NBA’s 50 Greatest by Position

Tonight we’ll see the NBA’s 50 Greatest Player’s relative rankings by position after averaging all six statistical categories previously discussed to produce a numerical average where, like golf, the lowest score equals the best rank. This list was released in 1996, so none of today’s greats are on it. In one way, we’ll be comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges.

However, in another way, we’ll never be able to compare these players to each other. Each player filled a different role on a different team. Having said that, then, it is important to put the information on this list into context. Remember a quote popularized by American humorist Mark Twain and widely attributed to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

And, I’d also like to borrow a phrase from an early NFL Commissioner Bert Bell and apply it to this list. Bell said, “On any given Sunday, any team in the NFL can beat any other team.”  Applying that quote to this list, we realize that all of the players on this list are great athletes and fantastic basketball players who could dominate a game on any given night. A team composed of Robert Parish at center, James Worthy and Kevin McHale at forwards, and Earl Monroe and John Stockton at guards would be a great team in any era, period.

Author’s notes.

1) Rankings such as this one have the basic supposition that all data categories are equally important. That supposition may or may not be true. I’m certain that scoring and points per game had a totally different meaning to Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.

2) The players “per game” averages were ranked from 1 to 50, with 1 being the best rank and 50 being the lowest rank in any category.

3) If two or more players were tied with the same raw data, they were all given the best rank possible. Thus, there are 30 players ranked at #21 in the MVP category because none of these 30 players won an MVP award. Also, in points per game (PPG) MJ and Wilt both earned a “#1” (the best score) because they had identical 30.1 averages, rounded to one decimal place.

4) The numerical average (NUM AVG) shows the average of all six categories of data, with the lowest score being the best rank. All six data categories were added together and then divided by 6 to arrive at the NUM AVG.

5) And, just to make sure we’re all on the same court: PPG = points per game, RPG = rebounds per game, APG = assists per game, MPG = minutes per game, Rings = championships won, and MVP = MVP awards won.

6) Finally, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

CENTERS

#	NAME		PPG Rank	RPG Rank	APG Rank	MPG Rank	“Rings” Rank	MVP Rank	NUM AVG
1	Wilt Chamberlain	C	1	1	18	1	16	4	6.83
2	Bill Russell	C	45	2	19	2	1	2	11.83
3	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	C	9	15	28	17	4	1	12.33
4	Dave Cowens	C	39	7	27	8	16	10	17.83
5	Hakeem Olajuwon	C	12	16	40	25	16	10	19.83
6	George Mikan	C	14	9	37	36	8	21	20.83
7	Shaquille O’Neal	C	18	18	40	33	10	10	21.50
8	Wes Unseld	C	50	6	23	21	26	10	22.67
9	David Robinson	C	19	19	40	33	16	10	22.83
10	Willis Reed	C	33	10	46	28	16	10	23.83
11	Moses Malone	C	24	12	49	41	26	5	26.17
12	Nate Thurmond	C	46	5	39	14	42	21	27.83
13	Bill Walton	C	48	20	30	49	16	10	28.83
14	Patrick Ewing	C	20	24	45	38	42	21	31.67
15	Robert Parish	C	47	25	49	48	10	21	33.33

FORWARDS

#	NAME		PPG Rank	RPG Rank	APG Rank	MPG Rank	“Rings” Rank	MVP Rank	NUM AVG
1	Larry Bird	F	10	23	9	9	13	5	11.50
2	Bob Pettit	F	5	3	33	6	26	8	13.50
3	Elgin Baylor	F	3	8	19	4	42	21	16.17
4	John Havlicek	F	22	33	17	20	3	21	19.33
5	Karl Malone	F	8	21	28	14	42	8	20.17
6	Charles Barkley	F	16	14	23	18	42	10	20.50
7	Jerry Lucas	F	41	4	31	6	26	21	21.50
8	Rick Barry	F	13	31	16	23	26	21	21.67
9	Elvin Hayes	F	20	11	46	9	26	21	22.17
10	Billy Cunningham	F	22	21	21	38	16	21	23.17
11	Paul Arizin	F	15	26	44	9	26	21	23.50
12	Julius Erving	F	17	30	23	38	26	10	24.00
13	Scottie Pippen	F	43	32	15	32	4	21	24.50
14	Dave DeBusschere	F	43	17	36	25	16	21	26.33
15	Dolph Schayes	F	34	13	32	36	26	21	27.00
16	James Worthy	F	39	39	33	43	13	21	31.33
17	Kevin McHale	F	36	28	48	47	13	21	32.17

 

GUARDS

#	NAME		PPG Rank	RPG Rank	APG Rank	MPG Rank	“Rings” Rank	MVP Rank	NUM AVG
1	Michael Jordan	G	1	34	14	12	4	2	11.17
2	Oscar Robertson	G	7	27	3	3	26	10	12.67
3	Magic Johnson	G	27	29	1	18	8	5	14.67
4	Jerry West	G	4	37	7	5	26	21	16.67
5	Bob Cousy	G	35	38	5	30	4	10	20.33
6	Walt Frazier	G	30	36	10	13	16	21	21.00
7	Isiah Thomas	G	28	47	4	23	16	21	23.17
8	Pete Maravich	G	11	44	13	16	42	21	24.50
9	Clyde Drexler	G	25	35	12	35	26	21	25.67
10	Nate Archibald	G	31	50	6	27	26	21	26.83
11	Hal Greer	G	28	40	21	28	26	21	27.33
12	Dave Bing	G	26	46	11	21	42	21	27.83
13	Lenny Wilkens	G	42	42	7	30	26	21	28.00
14	Bill Sharman	G	37	45	33	44	10	21	31.67
15	George Gervin	G	6	43	37	42	42	21	31.83
16	Sam Jones	G	38	41	40	50	2	21	32.00
17	Earl Monroe	G	31	48	23	44	26	21	32.17
18	John Stockton	G	49	49	2	46	42	21	34.83

About the author – BILL HARVEY, Call Sign “Stats”, is the Editor of Hoops Business. He is a former basketball player, basketball referee, Army officer, and college instructor who works for the VA in Education Services. He is also the editor of the Net Set blog at http://thenetsetblog.com. BA degree from Xavier University and MA degree in Information Management, and working (albeit slowly) on a doctorate.