Official #39 NBA Player Of All Time According To ISH
#38 - Bob McAdoo. “The Mac” was probably the first perimeter big man ever. He set up everything after him, Ralph Sampson, Derrick Coleman, Chris Webber, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki among others. He was an MV by his second season and a 3 time scoring champ He got his Buffulo Braves the the play-offs a number of times but didn’t get that ring until he became the Showtime Lakers 6th man.
| PPG 22.1 | RPG 9.4 | APG 2.3 | SPG 1 | BPG 1.5 | 5 NBA All-Star Games
2 All-NBA Teams
NBA MVP Award
2 NBA Championships
ISH 100 Greatest NBA Players of All-Time
1. Michael Jordan
2. Wilt Chamberlain
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
4. Earvin 'Magic' Johnson
5. Larry Bird
6. Bill Russell
7. Shaquille O'Neal
8. Oscar Robertson
9. Hakeem Olajuwon
10. Tim Duncan
11. Jerry West
12. Julius Erving
13. Moses Malone
14. Elgin Baylor
15. Bob Pettit
16. John Havlicek
17. Karl Malone
18. George Mikan
19. David Robinson
20. Isiah Thomas
21. Charles Barkley
22. John Stockton
23. Bob Cousy
24. Kobe Bryant
25. Rick Barry
26. Scottie Pippen
27. Clyde Drexler
28. Gary Payton
29. Willis Reed
30. Patrick Ewing
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31. Allen Iverson
32. Walt Frazier
33. Elvin Hayes
34. George Gervin
35. Jason Kidd
36. Dave Cowens
37. Kevin Garnett
38. Bob McAdoo
Players to consider:
Nate Archibald
Paul Arizin
Billy Cunningham
Hal Greer
Sam Jones
Kevin McHale
Dolph Schayes
Nate Thurmond
Wes Unseld
Bill Walton
#38 Greatest Player Voting Bob McAdoo = 9 votes
Steve Nash = 6 votes
Dirk Nowitzki = 5 votes
Kevin Johnson = 4 votes
Kevin McHale = 3 votes
Dolph Schayes = 2 votes
Nate Thurmond = 2 votes
Wes Unseld = 2 votes
Pete Maravich = 2 votes
Sam Jones = 1 vote
Alex English = 1 vote
Adrian Dantley = 1 vote
Reggie Miller = 1 vote
Re: Official #39 NBA Player Of All Time According To ISH
I'm going with Nate Thurmond. I'm surprised that KJ/Nash/Nowitzki all got more votes than Dolph/Nate. It looks like the trio could be the next few guys getting in.
Re: Official #39 NBA Player Of All Time According To ISH
How is Adrian Dantley not on your mention list?
24.3 PPG on .540 FG for a 6'5 guard is ridiculous...he also averaged 5.7 rebounds per game, 1 SPG and 3 APG.
But his scoring ability should be enough for him to get at least recognized as the 39th best player of all-time. NBA Rookie Of The Year, 6 time All-Star...certainly enough credentials for him to be among those mentioned.
Dominique Wilkins should also be on that ballot...
Re: Official #39 NBA Player Of All Time According To ISH
I vote for Nate Thurmond again.
It's nice to see he's getting more votes now.
I would guess that he has 3 things working against him in some voters minds--maybe 4 if there are some who don't even know who he is. None of these things are Thurmond's fault.
1) He played a long time ago. In that case, you either need to learn more about the past, or realize that Thurmond played against great competition.
2) His lack of awards are due to playing in the richest era of NBA centers. Nevertheless, he was 2nd in MVP voting (to Wilt Chamberlain) for the 1966-67 season, and he was selected to 5 All-Defensive Teams, which was all he really could be selected to because of when the award began and because injury and post-prime play took away his chances for more.
2) His lack of a championship is due to never having a stable team, while the two best players he did play with shortly were, more or less, selfish players. And, he lost to stacked teams, like Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and the Milwaukee Bucks or Wilt Chamberlain and "the greatest team ever" the Philadelphia 76ers. Nevertheless, he was in 2 NBA Finals and in 5 Conference Finals during his 14 NBA seasons.
