TL Sunday Sports Notes – NBA @ 75
By TERRY LYONS
BOSTON – Last weekend, I teased my personal NBA @ 75 list of the Greatest Players in NBA history. If you need a refresher, click HERE. In that column, I promised to reveal my Top 10 players and the Final 15 to go with the 60 players named in groups of 10 last weekend.
Here are my Top 10 (listed in ALPHABETICAL ORDER):
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Elgin Baylor
Larry Bird
Kobe Bryant
Wilt Chamberlain
LeBron James
Earvin “Magic” Johnson
Michael Jordan
Oscar Robertson
Bill Russell
For my NBA @ 75, I don’t feel compelled to list the group in order (1-75). To make the NBA @ 75 is an honor in itself and it shouldn’t be tainted by being No. 74 or 75. In fact, in this column, I plan to list a bunch of players I considered for the final five spots. Please note this columnist is NOT on the NBA’s voting committee for the honors.
For continuity sake, I’ll now pick-up with the 60 players listed in groups of 10 last week:
NBA at 75: Next 10 or No. 11-20:
Rick Barry
Tim Duncan
Julius Erving
Karl Malone
Moses Malone
Dirk Nowitzki
Hakeem Olajuwon
Shaquille O’Neal
Bob Pettit
Jerry West
Next Ten: (21-30)
Charles Barkley
Steph Curry
Kevin Durant
John Havlicek
Allen Iverson
George Mikan
Scottie Pippen
David Robinson
John Stockton
Isiah Thomas
Next Ten: (31-40)
Bob Cousy
Walt Frazier
George Gervin
Dan Issel
Sam Jones
Bob McAdoo
Kevin McHale
Willis Reed
Dwayne Wade
Bill Walton
Next Ten (aka No. 41-50):
Ray Allen
Nate Archibald
Dave Bing
Dave Cowens
Artis Gilmore
Hal Greer
Elvin Hayes
Earl Monroe
Lenny Wilkens
James Worthy
Next Ten: (51-60)
Paul Arizon
Billy Cunningham
Clyde Drexler
Alex English
Patrick Ewing
Reggie Miller
Jason Kidd
Wes Unseld
Russell Westbrook
Dominique Wilkins
Now, the most difficult part! Here are my Final 15:
Vince Carter
Kevin Garnett
Connie Hawkins
Tommy Heinsohn
Bernard King
Pete Maravich
Steve Nash
Robert Parish
Nate Thurmond
Jamaal Wilkes
The Final 5:
Giannis Antetokounmpo
James Harden
Kawhi Leonard
Paul Pierce
David Thompson
Those highly considered but fell short on my list:
Carmelo Anthony
Zelmo Beaty
Walt Bellamy
Adrian Dantley
Dave DeBusschere
Luka Doncic
Joe Dumars
Joe Fulks
Pau Gasol
Tom Gola
Gail Goodrich
Spencer Haywood
Grant Hill
Dennis Johnson
Gus Johnson
Bobby Jones
Nikola Jokic
Damien Lillard
Bob Lanier
Jerry Lucas
George McGinnis
Tracy McGrady
Chris Mullin
Calvin Murphy
Tony Parker
Chris Paul
Gary Payton
Dennis Rodman
Arvydas Sabonis
Dolph Schayes
Bill Sharman
Klay Thompson
Andrew Toney
Yao Ming
CONSIDER: Many voters contemplated their votes with both the NBA at 50 and the league’s 25th Anniversary team in mind. Can you drop members voted for the NBA at 50 team? For the 25th Anniversary team, a panel framed nominees, and then a team (by position) was selected.
Here was the 25th Anniversary Team: (December 1971)
Name, Career Years
Forwards
Paul Arizin*, 1950-1962
Joe Fulks*, 1946-1954
Harry Gallatin*, 1948-1958
Tom Gola*, 1955-1966
Vern Mikkelsen*, 1949-1959
Bob Pettit*, 1954-1965
Jim Pollard*, 1947-1955
Tom Heinsohn*, 1956-1965
Dolph Schayes*, 1948-1964
George Yardley*, 1953-1960
Centers
Neil Johnston*, 1951-1959
Ed Macauley*, 1949-1959
George Mikan*, 1946-1954, 1955-1956
Bill Russell*, 1956-1969
Maurice Stokes*, 1955-1958
Guards
Richie Guerin*, 1956-1970
Bob Cousy*, 1950-1963, 1969-1970
Bob Davies*, 1946-1955
Bob Feerick, 1945-1950
Sam Jones*, 1957-1969
Slater Martin*, 1949-1960
Dick McGuire*, 1949-1960
Bill Sharman*, 1950-1961
Bobby Wanzer*, 1947-1957
Max Zaslofsky, 1946-1956
NBA 25th Anniversary Team
List of honored players, sorted by position
F Bob Pettit
F Dolph Schayes
F Paul Arizin
F Joe Fulks
C Bill Russell
C George Mikan
G Bob Cousy
G Bill Sharman
G Bob Davies
G Sam Jones
Coach: Red Auerbach
Bill Russell was the only unanimous selection to the team. Furthermore, all nominees of the 25th Anniversary Team besides Feerick and Zaslofky were inducted into Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame. You might note, Wilt Chamberlain was left off the 25th Anniversary all-time team as only two centers (Russell and Mikan) were selected.
To further complicate the process, the NBA celebrated and selected a 35th Anniversary team in 1980-81 and only four players from the 25th Anniversary Team were selected into NBA 35th Anniversary Team (Pettit, Cousy, Russell, and Mikan). However, along with them, four other players of this team (Arizin, Jones, Schayes, Sharman) were selected into NBA 50 Greatest Players of All-Time in 1996. Here is the NBA @ 50 list.
FEEL FREE TO COMPLAIN, ARGUE … BUT: If you are going to complain about any player left off the list, you are required to name the player or players that must be removed.
There’s a slight chance I missed a player and will be mortified if it’s a player we all know merits Top 75 selection. If so, I apologize in advance and will own up to the mistake. I just ask, please also indicate the player to be removed.
LAST BIT: Last week, I noted that my beloved NBA seems to have a knack for ruining a great story in the making by having a terrible, and usually off-court issue, make headlines. The NBA players who are choosing to forego anti-COVID-19 vaccination(s) dominated the news just as training camp began. Instead of stories about the players, the contending teams and exciting changes, a story about COVID stole every headline. Since then, Andrew Wiggins of Golden State decided to get the vax. Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets did not and he plans to miss all the Nets home games and many others played in municipalities which require proof of vaccination for entry. Somehow, the Nets were able to clear Irving for practices in their state-of-the-art Brooklyn practice facility, as it is a private building. His decision remained the dominant story in the NBA preseason season of 2021 until this week when we learned of 18 former NBA players being indicted for an illegal health care scheme. The players were allegedly filing fraudulent health and dental claims to their retirement benefit plan to the tune of $3.9 million in false claims.
The saddest part of this indictment is the fact the players are allegedly stealing from their own – the NBA – and it truly upsets the very essence of what the NBA and its players try to instill in its member players.