The List of Greatness - 1970

I decided to wait until after the 1971 List to do the review/recap/breakdown of the inductees so far, just because that'll give us 25 inductees to work with which just seems to make more sense than 23. I still plan on doing the recap every ten (maybe five) years, it'll just be based on the number of inductees instead of the year. I'm also going to start listing what college players went to. It doesn't really have any bearing on anything, I just think it's interesting. With that in mind, here's our 1970 players.




1. Willis Reed - 186.1
Position: Center-Forward
Height: 6'9"
College: Grambling State
Draft: 1964 - 8th pick
Experience: 6 years
Teams: New York Knicks - 1965-1970 (#19)
56.3 Win Shares, 0.930 MVP Award Shares (1 MVP - 1970), 1 All-NBA 1st Team Selection, 3 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 6 All-Star Selections, 1 Championship (1970 Knicks), 2.6 Championship Win Shares, 0 Finals Loss, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 1 Conference Finals Loss (1969 Knicks), 2.2 Conference Finals Win Shares


This might be a surprise to some that Reed made the List here. Not that Reed is on the List, but that he made it this year, considering he wasn't even in the top ten last year. I guess that's what a title (2.6 Championship Win Shares), MVP (0.664 MVP Award Shares), All-NBA 1st Team Selection, All-Star Selection, and 14.7 Regular Season Win Shares will do for you. That's a 77.2 point season... which is awesome, but there's a few out there that are higher. I may have to highlight those when the List is done.


And the rest of the top ten:
2. Jerry Lucas - 161.9
Position: Forward-Center
Height: 6'8"
College: Ohio State
Draft: 1962 - territorial selection
Experience: 7 years
Teams: Cincinnati Royals - 1964-1970 (#16), San Francisco Warriors - 1970 (#47, #32)
65.5 Win Shares, 0.027 MVP Award Shares, 3 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, 1 Conference Finals Loss (1964 Royals), 0.3 Conference Finals Win Shares


3. Richie Guerin - 138.0
Position: Guard
Height: 6'4"
College: Iona
Draft: 1954 - 17th pick
Experience: 13 years
Teams: New York Knicks - 1957-1964 (#9), St. Louis Hawks - 1964-1966 (#15), Atlanta Hawks - 1969-1970 (#18 - 1969, #19 - 1969-1970)
69.2 Win Shares, 0.032 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 3 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 6 All-Star SElections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 0 Finals Losses, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 5 Conference Finals Losses (1964 Hawks, 1966 Hawks, 1967 Hawks, 1969 Hawks, 1970 Hawks), 3.2 Conference Finals Win Shares


4. Harry Gallatin - 131.9
Position: Forward-Center
Height: 6'6"
College: Truman State
Draft: 1948 - 40th pick
Experience: 10 years (retired 11 years)
Teams: New York Knicks - 1949-1957 (#11), Detroit Pistons - 1958 (#10)
60.1 Win Shares, 0.012 MVP Award Shares, 1 All-NBA 1st Team Selection, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 7 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 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


5. Jack Twyman - 131.7
Position: Forward-Guard
Height: 6'6"
College: Cincinnati
Draft: 1955 - 8th pick
Experience: 11 years (retired 4 years)
Teams: Rochester Royals - 1956-1957 (#10), Cincinnati Royals - 1958-1966 (#27 - 1958-1960, #31 - 1961-1964, #27 - 1965-1966)
75.0 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 Finals Win Shares


6. Walt Bellamy - 127.3
Position: Center
Height: 6'11"
College: Indiana
Draft: 1961 - 1st pick
Experience: 9 years
Teams: Chicago Packers - 1962 (#8), Chicago Zephyrs (#8), Baltimore Bullets - 1964-1966 (#8), New York Knicks - 1966-1969 (#8), Detroit Pistons - 1969-1970 (#8)
101.2 Win Shares, 0.002 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 0 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 4 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 0 Finals Losses, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 2 Conference Finals Losses (1965 Bullets, 1970 Hawks), 2.4 Conference Finals Win Shares


