20 Second Timeout

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Welcomes 15 New Members and Honors Bill Russell a Second Time

The 2021 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class includes 16 inductees: NBA players Chris Bosh, Bob Dandridge, Paul Pierce, Ben Wallace, and Chris Webber; international player (and NBA player) Toni Kukoc; NBA coaches Rick Adelman, Cotton Fitzsimmons, and Bill Russell (who was inducted as a player in 1975); NCAA coach Jay Wright; WNBA players Lauren Jackson and Yolanda Griffith; Clarence Jenkins (Early African-American pioneer); former WNBA Commissioner Val Ackerman; Howard Garfinkel (founder of the legendary Five-Star basketball camp); Pearl Moore (selected by the Women's Veterans Committee).

Most of the speeches were informative and/or inspirational, but I will limit my focus to just a few of the inductees.

Webber led off the festivities, speaking with great passion and eloquence about his journey, about the people who helped him along the way--including his parents and Isiah Thomas--and about how his faith buoyed him during challenging times. Webber mentioned that one of his teachers was related to Turkey Stearnes, the great Negro League baseball player from the 1920s and 1930s, and that this teacher inspired Webber by seeing potential in him that he did not yet see.

Webber is a gifted orator, but it is unfortunate that when he speaks it is advisable to have a fact checker handy. Webber stated that he never received "handouts," which may have seemed like a throwaway line to those who do not know his story, but in fact this is a bold-faced lie. If he had not told that lie during his speech then I would not discuss this right after Webber received the sport's highest honor, but Webber received more than $200,000 in cash and gifts from disgraced "booster" Ed Martin and then Webber pleaded guilty in federal district court to one count of criminal contempt after he lied about receiving that money. Lying in federal district court about receiving large sums of money illegally is not a small matter, which is why Webber's individual NCAA honors and awards were vacated, as were the University of Michigan's Final Four appearances in 1992 and 1993. The NCAA also forbade the University of Michigan from having any official association with Webber for 10 years (that ban expired in 2013). Webber recently made a public claim that the current University of Michigan athletic director apologized to Webber about the school's handling of these matters, but the athletic director publicly denied apologizing to Webber. 

Webber spoke about the importance of studying history and learning lessons from history, but he appears to need a refresher course on his own history. He would have been much better served not talking about "handouts" at all instead of rewriting well-documented facts. I did not intend to bring up this subject in my Hall of Fame article, but after Webber lied any ethical and informed writer is obligated to set the record straight.

I thought that Bob Dandridge gave the best speech. Dandridge scored more points than any other player in the NBA Finals in the 1970s while being a vital performer for two championship teams (1971 Bucks, 1978 Bullets). He shared his grandmother's motto, which became a mantra for him: "Be thy labor great or small, do it well or not at all." He also said that his parents Dorothy and Robert provided to him and his siblings the "tools to flourish not for a short time but for a lifetime." Dandridge called his seventh grade/eighth grade coach Russell Williams the best coach that he ever had even though Dandridge received little playing time during those years. Dandridge declared that the basketball fundamentals that Williams taught to him enabled him to enjoy a long and successful NBA career. Can you imagine a modern player having such a mature and patient perspective? 

Dandridge is justifiably proud of the education that he received--in life, not just basketball--at Norfolk State University during a time when HBCUs provided opportunities that black athletes could not obtain at larger, better known institutions.

Dandridge noted that some people said that he played as if he had a chip on his shoulder, but he explained that during his era he faced the likes of Connie Hawkins, Elgin Baylor, and other Hall of Famers almost every game, and there was no "time management" (he clearly meant to say "load management") during his career. Battling against Hall of Famers on a regular basis required focus and a serious disposition.

Dandridge acknowledged that it took decades for him to finally be inducted, but he made it clear that he feels no bitterness: "You all know I've had to wait a little while, but there's been so much growth inside of me that I am real grateful for the wait. I've had a chance to be a better father, I've had a chance to be a better person." Dandridge concluded, "Things happen in God's time."

Dandridge mentioned that he and fellow Hall of Famer Alex English helped develop the NBA's rookie orientation program that has been in place since 1994. I hope that all young NBA players take seriously the messages and wisdom provided by Dandridge and English.

I am always impressed when a player who is not from the United States and did not grow up speaking English as his primary language is able to give a Hall of Fame induction speech in English. Croatian Toni Kukoc--a European basketball legend who also played a key role for three of Chicago's NBA championship teams--spoke flawless English as he described his basketball journey. Kukoc was presented by Michael Jordan and Jerry Reinsdorf. Scottie Pippen was not at the ceremony, but in prerecorded remarks Pippen said that the Bulls would not have won the 1996-98 titles without Kukoc. Kukoc praised both Jordan and Pippen for first kicking his butt in the 1992 Olympics--inspiring Kukoc to work on his game even more--and then welcoming him to the Bulls just a few years later.

Ben Wallace's speech was shorter and less well-structured than most of the other speeches, but that takes nothing away from his accomplishments. Like Dandridge, he is an HBCU product (Virginia Union), but he is the only undrafted player to be inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Four-time Defensive Player of the Year Wallace was the heart and soul of Detroit's 2004 championship team.

Paul Pierce seemed to enjoy the moment as much as any inductee ever, taking selfies on stage during Friday night's ceremonies and reveling in the opportunity on Saturday to both thank his supporters and tweak his doubters--most notably each of the nine teams that did not draft him, and Pierce made a point of mentioning them all by name, bringing to mind Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame speech and the meme about various things that Jordan "took personally."

During an NBA TV interview prior to the induction ceremony, Pierce mentioned Steve Smith, Jimmy Jackson, and Grant Hill as role models after whom he modeled his game. I am not sure that I see the Hill comparison--Hill was a lanky, explosive athlete, while Pierce was bulkier and more ground-bound--but I definitely can see how Pierce borrowed elements of his game from Smith and Jackson, two players who scored based more on craftiness and fundamentals than athleticism.

Chris Bosh gave the evening's final speech, but it was well worth the wait to hear his intelligent and heartfelt perspective. He has long struck me as an athlete who is too smart and thoughtful to be well understood by most media members and fans, and this disconnect has sadly resulted in making Bosh the target of unfounded criticism. Bosh alluded to this when he talked about the memes about him crying after his Miami Heat lost the 2011 NBA Finals. Bosh admitted that he cried after many painful defeats, dating back to when he played youth basketball. Bosh cried not because he is soft or weak--it is ridiculous to consider crying to be a sign of weakness--but because he loves the game so much and cares so much about performing at a high level. Bosh described the tears he has shed during his life as the water that fed his growth as a player and as a person.

Bosh began his speech with a story about Pat Riley, who joined Ray Allen as Bosh's presenters. Bosh recalled that when he met with Riley during the 2010 free agency period Riley took all of his championship rings out of a velvet bag, placed them on a table, and told Bosh to take one to keep until they won a ring together. Bosh considered that to be quite a bold offer, since Bosh had not yet even agreed to sign with Riley's Heat. Bosh took the ring, and he admitted that he was waiting for the perfect time to give it back. Bosh turned to Riley on the Hall of Fame stage, and handed the ring back to him.

Bosh spoke about how great it was to be in a room filled with his heroes, but added that he also thought a lot about the people who were not there--most notably, Kobe Bryant. Bosh said that as one of the younger players on the 2008 Team USA squad he sought to make a big impression by getting up earlier than anyone else. Bosh set his alarm for 6 a.m., went to the team breakfast--and saw that Bryant was already there, icing his knees after working out. Bosh noted that this was just days after Bryant's Lakers had lost in the NBA Finals, and Bosh admitted that he was still exhausted even though his season had ended weeks earlier. He found Bryant's dedication and energy to be remarkable, and Bosh said that from this he learned that legends are defined not by success but by how they bounce back from failure. This is yet another great example of how a Pantheon-level player like Bryant is better appreciated by his peers than by media members, "stat gurus," and fans who lack the knowledge and life experience to understand what it takes to reach an elite level.

Bosh concluded by talking about how a potentially life-threatening medical condition ended his playing career when he was just 31, and he said that his career and life demonstrate how a person can "turn setbacks into strengths."

Bill Russell joins John Wooden, Bill Sharman, Lenny Wilkens, and Tommy Heinsohn as the only people inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame as players and as coaches. Russell won two NBA titles as a coach, both times as a player-coach when he was the best player on the team (1968-69 Boston Celtics). His NBA coaching record when he was not playing was 179-207 (.464). The latter mark is not impressive or Hall of Fame caliber, but it may not be fair to divide Russell's coaching career this way: other coaches have had Hall of Fame players but not won championships, and the reality is that Russell did a great job not only "coaching" himself but also coaching an aging roster to two championships in three years, capping off a playing career during which Russell led the Celtics to 11 NBA titles in 13 seasons. Perhaps it may have been more appropriate to honor Russell as a contributor than as a coach. Russell was the first African-American coach to win an NBA title and he has indisputably made many contributions to the game as a player, coach, commentator, and activist. He also had to answer perhaps the most stupid and offensive question ever uttered at an NBA press conference, as shown in the archival career montage footage: after Russell was hired as the Celtics' coach, one media member--I wish this person was identified by name--asked Russell if he could coach white players without prejudice, and after Russell immediately answered "Yes" the media member doubled down by retorting, "How?" Russell calmly explained that basketball is based on mutual respect for each player's abilities. 

Russell attended the ceremony in person, but was only able to go on stage by using a cane and having the assistance of his presenters. He did not speak live, but instead provided brief, recorded remarks. Charles Barkley, Julius Erving, Spencer Haywood, Alonzo Mourning, Bill Walton, and Rick Welts presented Russell. During his recorded statement, Russell lamented that David Stern and Kobe Bryant passed away and could not be his presenters as well. 

