Best Player to Never Win a Title: NBA

[Big Sexy]

The ultimate goal of a professional athlete is to win a championship. However, sometimes that goal is not reached. In fact some of the best players ever in their respective sport have come up short when it comes to winning a title. I plan on doing a thread for each of the four major sports to discuss who the best player is to not win a title. I will start with the NBA:

Patrick Ewing- He was the number one overall pick of the Knicks in the 1985 NBA draft. One of the greatest centers of all time, Ewing played with the Knicks for 15 seasons, Seattle for 1 year, and finally Orlando for 1 year. In his 17 NBA seasons Ewing was a full time starter every year except his last. He made two trips to the finals in his career, both with the Knicks. In 1994 he led the Knicks to a 3-2 series lead against the Rockets but Houston won games 6 and 7 at home to win the title. Then in 1999 the Knicks made the finals against the Spurs but Ewing was injured and unable to play. The Knicks lost that series in 5 games.

John Stockton/Karl Malone- Obviously if you go with one of these guys only pick one, but I put them together because their names became synonymous with each other during their 18 seasons together. Stockton was drafted in the first round in 1984 and spent all 19 seasons of his career with the Jazz. Malone was drafted one year later in the first round and spent 18 of his 19 seasons with the Jazz. Together they took Utah to back to back NBA finals appearances in 1997 and 1998 both times losing to the Bulls in 6 games. After Stockton retired, Karl Malone went to LA to play one season with the Lakers. The team from the beginning seemed destined to win it all with Malone, Gary Payton, Kobe, and Shaq all together. However, they met up with a Detroit Pistons team in the finals that was just better and the Lakers lost in 5 games.

Charles Barkley- Drafted in the first round in 1984 Barkley spent 16 seasons in the NBA with the 76ers, Suns, and Rockets. Barkley had a tremendous career but only made the NBA Finals once. In 1993 he helped lead the Suns to the finals where they lost to the Chicago Bulls in 6 games. His last real chance came in his first year in Houston where he joined Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, however, the team lost to the Jazz in the West Finals.

Reggie Miller- He was a first round pick in 1987 and spent his entire 18 year career in Indiana. Although the team around him wasn’t always great, Miller was the one constant and the leader of the team. He led the Pacers to one finals appearance in 2000 against the LA Lakers. They lost that series in 6 games and Reggie was never able to make it back, although he came close in 2004 losing in the East Finals to the eventual champion Detroit Pistons.

Other Candidates include: George Gervin, Allen Iverson, Gary Payton etc.

It's tough but my pick would be Karl Malone. Who ya got?

 

[gd]

I'd have to go Elgin Baylor. One of the 15 greatest players of all time, put up gaudy numbers (albeit in a era of overblown statistics), went to the finals 8 times as a member of the Lakers in the 60s and never was able to bring home a title, mostly due to russell and the Celtics Despite how great he was, Baylor never was able to get it done.

Even worse for him, after he retired the Lakers promptly were able to win a championship. This is a guy who is an absolute legend and pioneer in the NBA, but has nothing to show for it. A shame, really.

I'd have Malone in a close second though. Great regular season player, not so much in the postseason.

 

[jmt225]

While he didn't have the best "career" parse, my answer would still have to be Chris Webber.

Man, you watch Chris Webber in his prime, before all the terrible injuries, and the guy is one of the greatest basketball players to ever walk this Earth. During his absolute prime, from 2000 until the playoffs of 2003 (where THE injury happened), the guy had it all. He could get to the hole any time he wanted, developed a great mid-range game, was THE best passing big man in the sport, and he was also a terrific rebounded. Not to mention he was a tremendous leader as well.

Unfortunately though, the one championship he should have gotten was stolen from him. That was HIS year, but due to a crook NBA at the time, he never got a true shot to get a ring with the best team he ever had around him, since the very next year (where I firmly believe the Kings would have won it all), Webber would have a career changing knee injury against the Dallas Mavericks.

Anyways, yeah... like I said, Webber didn't have the greatest career or stats for that matter, but if you watched him before his knee injury on that Kings team, then you cannot deny just how great he was, and that you could match THAT Chris Webber against some of the greatest Power Forwards who ever played the game.

 

[Big Sexy]

Elgin Baylor is a great choice, I don't know how he slipped my mind when making the original post. I'd probably have him as 1a next to Malone. C Webb is another good choice.

Once more name I forgot to mention that is up there as one of the best is Dominique Wilkins. He was much more then just a great dunker. he averaged over 30 ppg twice in his career and had an overall career average of just under 25 ppg in 15 seasons. He never had that much talent around him so he often had to carry the team. He had even better playoff numbers then he did regular season numbers. In 1988 he and Larry Bird put on a clinic in game 7 of the east semi finals. The C's won 118-116 with Bird scoring 34 points and Wilkins scoring 47. Dominique never got to play in the finals but that's more because of the team around him then anything else.

 

[People's Champ]

For me it has to be Malone. The guy scored almost 37000 points in his career, was a beast at the PF position, was a 2 time MVP, and just couldn't get it done. He and Stockton formed one of, if not the best duos in NBA history. But for all that he did, he never was able to get that ring. I really enjoyed watching him play, and is one of my top favorite players all time. He had all the stats you could want and ask for, just never the most important one.

 

[Big Sexy]

I'd like to pose another question to get more discussion going. How many of these guys do you think would have rings if it wasn't for Michael Jordan? I think that at the very least Stockton/Malone would have one or two titles. I also think Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing each would have been able to win one.

