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12th September, 2008 - 7:28 pm
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| Current Features |
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SCOOP DU JOUR: Trade, Morrow, Hot Stove, Wildcat And Edge!
Trade talks heat up with Nets and Cats, Anthony Morrow is for real, baseball free agency rumors, more Wildcat magic for Miami and Edgerrin James' request
TEAM RANKINGS: The RealGM NBA Team Rankings For The Week Of November 17th
The Cavaliers are leading the NBA in points per 100 possessions after finishing 19th in the category last season, which is a big reason why they are 2nd in our new rankings.
LOCKER TALK: Monta: I Was Racing Baron And Elton
Monta Ellis is still at least a full month away from his return to the court for the Warriors, but he recently called RealGM with the full story behind his ankle injury.
PLAYER RANKINGS: The 2008-09 Player Rankings From Preseason Action
Chris Paul led all players in Season FIC during the 2007-08 campaign and he is the current per 40 leader of the preseason. How are other players performing thus far?
MOCK DRAFT: 2008 NBA Mock Draft, Version 13.0 (Draft Day Edition)
Weeks and months of waiting has finally come to an end, and Draft day is officially here.
CLASSICS: Hakeem Vs. Ewing: Who Was The Better Center?
Born within six months of each other in opposite corners of the world, two seven footers who are finalists for the Basketball Hall of Fame this fall are two of the best ever to play the center position.
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By Andrew Perna
We are getting into the heavy-hitters, with each remaining list littered with first-ballot Hall of Famers and multi-time All-Stars. Believe it or not, though, I’d venture to say that the last few lists were a great deal stronger than this one.
Without further ado, here are the top ten careers of players that were taken with the fourth overall pick in the NBA Draft.
10. Antawn Jamison – No. 4 in 1998 (Toronto)
It might shock some, but Jamison already has more than 14,000 points and 5,000 rebounds in his ten-year NBA career. A former Sixth Man of the Year winner, Jamison has starred for three different teams, averaging at least 14.8 points per game for each. In addition to winning a bronze medal and being named the College Player of the Year early on, Antawn has also made two All-Star appearances (2005, 2008) as a member of the Wizards.
As good as he was at the beginning of his career; he has really come into his own in Washington. He averaged more than twenty points (21.4) per game for the fourth time in 2007-08, while posting a career-high 10.2 rebounds per contest. He may never garner as much attention as teammate Gilbert Arenas, but he’ll probably end up having a more solid career.
9. Chris Bosh – No. 4 in 2003 (Toronto)
Bosh is famously the forgotten man from the NBA’s 2003 Draft, living in the large shadows of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade. He hasn’t enjoyed the same success as Wade and James, but he has quietly become a better all-around player than Anthony.
He won a gold medal in Beijing, alongside Wade, James and Anthony, and has three All-Star appearances and a couple of All-NBA Team selections to his name already. He’s been incredibly consistent over the last three years as well, averaging 22.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in roughly seventy games per season.
8. Chris Paul – No. 4 in 2005 (New Orleans)
Paul is the youngest player on the list, but had it been compiled twenty years from now, there’s a very good chance he’d be topping it. The point guard, 23, already has a gold medal (Beijing), a Rookie of the Year award (2006) and a place on the All-NBA Team (2008) and All-Defensive Team (2008) on his resume.
He’s improved in each of his three seasons in the league, tallying 21.1 points, 11.6 assists and 2.7 steals per game in 2007-08 en route to MVP consideration. His assist and steal averages led the league. He’s also showed he can dominate against the best, posting 16 points and 14 assists in February’s All-Star Game and averaging 24.1 points and 11.3 assists in twelve playoff games for New Orleans this past spring.
7. Rasheed Wallace – No. 4 in 1995 (Washington)
He’ll forever be remembered for the wealth of technical fouls that he has accumulated throughout his career, but you don’t score 14,355 points and grab 6,506 rebounds by solely mouthing off to officials. He has played for four teams, spending a few hours with the Hawks in 2004, and more often than not has played on above-average clubs.
