Top 100 NBA Players: #28 - Kevin Garnett

Kevin Garnett

Teams

Minnesota Timberwolves - 1995-07, 2015-16

Boston Celtics - 2007-13

Brooklyn Nets - 2013-15

Playoffs

Appearances - 14 (1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2008,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014)

Conference Finals - 4 (2004,2008,2010,2012)

NBA Finals - 2 (2008,2010)

Championships - 1 (2008)

Awards and Honors

MVP - 1 (2004)

Finals MVP - 0 (2008)

Defensive Player of the Year - 1 (2008)

All-NBA First Team - 4 (2000,2003,2004,2008)

All-NBA Second Team - 3 (2001,2002,2005)

All-NBA Third Team - 2 (1999,2006,2007,2008)

Hall of Fame - 2020

*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)

All-Time Ranks

Total Rebounds - #10

Total Steals - #19

Total Blocks - #20

Total Points - #21

Total Assists - #52

Rebounds Per Game - #58

Blocks Per Game - #88

League Leads

Total Rebounds (#1-2004,2005, #2-2003,2006,2007, #3-2000,2002, #5-2001)

Rebounds Per Game (#1-2004,2005,2006,2007, #2-2003, #3-2002, #4-2000)

Total Points (#1-2004)

Points Per Game (#3-2004)

Kevin Garnett moved from South Carolina to Chicago to live with his sister before his senior season of high school, and had a dominant senior year, averaging 25.2 points, 17.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 6.5 blocks per game while shooting .668 from the field, and after being told that his test scores wouldn't let him play in college, decided to enter the NBA Draft, where he was the #5 overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves, the first player selected straight from high school in 20 years.

Minnesota never made the playoffs before Garnett's arrival, and they've only made it once since he left, but with him on the team, they made 8 straight playoff appearances beginning in 1997, his second season. That year, he averaged 17.0 points and 8.0 rebounds, but Minnesota was swept in the first round of the playoffs, and their seasons would end the exact same way for the next 6 seasons as well.

In his 4th season, Garnett averaged 20.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, the first of 9 straight seasons where he would average at least 20 and 10. He was also named to an All-NBA Team that year for the first of 9 times in 10 seasons, making the Third Team that first time.

He was named to the All-NBA First Team in 2000 after averaging 22.9 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game, then again 3 years later when he raised those averages to 23.0 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 6.0 assists, but that season was the 7th in a row where the Wolves would lose in the first round of the playoffs. That season was notable for the fact that Garnett became the third player in history to lead his team in all 5 major stat categories, a club that has now grown to 5 members.

The next year, Minnesota added Sam Cassell to the team, and Garnett had the best year of his career. He averaged career highs of 24.2 points and 13.9 rebounds, leading the league in rebounding and scoring more points than any other player, though he came in #3 in scoring average. His efforts earned him the MVP award for the season, and in the playoffs they finally got past the first round, getting all the way to the Conference Finals before falling to the Lakers in 6 games.

Garnett led the league in rebounding in each of the next 3 seasons, but Minnesota missed the playoffs each time, and Garnett began to grow frustrated with the lack of progress. He was traded to the Boston Celtics in 2007, and engineered the biggest single-season turnaround in history, earning the Defensive Player of the Year award and leading Boston to the Finals, where they beat the Lakers in 6 games, with Garnett putting up 26 points and 14 rebounds in the deciding game. 

Garnett's averages dipped a little the next year, down to 15.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game before he suffered a knee injury in February that forced him to miss all but 4 games the rest of the season and the entire playoffs, and the Celtics lost in the second round without their big star.

When he returned the next year, his averages were about the same as the previous year, but with Garnett healthy the Celtics were able to overcome finishing with the 4th seed and made it back to the NBA Finals, where they faced the Lakers again, but this time they fell just short, with the Lakers pulling away in the 4th quarter of Game 7 to take home the championship.

After 3 more seasons with the Celtics in which the team failed to make a deep playoff run, Garnett was traded along with Paul Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets. He averaged only 6.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game that season, and the Nets only made it to the second round. Midway through the next season, he was traded back to the Timberwolves.

