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Speaker 2: Welcome into another special edition of the What Dry with
Speaker 2: Nick Right podcast and YouTube show the fifty greatest players
Speaker 2: of the last fifty years in the NBA. If you
Speaker 2: haven't caught up yet, we've already done players fifty through
Speaker 2: thirty five. Today we will finish out the thirties and
Speaker 2: above give you players thirty four through thirty And I
Speaker 2: didn't intentionally do this, but this all of these players
Speaker 2: kind of pair well together. You have two of the
Speaker 2: best second options on dynasties, you have two of the
Speaker 2: best perimeter defensive players ever, and you have one of
Speaker 2: the most underrated and forgotten players of NBA history paired
Speaker 2: with someone some would argue is one of the most
Speaker 2: overrated and far too relevant in the contemporary pop culture
Speaker 2: and NBA history. So that those are five guys, we
Speaker 2: will start with number thirty four.
Speaker 3: Number thirty four Kevin McHale.
Speaker 2: So Kevin mcchale's All NBA and MVP finishes, that part
Speaker 2: of his resume is not great. He's only first team
Speaker 2: All NBA one time, he only has one top five
Speaker 2: MVP finish, is two times six Man of the Year,
Speaker 2: but six Men of the Year typically aren't top fifty.
Speaker 4: All time guys.
Speaker 2: And he has six time All Defense And whenever you
Speaker 2: mentioned Kevin McHale, you have to mention his legendary footwork,
Speaker 2: a guy that Charles Barkley said was the hardest player
Speaker 2: he ever had to defend. So when your resume is
Speaker 2: that light on individual accomplishments, how do you get not
Speaker 2: only make this list, but make the top thirty five
Speaker 2: of this list. Well, he's a three time champion, five
Speaker 2: time finalist, and he was the second best player on
Speaker 2: I would argue two of those championship runs, the title
Speaker 2: in eighty one, he wasn't their second best player yet,
Speaker 2: but he was Birds robin to Birds batman for the
Speaker 2: majority of the Celtics dynasty, and he showed up in
Speaker 2: the biggest moments nineteen eighty five when the Celtics lost
Speaker 2: in six to the Lakers. He had thirty two and
Speaker 2: sixteen in the final game of that series and averaged
Speaker 2: twenty six and eleven for that series, leading the Celtics
Speaker 2: in points and rebounds for the eighty five finals. In
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty six games five and six against Sampson and
Speaker 2: the Keen.
Speaker 4: Again, the two big men.
Speaker 2: For Houston in the eighty six finals are Ralph Sampson
Speaker 2: and Akeem Olajan. What does Kevin McHale do in Games
Speaker 2: five and six thirty three and eight followed by twenty
Speaker 2: nine to ten once again in that finals, he leads
Speaker 2: the Celtics in points per game, So back to back
Speaker 2: finals he scores more points than Larry Bird. So again,
Speaker 2: this isn't a situation where it was just Larry Bird
Speaker 2: carrying the Celtics dynasty. And I understand Parish is a
Speaker 2: player a lot of historians, and he's on the NBA
Speaker 2: Top fifty, in the top seventy five list. I think
Speaker 2: Parish is a touch overrated and McHale's a touch underrated.
Speaker 4: Eighty five and eighty six finals.
Speaker 2: McHale leads the Celtics in points per game in both finals,
Speaker 2: and he's doing it against having to guard Kareem in
Speaker 2: the eighty five finals, having to guard Sampson or a
Speaker 2: Keem in the eighty six finals, or at least being
Speaker 2: a part of it. Obviously Robert Parrish had to deal
Speaker 2: with the big men on the opposing team as well.