Barkley presented three of the 2021 inductees (Cotton Fitzsimmons, Bill Russell, Jay Wright), but he still has a long way to go to catch up with how many times Erving has been a presenter. The official records for Hall of Fame presenters only go back to 2001 (which is an odd limitation for an organization that is supposed to be dedicated to preserving and honoring basketball history), but there is good reason to believe that no one has been a Hall of Fame presenter more often than Erving. Here is the list of each time that I can confirm that Erving has been a Hall of Fame presenter. During his 1997 Hall of Fame speech, English explained that he selected Erving to be his presenter because, "Julius Erving has always been one of my idols, and what I consider and feel that all NBA players should model themselves after. He's been a great athlete, great player, a great statesman for the game, and a great ambassador."

A person must be a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee to be a presenter. Erving was inducted in 1993.

Julius Erving as Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Presenter

1994: None
1995: Presented Cheryl Miller
1996: None
1997: Presented Alex English
1998-2000: None
2001: Presented Moses Malone
2002-2003: None
2004: Presented Clyde Drexler
2005: None
2006: Presented Dominique Wilkins
2007-2010: None
2011: Presented Artis Gilmore
2012: Presented Katrina McClain, Ralph Sampson and the All-American Red Heads
2013-2014: None
2015: Presented John Calipari
2016: Presented Allen Iverson and Shaquille O'Neal
2017: None
2018: Presented Maurice Cheeks and Charlie Scott
2019: Presented Chuck Cooper and Bobby Jones
2020: None
2021: Bill Russell

Fitzsimmons, Jenkins, and Garfinkel are posthumous inductees. It is fair to wonder why each of them was not inducted a long time ago. Fitzsimmons won the NBA Coach of the Year award twice (1979, 1989), and he ranks 16th in NBA history with 832 regular season coaching wins. Fitzsimmons ranked seventh in regular season coaching wins when he retired in 1997, and it is sad that he did not receive this honor until 17 years after he passed away. Jenkins was a key player on dominant teams during the pre-NBA era. Jenkins passed away in 1968. Garfinkel's Five-Star basketball camp was a fertile training ground for players and coaches alike. Garfinkel passed away in 2016 at the age of 86. His Five-Star basketball camp was active from 1966 through 2008, reportedly producing over 600 NBA players and more than 10,000 Division I players.

Articles About Recent Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies:

Kobe Bryant Headlines the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (Class of 2020) 

The Basketball Hall of Fame Welcomes A Diverse Class of 12 Inductees (Class of 2019)

Thoughts and Observations About the 2018 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony (Class of 2018)

Labels: Bill Russell, Bob Dandridge, Chris Bosh, Chris Webber, Julius Erving, Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce, Toni Kukoc

posted by David Friedman @ 4:31 AM

27 comments

The 2021 Basketball Hall of Fame Class Includes Chris Bosh, Bob Dandridge, Paul Pierce, Ben Wallace, and Chris Webber

The announcement of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class traditionally takes place during Final Four weekend, but for the second year in a row that was not the case. Last year, the Hall of Fame announcement took place in a socially-distanced setting after the NCAA Tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the announcement took place just one day after the delayed induction ceremony for the Class of 2020.

The Class of 2021 includes five players who are being inducted primarily because of their NBA careers: Chris Bosh, Bob Dandridge, Paul Pierce, Ben Wallace, and Chris Webber. Toni Kukoc--who had a very good but not great NBA career--is also being inducted, but he was selected by the international committee. Rick Adelman, Cotton Fitzsimmons, and Bill Russell are being inducted because of their NBA coaching careers. Russell joins John Wooden, Bill Sharman, Lenny Wilkens, and Tommy Heinsohn as the only people inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame as players and as coaches. Two-time NCAA champion Jay Wright is being inducted as a college coach, while Lauren Jackson and Yolanda Griffith are being inducted as WNBA players. Clarence Jenkins is being inducted as an Early African-American pioneer, Val Ackerman is being inducted because of her service as WNBA Commissioner, and Howard Garfinkel is being inducted as the founder of the legendary Five-Star basketball camp. Pearl Moore is being inducted as the selection of the Women’s Veterans Committee.

I first wrote about Dandridge in the October 2004 issue of Basketball Digest. In my article about the 2019 Basketball Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, I implored the Hall of Fame voters to do right by Dandridge: "I enjoyed watching the 2019 Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony and I learned some things about various inductees that I did not know, but I also feel bad for players like Bob Dandridge who have seemingly been forgotten. Dandridge was a two-way player who performed a key role for two NBA championship teams (1971 Bucks, 1978 Bullets). Will Dandridge have to wait to be inducted posthumously like Braun was this year and like Roger Brown was in 2013?" 

During the past two decades, I have specifically mentioned several players who deserve Hall of Fame recognition--including Roger Brown, Mel Daniels, Artis Gilmore, Spencer Haywood, and Bob Dandridge--and I am delighted that each of them has finally received the honor that they earned with their high-level playing careers. Sadly, Brown was inducted posthumously, but Daniels, Gilmore, Haywood, and Dandridge survived long enough to know that they had been officially tapped for basketball immortality. 

Bosh's career was on a Hall of Fame trajectory even before he joined forces with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami, but playing a key role on two championship teams solidified his status. Similarly, Pierce was likely headed to the Hall of Fame prior to 2008, but winning the Finals MVP for a stacked Boston team ensured that he would be inducted. Wallace's career path is remarkable, starting with being an undrafted player from an HBCU and then culminating with being the heart and soul of Detroit's 2004 championship team. Along the way, Wallace won four Defensive Player of the Year awards, tying Dikembe Mutombo's record (the honor has been handed out annually since the 1982-83 season). 

Webber is an interesting and complex case. The Basketball Hall of Fame honors accomplishments at all levels of the sport, and Webber performed at a high level in high school, college, and the NBA. However, he played on talented teams that failed to win NCAA and NBA titles in no small part due either to him failing in clutch moments and/or just being outperformed by the best player on the opposing team. That is not to suggest that winning a championship should be a prerequisite for Hall of Fame induction, but when the best player on talented teams repeatedly falls short on the biggest stage that raises eyebrows. When Webber retired from the NBA, I did not rank him as a Hall of Famer. 

Further, although there is not a specific or official character requirement for Hall of Fame induction--and many current Hall of Famers might be ruled out if there were--it is worth noting that Webber pleaded guilty in federal district court to one count of criminal contempt after he lied about receiving money from disgraced "booster" Ed Martin. As a result of Martin's testimony that he provided more than $200,000 in cash and gifts to Webber prior to Webber joining the NBA, Webber's individual NCAA honors and awards were vacated, as were University of Michigan's Final Four appearances in 1992 and 1993. The NCAA also forbade the University of Michigan from having any official association with Webber for 10 years (that ban expired in 2013). 

Advocates for Webber's induction who claim to be baffled by why it took several years for him to be tapped are being disingenuous at best; he was never the best player at his position in the NBA, he did not win a championship in college or the NBA, and his actions brought disrepute on both his name and his school's name. Considering the backlog of clearly worthy players who were not inducted until the past few years--including several names mentioned above--it is hardly an injustice that Webber was not selected until now.

All of that being said, I understand the arguments in Webber's favor, including his multidimensional skill set, and his impressive statistics: purely from the standpoint of individual statistics, Webber had a better career than fellow 2021 inductee Dandridge, and Webber's statistics are also better than other players who have previously been inducted. 

The Basketball Hall of Fame may be more subjective and secretive about its selection process than any of the other Halls of Fame for the major North American sports. It is obvious that Kukoc did not have a Hall of Fame-caliber NBA career, but he was selected based on his international career. What "decoder ring" is used to translate international statistics, awards, and team success to compare them with NBA statistics, awards, and team success? In other words--and to cite a specific example--how was it determined that Dino Radja deserved induction many years before Dandridge? I am not suggesting that Radja is not worthy--he is considered one of the greatest FIBA players of all-time--but I am just emphasizing that having one Hall of Fame tasked with recognizing the NBA, the NCAA, the women's game, the Early African-American pioneers, the international game, etc. is a situation that will inevitably lead to inequities and snubs. 

The coaching selections are also difficult to understand at times. Russell won two titles as an NBA coach, but he was also the best player on those teams, and he had already won nine titles as a player before becoming a coach. The teams Russell coached for which he did not play were not particularly successful, and he last coached in the NBA more than 30 years ago, so he did not have some recent coaching accomplishment that suddenly merits recognition. This feels a bit like a lifetime achievement award. I must emphasize that I am 100% in favor of honoring Russell; he has become an underrated player in the sense that he should be mentioned in every "GOAT" conversation but he is often cast aside as pundits narrow their field of vision to just Michael Jordan and LeBron James. However, it might make more sense to honor Russell as a contributor than as a coach. On the other hand, he was the first African-American coach to win an NBA title, so maybe the reality is that as a pioneer he is receiving overdue recognition for breaking barriers. 

Adelman and Fitzsimmons both rank highly on the all-time wins list, and both did not win an NBA title. Both also coached their final NBA games many years ago. Again, maybe this is just an example of overdue recognition being belatedly bestowed. There are not written (or even unwritten) rules regarding what it takes to be a Hall of Famer, so the process is by definition subjective. Adelman and Fitzsimmons are worthy candidates; I just don't understand the process in terms of who is selected, who is bypassed, who is honored while still actively coaching (such as Jay Wright), and who is not recognized until decades after retiring (or, in Fitzsimmons' case, 17 years after he passed away and over 20 years after he stopped coaching). 

The Hall of Fame has inducted approximately 400 people and teams from various categories in over 60 years, so I disagree with the notion that the Hall of Fame is "watered down"; if anything, worthy pro basketball players have been left out because of the Hall of Fame's determination to honor a broad spectrum of basketball accomplishments instead of focusing on pro basketball. The creation of a separate pro basketball Hall of Fame--perhaps with automatic, retroactive induction of all pro basketball players already inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame so that efforts moving forward would be focused on players who have been ignored--would be beneficial, but as long as the NBA is partnering with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame it seems unlikely that the league would participate in creating an entity that would might appear to be competing for the attention and money of basketball fans.

