This is my fifth and final post about my picks for what I refer to as “yardsticks” in my book, “The G.O.A.T.: The Quest to Find the Best”. The yardstick is one of the ten criteria I used to pick my Top 75 greatest basketball players of all time. Simply stated, the “yardstick” means that a player is the very best in a particular fundamental of basketball i.e. shooting, rebounding, etc., and all other players are compared to that player. My last post was the yardstick for rebounding. Wilt Chamberlain AND Bill Russell are the two greatest rebounders of all-time, so they are my “yardstick(s). In this post I am going to present my top 10 playmakers of all time and pick who I think is the “yardstick”.

Before I get into my picks of WHO I need to define WHAT a playmaker is to me. Unlike picking the best rebounder, picking the best playmaker is more subjective and difficult. It is more complicated to define the makeup of a playmaker than just point to one or two skills. Typically, playmakers are those “little” point guards that “quarterback” the team. They bring the ball up the court, and usually they have the ball in their hands 60-70% of the time. They are good dribblers and good passers. In the earlier days, they were not considered an offensive threat. Their “role” was to get everyone else on the team the ball. Some of this is still true today but the role of the playmaker has changed in the last 20 years. A playmaker is a player that is generally the “facilitator” of the team. The “straw” that stirs the drink. He makes everyone on his team a better player.  He gets the ball to his teammates on time AND in a position to score. Playmaker’s throughout the history of the NBA have been exceptional passers but in more modern time have often been exceptional scorers, especially with the emphasis on the 3-point shot. You may not agree with my picks, but if you keep in mind my definition of a playmaker, I hope you will understand WHY I picked these WHO’S.  As a coach for 22 years in high school and college I would rather have a playmaker, who is a scorer. A player, who is multidimensional; a great dribbler, outstanding passer AND capable of scoring.

Here are my top 10 playmakers of all time:

#1)  Magic Johnson, Revolutionized the POINT guard position with his size and his skills. 5xNBA Champion, 5xAssist Champion, 10xAll-NBA, 10,141 Career Assists (11.2 Average), 19.5 Career Points Per Game Average

#2)  Oscar Robertson, First “big” point guard. Original triple double player. 11xAll-NBA, 1xNBA Champ, 5xAst Champ, 9,887 Career Ast. (8^th), 9.5 Av (3rd All-Time), 25.7 Career Pts. Per Game Av.

#3)  Isiah Thomas, 5xAll-NBA, 1xAst. Champ, 2xNBA Champ, 9,061 Career Ast. (9.3 Av.), 19.2 Career Pts Av. *Thomas did for the Piston’s what Magic did for the Laker’s.

#4)  John Stockton, #1 Career Ast. Leader with 15,806 (10.5 Av.), 9xAst. Champ (1989-90 averaged 14.5 per game), 11xAll-NBA, 13.1 Career Pts. Per Game Av.

#5)  Steve Nash, 7xAll-NBA, 2xNBAMVP, 5xAst. Champ, 10,335 Career Ast. (5th All-Time), 8.5 Career Av, 14.3 Career Pts. Av.

#6)  Bob Cousy, 12xAll-NBA, 8xAst Champ, 6xNBA Champ, 6,955 Career Ast. (7.5 Av.), 18.4 Career Pts. Av. *If you looked in the “basketball dictionary” for the definition of a point guard, playmaker, passer, etc. before Oscar showed up in 1960 you would find a picture of Cousy. He WAS the yardstick in the early years of the NBA for point guard. His Celtic teams won 6 titles.

#7)  Chris Paul, 11xAll-NBA, 5xAst. Champ, 11,894 Career Ast. (3^rd All-Time), 9.4 Career Av. 17.5 Career Pts. Av. *Starting 20^th year in the NBA.

#8)  Jason Kidd, 6xAll-NBA, 5xAst. Champ, 12,091 Career Ast. (2^nd All-Time), 8.7 Career Av., 12.6 Career Pts. Av. *Kidd was an efficient  point guard for 17 of his 19 years in the NBA.

#9)Kevin Johnson, 5xAll-NBA, 6,711 Career Ast., 9.1 Career Ast. Av. (7^th All-Time), 17.9 Career Pts. Av. *Bird called KJ the best teammate he ever had and the best guard he ever played with.

#10)James Harden, 7xAll-NBA, 2xAst. Champ, 1xNBAMVP, 7,629 Career Ast. (14^th All-Time), 7.1 Career Av., 24.1 Career Pts. Av. * From 2017-2023 Harden averaged 9.4 assists AND 28.8 points a game.

As was the case with my other four choices for yardstick, some very qualified players did not make my top 10.  I consider players like Jerry West, Tiny Archibald, Walt Frazier, Tony Parker, Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, and Gary Payton primarily scorers, and players that had an impact on the game in ways other than, basically, a playmaker. It was hard to leave off two players I grew up watching, Len Wilkins and Guy Rodgers.

The game is changing and the roles of players have changed with it. Many, if not most, of the outstanding players in the game today do not have just one or A position. Who is the point guard for the Mavs, Nuggets, Lakers, and several other NBA teams? Do you consider Doncic, Jokic, James, and several other outstanding passing “big men” a playmaker? Maybe.