He played only 5 games for the Wolves before being shut down for the season with a knee injury, and he came back for one last season, but his knee problems returned again, and he retired in 2016 after completing his 21st NBA season.

Garnett had very little playoff success during his best seasons, reaching the Conference Finals just once during his prime years, but he was still a star when he arrived in Boston, and he was the best player on the team that won him his only championship. He led the league in rebounds 4 times and won both an MVP and a Defensive Player of the Year award, and he is one of only 3 players among the top 100 all time in all 5 major stat categories, and is definitely one of the greatest players of all time.

Top 100 NBA Players: #1 - Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan

Ask 100 people who the greatest player of all time is, and the top response will most likely be Michael Jordan, but it would be far from a landslide. Many others would get a significant number of votes, from Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Oscar Robertson to Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and even LeBron James.  So what makes Michael Jordan the best player of all time?

There are five factors that I feel qualify a player to be considered one of the greatest of all time. Those are offensive and defensive prowess, regular season and playoff dominance, and longevity. By using these 5 factors, I'll show that Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time.

First, offensive prowess. The purpose of offense is to score points, and there has never been a greater scorer than Michael Jordan. Wilt Chamberlain may own the record for points in a game and points per game for a full season, but Michael Jordan owns the record for most points per game over a full career. The five players with the highest career scoring averages are, in order:

Michael Jordan
Wilt Chamberlain
Kevin Durant
Elgin Baylor
LeBron James

Next, defensive prowess. This one is a little tougher to define, especially since the All-Defensive Team has only existed since 1969, Bill Russell's final season. Three players have appeared on the All-Defensive First Team nine times in their career, and if you add in Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, both of whom were said to have blocked at least 8 shots in a game quite regularly, this is the list you come up with:

Michael Jordan
Kobe Bryant
Kevin Garnett
Bill Russell
Wilt Chamberlain

Then let's consider regular season dominance. Michael Jordan was the best player in the league for his final 9 seasons with the Chicago Bulls, and would have made it at least 11 if he hadn't kept retiring prematurely. He was the best player in 1988, and he was the best player in 1998, a feat only Kareem can match with his 1970 and 1980 seasons. The list of players who spent the longest time as the league's top star is as follows:

Wilt Chamberlain
Michael Jordan
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
LeBron James
Larry Bird

Perhaps the most important category is playoff dominance. The whole point of playing the game is to win championships, and Jordan was the best player on more champions than anybody but Bill Russell. He made 6 trips to the NBA Finals in his career, and won all 6 times. The record for highest scoring average in a Finals series is 41.0, and it's no surprise that Jordan holds that record for his performance against the Phoenix Suns in 1993. Here is the list of the players who have led their teams to the most championships:

Bill Russell
Michael Jordan
Magic Johnson
Tim Duncan
Shaquille O'Neal
Larry Bird
LeBron James

Finally, let's look at longevity. When looking at this category, I'm looking at more than just playing for a long time. You must also play at a high level for a long period of time, and Michael Jordan fits that bill as well. In his first game after turning 40, he obliterated the old record for points by a player of that age. Kareem had held the record of 27, but Jordan poured in 43 that night, and scored at least 30 points 9 other times after his 40th birthday, meaning he owns the 10 highest-scoring games for a 40-year old player. Here are the 5 players who had the most productive seasons after the age of 35:

Karl Malone
Elgin Baylor
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Michael Jordan
Jerry West

There's only one player that appears on all 5 of these lists, and you've probably already guessed who that is. It's also worth noting that only two other players appear even 3 times on these lists, and those are Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James, the two players I ranked just behind Jordan. Michael Jordan is the only player in history who has been dominant in every important facet of the game, which is what makes him the greatest of all time.

With that in mind, are there any current players that have a chance at displacing Jordan at the top? In my opinion, there are several that have a chance. The obvious one is LeBron James, who has already cracked three of these lists, and has already made the All-Defensive First Team six times, and has a head start on the longevity since he started so young. Another is Kevin Durant, who is a great offensive player and is improving on defense, and also entered the league very young, which could help his longevity. Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry are also young and showing some promise, but do they have what it takes to be considered the greatest? It will be fun to watch and find out.

