duncan228
05-17-2010, 12:58 PM
Best Players Without An NBA Title (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1005/nba.best.players.without.title/content.1.html)
SI.com
LeBron James
(2003-present)
At 25, LeBron, of course, still has plenty of time to escape this list, which is filled with retirees and older active players. But in the wake of Cleveland's second-round loss to the Celtics, the scoreboard reads seven seasons and zero championships for the two-time MVP. Since reaching the Finals in 2007 (when his Cavs were swept by San Antonio), LeBron has failed to get out of the East, with Cleveland having the league's best record in two of those three seasons.
Karl Malone
(1985-2004)
The Mailman, who leads the 2010 Hall of Fame class, lost twice to Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the Finals while in his prime with the Jazz. Then, in the final season of a career in which he finished as the No. 2 scorer of all time and won two MVPs, Malone couldn't prevent the Lakers from being outclassed by Detroit in the Finals.
Elgin Baylor
(1958-72)
The spectacular 6-5 forward averaged 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds in 14 seasons with the Lakers, who ran up against Bill Russell's Celtics throughout Baylor's tenure. A knee injury ended Baylor's 1970-71 season after two games -- the same season the Lakers ripped off an NBA-record 33 victories and won the championship.
Charles Barkley
(1984-2000)
Sir Charles played on 50-win teams with three franchises (Philadelphia, Phoenix and Houston). The 1992-93 Suns were the best of those teams, as Barkley led them to an NBA-high 62 victories, won the MVP award and made his first and only Finals, where Phoenix lost to the Bulls in an entertaining six-game series.
John Stockton
(1984-2003)
Like pick-and-roll partner Karl Malone, Stockton piled up individual accolades (all-time leader in assists and steals, 10 All-Star appearances) and spearheaded Utah's sustained run of excellence but couldn't surmount Michael Jordan's Bulls in the Finals.
Steve Nash
(1996-present)
The two-time MVP has led Phoenix on a surprising run to the 2010 Western Conference finals. The Suns will need to get past the defending champion Lakers for the 36-year-old Nash to advance to his first Finals.
Patrick Ewing
(1985-2002)
One of the NBA's great centers (career averages: 21 points, 9.8 rebounds) certainly had his chances with the Knicks, most notably in 1994 when New York lost Games 6 and 7 of the Finals at Houston.
Dirk Nowitzki
(1998-present)
Nowitzki might still be having nightmares about the 2006 Finals. The Mavericks had already won the first two games and led by 13 midway through fourth quarter of Game 3 in Miami before Dwyane Wade rallied the Heat to the first of four consecutive victories. A year later, after Nowitzki's MVP regular season, the 67-win Mavs fell to the Warriors to become the first No. 1 seed to a lose to a No. 8 seed in a seven-game series.
Allen Iverson
(1996-present)
The Answer's only trip out of the second round came in his MVP season, in 2001, when he closed within three wins of a title after guiding the underdog 76ers to a Game 1 victory against the host Lakers in the Finals. The Lakers, however, rebounded to win the next four games. Since then, the four-time scoring champ has jumped from Philadelphia to Denver to Detroit to Memphis and back to Philadelphia again. His NBA career may be over at age 34.
George Gervin
(1972-86)
The Ice Man, a four-time scoring champ with a career NBA average of 26.2 points, was part of a Spurs team that squandered a 3-1 lead to the Washington Bullets in the 1979 Eastern Conference finals.
Dominique Wilkins
(1982-99)
In terms of the playoffs, the Human Highlight Film is remembered best for his scintillating duel with Larry Bird in Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference semifinals ... which the Hall of Famer Wilkins' Hawks lost 118-116.
Pete Maravich
(1970-80)
Maravich never played on a serious contender in the prime of a career in which he averaged 24.2 points over 10 seasons. In his final season, he played limited minutes for the Celtics, who went 61-21 before losing to the 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals.
Jason Kidd
(1994-present)
The NBA's active leader in games, assists, steals and triple-doubles has made the playoffs 14 times, including back-to-back Finals appearances with the Nets in 2002 and '03.
Alex English
(1976-91)
Nobody scored more points in the `80s than English, who set an NBA record with eight consecutive 2,000-point seasons. But English's offensive-minded Nuggets teams went as far as the conference finals just once, in 1985, when Denver was trounced by the eventual champion Lakers.
