#70: Adrian Dantley
Resume
NBA Rookie of the Year: (’77)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’81, ‘84)
All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’77)
NBA All-Star: 6x (’80, ’81, ’82, ’84, ’85, ‘86)
NBA Leader Points: 2x (’81, ’84)
NBA Leader PER: 1x (’84)
NBA Win Shares Leader: 1x (’84)
NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’84)
NBA Offensive Rating Leader: 2x (’78, ’84)
NBA Offensive Win Shares Leader: 4x (’81, ’82, ’84, ’86)
NBA Top 10 Points: 5x (’80, ’81, ’82, ’84, ’86)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 6x (’78, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’84, ’86)
Career NBA Points: 27th
Career NBA Offensive Rating: 119.8 (8th)
Career NBA Win Shares: 134.2 (30th)
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 66th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 83rd
It’s easy to look at Dantley’s Advanced Metrics and conclude he’s one of the most underrated players in the history of the game. His Advanced States, especially compared to the player one spot higher than him on this list (and on Slam and Simmons lists as well). Dantley was a great offensive player in an era where offense was rampant. His style wouldn’t translate to today’s game as he was primarily a post-up player at 6’3”. You know how some like to dismiss the 1980s because “everyone was skinny and small”. Well, Dantley would actually be negatively affected by that difference because of the way he played the game.
There’s a second part about Dantley that hurts his ranking considerably. From all accounts he sounds like a bad teammate and someone that coaches and other players just didn’t want on their team. He was traded some five times in his prime (are great players traded that often?) often on 50 cents for the dollar. The Lakers pre-Magic dumped Dantley to Utah for a washed up Spencer Haywood. He’d average more points (28) than Utah had wins that season (24) while the Lakers won the title. Utah would follow with 28 wins the next season and 25 after that. Interestingly in 1983 they would go up to 30 wins…and Dantley only played 22 games that season. It look Dantley’s excellent 1984 season to get Utah to the playoffs finally. Three straight playoff seasons in the 40-45 win range seemed to help Dantley…except Utah sent him away for Kelly Tripucka (a scoring no defense forward) and continued on their 40+ win playoff streak (and better as the Malone-Stockton era began). Dantley got to play for a contender with the Pistons…and then he was traded for Mark Aguirre as he clashed with Isiah. Unsurprisingly, Detroit would win two straight titles. There’s too many negatives here to rank Dantley any higher, but he needs to be given credit for his great offensive numbers.
#69: Alex English
Resume
All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’82, ’83, ‘86)
NBA All-Star: 8x (’82, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, ‘89)
NBA Leader Points: 2x (’83, ‘86)
NBA Top 10 PER: 3x (’83, ’84, ‘86)
NBA Win Shares Leader: 1x (’84)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 4x (’82, ’83, ’84, ‘86)
Career NBA Points: 17th
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 65th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 82nd
English was a lot more consistent than Dantley and his teams did better as well. Sure, it’s luck that English had less talent around him, but a big part of that is their attitude and being able to co-exist with their teammates and coaches. English was often part of one of the more potent offensive teams in the league: the 80s Nuggets.
English had a lot more success than Dantley as well, leading the Nuggets to the Western Conference Championship against the Lakers in ’85. In terms of pure statistics, English would be Carmelo Anthony’s end of career projection…although English has done better in the playoffs than Anthony.
#68: Bob Mcadoo
Resume
NBA MVP: 1x (’75)
NBA Rookie of the Year: (’73)
All-NBA 1st Team: 1x (’75)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (‘74)
All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’73)
NBA All-Star: 5x (’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ‘78)
NBA Leader Points: 3x (’74, ’75, ‘76)
NBA Rebounds Leader: 1x (’75)
NBA Win Shares Leader: 1x (’75)
NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’75)
NBA Offensive Win Shares Leader: 2x (’74, ‘75)
NBA Top 10 Points: 5x (’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ‘78)
NBA Top 10 Rebounds: (’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ‘78)
NBA Top 10 Blocks: (’74, ’75, ’76)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 4x (’74, ’75, ’76, ‘78)
Role Player for two NBA Champions: (’82 Lakers, ’85 Lakers)
Role Player for one Runner-Up: (’84 Lakers)
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 61st
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 46th
For a three year stretch, Bob McAdoo was the 2nd best player in the league behind Kareem. Interestingly his play fell off after injuries and he was never the same after 1978. McAdoo gets a bit of a bonus over other offense only players for two reasons: his MVP Award and his success as a role player on the Lakers in the 1980s.
