1)  Which is the franchise of the decade?

-Lakers

-Spurs 

We addressed this question in the summer and previously chose the Lakers, even though they weren’t as consistently good (the Spurs average 58 wins per season and the Lakers averaged 53).  The tie breaker was that Spurs never could beat the Lakers when L.A. was at full strength.  The Lakers destroyed the Spurs in the playoffs in 2000-01 and 2001-02, when both teams were at full strength.  The Lakers also upset the Spurs in 2003-04 (on the crazy Derek Fisher shot), as well as in 2007-08, when the Lakers were clearly better. Still, there is some merit to the fact that the Spurs had no lulls like the Lakers did mid-decade.  This is really a coin-flip but the fact that the Lakers were better at their peak makes me choose L.A..

 2)  Which is the team of the decade? 

The choices are: 

-99-00 Lakers (67-15, expected 64-18, SRS 8.41)

-00-01 Lakers (56-26, expected 51-31, SRS 3.74 )

-04-05 Spurs (59-23, expected 63-19, SRS 7.83)

-07-08 Celtics (66-16, expected 61-21, SRS  7.44 9.31) (accidentally put in the 2008-09 SRS)

-08-09 Lakers (65-17, expected 61-21, SRS 7.11) 

The 1999-00 Lakers are the pretty clear choice here.  They have the best player (Shaq at his peak), along with some really good role players, and they dominated on a scale above the rest of the group.  The number are also consistent with my gut inclination that a Kobe/peak Shaq team is as tough a team as you’ll see any time.  The 2000-01 team speaks to that, as the team struggled for a variety of reasons and then turned it on for the playoffs (though the team itself, as a whole, ranks last on the list because of its relatively weaker regular season). The other three teams (Spurs, Celts, and Lakers) are all pretty even but below the 1999-00 squad.  A quick footnote, the 2006-07 Spurs are probably the best Tim Duncan team but are omitted because they had a Finals cake-walk against a young Cavs team, while the 2004-05 Spurs struggled with a tough Pistons squad. 

3)  Who is the player of the decade? 

-Kobe Bryant

-Tim Duncan

-Kevin Garnett

-LeBron James

-Shaquille O’Neal 

In this case, we can knock out LeBron because he hasn’t played the whole decade.  Shaq, the best player of the early decade, has fallen off enough the last four or five years to eliminate him too.  That leaves Kobe, Duncan, and KG, who all have been consistently excellent throughout the decade.  It’s hard to pick against Duncan, who hasn’t really lost a step since the decade began, never created a single problem for his team internally (unlike Kobe) and was a defensive force.  KG is really close to Duncan but TD’s ability to score in the crunch puts him over the top. 

4)  Which is the shot of the decade? 

-Robert Horry’s 3-pointer from the top of the key vs. Kings, 2001-02 playoffs

-Derek Fisher’s in-bounds turnaround jumper with 0.4 remaining vs. Spurs, 2003-04 playoffs

-Devin Harris’ halfcourt shot vs. 76ers, 2008-09 regular season

-LeBron James 3-pointer vs. Magic, 2008-09 playoffs 

I’m not really thrilled with this category because the inquiry is undefined.  Are we going by the pure level of difficulty or does the magnitude of the game matter?  Harris’ shot was the most difficult but it happened in a meaningless regular season game.  I tend to think that the shot of the decade should be memorable and impactful on the season.  The other three shots were all pretty amazing, though none of them clinched a series (and the Cavs actually lost the series).  I’m inclined to go with Horry’s three because it really saved the Lakers from the brink and was made on a helter skelter play and led eventually to a title.  The Fisher was equally big for the Lakers but L.A. ultimately did not win a title.  I know the distinctions we make here are artificial but so is the question. 

Finally, just in case you were wondering, here are my shots of the last few decades: 

-1990s:  Michael Jordan’s shot to clinch Game 6 of the 1997-98 NBA Finals

-1980s:  Magic Johnson’s hook shot over Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to steal Game 4 of the 1986-87 Finals

-1970s:  Jerry West’s half court shot to tie Game 3 at the end of the fourth quarter of the 1969-70 Finals.   Gar Heard’s shot in the 1975-76 Finals is close but not quite as difficult as the West bucket.  Ironically, both teams lost their respective big shot games. 

5)    Which is the playoff game of the decade? 

-1999-00 Western Conference Finals Game 7, Lakers vs. Trailblazers (Lakers rally from 18-down to win and clinch the series)

-2001-02 Western Conference Finals Game 7, Lakers vs. Kings (Lakers rally to win in Sacramento to take the series)

-2007-08 Western Conference First Round Game 1, Spurs vs. Suns (Spurs win in double overtime thanks to Tim Duncan’s three-pointer)

-2007-08 Eastern Conference Second Round Game 7, Cavs vs. Celtics (LeBron and Paul Pierce battle in second half)

-2008-09 Eastern Conference First Round Game 6, Celtics vs. Bulls (Bulls win a triple overtime thriller) 

Again, this choice is entirely subjective.  As with our previous discussion, I think magnitude of the game matters.  This knocks out both first round games, which were great but not nearly as high stakes (no one thought the injured Celts or the Bulls were going to win in the next round and the Spurs/Suns was just a Game 1 of the first round).  Conspicuously absent is Game 5 of the Nets/Pacers First Round series in 2001-02, which was better than both these first rounders.  If you recall, this was a do-or-die game for both teams and Reggie Miller forced overtime with a half court banker and forced double overtime with a dunk in traffic before finally succumbing to the Nets superior depth in the second overtime.  It wasn’t better than the best game of the decade but certainly should’ve been mentioned. 

