Just in time for the NBA season, I'm wrapping my all-time pro basketball player rankings. I'll post my all-time Top 59 (one player for each season, so next year it'll be a Top 60 list) early next week. For the next few days, I'll list the top 10s at each position, starting today with the Top 10 power forwards.
First, the rankings. A team sport is much tougher than an individual sport. Great stats don't always equal great players. Or a great player may sacrifice stats at some point in his career for the good of the team. Isaiah Thomas, point guard of the Pistons in the 80's, comes to mind. Statistically, he was a greater player earlier in his career. But as the Pistons picked up talent, he didn't shoot as much and turned over some of the ball-handling to Joe Dumars.
To balance the team versus the individual, I gave bonus points on team performance as well as on a variety of post-season awards.
Each season, I took a players total points, field goal and free throw percentages, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots and divided it by the average of the top three totals in each category in that season. I then multiplied the total points by 1,500, the shooting percentages by 250 each, the rebounds and assists by 1,000 each and the blocks and steals by 500 each.
So scoring was worth 2,000 (points and shooting percentages), rebounds and assists worth 2,000 and blocks and steals worth 1,000.
For the bonus points, I took a player's team's winning percentage in the regular season and mutliplied it by 625 (Jordan's 1995-1996 Bulls earned the highest score of 548.8). I took the playoff winning percentage and multiplied it by 375 (The 1982-1983 76ers got 346.2 points). Then, every player on a team that won a BAA, ABA or NBA title received 100 bonus points. So players could earn up to 1,100 for his team's performance.
The other bonus points were given to the top 10 players in the MVP voting (max. 500), MVP of the NBA Finals or ABA playoffs (100 points), Defensive Player of the Year (100 points), All-NBA or ABA (200 for first team, 100 for second, 50 for third), and All-Defensive Team (100 for first, 50 for second). In total, a player could earn another 1,000 points in bonus points.
The playoffs also presented a dilemma. Unlike baseball and football, where the regular seasons are clearly the measuring stick, basketball players are often defined by their postseason play. It's why many downgrade Wilt Chamberlain and elevate Michael Jordan. Kevin Garnett is maligned for not taking his Timberwolves farther and Tim Duncan is considered by many to be the top player in the game.
For the playoffs, I decided not to rank players statistically on how they performed against everyone else. Instead, they are judged on how they performed in comparison with their regular-season play.
An example, in 1961-1962, Wilt Chamberlain averaged 35 points a game in 12 playoff games on .467 shooting. Those are monster numbers. But those numbers earned Chamberlain just 18 points in my ranking system (74 total points divided by 4 since the playoffs, at most, are about 1/4 as long as the regular season). How could that be. Well, in 1961-1962, Wilt averaged 50.4 points a game in the regular season on .506 shooting. Only strong playoff rebounding numbers saved "The Stilt" from actually earning a negative for his postseason performance.
My thought was teams head into the playoffs expecting the stars to perform at or above their regular-season production. By holding Wilt to just 35 points, the Warriors needed other players to produce 15 more points just so they could meet their normal production.
Once I had the year-by-year numbers, I took a player's top three years and came up with an average score. Then I averaged their top five years and top 10 years for two more scores. Then I totaled their career numbers and added the four (3, 5, 10 and career) numbers together for a final ranking.
This system produced some interesting results, which I'll get into later. For now, here's my all-time top 10 power forwards.
1. Karl Malone, 1985-2004, 19339.0
2. Bob Pettit, 1954-1965, 18231.9
3. Tim Duncan, 1997-2005, 18217.9
4. Kevin Garnett, 1996-2005, 18108.3
5. Dolph Schayes, 1949-1964, 17694.8
6. Elvin Hayes, 1968-1984, 17280.1
7. Charles Barkley, 1984-2000, 17100.3
8. George McGinnis, 1971-1982, 15607.3
9. Dan Issel, 1970-1985, 14264.9
10. Chris Webber, 1993-2005, 13908.0
Clearly, scorers do well in the system. Of these 10, only Schayes and Garnett weren't pure scorers. Dirty-work power forwards such as Dave DeBusschere, Buck Williams and Dennis Rodman finished well down in 15th, 17th and 19th place. It's important to remember these three were never really considered among the top players in the league when they were playing. DeBusschere and Williams were picked all-NBA second team just once each and Rodman was picked just third-team All-NBA twice.
Both Duncan and Garnett will pass Pettit this season and each should zoom past Malone. Dirk Nowitzki is 12th on the list and may move past Chris Webber and Kevin McHale to No. 9 this year. The 00's are the era of the great power forward.
To get a better look at how the system works, let's look at Karl Malone versus Charles Barkley, two contemporaries who battled for years for the distinction of the games best No. 4.
Karl Malone
3 years (1996-1997, 1997-1998, 1994-1995) - 5151.6
5 years (add 1998-1999 and 1990-1991) - 5041.6
10 years - 4813.4
career - 4332.5
Total - 19339.0
Charles Barkley
3 years (1992-1993, 1985-1986, 1989-1990) - 4775.9
5 years (add 1988-1989, 1987-1988) - 4592.4
10 years - 4271.7
career - 3460.2
Total - 17100.3
Malone made the top 10 in MVP voting 14 times in 19 years, Barkley eight in 16 seasons.
Barkley was first team All-NBA five teams, second team five teams and third team once. Malone was first team 11 times, second team twice and third team once.
Barkley was never named to the all-defensive first or second teams. Malone was a first-team all-defensive player three times and a second-teamer once.
Malone's teams made the playoffs in every season and three times advanced to the finals, although never winning. Barkley's teams made one NBA final and twice missed the playoffs. Barkley, though, was the better playoff performer. He earned 2,330.1 bonus points over his 16 seasons and only had negative playoff scores three times. Malone received 1,698.4 bonus points in 19 seasons although he had just two negative playoff totals.
A lot of people love Barkley because he was so spectacular and produced his numbers in a small-forward (6-foot-4) body. Malone was steadier, better longer and a better defensive player.