Speaker 2: Then you go to you move on, and Kevin McHale
Speaker 2: breaks his foot, and this is kind of the fork
Speaker 2: in the road moment for him, because today's NBA he'd
Speaker 2: have sat down for probably a year. He plays through it,
Speaker 2: averages twenty one to nine that postseason, which ends in
Speaker 2: a finals loss to the Lakers. With a broken foot
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty eight. What happens, He's twenty five and eight
Speaker 2: on sixty percent shooting in the eighty eight postseason. Again,
Speaker 2: this is post foot injury, twenty five and eight on
Speaker 2: sixty percent shooting for the postseason. They lose to Detroit
Speaker 2: in Eastern Conference Finals. He and in round two, which
Speaker 2: was the famous Dominique Larry Bird duel. Kevin McHale quietly
Speaker 2: goes thirty three and thirteen in a game Boston wins
Speaker 2: by two, and then after that Bird's back is gone,
Speaker 2: McHale's foot is gone, and they're done. But if we're
Speaker 2: going to try to reward winning, if we're going to
Speaker 2: try to reward real postseason success, we have to acknowledge
Speaker 2: that Kevin McHale was not just a supporting actor in
Speaker 2: the se Celtics mini dynasty of the eighties. That's why
Speaker 2: he comes in number thirty four on the all time list.
Speaker 2: Let's go to one of our callers that has a
Speaker 2: Kevin mcchale question.
Speaker 5: Hey, Nick, I know a little bit about Kevin McHale,
Speaker 5: and you know how important he was these Celtics teams,
Speaker 5: whether it.
Speaker 4: Was the scoring or the rebounding.
Speaker 5: You know, he was an enforcer who could also really
Speaker 5: score the ball. But realistically, what do you think the
Speaker 5: score of a one on one game would be between
Speaker 5: Lebron James and Kevin McHale eleven?
Speaker 3: Nothing.
Speaker 5: I mean, at a certain point, don't you have to
Speaker 5: be a more competent all round player than just a
Speaker 5: guy who can, you know, rebound and have good footwork
Speaker 5: in the post.
Speaker 3: Let me know what you think.
Speaker 4: Yeah, listen.
Speaker 2: Of course McHale would get roasted in a one on
Speaker 2: one game against many guys, and comparing him to Lebron
Speaker 2: who's going to show up on the spoiler alert in
Speaker 2: the top three of this list is unfair. But his
Speaker 2: contributions to winning basketball cannot be overstated.
Speaker 4: And on top of that, what.
Speaker 2: I want people to unders and again not to restate
Speaker 2: my own points, but there's a guy that averaged twenty
Speaker 2: six and eleven in the eighty five finals average, led
Speaker 2: the team in scoring in the eighty six finals.
Speaker 4: He wasn't just he wasn't a role player.
Speaker 2: Now, would a team with Kevin McHale is their best
Speaker 2: guy have been a champion? Probably not, but would he
Speaker 2: have undoubtedly had multiple top five MVP finishes instead of
Speaker 2: just the one. I think so I'm very comfortable with
Speaker 2: him as the second best supporting actor, if you will,
Speaker 2: in NBA history, being number thirty four, and that leads
Speaker 2: us seamlessly to number thirty three.
Speaker 3: Number thirty three, Scottie Pippen.
Speaker 2: So Scotty Pippins's resume is he's got a lot of
Speaker 2: things going for me. He is three times first Team
Speaker 2: All NBA, two times second team All NBA, two time
Speaker 2: third Team All NBA, ten time All Defense, Top five
Speaker 2: MVP voting twice, one third place finish, and the first
Speaker 2: year without Michael Jordan, the Bulls.
Speaker 4: Won fifty five games.
Speaker 2: And this is where I'm contractually obligated to remind you
Speaker 2: the Bulls won. Michael Jordan in his career won zero
Speaker 2: playoff series and only one playoff game before Scotty Pippen
Speaker 2: was with him, and once he once, Jordan didn't have
Speaker 2: Pippen anymore. Those Wizard years never saw the playoffs. So
Speaker 2: let's not act like Scotty Pippen was just writing Jordan's
Speaker 2: coat tails. So what postseason accomplishment is a big part
Speaker 2: of this. Obviously second best player on a six time
Speaker 2: champion his.
Speaker 4: Rookie year, Game five, first.
Speaker 2: Round elimination game, He's twenty four to six and five
Speaker 2: against Cleveland for the first Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls
Speaker 2: playoff series win.
Speaker 4: Now, the next few years are tough for him.
Speaker 2: Eighty nine and ninety against the Pistons. Eighty nine in
Speaker 2: the final game of the.
