Five Players Who Led the NCAA and the NBA in Scoring
I remember learning during my early years as a basketball fan that Rick Barry is the only player to lead the NCAA, ABA, and NBA in scoring in a single season. That record will never be matched, because the ABA's nine season run ended in 1976 with the ABA-NBA merger. I recently watched the 2018 SEC Storied documentary about Pistol Pete Maravich, and the documentary noted that Maravich was one of the few players to lead the NCAA and the NBA in scoring. I had never checked before to see who else pulled off that double feat other than Barry and Maravich, but this is an elite group of just five players. Each of the first four players was selected to the NBA's 1996 50 Greatest Players List: George Mikan, Paul Arizin, Rick Barry, and Pete Maravich. The fifth player, Stephen Curry, did not begin his NBA career until more than a decade after the NBA released its 50 Greatest Players List, and he will almost certainly be selected to the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team to be announced in October 2021.
Mikan led the NCAA in scoring twice (23.3 ppg in 1945, 23.1 ppg in 1946) before the NCAA officially began crowning a scoring champion in 1948, so he is considered as an "unofficial" scoring leader for those two seasons. Mikan led the National Basketball League (NBL) in scoring in 1947-48 (1195 points, the league single season record; 21.3 ppg), and after his Minneapolis Lakers jumped to the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1948-49 he led that league in scoring as well (1698 points; 28.3 ppg). The BAA and NBL merged to form the NBA prior to the 1949-50 season. Mikan won the NBA scoring title in 1950 (1865 points; 27.4 ppg) and 1951 (1932 points; 28.4 ppg). Mikan put up those scoring numbers in the pre-shot clock era, when opposing teams could slow the game down and limit his scoring opportunities. Note that until the 1969-70 season, the NBA crowned its scoring champion based on total points scored, not scoring average, but the NCAA has always crowned its scoring champion based on scoring average.
The NBA practices an interesting form of inconsistent historical revisionism, counting the 1947, 1948, and 1949 BAA seasons as NBA seasons but ignoring the NBL's records from those seasons. The NBA considers the 1949 deal between the BAA and NBL to be an NBA expansion, not a merger of two competing leagues, and the NBA pretends that NBL statistics do not exist, even though the NBL has a longer history (1937-49) than the BAA (1946-49). Despite the NBA's attempt to wipe the NBL out of the history books, the BAA was not clearly superior to the NBL or even other rival leagues; the 1948 and 1949 BAA titles were both won by teams that had been members of other leagues in the previous season but then proved to be better than all of the original BAA teams.
Similarly, the NBA has spent decades pretending that ABA statistics do not exist, even though ABA players dominated the NBA for several years after the 1976 ABA-NBA merger. It is noteworthy that even though the NBA does not count ABA statistics it did not classify former ABA players who had no NBA experience as rookies in 1976-77; if the NBA had done that, three-time ABA MVP Julius Erving might have added NBA Rookie of the Year honors to his trophy case (or the award might have gone to David Thompson or George Gervin, two other ABA veterans who made the All-NBA Team in 1976-77, their first NBA season). It makes no sense to ignore Erving's ABA numbers but then not classify him as a rookie during his first NBA season. The point is NOT that the NBA should have considered Erving to be a rookie in 1976-77; the point is that Erving's statistics from his first five professional seasons should be afforded equal status with his NBA statistics, much like the NFL affords equal status to AFL statistics.
My interview with Bill Tosheff provides background and context about the NBA's historical revisionism regarding the league's early years--which, tragically, extends to denying pension benefits to many of pro basketball's pioneers--and I have discussed the NBA's historical revisionism regarding the ABA in numerous articles, including ABA Numbers Should Also Count. The surviving ABA players are still battling with the NBA to secure pension benefits that they should have been receiving for decades.
Anyway, if we count Mikan's two "unofficial" NCAA scoring titles then he is the first of just five dual NCAA/NBA scoring title winners, regardless of whether he is credited with three NBA scoring titles (the NBA counts his 1949 BAA scoring title plus his 1950-51 NBA scoring titles) or with four NBA scoring titles (there is no reason that his 1948 NBL scoring title should be ignored).
Paul Arizin led the NCAA in scoring in 1950 (25.3 ppg). He led the NBA in scoring in 1952 (1674 points; 25.4 ppg) and in 1957 (1817 points; 25.6 ppg), winning one of the closest scoring title races in NBA history (1957) but also finishing second in two of the closest scoring title races in NBA history (1955, 1956). Two-time NBA scoring champion Arizin could have easily been a four-time NBA scoring champion, but he also could have easily been a one-time NBA scoring champion.
Rick Barry led the NCAA in scoring in 1965 (37.4 ppg). He won the NBA scoring title in 1967, his second season (2775 points; 35.6 ppg). Barry sat out a year before being permitted to jump to the ABA, and then he won the ABA scoring title in 1969, averaging 34.0 ppg. The ABA always crowned its scoring champion based on scoring average, not total points. Barry only played in 35 games in 1968-69, but he scored enough total points to qualify for the leaderboard, and he easily had the best scoring average (1968 ABA scoring champion Connie Hawkins finished a distant second in 1969 despite averaging 30.2 ppg).
Pete Maravich not only won three straight NCAA scoring titles (1968-70), but he set a new single season scoring mark three years in a row (43.8 ppg, 44.2 ppg, 44.5 ppg). His NCAA career scoring average record (44.2 ppg) has stood longer than Babe Ruth's career home run record stood, and is on the short list of records that will likely never be approached, let alone broken. Maravich led the NBA in scoring in 1977 (31.1 ppg).
