Probably big spoilers here…although I will try not to make it too bad
The lead up to Pixels was a roller coaster. When Patrick Jean made the short film Pixels in 2010, it was downright awesome. Old school video games attacking the world? That’s money waiting to be printed. As a result we have a feature film in 2015 of the same name. When I first saw the trailer for Pixels I was agog. The potential was limitless. If this movie succeeded, and really, the idea sells itself, this could open doors to perhaps distributers looking monetize video game franchises into film. What video game fan doesn’t want to see a Nintendo Cinematic Universe? The trailer even looked awesome. We just needed Pixels to succeed. It just had one obstacle: Adam Sandler.
Now I haven’t completely followed Sandler’s career and the last thing I remember seeing him in was 2006’s Click, which I recall enjoying at the time. But critics and movie goers have had enough of Sandler. More recently, Jack and Jill, starring Sandler, was regarded as one of the worst films of all time (I haven’t seen it). So everyone was over Sandler at this point. As the reviews for Pixels came in (the drop of the roller coaster) I feared the worst. 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critically panned everywhere. Calls for Adam Sandler to retire. Nintendo tweeted that fans should go see Pixels and got tons of negative responses. I felt like I needed to see Pixels, mainly because I’m a video gamer.
Truth be told…Pixels gets a bad rap. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some bad (even awful) stuff here…but there was definitely some good as well.
Let’s talk about Sandler’s Sam Brenner. First question: if you were told an actor had to play an underachieving middle aged electronics installer in a film that doesn’t take itself remotely seriously who would you pick? Sandler right? So at least he fits the part. His shtick is tired for sure. Some of his jokes downright missed. But he does occasionally get a good line in and I don’t think he’s terrible at all. He’s just there. If you’re sick of Sandler at this point you probably hate him here. That’s fine.
Kevin James’ President Will Cooper also isn’t great, pretty much because they went with the stupid president path which just dates the film since George W. Bush hasn’t been in office for seven years. But…I will say that I think they also were making fun of potential Presidential candidate Chris Christie here, which again, is merely okay.
For the most part, Peter Dinklage’s Eddie Plant is played so over the top it’s great. Definitely the best character in the film.
Josh Gad’s Ludlow is very hit or miss. It’s more miss, but he does have his moments.
Michelle Monaghan in reviews was referred as one of the bright spots of the film, but her Violet Van Patten wasn’t anything special.
So let’s get to the plot. Back in 1982 there was an Arcade Game contest to which Plant defeated Brenner in the finals where Donkey Kong was played. It was said that the footage from the tournament would be sent to outer space so that life forms perhaps could see intelligence from Earth. Before you claim how ridiculous that idea is, you find a way for aliens to send video games to attack Earth and let me know how much sense it makes. It should be noted that this entire opening sequence is pretty awesome and captures what playing games in arcades was like. We get to the present time where Brenner is hired to install a TV and PS4 for a kid, and they get into a discussion about games and patterns. For some reason the kid goes into his mother’s personal life, and in one of the weaker moments of the film Sandler and the mother, Van Patten, share a moment drinking in a closet. It doesn’t work at all.
We see the first attack on the Island of Guam…by Galaga. It’s a bit of a shame that Galaga isn’t part of the climax later (I think Galaga and Centipede should have been switched) but it’s still pretty cool. The President makes a call to his Colonel, who we find out is Van Patten, and his best friend who happens to be great at video games, Brenner. While there’s another really weak joke attempt during this sequence, Cooper confirms what he thought…that Galaga attacked Guam. Brenner happens to find Ludlow, who’s a conspiracy nut, and Ludlow shows Brenner old 80s footage that’s doctored with alien voices that warns of the next attack. Cooper ignores this, as he believes the press would further laugh at him. Arkanoid attacks India (there’s a scene during this that I thought was at first stupid…but then I laughed realizing if this actually were to happen someone would probably do this…you’ll have to see for yourself), which is another cool sequence. The video games warn the U.S.: they are down 2-0 and if the Video Games get up 3-0, Earth will be destroyed.
From that point it’s up to Brenner and Ludlow to train the military to learn how to fight any classic arcade game…monster (?). But when the time comes, the military is overwhelmed by Centipede before Brenner and Ludlow take over and win. I was surprised at this, as reviews stated that it made no sense that the characters good at the games would actually do the fighting. But, here, the military tried and couldn’t keep up with the patterns…so I can actually by the idea of the gamers coming in and taking over.
We find out what happened to Eddie Plant and he has some funny and not so funny demands in exchange for his help (funny one: no more taxes). His character would provide an interesting twist later in the film that I won’t spoil here. We move onto the Pac-Man battle, which is a pretty awesome sequence and definitely the high point of the film. It logically doesn’t make sense (because Brenner is good at patterns…but he’s the ghost and Pac-Man has no pattern). Of course eventually we get to the finale, which the trailer pretty much gave away. The Donkey Kong sequence is pretty great too though.
Pixels tells a pretty solid story considering the premise, and all of the video games look absolutely great. Some of the running gags do have a pretty good payoff (Ludlow’s dream love, for example), but some aren’t just bad, they’re terrible. I’ll give this one away but for some reason we have Q*Bert peeing himself after being afraid, which was just unnecessary and not funny at all. Most of the comedy misses, and like in this case, misses badly.
But it’s not an 18% film. Definitely better than that. Maybe it’s a straight nostalgia money grab. But at least it pays respect to the great games involved.
Pros:
+The video game attackers look incredible, and each scene is awesome.
+Peter Dinklage is the only character that’s funny more often than not.
+Some funny gags.
+Story is better than it has any right to be.
+Opening sequence of the film is well done.
Cons:
-Some really unfunny gags.
-Sandler and James’s time has past.
-Love story is uninspiring and clichéd.
-Can’t stress enough about the unfunny stuff.
-An unfortunate waste of a great idea.
We probably aren’t getting the Nintendo Cinematic Universe out of this unfortunately. But I did have a good time watching, and I guess that’s what counts.
WWE Summerslam 2008
August 17, 2008
Indianapolis, IN
2008 was shaping up to be a very good year.
Everyone just seemed to be hitting their stride. Triple H had been a solid top face. Edge an amazing heel. Everything didn’t feel booked around John Cena for the first time in years…which also worked wonders for Cena. Chris Jericho and JBL, both coming off huge layoffs and rough comebacks, had gotten back into stride and were entertaining top guys again. Undertaker somehow became one of the best, if not the best worker in the whole promotion. Jeff Hardy was being groomed for the top, although he made some mistakes along the way. CM Punk surprisingly was at the top, at least kind of as he was the World Champion although in the middle of the pack still. Even someone like Mark Henry was suddenly realizing his potential with his strong run as ECW World Champ.
A lot of awesome stuff was happening…and it built up to a pretty good looking Summerslam.
Could WWE keep a good year going?
The Card
We get a promo of the big main event, which is the presumed blow off of the pretty awesome Edge vs. Undertaker feud.
Jeff Hardy vs. MVP
This was still part of Hardy’s “punishment” after getting a wellness strike before Wrestlemania 24 and losing out on his shot at winning MITB. He would get past this and be on top soon enough though.
It’s astonishing to me that MVP didn’t work out in WWE. He was one of the most entertaining heels in the whole promotion at this point.
There are huge “MVP” chants, which is surprising as Hardy was one of the most popular stars in WWE at the time.
MVP pins Jeff Hardy in 10:21. Shelton Benjamin appears at ringside and Hardy takes him out, but that distraction leads to Hardy missing a Swanton and MVP hitting the Drive-By for the win. I pretty surprising result, as Hardy would be on the fast track to the World Title shortly after this. Really good match.
Santino and Beth Phoenix interview by Maria. Santino just recently dumped Maria for Beth. Santino really found his way as a comedy heel here.
WWE Intercontinental and Women’s Championship Match Kofi Kingston (IC Champ) and Mickie James (Women’s Champ) vs. Santino and Beth Phoenix
Until the New Day run, I swear Kofi was the same exact character for six years.
Michael Cole says that RAW GM Mike Adamle made this “Adamle Original” match. That was one awful part of 2008, GM Mike Adamle.
Santino takes a monkey flip from Mickie, and even that’s hilarious.
Santino jumps in Beth’s arms to avoid a Kofi dive. Just great stuff.
The Mickie vs. Beth stuff is awesome. Beautiful hurricanrana.
Tornado DDT from Mickie to Santino!