Speaker 4: Series, he only plays one minute.
Speaker 2: Ninety in Game seven is the Migraine game. They talked
Speaker 2: a ton about that in the last dance obviously, but
Speaker 2: he rallied after that ninety one, the close out game
Speaker 2: to win the Bulls first title. What did Scotty Pippen
Speaker 2: do thirty two, thirteen seven and five thirty two points,
Speaker 2: thirteen rebounds, seven assists, five steals to win their first
Speaker 2: title the next year ninety two against the Knicks. Now
Speaker 2: this is important because the Knicks were one of only
Speaker 2: two teams ever take the Bulls seven games on their
Speaker 2: six title runs. Right Game seven against the Knicks seventeen, eleven,
Speaker 2: eleven and three. By the way, also in that series
Speaker 2: against the Knicks, in the last dance, they talked about
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan catching all that flak for going to Atlantic
Speaker 2: City between games two and three, and then they talked
Speaker 2: about how in Game four he dropped the double nickel.
Speaker 2: What they left out of that is Game three. The
Speaker 2: Bulls are down two. This is the year they win
Speaker 2: their second title. Michael goes three for eighteen after gambling
Speaker 2: all night in ac What does Scotty do? Scotty had
Speaker 2: twenty nine points on twelve shots to help them stave
Speaker 2: off going down oh three. They end up winning, obviously,
Speaker 2: four of the next five, and they end up going
Speaker 2: to the NBA Finals. That, by the way, in the
Speaker 2: closeout game to go to the NBA Finals in ninety two.
Speaker 4: Twenty nine twelve five, four and four.
Speaker 2: Twenty nine points, twelve rebounds, five says, four steals, four blocks.
Speaker 4: And then, and this is important, guys.
Speaker 2: We already talked about what he did the year without Jordan,
Speaker 2: but then when there when Jordan is back ninety five,
Speaker 2: the famous Nick Anderson game, not the miss free throws,
Speaker 2: but where Jordan gets ripped when they lose to the
Speaker 2: Magic Scotty was twenty six, twelve and six in that
Speaker 2: game six loss.
Speaker 4: He showed up in that game.
Speaker 2: During the playoffs the second three Pat This is when
Speaker 2: Scotty was a little past his prime. He's eighteen seven
Speaker 2: and five for the three pat his playoff career high.
Speaker 2: He actually did his first year without Michael when he
Speaker 2: was with the Rockets, he scored thirty seven and he's
Speaker 2: played two hundred and six career playoff games, so two
Speaker 2: and a half seasons worth of playoff games. He was
Speaker 2: eighteen eight and five, so one of the greatest defenders ever.
Speaker 2: He showed up in the postseason after the Migraine moment
Speaker 2: in the nineteen ninety and he won six titles. He,
Speaker 2: without a doubt, deserves to be on this list. Let's
Speaker 2: go to a caller who is a Scottie Pippen comment.
Speaker 6: Hey, Nick, you know why you're overrating Scottie Pippen. Let
Speaker 6: me remind you who he played with. His name was
Speaker 6: Michael Jordan, the greatest player to ever play the game.
Speaker 6: How long did it take Scotty Pippen to get good
Speaker 6: enough so Jordan could have one damn all star perennial
Speaker 6: to play with to win championships? It took him four years.
Speaker 6: The dude came in as an eight points per game scorer.
Speaker 6: He had a bad back, He didn't know what he
Speaker 6: was doing on the court, and day after day and
Speaker 6: practice after practice, Mike continually lifted him up.
Speaker 3: Michael leaves. What does Scotty do?
Speaker 6: They lose to the next Tony Kuk coach bails him
Speaker 6: out in Game three, he doesn't do anything in the
Speaker 6: fourth quarter. In Game seven against New York, he leaves
Speaker 6: the Bulls.
Speaker 3: What happens in Portland?
Speaker 6: They melt down against the Lakers in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 6: blow a Game seven. He's one chance to go back
Speaker 6: to the finals. Whenever Michael left. Scotty did nothing. You
Speaker 6: love to talk about. Oh, they won fifty five games, Yeah,
Speaker 6: they won fifty five games. They lost in the second
Speaker 6: damn round. Scotty Pippin without Mike is a very good
Speaker 6: basketball player period. If Dominique Wilkins had been on the
Speaker 6: Bulls when Scotty was in eighty eight eighty nine, you
Speaker 6: know what happens.
