Top 100 NBA Players: #36 - Rick Barry

Rick Barry

Teams

San Francisco/Golden State Warriors - 1965-67, 1972-78

Oakland Oaks/Washington Caps (ABA) - 1968-70

New York Nets (ABA) - 1970-72

Houston Rockets - 1978-80

Playoffs

Appearances - 10 (1967,1970,1971,1972,1973,1975,1976,1977,1979,1980)

Conference Finals - 5 (1967,1972,1973,1975,1976)

ABA/NBA Finals - 3 (1967,1972,1975)

Championships - 1 (1975)

Awards and Honors

Rookie of the Year - 1966

Finals MVP - 1 (1975)

All-ABA/NBA First Team - 9 (1966,1967,1969,1970,1971,1972,1974,1975,1976)

All-NBA Second Team - 1 (1966,1969,1970,1971,1973,1976,1977,1978)

Hall of Fame - 1987

*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)

All-Time Ranks

Free Throw Percentage - #8

Points Per Game - #15

Steals Per Game - #15

Total Points - #24

Total Assists - #71

League Leads

Free Throw Percentage (#1-1969,1973,1975,1976,1978,1979,1980, #2-1966,1967,1971,1974,1977, #3-1970,1972)

Total Points (#1-1967, #2-1975, #3-1972, #4-1966, #5-1974)

Points Per Game (#1-1967, #2-1972,1975, #4-1966, #5-1974)

Total Steals (#1-1975, #3-1976, #5-1974)

Steals Per Game (#1-1975, #4-1976, #5-1974)

Three-Pointers Made (#2-1980, #4-1972)

Total Assists (#5-1976)

Assists Per Game (#5-1976)

Rick Barry led the nation in scoring as a senior at the University of Miami, scoring 37.4 per game, and also averaged 18.3 rebounds that season, which led the San Francisco Warriors to draft him with the 4th overall pick in the 1965 NBA Draft.

Barry was originally from New York City, and didn't want to play in California, but he went anyway, and he won the Rookie of the Year award that season with averages of 25.7 points and 10.6 rebounds, and the Warriors fell just one game short of making the playoffs after winning only 17 games the year before.

In his second season, he led the league in scoring with 35.6 points per game, while also hauling in 9.2 rebounds per game. Barry was able to lead the Warriors all the way to the NBA Finals that season, where they faced Wilt Chamberlain and the 76ers, but despite Barry scoring 40.8 per game in the Finals, a record that would last for 26 years, they fell to Philadelphia in 6 games.

The ABA was created after that season, and Barry, unhappy that the Warriors' owner was not paying him incentive money he felt he was owed, decided to take a huge offer to move to the Oakland Oaks of the ABA, who were coached by Bruce Hale, his father-in-law and college coach. The Warriors sued because he was still under contract, and he was forced to sit out the next season.

When he was finally allowed to play for Oakland, he picked up right where he left off. He was leading the ABA in scoring when he injured his knee in December, forcing him to sit out for a month, then he attempted a comeback briefly in late January before being forced to miss the rest of the season. He ended up averaging 34.0 points per game, which would have led the league if he had played in enough games, and his team ended up going on to win the championship without him.

Even after winning a championship, the Oaks were losing money, so the team was sold and moved to Washington DC, and Barry did not want to join them. After missing 32 games, he was ordered by the court to report to the team or sit out the season, so he decided to play, and he was able to help the team make the playoffs, where they lost in the first round, despite Barry scoring 52 Game 7, still the most ever scored by any player in a Game 7.

The team moved again after that season, becoming the Virginia Squires, and Barry once again did not want to join them, so they traded him to the New York Nets, allowing him to play in his hometown. He missed time with a knee injury again that year, but still averaged 29.4 points per game, and led the Nets to the playoffs, where they lost to his old team, the Squires, in 6 games.

Barry finished #2 in the league in scoring the next season, putting up 31.5 per game, then upset the #1 seed Kentucky Colonels in the first round and the Virginia Squires in the Conference Finals to reach the ABA Finals, where they fell to the Pacers in 6 games. After the season, a court ruled that Barry's ABA contract was void and that he was not allowed to play for anyone but the Warriors, so he returned to California to rejoin his old team.

In his third season back in the NBA with the Warriors, Barry led the league with 2.9 steals per game and a .904 free throw percentage to go along with 30.6 points, and the Warriors surprised everyone by reaching the NBA Finals, where they faced the #1 seed Washington Bullets in what was viewed as a huge mismatch, but Golden State swept the Bullets behind Barry's 29.5 points per game, which earned him the Finals MVP award.