Turning to the real candidates, the clear winner is Lakers/Kings from 2001-02.  While there were some bad calls in that series, Game 7 was played at a really high level, with the Kings desperately holding on to a lead before Shaq took over.  The Kings started to fall apart down the stretch and in overtime (only Mike Bibby really wanted to shoot at that point) but a title was on the line (they both would’ve beat the Nets) and it was played at high enough a level that I think it edges out the Lakers/Blazers.  In that series, the Lakers struggled and clawed back thanks to defense and some helpful home whistles (Shaq’s blatant hip check of Steve Smith sticks out in my mind).  Cavs/Celts was also fun but Cleveland was not as good as the other teams (it was LeBron’s show only) and the game was a second rounder. 

Again, for fun, here are my favorite playoff series for the 1990s and 1980s (I didn’t really watch the 1970s live so we’ll leave them out): 

-1990s:  A lot of great series to choose from but I was really enrapt by Knicks/Bulls in 1992-93 in the Eastern Conference Finals.  It didn’t even last seven games but the level of play was high, emotion and effort was high, and the desperation of Patrick Ewing to get that ring and Michael Jordan to deny him, was more palpable than any series I can remember outside of the Lakers/Celtics/Pistons/Bulls series of the 1980s.  Co-winner is the Pacers and Bulls Eastern Conference Finals, which was also competitive and featured an amazing buzzer beater by Reggie Miller (he did push off MJ a little on the play), and a great Game 7 too.

-1980s:  It’s really impossible to choose between the amazing 1980-81 Eastern Conference Finals (Celts coming back to beat the 76ers), the 1983-84 Finals between the Lakers and Celts, the Celtics/Pistons throw downs in 1986-87 and 1987-88, and the Pistons/Lakers Finals in 1987-88.  If forced to choose, I’d go with the Pistons/Lakers Finals but a good argument can be made for all of these. 

6)  Which is the NBA Finals performance of the decade? 

-1999-00, Shaquille O’Neal (38.0 ppg, 16.7 rpg, 2.7 bpg, and 2.3 apg)

-2000-01, Shaquille O’Neal (28.7 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 2.8 bpg, and 3.7 apg)

-2002-03, Tim Duncan (24.2 ppg, 17.0 rpg, 5.3 bpg, and 3.9 apg)

-2005-06, Dwyane Wade (27.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 6.7 apg, and 1.9 spg) 

D-Wade’s dominance in 2005-06 has been somewhat tainted by the copious foul calls.  I think that some the criticism of the refereeing in that series was a little overblown (the Mavs just couldn’t stop Wade under any circumstances).  D-Wade is still bringing up the rear on this list because Shaq and TD were so dominant.  Of the remaining three, Shaq of 1999-00 is the choice.  This was Shaq at his absolute peak, basically the best center we’ve ever seen at the height of his power.  He tossed around Rik Smits and Dale Davis like rag dolls.  He did the same thing to Dikembe Mutombo the next year in the Finals, though the Sixers just weren’t as good a team as the 1999-00 Pacers. 

7)  Which is the nickname of the decade? 

-Agent Zero (Gilbert Arenas)

-The Big Aristotle (Shaquille O’Neal)

-Flash (Dwyane Wade)

-King James (LeBron James) 

Ummm…who gives a crap?  If forced to choose, I only end up feeling silly, and that’s coming from someone who focuses on something as frivolous as the minutia of professional basketball.  I would point out that I rarely think of Shaq as The Big Aristotle.  Nor does the nickname make any sense…sure he’s big…but philosophical?  Similarly, Wade’s real primary nickname is actually the uber-creative “D-Wade,” which is up there with J-Kidd or KG in its dynamic appeal.  King James is occasionally used but is also less invoked than the simple LBJ.  So I guess we have to take Agent Zero, Arenas’ bona fide primary (and ony) nickname as the winner here.  For non-fans, the nickname has some utility in that it also reminds us that, yes, his uniform number is 0 and that he is, in fact, an agent of the Wizards.  Wasn’t that fun? 

8)  Which is the performance of the decade? 

-Shaq’s 61 points, 23 rebounds on his birthday (March 6, 2000 vs. Clippers)

-Kobe’s 81-point game (January 22, 2006 vs. Raptors)

-Arenas’ 60 points vs. Lakers (December 17, 2006)

-LeBron’s 48 points vs. Pistons in 2006-07 Eastern Conference Finals (May 31, 2007) 

I think Arenas’ game can be eliminated at the outset because it was a run-and-gun show in a regular season game but is blown away by Kobe’s game, which draws from the same appeal (scoring machine).  Kobe’s 81 is so ridiculous it’s hard to contextualize but so is Shaq’s 61 and 23, which looks like something from Wilt Chamberlain’s prime.  But there is a hitch to all these great performances.  They were all done in relatively meaningless regular season games: 

-Shaq’s 61 and 23 came near the end of the season against a terrible Clipper team (remember Keith Closs?).   The Clipps were playing out the string on a 15-67 season (worst defensive team in the NBA) and the Lakers were 67-15 and had basically clinched home court for the playoffs.  The side story is that the Clippers, who shared (and still share) the Staples Center with the Lakers, apparently wouldn’t allot Shaq a number of tickets he wanted for his birthday celebration.  He proceeded to destroy the Clipps to make them feel worse about themselves.  Just like the real Aristotle would’ve done.