He’s a four-time All-Star and took home an NBA Title with the Pistons in 2004 after providing them with a shot in the arm following a midseason trade. He has kept his ego in check with Detroit, forming one of the league’s best “teams” as of late, but he was the “man” during Portland’s run at the beginning of the decade. That’s why he has postseason averages of 14.9 points and 6.7 rebounds.
6. Glen Rice – No. 4 in 1989 (Miami)
Rice’s career ended midway through the 2003-04 season, but he retired as one of the league’s all-time greatest three-point shooters. He made 1,559 shots from downtown, often ranking among the NBA’s best in terms of makes and attempts each season. He ranks fourth on the league’s all-time list behind Dale Ellis, Ray Allen and Reggie Miller.
He was a three-time All-Star during his fifteen-year career, also taking home an NBA title with the Lakers in 2000. He made each of his All-Star appearances as a member of the Hornets, and took home the MVP award from the game in 1997. He was traded five times in his career, spending time with the Heat, Hornets, Lakers, Knicks, Rockets and Clippers.
5. Sam Perkins – No. 4 in 1984 (Dallas)
“Big Smooth” as he is known, played in seventeen NBA seasons on very good teams in Los Angeles, Seattle and Indiana. He tallied 15,324 points and 7,666 rebounds in his career, which consisted of 1,286 games and four teams. The three-pointer grew on him as his career progressed – he made a total of 114 threes in his first nine seasons, before making 735 in his final eight years.
Perkins, who played in 164 playoff games, made eight three-pointers against the Warriors as a member of the Mavericks in 1990 without a single miss. He won a gold medal with the United States at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and was a member of North Carolina’s National Championship team in 1982.
4. Lou Hudson – No. 4 in 1966 (St. Louis)
Hudson was one of the NBA’s first swingmen, but his numbers don’t do him justice because he began his career during a time when many statistics weren’t kept. He finished his thirteen-year career with 17,940 points, spending eleven years with the Hawks (split between St. Louis and Atlanta).
His career averages, 20.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game are great, but you have to wonder what kind of numbers he would have tallied had steals been a recorded stat during the first seven years of his career. Hudson was a six-time All-Star, and was named to the league’s All-Rookie Team in 1967.
3. Byron Scott – No. 4 in 1983 (San Diego)
Scott, now the coach of the New Orleans Hornets , was quite the player during his younger days. He played in fourteen NBA seasons, taking home three NBA Titles as a member of the “Showtime” Lakers in the late 1980s. He scored 15,097 points in his career and was a member of the league’s All-Rookie Team in 1984.
He excelled as a starter for the Lakers, but took on a completely different role with the Pacers, coming off the bench to provide a spark the team desperately needed. Scott was also known for taking great care of the ball and shooting a very percentage. In addition to that, he was remarkably steady – missing more than fifteen games just once (1992-93).
2. Dikembe Mutombo – No. 4 in 1991 (Denver)
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Mutombo, whom many have a problem believing is only in his early forties, is second to only Hakeem Olajuwon in terms of career blocks. He’s a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, an eight-time All-Star and has led the league in both rebounding and blocks per game on multiple occasions.
His career averages of 9.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game are amazing considering that he has played in seventeen seasons, tailing off in recent years. He has played for six different teams (spending just the offseason with the Bulls a few years ago), including the Nuggets, Hawks, 76ers, Nets, Knicks and Rockets. He’s a three-time All-NBA selection, as well as a six-time All-Defensive Team member.
1. Dave Cowens – No. 4 in 1970 (Boston)
Cowens left it all out on the floor every time he played, which explains why he only lasted eleven years in the league, ten of which he played with the Celtics. Many felt he was too small to play center, at 6’9”, but he more than held his own against larger opponents. He was the NBA’s Co-Rookie of the Year (1971) and took home MVP honors just two years later.
He won a pair of championships with Boston, in 1974 and 1976, and was an All-Star for seven-straight seasons (1972-78). He outshined the rest of the league’s best in 1973 as he was named the MVP of the All-Star Game, the same year he won the regular season award.
Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM.com and would love to hear what you think about this list. Feel free to e-mail him at Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com |