The Warriors brought in Gus Williams in the draft that year to help take the load off Barry, and it resulted in Barry averaging only 21.0 points per game that season, his career low at the time, but the Warriors had the best record in the league and was expected to repeat as champions. The repeat didn't happen, however, as the Warriors were upset by the Phoenix Suns in the Conference Finals, keeping Barry from his best shot at another title.

Barry played 2 more seasons with the Warriors, continuing to score over 20 points per game, before leaving as a free agent to join the Houston Rockets in 1978. In his first season with Houston, he set a new record for free throw percentage with a season average of .947, which has been beaten only 7 times since. After 2 seasons with the Rockets, he retired from the NBA.

Barry's biggest claim to fame is his free throw shooting prowess and unusual style. He shot free throws underhanded, but it worked incredibly well, as he finished in the top 3 in free throw shooting in every season he played, leading the league 7 different times. He was the all-time leader in free throw shooting percentage when he retired, though he has now fallen to #8 on that list.

Besides his free throw shooting, Barry was also a great scorer. He won a scoring title in the NBA in just his second season, and he is the ABA's all-time leader in scoring average, despite never officially winning a single-season scoring title in the ABA. His career scoring and steals averages both place him at #15 on the all-time list, and he was the only star player on the 1975 championship team, and he is definitely one of the greatest to ever play the game.

Top 100 NBA Players: #32 - Rick Barry

Rick Barry

Rick Barry is today most remembered for his unique style of free throw shooting, but he was one of the best players in the NBA for many years, and if he hadn't jumped to the ABA for five years, he could have been one of the 10 best players in NBA history.

Barry started out his career with the San Francisco Warriors, where he won the Rookie of the Year award after averaging 25.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game at only 21 years of age. The next season he was even better, putting up one of the best seasons in history for a non-MVP. Here are his stats from that year, along with those of Wilt Chamberlain, who was the MVP that season:

Barry - 35.6 pts, 9.2 reb, 3.6 ast, .451 FG%, .884 FT%
Chamberlain - 24.1 pts, 24.2 reb, 7.8 ast, .683 FG%, .441 FT%

You can see that Wilt was the better player that season and deserved the MVP, since he led the league in rebounding, minutes played, and field goal percentage, while Barry only led the league in scoring. The two players led their respective teams to the Finals, where Wilt and the 76ers beat Barry and the Warriors in six games, proving that the MVP was awarded properly.

After that season, Barry had a disagreement with the Warriors over incentive bonuses, so he left to sign a contract with the Oakland Oaks of the ABA. Barry was not allowed to play the next season because of a clause in his Warriors contract, but when he made it to the league he was pretty good, although not as good as in his NBA days. After four seasons, a judge ruled that Barry's original contract with San Francisco was still binding, and that he could not play for anyone else, so he went back to the Golden State Warriors, who had changed their name in his absence.

He had an immediate impact upon his return, leading Golden State to the Western Conference Finals and leading the league in free throw percentage, but he was still building up to his second career peak in 1975, when he started to look like the Barry of old at age 30, once again establishing himself as the #2 player in the league, although this time he ranked behind Bob McAdoo, who rightfully won the MVP. Here are their stats from that year:

Barry - 30.6 pts, 5.7 reb, 6.2 ast, 2.9 stl, .464 FG%, .904 FT%
McAdoo - 34.5 pts, 14.1 reb, 2.2 ast, 2.1 blk, .512 FG%, .805 FT%

Barry was the league leader in steals and free throw percentage, while McAdoo led in scoring, but McAdoo's awesome rebounding average and field goal percentage were the big reason he was a better player that year, and it helped that he was 7 years younger. Barry had the last laugh in the playoffs, however, as McAdoo's Braves lost in the first round, while Barry and the Warriors swept the highly-favored Bullets in the Finals for the franchise's third championship and first in California.

Barry was named the MVP of the Finals, and although he wasn't as good as in the regular season, there was no other choice for this award. The second best player on that team was probably Jamaal Wilkes, who was a rookie, and here is a comparison of their playoff stats from 1975:

Barry - 28.2 pts, 5.5 reb, 6.1 ast, 2.9 stl, .444 FG%, .918 FT%
Wilkes - 15.0 pts, 7.0 reb, 1.6 ast, 1.5 stl, .446 FG%, .702 FT%

There was definitely no disputing why the Warriors won the title. This was one of the few teams to ever win a title without two verifiable star players, so that title has a lot of weight in Barry's placement among the all-time greats. By giving up 5 years during what should have been the prime of his career, he hurt his standing greatly, but he was still one of the best of all time with just ten seasons on the court.