-Kobe’s 81 was just a great random regular season game.  The Raptors weren’t any good either (27-55 with the second worst defensive rating in the NBA) but 81 points is still damn good.

-Arenas’ 60 points came against a mediocre Laker team (42-40 and 24th in the NBA in defense).  It was a serious high scoring game too (Wizards won 147-141 in overtime).  Arenas’ game was great but given the pace and the overtime, isn’t in league with Kobe and Shaq.  By the way, it is quite odd that all three crazy games happened in the same arena. 

Now we turn to LeBron’s Game 5 against the Pistons in the Conference Finals.  James didn’t score nearly as much as the above player  but the stage of his performance, basically scoring 30 points in a row against a great defensive team in Detroit, towers over dominance against also-rans in the regular season.  Kobe and Shaq have their merits but James’ feat was probably the most difficult and most impressive. 

9)  Which is the NBA Finals of the decade? 

-1999-00 Lakers in 6 over Pacers

-2004-05 Spurs in 7 over the Pistons

-2005-06 Heat rally from 2-0 hole over Mavs

-2007-08 Celtics rally in Game 4, defeat Lakers in 6 

This was not a particularly compelling decade for NBA Finals.  Most series had pretty clear winners throughout the series.  Boston/LA had a chance to be great but the Lakers lost in Game 4 and then were annihilated in Game 6, which killed all potential drama.  Similarly, Lakers/Pacers had competitive moments but seemed over once the Lakers went up 3-1.  This leaves 2004-05, where the Spurs and Pistons wasn’t sexy but very competitive and the 2005-06 series, which went from a Dallas mismatch (up to 2-0) to a Heat mismatch (winning the next four straight to clinch).  The Spurs/Pistons is the clear choice here.  This series was competitive and Game 5 of that series was probably the best NBA Finals game of the decade.  I know some hated watching Detroit and San Antonio but this was pretty good basketball. 

Finally, the Spurs/Nets in 2002-03 probably was as competitive as any series but the Detroit/Spurs.  The Nets got the series to 2-2 and were winning in Game 6 going into the fourth quarter before losing.  It wasn’t a great series but no worse than Pacers/Lakers or Lakers/Celts in terms competitiveness.

10)  Which is the playoff series of the decade?

-1999-00 Western Conference Finals:  Lakers-Blazers (Lakers won 4-3)

-2001-02 Western Conference Finals:  Kings-Lakers (Lakers won 4-3)

-2005-06 Western Conference Second Round: Mavs-Spurs (Mavs won 4-3)

-2006-07 Western Conference Second Round: Suns-Spurs (Spurs won 4-2) 

Some great series here.  The 2006-07 Suns/Spurs was fun but has to be eliminated because the series was decided by suspensions (Robert Horry’s foul on Steve Nash goaded Amare Stoudemire to leave the bench and get suspended) that cut the series short and left us feeling empty.  The other three series were all equally compelling.  I preferred Game 7 of Kings/Lakers to Game 7 of Lakers/Blazers, so I do think I’m compelled to prefer the whole series too.  Mavs/Spurs was also an incredible series, particularly the Game 7, where the Spurs fought back to take the lead only to blow the lead on Manu Ginobili’s foul on Dirk Nowitzki’s dunk.  Given that Spurs/Mavs was a second round series, I’ll give the edge to Kings/Lakers.

-Team of the Decade: While not as dominant as the Bulls in the 1990s, the Lakers do seem like the best of the 1980s, winning five titles and going to eight NBA Finals.  Boston, of course, isn’t far behind, as they won three titles and went to five Finals.  But the Celts had their share of competition, getting beat up by the 76ers in the early part of the decade and by the Pistons near the end of the decade.  In addition, the Bucks were fairly tough the entire decade too.  So, let’s take a look at the teams who made the most noise during the playoffs in the decade and their average wins during that time:

Average Wins Per Season

Boston 59.3 wins

L.A. Lakers 59.1 wins

Philadelphia 53.5 wins

Milwaukee 52.2 wins

Atlanta 44.9 wins

Detroit 42.3 wins

Houston 40.1 wins

Even with the injury plagued 1988-89 season, the Celts still nip the Lakers for most wins for the decade.  This raises an interesting point…how did the Lakers win more title if the Celts usually out won them?   The answer seems to lie in the above chart.  While the Celts battled with Philly, Milwaukee, and Detroit, the Lakers had their way with decent teams like Denver and Portland for the entire decade.  In fact, the Lakers weren’t tested much in the Western Conference.  In 1980-81 they were upset by Houston in a little three-game mini series and in the 1985-86 the Rockets upset them 4-2.   The Lakers did not lose a Western Conference playoff series the rest of the decade and only were taken to seven games twice (by Utah and Dallas in 1987-88).