Speaker 3: They beat the dam Detroit Pistons.
Speaker 6: Scotty was killing Michael waiting for him to get good.
Speaker 4: Okay, listen, full disclosure.
Speaker 2: That's my buddy Mark Carmon, who does a great job
Speaker 2: on the radio and on.
Speaker 4: Television in Chicago.
Speaker 2: He is also a Michael Jordan superfan, and like most
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan's super fans, they try to twist history to
Speaker 2: make Jordan this deified character as opposed to a three
Speaker 2: dimensional human being. And here's what I don't do. As
Speaker 2: you know, some would call me a Lebron guy. I
Speaker 2: don't try to tear down Dwayne Wade. You're gonna see
Speaker 2: him in high on this list. I don't try to
Speaker 2: tear down Anthony Davis. You already saw him on this list.
Speaker 2: Jordan fans like to act like Scotty Pippen was a
Speaker 2: glorified Orlando Woolridge who just Jordan just pulled to the finals.
Speaker 2: Flatly untrue. So while I love and respect carm he's
Speaker 2: dead wrong on Pippin. He's the thirty third greatest player ever.
Speaker 2: We'll be right back.
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Speaker 2: All Right, Welcome back in What's Right with Nick Wright's
Speaker 2: special edition the fifty greatest Players of last fifty years
Speaker 2: in NBA history. Number thirty four was Kevin McHale. Number
Speaker 2: thirty three was Scottie Pippen. Number thirty two Kawhi Leonard,
Speaker 2: three time First Team All NBA, two time second Team
Speaker 2: All NBA, two time Defensive Player of the Year, three
Speaker 2: top five MVP finishes, including a second place finish, seven
Speaker 2: time All Defensive Team.
Speaker 4: So that's the individual accomplishment.
Speaker 2: The team accomplishments are a little more complicated in the
Speaker 2: beginning than not complicated at all at the end. He's
Speaker 2: a two time Finals MVP with a bit of an asterisk.
Speaker 2: That first Finals MVP, the one he got with the Spurs,
Speaker 2: is other than Andrea Guidalas and wes Unselds, probably the
Speaker 2: most curious head scratching Finals MVP ever awarded. He did
Speaker 2: have twenty nine to four in game three of those finals. However,
Speaker 2: he also had consecutive nine point finals games in a
Speaker 2: finals he won Finals MVP for averaging eighteen points and
Speaker 2: six rebounds. So that's that's a Finals MVP, but only
Speaker 2: kind of. However, the next Finals MVP he won, it
Speaker 2: was a no doubter, and that's what I want to
Speaker 2: talk about, because he was the best player without a
Speaker 2: doubt on a champion. And let's talk about the runs
Speaker 2: where he was the best player on a team. Twenty seventeen,
Speaker 2: his last healthy year with the Spurs, Kawhi was twenty
Speaker 2: eight eight and five, and his shooting splits for that
Speaker 2: playoff run were fifty three from the field, forty six
Speaker 2: percent from three, and ninety three percent from the free
Speaker 2: throw line. That all ended when Zaza Pachulia put his
Speaker 2: foot underneath them on that corner three pointer in Game
Speaker 2: one of the Western Garmends Finals, and that essentially also
Speaker 2: ended his Spurs run. But then the very next year,
Speaker 2: the year with Toronto, he had one of the greatest
Speaker 2: postseason runs ever twenty nineteen Eastern Conference Semifinals. Here's what
Speaker 2: Kui does Game one, forty five and eleven, Game four
Speaker 2: thirty nine, fourteen and five, Game seven forty one, eight
Speaker 2: and three, and oh yeah, by the way, a buzzer
Speaker 2: beater in Game seven over Joe LMB to move on
Speaker 2: to the Eastern Gonmerence Finals. What happened in the Eastern
Speaker 2: Conference Finals? That was supposed to be the year Yannis
Speaker 2: broke through. I thought that was gonna be the year
Speaker 2: Yannis broke through. Remember going on TV saying this is
Speaker 2: Yanna is gonna win MVP, gonna be the gonna win
Speaker 2: the championship. The Bucks are rolling, They're up to nothing
Speaker 2: in that series on Toronto. Game three, goes to I
Speaker 2: think triple overtime, certainly at least double overtime, and Kauhia
Speaker 2: is thirty six nine and five down two zho to
Speaker 2: avoid going down oh three, and they end up winning
Speaker 2: four in a row. In Game five of those Eastern
Speaker 2: Armens Finals, he's thirty five to seven and nine, and
Speaker 2: for the playoff run, thirty points nine rebounds per game,
Speaker 2: carrying a good but far from great Raptors team to
Speaker 2: a championship. Now is that different if Katie doesn't pop
Speaker 2: his achilles, if play doesn't blow his knee. Maybe, but
Speaker 2: Kawhi was there for all of it. Then the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one playoff run, So just last year, he's thirty
Speaker 2: points and eight rebounds a game on fifty seven percent shooting,
Speaker 2: including forty five and six and a critical Game five
Speaker 2: against my guy Luca in the MAVs in Round one.