Labels: Ben Wallace, Bill Russell, Bob Dandridge, Chris Bosh, Chris Webber, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Paul Pierce, Rick Adelman, Toni Kukoc

posted by David Friedman @ 2:34 AM

2 comments

Revising the NBA's 50 Greatest Players List, Part III

In late 2015, the Boston Globe published a list of the Top 50 NBA Players of All-Time, ranking the players in order and providing a brief bio of each player written by Gary Washburn. Here is the Boston Globe's list (an asterisk indicates that the player was not on the NBA's 50 Greatest Players List):

1) Michael Jordan
2) Bill Russell
3) Wilt Chamberlain
4) Magic Johnson
5) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
6) Jerry West
7) LeBron James*
8) Oscar Robertson
9) Larry Bird
10) Kobe Bryant*
11) Shaquille O'Neal
12) Elgin Baylor
13) Julius Erving
14) Bob Pettit
15) Karl Malone
16) Tim Duncan*
17) John Havlicek
18) Hakeem Olajuwon
19) Rick Barry
20) John Stockton
21) Bob Cousy
22) Kevin Garnett*
23) Elvin Hayes
24) Moses Malone
25) Charles Barkley
26) Isiah Thomas
27) Jerry Lucas
28) George Gervin
29) George Mikan
30) Dirk Nowitzki*
31) Patrick Ewing
32) Kevin McHale
33) Kevin Durant*
34) Scottie Pippen
35) Nate Archibald
36) David Robinson
37) Robert Parish
38) Allen Iverson*
39) Walt Frazier
40) Dwyane Wade*
41) Hal Greer
42) Dennis Rodman*
43) Paul Arizin
44) Clyde Drexler
45) Steve Nash*
46) Lenny Wilkens
47) Reggie Miller*
48) Gary Payton*
49) Paul Pierce*
50) Dolph Schayes

Thus, the Boston Globe added LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant, Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade, Dennis Rodman, Steve Nash, Reggie Miller, Gary Payton and Paul Pierce to the list and did not include Dave Bing, Dave Cowens, Billy Cunningham, Dave DeBusschere, Sam Jones, Pete Maravich, Earl Monroe, Willis Reed, Bill Sharman, Nate Thurmond, Wes Unseld, Bill Walton and James Worthy.

Similar to Part II in this series--which examined the 50 Greatest Players List compiled by Athlon Sports in 2008--this article will not reconsider the entire 1996 NBA list but instead will focus on comparing the 13 players added by the Boston Globe to the 13 players that the Boston Globe did not include. Thus, a player who made the cut in my estimation when examining Athlon Sports' choices may not make the cut when examining the selections made by the Boston Globe.

In Part II, I called the inclusion of Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan "obvious and indisputable." Similarly, Kevin Garnett is a worthy choice and Allen Iverson's selection should not be controversial, though some may disagree. By 2015, it was also obvious and indisputable that LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade had earned their way on to the list.

Capsule resumes are provided in Part II for Bryant, Duncan, Garnett and Iverson.

James is still adding to his long list of accomplishments but at this writing he has won four regular season MVPs (2009-10, 2012-13; he has ranked in the top five in MVP balloting 13 times), three Finals MVPs (2012-13, 2016), three All-Star Game MVPs (2006, 2008, 2018) and the 2004 Rookie of the Year award. James won the 2008 regular season scoring title and he has led the league in playoff scoring average three times (2009, 2012, 2018). He has made the All-NBA Team 14 times, including 12 First Team selections to break the record of 11 held until last season by Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone. He has made the All-Defensive Team six times, including five First Team selections. He has made the All-Star team 15 times, tied for fourth on the all-time list with Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Shaquille O'Neal. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19), Kobe Bryant (18) and Julius Erving (16, including 11 NBA and five ABA) have made the All-Star more than 15 times.

James ranks fourth all-time in ABA/NBA regular season scoring (32,543 points), first all-time in ABA/NBA playoff scoring (6911 points) and third all-time in ABA/NBA playoff assists (1687).

Early in his career, James had a few skill set weaknesses--free throw shooting, midrange shooting, three point shooting, post up game--but he has worked hard to minimize, if not eliminate, those weaknesses. James has a power forward's body (he is approximately the same height and weight as Karl Malone) but the scoring skill set of a small forward and the passing/ballhandling skill set of a point guard. No other player in pro basketball history has the combination of size, speed, jumping ability and diverse skill set that James has. Magic Johnson had the height, the passing and the ballhandling but not the same scoring ability and jumping prowess; the (few) others who could compete with James as a scorer and jumper lacked James' passing and ballhandling skills. James has the necessary physical attributes and basketball skills to be on the short list in the greatest player of all-time discussion. James has been the best player on three championship teams (2012-13, 2016) but his teams are just 3-6 overall in the NBA Finals. James falls short of being the greatest player of all-time for reasons that are outside the scope of this article, but there is no question that he has earned a place not only among the top 50 players but among the top 10.

Dirk Nowitzki won the 2007 regular season MVP and he has ranked in the top five in MVP balloting three times. He won the 2011 Finals MVP and he has made the All-NBA Team 12 times, including four First Team selections. Nowitzki has made the All-Star team 14 times, including 2019 when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver tapped him and Dwyane Wade as "special team roster additions." He ranks third all-time in ABA/NBA regular season minutes played, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (57,446) and Karl Malone (54,852), neither of whom Nowitzki will catch as this is almost certainly his last season. Nowitzki ranks fourth all-time in ABA/NBA regular season games played, trailing only Robert Parish (1611), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1560) and John Stockton (1504). Nowitzki needs to play 34 games this season to pass Stockton. Nowitzki is one of just eight players in ABA/NBA history to score at least 30,000 career regular season points.

Nowitzki entered the NBA as a 20 year old with no U.S. playing experience, though he had played professionally in Germany. During his rookie season he had a rough adjustment to the speed and physicality of the NBA game, but by his second season he was already a solid player (17.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg, .379 3FG%) and by his third season he was a member of the All-NBA Third Team (oddly, he did not make the All-Star team until his fourth season).

Nowitzki is perhaps best known for his shooting prowess, both from three point range and with his unstoppable turnaround in the post/midpost area, but during his prime he was an elite rebounder--especially during the postseason; he averaged at least 20 ppg and at least 10 rpg for seven different playoff years and he is one of just four players in pro basketball history to have career playoff averages of at least 25 ppg and at least 10 rpg (Bob Pettit, Elgin Baylor and Hakeem Olajuwon are the other three). Nowitzki had four straight playoff games with at least 30 points and at least 15 rebounds, a feat that had not been accomplished since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had done it three decades earlier. Nowitzki ranks ninth all-time with 29 playoff games during which he scored at least 30 points and grabbed at least 10 rebounds; that is four more such games than Larry Bird had and Nowitzki only trails Elgin Baylor (the all-time leader with 56), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal, Karl Malone, Wilt Chamberlain, Hakeem Olajuwon, Bob Pettit and Tim Duncan in this category. That combination of scoring and rebounding prowess in a playoff setting probably is a surprise to casual fans and maybe even to some NBA commentators.

Nowitzki was never a great individual defender but he used his length to contest shots and he made an important contribution as a defensive rebounder. Nowitzki was never a playmaker but he developed into a reasonably effective passer; he was never a ball-stopper or a player who interfered with the effective operation of the team's offense.

He led the Dallas Mavericks to the 2006 NBA Finals and the Mavericks went up 2-0 on the Miami Heat before losing four straight games. Next season, the Mavericks won an NBA-best 67 games and Nowitzki was given the regular season MVP but his reputation took a hit after the Mavericks lost in the first round of the playoffs to the eighth seeded Golden State Warriors. Nowitkzi and the Mavericks avenged the Finals collapse and the first round upset by upsetting the star-studded Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals. Outdueling LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in that series eliminated any doubt--real or imagined--that Nowitzki is an all-time great. During the fourth quarters in that Finals, Nowitzki duplicated the scoring output of James and Wade combined. The Mavericks became just the fourth team in NBA history led by one current All-Star to win the Finals against a team that had three current All-Stars.

While Nowitzki is rapidly approaching the end of the road, Kevin Durant is in his prime and has already put together an impressive resume. Durant won the 2014 regular season MVP and he has ranked in the top five in MVP balloting six times, including three second place finishes. Durant won the Finals MVP in 2017 and 2018, plus the 2012 and 2019 All-Star Game MVPs and the 2008 Rookie of the Year award. Durant has led the league in regular season scoring four times (2010-12, 2014) and he has led the league in playoff scoring average four times (2011, 2013-14, 2016). He has made the All-NBA Team eight times, including six First Team selections. He is a 10-time All-Star.

Durant's NBA career had a bumpy start largely because Coach P.J. Carlesimo played him out of position at guard but after Carlesimo was fired his replacement Scott Brooks moved Durant back to his natural forward position and the rest is history. Durant is not a great post up player but other than that he has a complete repertoire as a scorer, from the three point shot to the midrange shot to the ability to drive/finish in traffic to the ability to draw fouls and then convert free throws at a high percentage. Durant has led three teams to the NBA Finals (Oklahoma City in 2012, Golden State in 2017 and 2018) and won two championships (2017-18).

Dwyane Wade ranked in the top five in regular season MVP voting twice. He won the 2006 Finals MVP and the 2010 All-Star Game MVP. Wade won the 2009 NBA scoring title and he led the league in playoff scoring in 2010. He made the All-NBA Team eight times, including two First Team selections, and he was chosen for the All-Defensive Team three times. Wade made the All-Star team 13 times, including when he joined Nowitzki in 2019 as a "special team roster addition" selected by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Wade has played in the NBA Finals five times, winning titles in 2006, 2012 and 2013.

Wade never developed a reliable three point shot; he never shot better than .320 from three point range for a full season, and in 10 of his 15 full seasons he shot worse than .300 from three point range. Wade is a solid free throw shooter whose seasonal free throw percentages range from .714 to .807. His main offensive weapons are (1) driving to the hoop, (2) drawing fouls (he averaged at least 9 FTA/g for six straight seasons) and (3) his midrange jump shot. He played exceptionally well during Miami's run to the 2006 title--culminating in a Finals performance during which he earned MVP honors--and he was very solid during Miami's 2012 title run but he averaged just 15.9 ppg during the 2013 playoffs as the Heat secured back to back championships and he has averaged less than 20 ppg in five of his 13 playoff appearances. Wade is an excellent shotblocking guard, and he has amassed the second most career regular season blocked shots for any guard since that statistic has been officially recorded (1972-73 for the ABA, 1973-74 for the NBA).