Top 100 NBA Players: #51 - Bob McAdoo

Bob McAdoo

Bob McAdoo was a great player for a few years in the 1970's, and if he had maintained his early level of play for a full decade, he would have been one of the top ten players of all time easily. Instead, he developed a reputation for not caring, then tried to turn it around once he was past his peak by playing unselfishly for two champs.

McAdoo started off his career in style, averaging 18.0 points and 9.1 rebounds per game and winning the Rookie of the Year Award, but nobody saw what was coming next. He came in second in the MVP race by leading the league in scoring and field goal percentage, with 30.6 points, 15.1 rebounds, 3.3 blocks, and a .547 field goal percentage. That was in 1974, and no player has averaged 30-15 over a full season since.

The next year he was even better, upping his scoring average to 34.5, while still grabbing 14.1 rebounds and leading the league in minutes played. That performance won him the MVP Award, and he definitely deserved it. Here are his stats and Rick Barry's, who should have come in second in the voting that year.

McAdoo - 34.5 pts, 14.1 reb, 2.2 ast, 2.1 blk, .512 FG%, .805 FT%
Barry - 30.6 pts, 5.7 reb, 6.2 ast, 2.9 stl, .464 FG%, .904 FT%

Barry was a great player, but McAdoo was definitely the best player that year. The next season he led the league in scoring for the third straight season, and he is one of only seven players who can say that. (Most of the others have yet to appear on this list.) Here are his overall stats from that three-year period, when he was one of the top 2 players and the league scoring leader.

McAdoo - 32.1 pts, 13.8 reb, 2.8 ast, 2.5 blk, .514 FG%, .787 FT%

He remained a good player for the next two years, but his scoring average started to drop and he still could not get past the second round of the playoffs. From 1976 to 1982, he played for 6 different teams, wearing out his welcome more and more quickly in each stop. When he finally made it to Los Angeles in 1981, he finally found himself in a good situation and applied himself in a sixth man role, which helped the Lakers win the championship, to which he contributed 16.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He was not the star anymore, but he had contributed to a title while he was still slightly relevant. He would win one more title before retiring, but by then he wasn't quite as important to the team.

McAdoo was the first high-scoring, outside-shooting big man, something that has become commonplace in today's game. If he had been born 25 years later, he could have dominated in an era in which his style was not so uncommon, and he may have been appreciated more.

Top 100 NBA Players: #79 - Chauncey Billups

Chauncey Billups

Chauncey Billups was one of the most successful playoff players in modern years, leading his team to the Conference Finals in 7 straight years, a streak that has only been matched by two players in the past 35 years, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He may not have ever been considered a superstar, but he was a star player for nearly a decade, and a winner for most of that time.

On six of those 7 Conference Final teams, Billups was one of the top 3 players on his team, first for the Pistons teams that kept making deep playoff runs, then for Denver after a trade took him out west. Here are his stats for those seasons in the regular season and the playoffs.

Billups (Regular Season) - 17.1 pts, 3.3 reb, 6.4 ast
Billups (Playoffs) - 18.0 pts, 3.5 reb, 6.0 ast

You can see that he kicked it up one notch in the playoffs, but others have made more impressive jumps. When the Pistons won the NBA Finals, Billups was voted the MVP, even though Rip Hamilton was probably a better player throughout those playoffs, as you can see from these numbers:

Billups - 16.4 pts, 3.0 reb, 5.9 ast
Hamilton - 21.5 pts, 4.6 reb, 4.2 ast

Billups was definitely the best player for Detroit in their return trip to the Finals the next year, when he bumped those averages up to 18.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 6.5 assists, but Detroit lost to the Spurs, costing him a chance at consecutive Finals MVP's.

Billups is also one of the best free throw shooters of all time, with a career average of .894, which places him in sixth place in NBA history, behind only Steve Nash, Rick Barry, Stephen Curry, Mark Price, and Peja Stojakovic. His clutch free throw shooting was a very important reason for his success, because his team was able to keep one of its best players on the floor at the most important times.

