Retired players have the advantage of accumulated stats and honors, so David Stern emphasized the weight of comparing stats and honors divided by career length, among other aspects.
In the context where retired players have already brought substantial changes to the NBA, he strengthened the outlook for current players...
Indeed, comparing a player with four years of experience to those who played for over a decade and were superstars at the time is too challenging.
Unless, like the Magician, you win FMVP in your rookie season or like Unseld win MVP, you have to rely on accumulating honors. O'Neal spent his first four years in the era of dominant centers, which was extremely difficult.
Without affecting the selection of most stars who deserved to be among the top 50, David Stern ultimately succeeded in getting O'Neal's total score to rank at 50th place, which wasn't easy.