Capsule resumes are provided in Part II for Rodman and Payton.

Steve Nash won two regular season MVPs (2005-06) and he ranked in the top five in MVP voting three times. He led the league in regular season assists five times (2005-07, 2010-11) and he led the league in playoff assists four times (2004-07). He won two regular season free throw percentage titles (2006, 2010). Nash made the All-NBA Team seven times, including three First Team selections. He made the All-Star team eight times.

Nash had four 50/40/90 seasons (FG% of at least 50, 3FG% of at least 40 and FT% of at least 90), ranking first on the all-time list. Larry Bird did it twice and only five other players have accomplished the feat one time each since the NBA started using the three point shot in the 1979-80 season. Nash's career regular season shooting percentages are .490, .428 and .904 respectively, meaning that he was nearly a 50/40/90 player for his entire career.

Nash ranks third all-time in ABA/NBA regular season assists (10,335), second all-time in ABA/NBA regular season free throw percentage (.904) and ninth all-time in ABA/NBA regular season assists average (8.5 apg). He also ranks seventh all-time in ABA/NBA playoff assists (1061), is tied for sixth all-time in ABA/NBA playoff free throw percentage (.900) and ranks eighth in ABA/NBA playoff assists average (8.8 apg).

Nash is one of the greatest shooters of all-time and also one of the greatest passers. He was a below average defensive player and the regular season numbers that he put up in 2005-06 would not historically have been sufficient to win MVP honors. Nash's MVP awards are very anomalous when examined in the wider context of pro basketball history, both in terms of his individual productivity and also in terms of his lack of team success compared to other multiple MVP winners. Nash's numbers through his first 12 seasons are very similar to Mark Price's numbers for his 12 year career (15.2 ppg, 6.7 apg, .472 FG%, .402 3Pt FG%, .904 FT% for Price, 14.3 ppg, 7.9 apg, .485 FG%, .431 3Pt FG%, .897 FT% for Nash) and Nash did not do anything in his last six seasons to materially add to his legacy (Nash's career numbers are 14.3 ppg, 8.5 apg, .490 FG%, .428 3Pt FG%, .904 FT%). Mark Price was a very good player, an underrated player and a player who perhaps could have been a Hall of Famer had his career not been shortened by injury--but, even at his best, he was never a serious MVP candidate, nor a player who would be considered among the 50 greatest players of all-time.

Nash's teams advanced to the Conference Finals four times in his 18 seasons and he never made it to the NBA Finals; his former team, the Dallas Mavericks, made it to two NBA Finals after he left, winning the 2011 title. While it is true that the Mavericks made many roster changes after Nash's departure, it is unusual for a team to lose a future multiple MVP winner and still be a serious contender. For instance, the Boston Celtics won 11 championships in Bill Russell's 13 seasons but then missed the playoffs two years in a row after he retired and did not reemerge as a contender until adding Dave Cowens--a future MVP and Top 50 player in his own right--to the roster. The Philadelphia 76ers posted the worst record in NBA history shortly after Wilt Chamberlain's departure. The Nets were awful after losing Julius Erving, as were the Chicago Bulls after Michael Jordan's final retirement. The struggles of LeBron James' ex-teams in recent years have been well documented. This was not the case with Nash in Dallas. In Phoenix, the Suns were declining from contender status as Nash aged--they went 40-42 in Nash's last full Phoenix season, then they went 33-33 the next year with Nash in the lockout shortened campaign--and they dropped to 25-57 in their first full season without him (albeit with other roster changes as well).

Nash is one of 15 players in ABA/NBA history to win at least two regular season MVPs. Other than Karl Malone, each of those players won at least one championship. Of those 13 championship winners, 11 of them won at least two championships and 10 of those 11 won at least one of their MVPs during a season in which their team won a championship.

Reggie Miller never finished in the top 12 in regular season MVP voting and he never made the All-NBA First Team or the All-NBA Second Team, though he did make the All-NBA Third Team (which did not exist prior to 1989) three times. Miller made the All-Star team five times in 18 seasons. He is one of just 26 members of the exclusive ABA/NBA 25,000 point club.

He led the NBA in regular season free throw percentage five times and he ranks 11th in ABA/NBA regular season free throw percentage (.888). Miller is most famous for being a three point shooter but, while he did at one time hold the regular season career record for most three pointers made (2560, now second to Ray Allen and soon to be third behind Stephen Curry), he ranks just 58th in ABA/NBA regular season career three point field goal percentage (.395). Miller ranks even lower in ABA/NBA playoff three point field goal percentage (67th, .390). Miller averaged at least 20 ppg in just six of his 18 regular seasons, but he averaged at least 20 ppg in 11 of his 15 playoff runs (seven of those 11 postseason appearances lasted six games or less). Miller played in the NBA Finals one time (2000), as his Indiana Pacers lost to the L.A. Lakers.

Miller's primary skill set strength was shooting. He was not much better than average at any other aspect of the game such as rebounding, passing, ballhandling and defense. Early in his career, he ranked in the top 10 in free throw attempts in three different seasons, an indication of his ability to draw fouls, but later in his career he did not excel at that, though he did flop to the extent that the league made a rule against players who kick out their legs unnaturally while attempting a shot in an attempt to draw a foul; such a play was not only against the spirit of the rules--before it was formally outlawed--but it was dangerous as well.

In a 1998 interview, Miller told Dan Patrick that there were only a few great players in the NBA, including Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Grant Hill and Shaquille O'Neal on that list. Miller included himself among some "very good" players who are in a separate category underneath the great players. Patrick asked Miller why he was not great and Miller replied that he did not have the same athletic gifts and that he worked very hard just to establish himself as a very good player. That is a more objective assessment of Miller's ranking than one generally sees in the media. Miller was a great shooter, he was very durable--remarkably so, considering his slight frame--and he had some memorable playoff moments but there is no way he should be seriously considered for listing among the top 50 players of all-time.

Paul Pierce never ranked in the top five in regular season MVP voting and he only finished in the top 10 once (seventh place, 2009), He won the 2008 Finals MVP. Pierce never made the All-NBA First Team but he earned Second Team honors once and made the Third Team three times. He made the All-Star team 10 times. He averaged at least 20 ppg in eight of his 19 regular seasons and, like Miller, he is a member of the ABA/NBA 25,000 point club.

Pierce's greatest skill set strength was his ability to create his own shot in a variety of different ways; he could drive, he could post up and he was a deadly shooter out to three point range. He was a solid rebounder, playmaker and defender. Pierce was the leading regular season scorer for Boston's 2008 championship team and for the 2010 Boston team that lost in the NBA Finals. 

The players from the original 50 Greatest Players List who the Boston Globe did not include have impressive accomplishments worthy of recognition and acknowledgment. As I wrote in Part II, "Players from earlier eras should not be judged based solely or primarily on numbers, at least not without placing those numbers in the context of the vast differences between eras." Capsule resumes are provided in Part II for DeBusschere, Jones, Monroe, Thurmond, Unseld, Walton and Worthy.

Dave Bing ranked in the top five in MVP voting twice, he won the 1976 All-Star Game MVP and he was selected as the 1967 Rookie of the Year. Bing led the league in scoring in 1968 when the scoring title was determined by total points and not by scoring average; he ranked second in scoring average that season. Bing averaged at least 20 ppg in each of his first seven seasons. He ranked in the top five in assists five times, including the year that he won the scoring title. He made the All-NBA First Team twice and the All-NBA Second Team once. Bing was a seven-time All-Star.

Bing was a top notch scorer and playmaker for a decade and he was still a solid player in his final two seasons. He also rebounded well from the point guard position and he was a decent defensive player, who improved at that end of the court as his career progressed.

Dave Cowens won the 1973 regular season MVP, the first of four straight years that he finished in the top five in MVP voting, including second place in 1975. He also won the 1973 All-Star Game MVP and he was the 1971 NBA Rookie of the Year. Cowens made the All-NBA Team three times. He made the All-Defensive Team three times, including a First Team selection in 1976. He was an eight-time All-Star.

Although Cowens never led the league in rebounding, he averaged at least 13.9 rpg in each of his first eight seasons, finishing second for three straight years (1974-76) and never ranking below seventh. He ranks ninth all-time in ABA/NBA career regular season rebounding average (13.6 rpg). Cowens led the NBA in playoff rebounding in 1975 (16.5 rpg) and 1976 (16.4 rpg). He ranks seventh in ABA/NBA playoff rebounding average (14.4 rpg).

Cowens was an undersized center but he was fast and agile. He had a good shooting touch and he also could drive to the hoop. He was a first rate rebounder and passer. Cowens was a key member of Boston teams that advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for five straight years (1972-76). Boston's 1973 team went 68-14, which was the third best winning percentage at that time and which still ranks as the sixth best winning percentage. The 1973 Celtics lost to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals after John Havlicek suffered a shoulder injury. Boston won the 1974 championship, tied for the best record in the NBA (60-22) before losing to the 60-22 Washington Bullets in the 1975 Eastern Conference Finals and then bounced back to capture the 1976 title.

Billy Cunningham won the 1973 ABA regular season MVP and he ranked in the top five in MVP voting three times, including third in 1969 in the NBA and fifth in 1970 in the NBA. Cunningham was an All-League selection five times, including three straight All-NBA First Team selections (1969-71) and one All-ABA First Team selection (1973). Cunningham made the All-Star team five times--four times in the NBA and once in the ABA. He led the ABA in steals in 1972-73 (the first season that either league officially recorded that statistic).