Top 100 NBA Players: #82 - Jamaal Wilkes

Jamaal Wilkes

Jamaal Wilkes came into the NBA in 1974 as the 11th pick in the draft by the Golden State Warriors, after a collegiate career with UCLA that included two championships and overlapped the famous 88-game winning streak by the Bruins. When he arrived in the pros, he had an immediate impact, earning the Rookie of the Year award with averages of 14.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.

The Warriors finished with the top record in the West that season, and he also had a big impact in the playoffs, helping Rick Barry and the Warriors win the championship in a huge upset over the Washington Bullets, and he was already the #2 player on the title team as a rookie.

Wilkes took on a bigger role over the next couple of years, but the Warriors were unable to duplicate their championship run, with an upset loss to Phoenix in the conference finals in 1976 and an even earlier exit the next season. After his third season, he walked away as a free agent to join the Los Angeles Lakers, which turned out to be a great career move.

In his third season with the Lakers, Magic Johnson joined the team as a rookie, and with Kareem also playing a large role, Los Angeles won their first title in 8 years. His two teammates were obviously the stars of the team, but Wilkes averaged 20.0 points per game for the first time in his career, and when Kareem missed the clinching game 6 of the Finals, Wilkes stepped up in a big way, picking up 37 points and 10 rebounds, although his performance is often overlooked due to Magic's 42 points and 15 rebounds in the same game.

Magic went down with a knee injury early the next season, and Wilkes compensated with a career-high 22.6 points per game, which earned him a spot on the All-Star team, but without Magic the team was unable to win a playoff series. When he returned the following year, the Lakers returned to the top, earning the top seed in the West and making it back to the Finals, where they won another title, though Wilkes' role was slightly diminished due to the emergence of Norm Nixon, who led the team in scoring during the playoffs.

He had two more good seasons left in the tank at that point, maintaining a decent scoring average while holding down a starting role in LA, and the Lakers reached the Finals in each of those seasons, where they lost each time, but by the 1984 playoffs he was no longer playing a major role on the team.

Overall, he earned 3 NBA titles during his career, all as a big contributor but not a superstar, and was also a big part of another team that lost in the Finals. He averaged double figures in scoring for an entire decade, and was over 17 points per game for the 8 of those seasons. He was never the best player on his team, but he knew his role and played it well, leading to a lot of playoff success, and a spot among the top players of all time.

Top 100 NBA Players: #30

Patrick Ewing

(Kalb: #38, Simmons: #39, BBR: #29)

Patrick Ewing is remembered for never having won an NBA title, but he was one of the top centers in the entire league for a decade, and he never missed more than 6 games in a season over that span, during which the New York Knicks made the playoffs every year with Ewing as their star player.

Ewing hit his peak in 1989-90, when he ranked as the third-best player in the entire league and the top center, falling behind only Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley in overall value. He was 27 years old at the time, and he appeared to be the next dominant center, although he never did dominate the game the way many expected. Here are his stats from his best season:

Ewing - 28.6 pts, 10.9 reb, 2.2 ast, 1.0 stl, 4.0 blk, .551 FG%, .775 FT%

You read that right. Besides averaging over 28 points and 10 rebounds every night, he was blocking 4 shots on average in every game. From there he kind of plateaued, maintaining his standing as one of the top 10 players in the league, but falling behind fellow centers David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Shaquille O'Neal in production. Overall, he was still very impressive over the six seasons from 1989-1995, and those stats are below:

Ewing - 25.3 pts, 11.3 reb, 2.3 ast, 1.0 stl, 2.8 blk, .515 FG%, .749 FT%

That is what the Knicks were able to expect from Ewing every night for 6 straight years, quite impressive considering that no center today comes close to those numbers in a single season. For all the numbers he put up and all the seasons that they made the playoffs, Ewing still never saw big playoff success. The Knicks won their first round series nearly every season, but lost in the second round almost every time. The only two exceptions were 1993 and 1994, when they made the Eastern Conference Finals once and the NBA Finals after that, where they were beaten in 7 games by Houston.

Ewing hung around for a long time after his peak, but became less and less effective and was no longer the focal point of the Knicks' team, so when he finally made it back to the NBA Finals in 1999, he was more of an afterthought on a team featuring Latrell Sprewell, Allan Houston, and Marcus Camby. He never did get that elusive ring, which is the biggest reason that he's only at #30 all time.