McAdoo was simply unlucky. If he was able to play at full strength in the early 1980s he probably would have been a force.
#67: Tom Heinsohn
Resume
NBA Rookie of the Year: (’57)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 4x (’61, ’62, ’63, ’64)
NBA All-Star: 6x (’57, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ‘65)
NBA Top 10 Points: 1x (’60)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 1x (’62)
NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (’62)
NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 9x (’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ‘65)
Either the 3rd or 4th Best Player on Eight Championship Teams: (’57 Celtics, ’59 Celtics, ’60 Celtics, ’61 Celtics, ’62 Celtics, ’63 Celtics, ’64 Celtics, ’65 Celtics)
Either the 3rd or 4th Best Player on one Runner Up: (’58 Celtics)
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 57th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 68th
One of the primary exhibits in the “Russell played with a billion Hall of Famers” argument. In terms of what Simmons wrote about him, he sounds like this generations Manu Ginobili in regards to being someone who seems to be a great chemistry guy…but once in a while goes against the grain (which is why Pop gets on Manu…and apparently Auerbach got on Heinshon).
I don’t see how I can put him any higher. He was a big part of the Celtics dynasty with a bunch of all NBA 2nd Teams during the reign. Tough call. Russell thinks that he would be better than Bob Pettit if he had his head always in the game (we haven’t reached Pettit on this list yet). That’s pretty high praise, although it’s coming from a teammate. I’ll just go with a very good player that added to a great team and won a lot of titles.
#66: Tiny Archibald
Resume
All-NBA 1st Team: 3x (’73, ’75, ’76)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’72, ‘81)
NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’81)
NBA All-Star: 6x (’73, ’75, ’76, ’80, ’81, ‘82)
NBA Points Leader: 1x (’73)
NBA Assists Leader: 1x (’73)
Only player to lead NBA in Points and Assists in same season.
NBA Top 3 Points: 4x (’72, ’73 ’75, ’76)
NBA Top 10 Assists: 7x (’71, ’72, ’73, ’75, ’76, ’80, ’81)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’72, ’73, ’75)
NBA Top 2 Offensive Win Shares: 3x (’72, ’73, ’75)
NBA Top 10 PER: 4x (’72, ’73, ’75, ’76)
NBA Career Assists: 21st
Starter for one Champion: 1981 Celtics
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 60th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 52nd
Famously known for his 1973 season, where he lead the league in points and assists (and didn’t win MVP). While it’s an amazing feat and definitely notable, Tiny’s Kings were only 36-46 that year. Tiny gets a bonus because, like McAdoo, he was an excellent top player (the prototype for 2008 Chris Paul) early on and then his career went downhill. Only Tiny was still a very good player on his late Celtic years and even snagged an All-Star Game MVP.
His presence mattered a lot for those early 80s Celtic teams. The Celtics in 1982 had an 18 game winning streak that season and looked posed to at least make the Finals for the 2nd straight year. Tiny went down, and so did the Celtics.
#65: Pau Gasol
Resume
NBA Rookie of the Year: (’02)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’11, ‘15)
All-NBA 3rd Team: 2x (’09, ’10)
All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’02)
NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’81)
NBA All-Star: 5x (’06, ’09, ’10, ’11, ‘15)
NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 4x (’09, ’10, ’11, ‘15)
NBA Top 10 Blocks: 3x (’02, ’06, ’15)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ‘15)
NBA Top 5 WS/48: 3x (’09, ’10, ’11)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 2x (’09, ‘11)
NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 3x (’06, ’11, ’15)
NBA Top 10 PER: 2x (’07, ‘10)
NBA Career Blocks: 28th
2nd Best Player on Two Champions: 2009 Lakers, 2010 Lakers
2nd Best Player on One Runner Up: 2008 Lakers
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 96th
It’s easy to look at Gasol’s All-NBA Teams and not be impressed. It’s just as easy to forget that he played his entire career in the same league with Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki. He was THE reason that the Memphis Grizzlies gained any relevance whatsoever, and was quite unlucky early on in his career as the Grizzlies had a 50-50 shot at the #1 pick in the 2003 draft (LeBron). Gasol and LeBron playing with one another in their early years would have been absolutely ridiculous and is one of the great What-Ifs of all time.