Maravich was on pace to lead the NBA in scoring in 1978 before suffering a serious knee injury. Maravich was averaging 28.1 ppg in 1977-78 before he got hurt. He missed over a month, then came back for three games (during which he scored 0, 12, and 17 points), and then he missed the rest of the season. Those three games lowered Maravich's scoring average to 27.0 ppg in 50 games, and he did not score enough total points to even qualify for the leaderboard. Maravich's leading role for most of the 1978 scoring title race is largely forgotten now because of the famous scoring duel between George Gervin and David Thompson on the final day of that season. Thompson scored 73 points in a game early in the day before Gervin, who knew exactly how many points he needed to score to clinch the scoring title, scored 63 points. Gervin averaged 27.22 ppg in 1978 and Thompson averaged 27.15 ppg, so if Maravich had stayed healthy and maintained his previous scoring pace he would have cruised to his second consecutive scoring title (and thus Thompson and Gervin would probably have not had their final game scoring outbursts, because the scoring title would not have been up for grabs).
Stephen Curry led the NCAA in scoring in 2009 (28.6 ppg) before winning NBA scoring titles in 2016 (30.1 ppg) and 2021 (32.0 ppg). Curry is the only one of these five players who benefited from having the three point line in both college and the NBA during their scoring title seasons. The ABA used the three point shot throughout its existence but Barry shot just 3-10 from beyond the arc during his 1969 scoring title season, though he later made 73 three pointers--a large number at that time--during the 1972 ABA season, and he matched that total during the 1980 NBA season, the first year that the NBA used the three point shot, and the last season of Barry's NBA career.
It is interesting (but perhaps not surprising) that the vast majority of NCAA scoring champions do not win NBA scoring titles but that the few who did are not "just" Hall of Fame caliber players but players who rank at least among the top 50-75 NBA players of all-time.
Labels: George Mikan, Paul Arizin, Pete Maravich, Rick Barry, Stephen Curry
posted by David Friedman @ 3:47 PM
Sam Smith's 2002 List of the 10 Greatest NBA Centers
Back in 2002 when Sam Smith wrote for the print edition of the
Chicago Tribune (instead of Bulls.com, his current employer) and before he
received the prestigious Curt Gowdy Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame, he wrote
a nice tribute in honor of the recently retired Patrick Ewing. At the end of that article, Smith offered his list of the 10 greatest NBA centers, with a brief comment about each player. Here is Smith's list, along with his comments:
1) Wilt Chamberlain: "Most dominant big man in NBA history."
2) Shaquille O'Neal: "May pass Wilt if he stays around."
3) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: "Most productive player in NBA history."
4) Bill Russell: "Winningest but surrounded by best players ever."
5) George Mikan: "Dominated the premodern era."
6) Hakeem Olajuwon: "Graceful big man who played like a guard."
7) Moses Malone: "Moved around and made everyone better."
8) David Robinson: "Bill Russell without the teammates."
9) Bill Walton: "The Sandy Koufax of the NBA--five great years."
10) Patrick Ewing: "Or perhaps Nate Thurmond, Willis Reed, Bob Lanier, Artis Gilmore, Jack Sikma or Wes Unseld."
I included three centers in my
Pantheon: Russell, Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar (listed here in chronological order). O'Neal was not eligible because I only considered retired players. It is very difficult to make meaningful comparisons of players who played in different eras under different conditions/with different rules but I would still go with Russell, Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar as the three greatest centers in pro basketball history. If winning is the most important criterion in terms of ranking individual impact in a team sport, then Russell has to be listed first: he was the one indispensable player on the greatest dynasty in pro basketball history. Smith is correct that Russell was "surrounded by best players ever" but Russell's presence also enabled those players to maximize their potential individually and collectively.
Chamberlain set records that will never be broken and he was a more complete all-around player than Russell; Chamberlain could control the game individually at either end of the court, while Russell was a dominant defender/rebounder who was a complementary scorer and a fine passer/screener. The classic, unanswerable dual hypothetical question is if Chamberlain would have won 11 rings had he played with the Celtics or if Russell would have won more than two rings had he played with the various teams that employed Chamberlain. Or, to put it more simply, "Was Chamberlain a better player than Russell but Chamberlain only rarely had the right supporting cast or was Russell a better player than Chamberlain because Russell consistently brought out the best from all of his teammates?"
Abdul-Jabbar may be the most underrated great player in pro basketball history; his sky hook is the sport's greatest single weapon and he was much better as a rebounder and defender--particularly during the first half of his 20 year career--than most people realize. He represented an amalgamation of Chamberlain and Russell, possessing both the ability to be a dominant scorer as well as the ability to blend with various kinds of teammates in order to win multiple championships.
O'Neal ranks no higher than fourth on my list. He relied on his physical prowess--not just size and strength but, at least early in his career, surprising agility and quickness. However, O'Neal was not consistently dedicated to staying in shape and consequently he missed a lot of games due to injuries and his athletic skills dissipated earlier than they might have if he had worked harder. Russell would have frustrated and outsmarted O'Neal had they faced each other when they were both in their respective primes. Chamberlain and O'Neal would have each scored a lot against the other but Chamberlain was a better passer and a better defender. The young Abdul-Jabbar was way too skilled and fundamentally sound for O'Neal; O'Neal now implores Roy Hibbert to "jump hook" opposing centers "to death" and that is exactly what Abdul-Jabbar would have done to O'Neal, using his height/reach advantage and impeccable footwork to launch sky hooks over O'Neal. Abdul-Jabbar would not have relished the body contact involved with guarding O'Neal--and strong centers like Moses Malone sometimes gave Abdul-Jabbar problems--but Abdul-Jabbar's length and his knowledge of basketball fundamentals would have helped him on defense as much as on offense in this hypothetical matchup.
