Category Archives: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Top 30 Basketball Players Of All-Time: Tier List Edition

Thanks to a line from Dom2K’s youtube channel, (link here) we’re going to tier the Top 30 NBA Players off All-Time. I may do all 100 I’ve listed at some point, but for now, this works. I’ve provided a link to my last revision of the Top 100 of All-Time here as well, although searching through the site you can find the original list I did in 2015 and how the list evolved from that. What Dom2K said is there’s a little gap between the best players of all-time. As a result, these tiers will have more negatives and even nitpicks to decide between each. No surprises either (as my Top 100 is no secret), so here is the list in picture form. In the picture I listed them based on rank, but in the article I did it alphabetically. Let’s go through it.

S – Michael Jordan

While not the undisputable best player of all-time anymore, he’s still the best player of all-time, if that makes sense. LeBron can catch him for sure though. I don’t know what good things I can say about MJ that haven’t been said already. The combination of accolades, regular statistics, playoff statistics, records, memorable games/moments, advanced metrics and whatever else is purely in MJ’s favor.

A+ – LeBron James

It’s actually incredible that LeBron’s ceiling at this point is still “greatest ever”. His lack of Championships will still probably always have him falling short of MJ, no matter how ridiculous the teams LeBron has to deal with though. But MJ vs. Lebron is a whole different article (I’m waiting till LeBron retires for what it’s worth).

A – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell

Abdul-Jabbar probably doesn’t really need explanation. Kareem is above the next tier as Of course there’s just one cog that connects the 11 Boston Championships together, and that’s Russell. And no, his teams weren’t much stronger than Wilt’s if they were even stronger at all. They named the Finals MVP after the man!

A- – Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson

All in the same tier for the same specific reasons. All were clear winners who could win in different eras with different pieces (Magic in 1980 and the late 80s, Bird in 81 and then in 86, Duncan won titles fifteen years apart, and as a clear top guy 99 and 07 were vastly different). Each were the alpha dog for a few seasons (Bird from 84-86, Magic from 87-89, Duncan from 02-03). Each have memorable playoff/Finals games and Finals MVPs. And each have a nitpick/negative that often hurts them in an all-time ranking (Duncan for not being completely destructive/superior coach and system, Magic for a shorter career, his actual unclutchness after his 1st ring and a mess defending man to man on quick guards, Bird for arguably feasting on horrific defenders his entire career).

B+ – Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Moses Malone, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Jerry West

All here for many different reasons. The one uniting factor is that at some point, these are all great players, even arguably the best for a year or a few. The difference between them is their negatives. These negatives are much bigger than the A- group. So let’s go over why each are both this high and this low. For Kobe, he’s this high as he was the best or 2nd best player on five championship teams, probably had a best of all-time ceiling at one point and at times was an unstoppable scoring machine (and in the three-peat with Shaq, proved to be an incredible all-around player). He’s this low because with Shaq and Phil Jackson, and in his prime or near-prime he outright missed the playoffs (with modern playoff rules), he’s been outright smashed or embarrassed in multiple playoff series as the clear top guy and his advanced metrics always pointed to someone with crazy great help. Kevin Durant might have capped his ceiling here with his move to the Warriors. It’s impossible to really gauge if he could have won the whole thing without being a part of the Warriors superteam (he had failed several times so far). But he’s this high because his accolades, as well as how he’s played in the Finals with these Warriors, speak for themselves. Malone was the outright best player before Bird in the early 80s, but his peak crashed and team after team gave up on him. Shaq was an absolute monster at his peak (2000 MVP is still one of the best MVP seasons out there), but small injuries, really bad playoff losses (from his rookie year through his last in Miami, he’s been swept out of the playoff six times! Six!) and reliance on a top tier guard (Penny, Kobe and Wade, all at elite status) holds him back. Hakeem’s ’94 Championship is one of the best all-time one man and role player title teams ever. He defeated all his top rivals at his position (Ewing, Robinson and Shaq) as well as other Western Conference top guys (Malone twice, Barkley twice) in a two-year period. He was a destructive defensive force. Also forgotten, his dominance of the 1986 Lakers that got the Rockets into the ’86 Finals. He’s held back because some of the problems the late 80s Rockets had can be attributed to him and his offensive advanced metrics aren’t great (post-moves aside, he was a ball stopper on offense which would not fly later on). Jerry West doesn’t get the love Oscar gets despite 30-8-5 (or 31-7-6, whatever you want to use as a peak year) with good percentages on a more talented team that made the Finals year in and year out as opposed to averaging a triple double on a team that isn’t as good. Almost reminds me Westbrook vs. Curry. But West lost in most of those Finals and you have to hold the time period somewhat against him.

B – Wilt Chamberlain, Stephen Curry, Julius Erving, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Oscar Robertson

All of these players dominated a certain aspect of the game at some point, all of them in some way validated their careers with a championship and some unique scoring record or clearly defined skill, and all of them can have their legacies torn apart with very valid arguments. Wilt of course has the sheer force of numbers on his side, but a deeper look at statistics in the 60s show how meaningless that is. For all his scoring records, the regular seasons where a Wilt team actually won the title he scored 24.1 PPG and 14.8 PPG. Remember, the Warriors were 10-28 when Wilt was sent to Philly. He scored the most points because he shot the most (his FG%, while very good, isn’t historically super incredible or anything). He rebounded a lot because the league as a whole was on average short and not that athletic. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t great, but his numbers are never put in perspective. I’ll skip to Oscar because a lot of the same can be said for him. Had he average a 30-9-9 instead of a triple double no one would talk about him historically as much as he is (complete side note, isn’t it funny how Westbrook did a 30-10-10 and won MVP, but the very next season he did the same thing with even a slightly higher shooting % and no one cared. It was the “story” that mattered). Curry is the greatest shooter in NBA history and is single handedly changing how NBA defense works. Great shooting more than anything else matters in basketball. Letting Durant have his team though may hurt him legacy wise (could he have followed up with a 2nd ring or 3rd ring without him?). Dr. J didn’t dominate the NBA like the ABA, and Moses led him to the title. He and David Thompson created the MJ prototype though. Kevin Garnett has been called the greatest defensive player of his generation (I disagree though, I’d pick Duncan) and his MVP season was a sight to behold, but Minnesota as a franchise held him back and he only got Minnesota past Round 1 once. He also needed some offensive help for the Boston title team, although defensively he was amazing there. Dirk Nowitzki saved his legacy in 2011 with one of the greatest playoff runs ever, but his meltdowns in 2006 and 2007 are big red flags.

B- – Charles Barkley, Karl Malone

Both would have rings if it weren’t for MJ. Malone was a better defender (much better) and fundamental basketball player. Barkley was a historic rebounder and had a competitive streak just short of MJ’s. Both are the best examples of top guys who came up just short of being the man on a title team (something the entire previous tier avoided, although Oscar won his as a 2nd guy).