Beth Phoenix and Santino win the titles when Beth pinned Mickie in 5:45. Glam Slam wins it. Great for what it was. Depending on how you felt about the IC Title this was either a travesty or awesome. Since the US Title seemed to be the serious title (Benjamin was the Champ at this point I believe) this was more than fine.
Shawn Michaels makes his way out the ring to announce his retirement with his wife Rebecca. HBK was slammed into the Jeri-Tron 5000 by Chris Jericho, which is one of the best heel turns ever done in my opinion. This led to an eye injury that led to HBK’s retirement here.
At least until Chris Jericho shows up. Jericho, who had begun doing the whole suit and tie thing and, as amazing as Edge was at this point, was the best heel in the business. Jericho demands that HBK admit that Jericho is the reason he is retiring. HBK fires back that Jericho needs to live with the fact that he’s not Shawn Michaels.
Jericho goes for a punch…and decks Rebecca. Jericho is in shock, as is HBK. After reading Jericho’s 3rd book, it turns out Jericho accidentally decked her for real. While horrifying, it added so much to this segment and the entire segment is pretty incredible. While I don’t like how he won it, there is no surprise in the fact that Jericho was given the World Title shortly after this. This continued a pretty amazing feud (although I actually don’t like their Unforigiven match) which led to a fantastic ladder match at No Mercy ’08.
Mark Henry owned here at this was the peak of Matt Hardy’s popularity. Neither would actually maintain it, although Henry would return to form in 2011.
Matt Hardy wins by DQ in 0:31. Must have been short on time. Tony Atlas pulling out Matt to cause a DQ though just further shit on what the ECW Brand was though. Sadly, something similar would happen with the ECW World Title next year too.
Punk had won the title from Edge using MITB, and JBL felt he was an undeserving champ. Punk probably wasn’t ready for the World Title yet, and as described on his documentary, this was a really a midcard feud with the World Title involved, although JBL and Punk were both pretty good at this point.
Just a fun big man vs. little man match here. Feels like an IC Title Match though.
CM Punk retains by pin in 11:09. GTS gets the win. A little short, but very good. It was a solid, clean victory for Champ Punk and one of the better JBL matches. Just a shame it was stuck in the midcard.
I thought it was pretty weird for Khali to get one more shot at the top here. This would be the last time though, as Khali became the comedic “Punjanbi Playboy” in October and never gave up that role.
HHH does his best here. Khali dominates with nerve holds and his chops and such, and HHH makes the most out of it, selling for Khali, making him look like a million bucks.
HHH retains the title in 9:18 by pin. Probably Khali’s 2nd best match. Give HHH tons of credit, it’s good considering who his opponent is. This was the end of any main event run for Khali, who soon became a comical babyface.
John Cena vs. Batista
The story is that this came from a miscommunication from a Tag Match, but that was a set-up for the obvious “dream match” scenario.
The promo video really pushes the whole idea of Batista and Cena being the top guys in the company and finally colliding. Interestingly though, this isn’t the main event. I think this was because Batista wasn’t really at his peak here and had been cast aside on Smackdown. Peak Batista is from 2005 through mid 2007, then again in early 2010.
Batista using the Figure Four is a nice touch with Flair’s retirement back at Mania.
I like that Batista is busting out moves we don’t normally see from him. A Figure Four before, and now a variation of a rear naked choke.
Awesome counter: Cena goes for his top rope legdrop on a bent over opponent, only Batista turns it into a Batista Bomb. And it’s not even the finish!
Batista pinned John Cena in 13:44. The 2nd Batista Bomb wins it cleanly. Not a surprising finish as Batista was the one that needed a little re-establishing, and a clean win over Cena was the perfect solution. Both of these guys also showed great chemistry that would be seen again a couple years later. I don’t think anyone was expecting a great match here, but that’s what they got.
Hell in a Cell
The Undertaker vs. Edge
If Jericho vs. HBK wasn’t your 2008 Feud of the Year, then this was. Taker and Edge had brilliant matches at Wrestlemania, Backlash and a classic at One Night Stand. Edge won that last won for the title that “retired” the Undertaker…but a vengeful Vickie Guerrerobrought The Undertaker back.
I will say the Edge-Vickie marriage was just something that didn’t really work, but Edge was so good it pretty much didn’t matter. There was also a brilliant segment in the lead-up where Edge beat up Mick Foley in Foley’s last great WWE segment.
Some real creative stuff early on using the ring steps. Snake eyes from Taker, then an Edge dropkick and spear with Taker sitting next to the steps.
This is a flat out a great brawl. Bonus points for Edge invoking what he did to Mick Foley before dropping an elbow with a chair off a ladder onto Taker.
A big surprise…Edge spears Taker through the Cell! I believe this was the first time in six years that the Hell in a Cell participants went outside the Cell.
In a ridiculously dangerous spot, Edge jumps off one table and spears Taker through the other one. Just sick.
In a brilliant callback, Edge whacks Taker with a TV camera. He did the same at Survivor Series ’07.
The brawl keeps on and eventually Taker gets the upperhand and puts an epic beatdown on Edge. Poor Edge gets whacked with the camera, goes flying through the tables and Is the recipient of a vicious con-chair-to. Talk about a feud ender.
The Undertaker pinned Edge in 26:40. Tombstone finished it off. Really a TLC match in a Hell in a Cell match…but it was a great match nonetheless and the last great Cell match until Wrestlemania XXVIII. It was weird at the time that there was no blood or anything…but really it was just a sign of the times as blood would become a thing of the past. A great ending to a great feud. As long as we ignore the hokey post-match beat down where Taker chokeslams Edge through the ring and then lights the hole on fire. We can just ignore that if that’s okay (don’t worry, Edge would show up three months later at Survivor Series and win the World Title).
This is a pretty awesome show all around. Everything except the short ECW World Title match basically hit. CM Punk showed he can be a great World Champion (not that WWE let him run with it or anything…we’d have to wait a year for that), HHH showed he can actually get a good match out of the Great Khali, the two main events were great AND we got that whole HBK-Jericho segment. This is as close to an A+ as you can get without getting one…but it feels like it just comes short. This might have not been the best Taker-Edge match or even Cena-Batista match…and historically, Punk got nowhere.
Big spoilers here…are you even reading this if you haven’t seen the film. Also, all Star Wars films have to invite comparison to the prequels…because inevitably any discussion of the Star Wars films invites such comparisons.
Without a doubt, Star Wars changed the way we look at big blockbuster films. It’s crazy looking back that George Lucas didn’t have a ton of confidence in his film and thought he was going to get killed by Steven Spielberg’sClose Encounters of the Third Kind. While perhaps it hasn’t aged beautifully, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was a special effects masterpiece that launched the careers of several stars (Harrison Ford, for example) and made more money than any other movie at that point.
But let’s be honest, that doesn’t mean it’s the greatest film of all time or anything. In fact, it may be the most overrated. Looking at the critical acclaim the film has received in every way, as well as it’s revered state among most Star Wars fans only shows just how overrated the film is.
I had some pre-conceived notions about A New Hope before watching it again for this review, since truthfully I didn’t entirely enjoy it when I was younger. I found it rather boring and I didn’t see much in Luke Skywalker, our main protagonist, to get invested in. I felt the same way on both accounts watching the film again.
The film begins with the evil Empire, led by Darth Vader, hunting down several members of the Rebellion who have stolen integral plans of the Empire’s moon-sized weapon, the Death Star. The best that Princess Leia can do is send the plans and a message with a droid named R2D2 to another planet where Obi-Wan Kenobi resides. After that we get an unnecessary argument between R2 and fellow droid C3PO, splitting the two. They end up captured and reunited, and it’s really one of the more pointless and slower starts to a film I’ve ever seen.
They eventually get bought by Luke Skywalker and his aunt and uncle. Luke stumbles upon the message for Kenobi, and knows a Ben Kenobi himself. We learn a little bit about Luke’s dream of one day being a Jedi like his father and Kenobi’s past as a Jedi Knight himself. Kenobi tries to convince Luke to come with him to follow him and follow his dream, although Luke declines as he feels tied at home. Luke’s aunt and uncle are killed though, and we come upon one of the first problems with Luke Skywalker. Other than a two second bowing of his head, he seems to not be all that concerned that his family as just brutally murdered and joins Kenobi on his quest.
On the Empire side of things, I think it’s well known that Darth Vader is one of the best film characters in cinema history. I don’t buy him as particularly a great villain though, and some of the interactions here with Grand Moff Tarkin, the commander of the Death Star show why. While Vader definitely shows his dominance at times, there are other moments where it seems like Tarkin is running the show on the Death Star. Luckily, that’s rectified near the end.