Top 100 NBA Players: #2 - LeBron James

LeBron James

LeBron James is one of the youngest players on this entire list, yet he has somehow risen to #2 already, and #1 is an eventual possibility for him, whether you are a fan of his or not. Many try to say that LeBron is not that great, that he'll never be as great as Michael Jordan, but there are problems with that reasoning.

People say that Jordan was greater because he won 6 titles in 6 tries, and LeBron has 3 in 7 tries. The problem is that we are comparing 1990's Jordan with 2010's LeBron, when we should be comparing 2000's LeBron with 1980's Jordan. At the end of 2011, his first season in Miami, LeBron James was 26 years old. Here is a comparison of the career accomplishments and statistics of Jordan and LeBron at age 26:

Jordan - 6 playoffs, 2 conference finals, 0 NBA Finals, 1 MVP, 3 years as best player in the league
James - 6 playoffs, 3 conference finals, 2 NBA Finals, 2 MVP, 6 years as best player in the league

Jordan - 32.8 pts, 6.3 reb, 6.0 ast, 2.8 stl, 1.1 blk, .516 FG%, .282 3P%, .848 FT%
James - 27.7 pts, 7.1 reb, 7.0 ast, 1.7 stl, 0.8 blk, .479 FG%, .329 3P%, .744 FT%

When looking at them statistically, LeBron had more triple-double potential, but Jordan was still a little better overall. When looking at their accomplishments at age 26, LeBron is the clear-cut winner, matching or beating Jordan in every category. The fact is that back in the 1980's, people were saying the same things about Jordan that they used to say about LeBron, that he's great but he'll never lead his team to a title, that he doesn't know how to involve his teammates enough, etc. At age 27, Michael Jordan won his first of six NBA Championships, and LeBron did the same 21 years later.

Now let's take a look at Jordan and LeBron at age 31 (James' current age):

Jordan - 10 playoffs, 5 conference finals, 3 NBA Finals, 3 championships, 3 MVP's, 6 seasons as best player in the league
James - 11 playoffs, 8 conference finals, 7 NBA Finals, 3 championships, 4 MVP's, 8 seasons as best player in the league

Jordan - 32.2 pts, 6.3 reb, 5.9 ast, 2.7 stl, 1.0 blk, .514 FG%, .845 FT%
James - 27.2 pts, 7.2 reb, 6.9 ast, 1.7 stl, 0.8 blk, .498 FG%, .744 FT%

Statistically, both showed a small regression between 26 and 31, but it was very slight in both cases. LeBron did improve his shooting percentage by nearly 2 points, so the argument can be made that he slipped less. In terms of accomplishments, LeBron is still ahead of Jordan's pace in every category, although Jordan's year of retirement affected a couple of the numbers.

The fact is, you can't claim that LeBron will never be as great as Jordan based only on the fact that he has lost in the NBA Finals 4 times. In his 13 seasons on the Bulls, Jordan reached the Finals 6 times, and LeBron has done it 7 times in the same number of seasons. Twice, LeBron was able to drag a team to the Finals without a single healthy All-Star caliber player beside him, while Jordan had Pippen as support through all of his title seasons.

LeBron is the holder of many "youngest" records, including youngest #1 pick, youngest Rookie of the Year, youngest to record a triple-double, any many others. He is also one of 4 players in history to lead his team in all 5 of the major statistical categories for a full season, along with Dave Cowens, Scottie Pippen, and Kevin Garnett. In 2005, at the age of 20, LeBron was already the best player in the NBA, becoming only the third player to be the best within his first two seasons, and the other two happen to be Kareem and Wilt, who fell right behind him in these rankings.

Could LeBron James end up as the best player in the history of the NBA? Definitely. Will he? That depends on a lot of factors. If he is able to win championships in the next two seasons while maintaining his current level of play, it could be enough to surpass MJ. If he fails to win but continues his Finals streak, it would probably take 3. A lot depends on him maintaining his health, which has been steady throughout his career, and maintaining his drive to win, which can become tough after multiple titles. However it turns out, we are currently witnessing the prime years of one of the greatest players ever to wear an NBA uniform.