By contrast, the Celts were constantly battling Philly, Milwaukee, and Detroit, all of whom were better than any of the contenders out West by a significant margin.  Does this East gauntlet plus the fact Boston won more games leave for the possibility that the Celts relative lack of playoff success versus L.A. was based upon a tougher playoff road?  In turn, can we argue that Boston might’ve actually been the better squad for the decade?  The argument is compelling but the glaring hole is the fact that the Lakers beat most of the East contenders in the Finals most of the time, even in 1987-88 when L.A. was tested heavily in the Western bracket.  So, I still think the Lakers are the team of the decade but it is really close.

As a quick aside, Houston and Detroit don’t rank in the top eight in wins for the decade but we put in their stats (as well as Atlanta’s) for some perspective as to how these teams with multiple significant playoffs runs fared in the regular season.

-All-Decade Team:

-PG, Magic Johnson: Obviously, this one is not particularly close.  Magic’s stats confirm the popular notion that he was the greatest point guard of the 1980s (and All-Time).  Just for fun, Magic’s per-48 minute stats for the 1980s: 25.3 pts, .530 FG%, 9.6 rebs, 14.6 assts.  Second place also is clearly Isiah Thomas’ realm, with John Stockton third (because he played over 200 fewer games than Isiah).  What really strikes me about the point guard position in the 1980s is that it lacks the electric scoring point guards that emerged in the 1990s and 2000s.  Think about, you have Isiah but not too many other points who could score.  Check out the number of point guards in the 1980s who broke 15 ppg (minimum 400 games played) versus the next two decades:

1980s

Isiah Thomas, 20.3 ppg

Magic Johnson, 19.5 ppg

Micheal Ray Richardson, 16.1 ppg

Norm Nixon, 15.8 ppg

Sleepy Floyd, 15.7 ppg

Dennis Johnson, 15.3 ppg

1990s

Tim Hardaway, 19.4 ppg

Kevin Johnson, 18.8 ppg

Gary Payton, 16.3 ppg

Michael Adams, 15.9 ppg

Rod Strickland, 15.7 ppg

Mark Price, 15.7 ppg

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, 15.2 ppg

Nick Van Exel, 15.1 ppg

Kenny Anderson, 15.1 ppg

2000s

Allen Iverson, 28.1 ppg

Gilbert Arenas, 22.8 ppg,

Stephon Marbury, 19.7 ppg

Steve Francis, 18.1 ppg

Sam Cassell, 17.1 ppg

Baron Davis, 16.9 ppg

Tony Parker, 16.7 ppg

Mike Bibby, 16.7 ppg

Gary Payton, 16.3 ppg

Steve Nash, 16.2 ppg

Jason Terry, 16.2 ppg

Chauncey Billups, 15.6 ppg

As one can see, the number of scoring points has grown from 6 to 9 to 12 over the last three decades.  It’s not clear if this means that points have improved or that offenses are just structured differently.  Purists are sure to point to the fact that in the 1980s there was less one-on-one play and more passing.  This may be true on some level but I get the sense that Isiah Thomas’ effectiveness showed teams what a quick scoring point could do for a team and that such a player is generally quite helpful for a team.

-SG, Michael Jordan: In case you’re wondering, the logic of putting a minimum of 400 games for eligibility for the All-Decade team was based upon the fact that 400 games represents almost five full season, or half a decade and this seemed like a fair baseline.  Michael Jordan was just short of this limit at 345 games and would’ve made the cut had he not missed most of 1985-86 with a broken foot.  So, why do we still use MJ at guard?  He was so great in his shorter time that even missing six seasons of the decade isn’t enough to knock him out, rules be damned.  MJ scored so well (32.6 ppg) versus 26.5 for second place scorer Adrian Dantley at 26.5 ppg that you just can’t ignore it. In fact, if you assumed that MJ had played 55 more games to reach the 400 mark and scored no points in those 55 games, he would still average 28.2 ppg for the decade and still be the leader in scoring for the decade handily.

If you take MJ out of the equation, the best two guard is the perpetually underrated George Gervin.  Gervin is remembered as a no-defense fluff scorer from the ABA.  His defense might’ve been weak but he was a ridiculously great scorer and led the non-MJ division in points per-minute for the decade.  Gervin’s career actually has a lot of other forgotten facts:

-Gervin’s NBA career lasted only 10 years, as his first four years were in the ABA and he stopped playing at age-33.

-Gervin led some pretty good teams.  He went to three Conference Finals in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and were really close to a title in 1978-79 when they were knocked off in a tough Game 7 against the Bullets.

-He led the NBA in scoring four times.

-Gervin’s final year in the NBA was a starter for the Bulls in 1985-86 when Michael Jordan was out with that broken foot.  Gervin was still above average offensively (16.2 ppg in 25.2 mpg) but wasn’t quite the same player in other areas.  When MJ returned for the playoffs, Gervin was nailed to the bench, playing only 11 minutes in two games and missing his only shot against the Celts.

-Gervin went to Europe after 1985-86 but never returned to the NBA.

-In 1989-90, at the age of 37, Gervin tried a comeback in the CBA and scored 20.3 ppg for the Quad City.

