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Speaker 2: Welcome.
Speaker 3: In another special episode of the What's Right with Nick
Speaker 3: Wright Podcasts and YouTube shows, we continue our countdown of
Speaker 3: the fifty best players of the last fifty years in
Speaker 3: the NBA. We've gone through the rules, We've gone through
Speaker 3: the honorable mentions. We are now into the top twenty
Speaker 3: five guys. I highly encourage you if you're just now
Speaker 3: joining us, check out the previous episodes of this We
Speaker 3: give some love to some overlooked guys in NBA history,
Speaker 3: guys like Bob McAdoo or Sidney Moncree for Bernard King,
Speaker 3: but we also deep dive on guys you actually might
Speaker 3: have an opinion on like Alan Iverson or Russell Westbrook
Speaker 3: or Dwight Howard, all of.
Speaker 2: That in the previous episodes.
Speaker 3: But now we are too the twenty five best players
Speaker 3: of the last twenty five years. You're gonna see a
Speaker 3: handful of active players still remaining. And this is where
Speaker 3: the rankings become incredibly difficult. And some of our you
Speaker 3: know player was more difficult to rank than number twenty five.
Speaker 4: Number twenty five James Harden.
Speaker 3: So Harden's regular season resume is of one of the
Speaker 3: twelve best players the last fifty years. Six times he's
Speaker 3: been All NBA First Team. Throw a third team in
Speaker 3: there as well. He not only he has one league MVP,
Speaker 3: but what's more impressive than that, three times he has
Speaker 3: finished second, and six times in his career, all of
Speaker 3: his first team All NBA seasons he was first.
Speaker 2: He had a top five MVP finish.
Speaker 3: He's a three times scoring champ, including one season scoring
Speaker 3: thirty four points per game, one season scoring thirty six
Speaker 3: points per game. He also has an assist title. So
Speaker 3: who's won a scoring title and assist title? Well, Wilt
Speaker 3: did it, Tiny, Archibald did it, Lebron did it, Russ
Speaker 3: did it, James Harden did it. From twenty fifteen to
Speaker 3: twenty twenty his peak in Houston. That is a five year,
Speaker 3: six year run. He was thirty one, six and eight
Speaker 3: over five years, thirty one points, six rebounds, eight assists
Speaker 3: per night.
Speaker 2: His career averages are.
Speaker 3: Twenty five, six and seven and that includes the beginning
Speaker 3: of his career when he was a role player and
Speaker 3: then a sixth man where he won six million of
Speaker 3: a year.
Speaker 2: By the way for Oklahoma City.
Speaker 3: He has twenty three career point games twenty three times
Speaker 3: he's gone for fifty fourth most all time. Wilt, Michael,
Speaker 3: and Kobe are the only ones with more. He has
Speaker 3: four career sixty point games, third most all time, tied
Speaker 3: with Michael, behind only Wilt and Kobe. So that's the
Speaker 3: regular season stuff. That is an all time, transcendently great
Speaker 3: regular season player. So why is he only the twenty
Speaker 3: fifth best player of the last fifty years Because the
Speaker 3: postseason stuff is let's call it a mixed back started
Speaker 3: off pretty well. He had a thirty point five rebounds,
Speaker 3: seven assist four steel game off the bench as a
Speaker 3: bench player in twenty twelve in the Western Conference Finals,
Speaker 3: a series they would end up winning to go to
Speaker 3: the finals, but then in the finals he struggled mightily,
Speaker 3: and some would say, I think it's because the ownership
Speaker 3: in Oklahoma City was cheap, but whatever, some would say
Speaker 3: that's one of the reasons.
Speaker 2: They then traded him to Houston.
Speaker 3: He lost in the first round in Houston in twenty thirteen,
Speaker 3: and he lost in the first round in Houston in
Speaker 3: twenty fourteen. Twenty fourteen was the Dame Lillard Game, the
Speaker 3: game where Dame Lillard hit the first of his two
Speaker 3: career series winning buzzer beaters. But in that Dame Lillard game,
Speaker 3: the final game of that series, Game six, a game
Speaker 3: they lost by one on the last second shot, he
Speaker 3: had thirty four points, four rebound, six assists, four steals,
Speaker 3: and shot sixty percent from the field. So at that
Speaker 3: point it's like, oh aside from those finals, James Harden
Speaker 3: building a good regular season resume, solid postseason performer twenty
Speaker 3: fifteen playoffs. The next year, finally gets his first playoff
Speaker 3: series win with the Rockets and starts off pretty well.