Labels: Bill Russell, Bill Walton, David Robinson, George Mikan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Patrick Ewing, Sam Smith, Shaquille O'Neal, Wilt Chamberlain
posted by David Friedman @ 1:26 PM
Elgin Baylor Auction Contains Unique Memorabilia, Including All-Time Team Certificate
I get a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever an athlete auctions off his personal memorabilia, trophies, rings and awards; I felt particularly uncomfortable when my all-time favorite player,
Julius Erving, sold
a huge collection that included his three championship rings. Erving denied that he was experiencing financial problems and I hope that it is true that he was not forced by circumstance to part with those items. I understand the Zen way of thinking that attachment--to people, to property, even to certain thoughts--only leads to suffering but I know that if I had won an NBA championship ring I would never, ever sell it.
Elgin Baylor is
selling 358 items from his personal collection. He denies that he is having financial problems,
telling the L.A. Times, "I'm constantly getting calls from people interested in my stuff, and I
finally thought, it's time. I've had some of these
things for 60 years. It's time to share some of them with the fans who
have been so wonderful to me."
Lot #53 caught my eye:
Baylor received this certificate in 1964 at the NBA All-Star Game. On March 5, 1963, the sports editors of the 100 largest daily U.S. newspapers announced the results of their balloting for an "All-Time NBA Team." I knew about the three official All-Time teams selected by the NBA for the league's 25th, 35th and 50th anniversaries but I had never heard of this particular All-Time team.
It is interesting that Bob Cousy finished first with 69% of the vote, ahead of his teammate Bill Russell. Cousy never won a championship ring without Russell and in 1963 he was completing the last full season of his career (he made a brief comeback as a player coach in 1969-70), while Russell was on the verge of leading the Boston Celtics to their sixth title in his seven season career. Little more than a decade earlier, George Mikan had been voted as the greatest player of the first half of the 20th century by the Associated Press but he finished third in the 1963 voting. Baylor edged out Wilt Chamberlain for fourth place, while Oscar Robertson, Bob Pettit, Dolph Schayes, Paul Arizin and Jim Pollard rounded out the top 10. The most notable missing name is Jerry West, who entered the league the same season as Robertson (1960-61); most experts considered West and Robertson to be interchangeable in the All-Time backcourt from at least the late 1960s until the emergence of Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan in the 1980s but in 1963 West had not yet established himself as a member of the All-Time elite.
Several years ago, I selected an All-Time team of retired players; my top 10 list included four of the players selected in 1963 (Russell, Baylor, Chamberlain, Robertson) plus West and five players who started their careers well after 1963: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. The recently retired Shaquille O'Neal and the still active Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Tim Duncan will no doubt be mentioned when future All-Time teams are selected.
The Pantheon:
The Pantheon: An Examination of Basketball Greatness, Part I
The Pantheon: An Examination of Basketball Greatness, Part II
The Pantheon: An Examination of Basketball Greatness, Part III
The Pantheon: An Examination of Basketball Greatness, Part IV
The Pantheon: An Examination of Basketball Greatness, Part V
Labels: Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Bob Pettit, Dolph Schayes, Elgin Baylor, George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Julius Erving, Oscar Robertson, Pantheon series, Paul Arizin, Wilt Chamberlain
posted by David Friedman @ 5:09 PM
Missed it by that Much: Pro Basketball’s Closest Races for the Rebounding Title
A slightly different version of this article was originally published in the February 2003 issue of Basketball Digest.
The George Gervin-David Thompson last day duel for the 1978 NBA scoring title will never be forgotten, but it was not pro basketball's closest battle for statistical supremacy. There have been three races for the rebounding championship that were decided by an even slimmer margin than that legendary contest (including one tie), but rebounding has never attracted the glory or acclaim that scoring does.
Wes Unseld of the Washington Bullets claimed the 1974-75 NBA rebounding crown over the Boston Celtics' Dave Cowens by .01496 rpg--equivalent to one rebound over the course of an 82 game season. Unseld clinched his only rebounding title by snaring a season-high 30 boards in a 119-103 home victory over the New Orleans Jazz in the Bullets' final game of the season on April 6, 1975. Prior to that he finished second in rebounding four straight seasons (1968-69--1971-72). In 1969-70 future teammate Elvin Hayes (then a San Diego Rocket) nipped Unseld by .19506 rpg, equal to 16 rebounds over 82 games.
The 1969-70 season is the first year that the NBA decided rebounding, scoring and assists championships by average instead of totals (the ABA ranked league leaders by average in each of its nine seasons, 1967-68--1975-76). During this period (hereafter referred to as the modern era) 10 rebounding titles have been won by less than .5 rpg; in the eleventh closest race (1979-80), the San Diego Clippers' Swen Nater edged Moses Malone of the Houston Rockets by just a shade over .5 rpg.
Michael Cage of the Los Angeles Clippers won the 1987-88 rebounding title by the second closest differential of the modern era, edging the Chicago Bulls' Charles Oakley by .02778 rpg. Cage needed 29 rebounds in the last game of the season to pass Oakley and he got 30 in a 109-100 home loss versus the Seattle Supersonics on April 24, 1988.