-SF, Larry Bird: Small forward might’ve been the most interesting position of the 1980s.  Nearly every team featured some sort of scoring small forward and they all did it differently.  There were the post up guys (Dantley, Aguirre, King) and runners (English, Vandeweghe, Worthy), and some physical freaks (Dominique Wilkins and Julius Erving).  None of this really matters when compared to Bird.  He scored really well and passed, boarded, blocked shots, and even stole the ball better than any of these guys.  He’s as far ahead of the small forwards as Magic was to the points of the 1980s (actually Bird may have been farther ahead of his competition).  The only question for Bird is whether he’ll be eclipsed by LeBron James as the best small forward of All-Time.

-PF, Kevin McHale: At power, Charles Barkley and Karl Malone were great but both short of qualifying.  Barkley by 11 games and Malone by a more robust 75 games.  Barkley’s rate stats are better than McHale’s but McHale played nearly 700 games.  Throw in McHale’s shot blocking and scoring down low and he’s the power forward of the decade.  In the non-Barkley/Malone Division, the back power slot is pretty slim pickings.  Terry Cummings, Tom Chambers, and Buck Williams were all good show the lack of depth at this position.

-C, Moses Malone: Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dominated the position for most of the early 1980s until Hakeem Olajuwon came along.  He was better than both of them by 1985-86 as they aged and he began reaching his peak.  But Hakeem, like Barkley, just misses the 400-game mark (386 games).  Hakeem’s great years, however, weren’t better than the dominant years that the other two centers put up at the beginning of the decade.  Both Moses and Kareem had 400 more games played in the 1980s and still produced on the same level as Hakeem overall, even though they had some decline phase years at the end of the decade.  Here’s how the per-48 minute numbers for the big three look:

Malone versus Abdul-Jabbar is an interesting question because their differences were so pronounced.  Moses was such a better rebounder and created more free throws but Kareem, shot better, passed better, and blocked shots much better.  This is a pretty close match but three factors work in Malone’s favor: (1) he was better at his 1980s peak, (2) he aged much better and was still an All-Star at the end of the decade while Kareem was just a bit player (even though Kareem was playing better for his age than Moses would be able to when he hit his late 30s in the next decade), and (3) the image of Moses dominating Kareem in the 1982-83 Finals when both were near their peaks was so vivid.  Overall, Kareem was the better ballplayer career-wise but Moses takes the title for the 1980s.

Decade Per Game Leaders (minimum 400 games)

Points Per Game

1.  Adrian Dantley, 26.5 ppg

2.  Dominque Wilkins, 26.0 ppg

3.  George Gervin, 26.0 ppg

4.  Alex English, 25.9 ppg

5.  Larry Bird, 25.0 ppg

In case you’re curious, had MJ been eligible (be was short by 55 games) he would’ve led this category handily at 32.6 ppg in the 1980s.

Rebounds Per Game

1.  Moses Malone, 13.2 rpg

2.  Buck Williams, 11.9 rpg

3.  Bill Laimbeer, 10.8 rpg

4.  Larry Smith, 10.4

Robert Parish, 10.4

Assists Per Game

1.  Magic Johnson, 11.2 apg

2.  Isiah Thomas, 9.8 apg

3.  John Stockton, 9.6 apg

4.  Norm Nixon, 8.4 apg

5.  Johnny Moore, 8.1 apg

Steals Per Game

1.  Micheal Ray Richardson, 2.8 spg

2.  John Stockton, 2.3 spg

Fat Lever, 2.3 spg

Clyde Drexler, 2.3

Maurice Cheeks, 2.3

One of the great what ifs involves if Sugar Ray Richardson had stayed in clean and in the NBA.  There’s a lot of legend around Richardson as a player and he was pretty good but he was not quite Hall of Fame level.  In fact, only his 1984-85 season was really good (20.1 ppg, 8.2 apg) and even that wasn’t dominant.  By the time Richardson was finally kicked out of the NBA, he was already 30 and had probably already hit his peak.  This is not to suggest that a sober Richardson might not have been even better or that it wasn’t sad to see him playout his career abroad but we did see much more of Richardson than we did of other several other players with similar problems.

Block Per Game

1.  Mark Eaton, 4.2 bpg

2.  Tree Rollins, 2.6 bpg

3.  Larry Nance, 2.1 bpg

4.  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 2.0 bpg

5.  Alton Lister, 1.9 bpg

Turnovers Per Game

1.  Magic Johnson, 3.9 topg

2.  Isiah Thomas, 3.8 topg

3.  Micheal Ray Richardson, 3.5 topg

4.  Reggie Theus, 3.4 topg

Moses Malone, 3.4 topg

Decade Totals Leaders

Points

1.  Alex English, 21,018

2.  Moses Malone, 19,082

3.  Adrian Dantley, 18,157

4.  Larry Bird, 17,899

5.  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 16,246

Rebounds

1.  Moses Malone, 10,269

2.  Robert Parish, 8,195

3.  Jack Sikma, 8,192

4.  Bill Laimbeer, 7,957

5.  Buck Williams, 7,576

Assists

1.  Magic Johnson, 8,025

2.  Isiah Thomas, 6,220

3.  Maurice Cheeks, 5,781

4.  Reggie Theus, 5,239

5.  Norm Nixon, 5,096

Steals

1.  Maurice Cheeks, 1,768

2.  Magic Johnson, 1,464

3.  Micheal Ray Richardson, 1,363

4.  Isiah Thomas, 1,338

5.  Larry Bird, 1,300

Blocks

1.  Mark Eaton, 2,391

2.  Tree Rollins, 1,849

3.  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1,594

4.  Robert Parish, 1,346

5.  Wayne Cooper, 1,308

Turnovers

1.  Magic Johnson, 2,800

2.  Reggie Theus, 2,712

3.  Moses Malone, 2,659

4.  Isiah Thomas, 2,437

5.  A1ex English, 2,294

Decade Per-48 Minutes Leaders (minimum 400 games)