Top 100 NBA Players: #17 - Kevin Garnett

Kevin Garnett

Kevin Garnett is one of four active players to appear among the top 20 players of all time, and even though he is built like a praying mantis, he was a force in professional basketball for 18 seasons, and he is still playing into his 22nd season, making him by far the most experienced player remaining in the league.

Garnett was a major trail blazer for the current generation of NBA stars, jumping straight to the league from high school, the first player in 20 years to do so, but his success caused many to follow in his footsteps, from future stars like Kobe, LeBron, and Amare to busts like Korleone Young, DeSagana Diop, and Kwame Brown. Three of the four active players among my top 20 did not attend college, and who knows if that would have happened without Garnett taking a risk in 1995.

Garnett was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and it is because of him that the franchise even has any history to celebrate. They made the playoffs for the first time in Garnett's second year, which started a string of 8 consecutive playoff appearances, since which they have not returned to the postseason. Garnett was the team's best player every time they made the playoffs, and during that run he missed a total of 11 games, an incredible feat for a player who looks so fragile.

The eighth year of that run was a magical one for Garnett and the Timberwolves. It was the only time in franchise history that the Wolves won a playoff series, and they actually won two of them, advancing clear to the Western Conference Finals, where the Lakers dispatched them on their way to a three-peat. Garnett was named the MVP that season, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he deserved it. In my opinion, the only more dominant season in the last 20 years was Shaq's 2000 campaign. Here is a comparison of Garnett and Kobe Bryant, his nearest competitor, from that season:

Garnett - 24.2 pts, 13.9 reb, 5.0 ast, 1.5 stl, 2.2 blk, .499 FG%, .791 FT%
Bryant - 24.0 pts, 5.5 reb, 5.1 ast, 1.7 stl, 0.4 blk, .438 FG%, .852 FT%

I don't think I even need to do any explanation as to why Garnett was the MVP, because the numbers do the talking. In NBA history, there have only been six times that a player has matched Garnett's scoring, rebounding, and assists numbers from that season in any single year. It was done by Wilt three times, Kareem twice, and Elgin Baylor once. The most recent of those seasons was Kareem in 1976, and it hasn't been done by anyone but Garnett since.

After that season the Timberwolves sank back into mediocrity, with Garnett toiling away as a superstar on a bad team, until the summer of 2007, when he was rescued by the Boston Celtics, who had decided they wanted to pursue a championship, since it had been over a decade since they had really tried, and with Garnett leading the way, Boston won their first title in over two decades. Paul Pierce was named the Finals MVP, but I think the award should have gone to Garnett, and here are the stats from the playoffs to back up my point:

Garnett - 20.4 pts, 10.5 reb, 3.3 ast, 1.3 stl, 1.1 blk, .495 FG%, .810 FT%
Pierce - 19.7 pts, 5.0 reb, 4.6 ast, 1.1 stl, 0.3 blk, .441 FG%, .802 FT%

Okay, now I'm no expert (well, maybe I am), but when one player is better in 6 of 7 statistical categories, and the other is reasonably close, that player is better, especially since being teammates eliminates the pace factor from the argument. Garnett was the MVP of the 2008 Finals, but Celtics fans helped select Pierce because he stuck with the team through the tough times.

Two years later, Boston returned to the NBA Finals, but this time Garnett was no longer the star, his body having finally worn down after playing over 1100 games in the NBA, but he was still one of the team's leaders, and he earned that second trip to the Finals, something very few superstars have gone without. In his career, Garnett won a championship, an MVP, and a Defensive Player of the Year award. He's a great all-around player, and he finally got to prove he was a winner while he was still a relevant superstar.

Top 100 NBA Players: #20 - Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk has been a very consistent player throughout his time in the NBA, all as a Maverick. For 12 straight seasons, he averaged at least 20 points per game. Contrast that with Kevin Garnett, with whom he has many similarities, and you'll notice that Garnett only recorded 9 consecutive seasons of 20 or more points. During that entire time, he missed fewer than 10 games in each and every season, which meant that they could count on those 20 points every night.