Ewing was never as big a star as Rick Barry was, but Ewing did not cut out the prime years of his career like Barry did, so while Ewing was able to reach his peak and maintain it for a long period of time, Barry left at his peak, then had to regain momentum upon his return. Barry won a championship, but did little else in the playoffs, so Ewing's playoff failings aren't enough to drop him behind the old-time Warrior on this list.

Top 100 NBA Players: #31

Rick Barry

(Kalb: #22, Simmons: #26, BBR: #46)

Rick Barry is today most remembered for his unique style of free throw shooting, but he was one of the best players in the NBA for many years, and if he hadn't jumped to the ABA for five years, he could have been one of the 10 best players in NBA history.

Barry started out his career with the San Francisco Warriors, where he won the Rookie of the Year award after averaging 25.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game at only 21 years of age. The next season he was even better, putting up one of the best seasons in history for a non-MVP. Here are his stats from that year, along with those of Wilt Chamberlain, who was the MVP that season:

Barry - 35.6 pts, 9.2 reb, 3.6 ast, .451 FG%, .884 FT%
Chamberlain - 24.1 pts, 24.2 reb, 7.8 ast, .683 FG%, .441 FT%

You can see that Wilt was the better player that season and deserved the MVP, since he led the league in rebounding, minutes played, and field goal percentage, while Barry only led the league in scoring. The two players led their respective teams to the Finals, where Wilt and the 76ers beat Barry and the Warriors in six games, proving that the MVP was awarded properly.

After that season, Barry had a disagreement with the Warriors over incentive bonuses, so he left to sign a contract with the Oakland Oaks of the ABA. Barry was not allowed to play the next season because of a clause in his Warriors contract, but when he made it to the league he was pretty good, although not as good as in his NBA days. After four seasons, a judge ruled that Barry's original contract with San Francisco was still binding, and that he could not play for anyone else, so he went back to the Golden State Warriors, who had changed their name in his absence.

He had an immediate impact upon his return, leading Golden State to the Western Conference Finals and leading the league in free throw percentage, but he was still building up to his second career peak in 1975, when he started to look like the Barry of old at age 30, once again establishing himself as the #2 player in the league, although this time he ranked behind Bob McAdoo, who rightfully won the MVP. Here are their stats from that year:

Barry - 30.6 pts, 5.7 reb, 6.2 ast, 2.9 stl, .464 FG%, .904 FT%
McAdoo - 34.5 pts, 14.1 reb, 2.2 ast, 2.1 blk, .512 FG%, .805 FT%

Barry was the league leader in steals and free throw percentage, while McAdoo led in scoring, but McAdoo's awesome rebounding average and field goal percentage were the big reason he was a better player that year, and it helped that he was 7 years younger. Barry had the last laugh in the playoffs, however, as McAdoo's Braves lost in the first round, while Barry and the Warriors swept the highly-favored Bullets in the Finals for the franchise's third championship and first in California.

Barry was named the MVP of the Finals, and although he wasn't as good as in the regular season, there was no other choice for this award. The second best player on that team was probably Jamaal Wilkes, who was a rookie, and here is a comparison of their playoff stats from 1975:

Barry - 28.2 pts, 5.5 reb, 6.1 ast, 2.9 stl, .444 FG%, .918 FT%
Wilkes - 15.0 pts, 7.0 reb, 1.6 ast, 1.5 stl, .446 FG%, .702 FT%

There was definitely no disputing why the Warriors won the title. This was one of the few teams to ever win a title without two verifiable star players, so that title has a lot of weight in Barry's placement among the all-time greats. By giving up 5 years during what should have been the prime of his career, he hurt his standing greatly, but he was still one of the best of all time with just ten seasons on the court.

You can see that Barry's missing years occurred right during Iverson's peak years, and there's no doubt it would have been the same for Barry, but immediately before and after his disappearance, he put up seasons that Iverson would have killed to have (literally). Barry's championship also helped him immensely, since Iverson's lone trip to the Finals ended in defeat, so Barry has to be recognized as the better player overall.

Top 100 NBA Players: #52

Bob McAdoo

(Kalb: #44, Simmons: #61, BBR: #39)

Bob McAdoo was a great player for a few years in the 1970's, and if he had maintained his early level of play for a full decade, he would have been one of the top ten players of all time easily. Instead, he developed a reputation for not caring, then tried to turn it around once he was past his peak by playing unselfishly for two champs.