Cunningham began his career as the sixth man for a Philadelphia 76ers team that featured fellow future Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer and Chet Walker, plus other talented players such as Luke Jackson and Wali Jones. Cunningham was the fourth leading scorer (18.5 ppg) for the 1967 76ers, who set the record--since broken--for best regular season winning percentage (68-13, .840). The 76ers routed Boston 4-1 in the Eastern Division Finals (ending the Celtics' run of eight straight NBA titles) and then beat the San Francisco Warriors to win the NBA title.

Cunningham jumped to the ABA's Carolina Cougars in 1972 and won his only MVP award after leading the team to the best record in the league, 57-27. The Cougars lost to the 56-28 Kentucky Colonels in game seven of the Eastern Division Finals, denying Cunningham the opportunity to win a championship in both leagues. Cunningham was just 29 years old and seemed poised to be an elite player for years to come, but injuries and health problems limited him to just 132 more games before he retired at age 32.

Cunningham was a left-handed player known for his jumping ability, stamina and quickness. He was a top level scorer, rebounder and playmaker; Cunningham averaged at least 23 ppg for five straight seasons, at least 10 rpg for five straight seasons and at least 4.9 apg for three straight seasons. Each of those streaks ended in 1973-74, when kidney problems (which ultimately required two surgeries) limited Cunningham to just 32 games.

Pete Maravich finished in the top five in MVP voting once (third in 1977 behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton). He made the All-NBA Team four times, including First Team selections in 1976 and 1977. Maravich led the league in scoring in 1976-77 and was leading the league in scoring more than halfway through the 1977-78 season before suffering a season-ending knee injury from which he never fully recovered. He averaged at least 21.5 ppg in eight of his first nine regular seasons (though he missed at least 30 games in two of those eight seasons) and he ranked in the top five in scoring four times. Maravich ranked in the top 10 in assists twice and he finished in the top 10 in free throws made five times, including first one time and second two times. He was a five-time All-Star. He averaged 25.5 ppg during the playoffs while leading the Hawks to the postseason in each of his first three campaigns but Maravich's career playoff scoring average took a hit after his final season, when he scored 6.0 ppg in just 11.6 mpg for the Boston Celtics during their run to the 1980 Eastern Conference Finals.

In Part I of this series, I mentioned a set of criteria (in no particular order) for comparing great players from different eras:

1) How great was a particular player in his own era?

2) How highly does a player rank overall in key statistical categories?

3) Based on a skill set evaluation, how well would a player have performed in a different era when facing different rules and circumstances?

4) Did the player have a historical impact on the game, in terms of forcing rules changes and/or influencing shifts in style of play?

Maravich was not blessed with great longevity, which negatively impacted his ability to post high rankings in key statistical categories. However, Maravich does very well by the other three criteria. He made the All-NBA Team four times despite having just five seasons during which he played at least 70 games.When healthy, he was an elite guard for a significant portion of his career, a player who could score in a variety of ways, draw fouls, create shots for his teammates and rebound well for his position. Maravich's skill set would fit in perfectly with today's game; the rules changes and the rules interpretations heavily favor offense, particularly for perimeter players, and it is reasonable to suggest that a healthy Maravich would easily average more than 30 ppg and at least 8-10 apg under today's conditions. Regarding historical impact, Maravich's legacy is indisputable; many of the great players who followed him, including Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas, have credited Maravich as a primary influence.

Willis Reed is the first player to win the All-Star Game MVP, regular season MVP and Finals MVP in the same season (1970). Michael Jordan (1996 and 1998) and Shaquille O'Neal (2000) are the only other players who accomplished this feat. Reed also finished second in the 1969 regular season MVP voting and fourth in the 1971 regular season MVP voting. His trophy case includes the 1973 Finals MVP and the 1965 Rookie of the Year award. Reed made the All-NBA Team five times, including one First Team selection (1970, the year he earned his only All-Defensive Team selection, also to the First Team). His New York teams advanced to the NBA Finals three times (1970, 1972-73) and won two titles (1970, 1973).

Reed never led the league in a major statistical category but he averaged at least 11.6 rpg in each of his first seven seasons and his career average of 12.9 rpg ranks 13th in ABA/NBA history. While Reed could post up and he had a good hook shot, his New York Knicks often ran an inverted offense featuring guards Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe attacking the hoop while Reed and forwards Dave DeBusschere and Jerry Lucas bombed away from outside. Reed did not display three point range--which, of course, was not necessary or desirable at a time that the NBA had not adopted the three point shot from the ABA--but he had a reliable shot in the 15-18 foot range. Reed was an excellent defensive player and he had great physical presence. He was not a great passer but he contributed offensively not only as a scorer but also as a screen setter.

While Reed put up impressive statistics during his prime, he is most famous for a game during which he scored just four points: in game seven of the 1970 NBA Finals versus the L.A. Lakers, a hobbled Reed limped on to the court after missing game six due to a hip injury and he made his first two shots from the field, providing inspiration as the Knicks rolled to a 113-99 victory. Walt Frazier had 36 points, 19 assists and seven rebounds in game seven but Reed received the Finals MVP after averaging a team-high 23.0 ppg plus 10.5 rpg during the series (Reed averaged 26.8 ppg during the first five games of the series before suffering the injury).

Bill Sharman ranked in the top five in MVP voting once (fifth in 1956; he also finished seventh in 1958) and he won the 1955 All-Star Game MVP. He made the All-NBA Team seven times, including four straight First Team selections (1956-59), and he was a seven-time All-Star. The All-Defensive Team had not been created at that time, but Sharman was a physical player despite being just 6-1, 190 pounds, and he was considered a tenacious and pugnacious defensive player. Jerry West once said that Sharman had more fights than Mike Tyson!

Sharman's .426 career field goal percentage may not look impressive at first glance but that is deceptive. Field goal percentages during his era were lower than in subsequent eras for a variety of reasons. Sharman was one of the greatest shooters of all-time. He not only ranked in the top 10 in field goal percentage five times during his 11 seasons but he also led the NBA in free throw percentage for five straight seasons (1953-57) and seven times overall; the only other player who led the league in free throw percentage seven times is Rick Barry (six times in the NBA, once in the ABA). Sharman's .883 career free throw percentage ranked first all-time when he retired and is still 14th in ABA/NBA history.

Sharman played on four championship teams (1957, 1959-61) as a member of the Boston Celtics, for whom he played 10 of his 11 NBA seasons.

Although not relevant to his worthiness for inclusion on the 50 Greatest Players List, it should be noted that Sharman is the first North American professional sports figure to win a championship as a player, as a coach and as an executive. He coached a championship team in the ABL, the ABA and the NBA. Sharman personified championship level success throughout his career and he is on the short list of people who have been inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach (John Wooden, Lenny Wilkens and Tommy Heinsohn are the others).

Before providing my take on the Boston Globe's list, I must emphasize that all of the players discussed above had great careers and made a significant impact on the sport. There is not one definitive top 50 list or only one correct way to construct such a list. All of these players deserve tremendous respect and appreciation.

I agree with nine of the additions made by the Boston Globe: LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant, Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton. However, instead of adding Dennis Rodman, Steve Nash, Reggie Miller and Paul Pierce, I would keep Dave Cowens, Willis Reed, Billy Cunningham and Pete Maravich. Cowens and Reed were dominant MVP centers who were strong contributors to multiple championship teams. Cunningham and Maravich both had careers cut short by injury/illness but here I am looking at peak value and, particularly in Maravich's case, historical impact on the game. Nash was a great passer and shooter but he was a reluctant scorer who had significant defensive liabilities. Pierce was an excellent player who had a long career but he was never an elite player like Cunningham and Maravich were in their primes. Rodman, as discussed in Part II, was a great rebounder and defender but I cannot place him on the list ahead of power forwards who not only rebounded and defended but also were top notch scorers.

In Part II, I discussed my reasons for not including Sam Jones, Earl Monroe, Nate Thurmond, Wes Unseld, Bill Walton, Lenny Wilkens and James Worthy.

In Part II, I rejected the notion of removing Dave DeBusschere from the 50 Greatest Players List--but that was in the context of a list published by Athlon Sports in 2008. By 2015, several more all-time greats had emerged and had earned a place on the list, which requires removing players who still would have made the cut just a few years earlier. DeBusschere was a tremendous player who was a key contributor for two championship teams, but he was never an MVP level player--let alone a perennial MVP candidate--so when you start adding players like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Dirk Nowitzki to the list you end up cutting players who were not MVP level performers.

As for Dave Bing and Bill Sharman, it is particularly difficult to leave out Sharman. He was a great two-way player on four championship teams and he is one of the best shooters of all-time. However, I just cannot quite rank him ahead of the players who the Boston Globe added whose careers took place subsequent to the creation of the original list; if the list remains limited to 50 players then this becomes a numbers game and it is inevitable that some great players will not make the cut. Bing did not have quite the two-way impact that Sharman did but he was a worthy member of the initial list who, like Sharman, is just not as good as some of the all-time great players who have come along in the past two decades or so.

---

Further Reading:

Part I of this series can be found here.

Part II of this series can be found here.

Labels: Allen Iverson, Dennis Rodman, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, Gary Payton, Kevin Durant, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Paul Pierce, Reggie Miller, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan

posted by David Friedman @ 5:51 PM

15 comments

Placing Kevin Garnett's Career in Proper Context is Complicated

Kevin Garnett recently announced his retirement, ending a 21 season career that was highlighted by one NBA championship (Boston, 2008), one regular season MVP award (2004), one Defensive Player of the Year award (2008), four rebounding titles (2004-07) and nine All-Defensive First Team selections. Garnett will be a first ballot Hall of Famer, albeit one who will be overshadowed by two other first ballot Hall of Famers in his class (Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan).

Garnett's impact extended beyond the court, because he directly or indirectly influenced changes in how the business of basketball operates. He entered the NBA in 1995 as a 19 year old known as "The Kid" and "The Big Ticket." He was the first basketball player to make the preps to pros jump since Darryl Dawkins in 1975 and the first to become an All-Star after doing so since Moses Malone, who jumped from high school straight to the ABA in 1974 and eventually became a three-time NBA MVP. In contrast, Dawkins enjoyed a 14 year NBA career but he never made the All-Star team.