The film picks up when we’re introduced to Han Solo, a smuggler/pilot looking to make money however he can in order to pay back from debts. Ford’s Solo outshines Mark Hamill’s Skywalker on pretty much every level. Eventually, they are picked up by Death Star and Solo and Skywalker look to rescue Princess Leia while Obi-Wan looks to help anyway he can…and confront Vader. Our heroes end up in a pretty ridiculous situation…without the droids our New Hope would have been crushed in a garbage disposal…while Kenobi faces off with Vader. Vader kills Kenobi in front of Luke’s eyes…and we finally get some emotion out of Luke that isn’t whining or complaining.
Getting to that point, Luke Skywalker complains about everything. Watching them film he actually reminded me of Robin in Batman and Robin. So I don’t continue to harp on the weakness of Skywalker, it’s also worth noting that his fascination with Leia is pretty creepy considering what would happen with the rest of the series.
Anyway, the film does end on a strong note, although the pacing is messy. The Empire tracks Skywalker, Solo and Leia to the Rebel base, and the race is on. The Rebels send attack fighters to exploit a weakness in the Death Star while the Empire look to destroy the planet the Rebels are on. With some “help” from Kenobi, Luke gets in the final blow at the last minute with a Han Solo assist…and the Rebels win for now. The Death Star blows up (Vader wasn’t inside) and the Luke and Han are given medals at the end. The entire ending sequence is the first time we can believe in Skywalker as a top hero…although I’m unsure how we got that to that point.
There’s a lot to analyze with Star Wars and there is more good than bad for sure. But the bad is often ignored for whatever reason. I often laugh at some of the comments about the prequels in regards to the terrible dialog in those three films (a fair criticism) while wondering where those comments are when it comes to a New Hope. There’s an especially cringe worthy statement from Leia to Tarkin that made me wonder if Lucas wanted to base Leia off of spoiled English royalty. C3PO is also quite annoying here, which surprised me because I remember at one time thinking C3PO was funny.
Pros:
+Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chewbacca, R2D2 and Darth Vader are all great characters.
+For 1977, this was a technical masterpiece.
+Great third act.
Cons:
-There’s nothing inspiring about Luke Skywalker at all.
-Tarkin is a good character, but unfortunately his presence holds Vader back.
-Downright boring opening.
-Dialog misses at some parts
For its historical significance and the pros listed I can’t put the film too low, but’s worth repeating that this is one of the most overrated films in cinema history.
Big spoilers here…I mean the film has been out for seven years now…
I’m sure Marvel looked at Batman Begins and wondered “how can we do that?” While Marvel has had a part in many of the films involving their characters (obviously), this was the first full production from Marvel Studios and only Marvel Studios. And they would one-up the DC Comics Dark Knight Trilogy with the idea to connect all of their main characters and weave them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While Iron Man technically isn’t the Marvel Comics counterpart to DC’s Batman (you can argue that would be Steel), the message was there…that Marvel is on the big screen now in direct competition to DC and Batman (and Christopher Nolan’s trilogy). Iron Man has to be a hit for this to really work and Marvel delivered for sure.
The first twenty minutes of the film is fantastic. We quickly get an idea of who Tony Stark is and why he in fact becomes Iron Man. It’s done so well that we don’t really need a long backstory. The message is clear: Tony Stark realizes the weapons he’s created are doing more harm than good, and after a traumatic experience of being captured and made to create more of these weapons, he realizes he should use his resources to defend the world. Considering the direction the Marvel Cinematic Universe has went, this is an impressive start considering Tony’s still trying to do everything he can to defend the world. Stark’s partner, Obadiah Stane, of course isn’t exactly about to just let Tony Stark change the entire direction of the company at a moment’s notice. Also brilliantly done in the film is show Stane’s power. When it’s revealed he tried to overtake Stark Industries by having Stark captured and killed, Stane kills many of the Ten Rings (the group that captured Tony) members when they make demands. For most of the film Stane is a great villain.
Even the smaller storylines are done well. We get a lot of plot development from Pepper Potts and her relationship with Tony without taking up tons of screen time and narration to explain it. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson even makes an appearance, looking to gain info about Stark and Iron Man for the Avengers Initiative. Stark’s best friend Colonel James Rhodes is also established as someone who looks to keep Stark in check when he can.
If there’s one part of the film I don’t like, it’s what Stane does toward the end. He quickly goes from someone just looking to overtake the company to someone who becomes mad with power. Once he gets control of his own suit, the Iron Monger, it makes you wonder just what Stane’s motivation suddenly is. It’s disappointing to see a cunning business man go crazy just like that.
It’s worth noting that Iron Man feels a lot darker than later MCU films would be. There’s not a whole lot of comedy, although the bits that are intended for that work too (although, I’m pretty sure Stark would have died when one of his tests go wrong and he crashes into a wall). I find this to be quite refreshing as it helps us feel the dilemma and pain Tony Stark goes through as he realizes what his weapons have done to people all over the world.
The cast hits everywhere. Robert Downey Jr. is so good that it can be debated he’s as much Tony Stark as Hugh Jackman is Wolverine. Gwyneth Paltrow works as Pepper. Terrence Howard, although not long for the role, is good as Rhodey. I also bought into Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane.
It should also be pointed out that the end credits sequence was a huge deal at the time and left no questions about where Marvel was headed.
Pros:
+Cast hits their marks, especially Downey as Iron Man.
+Efficient and great character development.
+Great story…you really believe in Tony Stark.
+Obadiah Stane is a good villain…for most of the film.
+Subtle moments that looking back made you realize the MCU was going to be a huge deal.
Cons:
-Stane’s motivations don’t really jive with the rest of the film.
A pretty great start to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for sure.
NBA Top 10 Assists: 12x (’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 1x (’68)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 2x (’67, ’68)
NBA All-Time Assists: 12th
2nd Best Player on two Runner-Ups: (’61 Hawks, ’64 Hawks)
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 71st
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 72nd
A strange resume for sure. Wilkens was once runner-up for MVP…but also never made an All-NBA Team. His advanced stats (dubious for the 60s admittedly) don’t blow anyone away. What stands out is that random runner-up for MVP and his assists totals.
You know who he reminds me of? Jason Kidd. Now Kidd is obviously a lot more revered than Wilkens considering Kidd’s been All-NBA Team many times. But that’s the reason Kidd is about 40 spots higher. Lenny Wilkens seemed like another very good player stuck in the Russell Celtics era. He had two early cracks at the title but the Hawks couldn’t get it done. Nothing wrong with that. Lenny would eventually win a title with the ’79 Sonics as a coach and has won like a billion games. Not bad.
#79: Earl Monroe
NBA Rookie of the Year: (‘68)
All-NBA 1st Team: 1x (‘69)
All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’68)
NBA All-Star: 4x (’69, ’71, ’75, ‘77)
NBA Points Runner-Up: 1x (‘69)
NBA Top 10 Points: 3x (’68, ’69, ‘70)
Starter on one NBA Championship Team: ’73 Knicks
2nd Best Player on one Runner-Up: ’71 Bullets
Role Player on one Runner-Up: ’72 Knicks
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 67th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 47th
My first instinct is to go with Earl “The Pearl” being overrated because he had a cool nickname and he played on the famous Knick teams of the early 70s. His resume doesn’t quite stack up with the guys around him on this list at all.
Here’s the thing. When Monroe was great…he was elite. He outright invented a move (spin move) and was unstoppable until knee injuries. He still played a part in three straight NBA Finals…although he didn’t win in ’71 and got outplayed by Gail Goodrich in ’72. He played a role in the ’73 Knicks title, which helps. His career as a productive player wasn’t over yet either, as he made All Star teams in 1975 and 1977, as the league was adding talent post ABA merger.
Maybe he should be lower, but this is one of those where reputation is going to outweight the resume. And no one really has anything bad to say about Earl “The Pearl”.
