Olajuwon and Chicago guard Michael Jordan were on five of six ballots.

The biggest difference of opinion was over the second forward next to Bird. Celtics teammate Kevin McHale and Charles Barkley got two votes each, and Ralph Sampson and James Worthy one each. Isiah Thomas of Detroit got the single guard vote that Jordan didn’t get and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, got the lone vote at center not given to Olajuwon.

Jasner, in picking point guards Thomas and Johnson as the best active backcourt, said he prefers “the old days when you have the two best guards, two best forwards and a center and don’t label players as specialists at one position.”

DuPree expressed a similar sentiment in choosing Johnson, Jordan, Sampson, Bird and Olajuwon as his starting five.

“Those five can do anything, play any position,” DuPree said.