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Basketball

2017-2018 NBA Season Predictions

The Path to Warriors-Cavs IV? Sure it looks likely, but we’ll see. Sure was a crazy off-season.

Atlantic Division

Celtics: 53-29 (2)

Raptors: 46-36 (5)

Sixers: 30-52

Knicks: 26-56

Nets: 25-57

                Boston I think is pretty obvious for the top of the Atlantic (it was less obvious last year when I called it). Sure it may take time to integrate Hayward and Kyrie, and the defense overall has some holes losing Avery Bradley. But come on, it’s the East. Toronto is trying this new three pointers everywhere thing, which would be fine if they actually had good three point shooters. There’s enough talent there though to be in the thick of things again. I would love to give the Sixers a huge 2010 Thunder leap, but I’m sorry there is nothing that makes me think Joel Embiid can play anything resembling a full NBA schedule. Which is a shame, because he could be a difference maker. Knicks are thankfully past the Carmelo era and should be bad, but again wins are just going to appear in the East. A potential defensive disaster with Hardaway Jr. and Kanter too. The Nets should show some signs of life, and I’m sure if you ignore FG% D’Angelo Russell will be a fun fantasy guy, but we have a long way to go here.

Central Division

Cavaliers: 54-28 (1)

Bucks: 49-33 (4)

Pistons: 38-44 (8)

Pacers: 32-50

Bulls: 21-61

                Maybe the Cavs actually fall behind the Bucks in the standings but once it becomes playoff time, it won’t matter. Giannis might just be the future, and the Bucks have a cool (and long) team otherwise. They might be the 18-19 team to be honest. Detroit is kind of a mess and unless Andre Drummond wants to become the star I thought he would be a few years ago I don’t see them really getting past this point (Reggie Jackson at one time was probably the most overrated player in the league). Like Milwaukee, Indiana has a future star on their hands in Turner, but once again we’re not there yet. Giving the Bulls 21 wins might be high. I’m calling it now though, Lauri Markkanen will at least be a solid player in this league and not a complete disaster.

Southeast Division

Wizards: 51-31 (3)

Hornets: 43-39 (6)

Heat: 42-40 (7)

Magic: 28-54

Hawks: 23-59

                Washington definitely has an outside shot at the Finals. They almost beat Boston, and if the Cavs aren’t ready with IT2 it could happen. The Wall+Beal combo is good, not great, but good in the Eastern Conference gets you far. The Hornets’ Steve Clifford is a very good coach and while Dwight will probably be the same cohesion destroyer he’s been since he left Orlando, his rim protection should help a lot. Miami was the hottest team in basketball somehow, finishing at 30-11. There’s some flukiness to that though, especially when you are relying on Dion Waiters as part of that equations. The Hawks join the Knicks, Nets and Bulls in the “jeeze these teams are bad” club for the East.

Northwest Division

Thunder: 54-28 (4)

Timberwolves: 50-32 (5)

Nuggets: 45-37 (6)

Trail Blazers: 43-39 (7)

Jazz: 37-45

                A real tough division here. I don’t even think OKC is guaranteed the top of the division. Westbrook-Carmelo-George is of course a sexy trio in name value, but I’m not sure how they are all supposed to work together on offense. Carmelo will probably be fine to be honest, finally in a role that makes sense (third best player on his team, potentially hot offensive option that can win games). If his ego is fine with that, then that works perfectly. Can George be a good off the ball weapon? We all know Westbrook will be handling at all times. The rest of the team is a dumpster fire though. Minnesota could be a crazy surprise if Jimmy Butler is the superstar he was turning into in Chicago. Butler, KAT, Wiggins, so much potential for a great season here. I could see them beating OKC in a playoff series too. Denver has some cool additions this season too, specifically Paul Millsap. Him and Jokic are an exciting front court that should have Denver’s offense at an elite level all season. Portland is kinda stuck where they are, with one really good guard, one good guard and a lot of pieces. I don’t know how they get better. Utah should be good defensively with Gobert, but I’m not sure where the offense is supposed to come from.

Pacific Division

Warriors: 69-13 (1)

Clippers: 40-42

Lakers: 38-44

Suns: 28-54

Kings: 27-55

                Obviously Golden State. There’s a lot of random hype about the Clippers, and I love the Danilo Gallinari addition, but come on now, you don’t drop Chris Paul and expect to be close to the level you were at before. Lakers have a lot of exciting young pieces and I think will surprise. Ball is probably going to be a fun offensive option in the passing game and I think Brandon Ingram will look a lot better. Brook Lopez, while flawed, is still a notable addition too. The Suns have Devin Booker so there’s that. The Kings have who I think can win Rookie of the Year in Fox…although who knows who’s playing how much in Sacramento. Apparently Vince Carter started some pre-season games. Vince Carter!

Southwest Division

Rockets: 62-20 (2)

Spurs: 59-23 (3)

Pelicans: 42-40 (8)

Mavericks: 39-43

Grizzlies: 36-46

                There’s no way you can sell me on a Mike D’Antoni team led by Chris Paul being bad. For all the talk that James Harden can’t play off the ball he was fine in Oklahoma City. Too bad they’ll probably lose to the Spurs in Round 2. Speaking of the Spurs, sure I have questions about LaMarcus Aldridge, but Leonard (my MVP last year) is there and he’s a destructive force at both ends of the floor. It’s not just that I don’t completely believe in the Anthony Davis-DeMarcus Cousins pairing (because of Cousins), but what they surround them with isn’t good. Jrue Holliday gets all the credit in the world for a fluke All-Star game appearance five years ago in a bad East. He’s not good. Dallas has nice young pieces (Smith and Noel) and the aging Dirk, but that’s not nearly enough. Expect Mike Conley and Marc Gasol to be on the trade block, because Memphis is a shell of its former self and I don’t see their old school style succeeding…although I said that last year.

                Warriors over Cavs in 5 again!

Basketball

Sports Oddities: Michael Adams

odditiesadams

This series of articles (looking to do it bi-weekly…but have failed at that) focuses on a bizarre or oddball statistical anomaly that played in professional sports. I probably will run out of players to do this with eventually though.