Garnett's successful NBA debut paved the way for Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and several other future Hall of Famers to jump straight to the NBA from high school--but the failures of many other high school players who attempted the same feat (and shall remain nameless here) ultimately led to the NBA instituting a rule preventing teams from drafting or signing players who had just finished high school. After Garnett emerged as an All-Star in 1998, he signed a then mind boggling six year, $126 million contract extension that precipitated the 1999 lockout as owners scrambled to change the rules regarding rookie contracts and maximum contract size. Garnett's huge deal was grandfathered in, though, and is a major reason that Garnett has the highest career earnings of any player in NBA history.

Despite Garnett's fat bank account, no credible analyst would propose that he is one of the top 10 players of all-time or even one of the top 20 players of all-time; even his staunchest supporters would hesitate to rank him higher than somewhere between 21-30 among the best of the best.

However, the "stat gurus" always loved Garnett and one of the major themes repeated by many of the "stat gurus" when "advanced basketball statistics" were first gaining attention was that Garnett's value was not fully appreciated by old school talent evaluators but was only captured by proper numbers crunching. I found the whole spectacle ridiculous for a variety of reasons: (1) Garnett achieved fame, wealth and awards long before most people had any idea that "advanced basketball statistics" existed, so he was hardly underrated or ignored by conventional player evaluation methods; (2) many of the statistical systems that supposedly proved Garnett's efficiency had serious flaws; (3) the underlying premise that Garnett was the best player in the league ("stat guru" Dave Berri tapped Garnett for that honor not once, not twice but four years in a row!) is demonstrably false. In fact, the insistence by so many "stat gurus" that Garnett was underrated when he clearly was not underrated was one of the first warning signs to me that many "stat gurus" were not pursuing truth but rather creating story lines that would justify them being hired by ESPN or by NBA front offices (and this plan worked out very well for the "stat gurus," even if it made ESPN's NBA coverage--in both TV and print formats--unbearable at times and even if it made teams like the Philadelphia 76ers deplorable and unwatchable).

Addressing the first point, no one needed to crunch numbers on a fancy spreadsheet to figure out that Garnett was a very good player; the eye test showed that he was a mobile seven footer who scored, rebounded, passed, blocked shots and accumulated steals. He set solid (and, arguably, illegal) screens, he could guard multiple positions and he was durable. Those reasons explain why Garnett was able to go straight from high school to the NBA and quickly become the highest paid player ever while receiving All-Star selections and other honors. It is absurd to suggest that no one understood Garnett's worth until Dave Berri and other "stat gurus" showed up.

Regarding the second point, I have always insisted that if we are going to buy the premise that a given player is the best in the league because statistical system "X" says so then we also have to buy the premise that the other conclusions of statistical system "X" are valid, because the same methodology informs those conclusions. For example, let's take Value Over Replacement Player (VORP). According to that metric, in the past 20 years LeBron James has been the best player in the NBA eight times. Maybe you buy that premise, maybe you don't, but let's dig deeper. The other multiple leaders since 1996-97 are Kevin Garnett (three times) and Stephen Curry (twice). VORP tapped Shaquille O'Neal as the best player once and it never placed Kobe Bryant higher than third (VORP only placed Bryant in the top five in the NBA three times during his entire career). Tim Duncan also was only listed as the best player once. Maybe you are still on board with VORP, so try this on for size: VORP ranked Steve Francis as the best player in the NBA in 2000-01. If you still take VORP seriously, I don't think that I can help you understand basketball (or anything else). According to VORP, Tim Duncan was the best player in the NBA in 2001-02 and Kevin Garnett was the second best player. I disagree with that but maybe you don't think those particular rankings are outlandish, so please note that  in 2001-02 VORP ranked Brent Barry as the fourth best player in the NBA (O'Neal was eighth and Bryant 12th as they somehow defied "advanced basketball statistics" to lead the L.A. Lakers to a third straight championship).

So, if you are using VORP (or Berri's statistical gibberish, which produced similarly bizarre results) to support the idea that Garnett should have won three MVPs, then you are also co-signing on Francis winning one MVP and Brent Barry being an All-NBA First Team caliber player in 2001-02. This kind of nonsense explains why I spent so much time decrying "stat gurus" and "advanced basketball statistics" during the early years of 20 Second Timeout (with age I have come to realize that it is difficult to turn fools away from foolishness, particularly if the fools can make money by propounding said foolishness).

As for the third point, I don't believe that Garnett was ever the best player in the NBA; Berri and VORP are way off base by suggesting that he should have won multiple MVPs and even the official MVP voters lost the thread a bit in 2004 when they were so excited about the possibility of Garnett finally winning a playoff series that they gave him the MVP. The best thing that Garnett did in the 2003-04 season is stay healthy; he played in all 82 games, while Bryant, Duncan and O'Neal each missed at least 13 games. If the MVP voters used durability as the tiebreaker when choosing Garnett I can accept that but I am not buying that Garnett deserved the MVP because VORP and Berri said so.

Garnett was certainly a viable MVP candidate in 2004 but Duncan--already a two-time NBA champion--essentially posted the same numbers in 2004 that he did in 2003 when he won the second of his back to back MVPs. The San Antonio Spurs went 51-18 when Duncan played but just 6-7 in the games that he missed, which kind of suggests that Duncan was rather valuable. Similarly, the Lakers went 48-17 with Bryant and just 8-9 without him. The Lakers posted a 15-4 record when Bryant scored at least 30 points.

Garnett paid a lot of attention to his individual numbers, particularly during the first half of his career. During his prime, Garnett bragged that he produced "20-10-5" (averages of at least 20 ppg, 10 rpg and 5 apg) on a yearly basis. While that was true from 2000-2005, it is also true that his Minnesota Timberwolves went 5-13 in the playoffs during the first four of those seasons, never making it out of the first round. After adding two-time NBA champion Sam Cassell and 1999 NBA Finalist Latrell Sprewell to the roster, Minnesota advanced to the 2004 Western Conference Finals before losing in six games to the Lakers, who somehow overcame the non-MVP caliber VORP numbers of Bryant and O'Neal. Garnett's Timberwolves then missed the playoffs each of the next three seasons.

After the first of Garnett's six straight 20-10-5 seasons, Minnesota lost 3-1 to Portland in the first round of the 2000 playoffs. Scottie Pippen, in the twilight of his career at 34 years old, averaged 18.8 ppg, 7.0 rpg and 4.3 apg for Portland in the series. He shot just .419 from the field but he shot .421 from three point range and nearly a third of his field goal attempts were from beyond the arc, so his shooting was actually rather efficient overall. Pippen led Portland in scoring and rebounding during the series, while ranking second in assists. Garnett averaged 18.8 ppg, 10.8 rpg and 8.8 apg but he shot just .385 from the field, without the benefit of a lot of made three pointers to offset all of his errant attempts. He led Minnesota in rebounding and assists while ranking second in scoring to Terrell Brandon, who averaged 19.5 ppg on .508 field goal shooting.

A few years later, Pippen--never one to mince words--made some pointed comments about Garnett: "He really set the tone for self-destruction. He's very productive but unproductive. He gets you all the stats you want, but at the end of the day his points don't have an impact on [winning] the game. He plays with a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm, but in the last five minutes of the game he ain't the same player as in the first five." Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley had both previously criticized Garnett for not having a go-to scoring move in the post and for not carrying enough of the scoring burden down the stretch in close games.

Here is my June 2007 take on Garnett just before he was traded to Boston:

Garnett has put up gaudy numbers during his career--20.5 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 4.5 apg--but it could be argued that he has less impact on winning and losing then perhaps any other player who has ever won an MVP. Go through the list of MVP winners and try to find another one whose teams missed the playoffs for three straight years while he was healthy and in his prime. Garnett once boasted in a TV ad about how he puts up "20, 10 and 5" (referring to ppg, rpg and apg) year in and year out but one wonders if achieving those stats means more to him than putting up 50 (regular season wins) and 16 (the number of playoff wins it takes to win a championship). Tim Duncan seems utterly unconcerned with attaining certain specific individual statistical totals; he does whatever his team needs him to do to win on a given night.

The arrival of Julius Erving in Philadelphia turned the 76ers into instant, perennial championship contenders and he stuck it out with the franchise until they finally won a title. Isiah Thomas joined a 16 win Detroit team and transformed them into back to back champions a few years later during an era when the NBA was dominated by Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. Jordan joined a bad Chicago team and eventually led the Bulls to the top of the heap. Garnett strung together a bunch of first round losses, made it to the Conference Finals once and then wanted to flee Minnesota after missing the playoffs for three years in a row.

The trade to Boston was perfect for Garnett, for it teamed him up with two future Hall of Famers (Paul Pierce and Ray Allen) who were more than happy to do the clutch scoring down the stretch of close games. The Celtics also had a deep roster surrounding their All-Star trio, including a young point guard in Rajon Rondo who was the best player on the court at crucial times during the 2008 championship run.

The Celtics rolled to a 66-16 regular season record in 2007-08 and Garnett finished third in the regular season MVP voting. I would argue that this was perhaps the best season of his career even though he did not come close to 20-10-5, because Garnett was entirely focused on winning a championship, as opposed to putting up gaudy individual numbers to convince critics that it was not his fault that his team was losing. It is worth remembering, though, that Pierce--not Garnett--won the Finals MVP as the Celtics defeated Bryant's Lakers in six games.

Boston made it back to the Finals in 2009 but Bryant won the Finals MVP as his Lakers triumphed in seven games. Garnett battled injuries and declining skills during the rest of his career, making stops in Brooklyn and then Minnesota again before finally deciding to retire.

