No, it’s not what part of the country you play in, how tall you are or the coaching you receive. All these are relevant, granted, but by far the most important consideration is…what letter your last name starts with.
If your last name begins with Q, V, X, Y, or Z, forget it. The only remotely great players saddled with any of these initials had them in their FIRST names—Xavier McDaniel and Zelmo Beatty.
You’re not much better-off with F, K, N, or U. Only one player with each of those initials makes the “great” list—Walt Frazier, Bernard King, Steve Nash, Wes Unseld. As for L, there were Bob Lanier and Jerry Lucas, but we’re subtracting one for Bill Laimbeer, bringing the L total down to one, also. We could give them Maurice Lucas, who was marginally great, out of sympathy.
The letters I and O haven’t been very auspicious. There are Allen Iverson and Dan Issel—Issel not making the NBA’s All-Time 50 Greatest list is a grave injustice—for the I’s, and for the O’s, Hakeem and Shaq.
Not much better are E or T. We count Julius Erving, Patrick Ewing and Alex English for the E’s, and David Thompson, Isiah Thomas and Nate Thurmond for the T’s.
A and S are only a bit better: Paul Arizin, Nate Archibald, Abdul-Jabbar and Ray Allen for the A team; and John Stockton, Bill Sharman, Dolph Schayes and Jerry Sloan for the S’s. But Allen and Sloan are just borderline.
C, D, P, and R claim five players each, by our reckoning: Cousy, Chamberlain, Cowens, Billy Cunningham and Tom Chambers for the C section (even though the last two are iffy, they make it for being two of the greatest white leapers ever); Duncan, Dantley, Debusschere, Drexler and Bobby Dandridge (a forgotten great) for the D’s; Pettit, Pippen, Payton, Parish and Geoff Petrie (one of the NBA’s all-time great athletes) for the P shooters; and Russell, Willis Reed, David Robinson, Guy Rodgers and the Big O for the R’s (which ought to get bonus points for having two of the all-time top five, some would argue).
G, H and J are distinguished enough. In the G’s: Gervin and Goodrich (both double-G’s), Artis Gilmore, Hal Greer, Richie Guerin and Kevin Garnett. H has Elvin Hayes (he could also be claimed by E, as that was his nickname—the Big E), Havlicek, Heinsohn, Connie Hawkins, Cliff Hagan and Spencer Haywood. J is the most distinguished of the group, with Jordan, Magic and Lebron, not to mention Sam Jones, Marques Johnson and Dennis Johnson. Johnson is the best name, for sure, to be born with in our system.
The B team takes a backseat to nobody: Bird, Barkley, Baylor, Barry, Bing, Bryant, Walt Bellamy. Five are on the All-Time 50 and Kobe is certain to be on the next edition, and perhaps at the top. W is the equal of B, in numbers and talent: West, Walton, Wilkens and Wilkins, Wade, Worthy and Westphal (four on the All-Time 50, with Dominique a mysterious omission, to many).
The all-time best letter? M. You’ve got Maravich, the Malones (Karl and Moses), McGrady, McHale, McAdoo, Calvin Murphy, Earl the Pearl, Reggie Miller, George McGinnis and Sidney Moncrief. That’s 11 great players, four more than the runners-up. We’re talking numbers here, not overall quality. That’s another discussion.
No comments:
Post a Comment