Speaker 3: He had a forty two five to nine in round
Speaker 3: one to go up three to zero in round two.
Speaker 3: He's part of a three to one comeback against the Clippers.
Speaker 3: That sounds great, but it wasn't really Game six, the
Speaker 3: big comeback game. He was glued to the bench and
Speaker 3: he wasn't a part of the comeback. Then in the
Speaker 3: West Conference Finals against Golden State, you look at the
Speaker 3: box scores and it seems okay, It's like, ah, the
Speaker 3: Rockets were overmatched. He had twenty eight, eleven, nine and
Speaker 3: four in Game one, a game they only lost by one.
Speaker 3: He had thirty eight, ten, nine and three in Game two,
Speaker 3: a game they only lost by one.
Speaker 2: Game one they actually lost by four. Pardon me.
Speaker 3: He had forty five, seven, nine and five in Game
Speaker 3: four and they're like wow, and they won that game,
Speaker 3: but they were down three to zero. How serious was
Speaker 3: Golden State in that game? And then in Game five
Speaker 3: he was two for eleven and had twelve turnovers and amazingly,
Speaker 3: that would be one of three different two for eleven
Speaker 3: playoff games Harden hats in twenty sixteen, they lose to
Speaker 3: Golden State in round one. In twenty seventeen, he's good,
Speaker 3: very good. In Round one, they're playing the overmatch Thunder
Speaker 3: for the series. He's thirty three, six and seven, but
Speaker 3: forty percent from the field, six turnovers, and then that
Speaker 3: year he had one of the most bizarre games I've
Speaker 3: ever seen Game six, second round against the Spurs with
Speaker 3: no Kawhi Leonard. He has another two for eleven and
Speaker 3: they lose by thirty nine points.
Speaker 2: It's like wait.
Speaker 3: The next year, though, they get Chris Paul, they win
Speaker 3: sixty five games.
Speaker 2: He's excellent in the regular season. He wins League MVP.
Speaker 3: He opens the playoffs with a forty four and eight,
Speaker 3: opens the Western Western Armends Finals with a forty one
Speaker 3: four and seven, but they lose. He has thirty in
Speaker 3: Game four. They even the series. They win game five
Speaker 3: despite the fact that he's not very good, but Game
Speaker 3: six and seven he has thirty two in each game,
Speaker 3: but Chris Paul's gotten injured.
Speaker 2: The Rockets are up fifteen in both games.
Speaker 3: They lose both games by they're not even close at
Speaker 3: the end, despite being up fifteen home for Game seven,
Speaker 3: and he's six for twenty five from three in that
Speaker 3: in the final two games of that series. Twenty nineteen
Speaker 3: Western Armonds semi Finals. You look at the raw numbers
Speaker 3: thirty five, seven and five, You're like, Wow, it's pretty
Speaker 3: damn good. But if you watch that series, what happened
Speaker 3: in that series, it's two to two. Game five, KD
Speaker 3: goes down and they can't win another game. Game six,
Speaker 3: in Houston, Steph has zero points at the half.
Speaker 2: The Rockets are gonna win that game. Then Steph explodes
Speaker 2: for thirty.
Speaker 3: Harden doesn't do much and they lose, and so that's
Speaker 3: and that's the end of it. Then he goes to Brooklyn,
Speaker 3: doesn't do anything in the postseason, goes to Philly, and
Speaker 3: right now as we're recording this struggled throughout the postseason
Speaker 3: and so all this regular season stuff, but real struggles
Speaker 3: in the postseason. Even though the overall numbers his career
Speaker 3: in the postseason in Houston he averages twenty six, twenty eight,
Speaker 3: six and seven in eighty five career playoff games, and
Speaker 3: he has two Conference finals appearances. But if you watch him,
Speaker 3: you know the biggest moments have not been kind to him.
Speaker 3: So that's the full James Harden resume. It's why is
Speaker 3: the twenty fifth best player?