Only three players in NBA history have had a season where they averaged at least 26 points per game and 10 assists per game. Oscar Robertson did it during his statistical dominance in the early 1960s. Tiny Archibald did it during his famous (or infamous?) season where he led the league in PPG and APG. The third guy? It wasn’t a big name like Michael Jordan or Jerry West. No, not even close.

The third guy was Michael Adams.

How did this happen? Before the 1990-1991 NBA season Adams’ previously had a season PPG high of 15.5 and 6.3 APG. Not even close to his crazy 26.5 PPG, 10.5 APG season in 90-91. Adams didn’t even get recognition for these seemingly MVP level stats either, as he didn’t make an All-NBA or even All-Star team. What Adams was a product of was the Paul Westhead insane pace play no defense Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets scored 118 PPG but let up over 130.

The box scores against the Nuggets were insane. A few games into the season the Phoenix Suns dropped 107 on them…in the first half (and 173 total). Nine times they allowed over 150 points in a game, all in regulation. Too bad fantasy sports didn’t exist back then, streaming against and owning Nuggets would have been all the rage.

As for Adams, he got to be the star (along with Orlando Woolridge) of this team and as a result got the big stats. But to be fair to him, he played for the Bullets the next year, put up a solid 18-7 and made the 1992 All-Star Game. He looks rather out of place in the All-Star Game…but he got there at least, right?

Basketball

Top 100 Basketball Player of All Time – 2016 Edition

We are a week removed from the NBA Finals and its result shook the foundation of my Top 100 (and should have shaken everyone’s Top lists). So let’s look through my Top 100 and see what’s changed.

Dropped out: Mark Price
Unfortunately for Price a new player has joined the Top 100, and that means Price drops out. Perhaps next year I’ll expand to a Top 125.

100. Tom Chambers (-1)
99. Tim Hardaway (-1)
98. Manu Ginobili (-1) – Could be a big playoffs away from going up about 10 spots, but it looks like he’s done and may retire.
97. Alonzo Mourning (-1)
96. Dikembe Mutombo (-1)
95. Yao Ming (-1)
94. Vince Carter (-1) – I feel like I have to re-evaluate Carter in the future. Is he really better than Mutombo, Mourning, Yao?
93. Carmelo Anthony (-1) – Needs something to move up. Not making the playoffs in the East these days is inexcusable if you’re a top player.
92. Kevin Johnson (-1)
91. Shawn Kemp (-1)

Everyone in this group dropped a spot as the new entry is already in the 80s.

90. Robert Horry (-1)
89. Chris Mullin (-1)
88. Bob Dandridge (-1)
87. Paul Westphal (-1)
86. Dan Issel (-1)
85. Artis Gilmore (-1)
84. Russell Westbrook (NEW) – With his first NBA 1st Team selection, as well as being part of a dangerous 1-2 punch with Kevin Durant that almost beat the 73 win Warriors, it was impossible to deny Westbrook a Top 100 spot. I feel like he’s at the level of Tracy McGrady at the moment, but Westbrook is still young and will probably only trend upwards.
83. Tracy McGrady
82. Joe Dumars
81. Sidney Moncrief

Westbrook’s the only new player in the Top 100.
80. Lenny Wilkins
79. Earl Monroe
78. Tony Parker – Looking like he’s close to done as well. Will need a big season or playoffs to really move up at all.
77. Chris Webber
76. David Thompson
75. Jerry Lucas
74. Pete Maravich
73. Dwight Howard (-1) – Drops a spot to Bosh, will explain below.
72. Chris Bosh (+1) – Passes Howard, will explain below.
71. Dennis Rodman

Really liked how Chris Bosh played this year, even though he unfortunately was done after 53 games because of his heart (and his career might be over). While Dwight performed below expectations once again Bosh was the leader of a Heat team that I think could have given Cleveland a run for their money had he been healthy. Combine this with Bosh’s transformation as a top role player/third guy on the Heat title teams and I think his career is slightly more impressive than Howards. Yeah, Dwight had a better peak, but I’ll take Bosh’s overall career this time. Dwight SHOULD be better than what he is though.

70. Adrian Dantley
69. Alex English
68. Bob McAdoo
67. Tom Heihnson
66. Tiny Archibald
65. Pau Gasol – Impressive that Gasol keeps going, but I think I need to see one more good playoff run to consider putting him in the Top 60.
64. Reggie Miller
63. Bill Sharmin
62. Dave Debusschere
61. Robert Parish

No movement here. Only one that can change their legacy is Gasol.
60. Bernard King
59. Elvin Hayes
58. Dolph Schayes
57. Paul Arizin
56. Dominique Wilkins
55. Billy Cunningham (-1)
54. Hal Greer (-1)
53. Nate Thurmond (-1)
52. Wes Unseld (-1)
51. Chris Paul (+4)

CP3 is one of the toughest to rank. His advanced stats are incredible and he’s clearly a positive on his team. How much of it is his fault that he can’t get out of Round 2? Yes, he keeps running into the juggernauts of the West, but he should have at least been able to get by some of them, right? (He had home court vs. the Spurs in 2008 in Game 7 and was up 3-1 on the Rockets in 2015). I think in terms of success CP3 isn’t much different than Dominique. They just can’t get past those juggernauts of their respective conferences. This year injuries cost Paul a chance at a deep playoff run. But he’s running out of time. He’ll probably inch towards the top 40 with these continual great seasons, but unless there’s some playoff success that’s probably as far as he’d go.

50. James Worthy
49. Dennis Johnson
48. Bill Walton (-1)
47. Ray Allen (-1)
46. Chauncey Billups (-1)
45. George Gervin (-1)
44. Sam Jones (-1)
43. Clyde Drexler (-1)
42. George Mikan (-1)
41. Jason Kidd (-1)

We had one player move up…we’ll get there eventually.
40. Paul Pierce (-1)
39. Allen Iverson (-1)
38. Gary Payton (-1)
37. Patrick Ewing (-1)
36. Dave Cowens (-2)
35. Steve Nash (-2)
34. Kevin Durant (+1) – It seems like a minimal move for Durant. On one hand I was super impressed that he got past the Spurs. On the other hand, he needed one more really big performance to get past Golden State and didn’t get it done. His career is impressive no doubt, but I’m going to need more for him to break into the Top 30.
33. Kevin McHale (-1)
32. Walt Frazier (-1)
31. Willis Reed (-1)

All of these drops are because of the player who went up from the 40s. Durant obviously has potential to move up a lot depending on how things go from here.