When Dirk first arrived in Dallas, the team still belonged to Michael Finley. After two seasons, the torch was passed to the big German, who led Dallas to its first playoff berth in over a decade, a feat that he has duplicated in the following 11 seasons as well. Kevin Garnett, meanwhile, missed the playoffs in three straight seasons with Minnesota.

Dirk is also one of only 8 players in history to finish an entire season with a 50-40-90, meaning 50% or better from the field, 40% or better from long range, and 90% or better from the free throw line. It requires a very accurate and complete offensive player to accomplish that, and among the other names that grace the list are Larry Bird, Steve Nash, Reggie Miller, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry. 

Nowitzki has never been known as a great rebounder, especially considering that he is 7 feet tall. He has never finished a season averaging over 10 rebounds per game, but in the playoffs, he has always turned it up a notch, grabbing at least 10 rebounds per game in 8 straight postseason campaigns. So not only did he get his team to the playoffs every year, he also stepped it up when he got there.

During his reign as the Mavericks' superstar, Dirk has led three deep playoff runs. In 2003, he took Dallas to the Western Conference Finals, where they lost to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs. After a few seasons that ended in disappointment, he took them a step farther in 2006, getting them to the Finals, where they took a 2-0 lead and were minutes away from going up 3-0 before things fell apart and they lost to Miami. Then in 2011, he was able to take a team with no other star all the way back to the Finals to face the same Heat team, except that Miami had three superstars to Dallas' one, but Dirk trumped those three and took home the Finals MVP in the process, during his 13th season in the league.

Top 100 NBA Players: #33 - Paul Pierce

Paul Pierce

Paul Pierce is best known today as a member of Boston's "Big Three," the three superstars that were brought together in 2007 and brought a championship to Boston in 2008, and he's also known as the one chosen from among those three to win the Finals MVP Award that season, which leads many to believe that before the arrival of Garnett and Allen that Pierce and the Celtics couldn't win, but that isn't exactly true.

Pierce hit his peak as a player from 2001-2003, back when Antoine Walker was also playing in Boston, and the Celtics were actually a pretty good team. They won playoff series in both of those seasons, and even reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002, with Pierce as the team leader. Here are his combined stats from those two seasons:

Pierce - 26.0 pts, 7.1 reb, 3.8 ast, 1.8 stl, 0.9 blk, .429 FG%, .360 3P%, .805 FT%

Other than the field goal percentage, which was pretty low even for a guard, Pierce was great all-around. He did manage to improve his shooting over the course of the next 11 seasons, and he kept most of the other numbers relatively close to that level for as long as he stayed in Boston.

He remained one of the better players in the league for the next few seasons, but the Celtics started to slide, so they picked up a couple of stars to help share the load, and the result was their first title in two decades. Pierce was named the MVP of the Finals, but Kevin Garnett should have won it, as the numbers from that year's playoffs show:

Garnett - 20.4 pts, 10.5 reb, 3.3 ast, 1.3 stl, 1.1 blk, .495 FG%, .810 FT%
Pierce - 19.7 pts, 5.0 reb, 4.6 ast, 1.1 stl, 0.3 blk, .441 FG%, .802 FT%

A quick glance at those numbers shows that Garnett was by far the better player, performing better in every key category but one, assists, and that one was pretty close. I believe the reason Pierce won was his "comeback" from a "major injury" in game 1, which exhibited worse acting than a lot of reality shows. He couldn't even get up and walk off the court, but just minutes later he was back and scored 15 points in the third quarter to lead them to victory.

In 2010 Boston made another trip to the Finals, and people once again talked as if Pierce was the star of that team and the driving force behind it, but I showed earlier in my article about Rajon Rondo (#58) that the star power of the team had shifted to the point guard position. That's not to say the Pierce wasn't important on those Finals teams, because any team needs at least two stars to get to the Finals in today's league, and Pierce was one of them on both of those teams.

Top 100 NBA Players: #57 - Shawn Marion

Shawn Marion

Shawn Marion is one of those guys who has been forgotten somewhat over the past 5 years, but if you saw him play in his prime, you will remember him as a great all-around player who contributed to a lot of good teams.

