View Full Version : NBA: Best player never to win a championship
Archangel
02-25-2009, 07:07 AM
Only officially retired players need apply. So while the window is closing on Iverson, Nash, Kidd etc, there's still an outside chance that they'll get one at some point.
Archangel
02-25-2009, 08:14 AM
Baylor is a special case because he retired during, not before, the season in which the Lakers won their championship, and did get a ring from his team.
Hanover Fist
02-25-2009, 08:26 AM
Meadowlark Lemon or possibly Curly Neal
Archangel
02-25-2009, 10:14 AM
Chuck is getting nowhere near enough love.
wacker
02-25-2009, 10:26 AM
Thats why he needed to run a red light to get a blow job. heyooo
I don't even think Shawn Kemp would vote for Shawn Kemp on this list...
Archangel
02-25-2009, 11:04 AM
I don't even think Shawn Kemp would vote for Shawn Kemp on this list...
I dunno, there were a few years in the mid '90s when he arguably was one of the 5 best players in the league.
Ted Williams or Barry Bonds.
Oh wait.
Satan
02-25-2009, 11:59 AM
Damn you, Arch. Making me pick between Stockton and Malone
mongo
02-25-2009, 12:03 PM
dan marino.
Archangel
02-25-2009, 01:15 PM
Damn you, Arch. Making me pick between Stockton and Malone
I wanted to put them together as a single option, but decided that that would be unfair towards everybody else.
Da Raider
02-25-2009, 01:18 PM
anyone not picking Elgin Baylor obviously doesn't know Elgin Baylor.
Archangel
02-25-2009, 01:19 PM
He was probably the most important player in the NBA next to Mikan, but there is that asterisk business.
Jericho
02-25-2009, 01:58 PM
I picked Stockton, but the Stockton/Malone duo is the answer
Jericho
02-25-2009, 02:00 PM
Also, I think bones has been smoking marijuana cigarettes
Satan
02-25-2009, 04:32 PM
I picked Stockton, but the Stockton/Malone duo is the answerYep, you can't really talk about one without the other.
Quantum Leap
02-25-2009, 04:34 PM
I went with 'Nique.
Da Raider
02-25-2009, 04:36 PM
Stockton was more valuable than Malone. There, I said it.
Malone scared me more, cuz he could do things that no one else on the court could do, but Stockton was always on. No one could distribute the ball like Johnny Boy.
But the answer to the question is still Elgin Baylor, with or w/o *.
jemeske
02-25-2009, 04:43 PM
Penny? Larry Nance? Might as well throw Rick Smits on there too, I guess.
Half of those guys aren't even in the discussion.
Da Raider
02-25-2009, 04:48 PM
Alex English, Bernard King, and Bob Lanier should be thrown in the "other".
Da Raider
02-25-2009, 04:51 PM
Penny? Larry Nance? Might as well throw Rick Smits on there too, I guess.
Half of those guys aren't even in the discussion.
I love the Flying Dutchman!
Pistol Pete. The guy was unreal and a true talent and never really had a chance to contend for a title in New Orleans. The season he was with the Celtics, they didn't even win the East. That was the closest he got.
His numbers are outstanding and never really had a good team. One of the most underrated/over looked players in history despite being on the NBA 50 team.
Also being traded for 8 guys is pretty impressive.
Titus_Pullo
02-25-2009, 09:16 PM
As far as I know Pistol Pete was never arrested for anything. So how good could he possibly be by today's NBA standards?
Hobnail_Boot
02-25-2009, 09:26 PM
I gotta go with my man, Dominique Wilkins, a.k.a. "The Human Highlight Reel."
As far as I know Pistol Pete was never arrested for anything. So how good could he possibly be by today's NBA standards?
He died at 40 from a heart attack?
Archangel
02-26-2009, 06:14 AM
Penny? Larry Nance? Might as well throw Rick Smits on there too, I guess.
Half of those guys aren't even in the discussion.
Oh, how people forget. Penny was first team All-NBA twice, and the starting PG on an NBA Finals team while averaging around ~ 21ppg (on 50%), 7apg, 5rpg and 1.5spg for several straight seasons. Dunno about you, but that sounds pretty good to me.
So yeah, knee surgery crippled him. Doesn't mean he wasn't really bloody good at some point.
Alex English, Bernard King, and Bob Lanier should be thrown in the "other".
Fucking Hell, I'm supposed to be a Nugs fan, and I forget English.
King and Big Bob should have been in there, too.
*smacks himself*
jemeske
02-26-2009, 10:58 PM
I'm not forgetting Penny's career.
I'd say he was an elite player for maybe three seasons. A good player for a few, but the drop after that is steep. In a conversation about the greatest ever to go without a championship is he really a guy to consider? I don't think so. He's simply not in the same league as some of the other guys you've listed. KJ, CWebb, Tim Hardaway, Kemp, Reggie Miller, and Mullin also probably belong in the 2nd tier.
Yeah, the injuries hurt him, but we can't just pretend like they didn't happen. He averaged more than 20 pts just three times. As a point guard (though he wasn't a pg for much of his career) he was in the top ten for turnovers (3x) more than assists (1x). And yes his (Shaq's) team made the finals, where they were promptly swept by the Dream.
Good isn't great.
nuclearjew
02-26-2009, 10:59 PM
Penny had those awesome commercials with Spike Lee though. And his name is Anfernee. ANFERNEE.
Jericho
02-26-2009, 10:59 PM
Anfernee lulz
jemeske
02-26-2009, 11:03 PM
And Tyra when she was still hot. And Chris Rock as Lil Penny.
Lone Wolf
02-28-2009, 10:37 AM
John Stockton over Barkley, but barely. It makes you wonder if it were Stockton to Barkley, would there be titles for them? Of course Barkley couldn't have ever played for Utah.