30. Rick Barry (-1)
29. Bob Cousy (-1)
28. John Stockon (-1)
27. Stephen Curry (+20) – I was ready to put him into the Top 15 until the collapse against the Spurs happened. Despite an incredible year (.318 WS/48!) and a unanimous MVP, we’re left at the end of the season wonder if he’s even the league’s best player (he’s not). He’s failed to dominate in two straight Finals now, winning the first one arguably because the 2015 Cavs were decimated by injuries and simply overmatched. He’s still headed to the Top 20 (and maybe Top 10), but the train definitely slowed down in the Finals.
26. David Robinson
25. Elgin Baylor
24. John Havlicek
23. Bob Pettit
22. Scottie Pippen
21. Isiah Thomas

Only change here is the addition of Curry.

20. Dwyane Wade – Had a chance to add onto his legacy but couldn’t get it done. His best days are past him, but a surprisingly good run could get him to the Top 15.
19. Karl Malone
18. Charles Barkley
17. Julius Erving
16. Oscar Robertson
15. Wilt Chamberlain
14. Kevin Garnett
13. Dirk Nowitzki – As impressive that he’s still the key member of some solid playoff teams, any shot at the Top 10 is probably dead.
12. Jerry West
11. Moses Malone

No changes here. Only Wade and Nowitzki can change their legacies (and perhaps Garnett?)

10. Kobe Bryant – These last three seasons did nothing for me to think he deserves to go any higher. This past season was especially embarrassing and held back the Laker future.
9. Hakeem Olajuwon
8. Shaquille O’Neal
7. Larry Bird
6. Tim Duncan (-1) – Looks like he’s run out of gas, which is a shame. While I wouldn’t rule him out of being an elite role player next year I don’t know if that’s going to be enough to get back into the Top 5.
5. Magic Johnson (-1)
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (-1)
3. LeBron James (+3) – We’ll get to the Kareem vs. LeBron vs. Russell arguments shortly.
2. Bill Russell
1. Michael Jordan

LeBron James obviously put himself into GOAT discussion with his 2016 NBA Finals performance. I still think he has a bit to go to get to MJ (but at least it’s a discussion. That wasn’t guaranteed at all at this point), but he CAN get there. I think he clearly gets to jump Duncan and Magic here. Kareem was a tough choice, but I think LeBron’s been more impressive against better average talent than Kareem was in the 70s (not to say Kareem wasn’t impressive against good teams, it’s just that I find LeBron to be better). Lebron vs. Russell you can go back and forth with all day and I thought about it for a few days. For me it becomes a bit of a hardware argument. It’s not to say LeBron needs 11 rings, but I’d like to see #4 or #5 before I’m taking him over the best winner in NBA history.

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

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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

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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).

Basketball

Top 100 Greatest Basketball Players Ever: #50-#41

#50: James Worthy

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NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’88)

NBA All-3rd Team: 2x (’90, ’91)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: ‘83

NBA All-Star: 7x (’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ‘92)

NBA Top 10 FG%: 5x (’83,’85, ’86, ’89, ’90)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 1x (’86)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (’86)

2nd Best Player on Two Champions: ’87 Lakers, ’88 Lakers

3rd Best Player on One Champion: ’85 Lakers

2nd Best Player on Two Runner-Ups: ’89 Lakers, ’91 Lakers

3rd Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’84 Lakers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 50th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 58th

A really tough career to project since he was Magic’s wingman for virtually his whole career. Simmons compares Worthy to Tom Chambers, and Chambers barely made the top 100 without the help of a Magic Johnson, so there’s that. Reason why he couldn’t drop lower than the Top 50? He was “Big Game” James. In the 1984 Finals, Worthy put up games of 29 PTS on 11/12 shooting, 30 points on 14/17 and three other 50%+ FG 20 point games in a tough loss to the Celtics. He made up for that by putting up 29 on 12/22, 33 on 13/17 and 28 on 11/15 in Boston, all wins for LA, in the 1985 Finals. He opened the 1987 Finals with a 33-10-9. He finished off the Bad Boy Pistons in 1988 with a 36-16-10 in Game 7…and even dropped 40 in the deciding game when they lost the next year (with no Magic). More evidence points to Worthy being great than not.

#49: Dennis Johnson

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NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’79)

NBA All-1st Team: 1x (’81)

NBA All-2nd Team: 1x (‘80)

NBA All-Defensive 1st Team: 6x (’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’87)

NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team: 3x (’84, ’85, ’86)

NBA All-Star: 5x (’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’85)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 1x (’80)

NBA Career Assists: 45th

NBA Career Steals: 43rd

3rd Best Player on One Champion: ’79 Sonics

Starter on Two Champions: ’84 Celtics, ’86 Celtics

2nd Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’78 Sonics

Starter on Two Runner-Ups: ’85 Celtics, ’87 Celtics

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 54th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 53rd

DJ gets the nod over Worthy for a few reasons. For one, we don’t know how Worthy’s career projects without Magic Johnson…but we do know Johnson could thrive without Bird since he did in Seattle. Also, Worthy’s main attribute was big game scoring. DJ’s was big game defense and he could score as well. Big difference. In an All-Time defensive team, DJ fits right in there with Jordan, Payton, Moncreif in the greatest defensive guards before 2000 conversation (and maybe of all time as well). He hounded Magic in the ’84 Finals and also shut down Andrew Toney (Toney gave Boston tons of trouble in the early 80s and was a big reason the Sixers made the Finals in ’83). DJ was the best guard on teams that won 47, 52, 56, 57, 46, 53, 62, 63, 67 games.