In just his second season, Marion showed the all-around skills that would make him a star. That year he averaged 17.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.4 blocks, and he continued to improved from there. From 2002 to 2007, he was incredibly solid, improving his numbers across the board and helping the Suns become annual contenders. His stats from that period are listed below:

Marion - 19.8 pts, 10.4 reb, 2.1 ast, 2.1 stl, 1.4 blk, .481 FG%, .831 FT%

His best season came in 2006, when Amare Stoudemire was out with an injury. Marion took on the team's starring role that season and helped keep them relevant without their best player, putting up the stat line below:

Marion - 21.8 pts, 11.8 reb, 1.8 ast, 2.0 stl, 1.7 blk, .525 FG%, .809 FT%

The points, rebounds, and field goal percentage were all career highs, and he remained their best player through that season's playoff run, which ended in the conference finals for the second straight season.

Marion has played on three teams that made deep playoff runs, and had a major part in all three. In 2004, he was the third-best player on the Suns team that made the Western Conference Finals, playing behind Amare and Steve Nash. The next season, Amare went down with an injury, so Marion stepped into his role and led the Suns to the Conference Finals again, this time as their best player. His most recent playoff run happened in 2011, as he helped the Mavericks win their first championship as the #3 player on the team.

Marion is one of only 5 players in NBA history to amass over 1500 steals and 1000 blocks in his career, and the others are all pretty recognizable names: Julius Erving, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kevin Garnett, and Karl Malone. He led the league in total steals twice, and finished in the top 10 in rebounding 6 times, despite being only 6-7. Taken all together, you have to recognize that the Matrix really was the a star player worthy of being remembered as one of the best of all time.

Top 100 NBA Players: #58 - Rajon Rondo

Rajon Rondo

Rondo is one of the youngest player to appear on this list so far, and you may wonder if he has done enough in his short career to merit his placement among the all-time greats, especially with his performance over the past few seasons. He may not have a huge list of career accomplishments, but what he did in Boston was pretty impressive.

First of all, he has already won a championship as a starting point guard in 2008. During that season he may have been overshadowed by the "Big Three" of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, but he wasn't far behind them in playoff production. He had more steals and assists than any other player to appear in the playoffs that year, and it quickly became clear that the Celtics were more than just 3 players.

The following season, despite only making it to the second round, he once again had the most playoff assists of any player. That season he was the best player on the Celtics in the postseason, boosting his averages to 16.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, 9.8 assists, and 2.5 steals. In 2010, he was the best playoff player for the Celtics once again, and he led them all the way back to the NBA Finals. Look at the playoff numbers for the four Celtics stars that year.

Rondo - 15.8 pts, 5.6 reb, 9.3 ast, 1.9 stl
Garnett - 15.0 pts, 7.4 reb, 2.5 ast, 1.1 stl
Pierce - 18.8 pts, 6.0 reb, 3.4 ast, 1.0 stl
Allen - 16.1 pts, 3.3 reb, 2.6 ast, 0.9 stl

Rondo was scoring and rebounding just as much as his bigger teammates, had more steals than any of them, and had more assists than all three of them combined. During the regular season he was named to the All-Defensive First Team and should have been named to the All-NBA Second Team. 

Two years later he led the Celtics back to the Eastern Conference Finals one more time, despite Garnett and Pierce continuing to get more accolades. They went clear to game 7 that year in the conference finals, but LeBron James and the Heat kept them from making another Finals appearance. If you doubt that Rondo was the best player on the team that postseason, here are the stats from that year's playoffs:

Rondo - 17.3 pts, 6.7 reb, 11.9 ast, 2.4 stl
Garnett - 19.2 pts, 10.3 reb, 1.5 ast, 1.2 stl
Pierce - 18.9 pts, 6.1 reb, 3.1 ast, 1.5 stl

As you can see, Rondo was a major reason that the Celtics were able to be so good for those 5 seasons, even performing better than the so-called Big 3 for most of that time. Even though he hasn't been the same player since the Celtics broke up the team, he did lead the league in assists again this past season, and maybe a fresh start in Chicago will help get his career back on track.