Speaker 2: No higher, no lower.
Speaker 3: Over the last fifty years, we have a couple different
Speaker 3: James Harden callers.
Speaker 2: Let's let them chine in.
Speaker 5: Hey, Nick, you're on from Fox Sports. First time, long time.
Speaker 5: So here is my question about James Harden. How can
Speaker 5: a player who has a career playoff shooting percentage under
Speaker 5: forty three percent I believe it's forty two point six
Speaker 5: and who has never made the finals since leaving OKAC
Speaker 5: when he was a sixth man be even in the
Speaker 5: top twenty five. Thanks, I'll hang up and listen.
Speaker 2: Do we have another James Harden caller?
Speaker 4: Hey?
Speaker 6: Nick is Brian from Philly, and I got a couple
Speaker 6: questions for you.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 6: I absolutely love James Harden because he's leading my seventy
Speaker 6: six ers in the playoffs. But does he have some
Speaker 6: rings that I just don't know about? Because you gotta
Speaker 6: ranked above guys like Scottie Pippen who have six rings.
Speaker 6: You also gotta ranked above guys like Kawhi Leonard who
Speaker 6: has two rings in two finals MVPs.
Speaker 4: Does James Harden play defense because.
Speaker 6: That same guy, Kawhi Leonard, who has two finals MVPs
Speaker 6: in two rings. Oh yeah, he was a defensive Player
Speaker 6: of the Year two times. Last question, Nick, how do
Speaker 6: you have a guy a your top twenty five who
Speaker 6: has never made in the finals appearance as a starter
Speaker 6: how does that happen?
Speaker 4: Answer those questions.
Speaker 3: For me, Nick, So those are fair points, and but
Speaker 3: here's the answer to those questions.
Speaker 2: The answer those questions is simple.
Speaker 3: His regular season resume is that of one of the
Speaker 3: greatest players of all time. And so you say, how
Speaker 3: does he above Scotty Pippen? Like I understand, Scotty Pippen
Speaker 3: has six rings and Harden has zero. But Harden has
Speaker 3: six times been top five MVP, four times been first
Speaker 3: or second. So, like Kawhi Leonard, I understand having Harden
Speaker 3: ahead of Kawhi seems controversial. Kwi is obviously a better
Speaker 3: playoff performer, but Harden's regular season resume so far out
Speaker 3: strips Kawhi.
Speaker 2: I think it's a fair ranking.
Speaker 3: Like I said, he's one of the hardest guys to
Speaker 3: rank twy We've spent so much time on him.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 3: We will now turn the page move on to number
Speaker 3: twenty four.
Speaker 4: Number twenty four, John's stocked.
Speaker 3: So John Stockton is also very difficult to rank because
Speaker 3: he's a longevity guy, all time leader in assists in steals,
Speaker 3: and it's not close. He has fifteen thousand, eight hundred assists.
Speaker 3: That's thirty seven hundred more than second place. He has
Speaker 3: over thirty two hundred steals. That's six hundred more than
Speaker 3: second place. Two time first Team All NBA, six times
Speaker 3: second Team All NBA, three time third Team All NBA.
Speaker 3: But he never had a single top five MVP finish.
Speaker 3: We just told Ja Harden, who I have him ahead
Speaker 3: of six times his top five MVP. Stockton finished seventh once,
Speaker 3: but he won nine assist titles. He won two steals titles.
Speaker 3: He's five time All Defense and he played nineteen seasons.
Speaker 2: Seventeen times. He played every single game.
Speaker 3: The guy was the longevity will never be matched, and
Speaker 3: he's the all time leader, and no one will ever
Speaker 3: catch him in assists. I don't think you will ever
Speaker 3: cutcherman steels. Over a decade of his prime, he averaged
Speaker 3: sixteen points thirteen assists per game. He has a little
Speaker 3: context here in the regular season double digit assist games
Speaker 3: eight hundred and sixty three, eight hundred and sixty three
Speaker 3: times John Stockton had ten plus assists in a game.
Speaker 3: Thirty four times he had twenty plus assists in a game.