Duncan was without question the best power forward of this (or any) era. He averaged 19.0 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 3.0 apg and 2.2 bpg during his regular season career, increasing those numbers to 20.6 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 3.0 apg and 2.3 bpg during the playoffs. Garnett averaged 17.8 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 3.7 apg and 1.4 bpg during the regular season and 18.2 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 3.3 apg and 1.3 bpg during the playoffs. The numbers look comparable, though Duncan enjoys at least a slight edge across the board except for assists. However, Duncan had a much greater impact; he anchored the Spurs in the paint at both ends of the court, while Garnett far too often drifted away from the paint. Garnett had much more jumping ability than Duncan, yet Duncan blocked more shots. It is not a coincidence that Duncan won five championships and contended for titles throughout his career while Garnett won one championship and went through long stretches during which he did not contend for titles.

Garnett made the All-NBA First Team four times. Bryant and Karl Malone hold the record with 11 All-NBA First Team selections each. Duncan made the All-NBA First Team 10 times, matching Bob Cousy, Bob Pettit, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Players with nine All-NBA First Team selections include Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird (Julius Erving made the All-ABA First Team four times and the All-NBA First Team five times for a total of nine First Team selections).

Garnett's nine All-Defensive First Team selections are tied for first all-time with Jordan, Bryant and Gary Payton. Garnett's Defensive Player of the Year award in 2008 was well deserved, as his work at that end of the court played a major role in turning Boston into a dominant defensive team.

Much is made about Garnett's trash talking and toughness but I was never much impressed by either quality with Garnett. While I prefer athletes with a quiet demeanor like Erving, Duncan and Bjorn Borg, I have also rooted for and appreciated flamboyant performers such as Muhammad Ali, Reggie Jackson and Deion Sanders; I don't mind if you talk and strut if you back up the words and swagger by winning championships. Garnett spent more than 20 years running his mouth and he has exactly one championship to show for all of that noise--and he was not the best player on the court during that championship series. Ali, Jackson and Sanders were at their best when they faced the best. Regarding toughness, I don't remember Garnett confronting Charles Oakley or other real tough guys; when I picture Garnett yapping I picture him screaming at guys half his size and/or half his ability. OK, he tapped Duncan on the head once--and Duncan looked at Garnett like Garnett was crazy. Garnett did not intimidate Duncan and Garnett seemed far from enthusiastic about tapping anyone on the head who might have remotely considered responding in kind.

In his prime, Garnett was a first rate rebounder and defender. He scored and passed well, though not well enough to carry a team very far without substantial help. Garnett was a great player but he was never the NBA's best player. I think that the criticisms that Pippen, Magic and Barkley made about Garnett during Garnett's Minnesota days were valid and I don't think that the Boston championship refuted those criticisms; that championship proved that Garnett was willing and able to reduce his role to fit in on a title team (and he deserves credit for doing that) but it did not prove that Garnett was at the same level as his contemporaries O'Neal, Duncan, Bryant and James, players who performed at an individually dominant level during multiple championship runs.

Perhaps this article may come across as more negative than it is intended to be but I am simply trying to place Garnett's career in proper context, which is not easy to do after years of media rhapsodizing and reams of "analysis" that supposedly proved that Garnett was perennially the NBA's best player when O'Neal, Duncan and Bryant were all in the primes of their careers. It is not necessarily Garnett's fault that his value was overstated at times but as an analyst/commentator I feel duty bound to correct the record as the books close on a great--but not Pantheon level--career.

Labels: Boston Celtics, Kevin Garnett, Latrell Sprewell, Minnesota Timberwolves, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Sam Cassell

posted by David Friedman @ 7:25 AM

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The Twilight of Kobe Bryant

Unless you are a sadist or a hater, this kind of article is not fun to write or read. It is as poignant as it is inevitable, because Father Time is undefeated and he will always be undefeated; even if you take Father Time to the final moments of the 15th round, Father Time always wins. The seemingly ageless George Blanda eventually retired, the seemingly peerless Michael Jordan played past the point where he was no longer the best (or the 10th best) player in the NBA and former World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand won the title in multiple formats against multiple challengers before inevitably succumbing to the youth and talent of Magnus Carlsen.

Now, Kobe Bryant--who has spent his career overcoming obstacles and injuries, including playing left-handed when he had a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder and walking off of the court with only a slight limp after tearing his Achillles--is deep into the 15th round versus Father Time. Before we look at Bryant's statistics or the Lakers' record, it is worth remembering that Bryant is a shooting guard playing his 20th season in the NBA. This is uncharted territory. Only three pro basketball players have played 21 seasons and each of them--the retired Robert Parish and Kevin Willis, plus the (barely) active Kevin Garnett--were big men playing very small roles in that 21st campaign: Parish (who had not been a double figure scorer since season 18) averaged 3.7 ppg in 43 games, Willis had retired for a year before coming back for season 21 to score 12 points in five games and Garnett (who has not been a double figure scorer since season 18) has scored 10 points in five games so far this season.

Furthermore, in the past three years, Bryant has ruptured his Achilles--a career-altering if not career-ending injury for many players, including Nate Archibald, Isiah Thomas and Dominique Wilkins--fractured his kneecap and torn the rotator cuff in his right (shooting) shoulder. During the preseason, he suffered a calf bruise. He is 37 years old but he is an old 37 because he came to the NBA straight out of high school and has made many deep playoff runs, including seven trips to the NBA Finals. It is remarkable that Bryant can still get up and down the court in an NBA game and that he can get off 20 or more field goal attempts in an NBA game. Any negative comments about Bryant's efficiency should be prefaced by wonderment that he is still able to play at all.

No, Kobe Bryant is not the player that he used to be in his prime or even the player that he was three years ago before the Achilles injury when--as a 34 year old in his 17th season--he made the All-NBA First Team and finished fifth in MVP voting after ranking third in the league in scoring (27.3 ppg) and second in the league in minutes (38.6 mpg). Bryant is averaging 16.5 ppg (tied for the team lead) while shooting .320 from the field (including .208 from the three point line). He is shooting way too many three pointers (eight attempts per game, easily a career-high) and his usually first-rate floor game has declined (his per minute rebounds, assists and steals are all well below his career norms and he has yet to block a shot in six games). The Lakers are 1-5 and look terrible, with no offensive rhythm and no defensive effort.

Some members of the media are making a big deal about Bryant shooting 6-19 from the field yesterday as the Lakers lost what will probably be Bryant's final appearance in Madison Square Garden. That is not the performance that will define Bryant's MSG career; six years ago, Bryant set the MSG scoring record of 61 points (since broken by Carmelo Anthony) despite playing with a dislocated ring finger on his shooting hand. Bryant shot 19-31 from the field and 20-20 from the free throw line in a 126-117 Lakers win that day. Ali is defined by his bouts with Frazier, not his losses to Holmes and Berbick.

NBA Radio commentator Brian Scalabrine thinks that Bryant should be more like Paul Pierce and accept a role as a bench player. With all due respect to future Hall of Famer Pierce, he is not in the same league as Bryant in terms of playing skill, toughness or leadership. Pierce had a stacked team with two other Hall of Famers plus an elite (at least at the time) point guard and he won one championship; Bryant won five championships in addition to leading some horrible teams to the playoffs. Bryant never flinched or made excuses in the face of injury; Pierce dramatically left a 2008 NBA Finals game in a wheelchair only to come back on the court a few minutes later. Bryant not only led the Lakers to multiple championships and brought out the best in teammates ranging from the sublime (Shaquille O'Neal) to the ridiculous (Kwame Brown, Smush Parker) but he also was the difference maker as Team USA reclaimed its proper gold medal status in the 2008 Olympics.

No, as Frank Isola correctly responded to Scalabrine, Bryant is in a different category than Pierce and has a different mindset.

Bryant does not have to take a Paul Pierce or Kevin Garnett playing role in order to be a good mentor for the Lakers' younger players. Bryant has always led by example with his work ethic, his toughness and his high basketball IQ. Bryant does not belong on the Lakers' bench because the Lakers stink and they do not have anyone who can play small forward or shooting guard better than he does. Let's keep this real: Kobe Bryant is not holding back the L.A. Lakers. This team may not reach .500 even if Bryant recaptures some semblance of his old form and right now it is headed for no more than 25 wins without Bryant playing at an All-NBA level. It is not like the Lakers have a surplus of talented players who are being held back based on Bryant taking X amount of minutes and shot attempts.

Bryant recently mentioned that he is held to a higher standard than his peers and that he embraces that challenge. Bryant is right that if any other player in the NBA has a bad shooting game it is just a bad shooting game but that if Bryant has a bad shooting game then it is portrayed as a big deal.

It cannot be emphasized enough that Bryant is a 37 year old shooting guard who is in his 20th NBA season. He is coming back from multiple injuries sustained in the past three years and he suffered a setback during the preseason when he bruised his calf. Everyone, including Bryant, understands that he is not the player that he used to be--but we are just six games into this season. If Bryant's calf heals and if he does not suffer any other injuries, then his shooting percentage will inch back to a respectable level and he will make a positive impact for the Lakers. In a basketball sense, he is not finished; he still has his footwork, he is still in shape. He can still play, albeit not at his former level.

However, it looks increasingly likely that Bryant will never be fully healthy again. He is getting injured more and more frequently and even the minor injuries are exacting a greater toll than they did before.

This is the 15th round of Bryant's bout versus Father Time. He has battled Father Time as hard and as long as anyone but the end of the 15th round is near. This is not about Bryant embracing a different role. Bryant is who he is and he will finish his career, this season, as a starting player occupying a large role. Instead of nitpicking every shot taken during the final playing days of one of the sport's all-time greats, we should applaud the spirit and guts that Bryant is demonstrating in defiance of the Father Time who not only defeats all athletes but who eventually defeats us all. I wonder if the critics who bash Bryant now will face the 15th round of their lives as well as Bryant is facing the 15th round of his playing life.