Top 100 NBA Players: #89 - Latrell Sprewell

Latrell Sprewell

Latrell Sprewell's off-the-court problems often overshadowed his on-the-court success, which is a reason that many wouldn't call him one of the all-time greats, but when he was letting his play on the court do the talking, he was among the elite.

Sprewell started his career in Golden State, and was an immediate impact player for the Warriors. In just his second year he averaged 21.0 points per game while leading the league in minutes played and was named to the All-NBA First Team. What's strange is that it was the only time in his career that he would be voted All-NBA.

After a couple of subpar seasons, Sprewell put up a masterpiece in 1996-97, setting career highs in scoring, assists, and steals, causing the Warriors to feel like he earned the huge contract they had just given him. Although the Warriors failed to make the playoffs, he did get voted to the All-Star Team and started to look like one of the league's new superstars. Let's look at the numbers he put up that year.

Sprewell - 24.2 pts, 4.6 reb, 6.3 ast, 1.7 stl, .449 FG%, .354 3P%, .843 FT%

A lot was expected from Sprewell coming off a season like that, but after a disappointing start to the season, the incident for which he is most famous occurred, and only those who knew him well could have seen it coming. When his coach asked him to "put some mustard" on his passes, Sprewell lost it and choked his coach. After his teammates pulled him off, he left for a few minutes, then returned throwing punches before leaving for good. It turns out that this was not an isolated incident. Teammates reported other violent incidents, including once when he came after Jerome Kersey with a 2x4. He was suspended for the remainder of the season, then traded away as soon as the suspension was over.

He made his comeback with the New York Knicks in 1999, proclaiming himself a changed man, and his play and demeanor seemed to show that. He came off the bench in his first season there, playing an important role on a team that barely made the playoffs, but in the postseason he took over, becoming the best player on a team that surprised everyone and advanced to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the San Antonio Spurs.

That performance was enough for New York to give him a starting job the next season, and he once again put up quality numbers, and once again led a run deep into the playoffs, this time getting only as far as the Eastern Conference Finals. It appeared that Sprewell had really changed, but few realized that his time as an impact player was nearly over.

After a few more less successful years with the Knicks, he was traded to Minnesota, where he joined Kevin Garnett on a team that was primed for a playoff run. He adjusted well to being the sidekick to that season's MVP, and he once again saw his team advance to the Conference Finals, losing just one step short of the NBA Finals.

After that season, Minnesota offered him a contract extension worth $7 million a year, but having made nearly twice that during the season, he felt that he was being disrespected, despite the fact that his skills had obviously declined. It was at that point that he made one of the most ludicrous statements of all time, stating that he wouldn't accept that offer because he had "a family to feed." When his contract expired the next year, Minnesota let him walk, and with no other team willing to offer him more that $1 million per year, Sprewell never made it back into the league, feeling that taking less money was below him.

While his off-the-court troubles overshadowed a lot of what he did on the court, there is no doubting that he was a great player, especially during those glory years when he joined the Knicks. While he definitely could have been a little higher on this list if he had been able to better control his temper and his pride, he still deserves to be remembered for what he did accomplish.

NBA Preview 2013

The NBA season starts up on Tuesday, so it's time to prognosticate. Which teams have improved during the offseason, and which are tanking in hopes of landing the top pick in next year's highly-anticipated draft? Will the Miami Heat 3-peat? I have analyzed every player move since the end of last season and calculated how each team will be affected, then calculated each team's odds of winning each game this season (1230 total games) to determine each team's predicted finish and playoff seeding, as well as this season's champion. Here are my full preseason rankings:

