1. Larry Bird
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| "The Legend" |
Honors: Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1998); NBA champion (1981, '84, '86); NBA Finals MVP (1984, '86); NBA MVP (1984, '85, '86); Nine-time All-NBA First Team (1980-88); All-NBA Second Team (1990); All-Defensive Second Team (1982, '83, '84); NBA Rookie of the Year (1980); One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996); Olympic gold medalist (1992).
2. Julius Erving
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| "The Doctor" |
Honors: Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1993); NBA champion (1983); NBA MVP (1981); All-NBA First Team (1978, '80, '81, '82, '83); All-NBA Second Team (1977, '84); 11-time All-Star (1977-87); All-Star MVP (1977, '83); J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award (1983); One of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996).
3. James Worthy
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| "Big Game James" |
Honors: Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (2003); NBA champion (1985, '87, '88); NBA Finals MVP (1988); All-NBA Third Team (1990, '91); All-Rookie Team (1983); Seven-time NBA All-Star (1986-92); One of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996).
4. Elgin Baylor
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| "The best Laker Ever?" |
Honors: Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1977); All-NBA First Team (1959, '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '67, '68, '69); Rookie of the Year (1959); 11-time NBA All-Star; All-Star co-MVP (1959)
5. John Havlicek
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| "Mr. Defense" |
Honors: Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1984); NBA champion (1963, '64, '65, '66, '68, '69, '74, '76); NBA Finals MVP (1974); All-NBA First Team (1971-74); All-NBA Second Team (1964, '66, '68, '69, '70, '75, '76); All-Defensive First Team (1972-76); All-Defensive Second Team (1969-71); 13-time All-Star; One of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996).
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| "Jordan made him relevant" |
I get into this argument all of the time with my brother-n-law because he's a huge Pippen fan. Post Jordan, "Pipp" was in my opinion, a mediocre player. Nothing special about him. My point was made in the 1994 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Knicks. Chicago was down 0-2 with 1.8 seconds left and Phil Jackson drew up the last play of the game to go to then rookie Toni Kukoc instead of Pippen. Pippen was so upset at not being the go to guy on that play, that he didn't even go back in for the final play.
If Phil is the guru and he didn't trust "Pipp" to win it for him.... I'm just sayin'. Scottie couldn't carry the squad on his own and was eventually traded to Houston to play with Barkley and Olajuwon and that didn't work primarily because of ego's. Then he was traded to Portland where he never really did anything. So please don't bring Scottie Pippen up. If you don't agree with my five that's OK, just give me somebody other than Scottie Pippen!
Jay Graves
jaygraves@thejaygravesreport.com
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport
Information from NBA.com was used in this article.
Bird is definitely a shooter, but will he play consistent defense?
ReplyDeleteDr. J. will make way for his own shot, but will he play consistent D (and I'm a Doc fan)
Worthy will run that floor, but who cares about the Lakers :-)
Elgin Baylor can score, but once again who cares about the Lakers :-)
And although Havlicek steals the ball, can he be a consistent scorer?
I know I'm probably asking for them to do everything, but that's what they should do
And as far as Pip - he did "D" up Magic in that first 3Peat :-) (BULLS FAN)
A3