#48: Bill Walton

top100walton

Resume

NBA MVP: 1x (’78)

NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’77)

NBA All-1st Team: 1x (’78)

NBA All-2nd Team: 1x (‘77)

NBA All-Defensive 1st Team: 2x (’77, ‘78)

NBA All-Star: 2x (’77, ‘78)

NBA Defensive Rating Leader: 2x (’78, ’86)

NBA Top 5 Rebounds: 1x (’77)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 2x (’77, ’78)

NBA Top 3 WS/48: 2x (’77, ’78)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 5x (’76, ’77, ’78, ’85, ’86)

Best Player on One Champion: ’77 Blazers

Sixth Man on One Champion: ’86 Celtics

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 27th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 74th

Bill Simmons’ asks whether or not you would want two and a half transcendent years and twelve other years full of injuries or fourteen quality years. He took the two and a half, a big reason why he had Walton so high up (he compared him to David Robinson) in his pyramid. At one time I agreed, but looking at it now Walton’s peak came in the messy late seventies. Theoretically the league was full of talent, but teams still weren’t able to figure out styles and such after the merger. When Walton went down in 1978 (he was so good that year he rightly won MVP after playing only 58 of 60 games anyway…Portland was 50-10 at the time) Portland went down with him, failing to even win one playoff series.

An idea of how good Walton was? He averaged 19-19-5-4 in the ’77 Finals where Portland won, including a 20-23-8-7 in the deciding game. He had pretty much no supporting cast (Mo Lucas, Bobby Gross, Lionel Hollins?) and it didn’t matter. As a bonus, he was an iconic sixth man on the ’86 Celtics. If he doesn’t get hurt, Walton probably gets into the Top 15.

#47: Stephen Curry

top100curry

Resume

NBA MVP: 1x (’15)

NBA All-1st Team: 1x (’15)

NBA All-2nd Team: 1x (‘14)

NBA Rookie 1st Team: 1x (‘10)

NBA All-Star: 2x (’14, ‘15)

NBA Steals Leader: 1x (’15)

NBA 3 PT FG Leader: 3x (’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA FT% Leader: 2x (’11, ’15)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’15)

NBA Top 10 Points: 3x (’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 5 Assists: 4x (’10, ’13, ’14, ‘15)

NBA Top 2 Steals: 2x (’14, ’15)

NBA Top 5 WS/48: 2x (’14, ‘15)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 10 PER: 2x (’14, ’15)

NBA Career Offensive Rating: 50th

Best Player on One Champion: ’15 Warriors

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): Not Ranked

Obviously not ranked on Simmons or Slam due to the fact that Curry began peaking in 2014. Gets the nod over Walton because his peak took place in an extremely talented time in the NBA (won MVP over LeBron for example). It’s absolutely terrifying to watch Curry if he’s playing against your team. A League MVP, a great WS/48 season and best player on a title team status? That’s good enough for top 50.

The difference between Curry and Derrick Rose is that Curry’s MVP doesn’t really have any doubt attached to it. Yeah, you can consider James Harden, but no one actually thinks Harden was robbed. In 2011, Rose was probably the third best player in the league that year, behind LeBron and Dwight Howard. And LeBron destroyed him in the Eastern Conference Finals. Curry had so such issues (although he did luck out as opposing PGs got hurt).

#46: Ray Allen

top100allen

Resume

NBA All-2nd Team: 1x (’05)

NBA All-3rd Team: 1x (‘01)

NBA Rookie 2nd Team: 1x (‘97)

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

NBA 3 PT FG Leader: 1x (‘06)

NBA Offensive Win Share Leader: 1x (’01)

NBA Top 10 Points: 2x (’05, ‘06)

NBA Top 10 3 PT FG: 11x (’98, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’11)

NBA Top 10 FT%: 14x (’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 2x (’01, ’09)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (‘01)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 4x (’00, ’01, ’06, ’09)

NBA Career 3 PT FG: 1st

NBA Career FT%: 7th

Third Best Player on One Champion: ’08 Celtics

Role Player on One Champion: ’13 Heat

Third Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’10 Celtics

Role Player on One Runner-Up: ’14 Heat

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 62nd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 79th

Pretty much Reggie Miller with a better post-season resume. Allen was very close (and probably deserved to be) the best player on a runner-up with the 2001 Bucks. He was clutch in the 2008 Finals against the Lakers. Everyone remembers the big comeback in Game 4…but somehow Allen playing all 48 minutes and closing the game out by driving past Sasha Vujacic in crunch time is forgotten. He was kinda robbed of Finals MVP in that series as well (50-50-90% shooting, 20 PPG). He hit a game winning three with no time left against Chicago in Round 1 in 2009, and also had a 51 point game later in the series. He also set a record with 8 threes in Game 2 against the Lakers in the Finals…although he fell apart later in that series. Of course he cemented his legacy as a clutch three point shooter, possibly surpassing Reggie as the best ever with his dagger of a three that saved LeBron’s legacy and the 2013 Miami Heat season. Most of that is just the late stage of his career. He was the top guy for a very good Bucks and a very good Sonics team (a Sonics team that gave the 2005 Champ Spurs a nice six game scare).

 #45: Chauncey Billups

top100billups

Resume

NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’04)

NBA All-2nd Team: 1x (’06)

NBA All-3rd Team: 2x (’07, ‘09)

NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team: 2x (’05, ‘06)

NBA All-Star: 5x (’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ‘10)

NBA Offensive Rating Leader: 1x (’06)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 2x (’06, ’07)

NBA Top 10 FT%: 11x (’99, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ‘11)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 6x (’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ‘08)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 5x (’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ‘09)

NBA Career FT%: 5th

NBA Career 3P FG: 7th

NBA Career Offensive Rating: 18th

Best Player on One Champion: ’04 Pistons

Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’05 Pistons

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 124th

Easily the most underrated player of all time and it’s all due to perception. So let’s get to those perceptions and debunk them.

Number 1: The starting five for the 2004 Pistons were all equal…they were a real team and that’s why they won the title. Now defensively, I give Ben Wallace all the credit in the world and he did receive some consideration for my Top 100 due to his performance on the defensive end for the 2004 and 2005 Pistons. But offensively? Rasheed Wallace was a nice mid-season addition for a Pistons team that had already made a Conference Finals the year before with Billups. All I know is in Phil Jackson’s book The Last Season, he thinks about the Finals and starts off by thinking they are a team of equals…only to come to the conclusion that Billups was the key all along. That and when Chauncey left in 2008 the entire team fell apart. Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince have done nothing of note since Chauncey left them. Not true for Chauncey…leading us too…

Number 2: Carmelo Anthony led the Nuggets to the 2009 Conference Finals. Let the record show that Carmelo had the worst season of his early career in 2009 (.105 WS/48, 45% FG, 23 PPG, didn’t make the All-Star team), although he played great in the playoffs) and the Nuggets didn’t fall off at all. The Nuggets with Carmelo also made it past the first round for the first time…Chauncey had a 135 offensive rating in the playoffs. Detroit meanwhile fell out in Round 1. The difference was Chauncey.