These razor thin margins bring up the interesting question of how rebounds--and basketball statistics in general--are recorded; note that Unseld and Cage both clinched their narrow victories in home games. Some cynics contend that the only "pure" basketball statistics are free throw percentages and scoring averages. Every other category has some degree of subjectivity to it. For example, field goal percentage seems to be a cut and dried number, but it can be boosted (or decreased) depending on how diligently missed tip attempts are recorded. An assist is only supposed to be awarded when a player makes an immediate scoring move after catching a pass, but "immediate" is open to the interpretation of the scorekeeper. It is frequently not clear whether or not a shot has been partially blocked (or, in some cases, who got a piece of the ball). Should a turnover be assigned to someone who throws an errant pass or the player who failed to catch it? Similarly, who gets credit for a steal when one player flicks a ball away from an opponent and his teammate swoops in and gains control of the loose ball?
In a slow paced game like baseball an official scorer carefully mulls over similar choices and publicly announces his/her ruling. In basketball the home scorekeeper makes these decisions on the fly and they are generally only subject to review in egregious cases when a player seems to have been unjustly awarded or denied a tenth rebound or assist to obtain a triple double.
The subjectivity in rebounding comes into play with the recording of tip-in attempts or even taps on the defensive board by a player trying to gain control of the ball. Technically, a tip-in or follow-up attempt should be recorded as an offensive rebound and a field goal attempt. In practice it seems that home scorekeepers sometimes have a very liberal definition of offensive rebound in these cases. For instance, some observers felt that Unseld padded his numbers--particularly in the final game of the 1975 season--by tapping the ball to himself and/or missing close shots only to grab the rebound and then convert. This criticism has been leveled at many great offensive rebounders, including Moses Malone and Dennis Rodman. Whether or not Unseld was deliberately doing this, it is obvious that this "technique" only augments one's statistics if the scorekeeper cooperates.
Rodman--one of the shortest and probably the lightest rebounding champion ever--sometimes tipped the ball to take advantage of his uncanny ability to jump to the same height several times in rapid succession; if he could not immediately grab a rebound he would repeatedly jump up and tip the ball away from the opposition until he maneuvered himself into position to catch the ball. Whether or not scorekeepers were crediting him with "extra" rebounds, he was clearly doing this to get rebounds that otherwise would have gone to bigger but less agile opponents if Rodman had not steered the ball away from them until he could secure it with two hands. He won seven rebounding titles, second all-time to Wilt Chamberlain's 11. He earned his only second place finish in 1990-91, trailing David Robinson by .45122 rpg, the eighth closest margin of the modern era.
These observations about the limitations of statistical accuracy are not meant to detract from the achievements of Unseld, Cage or anyone else; whatever inconsistencies may exist in the recording of rebounds more than likely evened out over the course of those seasons. Still, if the rebounding title is within reach (so to speak), it clearly doesn't hurt to have one's final game of the season at home.
The third closest rebounding race of the modern era happened in 1974-75 in the ABA. Swen Nater of the San Antonio Spurs beat Artis Gilmore of the Kentucky Colonels by .19506 rpg, preventing the "A Train" from winning five straight rebounding titles (Gilmore led the ABA from 1971-72--1973-74 and again in 1975-76). Nater is the only player to win a rebounding crown in the ABA and the NBA.
The past three seasons have featured three of the ten closest rebounding races in the modern era. Just last year the Detroit Pistons' Ben Wallace edged the San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan by .28018 rpg (fifth closest). In 2000-01 Wallace lost to Dikembe Mutombo of the Philadelphia 76ers by .38333 rpg (seventh closest). Mutombo claimed his first rebounding title in 1999-00 by .46419 rpg (ninth closest) over Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers. O'Neal has three second place rebounding finishes to go along with four such rankings in the scoring race; he is the only player in NBA-ABA history to place second at least three times in each category. While he has won two scoring titles O’Neal has not yet led the NBA in rebounding.
In 1951-52 the NBA had the closest rebounding race possible: Larry Foust of the Fort Wayne Pistons and Mel Hutchins of the Milwaukee Hawks each grabbed 880 rebounds in 66 games (13.3 rpg) to share the title. Runner-up George Mikan of the Minneapolis Lakers trailed the co-champions by only 14 rebounds; under modern era rules he would have won the crown with a 13.5 rpg average in 64 games. The only other major statistical race in NBA history to end in a tie occurred in 1959-60 when Chamberlain (then a rookie with the Philadelphia Warriors) and Detroit Pistons' guard Gene Shue each logged exactly 3338 minutes of playing time (there have been several ties in disqualifications over the years, most recently in 2000-01, when three players each fouled out of ten games).
Mikan was again involved in a tight rebounding race in 1952-53. This time he beat Neil Johnston of the Philadelphia Warriors by 31 to seize his only rebounding crown. Mikan lost by 70 to Harry Gallatin of the New York Knicks in 1953-54 and also trailed the Syracuse Nationals' Dolph Schayes by 122 (seventh closest pre-modern era race) in 1950-51, the first year that the NBA recorded rebounds. Mikan, the dominant center of his time, may very well have claimed several more rebounding titles if the statistics had been kept throughout his career.
Mikan's three runner-up finishes tie him with Bob Pettit, Dave Cowens, Mel Daniels and O'Neal on the all-time list, trailing only Bill Russell (six) and Unseld (four). In addition, seven players finished second in rebounding twice: Chamberlain, Moses Malone, Buck Williams, Oakley, David Robinson, Mutombo and Charles Barkley. Daniels, the stalwart center on three Indiana Pacers' ABA championship teams, deserves special mention. He is too often forgotten because he spent all but the last 11 games of his career in the ABA but he won three ABA rebounding titles and his 1608 postseason rebounds rank twelfth in NBA/ABA postseason history; to put this in perspective, it took Hakeem Olajuwon 145 games in 15 playoff appearances to recently surpass the numbers that Daniels posted in 109 games in eight playoff seasons.