7. Jim Pollard - 126.0
Position: Forward-Center
Height: 6'4"
College: Stanford
Draft: 1947 - 68th pick
Experience: 7 years (retired 15 years)
Teams: Minneapolis Lakers - 1949-1955 (#17)
18.2 Win Shares, 0.000 MVP Award Shares, 2 All-NBA 1st Team 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


8. Clyde Lovellette - 119.2
Position: Center-Forward
Height: 6'9"
College: Kansas
Draft: 1952 - 9th pick
Experience: 11 years (retired 6 years)
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


9. Bob Davies - 118.5
Position: Guard-Forward
Height: 6'1"
College: Seton Hall
Draft: not drafted, signed by the team following World War II
Experience: 7 years (retired 14 years)
Teams: Rochester Royals - 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 Win Shares


10. Lenny Wilkens - 114.9
Position: Guard
Height: 6'1"
College: Providence
Draft: 1960 - 6th pick
Experience: 10 years
Teams: St. Louis Hawks - 1961-1968 (#32 - 1961, #15 - 1962, #32 - 1963, #14 - 1964-1968), Seattle SuperSonics - 1969-1970 (#19)
61.6 Win Shares, 0.320 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selection, 0 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 7 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 1 Finals Loss (1961 Hawks), 0.5 Finals Win Shares, 3 Conference Finals Losses (1963 Hawks, 1964 Hawks, 1966 Hawks, 1967 Hawks), 3.1 Conference Finals Win Shares


And the 24 Greatest Players Ever after 24 seasons:
Inducted List of Greatness members in bold; Retired players highlighted in silver
(Previous rank and rating, if applicable, in parentheses)
1. Bill Russell - 739.6 (1)
2. Wilt Chamberlain - 582.9 (2 - 568.1)
3. Bob Pettit - 468.2 (3)
4. Jerry West - 438.3 (8 - 371.9)
5. Oscar Robertson - 420.8 (6 - 394.4)
6. Elgin Baylor - 415.6 (5 - 395.3)
7. Bob Cousy - 402.3 (4 - 402.1)
8. Dolph Schayes - 388.2 (7)
9. Sam Jones - 283.0 (9)
10. Bill Sharman - 276.2 (10)
11. Paul Arizin - 244.5 (11)
12. Hal Greer - 243.2 (13 - 232.0)
13. George Mikan - 232.2 (12)
14. John Havlicek - 219.9 (16 - 194.3)
15. Tom Heinsohn - 217.8 (14)
16. Neil Johnston - 209.8 (15)
17. Bailey Howell - 195.6 (17 - 192.5)
18. Vern Mikkelsen - 190.5 (18)
19. Willis Reed - 186.1 (33 - 108.9)
20. Cliff Hagan - 183.3 (19 - 183.2)
21. Ed Macauley - 178.2 (18)
22. Jerry Lucas - 161.9 (23 - 154.0)
23. Slater Martin - 160.6 (21)
24. Larry Foust - 155.6 (22)


And the next tier:
25. George Yardley - 145.1 (24)
26. Richie Guerin - 138.0 (25 - 137.1)
27. Harry Gallatin - 131.9 (26)
28. Jack Twyman - 131.7 (27)
29. Walt Bellamy - 127.3 (29 - 119.6)
30. Jim Pollard - 126.0 (28)
31. Clyde Lovellette - 119.2 (30)
32. Bob Davies - 118.5 (31)
33. Lenny Wilkens - 114.9 (34 - 105.0)
34. Larry Costello - 110.6 (32)
35. Chet Walker - 109.4 (39 - 94.6)
36. Tom Gola - 103.6 (35)
37. Rudy LaRusso - 102.4 (36)
38. Bobby Wanzer - 99.5 (37)
39. Dick McGuire - 98.2 (38)
40. Rick Barry - 97.8 (43 - 86.7)
41. Carl Braun - 92.6 (40)
42. Gene Shue - 92.5 (41)
43. Billy Cunningham - 89.7 (NR - 58.5)
44. Red Kerr - 87.7 (42)
45. Andy Phillip - 85.5 (44)
46. Walt Frazier - 85.1 (NR - 10.3)
47. Nate Thurmond - 84.6 (46 - 75.9)
48. Paul Seymour - 82.9 (45)