Number 3: Chauncey was only good because of the slow it down style of the Pistons. Of course, this makes no sense as he succeeded with the Nuggets too.

Number 4: The Pistons era was overrated because the East was bad all those years. Of course, this isn’t fair to Chauncey as others have gotten this benefit too (and he got to the Conference Finals in the West anyway). Being the best player on a team that made seven straight Conference Finals is impressive no matter what the situation. His Pistons ended the Kidd era Nets, ended the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, nearly upset Duncan at his peak and even knocked LeBron down once. Sounds good enough for me.

In addition to all of that, Chauncey has great advanced numbers and a few All-NBA teams. He’s a great player.

#44: George Gervin

top100gervin

Resume

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

NBA All-2nd Team: 2x (’77, ‘83)

ABA All-2nd Team: 2x (’75, ’76)

ABA All-Rookie 1st Team: 1x (’73)

NBA All-Star: 9x (’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ‘85)

ABA All-Star: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA Points Leader: 4x (’78, ’79, ’80, ’82)

NBA Top 6 Points: 8x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84)

ABA Top 7 Points: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA Top 10 Blocks: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 6x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82)

ABA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 3x (’77, ’78, ’79)

ABA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (76)

NBA Top 10 PER: 6x ( ’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82)

ABA Top 10 PER: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA+ABA Career Points: 15th

ABA Career Blocks: 9th

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 34th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 45th

The Iceman was one of the all-time great scorers…and that’s about it. Horrible defensive player and seemingly only cared about scoring points. But he was great at it, and in the late 70s where everything was screwed up roster wise, that was good enough to be one of the best players in the league. It never got him to the Finals though as he failed to get past those Unseld-Hayes Bullets teams. And once Magic and Bird came along, Gervin was never seeing the Finals.

Recently, his record of 33 points in a quarter was broken, but it tells you just what kind of scorer he was. His peak was too good to leave out of the Top 50.

#43: Sam Jones

top100jones

Resume

NBA All-2nd Team: 3x (’65, ’66, ‘67)

NBA All-Star: 5x (’62, ’64, ’65, ’66, ‘68)

NBA Top 10 Points: 2x (’65, ‘66)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ‘66)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 10x (’59, ’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ‘68)

2nd or 3rd Best Player on Six Champions, Won Ten Championships Overall (’59 Celtics, ’60 Celtics, ’61 Celtics, ’62 Celtics, ’63 Celtics, ’64 Celtics, ’65 Celtics, ’66 Celtics, ’68 Celtics, ’69 Celtics)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 33rd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 65th

Simmons gave the nod to Jones over Gervin because of the teammate aspect, the fact that Bill Russell praises Jones as his crunch time scorer. While I can’t say I’ve seen much of Sam Jones other than some Youtube highlights, but I have seen Gervin and I know he’s a me-first guy and probably the biggest reason the Spurs didn’t win a title. So I’ll take Simmons word on this.

I’ll also provide the list of great playoff games Jones had that Simmons provided, which was more than enough to sway me.

Hit a game winner in the Eastern Conference Finals vs. ’62 Sixers in Game 7, scored 27…Scored 35 against the ’62 Lakers in the Finals…scored 27 in Game 7 of the ’62 Finals vs. the Lakers…scored 47 against Oscar and the Royals in another Game 7…37 in Game 7 of the ’65 Sixers series…34 Points in Game 5 of the ’65 Royals series…hit a game winner in Game 4 of the ’69 Lakers series. That’s not all of them…but you get the point.

#42: Clyde Drexler

PLEASE NOTE THIS IMAGE IS FOR USE VIA THE CONSUMER POD SITE ONLY. PORTLAND, OR - JANUARY 1: Clyde Drexler #22 of the Portland Trail Blazers dunks during a game on January 1, 1989 in Portland, Oregon. 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 NBAE 1989 (Photo by Mike Powell/NBAE/Getty Images)

Resume

NBA All-1st Team: 1x (‘92)

NBA All-2nd Team: 2x (’88, ‘91)

NBA All-3rd Team: 2x (’88, ‘95)

NBA All-Star: 10x (’86, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’96, ‘97)

NBA Top 10 Points: 3x (’88, ’89, ‘92)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 1x (’86)

NBA Top 10 Steals: 6x (’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’95)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 6x (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ‘95)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 6x (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ‘95)

NBA Top 10 PER: 4x (’88, ’89, ’92, ‘95)

NBA Career Points: 29th

NBA Career Steals: 7th

2nd Best Player on one Champion: ’95 Rockets

Best Player on Two Runner-Ups: ’90 Blazers, ’92 Blazers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 44th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 42nd

I’ll just start off with saying I agree with Michael Jordan…that Drexler was a poor man’s Michael Jordan.

It may not seem completely fair, but that’s what he was. Primarily an inside drive guy with a shaky outside shot…only Drexler wasn’t remotely a good three point shooter either. His peak in the late 80s and early 90s was impressive…he got to the Finals before Jordan did…but he failed at that level and then was destroyed by Jordan in ’92. Amazingly, he begins to decline at age 30 in 1993 in what only could be described as a player who’s confidence was destroyed.

 There’s not much else to say about Drexler. He was a really good player, sometimes great, that couldn’t get his teams to the finish line. His career was swallowed up by Jordan. It goes farther than the ’92 Finals. Remember, Portland didn’t pick Jordan because they had Drexler. And of course, Drexler’s ring came in the 2nd of Jordan’s baseball years.

And of course…there was the 1992 Finals. Poor Drexler.

#41: George Mikan

George Mikan, right, honored earlier this year as one of the 50 greatest NBA players of all-time, led the Minneapolis Lakers basketball team to six championships. This photo is from a game against Rochester at the old Minneapolis Auditorium on March 29, 1954. Star Tribune file photo.