Points Per 48

1.  George Gervin, 37.7 p/48

2.  Adrian Dantley, 34.6 p/48

3.  Alex English, 34.5 p/48

4.  Mark Aguirre, 34.4 p/48

5.  Dominique Wilkins, 33.8 p/48

Rebounds Per 48

1.  Larry Smith, 17.2 r/48

2.  Moses Malone, 17.0 r/48

3.  LaSalle Thompson, 16.2 r/48

4.  Bill Laimbeer, 15.8 r/48

5.  Buck Williams, 15.7 r/48

Assists Per 48

1.  John Stockton, 16.7 a/48

2.  Magic Johnson, 14.6 a/48

3.  Johnny Moore, 14.1 a/48

4.  Isiah Thomas, 12.8 a/48

5.  John Lucas, 12.6 a/48

Even from the start, no one racked up assists better than Stockton.

Steals Per 48

1.  Dudley Bradley, 4.4 s/48

2.  John Stockton, 4.0 s/48

3.  Micheal Ray Richardson, 3.8 s/48

4.  Quinn Buckner, 3.7 s/48

Johnny Moore, 3.7 s/48

Blocks Per 48

1.  Mark Eaton, 6.7 b/48

2.  Tree Rollins, 5.0 b/48

3.  Harvey Catchings, 4.4 b/48

4.  Alton Lister, 4.0 b/48

5.  Wayne Cooper, 3.6 b/48

Eaton was ridiculously dominant in this category versus players of the 1990s and 2000s.  The real story here is that Manute Bol blows away Eaton.  Bol, in 317 games, averaged 9.2 block per 48-minutes in the 1990s.  Eaton was a better because he was somewhat better in other areas of the game than Manute but man could Bol block shots.

Turnovers Per 48

1.  Andrew Toney, 5.3 to/48

2.  Steve Johnson, 5.2 to/48

Ray Williams, 5.2 to/48

4.  Magic Johnson, 5.1 to/48

Rich Kelley, 5.1 to/48

-Team of the Decade: Unlike the 00s, the team of the 1990s has no debate.  The Bulls dominated the field, going 6-0 in the NBA Finals and looking pretty good in the other years too (except for the puke bad 1998-99 post-Jordan team).  Who is number two for the 1990s?  An interesting question.  The Pistons won the first title of the decade but proceeded to suck for most of the rest of the decade.  The Rockets were good for the most part and won the 1993-94 and 1994-95 titles but didn’t have any real dominating seasons.  The Spurs were very good and won the title in 1998-99 but had some disappointing playoff finishes and their own crappy season (1996-97).  A few non-titlist were quite good for almost the entire 10 year span too (Knicks, Pacers, Blazers, Jazz, Suns, and Sonics).  Well let’s look at how the franchises did in average wins per season (the 50-game lockout schedule in 1998-99 will be pro-rated to an 82-game season):

Average Wins Per Season

1.   Bulls 56.6

Jazz 56.6

3.   Sonics 52.7

4.   Suns 52.0

Spurs 52.0

6.   Blazers 51.7

7.   Lakers 50.5

8.   Knicks 49.8

9.   Rockets 49.2

10. Pacers 46.3

The Jazz score shockingly well in the wins test, though their lack of a title hurts the resume a little.  Another surprise is that the Lakers were so good in the 1990s.  Yes, we caught the tail end of the Magic Johnson Years and the beginning of Kobe/Shaq but I expected less since their leanest years in L.A. came in the 1990s and the good years were not title worthy.  The Sonics also were quite good and its frankly amazing that such a team would be gone from Seattle so soon after its heyday but that’s life in the business.

In looking for the number two of the 1990s, however, we have to ask if the Jazz’s sustained excellence can be trumped by the title runs of some of the other squads.  The Rockets have two titles but averaged less then 50-wins per year.  The Spurs have a title but actually were worse in the playoffs than the Jazz in most of the rest of the decade.  Sure they didn’t win a title but The Jazz were no playoff slouches.  They went to two NBA Finals, as much as any team not named the Bulls, and several conference finals as well.  The failure to beat the Bulls in those two tough series shouldn’t hurt the Jazz too much, particularly since no one else could beat the Bulls either.  So, Jazz are my number two for the decade.

-All-Decade Team:

-PG, John Stockton: There were some good points in the 1990s but no one touches Stockton, who was a star for the entire decade and racked up almost 3,000 more assists (11.9 apg) than anyone else while shooting .516% and being more durable than any other point.  Kevin Johnson, Gary Payton, and Tim Hardaway were all excellent but the sustained excellence of Stockton can’t be touched.