Speaker 3: What about the postseason? So again, similar to Harden is
Speaker 3: where he gets tough. He was the second best player
Speaker 3: on two finalists, he averaged ten assists per game for
Speaker 3: one hundred and eighty two career playoff games. He has
Speaker 3: one one hundred career double digit assist games and four
Speaker 3: career twenty.
Speaker 2: Assists playoff games.
Speaker 3: Does he have any great playoff games though, just a
Speaker 3: handful lot of really solid ones. But in the Western
Speaker 3: Conference Semifinals in nineteen eighty eight, he put up a
Speaker 3: twenty three point twenty four assist five steeal.
Speaker 2: That's pretty damn good.
Speaker 3: And then a twenty nine point twenty assist game against
Speaker 3: the Lakers in the eighty eight Western Grummers semis in
Speaker 3: the twenty eight and twenty nine point twenty.
Speaker 2: Assist game was a game seven.
Speaker 3: He averaged nineteen and sixteen for that series, but they
Speaker 3: lost that series.
Speaker 2: The Lakers did go on to win.
Speaker 3: The title, and so that to me is it's relevant,
Speaker 3: but I know it probably doesn't move you. And then
Speaker 3: his best individual moment, he hit the game winner to
Speaker 3: send the Jazz to the finals and score the final
Speaker 3: nine points of that game against Houston, breaking Charles Barkley's
Speaker 3: heart and scored twenty five points with thirteen assists in
Speaker 3: that game. And that's about it. Like he had amazing
Speaker 3: consistency and amazing longevity. But if you go through his
Speaker 3: full career playoff game log I just gave you the
Speaker 3: three games that jump out, So what do you do
Speaker 3: with a guy like that? Most assists of all time,
Speaker 3: most steals of all time, unbelievable long devity was the
Speaker 3: second best player on two finalist, but never had the
Speaker 3: individually great moments that are not consistently and not more
Speaker 3: than a handful. I think twenty fourth is fair. I
Speaker 3: think it's hard to say Harden's had a better career
Speaker 3: than John Stockton had neither won a ring. Stockton at
Speaker 3: least got closer, Stockton at least play you know, did
Speaker 3: it for such a long period of time. It is
Speaker 3: a bit of a compiling award, I understand. But when
Speaker 3: you compile your way to the most ever, I think
Speaker 3: the top twenty five, twenty fourth last fifty years makes sense.
Speaker 2: We have a John Stockton caller for us now. Nick.
Speaker 7: As much as I'd like to argue with you about
Speaker 7: putting John Stockton twenty fifth on your list, it's kind
Speaker 7: of hard, simply because I don't know who is in
Speaker 7: your top twenty four except that Karl Malone must be
Speaker 7: among them, and that, my friend, is a mistake, because
Speaker 7: if there was a driving force of that Utah Jazz team,
Speaker 7: it was John Stockton. If there was a true killer
Speaker 7: and clutch player, it was John Stockton. And if there
Speaker 7: was anybody responsible for Carl Malone being as high on
Speaker 7: the scoring list all time scoring list as he ended
Speaker 7: up being, it was John Stockton.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 3: So that's my friend, Rick Buker, and I understand he's
Speaker 3: inextricably tied to Carl Malone. Spoiler alert, I have Malone
Speaker 3: ahead of him. You gotta have one ahead of the other.
Speaker 3: Malone was better. Malone was the guy who you are.
Speaker 3: You are at least I am more convinced would have
Speaker 3: worked without Stockton. How many of Stockton's assists would have
Speaker 3: come without Malone? A lot, But he wouldn't have the
Speaker 3: numbers he does quite to the same level. But the
Speaker 3: guy who was that good of a defender for that
Speaker 3: long the all time assists leader. I'm not gonna lie
Speaker 3: to you. I don't have a super passionate John Stockton.
Speaker 3: Take but when you're the all time leader in two
Speaker 3: major categories, I feel like you deserve to be the
Speaker 3: top twenty five the last twenty of the last fifty years,
Speaker 3: so that's where John Stockton is. We will come back
Speaker 3: with one of my favorite players ever and one of
Speaker 3: the most underrated players ever as we round out players
Speaker 3: twenty three and twenty two.