Speaker 2: But then he tore his ACL and we haven't seen
Speaker 2: him since. And thus is the rub with Kawhi. Leonard
Speaker 2: Kawhi showed us in the twenty seventeen postseason that I mean,
Speaker 2: this is arguably a top three player, top two player,
Speaker 2: top one player in the league.
Speaker 4: Then he got hurt twenty.
Speaker 2: Nineteen posts season, he stays healthy his twenty eighteen base
Speaker 2: and missal whole year, and they win the title. Twenty twenty,
Speaker 2: they blow the three one lead twenty twenty one. Oh Man,
Speaker 2: here comes Kawhi looking like the best player in the
Speaker 2: league again, and then he gets hurt. So he's the
Speaker 2: best player on a champion. He's been to three finals,
Speaker 2: He's won two finals MVPs. But it also feels like
Speaker 2: we almost haven't seen enough of Kawhi Leonard. That's how
Speaker 2: he sits there at number thirty two. One of the
Speaker 2: greatest perimeter defenders ever and one of the greatest individual
Speaker 2: single season playoff runs ever.
Speaker 4: Kawhi, here's my buddy. Kevin Wilds with a Kawhi Leonard question.
Speaker 3: Called me old fashioned. You know what I like? Finals MVPs.
Speaker 8: Kawhi, He's got two finals MVPs. Here's a list of
Speaker 8: guys with two finals MVPs or more. Jordan Lebron, Tim Duncan,
Speaker 8: Jack Magic, Kawhi has two, kd Kobe, Keem Bird, Kareem
Speaker 8: Willis Reed, that's it.
Speaker 6: That's the list.
Speaker 3: Everybody else has.
Speaker 8: Got one or none. I didn't name thirty three guys
Speaker 8: there are thirty two guys. Kawhi's got to be moved
Speaker 8: up on finals MVPs alone.
Speaker 3: It's got to be moved up, all right.
Speaker 2: My guy Wilde's his Finals MVP obsession is purely because
Speaker 2: he's mad that Paul Pierce is not on this list
Speaker 2: and Paul Pierce as the finals MVP and again on
Speaker 2: finals MVPs alone. Maybe I would move him up if
Speaker 2: I valued that first finals MVP as much as other
Speaker 2: finals MVPs.
Speaker 4: I don't. I just flatly don't.
Speaker 2: Like guy averaged eighteen and six for that play for
Speaker 2: that those finals games one. In Games two he had
Speaker 2: nine points, So I understand you have to give it
Speaker 2: to someone. I'd have given it to Duncan, but the
Speaker 2: that was Kawhi's biggest issue. The other issue is this
Speaker 2: just quickly before I move on, because his top level
Speaker 2: play has been unbelievable. Kawhi has not played six hundred games.
Speaker 2: Kawhi does not have how many career assists does he
Speaker 2: have sixteen hundred career less than four thousand career rebounds.