Resume

NBA All-1st Team: 6x (’49, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54)

NBA All-Star: 4x (’51, ’52, ’53, ’54)

NBA Points Leader: 3x (’49, ’50, ’51)

NBA Rebounds Leader: 1x (’53)

NBA PER Leader: 3x (’52, ’53, ’54)

NBA Offensive Win Share Leader: 2x (’49, ’51)

NBA Defensive Win Share Leader: 5x (’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54)

NBA Win Share Leader: 3x (’49, ’50, ’51)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’53)

NBA Top 4 Points: 6x (’49, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 1x (’49)

NBA Top 3 Rebounds: 4x (’51, ’52, ’53, ‘54)

NBA Top 4 Win Shares: 6x (’49, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 3x (’52, ’53, ‘54)

Best Player on Five Champions: ’49 Lakers, ’50 Lakers, ’52 Lakers, ’53 Lakers, ’54 Lakers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 38th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 29th

Obviously a product of his era. Once the shot clock and bigger lane came into play, Mikan was done. He absolutely dominated the early NBA and even the NBL. He was basketball’s first great player and dominated the league. That has to count for something.

Basketball

Top 100 Basketball Players Ever: #60-#51

#60: Bernard King

top100king

Resume

All-NBA 1st Team: 2x (’84, ‘85)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’82)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (’91)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’78)

NBA All-Star: 4x (’82, ’84, ’85, ‘91)

NBA PPG Leader (55 G): 1x (’85)

NBA Top 10 Points: 4x (’78, ’81, ’82, ’84)

NBA Top 5 Win Shares: 1x (’84)

NBA Top 2 WS/48: 1x  (’84)

NBA Top 10 PER: 2x (’81, ’82)

NBA Career Points: 42nd

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 58th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 69th

I’ll admit to being a little skeptical overall of King, considering that his resume is quite short. With one (major) exception, it looked like King had one of the unluckiest careers in NBA history regarding injuries and style clashing. Bill Simmons described King as unstoppable from 1983-1985. This seems relevant as that’s part of one of the toughest eras in professional basketball history. This didn’t matter to King, the lone blue chipper for the early 80s Knicks, as he put together two NBA 1st teams and led the Knicks to the playoffs a couple of those years as well. In 1985, while leading the league in scoring he blew out his knee and never was the same. That, combined with King being stuck in Hubie Brown’s slowdown style, limited King to what he could have been.

Of course, King’s career is also hampered by cocaine use early in his career. His drug use limited him just as much as his later injuries would, I mean, isn’t it odd that King took so many years to peak, and when he did he was downright unstoppable in a tough era? Those King years at the top represent the player we wanted Carmelo Anthony to become, only it never quite happened for Melo (and probably isn’t at this point).

And then there’s this. Despite the injuries and such, King came back in 1991 and randomly put up a 28.4 PPG season at age 34. Combine that with his reputation, his long standing record of 60 points at MSG (which Kobe broke when Wilson Chandler couldn’t guard him) and that he was so good that his 55 game 1985 season still got him All-1st Team honors over Michael Jordan, and well I’ll have to push my skepticism to the side.

 #59: Elvin Hayes

top100hayes

Resume

All-NBA 1st Team: 3x (’75, ’77, ‘79)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’73, ’74, ‘76)

All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team: (’73, ’74)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’69)

NBA All-Star: 12x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’79, ‘80)

NBA Points Leader: 1x (’69)

NBA Rebounds Leader: 2x (’70, ’74)

NBA Defensive Rating Leader: 1x (’75)

NBA Defensive Win Shares Leader: 3x (’71, ’74, ’75)

NBA Top 10 Points: 7x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’75, ’77, ‘80)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 13x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 8x (’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81)

NBA Top 10 Steals: 1x (’75)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’74, ’75, ‘77)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 12x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (’75)

NBA Top 10 PER: 2x (’81, ’82)

NBA Career Points: 9th

NBA Career Rebounds: 4th

NBA Career Blocks: 22nd

Best Player on One NBA Champion: ’78 Bullets

Best Player on Two Runner-Ups: ’75 Bullets, ’79 Bullets

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 51st

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 23rd

Looking at the resume you’re likely to side with Slam’s ranking of Hayes than Simmons. Here are the following quotes about Hayes from various publications and sportswriters at the time:

“During his four years with the Rockets, Hayes was variously considered a ball hog, a rotten apple, a dumbbell and a guaranteed loser.” –Sports Illustrated, 1974

“Individualism overcame Elvin in yet another big contest.”

“Hayes once more disappeared in the moments of crisis.”

“It’s imperative for the Bullets that their only real name player and 10 year All-Star justify his status by not dissolving at the end of the seventh game [of the Finals].” – Curry Kirkpatrick, Sports Illustrated, 1978

“You stay away from that no-good fucking prick.” – Rockets’ Coach Bill Fitch, on what he reportedly told rookie Ralph Sampson when Hayes said he wanted to mentor him.

Now, being a jerk and being hated by the sports media doesn’t mean you’re a bad player (although, it’s a good sign that you’re a terrible teammate and a potential locker room cancer), so let’s go with a couple of game related stories.

Hayes may be the worst “best player on a title team ever”, and it’s debated about whether or not he really was the best player on that 1978 title team (Unseld). The defining story? After scoring a total of 19 fourth quarter points in six Finals games in 1978, and calls for him to step up in Game 7, Hayes fouled out with 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter of that Game 7. The Bullets, on the road, managed to win the title without him as Unseld won Finals MVP. Not exactly MJ against Utah. Speaking of Utah, in terms of clutchness Hayes is regarded as the poor man’s Karl Malone. That’s not a compliment. All of this combined with that he peaked during a weak era of pro basketball, the 1970s, and his lowish ranking starts to make some sense.

#58: Paul Arizin

top100arizin

Resume

All-NBA 1st Team: 3x (’52, ’56, ‘57)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’59)

NBA All-Star: 10x (’51, ’52, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ‘62)

NBA Points Leader: 2x (’52, ’57)

NBA Win Share Leader: 1x (’52)

NBA Offensive Win Share Leader: 1x (’52)

NBA Top 10 Points: 9x (’51, ’52,’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 2x (’51, ’52)

NBA Top 10 PER: 4x (’52, ’56, ’57, ’59)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 8x: (’51, ’52, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’59, ’60, ’61)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: (’52, ’56, ’57, ’59)

First Player to average 20+PPG for Nine Straight Seasons

Best Player on One NBA Champion: ’56 Warriors

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 56th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 71st

The first player to ever use a jump shot, which seems important from a historical point of view. Arizin was the best player on the last pre-Russell NBA Champs, the ’56 Warriors. He had a killer post-season that year (29-8, .262 WS/48). Would have probably had more All-Stars, but in ’53 and ’54 he was forced into military duty and didn’t play. He ended his career on a high note, averaging a 23-7 for the Sixers as they almost beat the ’62 Celtics. Arizin is one of the top examples that Wilt Chamberlain in fact had great players as teammates too.