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Speaker 3: All right, welcome back in What's Right with Nick Ray
Speaker 3: Podcast Special Edition, fifty best Players the last fifty years
Speaker 3: in NBA history. We just gave you players twenty five
Speaker 3: and twenty four, James Tarden and John Stockton. We now
Speaker 3: moved player twenty three, who I think, historically speaking, is
Speaker 3: a tad underrated When you really dive into what he
Speaker 3: did and what he accomplished. He is an iconic player
Speaker 3: because honestly, of how God Dog good he looked in
Speaker 3: a uniform, the most chiseled arms you'll ever see in
Speaker 3: NBA history, and because you know he was in the
Speaker 3: Navy and missed the first two years of his career,
Speaker 3: came to the NBA and was immediately excellent.
Speaker 4: Numbered twenty three David Robinson.
Speaker 3: Four time first Team All NBA, two time second Team
Speaker 3: All NBA, four time third Team All NBA. So for
Speaker 3: ten years he was one of the three best centers
Speaker 3: in basketball at a time where there were some unbelievable sinners.
Speaker 3: Ninety four, ninety five, ninety six second place MVP, won
Speaker 3: the MVP, second place MVP, so a three year stretch
Speaker 3: where either won the MVP or came in second each
Speaker 3: three years. One time Defensive Player of the Year, eight
Speaker 3: time All Defense. He won a scoring title, a rebounding title,
Speaker 3: and a blocks title. His first seven years in the league,
Speaker 3: he was twenty six and twelve. Now he came into
Speaker 3: the league older than most because he had to do
Speaker 3: those two.
Speaker 2: Years in the Navy.
Speaker 3: But for seven years in the league, twenty six and twelve,
Speaker 3: then he got hurt. It was one of the most
Speaker 3: fortuitous injuries in NBA history because because he was hurt,
Speaker 3: the Spurs totally tanked and they ended up getting Tim
Speaker 3: Duncan and then they immediately won a title. Now people
Speaker 3: act like that when they won the title, David Robinson
Speaker 3: was not a huge part of that. He was not
Speaker 3: a huge part of the second title they won with
Speaker 3: Duncan when he was still there. Duncan obviously won five,
Speaker 3: he won two with Robinson the one in three. Robinson
Speaker 3: was a role player at best. In ninety nine. However,
Speaker 3: Robinson was excellent. We'll get to that.
Speaker 2: So what are his big postseason moments?
Speaker 3: Similarly to Stockton, David Robinson doesn't have a bunch of
Speaker 3: oh my god, eye popping postseason moments, only one career
Speaker 3: forty point playoff game, but amazing postseason consistency and did
Speaker 3: have some great postseason moments. Nineteen ninety three down in
Speaker 3: the series to Charles Barkley and the Suns Western Armond Semifinals,
Speaker 3: throws up at thirty six and sixteen in nineteen ninety
Speaker 3: five to get to the Western Armends Finals. For the series,
Speaker 3: averaged thirty and sixteen. Now, unfortunately his reward for getting
Speaker 3: to the Western Conference Finals was to play a keem
Speaker 3: Olajuwan who was furious that David Robinson won the MVP,
Speaker 3: and a Keeam just annihilated him the entire series. But
Speaker 3: a team is going to show up very, very high
Speaker 3: on this list. Losing to a team, there's no shame
Speaker 3: in that. In ninety six is one of his first
Speaker 3: games after a team had annihilated him the previous year.
Speaker 3: He has his one career forty point playoff game forty
Speaker 3: and twenty one, and averaged thirty to twelve for that
Speaker 3: series and sent Charles Barkley home again, So that I
Speaker 3: shouldn't say again ninety three Charles beat him, but he
Speaker 3: got even with Charles in ninety six. And then in
Speaker 3: the ninety nine Spurs. This's the point I was making earlier.
Speaker 3: Those ninety nine Spurs went fifteen to two in the playoffs.
Speaker 3: He was clearly the second best player on that team,
Speaker 3: and in the finals he averaged sixteen points in twelve rebounds.
Speaker 3: So the idea that he didn't have a big role
Speaker 3: in that is a historic. Now what is interesting is
Speaker 3: and one other David Robinson know is David Robinson.
Speaker 2: They're used to be this thing called the.
