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.

1. Jerry West - 192.0
Position: Guard
Height: 6'2"
Draft: 1960 - 2nd pick
Experience: 5 years
Teams: Los Angeles Lakers - 1961-1965 (#44)
58.3 Win Shares, 0.477 MVP Award Shares, 4 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 0 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 5 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 3 Finals Losses (1962 Lakers, 1963 Lakers, 1965 Lakers), 6.4 Finals Win Shares, 1 Conference Finals Loss (1961 Lakers), 1.9 Conference Finals Win Shares


For my money, Jerry West is easily the best player to never win an MVP. I can't really even think of anyone to challenge for that title. Elgin Baylor? John Havlicek? John Stockton? Elvin Hayes? I mean, those guys probably round out the top five, but West is head and shoulders above the rest of the pack. I'm tempted to throw Scottie Pippen in the mix there, but it's so hard to think of him as a potential MVP when he was rarely the MVP of his own team. He was the best player on the 1994 & 1995 Bulls and maybe the 2000 Blazers (but I'd say Steve Smith and Rasheed Wallace were both better than him that year) and only the Blazers even made the conference finals, so it's hard to think of him as an MVP when he never really had a legitimate MVP type season. Anyway, I'd say Jerry West is one of the 10 or 12 best players of all time (we're not just talking through 1965 here) and he never got an MVP. That just seems like a travesty. I mean, you can't argue against Chamberlain and Russell, but still...


And the rest of the top ten:
2. Sam Jones - 179.4
Position: Guard-Forward
Height: 6'4"
Draft: 1957 - 8th pick
Experience: 8 years
Teams: Boston Celtics - 1958-1965 (#24)
62.3 Win Shares, 0.042 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 3 All-Star Selections, 7 Championships (1959 Celtics, 1960 Celtics, 1961 Celtics, 1962 Celtics, 1963 Celtics, 1964 Celtics, 1965 Celtics), 8.9 Championship Win Shares, 1 Finals Loss (1958 Celtics), 0.4 Finals Win Shares, 0 Conference Finals Losses, 0.0 Conference Finals Win Shares


3. Harry Gallatin - 131.9
Position: Forward-Center
Height: 6'6"
Experience: 10 years (retired 7 years)
Teams: New York Knicks - 1949-1957 (#11), Detroit Pistons - 1958 (#10)
60.1 Win Shares, 0.012 MVP Award Shares, 1 All-NBA Team Selection, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 7 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 3 Finals Losses (1951 Knicks, 1952 Knicks, 1953 Knicks), 2.2 Finals Win Shares, 3 Conference Finals Losses (1949 Knicks, 1950 Knicks, 1958 Pistons), 0.2 Conference Finals Win Shares


4. Jack Twyman - 130.0
Position: Forward-Guard
Height: 6'6"
Draft: 1955 - 8th pick
Experience: 10 years
Teams: Rochester Royals - 1956-1957 (#10), Cincinnati Royals - 1958-1965 (#27 - 1958-1960, #31 - 1961-1964, #27 - 1965)
73.3 Win Shares, 0.066 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 2 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 6 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 0 Finals Losses, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 2 Conference Finals Losses (1963 Royals, 1964 Royals), 2.0 Conference Win Shares


5. Jim Pollard - 126.0
Position: Forward-Center
Height: 6'4"
Experience: 7 years (retired 10 years)
Teams: Minneapolis Lakers - 1949-1955 (#17)
18.2 Win Shares, 0.000 MVP Award 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, 0 Finals Losses, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 2 Conference Finals Losses (1951 Lakers, 1955 Lakers), 0.3 Conference Win Shares


6. Richie Guerin - 121.5
Position: Guard
Height: 6'4"
Draft: 1954 - 17th pick
Experience: 9 years
Teams: New York Knicks - 1957-1964 (#9), St. Louis Hawks - 1964-1965 (#15)
57.7 Win Shares, 0.032 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 3 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 6 All-Star Selections, 0 Championship, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 0 Finals Losses, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 1 Conference Finals Loss (1964 Hawks), 1.2 Conference Finals Win Shares