Why is Gasol this high? For one he’s one of the few players who could happily co-exist as Kobe Bryant’s 2nd banana. Gasol thrived in the role and arguably became the top big man in the league from 2009 through 2011 (it’s forgotten now, but Kobe had a slow start in 2010 and everyone stated that Gasol was the best player on the team at that point, as well as a top 5 guy). It should be noted that post-Shaq Kobe never won a playoff series without Gasol. That’s shows Gasol’s importance. And then there is this. When the Lakers got Gasol for “nothing” (Marc Gasol turned out to be pretty good) the entire league, especially Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich started a shitstorm over it. Great coaches like Pop don’t complain unless the player involved is great. And even at that point, he knew Pau Gasol was great.
His 2015 resurgence in Chicago only helped his case. Also helping Gasol is obviously his ridiculous Advanced Metrics during the Laker title runs, as well as the fact that he was a better defensive player than anyone gave him credit for.
#64: Reggie Miller
Resume
All-NBA 3rd Team: 3x (’95, ’96, ‘98)
NBA All-Star: 5x (’90, ’95, ’96, ’98, ‘00)
NBA Top 10 Points: 3x (’90, ’91, ’97)
NBA 3PTFG Leader: 2x (’93, ’97)
NBA Offensive Rating Leader: 3x (’91, ’93, ’94)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 14x (’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 7x (’90, ’91, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’97, ‘98)
NBA Top 10 WS/48: 5x (’91, ’94, ’95, ’97, ‘98)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 11x (’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ‘00)
NBA Career Points: 18th
NBA Career 3PFG: 2nd
NBA Career Win Shares: 14th
NBA Career WS/48: 45th
NBA Career Offensive Win Shares: 7th
NBA Career Offensive Rating: 2nd
Best Player on One Runner Up: 2000 Pacers
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 63rd
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 54th
Reggie Miller is the perfect example of two things. Number one, he did one thing great (outside shooting that complimented his overall offense) and didn’t try to so anything he couldn’t. That thing was so transcendent that it offset the fact he wasn’t a good defensive player, wasn’t a good passer, or really wasn’t a good much of anything. Since Miller’s three pointer and outside shooting was so great though, he ended up being perhaps the most efficient offensive player in NBA History. This ties into #2. In the 90s, no one was talking about advanced metrics or efficiency. Other than his three point shooting, all of his stats appeared rather pedestrian. His peak year he put up a 24-4-4. For the most part he was a 20-3-3 guy. There’s no surprise that he only made a few all-3rd NBA teams when the league was weaker and only made sporadic All-Star game appearances. If he played today, we’d all be raving about how he might be the one of, if not the best offensive player in the game.
His teams did moderately well considering their best players throughout Miller’s first 11 years were Rik Smits (a quality center who didn’t sniff my Top 100), Jalen Rose (never an All-Star), Mark Jackson (a one-time All Star in the late 80s), Dale Davis (one time All-Star), Antonio Davis (a one time All-Star after his time in Indy) and washed up Chris Mullin. His late 90s/2000 teams were well built despite the lack of star power (Rose, Smits, Dale and Antonio Davis, Jackson at least gave tem depth), but it wasn’t exactly a murderers row. It didn’t matter to Miller as he managed to overachieve in the playoffs year in and year out. In 1995 he ripped the Knicks heart out with his famous 8 points in 9 seconds. He would lead the Pacers to a Game 7 loss against the Penny-Shaq Magic (although he didn’t play well in that Game 7). Miller’s Pacers would make the Conference Finals again in 1998 against MJ’s Bulls. This series is the closest Jordan came to losing in any of his six peak years. Miller hit 43% of his three pointers in a tight seven game series (including a winning three in Game 4) as the Pacers just fell short. Miller’s Pacers would make the Conference Finals again in 1999 and reach the NBA Finals in 2000. He almost led the 2002 Pacers to an upset over the 2002 Nets (the eventual Eastern Conference Champions). For someone without the “superstar resume”, Reggie Miller teams seemed to do pretty well. He wasn’t good enough to be the best guy on a title team, but give him on elite guy in his prime and who knows. Just look how close he got in 1998.
