The List of Greatness - 1973

To soften the blow of the NBA lockout, which starts at midnight, July 1, here's another List of Greatness post. (I have no idea what to expect from this lockout. I would assume the players will almost have to cave first - since some teams claim to lose more money by playing the games than by doing nothing. The question now is - how long do the players hold out? How long can the players go without paychecks? Does this become a point of pride thing where Billy Hunter just refuses to budge even though everyone can see it has to happen and by not conceding he's just hurting his players even more? Think the "Canada on Strike" episode of South Park. And for the record, I'm not really backing one side or the other, I just think the owners have more leverage here. Ugh... Now I'm depressed...) Anyway, an interesting thing about this year's list: I'm 99% positive this year's top ten features more active players (7) than any previous year. There not all getting in, so it's going to be interesting to see who gets squeezed out going forward.


1. Walt Frazier - 232.1
Position: Guard
Height: 6'4"
College: Southern Illinois
Draft: 1967 - 5th pick
Experience: 6 years
Teams: New York Knicks - 1968-1973 (#10)
74.3 Win Shares, 0.113 MVP Award Shares, 2 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 2 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 4 All-Star Selections, 2 Championships (1970 Knicks, 1973 Knicks), 5.8 Championship Win Shares, 1 Finals Loss (1972 Knicks), 3.3 Finals Win Shares, 2 Conference Finals Losses (1969 Knicks, 1971 Knicks), 4.2 Conference Finals Win Shares


And the rest of the top ten:
2. Jerry Lucas - 218.4
Position: Forward-Center
Height: 6'8"
College: Ohio State
Draft: 1962 - territorial selection
Experience: 10 years
Teams: Cincinnati Royals - 1964-1970 (#16), San Francisco Warriors - 1970-1971 (#47 - 1970, #32 - 1970-1971), New York Knicks - 1972-1973 (#32)
95.0 Win Shares, 0.027 MVP Award Shares, 3 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 2 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 7 All-Star Selections, 1 Championship (1973 Knicks), 1.0 Championship Win Shares, 1 Finals Loss (1972 Knicks), 2.4 Finals Win Shares, 1 Conference Finals Loss (1964 Royals), 0.3 Conference Finals Win Shares


3. Cliff Hagan - 183.3
Position: Forward-Guard
Height: 6'4"
College: Kentucky
Draft: 1953 - 24th pick
Experience: 10 years/3 ABA years (retired 7 years/3 years from ABA)
Teams: St. Louis Hawks - 1957-1966 (#6 - 1957, #17 - 1957, #16 - 1958-1966), Dallas Chaparrals - 1968-1970
75.1 Win Shares, 0.043 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 2 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 5 All-Star Selections, 1 Championship (1958 Hawks), 2.7 Championship Win Shares, 3 Finals Losses (1957 Hawks, 1960 Hawks, 1961 Hawks), 3.9 Finals Win Shares, 4 Conference Finals Losses (1959 Hawks, 1963 Hawks, 1964 Hawks, 1966 Hawks), 3.8 Conference Finals Win Shares
10.2 ABA Win Shares, 1 ABA All-Star Selection


4. Billy Cunningham - 167.5
Position: Forward-Center
Height: 6'6"
College: North Carolina
Draft: 1965 - 5th pick
Experience: 8 years/1 ABA year
Teams: Philadelphia 76ers - 1966-1972 (#32), Carolina Cougars - 1973 (#32)
55.8 Win Shares, 0.288 MVP Award Shares, 3 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 4 All-Star Selections, 1 Championship (1967 76ers), 0.4 Championship Win Shares, 0 Finals Losses, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 2 Conference Finals Losses (1966 76ers, 1968 76ers), 0.4 Conference Finals Win Shares
11.9 ABA Win Shares, 1 ABA MVP (1973), 1 All-ABA 1st Team Selection, 1 ABA All-Star Selection, 1 ABA Conference Finals Loss (1973 Cougars), 1.7 ABA Conference Finals Win Shares


5. Larry Foust - 160.1
Position: Center-Forward
Height: 6'9"
College: La Salle
Draft: 1950 - 5th pick
Experience: 12 years (retired 11 years)
Teams: Fort Wayne Pistons - 1951-1957 (#16), Minneapolis Lakers - 1958-1960 (#14), St. Louis Hawks - 1960-1962 (#13 - 1960-1961, #14 - 1962)
69.8 Win Shares, 0.000 MVP Award Shares, 1 All-NBA 1st Team Selection, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 8 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 5 Finals Losses (1955 Pistons, 1956 Pistons, 1959 Lakers, 1960 Hawks, 1961 Hawks), 3.6 Finals Win Shares, 1 Conference Finals Loss (1953 Pistons), 1.1 Conference Finals Win Shares


6. Chet Walker - 155.7
Position: Forward-Guard
Height: 6'6"
College: Bradley
Draft: 1962 - 12th pick
Experience: 11 years
Teams: Syracuse Nationals - 1963 (#25), Philadelphia 76ers - 1964-1969 (#25), Chicago Bulls - 1970-1973 (#25)
96.4 Win Shares, 0.000 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 0 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 6 All-Star Selections, 1 Championship (1967 76ers), 2.3 Championship Win Shares, 0 Finals Losses, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 3 Conference Finals Losses (1965 76ers, 1966 76ers, 1968 76ers), 2.5 Conference Finals Win Shares


