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:



1. George Mikan - 232.2
Position: Center
Height: 6'10"
Experience: 7 years
Teams: Minneapolis Lakers - 1949-54, 1956 (#99)
43.2 Win Shares, 6 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 4 All-Star Selections, 5 Championships (1949 Lakers, 1950 Lakers, 1952 Lakers, 1953 Lakers, 1954 Lakers), 7.9 Championship Win Shares, 1 Conference Finals Loss (1951 Lakers), 0 Conference Finals Win Shares


2. Dolph Schayes - 216.0
Position: Forward-Center
Height: 6'7"
Draft: 1948 - 4th pick
Experience: 7 years
Teams: Syracuse Nationals - 1950-1956 (#55 - 1950, #4 - 1951-1956)
59.6 Win Shares, 0.025 MVP Award Shares, 4 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 3 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 6 All-Star Selections, 1 Championship (1955 Nationals), 1.8 Championship Win Shares, 2 Finals Losses (1950 Nationals, 1954 Nationals), 2.3 Finals Win Shares, 3 Conference Finals Losses (1951 Nationals, 1952 Nationals, 1956 Nationals), 2.5 Conference Finals Win Shares


And the rest of the top ten:


3. Vern Mikkelsen - 162.9
Position: Forward-Center
Height: 6'7"
Draft: 1949 - territorial selection
Experience: 7 years
Teams: Minneapolis Lakers - 1950-1956 (#19)
48.1 Win Shares, 4 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 5 All-Star Selections, 4 Championships (1950 Lakers, 1952 Lakers, 1953 Lakers, 1954 Lakers), 4.8 Championship Win Shares, 2 Conference Finals Losses (1951 Lakers, 1955 Lakers), 0.7 Conference Finals Win Shares


4. Neil Johnston - 162.3
Position: Center
Height: 6'8"
Experience: 5 years
Teams: Philadelphia Warriors - 1952-1956 (#6)
66.3 Win Shares, 4 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 4 All-Star Selections, 1 Championship (1956 Warriors), 1.6 Championship Award Shares


5. Bob Cousy - 149.2
Position: Guard

Height: 6'1"

Draft: 1950 - 3rd pick

Experience: 6 years

Teams: Boston Celtics - 1951-1956 (#14)

37.6 Win Shares, 0.123 MVP Award Shares, 5 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 6 All-Star Selections, 3 Conference Finals Losses (1953 Celtics, 1954 Celtics, 1955 Celtics), 1.4 Conference Finals Win Shares


6. Ed Macauley - 148.9
Position: Center-Forward

Height: 6'8"

Draft: 1949 - territorial selection

Experience: 7 years

Teams: St. Louis Bombers - 1950 (#50), Boston Celtics - 1951-1956 (#22)

59.6 Win Shares, 3 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 6 All-Star Selections, 3 Conference Finals Losses (1953 Celtics, 1954 Celtics, 1955 Celtics), 1.7 Conference Finals Win Shares


7. Jim Pollard - 126.0
Position: Forward-Center

Height: 6'4"

Experience: 7 years; retired 1 year

Teams: Minneapolis Lakers - 1949-1955 (#17)

18.2 Win Shares, 2 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 2 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 4 All-Star Selections, 5 Championships (1949 Lakers, 1950 Lakers, 1952 Lakers, 1953 Lakers, 1954 Lakers), 3.7 Championship Win Shares, 2 Conference Finals Losses (1951 Lakers, 1955 Lakers), 0.3 Conference Finals Win Shares


8. Bob Davies - 118.5
Position: Guard-Forward

Height: 6'1"

Experience: 7 years; retired 1 year

Teams: Rochester Royals - 1949-1955 (#11)

26.5 Win Shares, 4 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 4 All-Star Selections, 1 Championship (1951 Royals), 0 Championship Win Shares, 3 Conference Finals Losses (1949 Royals, 1952 Royals, 1954 Royals), 0.8 Conference Finals Win Shares


9. Larry Foust - 118.0
Position: Center-Forward

Height: 6'9"

Draft: 1950 - 5th pick

Experience: 6 years

Teams: Fort Wayne Pistons - 1951-1956 (#16)

48.2 Win Shares, 1 All-NBA 1st Team Selection, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 6 All-Star Selections, 2 Finals Losses (1955 Pistons, 1956 Pistons), 2.4 Finals Win Shares, 1 Conference Finals Loss (1953 Pistons), 1.1 Conference Finals Win Shares


10. Paul Arizin - 115.4
Position: Forward-Guard

Height: 6'4"

Draft: 1950 - territorial selection

Experience: 4 years

Teams: Philadelphia Warriors - 1951-52, 1955-56 (#11)

36.9 Win Shares, 0.259 MVP Award Shares, 2 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 4 All-Star Selections, 1 Championship (1956 Warriors), 2.2 Championship Win Shares




And I'll add this feature at the end of each of these posts just to show the progression of the "Greatest Players Ever." So, at the end of the 10th NBA season (1955-56), the 10 Greatest Players Ever were:


1. George Mikan (232.2)*
2. Dolph Schayes (216.0)*
3. Vern Mikkelsen (162.9)*
4. Neil Johnston (162.3)*
5. Bob Cousy (149.2)*
6. Ed Macauley (148.9)*
7. Jim Pollard (126.0)
8. Bob Davies (118.5)
9. Larry Foust (118.0)*
10. Paul Arizin (115.4)*


And the next tier:
11. Harry Gallatin (111.5)*
12. Slater Martin (105.5)*
13. Bill Sharman (102.1)*
14. Bobby Wanzer (98.5)*
15. Paul Seymour (81.0)*
16. Bob Pettit (76.8)*
17. Max Zaslofsky (75.8)
18. Andy Phillip (70.6)*
19. Dick McGuire (70.2)*
20. Carl Braun (67.9)*


* - denotes active the previous year