Top 100 NBA Players: #99 - Kevin Love

Kevin Love

Kevin Love is the first of many active players to find himself among the top 100 players of all time, but he didn't even get onto the list until last week. He shares a lot of similarities with Antoine Walker, the player ranked directly below him, as both are big men who can shoot the three, both played many seasons as stars on bad teams, then were traded to a contender and won a title as the third-best player on the title team.

Injuries have been a major problem for Love so far in his career, with three separate broken hand injuries stealing parts of two seasons with the Timberwolves and a dislocated shoulder costing him most of the 2015 playoffs. His breakout season came in his third season, when he averaged 20.2 points per game and led the league with 15.2 rebounds, which helped earn him the Most Improved Player award.

He continued his improvement the following season, raising his scoring average to 26.0 per game while finishing 2nd at 13.3 rebounds per game, which earned him a spot on the All-NBA Second Team despite not getting close to the playoffs. After missing most of the following season with a broken shooting hand, he came back strong in 2013-14, with 26.1 points per game and 12.5 rebounds, good for another appearance on the 2nd Team. Although his personal stats were great, he never helped his team to the playoffs while in a starring role.

Following his best personal season, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers to join LeBron James in his quest to bring a title to his hometown team, and though there was an expected drop in his stats after giving up his superstar role, he was still a solid player and an important player on the Eastern Conference champions, although he missed the final two rounds after a shoulder injury ended his season in round 2.

This past season, his numbers remained good but not spectacular, as he played an important supporting role behind all-time great LeBron James, but he was able to help guide the Cavaliers to a repeat appearance in the NBA Finals. There was a lot of talk deriding his play during the NBA Finals, during which he was not a huge contributor, but his overall playoff performance was not that far below his regular season performance, and he was still the #3 player on the team that won the championship.

Without the ring he earned a week ago, he would not have even been in the top 100 yet, meaning that the victory in game 7 kicked Tom Chambers out of the final spot in the all-time countdown. And just like Antoine Walker, Love's superstar seasons did not line up with his championship season, but Love is still young and talented, so he still will have plenty of opportunity to move up this list, especially if he is able to contribute to more titles or get another starring role.

Top 100 NBA Players: #91

Carlos Boozer

(BBR: #261)

It may be tough to visualize Boozer as one of the all-time greats, but a large part of that may be due to his injury history. He has lost major portions of 4 seasons to various injuries, but when he has been on the court, he has been one of the best players in the league. During 2007, he was one of the 5 best players in the entire league, something no player below him on the list can say they ever accomplished. Unfortunately, he failed to earn a spot on any of the All-NBA teams that year, which is because they award those spots before the playoffs begin.

If they had taken the playoffs into account, the voters may have changed their choices. Of the 6 forwards chosen to the All-NBA teams that year, only 2 (Tim Duncan and LeBron James) made it out of the first round of the playoffs. Boozer and the Jazz? They made it to the Western Conference Finals before being knocked out by Duncan and the Spurs. Boozer's playoff averages that year were 23.5 points and 12.2 rebounds per game, not bad for a first-time playoff participant.

Putting Boozer ahead of Tom Chambers may seem a little strange, but if you compare their stats from their 3 best seasons, you'll see that the difference is not that great.

Boozer (2007, 2008, 2010) - 20.5 pts, 11.1 reb, .556 FG%
Chambers (1987, 1989, 1990) - 25.4 pts, 7.4 reb, .477 FG%

The two players were both starting power forwards for good Western Conference teams, and while it's obvious that Chambers was the better scorer, Boozer was much better on the boards and from the field. Both led teams to the conference finals, but neither made it to the NBA Finals during their peak years. Luckily for Boozer, his career is still not over. If he is able to play just a few more healthy, productive seasons, he'll make this choice seem easy. For now, Boozer just barely passes Chambers on the overall rankings, due to the fact that he has made it through the first round of the playoffs 4 times during his peak, while Chambers only did it 3 times.

Top 100 NBA Players: #92

Tom Chambers

(Simmons: #96, BBR: #96)

Tom Chambers was one of the great scorers in the NBA in the late 1980's, leading his team in scoring 5 different times and averaging at least 20 points per game 5 times. His scoring average peaked in 1990, his second season as a Phoenix Sun, when he put up 27.2 points per game, but this may not have been his best season. I believe that he was slightly better the year before, and here are the stats to prove my point.

1989 - 25.7 pts, 8.4 reb, 2.9 ast
1990 - 27.2 pts, 7.0 reb, 2.3 ast

He may have increased his scoring average in 1990, but other areas of his game slipped slightly. In fact, the numbers he put up in 1989 still stand as his career highs in rebounds, steals, and blocks, and it was his second best season in scoring and assists. The difference between his playoff numbers from the same two seasons, both of which included trips to the Western Conference Finals, were even farther apart.

1989 - 26.0 pts, 10.9 reb, 3.8 ast
1990 - 22.2 pts, 6.7 reb, 1.9 ast

It was at that point that Chambers' run as the star of the team ended, although he continued to be an important player for Phoenix and Utah for a number of years afterward. Even though he played for 17 seasons, it was those two seasons with Phoenix, as well as the 1986-87 season in Seattle, that put him on this list. If he had never played another game, he would still be here on the strength of those seasons alone. He was a top 10 player for those two seasons, and threw in decent playoff runs at his peak to go with his regular season numbers. There is nothing that will move you up this list faster than playoff success at your peak.

This chart makes it relatively easy to see that Chambers was a better overall player than Terry Porter. Porter may have been slightly better early on in his career, but when Porter started to decline, that's when Chambers hit his peak, meaning that his useful years lasted a full two seasons longer than Porter's. Porter keeps it close with his two NBA Finals appearances, both of which he was a major contributor to, but Chambers took 3 teams to the Western Conference Finals in his 3 best seasons, so he was no playoff slouch. This one comes down to star power, and Porter was never the star of his team like Chambers was, which puts Phoenix's star just ahead of the Trail Blazer in my top 100.