Bill Russell played the bridesmaid role to Chamberlain six times in an eight year span. Overall, Chamberlain won eight rebounding titles during Russell's career and three more after the Celtic legend retired. The only year that Chamberlain failed to finish at least second was 1969-70, when a knee injury limited him to 12 games. Russell won two rebounding titles ahead of Chamberlain and two others before Chamberlain entered the league.
High flying scorers and smooth jump shooters attract a lot of attention but, as Pat Riley has noted more than once, rebounds are the stuff from which championship rings are forged. While it is fun to follow the race for the scoring title, the battle for the rebounding crown is just as important--and frequently decided by a closer margin.
Pro Basketball's Closest Rebounding Races | Most NBA/ABA 2nd Place Finishes |
|
|
|
| Player | Total |
|
|
|
|
| Bill Russell | 6 |
|
| Wes Unseld | 4 |
|
| George Mikan | 3 |
|
| Bob Pettit | 3 |
|
| Dave Cowens | 3 |
|
| Mel Daniels | 3 |
|
| Shaquille O'Neal | 3 |
|
| Closest NBA Races, 1951-1969 |
|
|
|
| Player/Season | Margin | Winner/Total Rebounds |
|
|
|
| George Mikan/1952 | -14 | Larry Foust & Mel |
|
| Hutchins/880 |
| Neil Johnston/1953 | -31 | George Mikan/1007 |
| George Mikan/1954 | -70 | Harry Gallatin/1098 |
| Maurice Stokes/1956 | -70 | Bob Pettit/1164 |
| Harry Gallatin/1955 | -90 | Neil Johnston/1085 |
| Bill Russell/1963 | -103 | Wilt Chamberlain/1946 |
| George Mikan/1951 | -122 | Dolph Schayes/1080 |
| Wilt Chamberlain/1964 | -143 | Bill Russell/1930 |
| Bill Russell/1960 | -163 | Wilt Chamberlain/1941 |
| Bill Russell/1966 | -164 | Wilt Chamberlain/1943 |
| Closest RPG Races--ABA, 1968-1976; NBA, 1970-2002 |
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|
|
| Player/Season | Margin | Winner/RPG |
|
|
|
| Dave Cowens/1975 | .01496 RPG | Wes Unseld/14.75343 |
|
|
|
| Charles Oakley/1988 | .02778 RPG | Michael Cage/13.02778 |
|
|
|
| Artis Gilmore/1975 ABA | .19506 RPG | Swen Nater/16.39744 |
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|
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| Wes Unseld/1970 | .19510 RPG | Elvin Hayes/16.90244 |
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|
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| Tim Duncan/2002 | .28018 RPG | Ben Wallace/12.98750 |
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|
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| Charles Barkley/1986 | .28476 RPG | Bill Laimbeer/13.10976 |
|
|
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| Ben Wallace/2001 | .38333 RPG | Dik. Mutombo/13.53333 |
|
|
|
| Dennis Rodman/1991 | .45122 RPG | David Robinson/12.96341 |
|
|
|
| Shaquille O'Neal/2000 | .46419 RPG | Dik. Mutombo/14.10976 |
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|
|
| Julius Keye/1971 ABA | .46973 RPG | Mel Daniels/17.98780 |
Labels: Artis Gilmore, Ben Wallace, Bill Russell, Charles Barkley, Charles Oakley, Dave Cowens, Dennis Rodman, George Mikan, Tim Duncan, Wes Unseld, Wilt Chamberlain
posted by David Friedman @ 1:36 AM
Champions Club: Pro Basketball's Dynasties by the Numbers
This article was originally published in the May 2003 issue of Basketball Digest.Last year, five-time NBA champion Magic Johnson and two-time NBA champion Kenny Smith needled fellow TNT basketball analyst Charles Barkley by transforming the network's studio into a faux "champions club" that only admits people who have won championship rings. Of course, this meant that Sir Charles, Lord of the Ringless, could not come in, while such notables as Fennis Dembo and Jack Haley were members with privileges.
However, there is another "Champions Club" that is so exclusive that even Magic Johnson and Kenny Smith would not find their names on the VIP list. This club consists of teams that have won at least three straight titles: George Mikan's Lakers, Bill Russell's Celtics, Michael Jordan's Bulls and Shaquille O'Neal's Lakers.
Mikan, the Minneapolis Lakers' 6-10, 245 pound Hall of Fame center, was voted the greatest player of the first half of the twentieth century. He led the Lakers to five championships in a six-year period, including the NBA's first "three-peat" from 1951-52--1953-54. While Mikan was the dominant force on those teams, he also had some outstanding teammates--forwards Jim Pollard and Vern Mikkelson and guard Slater Martin are also in the Hall of Fame, as is Coach John Kundla. Another Hall of Famer, Clyde Lovellette, was a rookie contributor for the 1953-54 titlists and eventually succeeded Mikan as the team's center.
The Lakers' status as the NBA's first dominant team is unquestioned. If Mikan had not suffered a hairline ankle fracture before the 1950-51 playoffs the Lakers would likely have won six straight championships. How they would have fared against the great teams of subsequent decades is much more difficult to assess; they literally played under a different set of rules. Before the 1951-52 season the NBA widened the lane from six feet to 12 feet to counteract Mikan's dominance. This change cost Mikan the scoring title (his average dropped from 28.4 ppg to 23.8 ppg) but it did not stop the Lakers as a team. They adjusted by improving their outside shooting and also by flashing cutters through the wide-open lane. In 1964-65 the NBA widened the lane again, this time to 16 feet (its current size) in response to the amazing scoring prowess of Wilt Chamberlain.