Adrian Dantley
(1976-91)
The Lakers (near the start of Dantley's career) and the Pistons (near the end of Dantley's career) won titles immediately after trading the prolific scorer. In between, Dantley, a former Rookie of the Year and two-time scoring king, spent his prime years with non-title-contending Utah.
Bernard King
(1977-93)
The former scoring champion and Hall of Fame finalist won one playoff series in his career (during which he lost nearly two full seasons of his prime to a knee injury). King's Knicks memorably lost in seven games to eventual champion Boston in the 1984 Eastern Conference semifinals.
Dave Bing
(1966-78)
The former Pistons guard couldn't deliver a title to Detroit, where he's now the mayor, but he did win Rookie of the Year and All-Star MVP in his Hall of Fame career.
Nate Thurmond
(1963-77)
Thurmond made the Finals twice but had the misfortune of meeting Bill Russell's Celtics and Wilt Chamberlain's 76ers in those series. The Warriors traded the rebounding and defensive ace the year before they won the 1975 title.
Sidney Moncrief
(1979-91)
The two-time Defensive Player of the Year won division titles in his first seven years with Milwaukee but that regular-season success never translated into a single Finals berth.
Vince Carter
(1998-present)
The knock on the explosive scorer and perennial All-Star has always been his teams' lack of playoff success. Carter has a chance to redefine his reputation with the Magic, who remain in contention for the 2010 title.
Chris Webber
(1993-2008)
If only Webber's Kings had gotten past the Lakers in the controversial 2002 Western Conference finals -- surely Sacramento could have dominated the Nets in the Finals like L.A. did. In fact, Webber played on four 55-win teams with the Kings without a Finals appearance to show for it. Webber's crunch-time shortcomings have led to much debate surrounding his Hall of Fame candidacy.
Reggie Miller
(1987-2005)
Reggie earned the name "Knick-killer" after a series of clutch performances in the postseason against New York, including a 1995 playoff game when he scored eight points in 8.9 seconds to shock the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Miller played in 144 playoff games over an 18-year career, all with the Pacers. His Indiana teams lost in the Eastern Conference Finals four out of six seasons in the late 1990s before breaking through to the NBA Finals in 1999-2000. But the Lakers' duo of Kobe and Shaq was too much for the Pacers, despite Miller's best efforts, and L.A. took the series in six games.
SI.com
LeBron James
(2003-present)
At 25, LeBron, of course, still has plenty of time to escape this list, which is filled with retirees and older active players. But in the wake of Cleveland's second-round loss to the Celtics, the scoreboard reads seven seasons and zero championships for the two-time MVP. Since reaching the Finals in 2007 (when his Cavs were swept by San Antonio), LeBron has failed to get out of the East, with Cleveland having the league's best record in two of those three seasons.
Karl Malone
(1985-2004)
The Mailman, who leads the 2010 Hall of Fame class, lost twice to Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the Finals while in his prime with the Jazz. Then, in the final season of a career in which he finished as the No. 2 scorer of all time and won two MVPs, Malone couldn't prevent the Lakers from being outclassed by Detroit in the Finals.
Elgin Baylor
(1958-72)
The spectacular 6-5 forward averaged 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds in 14 seasons with the Lakers, who ran up against Bill Russell's Celtics throughout Baylor's tenure. A knee injury ended Baylor's 1970-71 season after two games -- the same season the Lakers ripped off an NBA-record 33 victories and won the championship.
Charles Barkley
(1984-2000)
Sir Charles played on 50-win teams with three franchises (Philadelphia, Phoenix and Houston). The 1992-93 Suns were the best of those teams, as Barkley led them to an NBA-high 62 victories, won the MVP award and made his first and only Finals, where Phoenix lost to the Bulls in an entertaining six-game series.
John Stockton
(1984-2003)
Like pick-and-roll partner Karl Malone, Stockton piled up individual accolades (all-time leader in assists and steals, 10 All-Star appearances) and spearheaded Utah's sustained run of excellence but couldn't surmount Michael Jordan's Bulls in the Finals.
Steve Nash
(1996-present)
The two-time MVP has led Phoenix on a surprising run to the 2010 Western Conference finals. The Suns will need to get past the defending champion Lakers for the 36-year-old Nash to advance to his first Finals.
Patrick Ewing
(1985-2002)
One of the NBA's great centers (career averages: 21 points, 9.8 rebounds) certainly had his chances with the Knicks, most notably in 1994 when New York lost Games 6 and 7 of the Finals at Houston.
