Top 100 NBA Players: #41

Alex English

(Simmons: #65, BBR: #70)

Alex English has been largely forgotten today, mostly due to his lack of postseason success, but longtime Nuggets fans remember what a great player he was, and he has a place in history that cannot be forgotten.

If you were to ask somebody who the leading scorer of the 1980's was, many would answer with Michael Jordan or Larry Bird, but almost nobody would guess Alex English, but he happens to be the correct answer. He scored 19700 points from 1980 to 1989, averaging at least 23 points per game in every season and leading the league in 1983. His scoring average for the decade was 26.9, an amazing accomplishment that few have ever come close to.

He was more than just a great scorer, however. He averaged 5.7 rebounds per game over that same time period, with a peak of 8.0 in 1981. He also averaged 4.6 assists, and always hovered around that range throughout his career. He shot .511 for the decade from the field and .841 from the free throw line. He was an all-around star.

He also led the Nuggets to nine straight playoff berths, and although he never saw the NBA Finals in his career, he did take Denver to the Western Conference Finals once, averaging over 30 points per game during the 1985 playoffs. While most of the other players who have a good ranking on this list have seen quite a bit of playoff success, English did so much during the regular seasons that he can't be overlooked.

English and Allen each spent a great deal of their careers averaging over 20 points per game, but English did it for a little longer and did it in bigger quantities than Allen. Both led underdog teams to the Conference Finals in their prime years, but Allen had the good fortune of landing on a contending team late in his career and winning a title. What it really comes down to is that English's accomplishment of most points in the 1980's was just a little more impressive than Allen's all-time three-point record.