C+ – Isiah Thomas, Dwyane Wade, Scottie Pippen

All three have massive, glaring red flags for their careers that shines a huge light on their otherwise fantastic careers. I can’t even project Isiah’s career today. His advanced metrics are a disaster, but some of that is in part to how the Pistons played. He couldn’t shoot from the outside at all. He’s known (and rightfully so) as the team leader and the Pistons won a lot with him at the helm. And the broken foot story is one of legend. When you have a great defensive that beats people down and you can do enough to win that’s all that matters, but I have a tough time projecting Isiah to have tons of success on a team not built that way. D-Wade’s two peaks are ridiculous (the 06 Finals and the ’09 and ’10 seasons) and really the true best MJ impression we got since MJ…but his peak was so short and he wasn’t getting out of Round 1 at that point until LeBron came around. Scottie Pippen is on my all-time defensive team and probably got screwed in ’94. Other than ’94, he ended up being a guy who didn’t fit or someone who couldn’t quite get his team over the hump. To be fair, he wasn’t in his prime post-MJ either.

C – Elgin Baylor, John Havlicek, Bob Pettit

The old guard. Havlicek did quite well for post-Russell Boston, even winning the 1974 Finals MVP. Of course, he snagged eight rings in total and two as the top guy. There’s a Shaq-Kobe similarity there. He’s probably the hardest player to rank. Baylor is often known as the best player not to win a championship (I have that as Malone and Barkley), but he’s also tough to rank as his greatness is tied into Boston beating him and West over and over. He’s credited with taking the game above the rim so there’s that. Bob Pettit is probably the easiest to rank. While he wouldn’t survive today, his Hawks were one of the team to beat Russell’s Celtics in a playoff series. He pretty much dominated the era before Wilt and Russell and didn’t get wiped out by them (as players such as Bellamy and Johnston did). 2 MVPs and 11 All-NBAs, 10 of them first team! I’d rank him higher if it weren’t for his era.

C- – Chris Paul, David Robinson, John Stockton

Three players who at times had out of the world statistics, but never could cross the finish line in first. Chris Paul’s 2008 and 2009 seasons are incredible, especially advanced metrically. He was robbed of the 2008 MVP. His 2008 season is one of four ever to boast at least 20 PPG, 11 APG and 50.0% FG. But, somewhat similarly to Isiah, he could never truly dominate (I assume because of size). He just played in his first Conference Finals (and for all the talk of him being a second guy, he put up a 41-10-7 in the Game 6 Semi-Final clincher to get there)…but unfortunately injuries prevented him from finishing it. It’s a shame really. David Robinson actually win a couple championships, and in 1999 he was an important second guy, but Tim Duncan promptly took over. Robinson of course was supposed to be THE NBA star, but it never quite happened and worse yet, Hakeem bulldozed him in 1995. Stockton’s a weird case because some of his numbers are inflated (assist totals in the early 90s weren’t scored strictly) and he rarely was incredible. He was just very good for a long time. He caught a break in the late 90s with Shawn Kemp heading to the East (Stockton could not deal with Gary Payton, as evidenced by the 1996 Western Conference Finals) and got to feast on horrible PGs in the Western Conference playoffs for two years. His very good, but not great reputation is evidenced by all his All-NBA 2nd and 3rd Teams (and even Defensive 2nd teams), but rarely a 1st team. He had no real weaknesses, but never dominated or took over either. And it wasn’t enough for him and Malone to get the ring. But he was always just really good.

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.), Uncategorized

RDT World of Sport Hall of Fame Inductee #1: Muhammad Ali

2 Comments

alihof

Resume
Career Boxing Record: 56-5 (37 KO)
Three-Time Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World
Ring Magazine All-Time Ranking: #1
ESPN.com All-Time Ranking: #2
Gold Medalist – 1960 Summer Olympics

With the grace of a butterfly and a sting like a bee Muhammad Ali is arguably the greatest boxer of all-time. He defeated all of his rivals, some in an ironic, dramatic fashion. Everything Ali did in the ring and out was iconic. He got under the skin of Sonny Liston, both literally and figuratively and trash talked him before and after the fight. He converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali, which led to him evading the draft years later. He became a symbol against the Vietnam War. He affected young blacks just as much as Martin Luther King Jr. did. His three fight series with Joe Frazier had taglines such as “Fight of the Century” and “Thrilla in Manilla”. He outboxed (rope-a-dope) George Foreman in “The Rumble in the Jungle”. He was a master showman, arrogant and confident to no end. At the same time so many have called him the greatest person they’ve ever met (George Foreman is one example).

An amazing boxer, showman and ambassador (to not only boxing, but as a black American), Muhammad Ali deserves to be recognized in every way possible.

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.), Uncategorized

Two Things Ghostbusters 2016 WON’T Be

♠ … A Pretty Big Twinkie indeed. To celebrate Women’s History Month 2016, we’re going to analyze the new Ghostbusters 2016 trailer (it’s mildly annoying that I need to put a “2016” after the title to distinguish it from the 1984 film because they didn’t bother to put a subtitle behind it) and make some inferences regarding its final form in film this July.

Naturally, this movie’s very existence invites comparisons to the original Ghostbusters film from 1984, as unfair as it may be to do; ’84 is a timeless supernatural comedy classic and ’16 is still only two trailers. Peep it the latest international one:

Familiarize yourself with what you just viewed, as I will be referring back to it continually as we discuss the two things that Ghostbusters ’16 WON’T be: ♠

THE HORRIDLY UNWATCHABLE TRAVESTY PEOPLE ARE CLAIMING IT TO BE

Photo Credit: Imagefli…WOW! That’s how you feel about me??

♦ Honestly, this movie doesn’t look that terrible. We’ll talk about the aesthetics of the film first, followed by its humor.

They definitely got the look of the Ghostbusters right. The ’84 guys weren’t handsome studs and these woman aren’t costumed or made-up to be the female equivalent.

Considering the weapons, they’re satisfying from the trailer. The original ’84 team all wielded the same proton pack and nuclear accelerators. This time around, it looks like each member has her own unique weapon. Though they do have the iconic ’84 weapons, Kate McKinnon’s Holtzmann, an engineer, dual wields some type of nuclear accelerated pistols while Melissa McCarthy’s Yates punches out ghosts with some sort of proton punching gauntlets (1:13 in). The team gets bonus points for building giant bear trap ghost traps (39 seconds in). However, the question on everyone’s minds is, will it make us laugh?

It stars four  women comedians who are supposedly decidedly funny (including Saturday Night Live alumni from what I’ve read). The film is going to include gross-out gags like ghost vomit in the form of slime (20 seconds in), awkward pieces of dialogue that undercut an expected epic line from a lead character in ironic fashion (1:00 in), and, to my personal dismay, Leslie Jones’ Patty as the loud angry black woman #4 (1:25). The majority of the comedy featured in the trailer doesn’t necessarily appeal to me, but it looks somewhere in the range of mediocre to serviceable.

katemcholtzmann

As for the broad appeal of the film, two of director Paul Feig’s previous films are Bridesmaids and Spy, which have scores of 90% and 94% respectively on Rotten Tomatoes, both “Certified Fresh.” 

There’s only one mindset that I infer would facilitate people seeing this film as distressingly appalling or abhorrent, because Ghostbusters ’16 won’t be… ♦

AS GREAT OR LEGENDARY AS GHOSTBUSTERS ’84

♥ Seriously, anyone who compared this film to the original ’84 film was setting themselves up for disappointment. To focus this blurb, we’ll talk about what the comedy genius of ’84 was grounded in.

