2011 NBA Playoffs Quick Thoughts

Damn. Have these playoffs been fantastic or what? If you answered "or what," get the hell out, I've lost all faith in you. If you answered, "yes, they have been fantastic," get ready for some bullet points.

The List of Greatness - 1965

Now that we're caught up in terms of having an equal number of players and years, there will be only one inductee onto the List of Greatness per year (you know, the way God intended, anyway.) This also makes it more interesting because a player in the top ten could easily have an excellent season and leapfrog three or four guys to "inductee" or "next in line" status. It also means if a player who's close retires before he gets inducted, it'll be much more difficult for him to get in later on down the line. Not impossible, but difficult. The third change you'll probably notice is that the "Greatest XX Players Ever After XX Years" list will not always reflect the players who have already been inducted. You'll see what I mean. But for now here's how things shake out after 1965.

The List of Greatness - 1964

We're finally caught up with this year's inductees, insofar as we have 18 players after 18 years of the NBA's existence. Starting with 1965, we'll have one inductee every year - which was what I wanted to do originally anyway, but since the only component of my greatness rating formula that existed prior to 1951 was the All-NBA team there was a five-way tie for first place between Joe Fulks, Bob Feerick, Stan Miasek, Bones McKinney (yes, that Bones McKinney), and Max Zaslofsky. All were tied with a greatness rating of 15.0... No offense to any of those guys' careers, but they're not exactly all-time greats. And 15 isn't exactly an awe inspiring number. (In case anyone was wondering, the All-NBA teams started in 1947 - the league's first year, the All-Star Game started in 1951, win share data is available starting in 1952, and the first MVP was handed out in 1956.)


Getting back to this year's inductees, we've got one player who's an all-time legend, and one player who you're probably not familiar with unless you're really into old-school hoops.

Tonight's Games (4/19)

I thought it might be interesting to get some other perspectives and thoughts on the playoffs here, so I wanted to try this. Here's a couple quick thoughts on the playoff games that are happening tonight, and if anyone has any thoughts or insights on them, please feel free to post them and we'll see if we can get a discussion going. Probably not, but I thought it might be interesting to try to get an "open thread" started on this years playoffs.

My Picks for 2011 Awards

I wasn't planning on doing this for this year since I think my picks will probably match the consensus picks, but I figured, I'm watching basketball all day today anyway, so why not? Here's who I would pick for each of the major NBA awards:

The List of Greatness - 1963

What? Has it been two years since we inducted a Celtic onto the List? Good God! Is that a record? We must remedy that immediately! That's only slightly sarcastic. But that is a record. Well when you've won 6 of the last 7 titles (and counting), that's bound to happen. (Also, for the record, yes, it is kind of weird to write semi-pretending to be in 1963. But I'm getting used to it. Anyway...) But that raises an interesting question I've always wondered about dynasties. How many of the great players on great teams are legitimately great players, and how many are good players that just seem great because they win multiple titles with transcendent players? I dunno yet. Haven't been able to make up my mind - it's certainly something that happens both ways, and it pretty much has to be determined on a case-by-case basis. Maybe it's something to look at after the List of Greatness wraps up. Or a few cases during. We'll see.


And I just re-read that, and it seems like it might be kind of confusing, but I don't know how else to explain it, so I'll give an example: Scottie Pippen - "Great" or "Really Good with a Side of Michael Jordan"? I know where I stand on that particular issue, but that's for another day. Okay, tangents aside, on to the list. Here's our players and stats through 1963:

The List of Greatness - 1962

What the inductees for 1961 lacked in star power, the 1962 duo more than makes up for it. With pizzazz! Pizzazz? Yeah, sure, why not? Pizzazz! These are also guys who shot straight to the upper levels of the rankings pretty quickly. I know the league was still relatively young at this point, but when you can compile the 11th and 12th best careers to date in your 4th and 3rd seasons, respectively, you're doing something right. These two all-time greats give us 14 members through the NBA's first 16 years. Here's what they did to get in: (all stats through the 1962 season)

The List of Greatness - 1961

1961 was a bit of a slow year for NBA greatness. The next generation of superstars hadn't quite come into their own and the previous one had mostly retired or were on their last legs. (Or had already been inducted onto this list.) Consequently, we've got a couple players this year who most people probably don't know. They were still fairly significant players through the 1950's, but their names don't carry quite the weight of a George Mikan or Dolph Schayes. This brings us to 12 players in 15 years (getting close to one per year...) And, as always, all stats are through 1961.

Site Update

Hey, everyone - sorry for the lack of posts lately. Life's been kind of hectic with grad school, work, and family stuff. And most of my writing time's been devoted to a book I'm working on, which unfortunately pushed my blog to the backburner. However, things have (thankfully) slowed down a bit lately, and I really miss writing about my first, true passion. So hopefully I can get into a much better routine of posting at least once a week, and hopefully more. They might not all be big projects like my List of Greatness or the All-Time Tournament, but a few tidbits here and there at the very least.


There will be another List of Greatness post tonight. (Hopefully two.) And my big goal right now is to get the whole thing done by the end of the Finals so I can add 2011's inductee to the list as soon as it's determined. So look for 1961 tonight, and 1962 to follow shortly.


Thanks again to everyone who's been reading this and for the feedback and encouraging words.

Artis Gilmore is a Hall of Famer!

Well the Hall of Fame's biggest glaring omission to date has finally been rectified. Artis Gilmore has been inducted into the Hall of Fame with the Class of 2011. He gets in this year along with other players Chris Mullin, Dennis Rodman, Arvydas Sabonis, and Tom Sanders. (Others inducted were Teresa Edwards, Herb Magee, Reece Tatum, Tara VanDerveer, and Tex Winter.) So how worthy were these guys of making the Hall this year? Let's take a look.