#57: Dolph Schayes

top100schayes

Resume

All-NBA 1st Team: 6x (’52, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’57, ’58)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 6x (’50, ’51, ’56, ’59, ’60, ’61)

NBA All-Star: 12x (’51, ’52, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ‘62)

NBA Rebounds Leader: 1x (’51)

NBA FT% Leader: 3x (’58, ’60, 62)

NBA Win Share Leader: 1x (’58)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’54)

NBA Defensive Win Share Leader: 1x (’55)

NBA Top 10 Points: 11x (’51, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ‘62)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 12x (’51, ’52, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ‘62)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 3x (’50, ’51, ’57)

NBA Top 3 FT%: 10x: (’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ‘62)

NBA Top 10 PER: 10x: (’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ‘62)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 11x: (’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60)

NBA Career Rebounds: 26th

Best Player on One NBA Champion: ’55 Nationals

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 52nd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 35th

Like Hayes, an outstanding resume that merits Schayes being ranked higher. Schayes issue is the era he played in: the 1950s. Before Bill Russell showed up Schayes was one of the best players in the early NBA along with George Mikan (who we’ll get to). After Russell (and others), Schayes stopped winning in the playoffs. That’s fine. The total weight of his resume gives him a decent amount of credit, and I put him above Hayes as Schayes defining story (playing a full season with a broken arm and just switching his main hand) is a lot better than Hayes.

It’s always going to be tough to rank the 1950s guys. They will always take a hit (half of Dolph’s career was even before the shot clock existed) ranking wise. Dolph’s resume was too good to drop outside the Top 60.

#56: Dominique Wilkins

top100wilkins

Resume

All-NBA 1st Team: 1x (‘86)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 4x (’87, ’88, ’91, ’93)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 2x (’89, ’94)

NBA All-Star: 9x (’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94)

NBA PPG Leader: 1x (’86)

NBA Top 10 Points: 9x (’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’93, ’94)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 2x: (’86, ‘87)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: (’87, ’93)

NBA Career Points: 12th

NBA Career Steals: 56th

NBA Career Offensive Rebounds: 31st

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 55th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 43rd

If you’re siding with Dominique to be 15-20 spots higher, you’re rewarding individual and arguably selfish play over team ball. You can look at the fact that ‘Nique never got past round 2 in two ways: he clashed against the Bad Boy Pistons, Bird’s Celtics and Jordan’s Bulls…or you can come to the conclusion that a self-absorbed  all O and no D scorer who did nothing to make his teammates better couldn’t will his teams to the finish line.

It doesn’t mean that Dominique wasn’t a great player. His Hawks teams routinely made the playoffs and even won 50+ games from ’86-’89 (peaking at 57 in 1987) and he didn’t have that much of a supporting cast (Kevin Willis and Doc Rivers were his best teammates). So he has to get credit for that. He had one chance to get to the Conference Finals, but his 47 wasn’t enough (Bird scored 20 in the 4th and Boston won by 2). But again, his defense was a problem for the Hawks in that game as well. How far can a no defense guy get in the playoffs without a strong defensive unit around him or a top shot blocking center? Not far enough it seems.

#55: Chris Paul

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Resume

NBA Rookie of the Year: ‘06

All-NBA 1st Team: 4x (’08, ’12, ’13, ‘14)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’09, ‘15)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (‘11)

All-NBA Defensive 1st Team: 5x (’09, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team: 1x (’08)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: ‘06

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’13)

NBA All-Star: 8x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ‘15)

NBA Assists Leader: 3x (’08, ’09, ’15)

NBA Steals Leader: 5x (’06, ’08, ’09, ’11, ’12)

NBA Win Shares Leader: 1x (’08)

NBA Offensive Win Shares Leader: 3x (’08, ’12, ’15)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’08)

NBA Top 10 Points: 2x (’09, ‘15)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 10x (’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 3 Steals: 8x (’06, ’08, ’09, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 7x (’08, ’09, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 8x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 10 PER: 8x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 8x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Career Assists: 16th

NBA Career Steals: 26th

NBA Career APG: 3rd

NBA Career SPG: 4th

NBA Career Offensive Rating: 1st

NBA Career Win Shares: 32nd

NBA Career WS/48: 3rd

NBA Career PER: 6th

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 90th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 107th

On paper, CP3 is already one of the greatest basketball players ever. He either holds or is on pace to hold many different records (both traditional and advanced). He would hold a spot on the starting five best two way players in the NBA right now, and would even have a chance at an all-time version. He was absolutely robbed of the MVP in 2008 (sorry Kobe fans) where he put up 21.1 PPG, 11.6 APG, 4 RPG and 2.7 SPG while only having 2.5 turnovers a game for a 56 win Hornets team. Only players in NBA history to put up 20 PPG, 11 APG and 2 SPG in a season are CP3 and Isiah…although CP3 did it with less turnovers and shot a higher percentage.

So what holds CP3 back from a higher ranking? For some reason or another he also can’t get past round 2 of the playoffs. Twice he’s gotten to Game 7 of the 2nd round and once to a super close Game 6, and each time he fell short. In 2008 a 22 year old Paul has been dominating the playoffs and had a 3-2 lead on the Spurs…but the Spurs shocked the Hornets in Game 7 as Paul was “held” to a 18-14-8-5. He was masterful for the most part in the six game loss to the Thunder in 2014, averaging 22-12-4 and 2 and a half steals for the series, but Durant and Westbrook were too good and the Thunder prevailed. Both of those losses though could be justified. What wasn’t justified was the Clippers blowing their series against Houston last year. Putting that together with the up 3-2 against the Spurs and the Thunder series (famously lost Game 5 despite being up 7 with 50 seconds to go) one has to wonder why Chris Paul teams keep blowing huge games (even in round 1 last year against the Spurs, a series that the Clippers won and Paul was masterful in Game 7 in, there were several blunders along the way, especially in Game 2, which made you question the toughness of the Clippers). Until he can rectify this, I don’t know if he’ll ever crack the top 40.

