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The 100 Best Players in Basketball History

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Part one is here.


The goal is a good list of the best 100 players in basketball history; we started with the list of the top 94 for career value; let’s add the next 56, to get us to 150 and battle it out. (Billy Cunningham is top career value not to make it). 

150. Gail Goodrich 83.1 SG 1111 .075

So, what does that mean?  Gail Goodrich is 150th for overall career value in basketball history when you add up his win shares (counting regular season, playoffs, NBA, ABA), he has 83.1 win shares, he was primarily a shooting guard, he played in 1111 games (regular season + playoffs), which means he had .075 win shares per game.  Will that get him in the top 100?  Well, we’ll see – the argument would be that even though he obviously had less career value than anyone in the top 100, maybe his win shares per game is enough that he should be considered.  When we have both numbers, the overall total and the per game total, we can make a good judgment – who should be ranked higher.

149. George McGinnis 83.39 PF 946 .088

McGinnis was better than Goodrich.  More total value.  More per game value.  The wrinkle is that a lot of McGinnis’s value was from the ABA, and its reasonable to wonder if that should carry the level of weight that it does here ( it’s worth noting that players in the 50s and 60s did not play the same game that is played now; attempting to recognize that is one reason why the playoff games, of which there are more now, count).

We take McGinnis, so, our top 100 now looks like this:

1.       George McGinnis
2.       Gail Goodrich

148.Nate Thurmond 83.4 C 1045 .080

Thurmond slides in between the two; the per game value for McGinnis wins out. 

147.Tom Chambers 83.5 PF 1215 .069
Chambers low per game value makes him last on the current list.

146.Earl Monroe 83.5 SG 1008 .083
Tight on all corners, Monroe falls in after McGinnis

145.Harry Gallatin 83.7 PF 746 .112
The Knick from the 50s, Gallatin, is the first player to top .1 win share/per game so moves to the top of the list. 

144.Cedric Maxwell 85.2 SF 937 .091
Maxwell’s per game value is the second highest so far, he’s not close enough to Gallatin for his overall value to pass him by on our Top 100 list. 

143.Lamar Odom 85.78 PF 1069 .080

The first active player, Odom’s got some more career value to earn (probably) and some more per game value to give back.  He goes above Thurmond…he goes above Monroe too.

142.Kevin Willis 85.8 PF 1522 .056
Willis goes to the bottom of the list given the low per game value. 

141.Tiny Archibald 85.8 PG 923 .093
Second highest per game makes Tiny Archibald second on the list so far – our goal, remember, is the best 100 players of all time – here’s where we stand.

1.       Harry Gallatin
2.       Tiny Archibald
3.       Cedric Maxwell
4.       George McGinnis
5.       Lamar Odom
6.       Earl Monroe
7.       Nate Thurmond
8.       Gail Goodrich
9.       Tom Chambers
10.   Kevin Willis

Next ten.

140.Don Nelson 85.87 SF 1203 .071
Nelson and Goodrich is the fight; Nelson’s career value beats Goodrich’s per game advantage.

139.Lou Hudson 85.9 SG 951 .090
You can play by yourself now; Hudson’s squeezing in between those one time Celtic teammates, Archibald/Maxwell.

138.Marques Johnson 86.5 SF 745 .116
Our second .1+/per game player and the new top man on the board. 

137.Byron Scott 87 SG 1256 .069
Scott goes on the list ahead of Nelson and another Laker SG, Goodrich.

136.Dale Ellis 87 SF 1282 .068
Nearly identical to Scott. 

135.Marcus Camby 87.02 C 1052 .083
Our second active player, Camby gets slotted high, right after Cornbread.

134.Calvin Murphy 87.6 PG 1053 .083
Would you have guessed that Murphy and Camby have had nearly identical careers? Now you know that Archibald had a better career than Murphy.

133.Tim Hardaway 87.9 PG 923 .095
And better than both of them was Hardaway, currently third overall.

132. Dan Majerle 88 SG 1078 .82
In between Hudson and Maxwell is Thunder Dan.

131.Paul Silas 88.2 PF 1417 .62
Silas clocks in ahead of Chambers as we reset the board, twenty players in.

1.       Marques Johnson
2.       Harry Gallatin
3.       Tim Hardaway
4.       Tiny Archibald
5.       Lou Hudson
6.       Dan Majerle
7.       Cedric Maxwell
8.       Calvin Murphy
9.       Marcus Camby
10.   George McGinnis
11.   Lamar Odom
12.   Earl Monroe
13.   Nate Thurmond
14.   Byron Scott
15.   Dale Ellis
16.   Don Nelson
17.   Gail Goodrich
18.   Paul Silas
19.   Tom Chambers
20.   Kevin Willis

Two more players below 90 career win shares, let’s get them slotted.

130.Rod Strickland 88.4 PG 1146 .077
5 more win shares than McGinnis, but the per game advantage keeps George ahead.

129. Peja Stojakovic 89.5 SF 899 .100
Right at .1 per game and almost at exactly 90 wins – don’t let Peja near an NBA floor ever again.

He’s the new third overall. 

In the next installment, we'll get the 90 win players.  For now - here's the current list.


1.       Marques Johnson
2.       Harry Gallatin
3.       Peja Stojakovic
4.       Tim Hardaway
5.       Tiny Archibald
6.       Lou Hudson
7.       Dan Majerle
8.       Cedric Maxwell
9.       Calvin Murphy
10.   Marcus Camby
11.   George McGinnis
12.   Rod Strickland
13.   Lamar Odom
14.   Earl Monroe
15.   Nate Thurmond
16.   Byron Scott
17.   Dale Ellis
18.   Don Nelson
19.   Gail Goodrich
20.   Paul Silas
21.   Tom Chambers
22.   Kevin Willis








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