It is not my place--or anyone else's place--to tell Bryant what he should do as long as there is at least one NBA team willing to pay his salary. Bryant has earned the right to finish his career on his terms. It will not be pretty or fun to watch at times but I hope that he can summon up the health and wherewithal to author a few more classic games before riding off into the sunset. Almost every great player says that he will not stick around past the point of being the best player in the sport--Julius Erving planned to retire in his early 30s but was an All-Star in his final year at 37, Michael Jordan vowed to not stick around until he was "just" an All-Star like Erving but played until he was "just" an All-Star at 39 and Bryant is now on a similar arc. The love of the game is too strong and the internal pride is too great for such players to retire until they reach that 15th round with Father Time. Erving had the most graceful exit of the three. He announced his retirement early in his 16th season, he enjoyed a marvelous and unprecedented "Farewell Tour," he was still a very good player (16.8 ppg, .471 FG%) and he was a key contributor for a playoff team. He became just the third player in pro basketball history to score 30,000 career points and a late two-game flourish (38 points and 24 points in his final two regular season games) enabled him to keep intact his streak of scoring at least 1000 points in every season of his career.

Erving and Jordan played past the point of being the best player in the world but they both had some very good games in their final seasons; it does not seem to be Bryant's style or plan to announce his retirement in advance or have a formal farewell tour but here is hoping that Bryant uncorks some 40 point outings in the next few months before calling it a career.

Labels: Brian Scalabrine, Frank Isola, Julius Erving, Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers, Madison Square Garden, Michael Jordan, New York Knicks, Paul Pierce

posted by David Friedman @ 12:53 PM

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A Young Man's Game

Veteran savvy and playoff experience can be helpful when trying to win a title but ultimately youth and raw talent are the most important ingredients in the championship recipe. Magnus Carlsen demonstrated this in the 2013 World Chess Championship and the past two NBA seasons have reinforced the value of youth/health/energy relative to experience/accumulated wisdom. The injuries and fatigue suffered by older players more than offset the theoretical advantages that veteran players enjoy in terms of their experience in pressure-packed games.

The 2012-13 L.A. Lakers assembled a starting lineup that would have dominated the NBA just a few years ago: Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace. Unfortunately for the Lakers, four of those five players have declined, while the fifth--Howard--moved like an old man as a result of his recovery from offseason back surgery. That star-studded quintet started just seven games together and did not win any of those contests. They did not play a single minute together as a collectively healthy unit. Assembling that group looked great on paper--and I thought that the Lakers had the right kind of balance to challenge the Miami Heat--but expecting those five players to stay healthy and to quickly mesh together was, in retrospect, not realistic. The Lakers were not the 1995-96 Bulls, a squad that partnered three Hall of Famers who were each in--or at least very close to--their primes; Bryant was the only Laker who consistently played at a high level in the 2012-13 season and his left Achilles tendon ruptured under the weight of the Lakers' ineptitude.

The Brooklyn Nets did not draw the right conclusions from the Lakers' failed geriatric experiment; the Nets brought in Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry--three older players who have championship experience--to bolster the Deron Williams-Joe Johnson-Brook Lopez trio. On paper, a starting lineup of Garnett, Pierce, Lopez, Williams and Johnson looks powerful--but on the court that quintet has gone just 3-5 this season. Much has been written and said about the strategic acumen of first year Coach Jason Kidd but the reality is that he has not yet had the opportunity to direct the squad that he expected to lead; the Nets have been wracked with injuries and several of their veteran players have performed well below expectations: Garnett has appeared in 28 of Brooklyn's 31 games but he looks washed up, averaging just 6.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg and 1.6 apg while shooting a career-low .364 from the field.

Experience can certainly be an asset--LeBron James became a back to back champion in no small part because he learned from his failures in the 2011 NBA Finals and the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals--but the benefits of youth cannot be overstated; LeBron James possesses superior health/conditioning, enabling him to maximize his talent and thus overpower/wear down opposing teams during a seven game series. The NBA season is such a long grind that older teams like the 2012-13 Lakers and the 2013-14 Nets struggle to make it to the postseason at full strength, let alone survive the mental, physical and emotional rigors of playoff basketball.

Labels: Brooklyn Nets, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol, Paul Pierce, Steve Nash

posted by David Friedman @ 11:58 AM

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Miami's Energetic Big Three Wears Down Boston's Old Big Three

In the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" fight, Muhammad Ali leaned against the ropes and absorbed body shots from George Foreman for several rounds before asking Foreman, "Is that all you got?" Ali took Foreman's heart with those words and soon after that he knocked Foreman out to regain the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship. The Boston Celtics wore themselves out landing body blows on the Miami Heat in game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals--leading by as many as 11 points, maintaining a seven point halftime edge and staying in front as late as the eight minute mark of the fourth quarter--before the Heat figuratively asked, "Is that all you got?" and closed the game out with a 20-6 run to earn their second consecutive trip to the NBA Finals. In the "Rumble in the Jungle" the wily former champion outlasted the young, inexperienced champion but in the Boston-Miami matchup we saw the young challenger outlast a wily former champion seeking one final shot at the title. Miami fans who think that their team will have many chances to win a championship should keep in mind that in five years together Boston's Big Three plus Rajon Rondo quartet made it to the NBA Finals twice and won one championship; injuries, the rise of new contenders and other factors affect how many chances a team gets to win a title--and even a team with multiple future Hall of Famers is not immune to those challenges and twists of fate.

The Celtics executed the proper anti-Heat game plan for much of game seven, building a lead by limiting their turnovers, outscoring the Heat in the paint and preventing Miami from scoring in transition. Rondo authored his fourth triple double of this postseason and the 10th of his playoff career (22 points, 14 assists, 10 rebounds) and each member of Boston's Big Three scored in double figures--19 points for Paul Pierce, 15 points for Ray Allen, 14 points for Kevin Garnett--but Boston's bench supplied just two points, forcing Boston's old warriors to shoulder a load that they no longer can carry. The Big Three looked like a boxer who had punched himself to exhaustion or a race car with an overheated engine: their fourth quarter shots came up short, they could not find the energy to pursue rebounds or loose balls and their defensive rotations were late. The 26 year old Rondo will obviously be the cornerstone of Boston's rebuilding project, since it seems unlikely that the Celtics will bring back the Big Three as a group. This was Rondo's second game seven triple double of the 2012 playoffs, a remarkable feat considering that no other player in NBA history has more than one game seven triple double in his entire career (Russell Westbrook, Scottie Pippen, James Worthy, Larry Bird and Jerry West are the only other players who have had a game seven triple double).

The return of Chris Bosh to full minutes (31) and full productivity (19 points on 8-10 field goal shooting, eight rebounds) proved to be a decisive X factor in game seven; his timely shot making--including three three point field goals after shooting just 4-20 from behind the arc in his entire playoff career--not only provided crucial points but also spread Boston's defense thin, opening up driving lanes for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. It is not a coincidence that the Heat are 7-2 in the 2012 playoffs with Bosh (including 2-1 versus Boston) and just 5-4 without him; foolish critics dubbed Miami's Big Three "Two and a Half Men"--not so subtly suggesting that Bosh is not nearly as important or productive as James and Wade--but intelligent basketball observers know that Bosh is hardly half a man from a basketball standpoint.

Wade got off to his customary slow start but finished with 23 points, six rebounds and six assists. Supposedly a knee injury is causing his inconsistent play but I have never heard of a knee injury that afflicts a player at the start of the game when he is loose and warmed up but then becomes better after the player sits around for 15 minutes at halftime; usually the concern with a knee injury is that the knee will become stiff if the player sits down for too long and/or that the injury will become aggravated the longer that he plays. I am not saying that Wade is not legitimately injured but just that it seems more likely that his inconsistent performances are being caused by something other than a knee injury.

The Celtics' legacy is set thanks to their 2008 championship, Wade's 2006 championship/Finals MVP means that he likely will never have to pay for a drink in Miami and few people perceive the playoffs as a referendum on Bosh's legacy; we all know that any elimination game for the Heat will be viewed and remembered first and foremost from the perspective of how it impacts James' legacy--at least until he wins a championship. James led the way with game-high totals in scoring (31 points) and rebounding (12). His shot was off (9-21 field goal shooting, .429) and he uncharacteristically only had two assists but for the most part he played the way he is supposed to play, the way that he should play all of the time: he attacked the basket instead of settling for jump shots or passively getting rid of the ball. James is a great passer blessed with exceptional court vision but--no matter how many times various people say it--he is not a pass first player and he is not the second coming of Magic Johnson; James is an incredible scoring machine and when he is on his game he is the 21st century Julius Erving, soaring to the hoop with one arm extended straight over his head for a devastating tomahawk dunk. The scoring and rebounding numbers that James is putting up during the Heat's 2012 playoff run are not Magic-like or Jordanesque but they are similar to the numbers Erving amassed in his ABA days, particularly when Erving led the Nets to the 1976 ABA title.

The big difference between Erving and James--other than the fact that Erving won two championships by the time he was 26 while James is still seeking his first championship at the age of 27--is that you never had to wonder which Erving would show up from game to game; Erving consistently attacked the hoop and he played with great energy at both ends of the court, while James needs to finish off this playoff run strongly and lead his team to a championship to make up for the fact that he blatantly quit during his previous two playoff campaigns (against Boston in 2010 and against Dallas in 2011). ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy said that there should be a two year statute of limitations on stupidity (referring to James' infamous Decision followed up by the Heat's ridiculous preseason celebration of the multiple championships they have yet to win) but while James can perhaps be forgiven for his poor public relations moves and ill advised comments about how "easy" it would be to "win multiple championships" the fact that the best player in the sport quit during the playoffs two years in a row should not be quickly forgiven or forgotten; James' great predecessors had bad games, made mistakes and experienced painful failures at times but no one ever had to wonder if they would try their hardest. James owes it to himself, to his teammates, to his great predecessors and to the sport itself to try his hardest during the 2012 NBA Finals; regardless of what stat lines James ultimately produces or which team eventually wins the title, there should never be a time in the NBA Finals when James is passively standing in the corner watching the game unfold: he must be constantly on the move, with or without the ball. That is not placing undue pressure on James; that is the level of expectation that goes along with being a three-time MVP. As ESPN's Magic Johnson and Chris Broussard noted during the pregame show, it is a compliment that James is expected to do so many wonderful things--and James should hope that the day never comes when people stop expecting him to be great.

Labels: Boston Celtics, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Miami Heat, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen

posted by David Friedman @ 1:43 AM

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