Speaker 2: He's not in the top two hundred and fifty all
Speaker 2: time in scoring. He's eleven thousand points, And I mean
Speaker 2: he's thirty. So it's a weird spot where Kawhi. When
Speaker 2: he's been at his best, he's been unbelievable, but he
Speaker 2: just hasn't played enough. He's oddly in a similar spot
Speaker 2: Walton is in. He obviously played more than Walton, but
Speaker 2: not that much more so that's why I have him
Speaker 2: where he is. He is number thirty two. And then
Speaker 2: we get to a guy who playing a lot was
Speaker 2: not his issue. The fact that young people don't respect
Speaker 2: history is his issue.
Speaker 3: Number thirty one Elvin Hayes.
Speaker 2: Elvin Hayes's numbers are mind blowing. Let me go through
Speaker 2: one three time first team All NBA, three time second
Speaker 2: Team All NBA, one time scoring champ, two time rebounding champ,
Speaker 2: three top five MVP finishes. But here's where it gets crazy.
Speaker 2: He is fourth on the all time rebounding list. The
Speaker 2: people ahead of him Wilt Russell and Kareem He is
Speaker 2: eleventh on the all time scoring list. For his career,
Speaker 2: he averaged twenty one and thirteen and he played eighty
Speaker 2: plus games all sixteen years. By the way, his average,
Speaker 2: his average for the first twelve years of his career
Speaker 2: was twenty four points fourteen rebounds, forty two minutes per game,
Speaker 2: eighty one games per year. That was his average his
Speaker 2: first twelve years of his career. He missed a total
Speaker 2: of six games. What are his playoffs accomplishments? A nineteen
Speaker 2: seventy eight champion and the best player on three finalists.
Speaker 4: He doesn't have a finals MVP. More on that in
Speaker 4: a moment.
Speaker 2: Career playoff averages twenty three to thirteen and ninety six
Speaker 2: career playoff games. Game five of the Eastern Conference Semis
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy five against Bob mcadoin that really great Buffalo
Speaker 2: Braves team forty six twelve, five, three and three. They
Speaker 2: go to the finals in nineteen seventy five, they lose
Speaker 2: to Rick Berry. He averages twenty one and eleven. Then
Speaker 2: to get to the seventy eight finals, he averages twenty
Speaker 2: three and sixteen to beat Doctor J Who's gonna show
Speaker 2: up very high on this list, to get to the finals.
Speaker 2: When they finally break through and win the championship in
Speaker 2: seventy eight, and this is one of the most egregious
Speaker 2: voting results in not sports.
Speaker 4: History, but in voting history politics.
Speaker 2: Student Council Finals MVP in the nineteen seventy eight NBA Finals,
Speaker 2: Elvin Hayes averaged twenty one and twelve wes Unseld got
Speaker 2: Finals MVP wes Unseld average for the finals nine and twelve.
Speaker 4: That's the true story.
Speaker 2: Elvin Hayes twenty one and twelve teammate wes Unseld nine
Speaker 2: and twelve wes Unseld one Finals MVP. By the way,
Speaker 2: as a defending CHAMPI in his first playoff game thirty
Speaker 2: one and fifteen in the first game as defending champ,
Speaker 2: thirty nine and fifteen in a game seven as a
Speaker 2: defending champ down while he was down three to one
Speaker 2: to Gervin in the Spurs twenty five and seventeen averages
Speaker 2: over the final three games, and then in seventy nine
Speaker 2: is the defending champ, he averaged twenty to twelve. In
Speaker 2: a rematch of the finals, they of course lost to Seattle,
Speaker 2: who they had beaten the previous year. So Elvin Hayes
Speaker 2: fourth on the all time rebounding list, eleventh on the
Speaker 2: all time scoring list, three top five MVPs, but never
Speaker 2: won at best player on three finalists, won a championship,
Speaker 2: should have a finals MVP, and was an absolute iron Man.
Speaker 2: He's got to be somewhere on anybody's top forty at
Speaker 2: the very least the last fifty years he gets forgotten.
Speaker 2: Let's go to our power, Rick Buker, who has an
Speaker 2: Elvin Hayes question.
Speaker 9: Elvin Hayes is one of those guys that often falls
Speaker 9: through the cracks. So good on you, Nick for acknowledging him.
