One of the best small men ever to grace NBA, Isiah Thomas's dazzling dribbling skills and ball control often cause problems for the oppositions' defense. He is Detroit Pistons' all-time leader in points, assists, steals and games played.

Thomas finally led Detroit Pistons to NBA glory in the late 80s after ovecoming an aging Magic Johnson's Lakers and an aging Larry bird's Celtics. However, after winning two back-to-back championship in 89 and 90, the Pistons dynasty was not able to continue due to the upcoming challenge by Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. Pistons were still able to charge into the Finals but could not overcome the Bulls. Thomas led his team to deploy rough close marking tactics against Jordan, which caused him and the Pistons to gain the notorious reputation of the "Bad Boys".

After tearing his Archilles tendon in 1994 and age catching up, Thomas decided to retire from professional basketball. He was selected as the part of NBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1996 and elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.

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As they said, the Mailman always delivers. Karl Malone, nicknamed "the Mailman", was well-known for his consistency, which saw him scoring an average of more than 20 points per game for a straight 17 seasons.

Strong and explosive, Malone is one of the best power forwards in the NBA history. He has perfected the "Pick and Roll" offense with point guard John Stockton, resulting in him being the second all-time top scorer in NBA history after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Stockton being the all-time leader in assists.

Despite all his efforts, Malone failed to win a single NBA title as Utah Jazz was almost overcome by the strong teams of that era, including the Chicago Bulls, the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets. Towards the end of his career, Malone decided to forgo high salary and join LA Lakers to form a "dream team" with Gary Payton, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in a bid to win a NBA title. He was 40 years old then.

However, the plan did not work out and as injuries and old age toll, Malone decided to retire in 2004. He was selected as part of NBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1996 but has yet to be elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

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John Stockton emerged from a 16th-draft pick reserve player to become one of the best point guards ever played in the NBA.

His partnership with Karl Malone and their perfected "Pick and Roll" offense has gained him countless assists, which eventually made him the all-time leader in assists. Stockton's no-nonsense and non-fancy defensive playing style was highly effective too, as he was also NBA's all-time leader in steals.

Humble, low-profiled and extremely loyal to Utah Jazz, Stockton rejected big-money contracts from other teams and even avoided endorsement. He played until the age of 41 but still started all 82 games and posted good stats in his last season.

A member of NBA's 50 Greatest Players, Stockton was also elected to the Basketball Hame of Fame in 2009.

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Rules and tactics changed when Shaquille O'Neal, nicknamed "Shaq", burst into the NBA scene in 1991. Such a dorminant force he is that he twice broke the backboards while dunking the basket.

Shaq is very quick and explosive for someone his size, and his high-percentage monster dunks made him the player with the third highest field goal percentage in the NBA history at 58%. However, his main weakness is his poor freethrow shooting percentage, which is only about 53%. He once missed 11 straight freethrow against the Seattle Supersonics in 2000.

Part of the LA Lakers' dynasty in the early 2000s, Shaq won three straight NBA titles with them. In 2003, in a bid to revive Lakers' dominance, Shaq persuade Gary Payton and Karl Malone to join and form a dream team with him and Kobe Bryant. Sadly, the idea did not work out well as Lakers failed to win in subsequent years.

Shaquille O'Neal is named part of NBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1996.

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