#78: Tony Parker
NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’07)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’12, ’13, ‘14)
All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (’09)
All-NBA Rookie 2nd Team: 1x (’02)
NBA All-Star: 6x (’06, ’07, ’09, ’12, ’13, ‘14)
NBA Top 10 Assists: 1x (’12)
NBA Top 10 PER: 2x (’09, ’13)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 1x (‘13)
NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (’13)
2nd or 3rd Best Player on three Championships Teams: (’05 Spurs, ’07 Spurs, ’14 Spurs)
Starter on one Championship Team: (’03 Spurs)
2nd Best Player on one Runner-Up: (’13 Spurs)
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 139th
Tony Parker made a great case for himself after 2011, where he suddenly looked like the real best player on the Spurs. This shouldn’t have been such a shock as while the Spurs were starting to look and feel old, Parker had hit his prime. Unfortunately a disappointing 2015 just as suddenly makes Parker look washed up and probably prevents him from moving up to this list.
Truth is, Parker has been a very good player for almost all his career. He definitely lucked out on landing with the Spurs…I don’t think he even has half the career he ended up having without that stroke of luck…but he definitely had talent. As early as 2003 Phil Jackson wrote in his book how Parker would give the Lakers fits on screen rolls. Even early on in his career, Parker was playing at a high level in the playoffs.
The 2003 Finals was a different story, although I believe it’s a story that showed that Tony Parker could be great. The main storyline leading up to the 2003 Finals between the Spurs and the Nets was that Jason Kidd’s contract was expiring…and the Spurs were one of the top teams to land him. There were interviews with Parker asking if he would take a back-up role to Kidd during the finals no less (I remember Parker saying he’d beat him out for the starting job). Anyway, as Parker struggled towards the end of the finals, that controversy only grew stronger and only went away when Kidd re-signed with the Nets. Parker took that slight and turned it into a very good career, and from 2004 on, I’d even argue you might want to have Parker than Kidd.
#77: Chris Webber
NBA Rookie of the Year: (’94)
All-NBA 1st Team: 1x (’01)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’99, ’02, ’03)
All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (’00)
All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’94)
NBA All-Star: 5x (’97, ’00, ’01, ’02, ‘03)
NBA Top 10 Points 2x (’00, ‘01)
NBA Rebounds Per Game Leader: 1x (’99)
NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 2x (’99, ’00)
NBA Top 10 Blocks: 1x (’94)
NBA Top 10 PER: 3x (’00, ’01, ‘02)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 1x (‘00)
NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (’02)
NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 3x (’01, ’02, ’03)
NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 3x (’00, ’01, ’03)
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 72nd
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 80th
There are similarities to Tracy McGrady in terms of being a once-in-a-lifetime talent who didn’t pan out by not working on his game. Chris Webber was given every single thing a big man could ever want. Explosive power. Great passing. Good size. Good leaping ability. Webber had everything. Yet Webber’s college career might have messed him up mentally to the point where this once-in-a-lifetime talent never reached his sky high potential.
First, let’s look at Webber’s college career. As the centerpiece of the Fab Five, Webber was dominant. While Michigan’s loss to Duke in the 1992 Championship game hurt, it will never be forgotten how Michigan lost the 1993 Championship game on Webber’s infamous timeout. With 19 seconds left and Michigan down by two, Webber grabs a missed free throw. He first gets away with a travel before dribbling straight into a trap. Webber then calls timeout when Michigan has none, leading to a technical and costing Michigan a last chance at the National Championship. One must wonder how much this affected Webber in the NBA, especially in his playoff battles with the Lakers. When it came to the clutch, Webber never wanted to be the man and came up short each time. I think some of that can be traced back to this 1993 NCAA Championship.
The 2nd piece of Webber’s college career is the behind the scenes piece. As ESPN’s 30 for 30 on the Fab Five documented, the Fab Five were not happy about how Michigan made tons of money promoting them, yet as NCAA amateurs they couldn’t receive a penny of it. Thanks in big part to Michael Jordan, future NBA players were now about their brand and getting theirs. As Jack McCallum put it in his Dream Team book, it was the era of “the fully hatched superstar”. After being used by Michigan (a story that gets a lot worse with the Ed Martin scandal) in his mind, Webber went out to the NBA and did what was best for him as a brand.
This meant bad things for Webber early on. While unlucky to be traded from Orlando to Golden State (since he could have played with Shaq), he was still quite lucky to play for coach Don Nelson. Nelson and Webber clashed though, and Webber got out after one year, a shame since Webber was the perfect fit for Nellie-ball.
After toiling away on the Wizards for a few seasons (and getting seriously injured for the first time) Webber was dealt to the Kings and immediately put them on the map. One of Webber’s best accomplishments is being able to be a competitive top power forward in a league with Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett (and later even Dirk Nowitzki). Webber would never reinvent his game though, and when Garnett surpassed him, it was easy to think that Garnett had become what Webber was supposed to be.
The Kings with Webber also have a legitimate gripe as arguably they should have been the 2002 NBA Champions…something that would have altered Webber’s legacy greatly. The Lakers were heavily favored by the referees in both Games 3 and 6 for sure of the NBA Finals and there’s video evidence of it and everything. With that being said the Kings still had home court in Game 7. And they came just short. Officiating and all, one big Webber 40 point explosion and the Kings still pull off the title (yes, they were beating the 2002 Nets).
Injuries continued to sap Webber’s effectiveness to the point where the Kings were arguably better without him (something that proved to ultimately be false in the long run, but in 2004 seemed true as they went 55-27 and Webber only played 23 games). The Kings looked to move to Peja Stojakovic as their top guy. The Kings dealt Webber to the Sixers in the middle of the 2005 season and haven’t won a playoff series since. Webber finally changed his game enough to at least have one 20 PPG season with the Sixers, although his efficiency had gone. He never developed a reliable three point shot or even outside shot. Some forgettable stints followed and that was that.
Sure he was unlucky in some spots. Sure he got screwed in 2002. But he still had the talent to be a top 30 guy and that’s on him.
#76: David Thompson
ABA Rookie of the Year: (’76)
All-NBA 1st Team: 2x (’77, ’78)
All-ABA 2nd Team: 1x (‘76)
All-ABA Rookie 1st Team: (’76)
NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’79)
ABA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’76)
NBA All-Star: 4x (’77, ’78, ’79, ‘83)
ABA All-Star: 1x (’76)
ABA Points Runner-Up: 1x (’76)
NBA Top 10 Points: 4x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’81)
ABA Top 10 Steals: 1x (’76)
ABA Top 10 Blocks: 1x (’76)
ABA Top 10 PER: 1x (’76)
NBA Top 10 PER: 1x (’78)
NBA Win Share Leader: 1x (’78)
ABA Top 5 Win Shares: 1x (’76)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 2x (’77, ’78)
NBA Top 5 WS/48: 1x (’78)
ABA Top 5 WS/48: 1x (’76)
ABA Top 5 Offensive Rating: 1x (’76)
NBA Offensive Rating Runner-Up: 1x (’78)
Best Player on one ABA Runner-Up: ’76 Nuggets
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 70th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 63rd
Sadly, David Thompson is one of the poster boys for the cocaine era of the NBA. In Thompson’s case it may be the biggest waste of a career in professional basketball history due to substance abuse. Thompson was arguably the NBA’s best player in the late 70s (depending how you feel about Bill Walton) and had surprisingly taken that title from Julius Erving. Thompson had a great 1978 season where his Nuggets just couldn’t get by the Sonics in the Western Conference Finals.
How great was Thompson in 1978? He scored 73 in the final game of the regular season to try to win the scoring title (similar to David Robinson’s 71 point game 16 years later), only he was so hot early fans thought he was going for 100. Thompson was merely 23 years old at the time. Everything fell apart in 1979 when he injured his knee in Studio 54 in New York City…and the aforementioned cocaine problems.
I might rethink this one in the future as he only played 509 career games and was only elite for four seasons. That’s the thing though, unlike someone like Webber, Thompson was elite at for a portion of his career. You know you’ve done something influential in your career when Michael Jordan selects you to induct him into the Hall of Fame. As Simmons put it, “Skywalker” was the Intellvision to Jordan’s Playstation 2. That’s pretty good for the late 70s.
#75: Jerry Lucas
NBA Rookie of the Year: (’64)
All-NBA 1st Team: 3x (’65, ’66, ’68)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’64, ‘68)
All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’64)
NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’65)
NBA All-Star: 7x (’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ‘71)
NBA Top 10 Points: 2x (’66, ‘68)
NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 8x (’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71)
NBA Top 10 PER: 6x (’64, ’65, ’66, ’68, ’69, ‘71)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 4x (’64, ’65, ’68, ‘72)
NBA Top 5 WS/48: 3x (’64, ’72, ‘73)
Role Player for one Championship Team: ’73 Knicks
Starter on one Runner-Up: ’72 Knicks
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 64th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 38th
I have to admit I was quite skeptical of SLAM’s ranking. Here’s the deal with Jerry Lucas. He put up big stats in a league with a couple of elite centers and no real bigs other than that (a big reason why Oscar put up his insane stats). He was one of the best two power forwards in the league, but PF was a diluted position. He was Oscar’s 2nd option on a bunch of Royals teams that failed to win anything. He went to the Knicks and started for a Finals team…although he took on less of a role in 1973 and the Knicks promptly won the title. He also wasn’t regarded highly at all, as he was once traded for Jim King and Billy Turner (one all-star total there) and another time for Cazzie Russell (another one time all-star).
