Elgin Baylor
If you don't know who Elgin Baylor is, you're not alone. He is easily the least recognizable or remembered player remaining, and a big part of that is the era in which he played. Games were not televised, so the only chance fans got to see him was live at the game. Baylor is also one of only four players remaining on this list that never won a championship, but it isn't for lack of trying.
Elgin played 12 full seasons in the NBA, with 8 of those seasons ending in the NBA Finals, 7 against the Boston Celtics. Baylor was the best player on 4 of those teams, #2 on two others, and still the third best player on the team in his 12th season in the NBA. The players who ranked ahead of him on those teams were Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain, so it's not like he was taking a back seat to a flash in the pan. There was one other season in which the Lakers lost to Boston in the Finals with Baylor sitting on the bench with a knee injury.
Baylor was not only a good player on a good team for all those years, he was one of the top 10 players in the league for 10 of his 12 full seasons. As a rookie, he was already the second-best player in the NBA, behind only Bob Pettit, and he only got better from there. Even though he was only 6-5, he averaged 24.9 points, 15.0 rebounds, and 4.1 assists that season, and he was known as the first player to play above the rim, showing hang time that had never been seen before.
His fourth season was 1961-62, the season of incomprehensible stats, and Baylor's numbers that season were yet another example. He had been called to active military duty during the season, so he was only able to play on weekends, but he still managed to participate in 48 games and average 38.3 points, 18.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists, all during his weekend breaks from the military.
Baylor averaged over 24 points and 10 rebounds for 11 seasons, making him one of the greatest scorer/rebounders under 6-6 in league history, along with Charles Barkley, another player who was never able to win a title. Baylor, however, may have allowed the Lakers to win a title. In 1971-72, he was returning from a major knee injury that had cost him almost a full season, and after nine games he felt that he was holding back a team that could be historically good, so he retired, and the very next game was the beginning of Los Angeles' record 33-game winning streak, and the Lakers also went on to win the title that season. There are not many players who would step aside in order to allow their team to reach their full potential, let alone one as great as Baylor, so that gesture was huge.
No comments:
Post a Comment