The List of Greatness - 1977

For some reason, I always associate 1977 as "The Year of Bill Walton." I know why - because the Blazers won the title in '77. And he was really the only superstar on that team. (And I kind of just assume he won the MVP that year, even though he didn't - that was 1978.) But I don't do that with any of the other one hit wonders of the late 70's. I guess 1975 is sort of "The Year of Rick Barry" in my mind, but not even close to as much as 1977 with Walton. 1978 is not Wes Unseld's or Elvin Hayes's year in my mind, or even a combo Hayes/Unseld Year. And 1979 is definitely not the "Year of Jack Sikma" ... I kid. It should probably be Dennis Johnson or maybe Gus Williams. I don't know really know why. I don't know if it's because there were two big Hall of Famers on the '78 Bullets and there were no really big names on the '79 Sonics, or if there's just a certain mystique about Bill Walton - or a combination of all of the above.


Anyway, I just wanted to say that because Bill Walton isn't going to be anywhere on this list. In fact, he'll probably never be Top 10. He just didn't have a long enough career to do well on my Greatness Equation. I mean, he played a total of 209 of 328 games for 63.7% of his possible games. (What's with Portland and big men? Bill Walton. Sam Bowie. Greg Oden... Joel Przybilla... When will the hurting stop?) So, I had to get a little Bill Walton shout-out in here while I could, because it likely won't come later on.


But click ahead for the actual 1977 inductee into the List of Greatness.

1. Elvin Hayes - 211.1
Position: Forward-Center
Height: 6'9"
College: Houston
Draft: 1968 - 1st pick
Experience: 9 years
Teams: San Diego Rockets - 1969-1971 (#11), Houston Rockets - 1972 (#44), Baltimore Bullets - 1973 (#11), Capital Bullets - 1974 (#11), Washington Bullets - 1975-1977 (#11)
84.1 Win Shares, 0.440 MVP Award Shares, 2 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 3 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 9 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 1 Finals Loss (1975 Bullets), 2.2 Finals Win Shares, 0 Conference Finals Losses, 0.0 Conference Finals Win Shares


And the rest of the top ten:
2. Chet Walker - 190.4
Position: Forward-Guard
Height: 6'6"
College: Bradley
Draft: 1962 - 12th pick
Experience: 13 years (retired 2 years)
Teams: Syracuse Nationals - 1963 (#25), Philadelphia 76ers - 1964-1969 (#25), Chicago Bulls - 1970-1975 (#25)
117.5 Win Shares, 0.005 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 0 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 7 All-Star Selections, 1 Championship (1967 76ers), 2.3 Championship Win Shares, 0 Finals Losses, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 5 Conference Finals Losses (1965 76ers, 1966 76ers, 1968 76ers, 1974 Bulls, 1975 Bulls), 5.9 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 10 years/6 years from ABA)
Teams: St. Louis Hawks - 1957-1966 (#6 - 1957, #17 - 1957, #16 - 1958-1966), Dallas Chaparrals - 1968-1970 (#16)
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 - 176.3
Position: Forward-Center
Height: 6'6"
College: North Carolina
Draft: 1965 - 5th pick
Experience: 9 years/2 ABA years (retired 1 year)
Teams: Philadelphia 76ers - 1966-1972 (#32), Carolina Cougars - 1973-1974 (#32), Philadelphia 76ers - 1975-1976 (#32)
63.2 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
15.4 Win Shares, 1 ABA MVP (1973), 1 All-ABA 1st Team Selection, 0 All-ABA 2nd Team Selection, 1 ABA All-Star Selection, 1 ABA Conference Finals Loss (1973 Cougars), 1.7 ABA Conference Finals Win Shares


Billy Cunningham becomes an honorary member of the list this year with his fifth Top 5 finish.


5. Julius Erving - 171.8
Position: Forward-Guard
Height: 6'6"
College: Massachusetts
Draft: 1972 - 12th pick (signed in the ABA instead as an unrestricted free agent)
Experience: 1 year/5 ABA years
Teams: Virginia Squires - 1972-1973 (#32), New York Nets - 1974-1976 (#32), Philadelphia 76ers - 1977 (#6)
11.5 Win Shares, 0.028 MVP Award Shares, 0 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 1 All-Star Selection, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 1 Finals Loss (1977 76ers), 3.4 Finals Win Shares, 0 Conference Finals Losses, 0.0 Conference Finals Win Shares
74.9 ABA Win Shares, 3 ABA MVP's (1974, 1975, 1976), 4 All-ABA 1st Team Selections, 1 All-ABA 2nd Team Selection, 5 ABA All-Star Selections, 2 ABA Championships (1974 Nets, 1976 Nets), 6.7 ABA Win Shares, 1 ABA Conference Finals Loss (1972 Squires), 2.8 ABA Conference Finals Win Shares