Speaker 3: IBM Award, where they would they created some algorithm pre
Speaker 3: algorithms becoming popular in NBA parlance, put in people's numbers,
Speaker 3: said who's the best player in the league, and almost
Speaker 3: every single year David Robinson won it. Jordan was playing,
Speaker 3: Robinson won it a keen with his peak, Robinson won it.
Speaker 3: Now that overstated Robinson's dominance, But I do think people
Speaker 3: these days forget about how good he was during his
Speaker 3: peak in the late from the very late eighties until
Speaker 3: his injury in ninety six. However, that is a bit
Speaker 3: of a testament to one of the flaws even back
Speaker 3: in the early nineties with some of the basketball algorithms,
Speaker 3: they're gonna reward high efficiency, high rebounding big men and
Speaker 3: make them seem a touch better than they are. If
Speaker 3: that reminds you what's happened with Nikola Jokic, where the
Speaker 3: numbers say he's the best player in the league when
Speaker 3: he's clearly one of the ten best players in the league,
Speaker 3: but nobody watches the game actually thinks he's the best
Speaker 3: player in the league. That is what's happening to Nicole Jokicic.
Speaker 3: So there is the twenty third best player of the
Speaker 3: last fifty years one David Robinson. Now, oh my god,
Speaker 3: I almost skipped our caller. I thought that David Robinson
Speaker 3: commentary was so good I didn't need any addition. Let's
Speaker 3: go to the caller that I assume the callers is
Speaker 3: gonna say, Nick, that was brilliant, even though this was
Speaker 3: recorded before I actually said that.
Speaker 2: What is the caller I have to say about David Robinson?
Speaker 9: So let me see if I get this right. You
Speaker 9: have David Robinson the admiral at twenty three.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 9: See, this is just disrespect and it continues to happen
Speaker 9: against the San Antonio Spurs. You've got Barkley, Malone, Cage
Speaker 9: and Dirk All ahead of him, which makes no sense.
Speaker 9: Rookie of the Year, MVP Defensive Player of the Year,
Speaker 9: he led the league in blocks, points, rebounds. Those were
Speaker 9: in different years, by the way, two rings. He was
Speaker 9: the best player on one championship team, the second best
Speaker 9: player on another one? And ps how is Charles Barkley
Speaker 9: no offense? I love Chuck, but how is he ahead
Speaker 9: of the Robinson Robinson titles, finals, appearances, points, rebounds, is
Speaker 9: this flat out disrespect.
Speaker 2: I won't have it all right.
Speaker 3: First of all, much respect to Michelle Beatle and what
Speaker 3: appears to be about forty thousand dollars worth of shoes
Speaker 3: behind her and Lenice a little stunt by Michelle Beatle.
Speaker 3: And I appreciate her joining us, and I know she's
Speaker 3: a Spurs fan. However, I cannot of bide there are
Speaker 3: some factors there. David Robinson was the best player on
Speaker 3: zero title teams. Tim Duncan was the best player on
Speaker 3: that team by a mile. One finals MVP unanimously, no
Speaker 3: one thought he was the best player on that team,
Speaker 3: and he was not the second She said he was
Speaker 3: the best player on one finalist and the second best
Speaker 3: player on another.
Speaker 2: It's not true.
Speaker 3: He was the second best player on the ninety nine
Speaker 3: finalist and like the sixth best player on the three
Speaker 3: finalist and champion. As far as why do I have
Speaker 3: him behind other big men or you know, post players
Speaker 3: like Barkley and Dirk. And that's not spoiling anything about
Speaker 3: the list. I haven't mentioned those guys. They're obviously going
Speaker 3: to be mentioned. I think you're going to see those
Speaker 3: guys have similar regular season resumes and greater postseason accomplishments.
Speaker 3: What they What they didn't have was the ability to
Speaker 3: play with Tim Duncan. Color me crazy. I think of Berkley,
Speaker 3: you know, at the tail end of his prime, would
Speaker 3: have gotten Tim Duncan. He probably would have won some
Speaker 3: titles too. So I'm confident with where I have with
Speaker 3: respect to Michelle Beatle, where I have David Robinson twenty
Speaker 3: third best player of the last fifty years. Now we
Speaker 3: get to number twenty two. I was excited to get
Speaker 3: to one of my favorite players.