#63: Bill Sharman
Resume
All-NBA 1st Team: 4x (’56, ’57, ’58, ‘59)
All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’53, ’55, ‘60)
NBA All-Star: 8x (’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ‘60)
NBA Top 10 Points: 7x (’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59)
NBA Top 10 Assists: 3x (’55, ’56, ‘57)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 4x (’53, ’54, ’56, ‘57)
NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 5x (’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)
Career Playoff FT%: 1st
Starter on Four NBA Champions: ’57 Celtics, ’59 Celtics, ’60 Celtics, ’61 Celtics
Starter on One Runner ’58 Celtics
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 53rd
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 70th
One of the tougher calls because his prime was in the 50s and he didn’t start winning until Russell showed up. He’s regarded as the first great shooting guard, and the best in the league until Jerry West showed up. He was the first guy to really hit above 40% from the field consistently and 90% from the FT line. Being a part of multiple championship teams with his resume and the fact that he was the prototype statistically for shooting guards gets him 63rd. It’s a tough ranking to make, but it has to work for now.
#62: Dave DeBusschere
Resume
All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’69)
NBA All Rookie 1st Team: (’63)
NBA All-Defensive 1st Team: 6x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74)
NBA All-Star: 8x (’66, ’67, ’68, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74)
NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 3x (’66, ’67, ’68)
NBA Career Rebounds: 40th
3rd Best Player on Two NBA Champions: ’70 Knicks, ’73 Knicks
3rd Best Player on One Runner ’72 Knicks
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 46th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 76th
In terms of usefulness to a championship team, he’s a superior, tougher 70s version of 2010s Chris Bosh (and enough to get the nod over him despite the 70s thing). Only made six All-Defensive 1st teams because they didn’t start recording them until 1969. Was regarded as perhaps the toughest guy in his era and was a huge reason the Knicks won two championships in the 70s. Was a bit unlucky as well, as DeBusschere regularly took and made shots that would have given him three points ten years later.
#61: Robert Parish
Resume
All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’82)
All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (’89)
NBA All-Star: 9x (’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’90, ’91)
NBA Defensive Rating Leader: 1x (’79)
NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 8x (’79, ’82, ’84, ’86, ’87, ’89, ’90, ’91)
NBA Top 5 Blocks: 3x (’79, ’81, ‘82)
NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’81, ’83, ’84)
NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 7x (’78, ’79, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’86)
NBA Career Points: 26th
NBA Career Rebounds: 7th
NBA Career Blocks: 10th
NBA Career Games Played: 1st
Starter on Three NBA Champions: ’81 Celtics, ’84 Celtics, ’86 Celtics
Bench Player on One NBA Champion: ’97 Bulls
Starter on Two Runner-Ups: ’85 Celtics, ’87 Celtics
Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 59th
Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 67th
“Chief” was the reliable, solid big man for the 80s Celtics. Parish’s career is tough to rank as well, considering he was always good to very good but never great. He knew his role for the 80s Celtics team and played accordingly. He shot 54% for every Boston season in the 80s. He provided very good defense year in and year out. He also brought it when it counted, coming up with a 23-19 in Game 7 vs. Milwaukee in 1987, and even put up a throwback performance in Game 5 against Indiana with a 21-8.
His consistency was eerie, putting up a 15-9 twelve times in his career, then getting close to that another three times. You could call him the poor man’s Tim Duncan in that respect.