Before the 1954-55 season the NBA made its most dramatic rules change, the introduction of the 24-second shot clock. This eliminated stalling and made it tougher for the Lakers to simply wear down teams in the half-court. Mikan retired before that season and his unsuccessful comeback in 1955-56 (10.5 ppg in 37 games) suggests that he struggled once the league sped up the game. The Lakers adapted admirably to the initial widening of the lane, but the temptation is to take one look at the old black and white films and dismiss the notion that Mikan's teams could compete with the modern NBA champions. That may be a hasty judgment. While the Lakers did not display many flashy moves and preferred a half-court style to take advantage of Mikan in the post, the team possessed plenty of athleticism. "All of us could dunk except Slater Martin," noted Mikkelson. "But we weren't allowed to much, because Kundla wouldn't let us. It was frowned on as hotdogging."
Mikan's "three-peat" Lakers posted worse winning percentages in both the regular season and Finals than the other teams that won at least three consecutive championships. Pro-rated to an 82 game season, their .644 winning percentage equals about 53 wins per year, while the other dynasties won at a .736 clip or better (equivalent to more than 60 wins in an 82 game season). This does not prove who would win a hypothetical head-to-head match-up, but it suggests that the Lakers did not dominate their era as convincingly as the other dynasties did. Some of this may be explained away by the inherent competitiveness of the league, which had not been diluted by expansion and had less than a third as many franchises as today's NBA. On the other hand, the 1950s NBA did not draw upon the deep worldwide talent pool that feeds the modern NBA.
The NBA did not have to wait long after Mikan's retirement for the next dynasty to emerge. The Boston Celtics were a solid playoff team during most of the 1950s but they instantly became a powerhouse in 1956-57 with the arrival of Bill Russell, a 6-10, 220 pound rebounding and shot-blocking wunderkind. Russell provided strength in the paint and accelerated the Celtics' already potent fast-break offense; now the forwards could leak out early, confident that Russell would deny the opponent's forays into the paint, corral the rebound and fire the outlet pass to Hall of Fame point guard Bob Cousy.
Like Mikan, Russell was blessed to have a Hall of Fame Coach in Red Auerbach and several Hall of Fame teammates: Cousy, his backcourt mate Bill Sharman, 1957 Rookie of the Year Tom Heinsohn (Russell played only 48 games, joining the team after the 1956 Olympics) and pioneering sixth man Frank Ramsey. This group won Boston's first NBA title in 1957. Boston's chances for a repeat performance took a major hit when Russell suffered an ankle injury in the 1958 Finals. With Russell hobbled, Bob Pettit scored 50 points in game six as the St. Louis Hawks took the championship. "You can always look for excuses. We just got beat," declared Auerbach.
In any case, the Celtics proceeded to win the next eight championships. Along the way more Hall of Famers joined the squad, including Sam Jones, K.C. Jones and John Havlicek--but Russell was the one constant throughout the unparalleled string of titles. It took one of the greatest teams in NBA history--the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers led by Chamberlain--to snap the streak and the Celtics recovered from that setback to win the next two championships before Russell retired.
Russell's Celtics do not hold records for point differential or winning percentage. They were pushed to the seventh game of the NBA Finals three times during their "eight-peat" and also survived several seventh game showdowns in the Eastern Division Finals. The Celtics' dominance is defined by their relentless, single-minded accumulation of championship hardware. Bill Russell has a championship ring for each finger, plus a ring to spare--what more needs to be said?
After Russell left the scene the NBA did not have a repeat champion for almost 20 years. It seemed that free agency and the addition of more rounds to the playoffs made back-to-back titlists an outdated concept. Then, L.A. Lakers' Coach Pat Riley guaranteed a repeat during the Lakers' 1987 championship celebration and the team made good on his promise, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar playfully stuffing a towel in Riley's mouth before he could predict a third straight triumph. In fact, the Lakers came close to the "three-peat," going 11-0 in the 1989 playoffs before being swept in the Finals by Isiah Thomas' Detroit Pistons. The Pistons repeated in 1990 but their "three-peat" dreams were derailed by Jordan's Bulls.
The 1991-1993 Bulls became the first NBA team to win three straight titles since Russell's Celtics. The Houston Rockets claimed back-to-back championships during Jordan's foray into minor-league baseball and then the Bulls accomplished a second "three-peat" in 1996-1998 after Jordan returned to hoops. The two Chicago "three-peats" shared three constants--Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Coach Phil Jackson--but are distinct in many ways.
The first team was young and frisky, athletically trapping all over the court and showcasing Jordan and Pippen at their high-flying best. Pippen ran the offense as a "point-forward," while nominal point guards John Paxson and B.J. Armstrong provided long-range marksmanship. Power forward Horace Grant was athletic enough to trap guards in the backcourt and recover to pick up his man in the frontcourt.
The second team replaced power forward Horace Grant with rebounding savant Dennis Rodman. Sixth man Toni Kukoc provided scoring punch, while Ron Harper added size in the backcourt. Jordan and Pippen were not quite as athletic and the team frequently won as much on savvy and will as anything else.
When Jerry Krause broke up the Chicago Bulls to begin what columnist Jay Mariotti derisively calls the "Organizations Win Championships Tour," Jordan, Pippen and Jackson went their separate ways. Jackson took a one-season sabbatical before resurfacing in Los Angeles. Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant have chafed at times when Jackson upbraids them, but there is no arguing with the results: three titles in three years.