-SG, Michael Jordan: Again, there is no point even debating this one.  So, what about his backup?  The contenders for the backup slot are Mitch Richmond, Reggie Miller, and Clyde Drexler.  Both objectively and a per minute basis, Drexler is clearly the best player of the three.  His disadvantage is that he missed a season at the end of the decade to retirement.  Couple that early retirement with a few injuries he suffered and the fact Richmond and Miller were incredibly durable and Drexler played 120 less games than Richmond and 170 games less than Miller.  This is a significant deficit and perhaps enough to trump Drexler’s stats edge. Let’s take a look at the stats per 48 minutes:

Drexler certainly has his holes (injuries and three-point shooting) but he so thoroughly dominates the other two in rebounding, passing, steals, and block that I think you have to give him the theoretical backup slot here.  As a final note, I was surprised to see that Miller is a decent amount better than Richmond offensively.

-SF, Scottie Pippen: While I can understand why Pippen annoyed non-Bulls fans (myself included) he is pretty clearly the best small forward of the decade.  The competition was much less durable and probably wouldn’t have been as good as Pippen even if you ignored that fact that Pippen played more games.  The tier below Pippen is occupied by solid but flawed players:  Dominique Wilkins (age, injuries, and sojourn to Europe), Chris Mullin (injuries), Detlef Schrempf (not quite good enough), and Glen Rice (ditto) .  A quick note on Nique.  He was still quite excellent scoring in the 1990s but his passing was quite weak (averaging only 2.6 apg in the 1990s versus 2.3 topg).

-PF, Karl Malone: The battle here really is between Malone and Charles Barkley.  Barkley was always a more versatile offensive player and was a more intriguing player at his peak than Malone.  The funny thing about Malone is that he aged better than any NBA player I’ve ever seen.  He was basically the same player for the first nine years of the decade and was damn good in decline in 1998-99 too.  Barkley retained a lot of his value but not as much as Malone and he couldn’t stay healthy either.  In the end, Malone put up 27.2 ppg, .531 FG%, 10.7 rpg, and 3.7 apg in 38.2 mpg for the decade (785 games) while Barkley had 22.4 ppg, .523 FG%, 11.6 rpg, 4.2 apg in 36.8 mpg for the decade (664 games).  As much as I liked watching Barkley he fell behind Malone by the mid-1990s.

Another interesting side note is that the third highest scoring power forward of the decade is the much loved Derrick Coleman at 18.8 ppg and 10.3 rpg.

-C, Hakeem Olajuwon: In 1988, Sports Illustrated wrote a cover story called “The Vanishing Center” pining for the days of the great center, with the sub-heading: “They just don’t make ‘em like Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell anymore.”  Well, the center hadn’t quite disappeared back then but a few years later, the NBA would be more center-rich than ever.  The 1990s had more great centers than any time we’ve ever seen: Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, and even guys like Rik Smits and Vlade Divac.  Obviously, any discussion revolves of center of the decade revolves around the Big Four (Hakeem, Robinson, Ewing, and Shaq).  Here’s how they look for the 1990s:

Shaq looks pretty tough here but the fact that he played 230 less games than the other three centers really takes him out of contention for player of the decade (though he has a really good argument for the the title of best center from 1992-93 through 1998-99).  Looking at the other three, Ewing appears to be a smidge below them in most categories and can be eliminated first.  Between Robinson and Olajuwon, there isn’t a whole lot of difference.  Robinson has a huge edge at the free throw line but Olajuwon has those intangible arguments (the titles and the head-to-head whipping of Robinson in the 1994-95 playoffs).  While common lore has Hakeem as the clearly better player, I don’t see that as quite the case in the 1990s.  I’d say they are pretty close to dead even with Robinson looking better offensively.  I’ll go with Hakeem based upon some of these intangible factors and the fact that he was the best low post center of the bunch but this is really as close to a push as we’ve seen.

And now for fun, here has some of the leaders in the stat categories for the 1990s:

Decade Per Game Leaders (minimum 400 games)

Points Per Game

1.  Michael Jordan, 30.8 ppg

2.  Karl Malone, 27.2 ppg

3.  Shaquille O’Neal, 27.1 ppg

4.  David Robinson, 24.4 ppg

5.  Patrick Ewing, 24.1 ppg

No surprise, MJ lapped the field with the usual suspects trailing behind.

Rebounds Per Game

1.  Dennis Rodman, 15.1 rpg

2.  Shaquille O’Neal, 12.2 rpg

3.  Dikembe Mutombo, 12.1 rpg

4.  Hakeem Olajuwon, 11.6 rpg

Charles Barkley, 11.6 rpg

Yup, Rodman is pretty clearly the greatest rebounder of the modern era and probably ever and is as dominant in the rebounding category as MJ was as a scorer.

Assists Per Game

1.  John Stockton, 11.9 apg

2.  Kevin Johnson, 9.3 apg

3.  Tim Hardaway, 9.0 apg

4.  Rod Strickland, 8.5 apg

5.  Muggsy Bogues, 8.3 apg

Mark Jackson, 8.3 apg

Ditto for Stockton at the point.