Most comedies simply write funny things for characters to say. Instead, ’84 had four principle characters and each with distinct personalities. The writers then created genuine dialogue for these characters: words they would use, inflections they would truly exhibit. The comedy came from the organic interplay between the characters and how authentic the characters felt. Disclaimer: The video below features clips from Ghostbusters 2 as well, which didn’t work as well as the original, in my opinion. Give a listen:

Notice, at about 35 seconds in, there is nothing inherently funny about someone’s hobby being that he “collects spores, molds, and fungus.” However, it’s funny because the character of Egon Spangler, played by the late Harold Ramis, or a real person like Egon, would say something or have a hobby like that. It’s believable.

At about three and a half minutes in, Peter Venkman, portrayed masterfully by Bill Murray, says that he’ll go back to Sigourney Weaver’s Dana’s apartment to “check her out,” soon after claiming that he meant to say “check out her apartment.” Because Venkman is written as a sleazy, quippy, gameshow host-like scientist, this line sounds authentic.

I could do this analyses for basically every line in ’84, but instead I’ll cite the scene about 3:50 into the video. Winston Zeddmore, played by Ernie Hudson, is the everyman character. He’s the “audience surrogate,” meaning that he’s our connection to what’s happening on the screen. If written well, these characters should say and think what we do as the audience. Winston recounts the point that the plot has gotten to, almost with disbelief, since things have gotten fairly unbelievable. Egon listens intently to everything Winston stated and out of everything he says, he comments on the fact that Winston said “Babylonian” instead of “Samarian.” Again, a genuine reaction.

Seriously, I felt like these guys could have actually been friends and colleagues in real life.
Seriously, I felt like these guys could have actually been friends and colleagues in real life.

The ’84 Ghostbusters film was probably written as: “Let’s write four distinct characters, give them authentic things to say, and make their reactions to what’s happening genuine.” The comedy in the ’16 film seems to be the following: “We found four funny women so let’s write funny things for them to say and do.” ♥

Either way, I’m curious to see what the final product looks like come July 2016 when Ghostbusters 2016 (ugh…) hits theatres. And if you haven’t seen the original Ghostbusters films (which is surprising if you read this far having not), give them a view!

You can read this post and others like it at JonRoyalty’s blog at JonathanMKing.Wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter @JonRoyalty

Uncategorized

Welcome JonRoyalty!

Just wanting to welcome JonRoyalty as RDTWorldofsport’s 2nd writer. Jon’s a close friend of mine and I’m excited to have him writing for the site. Jon has a much deeper knowledge of film and modern video games and he’s only going to be an asset to RDTWorldofsport. He’s only going to help build RDTWorldofsport with great content and articles.

 

 

Uncategorized

RDT Reviews Wrestlemania

WWF Wrestlemania
March 31, 1985
New York, NY

Wrestlemania is the most important wrestling card in North American wrestling history. Shown on closed-circuit, Wrestlemania was Vince McMahon’s big chance. As the legend goes, if Wrestlemania was a success, the WWF could skyrocket financially and change wrestling forever. If it had failed Vince could be nearly wiped out financially and wrestling would never be the same again. Those were the stakes (exaggerated or not, I do think pro wrestling wouldn’t be remotely the same had Mania failed).

But Vince’s plan was pretty good. He had the most popular wrestler in the world in the main event in Hulk Hogan. Probably the #2 heel in the world was also in that match (Roddy Piper). The show also was full of celebrities. Mr. T, Cyndy Lauper, Libarace, they all came to Wrestlemania.

Anyway, a successful show makes the WWF, a poor one ruins them. Let’s see how it turned out.

The Card

Mean Gene sings the National Anthem. Strange that there wasn’t a celebrity for this.

Lord Alfred Hayes sounds quite nervous. Mene Gene then interviews Tito Santana and The Executioner. Executioner’s mask looks ridiculous.

Tito Santana vs. The Executioner

Not much to say here, but crowd is into Tito for sure.

Santana makes the Executioner submit in 4:50. Figure Four wins it, the story being Santana’s calling out Greg Valentine. Executioner was undefeated before Santana won here…the first streak that ended at Wrestlemania!

Lord Alfred Hayes must have just had a bad night.

King Kong Bundy vs. SD Jones

Well, this is a record WWE continually looks to break at many Manias. I think they did it at 24.

Bundy pins Jones in 0:24. Avalanche and splash for the win. No five count though. The Fink says the match was nine seconds long…which it wasn’t.

Matt Borne vs. Ricky Steamboat

“Maniac” Matt Borne? Could have been cool to actually say he went under that name when he became Doink years later.

Some nice suplexes from Borne, but this has mostly been all Steamboat.

Steamboat pins Borne in 4:38. Steamboat pits a flying body press for the win. Alright match, seemed to be a showcase for Steamboat.

David Sammartino vs. Brutus Beefcake

Crowd ERUPTS when Bruno Sammartino is announced as he seconds David.

Speaking of which, wouldn’t Bruno vs. Hogan have been a legendary match? I wonder why that never happened. Bruno definitely wrestled later in the 80s.

Longest match of the night so far, but also quite boring.

Double DQ in 11:44. Johnny Valiant slams David on the outside, and Bruno kicks his ass. The crowd once again erupts when Bruno kicks ass. Double DQ. Not sure why that went 11 minutes if that was the finish, but the image of Bruno owning is a Wrestlemania moment that definitely doesn’t get enough credit. That was awesome.

Intercontinental Championship
Greg Valentine© vs. Junkyard Dog

JYD has entrance music and that also wakes the crowd up.

Valentine nails his manager, Jimmy Hart, the crowd goes bananas once again. Despite the quality of the matches there is great heat here. That’s 1985 for you.

Valentine pins JYD with the feet on the ropes…but Santana comes down to explain what happened to the referee. This leads to…

JYD wins by countout in 6:55. Weird finish for sure, but at least it furthered the Santana vs. JYD feud.

World Tag Team Championship
U.S. Express© vs. Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik

The Express is Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham.

Like Borne, it’s crazy how Rotundo and Windham would appear at future Wrestlemanias. Rotundo would become IRS, Windham would be at Mania 13 as Blackjack Windham.

The Iron Sheik and Volkoff win the titles at 6:55. Sheik uses Freddy Blasse’s cane to hit Windham and Volkoff gets the pin. Heels win in the first title change at Wrestlemania, who woulda thunk it?

$15,000 Bodyslam Challenge
Big John Studd vs. Andre the Giant

Also, if Andre were to lose here, he would retire.

Big reaction for Andre of course. Pretty sure even at the time there was no way Studd was winning this.

Really slow match here. This was past Andre’s prime obviously.

Andre wins in 5:54. Slam comes out of nowhere but the crowd goes crazy for it. Heenan steals the money.

Women’s Championship
Leilani Kai© vs. Wendi Richter

We obviously don’t get “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” on the Network.

Like everything else on the show, this really isn’t anything to write home about.

Richter wins the title by pin in 6:12. Botched finish where Richter’s supposed to roll through a flying bodypress but fails. Eventually she gets over and gets the pin. It’s the moment that counts though, and the crowd popped huge for Richter. Interestingly, Richter would get legit double crossed by Vince and the Fabulous Moolah soon afterwards. There’s various rumors about why this happened. The most accepted story is that Vince didn’t want to pay her as much as she wanted (she was arguably the #2 face in the promotion at one point), and possibly even Hogan felt threatened about her.