Here's part of an earlier post I wrote on Thurmond:
Quote:
Thurmond is one of the greatest defensive players in NBA history and one of its greatest all-around centers. He averaged 15 PPG and 15 RPG during his 14 NBA seasons. Many sources say that he was better defensively than Wilt Chamberlain and better offensively than Bill Russell. That's a simple way of looking at it, but it does give you an idea of how great a player Thurmond was. He was the first player to achieve a quadruple-double in NBA history. It was the first game of Thurmond's season on a new team and after only a season since steals and blocks began being officially counted. Thurmond was 33 years old and on his last legs, too. He had 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 blocks.
Looking at the stats, he was one of the rare centers, like Chamberlain and Russell, to be able to play for more than 40 minutes per game. Today, we think it's incredible if a guard averages more than 40 minutes per game. Even when counting his last 2 seasons where he averaged less than 20 minutes per game in a diminished role, as well as his rookie season of 25.9 MPG, Thurmond ranks 5th all-time in MPG among centers, with a career average of 37.2 MPG.
Allen Iverson has played as much as 43.7 MPG for a season. LeBron James has played as much as 42.5 MPG for a season. Thurmond played 45.2 MPG during a season. His following season of 44.6 MPG is also higher than the highest MPG seasons of these two current perimeter players. Only Chamberlain, Nate Archibald, Oscar Robertson, Neil Johnston and John Havlicek have had seasons with a higher MPG average than Thurmond’s 45.2 MPG.
Thurmond is also one of the greatest rebounders in NBA history. His 15 RPG is fifth all-time. He holds the NBA record for most rebounds in a quarter with 18. He had 42 rebounds in one game. He is one of 4 players to average at least 20 PPG and 20 RPG for an entire season. Moreover, those 4 players (Chamberlain, Jerry Lucas, Bob Pettit and Russell) are the only players to ever average 20 RPG for an entire season.
He was a great passing big man. He was built in the traditional mold where centers were playmakers and outlet passers. Unfortunately, they don't make them like this anymore. He was also acknowledged as one of the best at setting screens.
He could score, as indicated by 5 consecutive seasons with an average of at least 20 PPG. I do acknowledge, however, that his shooting accuracy was a weakness. His FG% was always below average. His FT% was nothing to write home about, either, although he did have a decent FT% of 72-76% for about 4 seasons.
Above all else, Thurmond was a great defensive player. He was one of the greatest shot-blockers in NBA history, too, but unfortunately the stat wasn't counted until near the end of his career. At the age of 32, as his ability overall began to slip, he averaged 2.9 BPG and 2.4 BPG the following season. I think it's a conservative assumption that Thurmond averaged more than 4 BPG during his prime. Of his era, probably only Russell and Chamberlain were better shot blockers. He was quick, strong and relentless. The two greatest scoring centers of his era--Wilt and Kareem--say he was the greatest defender they ever faced. And Thurmond played in the greatest era of defensive centers in NBA history (and of centers in general).
All-Defensive Teams began being selected after the 1968-69 season, after which Thurmond was selected 5 times to either the First or Second Team. After he was traded from the Warriors, Thurmond's role and ability quickly diminished, so he was prime or somewhere near it for only 6 of the seasons that the All-Defensive teams were selected. The one season of those that Thurmond didn't make it, it was because he only played in 43 games due to injury.
Re: Official #39 NBA Player Of All Time According To ISH
Quote:
Originally Posted by D-Fence
I vote for Nate Thurmond again.
It's nice to see he's getting more votes now.
I would guess that he has 3 things working against him in some voters minds--maybe 4 if there are some who don't even know who he is. None of these things are Thurmond's fault.
1) He played a long time ago. In that case, you either need to learn more about the past, or realize that Thurmond played against great competition.
2) His lack of awards are due to playing in the richest era of NBA centers. Nevertheless, he was 2nd in MVP voting (to Wilt Chamberlain) for the 1966-67 season, and he was selected to 5 All-Defensive Teams, which was all he really could be selected to because of when the award began and because injury and post-prime play took away his chances for more.
2) His lack of a championship is due to never having a stable team, while the two best players he did play with shortly were, more or less, selfish players. And, he lost to stacked teams, like Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and the Milwaukee Bucks or Wilt Chamberlain and "the greatest team ever" the Philadelphia 76ers. Nevertheless, he was in 2 NBA Finals and in 5 Conference Finals during his 14 NBA seasons.
Here's part of an earlier post I wrote on Thurmond:
Official #39 NBA Player Of All Time According To ISH
