All-time underrated NBA players
Charley Rosen / FOXSports.com
Posted: 4 days ago
If some over-hyped players have become NBA icons, just as many truly superlative performers have failed to get the credit they deserve. As a partial corrective, here's an alphabetical list of several all-time underrated players.
Rick Barry
Barry's arrogance was always hard for his teammates and the media to deal with. Hey, not even his kids are crazy about him. He was also a self-described basketball gypsy, playing for five teams and two leagues in his 14-year career. But the guy had a Hall-of-Fame game.
So who's overrated?
Charles Barkley and David Robinson made Charley Rosen's list of the all-time overrated players.
See who else is on the list
Scoring was his forte he led the NBA in 1966-67 with 35.6 ppg. He was irresistible in an open court and a dead-eye shooter whenever the game slowed down. Passing was another specialty. Nothing fancy, mind you, just simple, direct and invariably right on the money. He was the progenitor of the point-forward and his teams' offense always went through Barry.
If he wasn't an outstanding one-on-one defender, he played excellent team defense rotating, helping and anticipating and no one ever played the passing lanes better than he did. In 1974-75, Barry led the NBA with 2.85 steals per game.
Above all, however, Barry always played hard and smart. Blame an off-court, know-it-all persona for his great skills being so neglected.
Joe Dumars
He was a big-time, crunch-time scorer, who could shoot and also power his way to the basket. Forget about Isiah Thomas, Vinnie Johnson or Mark Aguirre when the Bad Boys desperately needed a score, Chuck Daly routinely called Dumars' number.
Charley Rosen spices up the off-season by ranking the best teams, top players by position and more.
Best all-time teams:
# Nos. 13-9 | 8-5 | 4-1
Best all-time ringless teams:
# Nos. 23-15 | 14-8 | 7-1
Individual honors/dishonors:
# All-time overrated | Underrated
Best of the best:
# Power forwards | Small forwards
# Point guards | Shooting guards
# Centers | Sixth men | Coaches
His defense was just as reliable he was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1993. Gutsy, scratchy, confrontational defense was his style, and it was Dumars who set the tone for the Pistons' belligerent game plan.
Did the Pistons need a score? A stop? A rebound? A pass? The recovery of a loose ball? Dumars was right there on the spot.
While Zeke took all the bows, it was Dumars who did most of the dirty work.
Hal Greer
Aside from Oscar Robertson, Hal Greer was the strongest backcourtsman of his era. He could drive to the hole with the power and determination of a mini tank. While he didn't posses outstanding range, he rarely missed from 16-18 feet. Twenty-point seasons were commonplace from 1960-70, he averaged 21.9 ppg for Syracuse and Philadelphia. He could also pass, rebound and play hellacious defense. He proved his crunch-time prowess by posting better numbers (in virtually every category) during his 92-game playoff career. During Philly's championship run in 1967, it was Greer (not Wilt Chamberlain) who led his team in postseason scoring.
When the chips were down, Greer always had a winning hand.
Neil Johnston
He was one of the few players (Bill Sharman and Bob Cousy being two other notables) whose excellence survived into the post-shot-clock era. Injuries curtailed his career, but in his eight seasons, he managed to lead the NBA in scoring twice, in rebounding once and three times in field goal percentage.
They called him "Gabby" because he never spoke much. Instead, Johnston let his one-handers, hook shots and tricky moves to the hoop do the talking. In his prime, he could play the mighty George Mikan on even terms. Johnston was an All-NBA first-teamer (1953-56) and the wheel-horse of Philadelphia's 1956 championship team.
Johnston is another superlative talent lost in the amped-up, existential world of the modern-day NBA.
Jerry Lucas
Lucas was by far the best rebounder who never led the league in his specialty. From 1964-66, for example, Lucas averaged 20.5 per game but was surpassed by Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. (Did any NBA player ever have better hands than Lucas?) With three seasons of more than 20 ppg, Lucas could also scorewith hooks and assorted slick moves in the pivot, and also with long-range bombs that even guards envied.
He was a wonderful team-oriented defender, and one of most intelligent players ever. Lucas had been exclusively a power forward throughout his career, but at only 6-foot-8 he was forced to play center for the Knicks (1972-73) when Willis Reed came up lame. When the Knicks won the gold in 1973, Lucas and Dave DeBusschere shot from the perimeter, while Earl Monroe and Walt Frazier posted up. It was topsy-turvy basketball, and it succeeded primarily because of Lucas' toughness and resourcefulness.
Interesting, though, how easily the Memory-Man has been forgotten.