Numerologists may find some significance in the fact that each of Jackson's "three-peat" units posted 45-13 records in the playoffs. Basketball historians single out a different number: 15-1, the Lakers' record setting playoff won-loss record in the 2001 title run. There is a perception that the Lakers coast during the regular season and "turn it on" in the playoffs, but the Lakers' .736 regular season winning percentage matches Russell's Celtics and is just slightly worse than the 1991-93 Bulls.
This year the Lakers have fought an uphill battle just to earn a playoff berth, but that is primarily because of O'Neal's health, not coasting. Despite their ups and downs, they are the proverbial team that no one wants to face in the postseason. If the Lakers find the wherewithal to sustain one more title run, they will become the only team other than Russell's Celtics to win at least four consecutive NBA championships and Jackson will claim his tenth title as a coach, breaking his tie with Auerbach. Add that to Jackson's ring as a player on the 1973 Knicks and he would join Russell in the ultimate "Champions Club": no admittance without 11 rings.
Champions Club | Years | Team | Reg. Season | Playoffs | NBA Finals |
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| 1952-54 | Min. Lakers | 134-74/.644 | 27-11/.711 | 12-7/.632 |
| 1959-66 | Bos. Celtics | 461-165/.736 | 67-33/.670 | 32-14/.696 |
| 1991-93 | Chi. Bulls | 185-61/.752 | 45-13/.776 | 12-5/.706 |
| 1996-98 | Chi. Bulls | 203-43/.825 | 45-13/.776 | 12-6/.667 |
| 2000-02 | L.A. Lakers | 181-65/.736 | 45-13/.776 | 12-3/.800 |
Labels: Bill Russell, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, George Mikan, L.A. Lakers, Michael Jordan, Minneapolis Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal
posted by David Friedman @ 1:58 AM
Playoff Scoring Champions
Most NBA fans know that Michael Jordan won a record 10 regular season scoring titles and that Wilt Chamberlain holds the all-time single season scoring record (50.4 ppg in 1961-62). The playoffs are where a great player’s legacy is truly established, yet you rarely if ever hear discussion about who won the most playoff scoring titles or who has the highest single season playoff scoring average. Jordan holds both marks: he won a record 10 playoff scoring titles (based on a minimum of 100 points scored in a single playoff season) and he averaged a record 43.7 ppg in the 1986 playoffs. Chamberlain—who for many years held the record with seven regular season scoring titles—only led the NBA in playoff scoring one time during his career, though he did post three of the top 20 single season playoff scoring averages.
The reason that Chamberlain did not win more playoff scoring titles is that he played at the same time as Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, who won four playoff scoring titles apiece with some truly eye-popping numbers: Baylor led the NBA in playoff scoring from 1960-63, tying the second longest streak in NBA/ABA history, averaging 33.4 ppg, 38.1 ppg, 38.6 ppg and 32.6 ppg in those seasons. The Lakers made it to the NBA Finals in 1962 and 1963, losing to the Boston Celtics both times. Baylor won the most playoff scoring titles among players who never won a regular season scoring title. Chamberlain averaged 37.0 ppg in the 1961 playoffs (eighth best all-time) and 35.0 ppg in the 1962 playoffs (15th all-time), but finished behind Baylor both times; he won his only playoff scoring title in 1964 with a 34.7 ppg average (20th all-time).
West won his first playoff scoring title in 1965 with the second best average in playoff history (40.6 ppg); his teammate Baylor missed all but one game of the playoffs that year due to injury but West carried the Lakers to the Finals, where they again lost to Boston. West also won playoff scoring titles in 1966 (34.2 ppg), 1968 (30.8 ppg) and 1969 (30.9 ppg), leading the Lakers to the Finals each time only to be defeated by the powerful Celtics.
George Mikan was the first player to win four consecutive playoff scoring titles (1949-52), leading the Minneapolis Lakers to championships in three of those seasons (1949-50, 52). Despite playing in the pre-shot clock era, he still topped 30 ppg twice (30.3 ppg in 1949, 31.3 ppg in 1950) and on March 29, 1952 he set a playoff single game record by dropping 47 points on the Rochester Royals. That mark only stood for one season, though, and it was broken by a player who is not primarily known as a scorer but who led the NBA in playoff scoring from 1953-55: Bob Cousy, whose 50 points in Boston’s March 21, 1953 quadruple overtime 111-104 win over Syracuse stood as the single game playoff record for seven years until rookie Wilt Chamberlain had a 53 point outburst. After Cousy’s run and before Baylor and West dominated the playoff scoring charts, Hall of Famers Paul Arizin and Bob Pettit each won a playoff scoring title (in 1956 and 1957 respectively) and Pettit’s Hall of Fame teammate Cliff Hagan won a pair of playoff scoring titles.
Rick Barry is the only player to win scoring titles in NCAA Division I, the NBA and the ABA and he also won playoff scoring titles in both pro leagues. Barry averaged 34.7 ppg in 1967 as his San Francisco Warriors made it to the NBA Finals and then he won ABA playoff scoring crowns in 1970 (40.1 ppg) and 1971 (33.7 ppg). Barry is one of only three players to average at least 40 ppg in a playoff season (West and Jordan are the other two).
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won five playoff scoring titles (1970, 72, 74, 77, 83) but none of those seasons coincided with his six NBA championships. Abdul-Jabbar holds the record for longest time span between his first and last playoff scoring title. For many years he was the all-time leader in career playoff points (5782); he currently ranks second to Jordan (5987). Abdul-Jabbar was the third rookie to win a playoff scoring title, following in the footsteps of Joe Fulks (1947 BAA, one of the forerunners of the NBA) and Connie Hawkins (1968 ABA, the league’s inaugural season).
