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There was an interesting article on ESPN.com, written by Ramona Shelburne, who does a great job there covering the NBA and writing feature stories.

Here's the title.

Pat Riley, as LeBron Chase's history, end quotes,

Karim's the greatest player of all time.

Rob Garra, Rob G.

You read the article, kind of summarized Riley's take.

Sure.

Well, the whole thing was written with the LeBron James Quest to surpass Kareem on the all-time scoring list as the backdrop. That was the whole premise of the column. And for the most part, it was an ode to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And of course, Pat Riley coached him during the showtime Lakers era. So a lot of fluffery going on for Kareem. Well, things got weird, though, about halfway through. Pat Riley, again, was asked about LeBron James passing Kareem and his overall thoughts on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a player. Here's what he said. I always said that Kareem was the greatest player of all time because of his longevity.

Kareem was unique from the standpoint that he could play at a high level, play 80 games a year,

get beat up because of double and triple teams, and guys just taking shots at him.

He just developed his mental toughness along with the great physical body to really last forever.

I put Michael Jordan in there too, but Kareem was the greatest at that time

because of his longevity

and the fact that he continued to perform

at a high level when he was in his late 30s

and 40s.

...