Rank	LW	Team	Record	Rating	Pred	Change	Playoff
1	3	Miami	66-16	-8.02052	62-20	-4	1E
2	11	Brooklyn	49-33	-7.5749	62-20	+13	2E
3	5	Memphis	56-26	-7.42301	61-21	+5	1W
4	4	LA Clippers	56-26	-6.65294	59-23	+3	2W
5	2	San Antonio	58-24	-5.34647	56-26	-2	3W
6	1	Oklahoma City	60-22	-4.99842	55-27	-5	4W
7	9	Indiana	49-32	-4.97429	56-26	+7	3E
8	7	New York	54-28	-3.67702	53-29	-1	4E
9	6	Denver	57-25	-3.36568	51-31	-6	5W
10	8	Houston	45-37	-2.22605	47-35	+2	7W
11	10	Golden State	47-35	-2.03503	48-34	+1	6W
12	23	Portland	33-49	-0.58555	44-38	+11	8W
13	15	Atlanta	44-38	0.304629	42-40	-2	5E
14	19	Toronto	34-48	0.81226	41-41	+7	6E
15	20	Washington	29-53	1.001166	40-42	+11	7E
16	24	Sacramento	28-54	1.358489	38-44	+10
17	16	Chicago	45-37	1.37757	40-42	-5	8E
18	14	Dallas	41-41	1.578741	37-45	-4
19	25	New Orleans	27-55	2.256902	36-46	+9
20	12	LA Lakers	45-37	2.410893	35-47	-10
21	27	Cleveland	24-58	2.512724	36-46	+12
22	18	Minnesota	31-51	3.594733	32-50	+1
23	21	Milwaukee	38-44	3.80864	33-49	-5
24	17	Boston	41-40	4.597823	30-52	-11
25	26	Detroit	29-53	4.643823	30-52	+1
26	30	Charlotte	21-61	5.326927	28-54	+7
27	22	Philadelphia	34-48	7.778159	23-59	-11
28	29	Orlando	20-62	8.901612	20-62
29	13	Utah	43-39	9.110256	19-63	-24
30	28	Phoenix	25-57	10.33422	17-65	-8

Miami's mantra this offseason? Don't mess with success. The only player missing from last season's title team is Mike Miller, and the only real addition of note is Michael Beasley, who was a disappointment in Phoenix last year. What does that mean for LeBron and his troops? Another 60-win season in a tougher Eastern Conference, and a good chance a 3rd straight title.

Look for Brooklyn to be one of the most improved teams in the league this year, and to challenge for home court advantage throughout the playoffs. The trade they made with Boston was pretty one-sided, even if the three players they received are all well into their 30's. Garnett is still better than Kris Humphries, and Paul Pierce is much better than Gerald Wallace, and Jason Terry was tossed in for good measure. Lopez, Garnett, Pierce, Joe Johnson, and Deron Williams may be the best starting five this league has seen in a long time, and it won't hurt to have Kirilenko coming off the bench.

Memphis is coming off the best season in franchise history, winning 10 more games than they ever had before and making their first ever conference final, and they decided to stick with what they have. They picked up Mike Miller as a free agent but did little else to change last year's best defensive team, and look for them to take another big step forward this season as the best team in the West.

Last year Oklahoma City downgraded their sixth man position from James Harden to Kevin Martin, then downgraded even farther this year by trading Martin to the T-Wolves for basically nothing. With Russell Westbrook still recovering from a knee injury, Kevin Durant will have to carry this team in the early going, and I just don't think they have the depth to fulfill the promise they showed in recent years.

Utah will take the biggest dive of any team this year after losing three starters to free agency and trading away another, leaving them with a roster that started a total of 108 games last year, or basically just one starter, Marvin Williams, the biggest bust of the 2005 draft. Utah is obviously positioning themselves for the Andrew Wiggins-Jabari Parker sweepstakes, and until yesterday I thought they had the best chance at winning it, but then...

The Phoenix Suns traded away the final piece of last season's starting frontcourt, along with their top bench player, to bring in Emeka Okafor, who may not play this season while recovering from a neck injury. They cut Michael Beasley and traded Luis Scola for bits and pieces, but have racked up 4 first-round picks in next season's draft. If this isn't the most obvious tank job since San Antonio in 1997, I don't know what is.

Playoff Predictions

First Round

Heat over Bulls
Nets over Wizards
Pacers over Raptors
Knicks over Hawks

Grizzlies over Blazers
Clippers over Rockets
Spurs over Warriors
Thunder over Nuggets

Second Round

Heat over Knicks
Nets over Pacers

Grizzlies over Thunder
Spurs over Clippers

Conference Finals

Heat over Nets
Spurs over Grizzlies

Finals

Heat over Spurs