The List of Greatness - 1960

Here's our 1960 inductees onto the list. This brings us to 10 players and 14 years. All stats are through 1960.

The List of Greatness - 1959

It's time for another edition of the List of Greatness. Two more names will be added, bringing us to 8 after 13 years. All stats and info through the end of the 1959 season.

Trade! (Again) & Revision! (Again)

Deron Williams got traded to the Nets today. Gotta admit, I had no idea this was coming, which is kinda how I like my trades. Surprising. At least, it's preferable to the 6 month Carmelo-to-Knicks trade that went on, which basically felt like the guy was owned by the Knicks and they were just letting him play with the Nuggets for a while. Also, I love this trade for the Jazz. Not so much for what they got in return (Derrick Favors, Devin Harris - excuse me, former All-Star Devin Harris... yeah... that happened - and two first round draft picks) but for the Jazz basically giving a giant "F*** You" to Williams. As in, "You don't want to play here? Well, f*** you, enjoy New Jersey." I appreciate them making their move before Williams has any leverage whatsoever, preventing another "MeloDrama" season with him. Well, it'll probably still happen with the Nets, but it's nice to see teams being proactive.


Also, I forgot to mention this in my "Revision" column the other day, but I increased the value of ABA stats and accomplishments from 25% to 40%. The league as a whole may have only had about 25% of the talent level of the NBA, but I feel like that was punishing the greats that played in that league too much. I decided that a good to great ABA player was more likely to make at least 2 out of 5 All-Star teams/All-NBA teams, rather than 1 out of 4. (I hope that makes sense.)


As an example, Julius Erving's total goes up from 437.6 to 485.4 and from 20th place to 14th. Not a huge jump in the big scheme of all of it, but it's still significant. A few other examples, with scores and ranks before and after the change:
Rick Barry: 309.9 to 329.3, 32 to 28
George Gervin: 277.5 to 287.5, 40 to 36
Artis Gilmore: 208.0 to 247.3, 62 to 45
Dan Issel: 147.9 to 181.2, 109 to 80
Connie Hawkins: 115.7 to 135.1, 145 to 123
Mel Daniels: 74.0 to 118.4, 212 to 145

Revisions

I've decided to tweak my List of Greatness just a bit. The process of deciding who makes it on the list is the same, but I've just decided that 3 guys from any one year is just too many. So, instead of 3 guys for the first 4 years to even things out, we'll do 2 players a year for the first 9 years until the players equal the years, then we'll just do one a year. So, I'll go back and update the previous posts, and then, going forward, we'll do 2 each year until it evens up.


Also, a minor tweak to my Greatness Equation. If a player makes 2 All-Star teams, he now receives 5/6ths credit instead of 3/4ths credit. It was just odd for a player to jump from 2/3rds credit for 1 All-Star game, to 3/4ths for 2, to full credit for 3. I evened out the insignificant jump from 1 to 2 and the substantial jump from 2 to 3.

The List of Greatness - 1958

Here is our third round of inductees, and we're inching ever so much closer to the one player/one year concept. This will bring us up to 6 players in 12 years.

Trade!

Our long national nightmare is over. Carmelo Anthony has been traded to the New York Knicks. Finally we can focus on the important aspects of basketball. Like, where will Chris Paul and Dwight Howard end up in 2012? Yes, that was facetious... I'm seriously contemplating petitioning the NBA to move the trade deadline to December 31. I can't take this every year.


As for the other trade pieces? Denver gets Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Galinari,  and Timofey Mozgov (it's still unclear whether the imprints of Blake Griffin's testicles on Mozgov's face will be included in the deal or not), as well as some draft picks from the Knicks and Warriors (which I'm assuming the Knicks already owned.) In return, the Knicks get, along with Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter, and Renaldo Balkman (in perhaps the most glorious return to MSG ever.)


Not sure what number Carmelo is going to wear, since #15 is retired for both Earl Monroe and Dick McGuire. #5 and #6 are taken, by Bill Walker and Landry Fields, respectively. So I'll guess he'll go with #25, which the departing Mozgov now leaves available. That is, of course, only if Anthony can manage to get the musky scent of Griffin's undercarriage off of the number.

A Few All-Star Thoughts

Here are just a few quick thoughts I had after watching the All-Star festivities this weekend. And by festivities, I mean the game and the dunk contest. Everything else is worthless. Everyone knows this, even if we all pretend otherwise.

• The most impressive dunk was DeMar DeRozan's second dunk. I believe he called it the "Show Stopper." It literally elicited an unconscious "whoa!" from me. His first dunk was good, too, but I've seen him do it before. It might have been most satisfying because he did it on his first try.
• None of Blake Griffin's dunks were overly impressive. His first attempts at his first and second dunks were rather spectacular though.
• I liked the double dunk from McGee. Good stuff.
• Ibaka's "sketch" was just plain awful. The dunk wasn't bad, but that skit with the horrible child actor with the horrible haircut and the horrible actress pretending to be a sideline reporter... Oh, wait... That was just a horrible sideline reporter? Either way, that skit just sunk the whole thing.
• On to the game: I think the little stars on the back of the jerseys next to the player's name signified how many All-Star selections he's had. If so, it's a cool idea, but I have absolutely no proof that's what they meant. I may have missed the part if/when Marv explained it.
• Marv referred to Stevie Wonder as "Stevie Wonders." Good stuff.
• My girlfriend wanted to know why Stevie Wonder would attend a basketball game. Or any sporting event for that matter. Good question.
• I didn't like the West's red/gold jerseys. Reminded me too much of China. And Yao wasn't even playing.
• I did like red against blue jerseys though. I always find it kind of interesting when neither team wears white. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I think it worked this time.
• Kobe had a pretty spectacular three and a half quarters. Which is very odd considering his rep as the league's greatest closer. The West was lucky they had Durant to step it up in the clutch.
• I would've given co-MVP's to both Bryant and Durant if it'd been up to me. (And if we still have to follow the tradition of awarding a player from the winning team.)
• Griffin's dunks look much cooler in an actual game than in a contest.
• I liked how Pop and Doc had absolutely no inclination to play their own players. Good stuff. I hope we see this as the new incentive to do the best in the first half of the season - so you can rest your own best players and wear out your primary competition's best players.
• LeBron had a hell of a game. I just don't know if I like where basketball is going when the best player in the game's best/most unstoppable move is "sprint, take two steps from the three point line, and dunk."

The List of Greatness - 1957

Here's the second round of inductees into the List. Keep in mind we're doing two a year until the players catch up with years. (This will bring us to four players in eleven years.) The players with the highest scores through 1957 not yet inducted get the nod.

The List of Greatness - 1956

Here's our first post about the Greatest Players Ever throughout history, as I mentioned in the previous post, we're starting with the completion of the NBA's tenth season to give enough time for players to actually build up careers and then inducting multiple players until we catch up to the one player per year system (which will be 1961.) And for more info on how the scores for the inductees were tallied, check here. On to the inductees, all numbers given through the end of the 1956 season:

The List of Greatness - Overview

Does everyone remember the NBA's "50 Greatest Players" list that was released before the 1996-97 season? I do. I thought this was the coolest thing anyone could have ever compiled. I was also 10, which doesn't change how cool the list was, but it does explain my misconception that this list would be added to every single year going forward. You know, that was just totally and completely logical to me. 50 players for 50 years, so 51 players for the 51st year, and just add a guy to the list every year. Simple. Obviously it didn't happen. But it should have. And I'm here to change that.