Shaq's retirement got me wondering about this. Opinions?
NOTE: This poll is meant to take into account entire careers, not just time spent on the Lakers. These are just the best centers who happened to play for the Lakers for a significant amount of time. For example, Abdul-Jabbar's and Wilt's best years were before they wore the purple and gold.
George Mikan--Greatest early NBAer. Physically dominant against his peers. Led the Milwaukee Lakers to the League's first dynasty, winning titles in four of the first five years of the 50's and three more in the late-40's for a total of seven titles during his nine-year career. Was a near-seven-footer with the coordination and skill of most six-footers of his day. Was an all-league first-teamer every eligible year of his career (All-NBL 2X, All-BAA 1X, All-NBA 5X). Sadly, the MVP award wasn't created until two years after his retirement, or he'd have plenty of those as well. Was the very first player the League adopted new rules for. He was just that dominant and far and away the greatest player in the NBA's early history. The AP backed up that sentiment in 1950, naming Mikan the greatest basketball player of the first half of the century. When he received that honor, he was only five years into his career. Largely forgotten in modern "greatest of all time" discussions, Mikan spearheaded the Lakers' ascension from a startup franchise in a podunk city to one of the two most storied franchises in league history.
Wilt Chamberlain--Most dominant player of all time. We can talk about his four MVP Awards, his single-season scoring mark, or the fact that he's a ten-time All-NBAer, but Wilt's best argument is the film. Was a 7-1, 275-lb incredibly gifted player who would've wrecked shop against any center from any era playing in an era when the average center was 6-9 and the tallest guys with his skillset were over half a foot shorter than Chamberlain. For an entire season, he averaged 50 points and 25 rebounds a game, and he did this after the NBA began adjusting the rules to limit Chamberlain. The NBA changed more rules due to Chamberlain's dominance than any other player in history.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar--Maybe the second-greatest collegiate player ever, "Sweet Lew" was every bit as dominant in the NBA as he was under John Wooden. The owner of numerous NBA records, the most notable of which are his scoring record, 18 All-Star games, and his six NBA MVP awards. Playing until he was 42, Abdul-Jabbar aged as gracefully as anyone to ever play the game, averaging over 23 points and 1.65 blocks per game at age 39. Just as incredible, he was still effective until the very end. At age 42 in his 20th and final season in the NBA, Abdul-Jabbar, whose body could no longer handle 30-40 minutes of playing time, still posted averages of 21 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, and a steal per 48 minutes. If longevity is any indicator of greatness, Kareem's mark in the record books is only overshadowed by his Satchel Paige-like career.
Shaq--This guy's harder to talk about because of the lack of records, but he passed the eye test that so many fall short on. Much like Wilt and Mikan, he was simply the most dominant force of his time and completely unstoppable. The size, the weight, the strength, the quickness, it was a total package for the man who played his HS ball at San Antonio Cole. Led the NBA in scoring twice, field goal percentage ten times, one an NBA MVP award (and probably should've won a couple more), was a 15-time All-Star, and a 14-time All-NBA player. Started his career in an era of strong centers--guys like David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, and Hakeem Olajuwon--and deserves to be mentioned with or above all of them as one of the best ever. In my lifetime, I've only seen three men--Shaq and LeBron (no offense to Jordan, he didn't have the same size/strength/speed combination these two did)--who were so physically superior to everyone around them that even Hall of Famers look physically overmatched next to them. Shaq is on the same level as LeBron, Mikan and Chamberlain in pure physical dominance, and those are possibly the only four players in history with the pure physical strength, quickness, and explosiveness to dominate their peers like nobody else.