Saturday, January 14, 2012

The Top 25 Scorers in NBA History and Their Teams

While watching a recent Los Angeles Lakers game, I heard one of the announcers mention that 5 of the top 6 scorers of all time had at some point in time played for the Lakers (Kareem, Karl Malone, Chamberlain, Shaq, Kobe). It made me first think it was extremely impressive, then wonder..how many top 25 players had played for each team? Then I realized that, while putting on a jersey means that you play for the team, it doesn't mean that they really scored there. (i.e. Moses Malone in San Antonio), which meant there had to be a way to figure out how relevant a team was in a top 25 players career. Relevancy score is how relevant a team was to a players career, NOT how relevant a player was in his time with the team. Relevancy score is on a scale of 0-7. Once again, relevancy score has NOTHING to do with a player's ability to score during his time with the team. It is how much the time with each team contributed to the players total number of points. 


At the end of the long process, the total number of relevant score contributed by each franchise will be added up while will give Total Relevancy Score (TRS). Then since, the pool of players is top 25, divide the TRS by 2.5 for the Franchise Relevancy Score (FRS).




Atlanta Hawks- Moses Malone, Dominique Wilkins


The Hawks saw two players play for them that graced the top 25. Dominique made his career there, while Moses Malone maintained his dominance there. The Hawks have had their share of other great players (Bob Pettit), but he played in a time with less games in a season and lower scoring games. And so the Hawks are left with 2. 


1. Moses Malone
Somehow, even at his age and even after years in the league(s), Moses still managed to be a force in Atlanta. He teamed up with 'Nique and had an impressive All-Star campaign. He averaged 20 points 10 rebounds here and was second on the team in scoring. However, this was far from his only team and he didn't stay here long so-- Relevancy score: 2


2. Dominique Wilkins
Now, what 'Nique did in Atlanta is one of the most storied careers of the 80's. Led the league in scoring one year here. High-flying, rim-rattling, exciting to watch. His duels with Bird were amazing in game, and his duels with Jordan at the dunk contest were up there too. Led the Hawks really from a hole they had been in for a while and it's too bad that the guy never won a championship there. Wilkins absolutely deserves-- Relevancy score: 7



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Boston Celtics- Shaquille O'Neal, Dominique Wilkins, John Havlicek, Kevin Garnett, Robert Parish, Ray Allen


Boston is one of the most--if not THE most--storied franchises in all of the NBA. They have had an amazing share of NBA greats put on a green uniform and 6 braced the top 25. Others like Russell and Bird didn't make the top 25. For Bill Russell, this was due to not being a huge scorer, for Larry Bird it was because back injuries forced an early retirement. So while not all the Celtics greats are in the top 25, these are the 6 that are. 


1. Shaquille O'Neal
End of Shaq's career was spent here. Impressively, Shaq was still somewhat of a force when he was healthy--which wasn't very often--in Boston. Of all the teams Shaq played for, the Celtics were the least important towards his points. It was a good fit, a team with all veterans and a couple young pieces and it was obvious that Shaq had fun here. Relevancy score: 1


2. Dominique Wilkins
Only 1 Years spent with the Celtics. Not really a piece of anything important in Boston. No surprise here. Relevancy score: 1


3. John Havlicek
John Havlicek was one of the best winners ever. Most people don't think of Havlicek when you name the best scorers in NBA history but John could definitely score the ball. One of the more clutch players to take the court, he spent his whole career in Boston, and so like I said, full career gets--Relevancy score: 7


4. Kevin Garnett


For the rest of this post, go to the following link: 


http://www.tinyurl.com/Top25Cont


-Gunner

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