Dirk Nowitzki
(1998-present)
Nowitzki might still be having nightmares about the 2006 Finals. The Mavericks had already won the first two games and led by 13 midway through fourth quarter of Game 3 in Miami before Dwyane Wade rallied the Heat to the first of four consecutive victories. A year later, after Nowitzki's MVP regular season, the 67-win Mavs fell to the Warriors to become the first No. 1 seed to a lose to a No. 8 seed in a seven-game series.
Allen Iverson
(1996-present)
The Answer's only trip out of the second round came in his MVP season, in 2001, when he closed within three wins of a title after guiding the underdog 76ers to a Game 1 victory against the host Lakers in the Finals. The Lakers, however, rebounded to win the next four games. Since then, the four-time scoring champ has jumped from Philadelphia to Denver to Detroit to Memphis and back to Philadelphia again. His NBA career may be over at age 34.
George Gervin
(1972-86)
The Ice Man, a four-time scoring champ with a career NBA average of 26.2 points, was part of a Spurs team that squandered a 3-1 lead to the Washington Bullets in the 1979 Eastern Conference finals.
Dominique Wilkins
(1982-99)
In terms of the playoffs, the Human Highlight Film is remembered best for his scintillating duel with Larry Bird in Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference semifinals ... which the Hall of Famer Wilkins' Hawks lost 118-116.
Pete Maravich
(1970-80)
Maravich never played on a serious contender in the prime of a career in which he averaged 24.2 points over 10 seasons. In his final season, he played limited minutes for the Celtics, who went 61-21 before losing to the 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals.
Jason Kidd
(1994-present)
The NBA's active leader in games, assists, steals and triple-doubles has made the playoffs 14 times, including back-to-back Finals appearances with the Nets in 2002 and '03.
Alex English
(1976-91)
Nobody scored more points in the `80s than English, who set an NBA record with eight consecutive 2,000-point seasons. But English's offensive-minded Nuggets teams went as far as the conference finals just once, in 1985, when Denver was trounced by the eventual champion Lakers.
Adrian Dantley
(1976-91)
The Lakers (near the start of Dantley's career) and the Pistons (near the end of Dantley's career) won titles immediately after trading the prolific scorer. In between, Dantley, a former Rookie of the Year and two-time scoring king, spent his prime years with non-title-contending Utah.
Bernard King
(1977-93)
The former scoring champion and Hall of Fame finalist won one playoff series in his career (during which he lost nearly two full seasons of his prime to a knee injury). King's Knicks memorably lost in seven games to eventual champion Boston in the 1984 Eastern Conference semifinals.
Dave Bing
(1966-78)
The former Pistons guard couldn't deliver a title to Detroit, where he's now the mayor, but he did win Rookie of the Year and All-Star MVP in his Hall of Fame career.
Nate Thurmond
(1963-77)
Thurmond made the Finals twice but had the misfortune of meeting Bill Russell's Celtics and Wilt Chamberlain's 76ers in those series. The Warriors traded the rebounding and defensive ace the year before they won the 1975 title.
Sidney Moncrief
(1979-91)
The two-time Defensive Player of the Year won division titles in his first seven years with Milwaukee but that regular-season success never translated into a single Finals berth.
Vince Carter
(1998-present)
The knock on the explosive scorer and perennial All-Star has always been his teams' lack of playoff success. Carter has a chance to redefine his reputation with the Magic, who remain in contention for the 2010 title.
Chris Webber
(1993-2008)
If only Webber's Kings had gotten past the Lakers in the controversial 2002 Western Conference finals -- surely Sacramento could have dominated the Nets in the Finals like L.A. did. In fact, Webber played on four 55-win teams with the Kings without a Finals appearance to show for it. Webber's crunch-time shortcomings have led to much debate surrounding his Hall of Fame candidacy.
Reggie Miller
(1987-2005)
Reggie earned the name "Knick-killer" after a series of clutch performances in the postseason against New York, including a 1995 playoff game when he scored eight points in 8.9 seconds to shock the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Miller played in 144 playoff games over an 18-year career, all with the Pacers. His Indiana teams lost in the Eastern Conference Finals four out of six seasons in the late 1990s before breaking through to the NBA Finals in 1999-2000. But the Lakers' duo of Kobe and Shaq was too much for the Pacers, despite Miller's best efforts, and L.A. took the series in six games.