Still, it’s hard to look past that resume. For the first six seasons of his career he averaged a 19-19. And he was a part of two Finals teams. His rankings on both Simmons and SLAM’s lists make it hard to really drop him. But reading Simmons, even he seems skeptical. So I don’t know. This feels right.
#74: Pete Maravich
All-NBA 1st Team: 2x (’76, ‘77)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’73, ‘78)
All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’71)
NBA All-Star: 5x (’73, ’74, ’77, ’78, ‘79)
NBA Points Leader: 1x (’77)
NBA Top 10 Points: 5x (’71, ’73, ’74, ’75, ‘77)
NBA Top 10 Assists: 2x (’73, ’75)
NBA Top 10 PER: 3x (’73, ’74, ‘76)
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 68th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 60th
One of the most famous basketball players of all time was someone clearly ahead of his time. Maravich was an offensive savant, making crazy passes that one would have never thought possibly and hitting jumpers from all over the floor. He scored 68 with this style of play in 1977 and managed three other 50 point games that season as well.
It should be mentioned that Maravich did all of that in addition to averaging 24 PPG for his career…without a three point line. Can you imagine a jump shooting guard scoring all those points without a three point line? The thing was practically made for him (in his last year when he was beyond washed up, he took 15 three pointers and made 10). He averaged 31.1 PPG in 1977. Compare that statistic with players and take away a point for each three pointer they made a game. I’d guess that Maravich would be someone who hit minimum 3 threes a game. That right there is 34 PPG.
Of course, whether or not a player can actually win as the best player on his team that way is debatable. The Pistol couldn’t win anything. He gets overrated historically for the highlight reel plays for sure but it hasn’t really been until 2015 that outside shooting teams can make all the difference. In the 1970s…with no three point line? No chance. Still, the Pistol was great at one point for sure.
3rd Best Player on two Championship Teams: ’12 Heat, ’13 Heat
3rd Best Player on two Runner-Ups: ’11 Heat, ’14 Heat
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 171st
Chris Bosh made a choice. Either be a 22-9 guy on .500 Raptors team or be a role player on a title contending team every year. He chose the latter. There was a lot of hate toward Bosh, but there’s no question that he was an integral part of the Heat four year run. Without Bosh the Heat fall to the Pacers in Round 2 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. Many fans who hate LeBron and the Heat would complain that Miami created a super team…but at the same time Chris Bosh sucked. Well which one is it? It can’t be both.
You should sacrifice individual statistics for team glory. That’s why Robert Horry is on this list. And that’s why Bosh is on this list. On any given night that D-Wade was hurt and LeBron needed a second weapon, Bosh was there. It remains to be seen what the post LeBron Heat look like with Bosh. Year one didn’t look that great and Bosh was hospitalized midway through…but 2015-2016 will tell us a lot. It’s a chance for Bosh to climb through this list, let’s see if he can do it.
#72: Dwight Howard
NBA Defensive Player of the Year: 3x (’09, ’10, ’11)
NBA Rebounds Leader: 6x (’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’12)
NBA Blocks Leader: 2x (’09, ’10)
NBA Top 5 Rebounds: 10x (’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11,’12, ’13, ‘14)
NBA Top 10 Blocks: 4x (’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14)
NBA Top 10 PER: 4x (’09, ’10, ’11, ‘12)
NBA Defensive Rating Leader: 3x (’09, ’10, ’11)
NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 6x (’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12)
NBA Defensive Win Shares Leader: 4x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11)
NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 7x (’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 4x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11)
NBA Top 5 WS/48: (’09, ’10, ’11)
NBA Career Rebounds: 34th
NBA Career Blocks: 25th
NBA Career Defensive Win Shares: 58 (28th)
Best Player on one Runner-Up: ’09 Magic
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 78th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 86th
This whole time we thought that Dwight had the potential to be the next Shaq…only in reality Dwight was the evolutionary Dikembe Mutombo. That’s not a bad thing. Dwight gets this high on the list due to his great defensive resume and the fact he took the 2009 Magic to the NBA Finals. Perhaps you’re thinking this isn’t high enough for Dwight then. Here’s the counterpoint to that.
Dwight Howard dominated the NBA at a time where there was a dearth of top centers. Shaq was just about done and Andrew Bynum couldn’t stay healthy. Interestingly Yao Ming had tons of success against Dwight (Yao averaged 24-10, 56% FG with a 7-2 record vs. Dwight’s 12-10, 46% FG in head to head matches), but he couldn’t stay healthy either. But then the Joakim Noahs and Marc Gasols showed up and Dwight starting having back problems. He hasn’t been the same since 2011 really, and now it suddenly looks like the league has passed him by. Remember, teams like the Thunder and Cavs would add players like Kendrick Perkins and washed-up Shaq just to be able to single Dwight.
It doesn’t change that he had a legit argument for the 2011 MVP, or that he led the Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals. It doesn’t change that Dwight Howard at one point was dominant. It just means he was great for a short period time, never got better offensively (which would help him tons now) and is probably at best a #2 or #3 guy on a title team. Which still isn’t that bad. Like many others though, he should be better.
NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 10x (’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ‘98)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 2x (’89, ’90)
NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 9x (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’95, ’96, ’97, ‘98)
NBA Defensive Win Shares Leader: 1x (‘92)
NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 5x (’90, ’91, ’92, ’94, ’98)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 1x (‘92)
NBA Career Rebounds: 22nd
NBA Career Defensive Win Shares: 54.5 (38th)
Role Player on two NBA Championship Teams: ’89 Pistons, ’90 Pistons
Starter on three NBA Championship Teams: ’96 Bulls, ’97 Bulls, ’98 Bulls
Role Player on one Runner-Up: ’88 Pistons
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 69th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 48th
One of the most destructive defensive players in NBA history. He was one of the first guys who could guard anyone from small point guards to centers. He gave Karl Malone fits in the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals and played great in the 1996 NBA Finals as well, including 19 boards in the clincher. Despite being pretty much crazy in all aspects of his life, he got along well with two NBA teams known for having competitive personalities (the Bad Boy Pistons and the Post-Baseball Jordan Bulls).He only submarined one potential Champ, which was the 1995 Spurs (not joining huddles, missing/showing up late to practices, even showing up late for games). The good far outweighs the bad here.
His rebounds prowess was also quite incredible. It seemed like Rodman could grab a rebound from absolutely anywhere. Unlike guys like McGrady and Webber, it looked like Rodman made the most of his physical talent and left it all out on the court (most of the time). Did it help being teammates with Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan? Of course. But you can’t argue with results.
See the tab at the top of this article to understand the process for these selections
#90: Shawn Kemp
Resume
All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’94, ’95, ‘96)
NBA All-Star: 6x (’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ‘98)
NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 3x (’95, ’96, ‘97)
NBA Top 10 Blocks: 2x (’93, ‘94)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 1x (‘94)
NBA Top 10 WS/48: 3x (’94, ’95, ‘99)
2nd Best Player on one Runner-Up: 1996 Sonics
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 88th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 150th
Everyone talks about The Fab Five and Lenny Bias bringing playground to the big time, but Shawn Kemp was right there with them. Kemp was a symbol of the 1990s attitude that combined flash with power. Kemp is one of the all-time greatest dunkers, which was further amazing as he played power forward. Each night there seemed to a differently angled alley-oops between Kemp and Gary Payton. Kemp was going to be one of those players that kept people watching the NBA in the post MJ era…assuming that fans wouldn’t be turned off by that attitude.
But yeah, Kemp was really good too. The Kemp-Payton era peaked with 55 wins in 93 and a Conference Finals Game 7 loss to Barkley’s Suns, a 63 win campaign in ’94 (where they were the first #1 seed to be upset in Round 1 by Mutombo’s Nuggets), a 57 win 1995 (another bad first round loss), a 64 win 1996 (and a near title win, losing in six to the 72 win Bulls) and a 57 win 1997 (lost another tough seven gamer to the Hakeem-Drexler-Barkley Rockets). That’s a pretty nice peak. Kemp was a 18-10 guy for each of those teams with offensive ratings between 110 and 115 when the average was about 108. Kemp was also a very good defensive player, something that was missing when Blake Griffin was compared to Kemp earlier in his career.