The same type of thing could be said about Elgin Baylor with the Lakers as he went to 8 NBA finals and lost 7 of them to Bill Russell and the Celtics. However, I'd say Jordan is definitely responsible for the largest number of NBA legends not winning NBA titles.

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

I have a soft spot for Allen Iverson so I think I'll go with him.

Truthfully, A.I. is one of the best scorers in NBA history and did it all while being 6' and only around 165 lbs. which as everyone with a brain knows is way undersized for the NBA. Iverson had heart and put his body through hell for 14 seasons. Allen never had a team around him til he was traded to Denver and there he wasn't a good fit. Had Philly gave him a decent team in his prime I'm sure he would have at least one ring, hell he got his teams to the Finals in the 00-01 season but just couldn't get the job done.

Here's a link to his stats.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/i/iversal01.html

 

[tripolie atche]

Other Candidates include: George Gervin, Allen Iverson, Gary Payton etc.

It's tough but my pick would be Karl Malone. Who ya got?

Payton does have a championship ring (was part of the Miami Heat team in 2006)

but i agree with you that Karl Malone was the best player in the NBA who never got to win a championship because well he finished 2nd all time in points scored (behind Kareem), 6th all time in rebounds (everyone ahead of him on that list won at least 1 championship), was All NBA First Team for 11 consecutive seasons, 2 time MVP, & in his 20 yr NBA Career he NEVER missed reaching the postseason

obviously the 2 times he did reach the Finals it was against the Bulls (like most of the great players who never got to win a championship, it was because of jordan)

& it sucks too because malone & stockton (all time assist leader) were UTA's 1-2 punch for almost 20 seasons & they never got to hoist that trophy

 

[Big Sexy]

Payton does have a championship ring (was part of the Miami Heat team in 2006)

but i agree with you that Karl Malone was the best player in the NBA who never got to win a championship because well he finished 2nd all time in points scored (behind Kareem), 6th all time in rebounds (everyone ahead of him on that list won at least 1 championship), was All NBA First Team for 11 consecutive seasons, 2 time MVP, & in his 20 yr NBA Career he NEVER missed reaching the postseason

obviously the 2 times he did reach the Finals it was against the Bulls (like most of the great players who never got to win a championship, it was because of jordan)

& it sucks too because malone & stockton (all time assist leader) were UTA's 1-2 punch for almost 20 seasons & they never got to hoist that trophy

Good call on Payton. I blocked Miami's win out of my memory after they knocked the Pistons out in the East Finals. He was a decent contributor off the bench for that Heat team.

The thing about all those great players in the 90's like Malone and Stockton was that they had to deal with MJ. The two years he was gone was the opening for those great players to win a ring and Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler were the only ones able to take advantage. Ewing came close as well but once Michael came back it was pretty much a rap for a lot of those guys chances.

 

[Platypus Palsy]

All of the players listed were great and were almost able to obtain a title, but all came up short. My pick is Karl Malone though. He finished his career with 36,928 points. That's second all time only behind Kareem. He went to eleven All Star games in a row, almost having fourteen, but not going to one in 1999, but winning an MVP in that season. Malone had a great chance with the Lakers, considering that he didn't have Jordan standing in his way, but couldn't win the big one.

 

[ThePeoplesChampion]

Reggie Miller was my player when Michael was playing...everyone wanted to be Mike...i want to be Reggie...but to me its three Barkley, Miller, and Malone three sure fire hall of famers! yet no rings

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

I'll give my vote to Stockton. He's a seemingly unpopular choice amongst the limited number of posters we have here so far.

I lived in Utah (not by choice) during the years that the Jazz were in those finals. It meant a lot to the people of Utah as that is the only professional sports team that they have. Stockton is the epitome of a class act, unselfish player, and someone who played the game the right way. Malone was generally known as an asshole around Utah.

Personally, I was happy that fucker got beat by my Pistons in the Finals when he jumped ship to form a Laker dream team. Just another team we held to under 70 that year, but I digress.

Stockton was an extremely well respected human being and basketball player. It's almost ironic that he and David Robinson, two of the most charitable, respected, and classiest players in the league, got inducted into the HOF with the biggest and most arrogant asshole the game has probably ever known.

I suspect that Jason Kidd will see the same results as Stockton, a very classy player, who's unselfish, makes others around him better, and will probably never win a title.

My vote: John Stockton.

 

[Goliath Uterus]

While I really want to say Iverson, I just can't, he's not nearly as good as the other players mentioned in this thread. Ewing is an interesting choice, he's certainly one of the greatest centers to walk the earth, and was an absolute monster during those 17 years in the NBA.

Barkley? Nah, he was damn good, but not that good. Plenty of guys get the nod before Barkley

Reggie Miller was fucking great, a lights out shooter and one of the greatest, if not the greatest Pacer to every suit up. Shame he never won, fucking love Miller.


My pick is Malone, Palsy already mentioned this mans credentials, 36,928 points. That's wild. Add in the fact that he is the 6th all time rebounder, and there you have it. My choice for the best PF of all time, and as you already know, my pick for greatest player to never win a ring.

I'd like to pose another question to get more discussion going. How many of these guys do you think would have rings if it wasn't for Michael Jordan? I think that at the very least Stockton/Malone would have one or two titles.

Yea, Stockton/Malone would have two, if not more.

It's almost ironic that he and David Robinson, two of the most charitable, respected, and classiest players in the league, got inducted into the HOF with the biggest and most arrogant asshole the game has probably ever known.

Jerry Sloan?