Time for Celebritymania! Billy Martin! Libarace!

Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff

Muhammad Ali is your special referee, which is pretty bad ass in itself. Funny story here: Pat Patterson suggested he be a second referee to make sure Ali was okay out there. Patterson would admit he would just find excuses to get on the Mania card for the payday.

Piper gets a live bagpipe entrance. Makes you wonder what Ric Flair could have gotten as an entrance had he been a part of this.

Oddly, this feels like the rich man’s version of the Dennis Rodman matches in WCW.

Mr. T does a good job early on slamming Piper.

Craziness ensues with Jimmy Snuka nearly coming off the top rope.

While it’s mostly been a standard tag match, Mr. T definitely did a great job.

Hogan and Mr. T win when Hogan pinned Orndorff in 13:24. Bob Orton comes off the top and misses Hogan, nailing Orndorff with the cast. Hogan pins him for the win. Good match, best of the night for sure. This definitely was what the WWF needed, the biggest match doing well. This would continue the Piper-Mr. T feud and start Orndorff’s turn.

Hogan, T and Snuka celebrate to end the first Wrestlemania.

Technically this show sucks. There’s not a good match until the main event, and even that wouldn’t be on most people’s top 50 Mania matches. But it worked in 1985. Actually, that’s an understatement. Over a million people went to closed circuit locations to watch it. And the WWF was off and running as a result. The WWF wouldn’t quite get the Mania formula right at Mania II (which I already reviewed and it didn’t do well), but they’d get it figured out soon enough.

Again, the show sucks…but that’s not what mattered here.

Final Grade: A-

Uncategorized

Top 100 Greatest Basketball Players Ever: #20-#11

#20. Dwyane Wade

top100wade

Resume

NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’06)

NBA All-1st Team: 2x (’09, ’10)

NBA All-2nd Team: 3x (’05, ’06, ’11)

NBA All-3rd Team: 3x (’07, ’12, ’13)

NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team 3x: (’05, ’09, ’10)

NBA All-Rookie 1st Team: 1x (’04)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (‘10)

NBA All-Star: 11x (05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Points Leader: 1x (’09)

NBA PER Leader: 1x (’07)

NBA Top 10 Points: 5x (’05, ’06, ’09, ’10, ‘11)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 3x (’05, ’09, ‘10)

NBA Top 10 Steals: 3x (’06, ’09, ’10)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 4x (’06, ’09, ’10, ‘11)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 6x (’06, ’07, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12)

NBA Top 10 PER: 8x  (’05, ’06, ’07, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13)

Best Player on One Champions: ’06 Heat

2nd Best Player on Two Champions: ’12 Heat, ’13 Heat

2nd Best Player on Two Runner-Ups: ’11 Heat, ’14 Heat

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 28th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 49th

Dwyane Wade’s two peaks are better than what most great players can do in their careers. The 2006 NBA Finals may have been heavily weighted in Wade’s favor (no hand-checking, refs calling everything for him), but that shouldn’t discount what he did to Dallas to win the 2006 Championship. 35 PPG, 8 REB including a 42-13 in a must win Game 3, a 36 point game in Game 4 to even the series, a 43 point game in Game 5 and and a 36-10-5-4-3 in the clincher. Wade’s 2006 Finals performance was one of the best over. It also can’t be forgotten that if he doesn’t get hurt in the 2005 Conference Finals, perhaps Wade adds another Finals appearance…and maybe ring…to his resume.

In 2009 and 2010, Wade became the best shooting guard in the league. In fact his 2009 season: 30 PPG, 5 RPG, 7.5 APG on 49% shooting was probably the best Jordan impression we ever got since Jordan.

He was so good in 2010 that when LeBron left Cleveland to join Wade in Miami, people thought Wade might have been the better player. Of course these problems led to some chemistry issues that were ultimately resolved when Wade got hurt and scaled back a little bit in 2012.

Speaking of which, Wade transformed into a great 2nd banana for LeBron as the Heat went to the Finals every year LeBron was there.

When Wade was healthy and in his prime, the Heat were either a title contender or a 20 win team that somehow made the playoffs. So why is Wade only 20th? Because he wasn’t healthy enough. The last four seasons? He missed 17, 13, 28, and 20 games. He also had injury problems earlier in his career.

It’ll take a late career surge for Wade to be considered any higher. But 20th is pretty good.

#19. Karl Malone

top100kmalone

Resume

NBA MVP: 2x (’97, ’99)

NBA All-1st Team: 11x (’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ‘99)

NBA All-2nd Team: 2x (’88, ’00)

NBA All-3rd Team: 1x (’01)

NBA All-Defensive 1st Team 3x: (’97, ’98, ‘99)

NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team: 1x (’88)

NBA All-Rookie 1st Team: 1x (’86)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 2x (’89, ‘93)

NBA All-Star: 15x (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ‘02)

NBA PER Leader: 1x (’97)

NBA Win Share Leader; 2x (’98, ’99)

NBA Top 4 Points: 13x (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ‘00)

NBA Top 10 Points: 14x: (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’02)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 13x (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’00)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 14x (’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’03)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 13x (’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01)

NBA Top 5 PER: 13x ((’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01)

NBA Career Points: 2nd

NBA Career Rebounds: 6th

NBA Career Steals: 10th

NBA Career Win Shares: 3rd

NBA Career WS/48: 18th

NBA Career PER: 15th

Best Player on Two Runner-Ups: ’97 Jazz, ’98 Jazz

Role Player on One Runner-Up: ’04 Lakers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 18th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 18th

Karl Malone makes it this high because of his gaudy totals and he was usually a top 5 to 10 guy in the NBA season after the season. But despite what seems to be a Top 10 resume there’s no way Malone can be that high. Everything worked in Malone’s favor other than Michael Jordan returning to the NBA in the late 90s. Season after season Malone led Jazz teams disappointed in the playoffs and when they finally made the Finals (see the John Stockton section for why they made it there) Malone’s Jazz never had a real chance to beat the Bulls. Malone had a prime chance to win the NBA Title in the lock-out shortened 1999 season where again everything lined up perfectly (no more Jordan, everyone came into the season out of shape because of the lock-out, NBA still with a super slow pace), only the Jazz surprisingly dropped a six game series to the up and coming Trail Blazers (with Malone giving an 8 point effort in the deciding game). I’m not even thinking about all the missed clutch free throws (Game 1 in the ’97 Finals and Game 7 in the ’96 Conference Finals immediately come to mind) or the fact that with the game on the line Malone lost the ball to Jordan before Jordan’s iconic ’98 Finals Game 6 shot. It should be pointed out Malone’s WS/48 takes a steep drop for his playoff career. Don’t even get me started on the fact that Malone had Stockton for his whole career. Karl Malone was great, but when push came to shove, he was always the one who lost.