Steals Per Game

1.  Mookie Blaylock, 2.4 spg

2.  Michael Jordan, 2.3 spg

John Stockton, 2.3 spg

Gary Payton, 2.3 spg

5.  Scottie Pippen, 2.2 spg

Block Per Game

1.  Dikembe Mutombo, 3.6 bpg

2.  Hakeem Olajuwon, 3.5 bpg

3.  David Robinson, 3.4 bpg

4.  Alonzo Mourning, 3.0 bpg

5.  Patrick Ewing, 2.7 bpg

Turnovers Per Game

1.  Alonzo Mourning, 3.3 topg

Hakeem Olajuwon, 3.3 topg

3.  Patrick Ewing, 3.2 topg

John Stockton, 3.2 topg

5.  Kevin Johnson, 3.1 topg

Tim Hardaway, 3.1 topg

Unlike in the 00s, the turnover list is dominated by centers and not guards.  I wonder if the fact that the refs were a little more permissive and that contributed to turnovers at the center position.

Decade Totals Leaders

Points

1.  Karl Malone, 21,370

2.  Michael Jordan, 18,014

3.  Patrick Ewing, 16,914

4.  David Robinson, 16,715

5.  Mitch Richmond, 16,613

It probably doesn’t really matter but Jordan cost himself the points leader with his premature retirements.  Meanwhile Malone kept trucking along (until his abrupt retirement).   In comparing the 1990s to the 00s, we don’t see quite as many points from the top scorers.  Malone scored more than Kobe did in the 00s but Vince Carter, who was fifth in the 00s in points (17, 341), would have been third in the 1990s.

Rebounds

1.  Dennis Rodman, 9,964

2.  Karl Malone, 8,426

3.  Hakeem Olajuwon, 7,999

4.  David Robinson, 7,881

5.  Patrick Ewing, 7,733

Assists

1.  John Stockton, 9,146

2.  Mark Jackson, 6,426

3.  Tim Hardaway, 5,925

4.  Rod Strickland, 5,885

5.  Muggsy Bogues, 5,398

Steals

1.  John Stockton, 1,753

2.  Mookie Blaylock, 1,740

3.  Scottie Pippen, 1,639

4.  Gary Payton, 1,603

5.  Hersey Hawkins, 1,395

Blocks

1.  Hakeem Olajuwon, 2,381

2.  David Robinson, 2,323

3.  Dikembe Mutombo, 2,176

4.  Patrick Ewing, 1,898

5.  Alonzo Mourning, 1,372

Quite a drop off from Ewing to Zo.

Turnovers

1.  John Stockton, 2,420

2.  Karl Malone, 2,347

3.  Hakeem Olajuwon, 2,240

4.  Patrick Ewing, 2,224

5.  Scottie Pippen, 2,201

Decade Per-48 Minutes Leaders (minimum 400 games)

Points Per 48

1.  Michael Jordan, 38.5 p/48

2.  Shaquille O’Neal, 34.9 p/48

3.  Karl Malone, 34.2 p/48

4.  Dominique Wilkins, 33.3 p/48

5.  David Robinson, 31.6 p/48

Jordan’s scoring looks even greater in this context.

Rebounds Per 48

1.  Dennis Rodman, 20.8 r/48

2.  Jayson Williams, 17.5 r/48

3.  Chris Dudley, 16.5 r/48

4.  Dikembe Mutombo, 15.8 r/48

5.  Shaquille O’Neal, 15.6 r/48

As does Rodman’s rebounding.  It’s funny how many interesting characters we have in the rebounding leaders.  Even Dudley’s pretty memorable in his own way.

Assists Per 48

1.  John Stockton, 16.4 a/48

2.  Muggsy Bogues, 12.8 a/48

3.  Mark Jackson, 12.7 a/48

Kevin Johnson, 12.7 a/48

5.  Rod Strickland, 11.7 a/48

Steals Per 48

1.  Nate McMillan, 3.8 s/48

2.  Eric Murdock, 3.4 s/48

3.  Randy Brown, 3.3 s/48

Mookie Blaylock, 3.3 s/48

5.  John Stockton, 3.1 s/48

Gary Payton, 3.1 s/48

Doc Rivers, 3.1 s/48

Gary Grant, 3.1 s/48

Some more obscure names pop up in the steals leaders.  Murdock was fairly decent point guard for a few years in Milwaukee and then later in Miami but never quite held it together.  Brown was never very good but had a long career as defensive guy in Sacramento and later with the Bulls.

Blocks Per 48

1.  Dikembe Mutombo, 4.7 b/48

2.  David Robinson, 4.4 b/48

Hakeem Olajuwon, 4.4 b/48

4.  Alonzo Mourning, 4.0 b/48

Duane Causwell, 4.0 b/48

Turnovers Per 48

1.  Gary Grant, 4.5 to/48

Shawn Kemp, 4.5 to/48

3.  Alonzo Mourning, 4.4 to/48

4.  John Stockton, 4.3 to/48

Kevin Johnson, 4.3 to/48

Kemp and Zo were fouling machines early in their careers.  Zo was able to improve in this category but Kemp never did, and, in fact, had his worst turnover year during his awesome 1995-96 campaign.