7. Clyde Lovellette - 119.2
Position: Center-Forward
Height: 6'9"
Draft: 1952 - 9th pick
Experience: 11 years (retired 1 year)
Teams: Minneapolis Lakers - 1954-1957 (#89 - 1954, #34 - 1954-1957), Cincinnati Royals - 1958 (#34), St. Louis Hawks - 1959-1962 (#34), Boston Celtics - 1963-1964 (#4 - 1963, #34 - 1964)
71.1 Win Shares, 0.013 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 4 All-Star Selections, 3 Championships (1954 Lakers, 1963 Celtics, 1964 Celtics), 0.8 Championship Win Shares, 2 Finals Losses (1960 Hawks, 1961 Hawks), 0.9 Finals Win Shares, 3 Conference Finals Losses (1955 Lakers, 1957 Lakers, 1959 Hawks), 2.1 Conference Finals Win Shares


8. Bob Davies - 118.5
Position: Guard-Forward
Height: 6'1"
Experience: 7 years (retired 9 years)
Teams: Rochester - 1949-1955 (#11)
26.5 Win Shares, 0.000 MVP Award Shares, 4 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 4 All-Star Selections, 1 Championship (1951 Royals), 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 0 Finals Losses, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 3 Conference Finals Losses (1949 Royals, 1952 Royals, 1954 Royals), 0.8 Conference Finals Win Shares


9. Hal Greer - 110.5
Position: Guard-Forward
Height: 6'2"
Draft: 1958 - 13th pick
Experience: 7 years
Teams: Syracuse Nationals - 1959-1963 (#15), Philadelphia 76ers - 1964-1965 (#15)
49.6 Win Shares, 0.006 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 3 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 5 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 0 Finals Losses, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 3 Conference Finals Losses (1959 Nationals, 1961 Nationals, 1965 76ers), 2.3 Conference Finals Win Shares


10. Larry Costello - 104.6
Position: Guard
Height: 6'1"
Draft: 1954 - 12th pick
Experience: 10 years
Teams: Philadelphia Warriors - 1955 (#5), 1957 (#18), Syracuse Nationals - 1958-1963 (#15 - 1958, #6 - 1958-1959, #21 - 1960-1963), Philadelphia 76ers - 1964-1965 (#21)
58.7 Win Shares, 0.037 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 1 All-NBA 2nd Selection, 6 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 0 Finals Losses, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 3 Conference Finals Losses, 2.0 Conference Finals Win Shares


And the 19 Greatest Players Ever after 19 seasons:
Inducted List of Greatness members in bold; Retired players highlighted in silver
(Previous rank and rating, if applicable, in parentheses)
1. Bill Russell - 569.8 (1 - 486.5)
2. Bob Pettit - 468.2 (2 - 446.2)
3. Bob Cousy - 402.1 (3)
4. Dolph Schayes - 388.2 (4)
5. Wilt Chamberlain - 312.4 (6 - 275.8)
6. Elgin Baylor - 280.4 (7 - 255.5)
7. Bill Sharman - 276.2 (5)
8. Paul Arizin - 244.5 (8)
9. Oscar Robertson - 241.8 (12 - 199.5)
10. George Mikan - 232.2 (9)
11. Tom Heinsohn - 217.8 (11 - 208.0)
12. Neil Johnston - 209.8 (10)
13. Jerry West - 192.0 (19 - 140.7)
14. Vern Mikkelsen - 190.5 (13)
15. Ed Macauley - 179.7 (14)
16. Sam Jones - 179.4 (26 - 108.7)
17. Cliff Hagan - 172.1 (15 - 167.4)
18. Slater Martin - 160.6 (16)
19. Larry Foust - 155.6 (17)


And the next tier:
20. George Yardley - 145.1 (18)
21. Harry Gallatin - 131.9 (20)
22. Jack Twyman - 130.0 (21 - 126.1)
23. Jim Pollard - 126.0 (22)
24. Richie Guerin - 121.5 (25 - 115.8)
25. Clyde Lovellette - 119.2 (23)
26. Bob Davies - 118.5 (24)
27. Hal Greer - 110.5 (35 - 85.2)
28. Larry Costello - 104.6 (30 - 93.4)
29. Tom Gola - 101.6 (29 - 98.2)
30. Bailey Howell - 100.8 (33 - 86.4)
31. Bobby Wanzer - 99.5 (27)
32. Dick McGuire - 98.2 (28)
33. Carl Braun - 92.6 (31)
34. Gene Shue - 92.5 (32)
35. Andy Phillip - 85.5 (34)
36. Red Kerr - 84.4 (36 - 83.3)
37. Paul Seymour - 82.9 (NR)
38. Walt Bellamy - 79.8 (NR - 59.5)