Things fell apart in Seattle when Jim McIlvaine, a terrible center who averaged 2 PPG and 3 RPG in 14 MPG the season before, got paid money that Kemp was expecting. Kemp forced a trade, which landed him in Cleveland. Kemp’s personal life began to fall apart, and while he had a still okay 1998 (bad offensively though) and a surprisingly good 1999 (Cavs GM Wayne Embry said he weighed 315. Kemps normal playing weight was around 230), he got caught up in drugs, had weight problems and had seven kids with six women. He had some stints in Portland and Orlando, but it was over.
Kemp makes the list because his peak was pretty good. If it were longer, he’d be higher up. You could win a NBA Title with Shawn Kemp as one of your top two guys for sure. He was also successful in a Western Conference that had tons of great big men (Karl Malone, David Robinson, Hakeem, Barkley) and held his own in most of those match-ups (while outplayed by him, Kemp holding his own against Malone, including shooting 69%, was a big reason the Sonics and not the Jazz made the 1996 NBA Finals).
#89: Robert Horry
Resume
All-NBA Rookie 2nd Team: (’93)
Role Player on seven NBA Champs: 1994 Rockets, 1995 Rockets, 2000 Lakers, 2001 Lakers, 2002 Lakers, 2005 Spurs, 2007 Spurs
Played in the Playoffs Every Season of His Career
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 84th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 355th
I’m with Simmons on this one. It takes a special choice to be a guy who says “you know what, instead of being this 30 minutes a game, high scoring popular athlete, I’m going to sit back, wait till coach calls me, and hit all the big shots I’m asked to”. I’m going to just post a bunch of box scores and clutch shots Horry completed over the years here. Remember that Horry’s career averages are 7 PPG and 5 RPG. There are ALL playoff/Finals games.
5/22/93: In Game 7 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals against the Sonics and the game tied at 91, Horry beats the shot clock with 33 seconds left for a two point lead. Rockets would end up losing though. He was a rookie here by the way.
6/1/95: The Rockets defeat the San Antonio Spurs in six games of the Conference Finals. Horry had a good series, with a 22-7 in the clincher with six three pointers.
6/11/95: The Rockets go up 3-0 on the Magic in the NBA Finals. Horry has a 20-9-4, where he also scored 11 fourth quarter points. Three of those were a dagger with 15 seconds left that gave Houston a 4 point lead.
6/14/95: Horry goes for 21/13/5 as the Rockets complete the sweep of the Magic.
6/19/00: With the Pacers pushing for a Game 7 in the 2000 NBA Finals, Robert Horry scores eight points in the 4th and helps the Lakers put it away.
5/26/02: Lakers vs. Kings, Game 4 in the Conference Finals. Surely everyone remembers the final shot where Horry hits the game winner after Kobe and Shaq miss. But you know what else? Horry actually hit a three with 1:30 left to bring the game to 96-93. That’s two threes in the last 90 seconds of game time that the Lakers won by one. Here’s a video of the winner.
6/19/05: With the Pistons looking to take a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals, Big Shot Bob does it again with a 21-7 game with five three pointers in Game 5. The crazy part? He had 0 points in the first 35:57 of regulation. He scored all 21 points starting with 3 seconds left in the third. Oh yeah, he also scored the Spurs last 5 points in OT when they were down 95-91, including a gem of a three pointer with 6 seconds left when Rasheed Wallace left him open.
I’m starting to think I put him too low.
#88: Chris Mullin
Resume
All-NBA 1st Team: 1x (’92)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’89, ‘91)
All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (’90)
NBA All-Star: 5x (’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ‘93)
NBA Top 10 Points: 4x (’89, ’90, ’91, ‘92)
NBA Top 10 Steals: 3x (’89, ’91, ‘92)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 3x (’90, ’91, ‘92)
Member of one Runner-Up: 2000 Pacers
Member of the 1992 Dream Team
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 82nd
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 88th
Chris Mullin, like some others on this list, represents someone who threw away part of their career due to a vice, in this case alcohol. To Mullin’s credit though, he beat the disease and became one of the best dead eye shooters in the NBA, even rivaling Larry Bird. Mullin would put together five straight seasons of 26 PPG in one of the toughest eras in NBA history talent wise. Unfortunately, his body began to break down in 1993.
Why Mullin over someone like Kemp? Mullin was regarded as THE small forward in 1992 once Bird was pretty much done. To put things in perspective, Scottie Pippen was coming along and the 1992 Bulls were regarded as the best team in forever. And Mullin beat Pippen for All-NBA First team that year. At his peak, Mullin was an unstoppable shooter. Problem was, his peak didn’t last too long.
#87: Bob Dandridge
Resume
All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (‘79)
All-NBA Defensive 1st Team: 1x (’79)
All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’70)
NBA All-Star: 4x (’73, ’75, ’76, ‘79)
One of the Best Three Players on two NBA Champions: 1971 Bucks, 1978 Bullets
Third Best Player on one Runner-Up: 1974 Bucks
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 80th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 91st
One of the players that I have to read about more than actually see. There are two defining Bob Dandridge stories. The first (according to Simmons) is that in the 1978 Conference Finals Dandridge outplayed Julius Erving which was a key factor in the Bullets getting past the Sixers in route to their title. The only stats show that Dandridge hit 61 FGs in the series and averaged 22.8 PPG while Dr. J hit 53 and scored 21.5 PPG. The second defining story is really an anti-Elvin Hayes story. Turns out that Hayes fouled out of Game 7 against the Sonics in the ’78 Finals, and Dandridge led the Bullets to the Championship anyway.
That’s enough winning for me. Combine that with his Pyramid and 500 rankings and I feel good about his spot here.
#86: Paul Westphal
Resume
All-NBA 1st Team: 3x (’77, ’79, ’80)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (‘78)
NBA All-Star: 5x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81)
NBA Top 10 Points: 3x (’76, ’78, ’79)
NBA Top 10 Assists: 2x (’77, ’79)
NBA Top 10 Steals: 1x (’76)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 2x (’76, ’79)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 4x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’80)
NBA Top 10 WS/48: 3x (’78, ’79, ’80)
Role Player on one NBA Champion: 1974 Celtics
Best Player on one Runner-Up: 1976 Warriors
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 79th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 141th
Seemingly an all offense point guard who scores a lot and gets a lot of assists. Westphal makes it this high as he was the top PG of the late 70s, highlighted by his three 1st Team selections. He was a solid role player for the 1974 Celtic title team and almost won the title in 1976 against the same Celtics. He led the upset over Rick Barry’s Warriors in 1976 as well.
Westphal is more of a resume thing. By all indications he was a top player of the late 70s, even though it was a short period of time.
#85: Dan Issel
Resume
All-ABA 1st Team: 1x (‘72)
All-ABA 2nd Team: 4x (’71, ’73, ’74, ‘76)
ABA All-Star Game MVP: 1972
ABA All-Star: 6x (’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)
NBA All-Star: 1x (’77)
ABA All-Rookie 1st Team: (’71)
ABA Rookie of the Year: 1971
ABA Points Leader: 3x (’71, ’72, ’73)
ABA Top 10 Points: 5x (’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’76)
NBA Top 10 Points: 2x (’80, ‘82)
ABA Top 10 Rebounds: 5x (’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’76)
ABA Top 10 PER: 5x (’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’76)
NBA Top 10 PER: 4x (’77, ’80, ’81, ’82)
ABA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 2x (’74, ’76)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 5x (’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82)
ABA Offensive Win Shares Leader: 2x (’73, ’74)
ABA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 5x (’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’76)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 5x (’77, ’78, ’80, ’81, ’82)
ABA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 5x (’72, ’73, ’74, ‘75, ’76)
ABA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’76)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 4x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’80)
ABA Top 10 WS/48: 6x (’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)
NBA Top 10 WS/48: 4x (’77, ’78, ’80, ’82)
ABA All-Time Points: 2nd
ABA+NBA All-Time Points: 10th
ABA All Time Rebounds: 6th
ABA+NBA All-Time Win Shares: 22nd
Best Player on one ABA Champion: ’75 Colonels
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 76th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 106th
One of the toughest to rank for sure. His ABA stats just scream offensive player and little else, although he did seem like a good defensive player by ABA standards. Ironically, his worst ABA season led to a Championship, showing perhaps Kentucky was better off with him being the 2nd guy. He seemed like a very good but not great NBA guy as well. He won two NBA playoff series as a featured guy, and as soon as the Nuggets moved on to Alex English and Calvin Natt, the Nuggets nearly went to the Finals. So I don’t know. He doesn’t seem that highly regarded. We’ll go with very good offensive weapon that could be a 3rd guy on your NBA title team. Seems fair.
NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 7x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’85)
ABA Blocks Leader: 3x (’72, ’73, ’75)
ABA Top 5 Blocks: 5x (’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)
NBA Top 10 Blocks: 7x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’85)
ABA PER Leader: 1x (’72)
ABA Top 5 PER: 5x (’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)
NBA Top 10 PER: 5x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’81, ’82)
NBA Offensive Rating Leader: 1x (’82)
ABA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 1x (’76)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 5x (’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’85)
ABA Defensive Rating Leader: 2x (’74, ’75)
ABA Offensive Win Share Leader: 1x (’72)
ABA Top 5 Offensive Win Shares: 5x (’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 5x (’78, ’79, ’81, ’82, ’83)
ABA Defensive Win Shares Leader: 4x (’72, ’73, ’74, ’75)
ABA Top 5 Defensive Win Shares: 5x (’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)
NBA Top 5 Defensive Win Shares: 1x (’77)
ABA Win Shares Leader: 2x (’72, ’73)
ABA Top 5 Win Shares: 5x (’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 7x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’85)
ABA WS/48 Leader: 2x (’72, ’73)
ABA Top 5 WS/48: (’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)
NBA Top 10 WS/48: 5x (’77, ’79, ’81, ’82, ’83)
All-Time ABA Points: 17th
All-Time ABA+NBA Points: 24th
All-Time ABA Rebounds: 2nd
All-Time ABA+NBA Rebounds: 5th
All-Time ABA Blocks: 1st
All-Time NBA Blocks: 23rd
All-Time ABA+NBA Blocks: 4th
All-Time ABA PER: 3rd
All-Time NBA Offensive Rating: 116.9 (21st)
All-Time ABA Defensive Rating: 95.0 (1st)
All-Time ABA Win Shares: 82.2 (1st)
All-Time ABA+NBA Win Shares: 189.7 (9th)
2nd Best Player on one ABA Champion: ’75 Colonels
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 75th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 84th
Quite the resume. Gilmore dominated the ABA obviously and the NBA he was quite good as well. Has to get the edge on Issel because his NBA career is stronger, although not great either. Gilmore’s Bulls teams didn’t win anything and only made the playoff twice, but when he got to team up with George Gervin the Spurs were a force. They still couldn’t get by the Lakers in ’83 and wouldn’t have any success in the Gilmore era.
Still, both Issel and Gilmore were quite good players.
#83: Tracy McGrady
Resume
All-NBA 1st Team: 2x (’02, ’03)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’01, ’04, ‘07)
All-NBA 3rd Team: 2x (’05, ‘08)
NBA Most Improved Player: 2001
NBA All-Star: 7x (’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ‘07)
NBA Top 10 Points: 6x (’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ‘07)
NBA Top 10 Steals: 1x (‘05)
NBA Top 10 Blocks: (’00)
NBA PPG Leader: 2x (’03, ’04)
NBA PER Leader: 1x (’03)
NBA Top 5 PER: 4x (’01, ’02, ’03, ’04)
NBA Offensive Win Shares Leader: 1x (’03)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 4x (’01, ’02, ’03, ’04)
NBA Top 5 Defensive Win Shares: 1x (’05)
NBA Top 10 NBA Win Shares: 3x (’01, ’03, ’05)
NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’03)
NBA All-Time Single Season WS/48: .262 (59th, 40th in 3P Era)
NBA All-Time Single Season PER: 30.3 (17th, one of eight players to hit 30)
Has a 62 Point Game
Never Won a Playoff Series
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 77th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 97th
When I wrote my “What-If Injury All-Stars” article one name I did not include but I was asked about was Tracy McGrady. And while yes, injuries did cut short a tremendous career, the truth of the matter is T-Mac still had the opportunities to have a better career than he did, but he just didn’t want it badly enough.
There was an article that I read a while ago that I THINK came from Grantland that wrote about how everything came so easily to McGrady that the drive to push himself just wasn’t there. Here’s someone with such physical gifts that he actually was Top 10 in blocks one year (2000) despite being a small forward and 6’8”. He also managed to have a top 10 season in steals as well. What you are looking at is someone who had everything offensively. He could be an elite shooter, an elite driver, an elite passer (and in 2003, was those things) and POTENTIALLY could be as good as, if not better than, Scottie Pippen defensively. That is no exaggeration.
In 2003 in terms of pure physical gifts I would take McGrady over Kobe Bryant without question…that’s how great McGrady was. T-Mac’s 2003, before hand checking was banned, was 32.1 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 5.5 APG, 46% FG, 38% 3P, 80% FT, 116 Offensive Rating on 35.2 % usage for a WS/48 of .262 and a 30.3 PER (one of eight players to hit 30). Kobe never touched that. Not even Kobe’s crazy 2006. The only teammates T-Mac had that season with a PER above 15? Grant Hill for 29 games and Drew Gooden for 19.
T-Mac was so good that he nearly led his Magic team to a huge upset of the 2003 Pistons. The Magic were up 3-1 (T-Mac famous said that “it was nice to finally get past the first round) but the Pistons won three straight. T-Mac shouldn’t be faulted though, as here were the players who started with him in those playoffs: Gooden (7 games), washed-up Darrell Armstrong (1 game), Pat Garrity (1 game), Gordan Giricek (7 games), Jacque Vaughn (6 games), and Andrew DeClerq (6 games). Even a “how the hell is this guy still in the league” Shawn Kemp played about 10 minutes per game. This team was awful. The fact that McGrady got this team almost over a Pistons team that would make six straight Conference Finals is nuts. It’s also a great what-if, as I think T-Mac’s Magic can beat Iverson’s Sixers in Round 2, and then I have no idea how the Nets planned to guard him.
Back to reality, McGrady never reached those heights again, which was crazy because he was only 24. He had a good season in 2004…he still led the league in PPG, but it wasn’t as transcendent as the year before and since the Magic still sucked around him the team plummeted (and got Dwight Howard in the draft). McGrady went to Houston to team up with Yao, only they couldn’t both stay healthy or win anything (and when the Rockets did win a playoff series…McGrady was injured). McGrady’s last great moment was when he led the 2008 Rockets to 22 straight wins. Those 2008 Rockets again lost in Round 1.
It all comes down to how hard did Tracy McGrady try. I think up until 2003 he tried his damnest (although, even then, the destructive defensive potential he had wasn’t being realized). Then he coasted on his natural talents. When Phil Jackson wrote about how McGrady was potentially going to get traded for Kobe, Jackson said “everytime someone asked McGrady to play defense his back hurt”. Ouch. Even T-Mac’s 62 point game, there’s a point near the end where he could have gotten more but he starts laughing and missing free throws. It’s an odd lack of focus (it’s also the most entertaining game between two 20 wins teams ever probably, as Gilbert Arenas also goes for 40).
I think that’s the big difference between T-Mac and Kobe. Yes T-Mac had an edge in physical, pure basketball talent. But Kobe wanted it more. Kobe wanted to be the greatest. Kobe worked out every day. I think that’s why T-Mac’s body fell apart when Kobe’s didn’t. And that’s a big reason why Kobe is where he is and T-Mac’s down here. Nothing wrong with #83, but he’s someone who should be in the top 20.
Role Player on two NBA Champions: 1989 Pistons, 1990 Pistons
Role Player on one Runner-Up: 1988 Pistons
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 74th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 78th
Dumars is also a tough one to rank, as his advanced metrics defensively suck (as do pretty much all the Piston players of those title teams do…just wait till we get to Isiah) and a lot of his greatness seems to hinge on reputation. Truth is though, Dumars was a tough defensive player, one who gave Jordan tons of problems in the late 80s. Defensive rating just isn’t going to capture a perimeter player’s value. Dumars was so respected defensively that it was considered that he would replace the injured John Stockton on the Dream Team. That’s high praise for sure.
