Your All-Time "Under The Radar" Team... ..S'up fellaz(and ladies)..I was just wondering who is your all-time under the radar team. By that I mean some of the players you hold in high regard that lots of people seem to show no love..I guess this could also be called the Rodney Dangerfield Team...No Respect from the mainstream or majority... Anyway heres mine... C : Brad Daugherty PF : Charles Oakley SF: Bernard King SG: Joe Dumars PG: Kevin Johnson
This is pretty hard. I'd probably say... C: Jack Sikma PF: Elvin Hayes (or Spencer Haywood) SF: Bernard King SG: Reggie Theus PG: Kevin Johnson (or Rod Strickland)
I didnt do it like you I didnt go by standard positions. I just made a team out of the 5 players I think didnt get the repect they deserve. G- Sam Cassell- should have been an all star at least three times already, one of the biggest clutch players in the league today. And best mid range shooter. G- Rod Strickland- was probably the best pure point guard in the league for 2 seasons. Never has made an all-star team despite having 5 or 6 straight all-star callabor seasons during the 90's G/F-Oscar Robertson- The man avg a triple-double for an entire season yet nobody ever talks about him being the greatest player ever. All you ever hear is Jordan, Magic, Bird & maybe Wilt. I am way to young to have ever seen Oscar play (except for those NBAtv & Classic sports Nba look back shows like NBA greatest games) but just imagine how good Jason kidd is as getting triple doubles now times that by 100 that should tell me how good Oscar was. F Dominque Wilkens- This guy was one of the greatest dunkers & scorers the nba has ever seen, Yet isnt even consider a top 50 player by the league. He has probaly 2 of the most memorable battles in nba a history. The 88' Slam dunk competion vs MJ. And that year the Hawks met the Celtics in the eastern Conference playoff where him & larry Bird were both dropping like 40+ points on each other. C- Rik Smits not alot of people would think of this one but I remember those old pacers vs Knicks playoff battles of the 90's. Reggie got all the credit because of his last second heroics in those series. But Rik Smits use to be right there battling Patrick Ewing. When Patrick Ewing was consider to be the most complete Center in the East. And Rik Smits was a good Ceneter in an era when Bigmen were the dominate players not guards like [t is today. You had Patrick Ewing, Hakeem, David Robinson, Zo all at the top of there games during the Rik Smits era. You even had a young Strong, beastly Shaq. So to say on you were one of the better bigmen in the leagur during that era is really saying something.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Henacy:</div><div class="quote_post">G- Sam Cassell- should have been an all star at least three times already, one of the biggest clutch players in the league today. And best mid range shooter.</div> Usually I would just skip over your Sam Cassell plug... but I think he is probably one of the most overlooked players ever. He deserves some dicussion in this thread.
I was considering putting Rik Smits in at center. The thing I like about Smits is that he was able to battle with Ewing in the early days, and even in his older days with horrible knees he was still able to battle with Shaq down low in the Pacers/Lakers finals. I had a hard time picking players because there are so many players who are overlooked for so many different reasons. I really wanted to put Adrian Dantley on the list. The most people recognize him for is being a part of trade that almost tore the Pistons apart. That isn't right considering he is one of the best scoreres in NBA history. Then there are guys like George McGinnis. One of the few players who played as well, or nearly as well, in the NBA as the ABA. Then there's Fat Lever, Maurice Cheeks, etc.
Here's my modern list: C: Carlos Boozer PF: Mark Madsen SF: Eric Piatkowski SG: Trenton Hassell. The key defensive player on the Timberwolves this year, like Doug Christie. PG: Sam Cassell. Tell me, why is it that when NBA expert sites use rating systems to find out who most efficiently carries their team load as a PG (counting all of the usualy NBA efficiency equation, but also adding FT%, FG%, and team standings), Sam Cassell always ends up on top? Yet he's not an allstar. Stupid NBA mainstream fans LOL!
One guy who is overlooked is Shareef Abdur Rahim. He's arguably the 2nd best PF in the East(next to Jermaine O'Neal).
Dominique Wilkins definitely. How was this guy not considered one of the top 50 of all time? Absolutely crazy.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trail_Blazer76:</div><div class="quote_post">Dominique Wilkins definitely. How was this guy not considered one of the top 50 of all time? Absolutely crazy.</div> True,but peeps still give him his love....I'm talkin' bout cats that no one even mention anymore...
'Nique wasn't considered one of the 50 greatest because he was pretty one dimensional. He was an explosive scorer who was fairly average in other aspects of the game. Also, there's the the whole not being a winner thing. Its one thing to be Barkley or Malone and never win a championship, but Wilkins' teams were never even considered a threat to win the title. He played with some pretty serious talent, including Moses Malone (who is easily one of the top 20 all-time players), but he still couldn't elevate his team to the level of a legitimate contender. Sunsfan- While trading Adrian Dantely for Mark Aguirre was not a popular move with the fans, most people feel that the transaction was a big reason why the Pistons won the NBA championship that season. Romination- I believe that Sam Cassel is by far the greatest player in league history to never make an All-Star team. However, don't think it is what you call 'mainstream fans' that are leaving him off. Remember voters select less than half the team (And Cassel has rarely, if ever had a season where he deserved to be the starter, which is what the fans select), it is NBA coaches who decide on 14 of the game's 24 players.