7. Rick Barry - 153.4
Position: Forward
Height: 6'7"
College: Miami
Draft: 1965 - 2nd pick
Experience: 4 years/4 ABA years
Teams: San Francisco Warriors - 1966-1967 (#24), Oakland Oaks - 1969 (#24), Washington Capitols - 1970 (#24), New York Americans - 1971-1972 (#24), Golden State Warriors - 1973 (#24)
35.0 Win Shares, 0.100 MVP Award Shares, 2 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 3 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 1 Finals Loss (1967 Warriors), 1.6 Finals Win Shares, 1 Conference Finals Loss (1973 Warriors), 0.5 Conference Finals Win Shares
35.5 ABA Win Shares, 4 All-ABA 1st Team Selections, 4 ABA All-Star Selections, 1 ABA Finals Loss (1972 Americans), 2.7 ABA Finals Win Shares


8. Walt Bellamy - 150.9
Position: Center
Height: 6'11"
College: Indiana
Draft: 1961 - 1st pick
Experience: 12 years
Teams: Chicago Packers - 1962 (#8), Chicago Zephyrs - 1963 (#8), Baltimore Bullets - 1964-1966 (#8), New York Knicks - 1966-1969 (#8), Detroit Pistons - 1969-1970 (#8), Atlanta Hawks - 1970-1973 (#8)
124.8 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


9. Lenny Wilkens - 149.7
Position: Guard
Height: 6'1"
College: Providence
Draft: 1960 - 6th pick
Experience: 13 years
Teams: St. Louis Hawks - 1961-1968 (#32 - 1961, #15 - 1962, #32 - 1963, #14 -1964-1968), Seattle SuperSonics - 1969-1972 (#19), Cleveland Cavaliers - 1973 (#19)
86.4 Win Shares, 0.323 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 0 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 9 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 1 Finals Loss (1961 Hawks), 0.5 Finals Win Shares, 4 Conference Finals Losses (1963 Hawks, 1964 Hawks, 1966 Hawks, 1967 Hawks), 3.1 Conference Finals Win Shares


10. George Yardley - 145.1
Position: Forward-Guard
Height: 6'5"
College: Stanford
Draft: 1950 - 7th pick
Experience: 7 years (retired 13 years)
Teams: Fort Wayne Pistons - 1954-1957 (#12), Detroit Pistons - 1958-1959 (#12), Syracuse Nationals - 1959-1960 (#12)
58.5 Win Shares, 0.382 MVP Award Shares, 1 All-NBA 1st Team Selection, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 6 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 2 Finals Losses (1955 Pistons, 1956 Pistons), 3.3 Finals Win Shares, 2 Conference Finals Losses (1958 Pistons, 1959 Nationals), 2.2 Conference Finals Shares


And here's the 27 Greatest Players Ever after 27 years:
(Inducted List of Greatness members in bold)
1. Bill Russell - 739.6
2. Wilt Chamberlain - 712.6
3. Jerry West - 576.4
4. Oscar Robertson - 497.6
5. Bob Pettit - 468.2
6. Dolph Schayes - 431.8
7. Elgin Baylor - 416.2
8. Bob Cousy - 406.2
9. George Mikan - 380.0
10. John Havlicek - 329.4
11. Sam Jones - 283.0
12. Bill Sharman - 278.7
13. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 263.3
14. Paul Arizin - 258.2
15. Hal Greer - 251.9
16. Willis Reed - 233.4
17. Walt Frazier - 232.1
18. Vern Mikkelsen - 225.8
19. Jerry Lucas - 218.4
20. Tom Heinsohn - 217.8
21. Neil Johnston - 209.8
22. Ed Macauley - 204.7
23. Bailey Howell - 200.7
24. Cliff Hagan - 183.3
25. Slater Martin - 178.9
26. Billy Cunningham - 167.5
27. Larry Foust - 160.1


And the next tier:
28. Harry Gallatin - 159.0
29. Chet Walker - 155.7
30. Jim Pollard - 154.2
31. Rick Barry - 153.4
32. Bobby Wanzer - 151.4
33. Walt Bellamy - 150.9
34. Bob Davies - 150.7
35. Lenny Wilkens - 149.7
36. George Yardley - 145.1
37. Richie Guerin - 138.0
38. Max Zaslofsky - 134.9
39. Jack Twyman - 131.7
40. Dave DeBusschere - 129.4
41. Joe Fulks - 126.7
42. Zelmo Beaty - 125.0
43. Connie Hawkins - 123.5
44. Arnie Risen - 120.0
45. Clyde Lovellette - 119.2
46. Nate Thurmond - 117.9
47. Carl Braun - 114.8
48. Andy Phillip - 114.6
49. Wes Unseld - 113.1
50. Mel Daniels - 112.9
51. Larry Costello - 110.6
52. Dick McGuire - 110.1
53. Gus Johnson - 104.8
54. Tom Gola - 103.6