Vern Mikkelsen
The only record Mikkelsen ever set was for fouling out of 127 games during his career. Indeed, it was Mikkelsen who put the power in power forward. He provided the Minneapolis dynasty with aggressive defense, rebounding (four seasons of over 10 per game) and burly inside scoring (14.4 ppg lifetime with a high of 18.7 in 1954-55). Mikkelsen was a winner in every aspect of the game, but his significant contributions to four Lakers championships were obscured by George Mikan's huge shadow.
Sidney Moncrief
Sidney Moncrief was a jack of all trades and master of most. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE / Getty Images)
This guy did every thing except win a championship. His adhesive defense was proverbial from 1983-86, he was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team and in 1983 and 1984 was the Defensive Player of the Year.
Ah, but Sid "The Squid" could also score. Long-distance shooting was not part of his repertoire he was more of a pull-up shooter whose hops could raise him above virtually all his erstwhile defenders. Moncrief had four seasons in which he averaged at least 20.2 ppg. And in 1983, was given a place on the All-NBA first team.
He could also run, rebound and pass. Moncrief was a jack of all trades and master of most.
Willis Reed
The Captain was justly celebrated for his courage, but his specific skills tend to be glossed over and forgotten. Reed was a reliable and versatile scorer from the high-post, the pivot and along either baseline. Possessed of a soft jumper, and deadly hooks and fadeaways, Reed was the Knicks' fail-safe option on offense.
When he jumped to retrieve an errant shot, even the most hard-nosed opponents stepped away to avoid his burly shoulders and bone-seeking elbows. It's not surprising that Reed also played rock-'em-sock-'em defense. In the Knicks' championship season of 1970, Reed was named the league's MVP and NBA Finals MVP, as well as being named to the All-NBA First Team, and NBA All-Defensive first team.
Why isn't he in the Hall of Fame? Because a hip injury first suffered in 1967 when the Atlanta Hawks used to play their home games at Georgia Tech on a court directly over a concrete base, and then exacerbated in the 1970 NBA Finals limited Reed to only seven healthy seasons.
Dennis Rodman
More known by Sports America for wearing a wedding dress in public than his high-level basketball skills, only Dennis Rodman's contemporaries understood his greatness. His ability to rebound was never a secret he led the league in caroms from 1992-1998.
But whereas most outstanding rebounders have an effective range of three or four body widths in every direction, Rodman was at least an eight-space rebounder. He was the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year in 1992 and 1995, and his penchant for not only stifling an opponent's offense, but also scrambling his psyche, was legendary.
More hidden from public view, however, was Rodman's phenomenal on-court intelligence. While he was never a play-maker, he rarely made mistakes in execution. He could also run like a sprinter and finish with aplomb. Well aware of his blighted jump shot, Rodman happily accepted his off-the-ball role and left the shooting to the shooters.
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Sure, he was impulsive and foolish. Yes, he hated to practice and to have a clock determine his whereabouts. Once games began though, no one competed more ferociously. Rodman's abbreviated stint with the Spurs (1993-95) showed how much he was focused on winning. Whenever a running team snatched a defensive rebound, Rodman liked to linger in the backcourt to harass the outlet pass and delay any subsequent fast break. It was a sound and highly effective strategy.
However, in order for Rodman to freelance, David Robinson was forced to temporarily cover the player Rodman normally defended just for a few ticks of the clock, until the progress of the ball was arrested and Rodman could hustle back. But Robinson refused to make the accommodation because, if the ball was rapidly advanced somehow, he would be guarding a much quicker player who might easily embarrass him.
Rodman was disgusted. His understanding was that Robinson did not want to put himself at risk (albeit a slight one) to better the Spurs' chances of winning. From that point on, Rodman made it clear (mostly by unlacing his sneakers whenever he was taken out of a game) that he no longer wanted to play with a big man who wasn't totally committed to winning.
In the end, Rodman retired with five championship rings. But because most of his labors were accomplished without the ball, he's been widely dismissed as nothing more than a freak.
Honorable mention
# Bill Sharman a great two-way guard.
# K.C. Jones a brilliant defender who habitually disrupted the offensive schemes of the Celtics opponents.
# Bill Bradley a thinking man's player who maximized his minimal physical skills.
# Wes Unseld a picker, rebounder and outlet-passer extraordinaire who was good enough to carry Elvin Hayes to a championship.
# Ralph Beard/Alex Groza basketball geniuses who suffered from their undergraduate mistakes.
# Jim McMillian the unsung hero of the 1972 L.A. Lakers' championship.
Charley Rosen, former CBA coach, author of 12 books about hoops, the current one being A pivotal season How the 1971-72 L.A. Lakers changed the NBA, is a frequent contributor to FOXSports.com.