The fourth and most recent rookie to win a playoff scoring title was Julius Erving, who averaged 33.3 ppg in 1972 for the ABA’s Virginia Squires. Erving won three more playoff scoring titles in the next four seasons, two of them while leading the New York Nets to championships, including a 34.7 ppg average in 1976 that ranks 19th on the all-time list. Erving never won a playoff scoring title in the NBA.
George Gervin is the only player other than Barry to win playoff scoring titles in both leagues. He interrupted Erving’s ABA run by taking the 1975 crown with a 34.0 ppg average that ranks 24th all-time and he later won five straight NBA playoff scoring titles from 1978-82. Only Jordan won more playoff scoring titles than Gervin and only Jordan matched Gervin’s mark with five consecutive playoff scoring titles.
Jordan won his first playoff scoring title in grand fashion, setting the all-time single season playoff record with a 43.7 ppg average in 1986. That of course included his famous 63 point game against Boston, which is still a playoff single game record. Jordan won the 1987 playoff scoring title (35.7 ppg) but then Hakeem Olajuwon captured the 1988 playoff scoring title by averaging 37.5 ppg, which ranks sixth on the all-time list. Jordan won the next five playoff scoring titles, leading the Chicago Bulls to championships in the last three of those seasons. Jordan’s streak was snapped when he went to play minor league baseball and Olajuwon won two straight playoff scoring titles--and two NBA championships—in 1994-95. Jordan closed out the Chicago portion of his career with three more championships and three more playoff scoring titles in 1996-98.
After Jordan, no one has won more than two playoff scoring titles, though Kobe Bryant is currently on pace to capture his third. Bryant (2003, 2007), Allen Iverson (1999, 2005) and Tracy McGrady (2001-02) are the only multiple winners since Jordan, while Shaquille O’Neal (2000), Dirk Nowitzki (2004) and Gilbert Arenas (2006) account for the other playoff scoring titles thus far in the 2000s. Jordan’s record of 10 playoff scoring titles is probably even safer than his record of 10 regular season scoring titles.
Labels: Elgin Baylor, George Gervin, George Mikan, Jerry West, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain
posted by David Friedman @ 4:53 PM
Hall of Famer Bobby Wanzer Visits the NBA TV Set
Hall of Famer
Bobby Wanzer appeared on NBA TV on Wednesday prior to the Warriors-Raptors game and he spoke with Pete Vecsey and Rick Kamla (fortunately, Vecsey asked most of the questions, while Kamla thankfully refrained from going off on a tangent about Minnesota or Kevin Garnett). Wanzer was one of the great guards in the early years of the NBA and he paired with Bob Davies to form a tremendous backcourt for the Rochester Royals, who beat George Mikan's Minneapolis Lakers in the 1951 Western Division Finals en route to winning that season's NBA title; Mikan's Lakers won the championship the two previous years and the three years after that. Wanzer played in five straight All-Star Games and made the All-NBA Team three straight times. His Hall of Fame bio states that he won the 1953 NBA MVP and an NBA TV graphic during his appearance mentioned that as well but the NBA did not officially start awarding an MVP until
the 1955-56 season. It seems unlikely that Wanzer would have won the MVP if it had been awarded in 1953 because he only made the All-NBA Second Team, meaning that at least five players received more votes than he did for that honor.
Wanzer led the NBA in free throw shooting in 1952, becoming the first NBA player to shoot better than .900 (.904). He also ranked in the top ten in field goal percentage four times; the field goal percentage numbers from his era don't look great to today's eyes but there are several mitigating factors to consider,
as I explained in a previous post: "The early NBA played its games in poorly lit arenas and dealt with travel and lodging accommodations that NBA and WNBA players of today could not even imagine. Also, forget 'no blood, no foul'—it was more like, 'no first degree assault, no foul.' Players did not dunk in games because leaving your feet was an invitation to a maiming—and yes, players back then could dunk the ball, as shown on old Minneapolis Lakers films displaying the team dunking during practice and pre-game lay-up lines. Even as late as 1959-60, Wilt Chamberlain’s rookie season, there was a 'Wild West' quality to the game. Sports Illustrated had a big story around that time about how Chamberlain planned to retire because of the cheap shots and rough play that he endured on a nightly basis."
Wanzer described to Vecsey and Kamla how the NBA game has changed: "Our game was much different than it is today. Today is a run, speed (game). We passed, went behind the picks, (ran) back door (plays). Possession was important--you had to get a good shot almost every time."
Here is how Wanzer evaluated his strengths as a player: "I was a very good shooter. I had what they called a 'case move,' where you make your move, faked and went in. I also liked to go in the post and take a couple hook shots."
Vecsey asked Wanzer to clarify what a "case move" is and Wanzer answered, "I think that every ball player should have a move where he can free himself up," adding that in today's game anyone who can do a good crossover dribble is virtually impossible to guard.
The 86 year old Wanzer said that he golfs three times a week but still keeps up with what is going on in the NBA. He likes the Nets' acquisition of Devin Harris for Jason Kidd because Harris is a young, talented player whose shot continues to improve but he also understands that Dallas did the deal in order to win now. Wanzer suggested that the Heat may let Shawn Marion leave after the end of the season and use the salary cap space to sign more players, prompting Vecsey to quip good-naturedly that the Heat should sign Wanzer as a consultant.
Labels: Bobby Wanzer, George Mikan, Pete Vecsey, Rochester Royals
posted by David Friedman @ 6:42 AM