But I think he’ll do it eventually. He’s 30 years old now and should still have 3-4 elite years left. The talent is there. The coaching is there. They have beaten great teams (like the Spurs last year). Is Chris Paul the leader we all think he is? Or is there a little bit of Oscar Robinson in him…someone who’s teammates play in fear of him and as a result screw up in the clutch? We’ll find out.

#54: Billy Cunningham

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Resume

ABA MVP: 1x (’73)

All-NBA 1st Team: 3x (’69, ’70, ‘71)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’72)

All-ABA 1st Team: 1x (’73)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: ‘66

ABA Steals Leader: 1x (’73)

NBA All-Star: 4x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72)

ABA All-Star: 1x (’73)

ABA Steals Leader: 1x (’73)

NBA Top 10 Points: 3x (’69, ’70, ’71)

ABA Top 5 Points: 1x (’73)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 1x (’75)

ABA Top 3 Assists: 1x (’73)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 2x (’69, ’70)

ABA Top 5 Rebounds: 1x (’73)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 1x (’70)

ABA Top 3 Win Shares: 1x (’73)

Sixth Man For One Champion: ’67 Sixers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 49th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 41st

At first it doesn’t feel like he has the resume, although both Simmons and Slam rank him quite highly. His ABA MVP year is nothing to sneeze at: 24-12-6 with 2 and a half steals per game. Ranked in the top 5 in points, top 3 in assists and top 5 in rebounds while leading the ABA in steals during his MVP year. Simmons thought he was good enough to be the 1969 MVP (22-11-3). He’s regarded as the best small forward for a five year stretch. He’s another example that Wilt played with great players during his career, and Cunningham was a solid 6th man (15 PPG) for that ’67 Sixers team that won the title (in regards to his playstyle, he’s compared to Manu).

#53: Hal Greer

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Resume

All-NBA 2nd Team: 7x (’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ‘69)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’68)

NBA All-Star: 10x (’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ‘70)

NBA Top 10 Points: 6x (’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 4x (’64, ’65, ’66, ’68)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’63, ’66, 68)

2nd Best Player on One Championship Team: ’67 Sixers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 48th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 59th

Another not quite impressive resume…but Greer gets ranked this high for being Wilt’s 2nd banana (scoring 27.7 PPG in the ’67 playoffs where the Sixers won the title) as well as for his consistency year in and year out. There’s not much else to say about Greer. Players from his era respected his work ethic and thought he had a beautiful jump shot. He also shot free throws with his jumper. Nonetheless, season after season of 20 PPG as primarily a 2nd banana with a Championship is nothing to sneeze at. More proof Wilt played with great players.

#52: Nate Thurmond

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Resume

All-NBA Defensive 1st Team: 2x (’69, ’71)

All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team: (’72, ’73, ’74)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: ‘64

NBA All-Star: 7x (’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’70, ’73, ‘74)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 8x (’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’71, ’72, ‘73)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 2x (’74, ‘75)

NBA Top 5 Defensive Rating: 1x (’75)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 8x (’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’72, ’73, ’75)

NBA Career Rebounds: 10th

2nd Best Player on One Runner-Up: (’67 Warriors)

Starter on One Runner-Up: (’64 Warriors)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 45th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 34th

Probably in the starting lineup for the all-time underrated team. He mad no All-NBA teams but for a very good reason: his career coincided with Wilt, Russell, Kareem and Reed (and there was no Third Team back then). Regarded as the 2nd best defensive center in the league after Russell. Recorded 2.9 BPG when he was washed up in ’74…it was the first year the NBA recorded blocks. Had the first recorded quadruple double (22 PTS, 14 REB, 13 AST, 12 BLK) in 1974.

His lack of championship success was because of two things. One, he was ridiculously unlucky as Rick Barry bolted the Warriors for the ABA. Had he stayed, some of those early 70s titles probably go to the Warriors. When Barry came back the Warriors traded him to Chicago to save money…and Thurmond almost made them pay as the Bulls took the Warriors to 7 games in the Western Finals.

The second part was what kept him off of all those All-NBA teams. He wasn’t getting past Russell, Wilt or Kareem. Kareem and Wilt both said Thurmond was their toughest defender in the early 70s. Just think of the rich man’s Dikembe Mutombo here.

#51: Wes Unseld

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Resume

NBA MVP: 1x (’69)

NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’78)

NBA All-1st Team: 1x (’69)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: ‘69

NBA All-Star: 5x (’69, ’71, ’72, ’73, ‘75)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 10x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’80)

NBA Top 3 Offensive Rating: 1x (’79)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 2x (’75, ’76)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’69, ’70, ’73, ’75, ’76)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 2x (’69, ’75)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 8x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’73, ’75, ’76, ’77, ‘78)

NBA Career Rebounds: 12th

2nd Best Player on One NBA Champion: ’78 Bullets

2nd Best Player on Three Runner-Ups: ’71 Bullets, ’74 Bullets, ’79 Bullets

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 42nd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 33rd

A strange resume that you’ll have to ignore statistics to appreciate. Defensively, Unseld wasn’t a shot blocker…yet put up some really good defensive rating and defensive win shares numbers. He wasn’t a scorer, yet was really efficient offensively. He was arguably the best player (I know we said Hayes, but ugh) on that ’78 Bullets team for doing all the dirty work (screens, rebounding) and for being the greatest outlet passer in NBA history (Red Auerbach said that perhaps only Russell was better). So it’s just going to be impossible to capture the impact Unseld had through awards and statistics.

Here’s the thing. Back in the 60s and early 70s…the players voted on the league MVP. Sure they got carried away with it and Unseld wasn’t the correct choice…but it’s something that he did win MVP, no? His opponents thought he was that difficult to deal with playing against him. And Unseld showed it was at least somewhat of a worthy accolade as he’d win the ’78 Finals MVP. So there’s more evidence that he’s a great player than not. What a tough player to rank.