#18. Charles Barkley

top100barkley

Resume

NBA MVP: 1x (’93)

NBA All-1st Team: 5x (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ‘93)

NBA All-2nd Team: 5x (’86, ’87, ’92, ’94, ’95)

NBA All-3rd Team: 1x (’96)

NBA All-Rookie 1st Team: 1x (’85)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (‘91)

NBA All-Star: 11x (’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ‘97)

NBA Offensive Rating Leader: 2x (’89, ’90)

NBA Win Share Leader: 2x (’98, ’99)

NBA Top 10 Points: 6x (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 9x (’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’93, ’96, ’98, ’99)

NBA Top 5 Steals: 1x (’86)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 11x (’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’95, ’97, ’99)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: (’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93)

NBA Top 10 PER: 14x (’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99)

NBA Career Points: 24th

NBA Career Rebounds: 18th

NBA Career Steals: 24th

NBA Career Win Shares: 13th

NBA Career WS/48: 9th

NBA Career PER: 11th

Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’93 Suns

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 19th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 20th

Just going by resume it seems like Malone should have a big edge over Barkley. But I’ll take Barkley for the following reasons.

I feel as if teams had a better chance to win with Barkley than Malone. We covered Malone’s inadequacies in his section. Barkley’s problem was that he thought he was better than he was and played that way. The difference is that it never worked in Malone’s case, where Barkley gave his ’93 Suns a legitimate chance in the 1993 NBA Finals.

Malone had Stockton his whole career. Barkley had no sense of stability ever and was still a dominate force. How great is Malone without Stockton? Impossible to tell.

Barkley was a historically great rebounder going by rebounding percentage. Malone was merely very good.

Barkley outshined Malone in the 1992 Olympics, becoming the team’s 2nd best player while Malone played a bench role.

Barkley’s career regular season WS/48 was .216 and in the playoffs it was .193, a reasonable drop (because you on average play tougher opponents in the playoffs). Malone went from a .205 to a .140. Ouch.

Malone took care of himself better and as a result had a longer career…but I’ll take Barkley any day.

#17. Julius Erving

top100erving

Resume

NBA MVP: 1x (’81)

ABA MVP: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA All-1st Team: 5x (’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ‘83)

ABA All-1st Team: 4x (’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA All-2nd Team: 2x (’77, ‘84)

ABA All-2nd Team: 1x (’72)

ABA All-Defensive 1st Team: 1x (’76)

ABA All-Rookie 1st Team: 1x (’72)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 2x (’77, ‘83)

NBA All-Star: 11x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’86, ’87)

ABA All-Star: 5x (’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 2x (’81, ’82)

NBA PER Leader: 1x (’80)

ABA Points Leader: 2x (’74, ’76)

ABA Win Shares Leader: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA WS/48 Leader: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA PER Leader: 4x (’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA Defensive Rating Leader: 1x (’76)

NBA Top 10 Points: 5x (’77, ’79, ’80, ’81, ‘82)

NBA Top 10 Steals: 3x (’80, ’81, ’82)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 2x (’80, ’82)

NBA Top 10 PER: 6x (’77, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 6x (’77, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 6x (’77, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 3x (’80, ’81, ’84)

ABA Top 5 Points: 5x (’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA Top 5 Assists: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA Top 10 Rebounds: 5x (’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA Top 10 Steals: 4x (’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA Top 10 Blocks: 4x (’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA Top 10 WS/48: (’72, ’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA Top 5 Offensive Rating: 1x (’76)

ABA Top 2 Defensive Rating: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA+NBA Career Points: 6th

ABA+NBA Career Rebounds: 33rd

ABA+NBA Career Steals: 7th

ABA+NBA Career Blocks: 22nd

ABA+NBA Career WS/48: 26th

ABA+NBA Career Win Shares: 13th

2nd Best Player on One NBA Champion: ’83 Sixers

Best Player on Three NBA Runner-Ups: ’77 Sixers, ’80 Sixers, ’81 Sixers

Best Player on Two ABA Champions: ’74 Nets, ’76 Nets

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 16th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 16th

Dr. J dominated the ABA. Absolutely owned it. If he had kept up that pace throughout his NBA Career we perhaps would have had a Top 10 player. But once the merger took place Dr. J was great, but not transcendent like he was in the ABA.

Erving averaged from 27-31 points per game around 11 rebounds per game (including 15.7 his rookie season) and around 5 assists per game in his ABA career. His first NBA season? 22-9-4. It’s not as if those are bad stats, but if you are putting Doc in your Top 10 and using his ABA career as the reason you need to acknowledge that the ABA was a weaker league.

With that being said, Dr. J still had a great NBA career. He got to the Finals four times (but needed Moses to actually get him the ring) and got close two other seasons. He won a MVP in 1981. He also was a solid player all the way through 1987, so longevity helps his case too.

Of course, Dr. J might be the most ground breaking player in NBA history, basically making dunking cool in basketball. That counts for something too.

#16. Oscar Robertson

BALTIMORE, MD - 1970: Oscar Robertson #1 of the Milwaukee Bucks drives to the basket against the Baltimore Bullets during the NBA game at the Capital Centre in Baltimore, Maryland. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1970 NBAE (Photo by Walter Iooss JR./NBAE via Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Oscar Robertson

Resume

NBA MVP: 1x (’64)

NBA All-1st Team: 9x (’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ‘69)

NBA All-2nd Team: 2x (’70, ‘71)

NBA Rookie of the Year: 1x (’61)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 3x (’61, ’64, ‘69)

NBA All-Star: 12x (’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71, ’72)

NBA Assists Leader: 6x (’61, ’62, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’69)

NBA Win Shares Leader: 1x (’65)

NBA Offensive Win Shares Leader: 4x (’61, ’64, ’68, ’69)

NBA Top 6 Points: 9x (’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67 ,’68, ’69)

NBA Top 7 Assists: 13x (’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ‘73)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 1x (’62)

NBA Top 5 PER: 10x (’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 11x (’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 11x (’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71)

NBA Career Points: 11th

NBA Career Assists: 6th

NBA Career Win Shares: 9th

NBA Career WS/48: 16th

NBA Career Offensive Win Shares: 3rd

2nd Best Player on One NBA Champion: ’71 Bucks

2nd Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’74 Bucks

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 10th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 5th

To be honest, if it weren’t for one crazy statistical deal we probably wouldn’t even be talking about Oscar they way fans do. Like Wilt, Oscar’s reputation hinges upon that one statistical feat. We’ll get to Wilt soon. Oscar’s is that he averaged a triple double (with about 30 PPG no less) for the first five seasons of his career.

It’s arguably the most impressive stat on paper (even better than Wilt’s). 30-10-10 for five straight years? How could Oscar not be top 5 or at least top 10? Let’s break down why Oscar, while an impressive player, didn’t quite match his hype. His early teams during his statistical dominance admittedly weren’t as great as Russell’s or Wilt’s teams, but they had some talent. It didn’t stop Oscar’s Royals from being dispatched by a 37-43 Detroit team in the playoffs in ‘61, or the fact that he only led one team to 50+ wins in that span. He always lost to Russell’s Celtics or Wilt’s Sixers. Later Royal teams would outright miss the playoffs. Is this completely fair to Oscar? Yes and no. On one hand, it’s not his fault his team wasn’t as talented as others in a small league. On the other he never was able to rise to the occasion and pull off the big upset. This was despite those crazy statistics.

Speaking of which, sportswriters at the time didn’t seem to really respect those statistics either. Frank Delford stated that Oscar arrived at those numbers like a “.333 hitter who went 1 for 3 every game”. Heck, the Royals didn’t even want him near the end of his career, and he was traded for Charlie Paulk and Flynn Robinson. Paulk played 120 games. Robinson made one All-Star team.