Speaker 9: But I have the same question that I had with
Speaker 9: Clyde Drexler. If Elvin hadn't won a championship in Washington
Speaker 9: with the Bullets, would we still look at him the
Speaker 9: same way.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, we wouldn't have. But he was the best
Speaker 4: player on that team. He was amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of these guys, I love Rick Buker,
Speaker 2: but a lot of these guys, if they hadn't had
Speaker 2: the crowning achievement of their career, they would be looked
Speaker 2: at differently. But he did have the crowning achievement of
Speaker 2: his career. He should have won that finals MVP. He
Speaker 2: carried that team to the finals, so we look at
Speaker 2: him the way we do. Went to three finals, the
Speaker 2: best player on all three teams. It should have won finals.
Speaker 2: MVP is unbelievable. Longevity unbelievable production. The number thirty one
Speaker 2: player of the last fifty years, Elvin Hayes, and now
Speaker 2: he might be like my god, Nick he did six
Speaker 2: minutes on Elvin Hayes. Okay, number thirty and what we
Speaker 2: wrapped the show. One of the most famous players in
Speaker 2: NBA history and one of the most polarizing players in
Speaker 2: NBA history.
Speaker 4: He's next. All right, I can't believe it.
Speaker 2: We are already to number thirty on the fifty greatest
Speaker 2: players the last fifty years. And listen, this is like eating.
Speaker 2: You know, you gotta eat your vegetables to get the dessert.
Speaker 2: The vegetables were the six minutes on Elvin Hayes, who
Speaker 2: I think gets forgotten. The nice you know, banana cream
Speaker 2: pie you're getting for dessert or whatever you want is
Speaker 2: number thirty. A guy everyone has an opinion on. Why
Speaker 2: did I say banana cream pie.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure. I don't even know if I've ever
Speaker 4: had that.
Speaker 3: Number of thirty.
Speaker 2: Alan Ivers all right, so iverson three time first team
Speaker 2: All NBA, three times second Team All NBA, one All.
Speaker 4: NBA Third Team. He won League.
Speaker 2: MVP obviously, three top five finishes, four time scoring champ
Speaker 2: three times steals.
Speaker 4: Champ career points per.
Speaker 2: Game twenty seven that is seventh all time and of
Speaker 2: the last fifty years, behind only MJ. Lebron and Kevin Durant.
Speaker 2: What are his postseason accomplishments. He's the best player on
Speaker 2: a finalist hands down. Three career fifty point game playoff
Speaker 2: games three times. Only Wilton and Michael Jordan have done
Speaker 2: that more. Ten career forty point playoff games. That's tenth
Speaker 2: most all time, the seventh most in the last fifty years.
Speaker 4: Thirty points per.
Speaker 2: Game in the playoffs second all time, behind only Jordan.
Speaker 2: Forty five minutes per game in the playoffs third all time,
Speaker 2: behind only Wilt and Russell. So no player in the
Speaker 2: last fifty years has played more minutes per game in
Speaker 2: the playoffs than now. Alan iverson his first career playoff
Speaker 2: appearance twenty nine points per game in forty five minutes
Speaker 2: per game his first year in the postseason. But then,
Speaker 2: what he's all remembered for the most not just the
Speaker 2: stepover of Tylu, but the.
Speaker 4: One finals run. On that finals run.
Speaker 2: He was thirty three, five and six on four and
Speaker 2: forty six minutes per game. He had two fifty point
Speaker 2: playoff games versus Vince in the Eastern Conference semifinals. This
Speaker 2: is something and Demonsy's gonna ask me an Iverson question
Speaker 2: a moment. Not yet, but I almost want to make
Speaker 2: you go back on YouTube and watch one Eastern Conference
Speaker 2: semifinals because it's Apex Vince Carter, it's Apex Allen Iverson
Speaker 2: and they are just trading fifty point games.
Speaker 4: It's so good. Ended up ending.
Speaker 2: Vince missed a shot Game seven at the buzzer to
Speaker 2: move on. Iverson then went to play Ray Allen when
Speaker 2: ray Allen was with the Bucks in the conference finals.