McAdoo started off his career in style, averaging 18.0 points and 9.1 rebounds per game and winning the Rookie of the Year Award, but nobody saw what was coming next. He came in second in the MVP race by leading the league in scoring and field goal percentage, with 30.6 points, 15.1 rebounds, 3.3 blocks, and a .547 field goal percentage.

The next year he was even better, upping his scoring average to 34.5, while still grabbing 14.1 rebounds and leading the league in minutes played. That performance won him the MVP Award, and he definitely deserved it. Here are his stats and Rick Barry's, who should have come in second in the voting that year.

McAdoo - 34.5 pts, 14.1 reb, 2.2 ast, 2.1 blk, .512 FG%, .805 FT%
Barry - 30.6 pts, 5.7 reb, 6.2 ast, 2.9 stl, .464 FG%, .904 FT%

Barry was definitely good, but McAdoo was definitely the best player that year. The next season he led the league in scoring for the third straight season, and he is one of only eight players who can say that. (Most of the others have yet to appear on this list.) Here are his overall stats from that three-year period, when he was one of the top 2 players and the league scoring leader.

McAdoo - 32.1 pts, 13.8 reb, 2.8 ast, 2.5 blk, .514 FG%, .787 FT%

He remained a good player for the next two years, but his scoring average started to drop and he still could not get past the second round of the playoffs. From 1976 to 1982, he played for 6 different teams, wearing out his welcome more and more quickly in each stop. When he finally made it to Los Angeles in 1981, he finally found himself in a good situation and applied himself in a sixth man role, which helped the Lakers win the championship, to which he contributed 16.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He was not the star anymore, but he had contributed to a title while he was still slightly relevant. He would win one more title before retiring, but by then he wasn't quite as important to the team.

McAdoo was the first high-scoring, outside-shooting big man, something that has become commonplace in today's game. If he had been born 25 years later, he could have dominated in an era in which his style was not so uncommon, and he may have been appreciated more.

McAdoo, like McGrady, won multiple scoring titles in a row, but he was a much better rebounder than McGrady was, even taking their positions into consideration. McAdoo's playoff success, although meager, still beat McGrady's handily. Even though McGrady was good for a little longer, McAdoo was so good for those three seasons that there is no way he can be any lower on this list.

Top 100 NBA Players: #63

Chauncey Billups

(BBR: #65)

Chauncey Billups has been one of the most successful playoff players in modern years, leading his team to the Conference Finals in 7 straight years, a streak that has only been matched by two players in the past 30 years, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He may not have ever been considered a superstar, but he has been a star player for nearly a decade now, and a winner for most of that time.

On six of those 7 Conference Final teams, Billups was one of the top 3 players on his team, first for the Pistons teams that kept making deep playoff runs, then for Denver after a trade took him out west. Here are his stats for those seasons in the regular season and the playoffs.

Billups (Regular Season) - 17.1 pts, 3.3 reb, 6.4 ast
Billups (Playoffs) - 18.0 pts, 3.5 reb, 6.0 ast

You can see that he kicked it up one notch in the playoffs, but others have made more impressive jumps. When the Pistons won the NBA Finals, Billups was voted the MVP, even though Rip Hamilton was probably a better player throughout those playoffs, as you can see from these numbers:

Billups - 16.4 pts, 3.0 reb, 5.9 ast
Hamilton - 21.5 pts, 4.6 reb, 4.2 ast

Billups was definitely the best player for Detroit in their return trip to the Finals the next year, when he bumped those averages up to 18.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 6.5 assists, but Detroit lost to the Spurs, costing him a chance at consecutive Finals MVP's.

Billups is also one of the best free throw shooters of all time, with a career average of .894, which places him in fifth place in NBA history, behind only Steve Nash, Rick Barry, Mark Price, and Peja Stojakovic. His clutch free throw shooting has been a very important reason for his success, because his team was able to keep one of its best players on the floor at the most important times.

It's hard to argue that Billups was a better player than Jones, especially when you look at the comparison in the chart above. We also know that both were top 3 players on some of the best teams during their prime years, but Jones was able to make the NBA Finals a lot more often than Billups. One major difference that shouldn't be overlooked is the fact that the NBA Finals was only the second or third round of the playoffs during the Celtics' glory years, which Jones was a part of. Today, the Conference Finals is the third round of the playoffs, so Billups' run of playoff success is just as impressive as Jones', and Billups has the added bonus of saying he was the best player on a Finals team, which Jones never was.