Top 100 NBA Players: #59

Adrian Dantley

(Simmons: #66, BBR: #89)

Adrian Dantley was one of the top scorers of the 1980's, leading the league in scoring twice and reaching the 30-point plateau four straight times, but he rarely saw the playoffs, and saw even less success when he did get there.

Even with all of Dantley's scoring exploits, he was only voted to the All-NBA team twice in his career, both times making the Second Team while leading all players in scoring. One reason held him back from All-NBA accolades was that he was pouring in the points while playing for losing teams. Even though he wasn't able to produce winning teams during his prime, he did put up some very impressive numbers while he was with Utah.

Dantley (Utah) - 461 games, 29.6 pts, 6.2 reb, 3.7 ast, 1.1 stl, .562 FG%
Dantley (Other) - 494 games, 19.3 pts, 5.3 reb, 2.3 ast, 0.9 stl, .511 FG%

Dantley was not a big man, only 6-5 and 208 pounds, but he spent the majority of his time in the lane, playing physically and making trips to the free throw line constantly. In fact, he led the league in free throws made five times and attempts three times. When he retired, he also had the highest field goal percentage of any player who did not play center.

Despite his amazing scoring, Dantley was traded five times during his career, always for less talented or washed-up players. Generally that would indicate that there are other problems going on off the court, much like the way Zach Randolph has been passed around throughout his short career. There's no way you can discount the big numbers, but he wasn't a winner, was traded over and over, and didn't maintain his high level of play as long as he should have.

Dantley was an immediate star in the league, winning the Rookie of the Year award while scoring over 20 points per game, while Stockton took a few years to catch on. Dantley's three best years were so far above anything Stockton ever did that he would have had to see it in person to believe it (he actually did, watching Dantley's best season from the Jazz bench as a rookie). Stockton may have lasted a couple more years as an effective player and had slightly more playoff success at his peak, but Dantley was so much better at his peak that he has to go ahead of him here.