Speaker 4: Ever, number twenty two. Kevin Garnett.
Speaker 3: Four time first Team All NBA, three times second Team
Speaker 3: All NBA, two time third Team All NBA. He won
Speaker 3: an MVP and O four. He finished second two other times,
Speaker 3: five times he was top five. He won a Defensive
Speaker 3: Player of the Year and twelve times All Defense. One
Speaker 3: of the greatest defensive players of his era. I think
Speaker 3: you could argue the best defensive players who also impacted
Speaker 3: you on offense. So I'm not talking about Ben Wallace
Speaker 3: or Dennis Rodman. I'm talking about guys who could drop
Speaker 3: thirty on you and were great defenders. One would argue,
Speaker 3: of the last thirty some years, it's a team Duncan
Speaker 3: and then Kevin Garnett. He won the rebounding title four
Speaker 3: times from his age twenty one season through the year
Speaker 3: he won.
Speaker 2: The championship in Boston.
Speaker 3: So that's eleven years because his career numbers are hurt
Speaker 3: by the fact that he came into the league at
Speaker 3: eighteen and he played super long. But if we take
Speaker 3: his eleven year prime age twenty one season until the
Speaker 3: title year in Boston, he averaged twenty two points, twelve rebounds,
Speaker 3: five assists, and three.
Speaker 2: Steals and blocks combined.
Speaker 3: He is one of only two guys his height or
Speaker 3: taller with five thousand assists or more. It's him and
Speaker 3: Kareem six eleven guys with at least five thousand assists,
Speaker 3: and so his passing is underrated. Now the postseason stuff
Speaker 3: with kg's difficult because he does have two finals appearances,
Speaker 3: and I would argue he was the best player on
Speaker 3: the eight Celtics. I think it's inarguable he's It's certainly
Speaker 3: inarguable he was the best player that regular season. Paul
Speaker 3: Piers won finals MVP, I think it should have gone
Speaker 3: to KG. The next year he got hurt and then
Speaker 3: he's on the team obviously in twenty ten at that point,
Speaker 3: is he's still the best player. I'm not sure. They
Speaker 3: lose that brutal seventh game to the Lakers in Kobe. However,
Speaker 3: prior going to Boston to Boston, he went to the
Speaker 3: playoffs seemingly every year in Minnesota and got out of
Speaker 3: the first round once.
Speaker 2: So let's talk about this.
Speaker 3: In three, when he had had five straight first round defeats,
Speaker 3: he has thirty five, twenty and seven and thirty three fourteen,
Speaker 3: four and four to go up two to one on
Speaker 3: the defending champion Lakers in three in round one. Averages
Speaker 3: for the series twenty seven points, sixteen rebounds, five assists.
Speaker 3: But they lose the next three and they go home
Speaker 3: in round one again. How much is that on him?
Speaker 2: Not much.
Speaker 3: Second best player on that team was Troy Hudson, but
Speaker 3: it was once again a first round exit. The next year,
Speaker 3: he finally got some help Latrell Spree well Sam cassell
Speaker 3: So and they got to the Western Govermends Finals. The
Speaker 3: run there, first game of the playoffs, he throws up
Speaker 3: a thirty and twenty. He averaged twenty six, fifteen and
Speaker 3: seven that series against Denver for his first career series
Speaker 3: victory in the Western Conference semifinals, faces a Game seven
Speaker 3: against Chris Webern Sacramento. Keep in mind when I tell
Speaker 3: you these numbers for this game seven. The final score
Speaker 3: was eighty three to eighty, so eighty three points his
Speaker 3: team scored.
Speaker 2: In that game. He had thirty two points, twenty one
Speaker 2: rebounds to assists for steels, five blocks in a game
Speaker 2: that was eighty three to eighty.
Speaker 3: He carries them to the Western Govermends Finals. Average for
Speaker 3: that series twenty four, fifteen and four overall to get
Speaker 3: to the conference finals. In the Western Armends Finals, they're
Speaker 3: in rough shape. They're playing the Lakers. That's gonna be
Speaker 3: a tough matchup for them.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: Shack only average like twenty points in that series. KG
Speaker 3: defended him well. KG however, he had thirty and nineteen
Speaker 3: down three to one to force the game six. But
Speaker 3: they were never winning that series, and then he misses
Speaker 3: the playoffs for three straight years until he goes to Boston.