Here’s Bill Simmons’ hypothetical: Imagine if 2009 Dwyane Wade played against Steve Blake and Jason Terry for 70 games and only in 12 did he play against an elite guy like Kobe and Pierce. Then add in that every power forward was 6’6” and there were only seven elite centers in a 30 team league. Lastly, imagine that there wer e8- rebounds available and 120 FG attempts every game. Would Wade average Oscar’s stats? Seems fair, right?

We didn’t even get into the fact that Oscar terrified his teammates, nevermind the idea of trying to make them better.

He makes it this high because you can’t ignore those stats either and he became a solid #2 guy for Kareem on the ’71 Bucks. It’s also worth going into the heavily racist history Oscar went through In college. It’s sadly horrifying.

#15. Wilt Chamberlain

top100chamberlain

Resume

NBA MVP: 4x (’60, ’66, ’67, ‘68)

NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’72)

NBA All-1st Team: 7x (’60, ’61, ’62, ’64, ’66, ’67, ’68)

NBA All-2nd Team: 3x (’63, ’65, ’72)

NBA Rookie of the Year: 1x (’60)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (‘60)

NBA All-Star: 13x (’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’71, ’72, ‘73)

NBA Points Leader; 7x (’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66)

NBA Rebounds Leader: 11x (’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’71, ’72, ’73)

NBA Assists Leader: 1x (’68)

NBA PER Leader: 8x (’60, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68)

NBA Win Shares Leader: 8x (’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’66, ’67, ’68)

NBA Top 3 Points: 9x (’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69)

NBA Top 2 Rebounds: 13x (’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’71, ’72, ’73)

NBA Top 7 Assists: 4x (’64, ’66, ’67, ’68)

NBA Top 10 PER: 11x (’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’71)

NBA Top 4 Win Shares: 13x (’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’71, ’72, ’73)

NBA Top 7 WS/48: 12x (’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’72, ’73)

NBA Career Points: 5th

NBA Career Rebounds: 1st

NBA Career Win Shares: 2nd

NBA Career WS/48: 3rd

NBA Career Offensive Win Shares: 2nd

NBA Career Defensive Win Shares: 3rd

Best Player on One Champion: ’67 Sixers

Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’64 Warriors

2nd Best Player on One Champion: ’72 Lakers

2nd Best Player on Three Runner-Ups: ’69 Lakers, ’70 Lakers, ’73 Lakers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 6th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 2nd

Think about this. Isn’t it the greatest coincidence of all time that both Oscar and Wilt put up their crazy stats in the same era?

Chamberlain’s the greatest statistical player of all time. No doubt. But despite having Hall of Fame players with him (guys like Greer, who we covered earlier) Chamberlain often fell short in the playoffs. He routinely put up absolutely insane statistics (a 100 point game, a 55 rebound game) against inferior competition. An example. In 1962 he scored 50.4 PPG in 48.5 MPG on 50.6% FG. In the playoffs that year? Same 48 MPG, but 35 PPG on 46.7% FG. In fact, Chamberlain wouldn’t win the title until the first season he took less than 25 shots a game (he took only 14). He later went on a statistics kick and went out of his way to lead the league in assists. This included passing to teammates and ignoring wide open shots.

There was also the no foul outs streak (so he’d stop playing defense if he had five fouls), his crappy FT% that actually cost his team the game (because in the famous Havlicek steals the ball moment, he said he knew the pass was never going to Wilt because he was afraid to get fouled in big moments) or most famously, the time Willis Reed limped out in MSG with a broken leg and still hit a shot despite Chamberlain being the opposing center.

Like Oscar, he dominated those he could dominate and struggled against those who could beat him. Yes, he’s great, but he’s nowhere near as great as his statistics say.

#14. Kevin Garnett

top100garnett

Resume

NBA MVP: 1x (’04)

NBA All-1st Team: 4x (’00, ’03, ’04, ‘08)

NBA All-2nd Team: 3x (’01, ’02, ‘05)

NBA All-3rd Team: 2x (’99, ‘07)

NBA Defensive Player of the Year: 1x (’08)

NBA All Defensive 1st Team: 9x (’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’08, ’09, ’11)

NBA All Defensive 2nd Team: 3x (’06, ’07, ’12)

NBA All Rookie 2nd Team: 1x (’96)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (‘03)

NBA All-Star: 15x (’97, ’98, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ‘13)

NBA Points Leader: 1x (’04)

NBA Rebounds Leader: 2x (’04, ’05)

NBA PER Leader: 2x (’04, ’05)

NBA Win Shares Leader: 2x (’04, ‘05)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’04)

NBA Defensive Rating Leader: 2x (’08, ’12)

NBA Top 10 Points: 4x (’00, ’03, ’04, ‘07)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 9x (’98, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 3x (’97, ’98, ’04)

NBA Top 10 PER: 9x (’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ‘08)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 7x (’00, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ‘08)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 7x (’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’08, ‘09)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 9x (’04, ’05, ’06, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13)

NBA Career Points: 15th

NBA Career Rebounds: 9th

NBA Career Assists: 46th

NBA Career Steals: 16th

NBA Career Blocks: 17th

NBA Career Win Shares: 8th

NBA Career WS/48: 32nd

NBA Career Defensive Rating: 23rd

NBA Career Defensive Win Shares: 7th

Best Player on One Champion: ’08 Celtics

Starter on One Runner-Up: ’10 Celtics

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 22nd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 30th

Garnett over Wilt and Oscar?

He’s the thing. Unlike Wilt and Oscar, Garnett was great in an era where his position as loaded with talent. Throughout Garnett’s career he faced off with Barkley, Malone, Duncan, Nowitzki, Webber, Gasol, Bosh and Kemp. And those are just the power forwards. He often had to deal with the opponent’s center as well. Despite this, he put up numbers during his peak that only few have accomplished in their career, and those who did do it never did it later than 1976. Garnett’s MVP season? 24-14-5. No one’s touched that since 1976. And the players who touched that were Wilt in the 60s, Baylor in the 60s, and Kareem in the 70s. Despite being 7 foot he could guard all five positions in his prime, and could even play all five if he really needed to.

Garnett never had any real help until 2004. His beat teammates were a selfish Stephon Marbury, Wally Z (who never did anything without Garnett), a past his prime Terrell Brandon, and before his prime Chauncey Billups and Tom Gugliotta. When he finally got help, a past his prime Latrell Sprewell and the underrated Sam Cassell, Garnett put up his MVP year and the T-Wolves won 58 games and made the Conference Finals. Any thoughts of KG not being clutch were put to rest in the 2004 playoffs when he finished off the Kings in his first Game 7 ever with a 32 PT, 21 REB, 4 STL, 5 BLK game shooting 12 for 23. Unfortunately, Cassell went down in the Conference Finals and despite playing some point guard, it wasn’t enough to get the Wolves past the Lakers.

Garnett’s career hit a crossroads here. While he still put up huge numbers, his prime was wasted as Sprewell got worse and Cassell stayed hurt. The Wolves made some more terrible moves…adding Ricky Davis for example and Minnesota missed the playoffs three straight years, twice having win totals in the low 30s. Garnett’s dedication to Minnesota resulted in him never demanding a trade, but luckily for his career one happened anyway when he was sent to Boston.