Otherwise, Dumars was fit as a 2nd or 3rd option for title team. His 1989 Finals, where he won MVP, were pretty ridiculous at 27 PPG, 6 APG, 58% FG. That actually made me want to rank him higher. He couldn’t be a leader of a playoff team, but as a 2nd or 3rd guy he was a deadly weapon.
NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 5x (’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’86)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 5x (’82, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’86)
NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 1x (’84)
NBA Top 5 Win Shares: 5x (’82, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’86)
NBA Top 10 WS/48: 6x (’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’86)
NBA All-Time Offensive Rating: 119.4 (6th)
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 73rd
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 90th
“When you play against Moncrief, you’re in for a night of all-around basketball. He’ll hound you everywhere you go, both ends of the court. You just expect it.”
That’s a quote from none other than Michael Jordan.
Moncrief’s Bucks were always a tough out in the playoffs. In 1981 they lost by 1 point in Game 7 to the Sixers (although Moncrief was merely a role player then). In 1982, another tough loss to the Sixers although still Moncrief was coming along.
1983 was a breakout, as Moncrief average 23.3 PPG as the Bucks beat Bird’s Celtics in a sweep…but again fell to the (best) Sixers team in the Conference Finals. The Bucks would be back in the Conference Finals again, but this time Bird’s Celtics were ready for them.
The 1985 playoffs are notable because Moncrief’s Bucks are historically one of seven teams to beat a Michael Jordan team in the playoffs, and one of four unique teams (’85 Bucks, ’86 Celtics, ’87 Celtics, ’88 Pistons, ’89 Pistons, ’90 Pistons, ’95 Magic). Moncrief had an insane 150 offensive rating against the Bulls in that series. Jordan was still great, but his 44% shooting was low for him even as a rookie and part of that was because of Moncrief. The Bucks would fall to the Sixers again.
The Bucks would make their third Conference Finals in four years, but the best Celtics team was ready for them. In 1987 it took seven games for the Celtics to get by the Bucks. Moncrief’s body would break down after that, and Terry Cummings and an old Jack Sikma weren’t enough to contend in the East.
Losing to Dr. J, Moses Malone and Larry Bird year after year isn’t that bad. If his career was longer and healthier, who knows, perhaps it’s the Bucks in the 1987 Finals. Too bad Moncrief couldn’t stay healthy. He’s one of the best two way players of all time. Even Michael Jordan said so.
Massive spoilers here…I really don’t know how to review this without spoiling the whole thing. Then again the trailers did that anyway.
Let’s get something out of the way first. Anytime you mess with time travel, you have to have a suspension of disbelief when it comes to matching things up between timelines. No doubt, you’ll need to do it for Terminator: Genisys (referred from now on as T5).
It would help to have seen Terminator 1 and Terminator 2: Judgment Day before this. Quick synopsis of the Terminator franchise: In 2029 John Connor leads humanity in victory over a computer intelligence program named Skynet. Skynet looked to wipe out all of humanity as it felt humanity was the greatest threat to the world. In a last ditch attempt before losing the war, Skynet sent a T-800 Terminator (cyborg killing machine) into the past, specifically 1984, to kill John’s mother, Sarah, so that John is never born and Skynet defeats the human led Resistance. The Resistance sends Kyle Reese back to protect Sarah and ensure John is born. Interestingly enough, Reese turns out to be John’s father, but that’s a time paradox I won’t get into.
That’s mainly what you need to know here. All of that happens in T1, and T5 we start with a recreation of that day of victory, with John Connor looking to take out that time machine. As Kyle is about to be sent back in time though, he sees John get attacked. This event here leads to the changes in the time period. The assumption I think here is that Skynet has already seen the events of T1, T2 (I think T3 and T4 get wiped out in this scenario but I’m not sure). Nonetheless, the 1984 Kyle Reese goes back into obviously looks the same to the audience as T1 did, but it has one big change: Sarah Connor already knows all of this and is prepared. While time traveling Kyle Reese also received memories that he didn’t know, which I’m not a fan of but I’ll get into it later.
The entire early portion of this film is pretty fun. Skynet had planned another assassination attempt on Sarah Connor when she was a child, but the Resistance already planned for that too and sent a T-800 to protect her (and as it turned out, to raise her too). We also get a lot of reference to the past and the original two films here, as Skynet also sent a T-1000 (who is awesome, again) to intercept Reese. While again, we’re a little screwy with the timelines, I think it’s handled rather well considering how complicated multiple timelines and time travel is.
The film takes a downturn though when Sarah plans on going to 1997 to stop Judgment Day. Reese, through his “memories” convinces Sarah to go to 2017 instead. This is a strange plot point here, as I assume then that T2’s events would still happen in 1997 (or at least J-Day starting then). Reese claims that a program called Genisys leads to the Judgment Day in 2017. The T-800 (“Pops”, which I’ll get into) can’t go though, as apparently you can’t have exposed metal in the time machine and it would take too long to heal.
Here is where the trailer really hurt the film, as there is a great reveal here. Of course there’s tons of confusion about Reese and Sarah when they show up. They get arrested but cops can’t ID Sarah. They ID Kyle, but are just as confused as Kyle Reese is a kid in 2017. Things even get MORE confusing, as John Connor shows up and frees Sarah and Kyle. The trailer ruined this reveal about John Connor being a Terminator, which is a shame because it was pretty well done and would have made a great twist. The rest of the film turns into a by the numbers “blow up this building” plot, which considering the characters, is quite the letdown (Sarah Connor sees her unborn son all grown up? What?). Also, to continually screw with the timeline, 2029 Kyle tells 2017 Kyle about Genisys and Skynet, so that 2029 Kyle can remember it when he’s sent back to 1984. All of that was just so Kyle could convince Sarah to go to 2017 instead of 1997 (why not do both by the way? Is the time machine going anywhere?)
There’s two more points to make. The first of which is that the way to stop Genisys is pretty stupid and goes against pretty much the entire franchise. First let’s talk about what Genisys is. Genisys is a software that links everyone together over the internet. Sound familiar? It’s a brilliant idea because it’s something that audience members today can connect to. I mean I could see Apple or Windows doing this by 2017. So the idea of blowing up the server doesn’t really work for me. You’re telling me that Genisys can’t survive the blowing up of a physical server over the internet? Oh, and while we’re on this, the personification of Skynet was not something I wanted to see. Less is more, right?
The second point is that the film really misses a trick with the very end. As established in T2 and said in this film, everything from Skynet must be destroyed. That’s what made the very ending of T2 so powerful, after the relationship John Connor and the T-800 had established in that film the self-destruction of the T-800 is a great movie moment. Here we get close to that moment, but then a very lame explanation on why the T-800 survived. Nevermind that the T-800 is still around, and Skynet could always reboot itself through it. Very bad choice here. Anyway…
Arnold Schwarzenegger is pretty great as the T-800 throughout the entire film. The relationship with Arnold’s T-800 and Emilia Clarke’s Sarah Connor is pretty good and is definitely a reference to T2’s John and the T-800. I definitely see where critics came from with Clarke being miscast as Connor, and I don’t even necessarily agree, but I think it was done to get that daughter image that we didn’t have an opportunity for in the original films. Still, she’s obviously no Linda Hamilton.
I didn’t like Jason Clarke’s John Connor though. He felt like a poor man’s version of Loki from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jai Courtney’s Kyle Reese is also underwhelming and I’d even argue bad. For someone who’s supposed to have been John Connor’s right hand in the war against the machines, he seems to be a complete wreck when he sees that 1984 isn’t what he seemed.
But we all showed up for Arnold anyway, and as I wrote before, he’s great.
There’s just way too many things going on here, and as a result it takes away from moments that potentially could be great. I will say though that this didn’t feel like a straight money grab. It seems clear that there is a lot of effort in T5 and they tried to make the story actually make sense.
Pros:
+Arnold is great.
+Good callback to earlier films.
+Good effort in trying to make sense of what feels like a million different timelines.
+Arnold-Sarah relationship works and is an interesting new take.
+Twist is intriguing; too bad it was spoiled in the trailers.
+There’s another awesome T-1000.
Cons:
-Kyle Reese is underwhelming.
-John Connor is underwhelming.
-Way too much going on takes away from more important plot points.
-Some misplaced comedy.
-Plan to stop Judgment Day is terrible.
-Personification of Skynet.
-Huge plot problem goes against the Terminator fracnhise with the ending.
Can’t deny I had fun with this one though. Was a lot better than I expected and really, considering all of the elements of the film, could have been FAR worse.