Speaker 2: But so he has two fifty point games against Vince
Speaker 2: in the Eastern Conference semis and then against ray Allen
Speaker 2: in those Bucks He's forty four, six and seven in
Speaker 2: the elimination game to move on to the finals.
Speaker 4: And then in.
Speaker 2: That same series, he had forty six in game five
Speaker 2: when they were trying to move on to the finals
Speaker 2: against the Bucks, but they lost first NBA Finals, the
Speaker 2: game of his career forty eight, five and six, the
Speaker 2: stepover of Tylou. And it should be noted that Lakers
Speaker 2: team that he beat that was their only loss of
Speaker 2: that postseason. That Lakers team was running through the playoffs,
Speaker 2: Iverson beat and that's their only loss of that entire postseason,
Speaker 2: and they had no business beating them, even that one game.
Speaker 2: I mean that Lakers. That was the Apex Shock. Kobe
Speaker 2: was not Apex Kobe, but he was absolutely amazing and
Speaker 2: the sixer Steel game one. For those finals, he averaged
Speaker 2: thirty six, six and four. A couple of years later,
Speaker 2: gave starts off the playoffs by scoring fifty five against
Speaker 2: New Orleans, Baron Davis and New Orleans. A lot of
Speaker 2: people compare him to Russell Westbrook because a lot of
Speaker 2: volume and not a lot of efficiency.
Speaker 4: What I don't think people understand what AI is.
Speaker 2: Those teams he was on is certainly early in his
Speaker 2: career demanded that type of volume. You wanted Aaron McKee
Speaker 2: taking those shots. You wanted to Kimba taking those shots.
Speaker 2: You wanted Todd McCullough taking those shots, of course, not
Speaker 2: Eric snow. Iverson had to be the guy to score.
Speaker 2: He had to be the guy taking those shots, and he.
Speaker 4: Was able to do it.
Speaker 2: And he was able to do it despite I've stood
Speaker 2: next to him shorter than I am. I'm a touch
Speaker 2: over six feet tall, and he is my height at best.
Speaker 2: He's the thirtieth greatest player of the last fifty years.
Speaker 2: He's one of the most iconic and legendary players ever.
Speaker 2: Alan Iverson demons, what's your Iverson question?
Speaker 4: He averaged twenty six points per game in his career.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you could draw a straight line from him to Iverson,
Speaker 2: not Iverson, Curry and Kyrie.
Speaker 4: Do you think anybody could have stopped him in any era?
Speaker 4: Oh no, I think he's getting buckets in any era.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, I think Alan Iverson is going to
Speaker 2: score the II who was too physical in the eighties. No, too,
Speaker 2: he's too fast. He was an elite athlete. He was
Speaker 2: an All state quarterback in high school. No, he's one
Speaker 2: of the greatest athletes ever. His game just didn't age great,
Speaker 2: and there is an element of the fact that he
Speaker 2: was not able to readily as to a lesser role,
Speaker 2: which kind of deprived him of a final act of
Speaker 2: his career. But he got the absolute most out of
Speaker 2: his talent. Some people, listen, there are gonna be some
Speaker 2: names that are in the twenties, particularly point guards, that
Speaker 2: people are gonna say Iverson was better than them, And
Speaker 2: maybe at his apex he was, but those guys were
Speaker 2: able to play far longer.
Speaker 4: But again.
Speaker 2: He is tenth all time in career forty point playoff games,
Speaker 2: third all time in career fifty point playoff games. His
Speaker 2: playoff average is thirty points per game in forty five
Speaker 2: minutes per game. The guy was an indefatigable warrior. He
Speaker 2: is one of the most important players in modern NBA history.
Speaker 2: He's number thirty on my fifty Greatest Players of Last
Speaker 2: fifty years. One Alan iverson. We'll be right back next
Speaker 2: week where we get into players inside the top thirty,
Speaker 2: including the most stylish player in NBA history, who also
Speaker 2: had one of the greatest game sevens in NBA history.
Speaker 2: That's next week because we can continue the fifty Greatest
Speaker 2: Players of the Last fifty years and What's Right with
Speaker 2: Nick Right podcast