You can make a great argument that Garnett deserves the 2008 MVP. His stats were way down because he played less minutes…and also become the single most important defensive player in the league. He transformed the career of Rajon Rondo. He helped Paul Pierce become a winner. He brought to Boston a sense of teamwork and intensity that showed that Garnett could be a Championship level player. Only two players have ever had a season with at least an 118 offensive rating and a least a 94 defensive rating. 1992 David Robinson and ’08 Garnett. While Garnett at times looked bad in the playoffs, he still came through with some big performances (26-14-4 to clinch the title).

Garnett hung around a few more years in Boston, anchoring a top defense each year and helping Boston nearly win another title in 2010. But all that stuff about helping teammates and coming through in the clutch and such, well, you’d never hear that about Wilt or Oscar.

#13. Dirk Nowitzki

top100nowitzki

Resume

NBA MVP: 1x (’07)

NBA All-1st Team: 4x (’05, ’06, ’07, ‘09)

NBA All-2nd Team: 5x (’02, ’03, ’08, ’10, ‘11)

NBA All-3rd Team: 3x (’01, ’04, ‘12)

NBA All-Star: 13x (’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’14, ‘15)

NBA Win Shares Leader: 2x (’06, ’07)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 3x (’05, ’06, ’07)

NBA PER Leader: 1x (‘06)

NBA Top 10 Points: 11x (’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’12, ‘14)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 3x (’02, ’04, ‘05)

NBA Top 10 PER: 11x (’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ‘14)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 11x (’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ‘11)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 10x (’01, ’02, ’03, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’10, ’11, ’14)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 6x (’01, ’02, ’04, ’06, ’07, ’14)

NBA Career Points: 7th

NBA Career Rebounds: 35th

NBA Career FT%: 14th

NBA Career Win Shares: 7th

NBA Career WS/48: 19th

NBA Career Offensive Rating: 23rd

Best Player on One Champion: ’11 Mavericks

Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’06 Mavericks

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 39th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 55th

What a crazy career we have here! Nowitzki early on seemed like nothing more than a lanky German kid who would be deemed too soft. He quickly became one of the best offensive forwards we’ve ever seen, perhaps the best since Bird. With Garnett’s career stuck in Minnesota, Nowitzki tried to lay claim…and came close…to taking that “best power forward alive” title from Duncan from 2005 through 2007. Nowitzki led the Mavericks to 60 wins in 2006 and got to face off with the Spurs in Round 2. Dallas prevailed in seven games, with Nowitzki putting up performances of 27-15 on nine shots, 28-9 on 12 shots, 31-10-4, 26-21-5 and, in the clincher, a 37-15. He added to Steve Nash’s misery in the Conference Finals, putting up a 50-12 in a crucial Game 5 that helped the Mavericks get to the NBA Finals. Dallas took a 2-0 lead on the Heat, then everything seemed to change for the worse.

You can blame Dallas’ failure in the 2006 NBA Finals on a lot of things that didn’t involve Dallas: the referees, Wade going bonkers, the huge coaching mismatch (Pat Riley vs. Avery Johnson). And while all of that is true Dallas still blew the series. They had a 9 point lead late in the 4th that would have given them a 3-0 series lead. Nowitzki fell apart. 2 for 14 with 16 points in Game 4. Only 8 for 19 shooting in a one point Game 5 loss. While he had a strong Game 6 it wasn’t enough as Miami stole the title. For a while though, things still seemed fine. Nowitzki had a great 2007. While we all mocked him for his MVP (and I did too), once we saw Stephen Curry eight years later and appreciated advanced metrics some more we realized Dirk really was the MVP that year. But then the Golden State series happened. The Warriors six game upset of the Mavericks was one of the most surreal playoff series I’ve ever seen, with Golden State doing whatever they wanted to Dallas. Nowitzki shot 38% for the series and took less shots than Josh Howard. And we all read about the toll this took on Nowitzki. While still quite good for the next three years Dallas fell into the 50-55 win range, losing in the early rounds of the playoffs. It seemed clear that Nowitzki’s chance to be a top guy on a title team was over.

And then 2011 happened. When Dallas had their best team in years, a 57-25, 3rd seeded team, no one still gave them a chance. When they went against a tough Portland team in Round 1, many pegged that to be the upset series (including Bill Simmons, who felt Portland had four of the best five guys in the series). Nowitzki trashed them with 27 points per game. Next up were the defending champs, and Nowitzki led to an at the time shocking sweep, with big games in 1 and 3. Next up were the up and coming Oklahoma City Thunder, with young superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Once again Dallas wasn’t given a chance. Nowitzki averaged 32 a game in the series on 56% shooting, including a beautiful 48 point opener on merely 15 shots, as the Mavericks easily won the series in 5. Lastly, the ultimate test. Nowitzki was given a chance to get revenge on the Heat from five years ago. This time the Heat not only had Wade, but LeBron and Bosh as well. Nowitzki averaged a 26-10 for the series and won the Finals MVP.

Nowitzki’s has continued to be a strong player since, even nearly leading Dallas to an upset of the 2014 San Antonio Spurs in the first round (no one else remotely touched San Antonio in those playoffs). Once a disappointing MVP, Nowitzki became the player that we failed to recognize earlier because of our lack of understanding advanced metrics. He more than proved himself in 2011 and has been the reason that the Dallas Mavericks became one of the premier franchises in the NBA.

#12. Jerry West

PLEASE NOTE THIS IMAGE IS FOR USE VIA THE CONSUMER POD SITE ONLY. LOS ANGELES - 1970: Jerry West #44 of the Los Angeles Lakers drives to the basket against the Portland Trail Blazers during the 1970 NBA Game at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Wen Roberts/NBAE/Getty Images)

Resume

NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’69)

NBA All-1st Team: 10x (’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’70, ’71, ’72, ‘73)

NBA All-2nd Team: 2x (’68, ‘69)

NBA All-Defensive 1st Team: 4x (’70, ’71, ’72, ’73)

NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team: 1x (’69)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’72)

NBA All-Star: 14x (’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ‘74)

NBA Win Shares Leader: 1x (‘70)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (‘65)

NBA PER Leader: 2x (’69, ‘70)

NBA Top 10 Points: 8x (’62, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’70, ’71, ‘72)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 10x (’62, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ‘73)

NBA Top 10 PER: 12x (’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ‘73)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 9x (’62, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’69, ’70, ’71, ‘72)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 11x (’62, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ‘73)

NBA Career Points: 20th

NBA Career Assists: 27th

NBA Career Win Shares: 19th

NBA Career WS/48: 10th

Best Player on One Champion: ’72 Lakers

Best Player on Eight Runner-Ups: ’62 Lakers, ’63 Lakers, ’65 Lakers, ’66 Lakers, ’68 Lakers, ’69 Lakers, ’70 Lakers, ’73 Lakers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 9th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 11th

It’s not really fair that Oscar gets credit for his averaging a triple double, but things that would have helped West (a three point line, more All-Defense team recognition), didn’t exist. West averaged 30 a game anyway. Year after year he carried his teams to the Finals just to get beat by Russell’s Celtics, and yes, perhaps if the Lakers had won at least one of those series West would get pushed to the Top 10. He actually had his own brand of jaw dropping statistics as well, only no one talks about them because they aren’t as catchy as “triple double” or “100 points in a game”. But in 1966, West finished in the Top 10 in nine different categories ranging from points per game to percentages, something no one has ever done. In the ’65 playoffs he averaged 46.3 PPG in the first round to carry the Lakers without Baylor, and averaged 40.6 PPG the entire playoffs. So yes, he had his “holy shit” stats too.