Speaker 2: On that run to the title.
Speaker 3: In Boston, however, he had twenty six and sixteen in
Speaker 3: Game five against Lebron and Cleveland in round two, he
Speaker 3: had twenty and eleven average for that series against Lebron
Speaker 3: and Cleveland in the conference finals. In Game five, he
Speaker 3: had a thirty three and seven to go up three
Speaker 3: to two on Detroit, and in the title clinching game,
Speaker 3: the Anything as Possible Game, had twenty six and fourteen.
Speaker 3: For the finals, averaged eighteen points, thirteen rebounds, three assists,
Speaker 3: and I think should have been finals MVP had the
Speaker 3: all time Greade anything as Possible moment. One of the
Speaker 3: greatest defenders ever, one of the greatest prep to pro
Speaker 3: players ever. We're talking about high schoolers to go pro,
Speaker 3: it's got to be Lebron, Kobe, Moses, KG. Those are
Speaker 3: your top four by a minle. He also, his relentlessness
Speaker 3: probably worked against him.
Speaker 2: He was so intense. I think it probably hurt him
Speaker 2: a bit.
Speaker 3: I give him a slight bonus point for an underrated
Speaker 3: acting performance. In Uncut, Jim's twenty second greatest player of
Speaker 3: last fifty years one Kevin Garnett.
Speaker 2: We have a caller on Garnett before we move on.
Speaker 10: Hey, Nick at your old friend, mister Kilbourne. I'm a
Speaker 10: big fan of yours. However, your East Coast snobbery is showing.
Speaker 10: You're treating Minnesota like a flyover state. KG is a Timberwolf,
Speaker 10: not a Celtic. Obviously, he had the team championship in Boston,
Speaker 10: but individually he was the league MVP in Minnesota and
Speaker 10: he had his best years as a Timberwolf. Just a
Speaker 10: quick heads up. Also, if Larry Legend is not in
Speaker 10: your top five, this list is not legit. It's what
Speaker 10: we call it debacle. Thanks for listening, Nick, proud of you.
Speaker 3: Well, look at Craig Kilbourne there. First of all, I
Speaker 3: didn't know he's my friend. We've never spoken, but I
Speaker 3: now say we are friends. That was exhilarating. That was exciting. Second, old,
Speaker 3: there's no East Coast snobbery. I'm from Kansa, Missouri. I
Speaker 3: am Midwestern born and KG I wanted to have him higher.
Speaker 3: And I'm not going to reveal the other people on
Speaker 3: the order of the people on the list. What was
Speaker 3: KG better than Barkley? Was he better than Dirk Dirk?
Speaker 3: Some will argue Dirk is the sixth most points ever
Speaker 3: Dirk's championship. He didn't have Paul Pierson Ray Allen with him.
Speaker 3: I love KG twenty two. I'm very comfortable with his
Speaker 3: spot there. Quick break come back with some of our
Speaker 3: toughest decisions yet as we get into the top twenty one.
Speaker 2: All right, So there it is.
Speaker 3: We have now gone through players fifty through twenty two
Speaker 3: of the fifty best players of the last fifty years
Speaker 3: in NBA history. Top twenty one is incredibly difficult, and
Speaker 3: I will admit it is still fluid because uz you
Speaker 3: have six guys in the top twenty one that are
Speaker 3: active players now right now in your head you're probably thinking,
Speaker 3: you're like, I know he's gonna have Lebron in there.
Speaker 3: We haven't heard Katie, we haven't heard Stah.
Speaker 2: We haven't heard Wait.
Speaker 3: I know you can think of five of the six,
Speaker 3: but have you been paying close enough attention to the
Speaker 3: list to figure out who the sixth of those six
Speaker 3: active players are? No spoilers, but did two of them
Speaker 3: play each other in a playoff series this year? Maybe
Speaker 3: we'll discuss that and we will get into what is
Speaker 3: the impossibility of ranking the top twenty players in order
Speaker 3: of the last fifty years. That's next week on What's
Speaker 3: Right with Nick Ray