6. Wes Unseld - 161.3
Position: Center-Forward
Height: 6'7"
College: Louisville
Draft: 1968 - 2nd pick
Experience: 9 years
Teams: Baltimore Bullets - 1969-1973 (#41), Capital Bullets - 1974 (#41), Washington Bullets - 1975-1977 (#41)
80.8 Win Shares, 0.640 MVP Award Shares (1 MVP - 1969), 1 All-NBA 1st Team Selection, 0 All-NBA 2nd Team Selections, 5 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 2 Finals Losses (1971 Bullets, 1975 Bullets), 4.9 Finals Win Shares, 0 Conference Finals Losses, 0.0 Conference Finals Win Shares


7. Larry Foust - 160.1
Position: Center-Forward
Height: 6'9"
College: La Salle
Draft: 1950 - 7th pick
Experience: 12 years (retired 15 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


8. Lenny Wilkens - 158.8
Position: Guard
Height: 6'1"
College: Providence
Draft: 1960 - 6th pick
Experience: 15 years (retired 2 years)
Teams: St. Louis Hawks - 1961-1968 (#32 - 1961, #15 - 1962, #32 - 1963, #14 - 1964-1968), Seattle SuperSonics - 1969-1972 (#19), Cleveland Cavaliers - 1973-1974 (#19), Portland Trail Blazers - 1975 (#17)
95.5 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 91963 Hawks, 1964 Hawks, 1966 Hawks, 1967 Hawks), 3.1 Conference Finals Win Shares


9. Walt Bellamy - 156.1
Position: Center
Height: 6'11"
College: Indiana
Draft: 1961 - 1st pick
Experience: 14 years (retired 2 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 - 1970-1974 (#8), New Orleans Jazz - 1975 (#8)
130.0 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


10. Dave Bing - 149.8
Position: Guard
Height: 6'3"
College: Syracuse
Draft: 1966 - 2nd pick
Experience: 11 years
Teams: Detroit Pistons - 1967-1975 (#21), Washington Bullets - 1976-1977 (#21)
65.1 Win Shares, 0.386 MVP Award Shares, 2 All-NBA 1st Team Selections, 1 All-NBA 2nd Team Selection, 7 All-Star Selections, 0 Championships, 0.0 Championship Win Shares, 0 Finals Losses, 0.0 Finals Win Shares, 0 Conference Finals Losses, 0.0 Conference Finals Win Shares


And the 31 Greatest Players Ever after 31 seasons:
(Inducted List of Greatness members in bold; honorary members in bold italics)
1. Bill Russell - 739.6
2. Wilt Chamberlain - 712.6
3. Jerry West - 584.6
4. Oscar Robertson - 511.2
5. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 471.8
6. John Havlicek - 469.0
7. Bob Pettit - 468.2
8. Dolph Schayes - 431.8
9. Elgin Baylor - 416.2
10. Bob Cousy - 406.2
11. George Mikan - 380.0
12. Walt Frazier - 317.2
13. Rick Barry - 307.0
14. Sam Jones - 283.0
15. Bill Sharman - 278.7
16. Paul Arizin - 258.2
17. Hal Greer - 251.9
18. Willis Reed - 234.5
19. Vern Mikkelsen - 225.8
20. Jerry Lucas - 221.6
21. Tom Heinsohn - 217.8
22. Dave Cowens - 211.2
23. Elvin Hayes - 211.1
24. Neil Johnston - 209.8
25. Ed Macauley - 204.7
26. Bailey Howell - 200.7
27. Chet Walker - 190.4
28. Cliff Hagan - 183.3
29. Slater Martin - 178.9
30. Billy Cunningham - 176.3
31. Julius Erving - 171.8


And the next tier:
32. Wes Unseld - 161.3
33. Larry Foust - 160.1
34. Harry Gallatin - 159.0
35. Lenny Wilkens - 158.8
36. Walt Bellamy - 156.1
37. Jim Pollard - 154.2
38. Bobby Wanzer - 151.4
39. Bob Davies - 150.7
40. Dave Bing - 149.8
41. Spencer Haywood - 147.3
42. Jo Jo White - 145.6
43. George Yardley - 145.1
44. Gail Goodrich - 143.6
45. Nate Thurmond - 141.8
46. Dave DeBusschere - 141.4
47. Bob McAdoo - 141.1
48. Richie Guerin - 138.0
49. Tiny Archibald - 136.8
50. Earl Monroe - 135.6
51. Connie Hawkins - 135.1
52. Max Zaslofsky - 134.9
53. Zelmo Beaty - 133.7
54. Jack Twyman - 131.7
55. Joe Fulks - 126.7
56. George McGinnis - 123.7
57. Arnie Risen - 120.0
58. Lou Hudson - 119.9
59. Clyde Lovellette - 119.2
60. Mel Daniels - 118.4
61. Artis Gilmore - 117.2
62. Carl Braun - 114.8