I'm aware of people believing Dantley was a big reason why the Pistons won, however I was just stating that a lot of people just remember Dantley for being a part of that trade, not the fact that he was one of the most prolific scorers in history.
Sunsfan- Ok. No harm, no foul right? Also, I just noticed your inclusion of Fat Lever. Excellent pick, he is definitely one of the most underated players of all-time and a joy to watch. I'm not sure of the exact number I think he recorded over 50 triple-doubles in his career. And he never played the game to run up his own stats, so I'm sure he could've had far more. I can remember several games when he had 10 assists and 10 boards but not 10 points because other guys were shooting the ball well that night. Funny Story: Fat Lever's real name is Lafayette Lever but when he was young he could not pronounce 'Lafayette' and often referred to himself as Le Fat.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rocko220:</div><div class="quote_post">'Nique wasn't considered one of the 50 greatest because he was pretty one dimensional. He was an explosive scorer who was fairly average in other aspects of the game. Also, there's the the whole not being a winner thing. Its one thing to be Barkley or Malone and never win a championship, but Wilkins' teams were never even considered a threat to win the title. He played with some pretty serious talent, including Moses Malone (who is easily one of the top 20 all-time players), but he still couldn't elevate his team to the level of a legitimate contender.</div> I very much disagree with you. Nique's teams were considered title threats from 85 thru about 89. They won 50+ games those years and were a team to contend with from the East. Matter of fact I think in 87 & 88 they were predicted to win the Eastern Conference title. To say Dominique never elevated his team is an outright wrong statement. Look at Atlanta before Dominique's arrival..abismal to say the least..look at the teams during his prime run 50+ winners 4 - 5 years in a row and among the elite of the Eastern conference. His failure to win a championship shouldn't reflect on him alone. His failure to win a championship says more about the lack of another person to carry the load with him. The three best seasons he had IMO 85-86,86-87,87-88 he was the lone scoring threat on that team,the lone superstar. Look at his playoff stats. He didn't suffer a sharp decline in the playoffs,all of his stats and performances were on the same level or above what he had done in the regular season. The fact that 'Nique never won a title says more about that talent around him in his best years. He played with Malone for 3 seasons I believe 88-89 to 91-92. True he didn't win a title then,but hey lots of people never won a title on a team with alot of talent Barkley and Malone as you mentioned but you don't let that get in the way of your critique of them. The fact is 'Nique was a lone Superstar who put the Hawks on his back and carried them into stratosphere. He didn't earn a title because he was essentially a one man team,but he took them farther than they would have ever been without him. And leaving him off the 50 list was completely absurd on the NBAs part. In his day Nique was one of the most dominant players on the planet.
Yeah, no harm. I always just have an urge to clarify myself if I think there was a misunderstanding. That's a funny little fact about Lever. Never heard of that one. I remember seeing a statistic that Lever has 46 triple-doubles with the Nuggets. The rest of the players in Nuggets' history combine for only 21. It's kind of surprising that he isn't mentioned when people discuss the great triple-double men in history, especially with the attention triple-doubles get now. He was also one of the better thiefs in his playing days. I think he still leads the Nuggets in steals all-time.
Not only was that well articulated, but I agree fully. Black Widow, you should contact King James about being a member of JBB's writing team, if you are interested.
Hersey Hawkins and Detlef Schrempf. Two guys who were huge contributors to Seattle's power teams of the mid nineties, yet many don't hear past Payton and Kemp. Hawkins - Apart from a couple of years on a bad Philly team, he's always blended into the background in Charlotte and Seattle. Still a regular 15-20 point scorer, Hawk is recognised as one of the best sportsman to play the game and has hit some clutch shots over his career. Detlef Schrempf - Severly underrated. People don't realise how good this guy was until they check his career stats. Could do everything on the basketball court, probably helped Dirk's reputation and transition to the game as well, setting the scene so to speak.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sir Desmond:</div><div class="quote_post">Detlef Schrempf - Severly underrated. People don't realise how good this guy was until they check his career stats. Could do everything on the basketball court, probably helped Dirk's reputation and transition to the game as well, setting the scene so to speak.</div> Excellent choice, He so underatted that I almost forgot about him. He was a really good player during his 6th man of the year, years with the Sonics. I think the way he went out with Portland is a reason why alot of people forget about how good he was. I think that him & Thuder Dan will be remember kind of in a similar way. As the all-star collabor players during the 90's that were not on the level of Jordan, or any of the other mainstream stars. But those guys were still good for high teens in ppg & they shot an excellent % from the field. But thats not what alot of people will remember that about those 2. People will remember them because they both stayed to long. They should have retired early than they did.