He was called Mr. Clutch, and Russell himself that West’s Game 1 in the 1969 Finals was “the greatest clutch performance ever against the Celtics”. He had 53 and 10 that game. He was so good in that series, a seven game loss for the Lakers, that the first ever Finals MVP, a trophy named after Bill Russell today, didn’t go to Russell but went to the losing West. Of course, when the ’72 Lakers were rolling, led by West, they won a record 33 games in a row, a record that still stands today and won the title.

Also, there was a time when the Warriors offered Wilt for West and LA said no. That’s worth something, right?

#11. Moses Malone

top100mmalone

Resume

NBA MVP: 3x (’79, ’82, ’83)

NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’83)

NBA All-1st Team: 4x (’79, ’82, ’83, ’85)

NBA All-2nd Team: 4x (’80, ’81, ’84, ‘87)

NBA All-Defensive 1st Team: 1x (’83)

NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team: 1x (’79)

NBA All-Star: 12x (’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89)

ABA All-Star: 1x (’75)

NBA Rebounds Leader: 5x (’79, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’85)

NBA Offensive Rebounds Leader: 8x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’90)

ABA Offensive Rebounds Leader: 1x (’75)

NBA Win Shares Leader: 2x (’82, ’83)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (‘83)

NBA PER Leader: 2x (’82, ‘83)

NBA Top 10 Points: 7x (’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’85, ’86)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 13x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’86, ’88, ’89, ‘90)

ABA Top 10 Rebounds: 1x (’75)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 2x (’77, 83)

ABA Top 10 Blocks: 1x (’75)

NBA Top 10 PER: 8x (’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’85, ‘87)

ABA Top 10 PER: 1x (’75)

NBA Top 4 Win Shares: 6x (’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’85)

ABA Top 4 Win Shares: 1x (’75)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 6x (’79, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’85, ‘87)

NBA Career Points: 8th

NBA Career Rebounds: 5th

NBA Career Offensive Rebounds: 1st

NBA Career Win Shares: 14th

Best Player on One Champion: ’83 Sixers

Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’81 Rockets

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 13th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 15th

Moses’ peak is so great that he was able to knock on the door of the Top 10, but couldn’t quite get in. Despite Magic and Bird coming in, Moses remained the top dog in the NBA in the early 80s, leading a flawed Rockets team to the ’81 Finals (where they lost to the Celtics) and dominating the 1983 season and taking the Sixers to the Finals.

Moses Malone is one of the greatest rebounders of all time, and his pairing with Charles Barkley in the mid-80s could have been the greatest rebounding duo of all time. For some reason Philly traded him I guess to build around Barkley, but they didn’t get enough in return. For whatever reason, Moses didn’t match what he was doing in Houston and Philly. He was still quite good, but he wasn’t nearly as dominant.

Nonetheless, if you surrounded him with a quality supporting cast, Moses Malone guaranteed you an NBA title no matter what. Even if he had to face Kareem to do it (26-18 for Moses in the ’83 Finals, 24-8 for Kareem).

Uncategorized

RDT Reviews Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

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.

For years I thought this might have been the weakest Star Wars film of them all. Watching it again though, Return of the Jedi finally gives us the hero we’ve been waiting for in regards to Luke Skywalker and the result is a satisfying conclusion to the original Star Wars trilogy.

We start off right where we left off in Empire Strikes Back, with Luke, Leia, Chewy, Lando, R2 and 3PO heading to Tatooine to save Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. Return of the Jedi is practically a two part act, with this being the first act. It’s quite an effective act as it establishes that this is now the established, prepared and most importantly confident Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker (despite what Yoda says later) who is ready to take down the Empire. Luke makes pretty quick work of the Hutts (random awesome point, it was cool to see Leia find an opening and take down Jabba herself instead of being rescued). It’s exciting to see Luke as the confident hero as in the previous two installments I wasn’t completely buying it (similar to the popular opinion about Anakin Skywalker becoming Vader in the prequels actually). Here, I buy it. There’s no whining or anything. It is as if the battle and loss to Vader hardened him. I don’t completely buy the path of how he got to this point, but now that he’s here it’s great to see. We tie another loose end as Luke visits Yoda, and Yoda confirms what Vader told Luke about being his father. Overall this is a brilliant first act that I just completely overlooked years ago watching this film.

I do think the film goes slightly downhill the rest of the way. The story is that the Emperor has coming to oversee the creation of the 2nd Death Star. He tells Vader, who unfortunately has been neutered as an amazing bad ass villain here that only together can they convert Luke to the dark side. The Rebels meanwhile have received information about the Death Star that gives them one last shot to destroy the Empire once and for all. Little do they know the Emperor is setting a trap to end the Rebellion once and for all. The second half here breaks up into two parts: Luke’s confrontation with the Emperor and Vader, and the battle on Endor. Before this we get the revelation that Luke and Leia are brother and sister, one of the weakest plot points in the entire saga and something that takes away from Luke a bit. In fact, pretty much everything that happens on Endor is weak and underwhelming (other than “god” C3PO. That was hilarious). The Ewoks taking out the Empire’s best troops takes a huge suspension of disbelief to get behind and I can’t do it, even if the Ewoks are supposed to be warriors. Just compare this conclusion to A New Hope’s and you’ll realize the seriousness is just gone.

But Vader and Luke’s confrontation? It’s great. While yes it is disappointing that Vader isn’t the monster he was in Empire, it is at least understandable here. He’s about to do a face turn (turning into a good guy) and the focus of evil needs to be on the Emperor. Since the Emperor is awesome himself, this is still perfectly fine. We finally get that emotion from Luke Skywalker I’ve waiting three films for when Vader threatens to convert his sister to the Dark Side. While I never once believed that Luke was going to turn, the entire sequence is well done.

There’s a lot of good in Return of the Jedi. It was a lot better than I remembered and tied up a lot of the loose ends from the first two films.

Pros:

+Luke Skywalker finally comes into his own and becomes the hero this franchise was sorely missing.

+A fitting conclusion to the saga. The story tied up quite nicely.

+The Emperor is awesome.

+”God” C3PO is awesome.

Cons:

-While the Emperor is awesome, it was disappointing to see Vader as basically a sidekick.

-95% of what happens on Endor is disappointing and underwhelming.

-Ewoks are terrible.

-The Luke-Leia brother-sister relationship was forced and put a value on the love for one another. I’d be more interested in Vader threatening to turn Luke’s friends to the Darkside as opposed to forcing a sibling narrative.

Overall, very good.

Grade: B+

 

Uncategorized

An Intro to RDT’s World of Sport

Hi all, I’m Steve, a.k.a RDT. For years and years I’ve talked about sports and gaming and tons of other topics and it has always been a lot of fun to share opinions.

Well, that’s what this site is going to be about. Me (and maybe others eventually) talking and writing about video games and sports and comic book movies and really about anything else that comes to mind. I hope anyone who ends up reading anything posted here enjoys the content.