21. Paul Pierce – 1 time 2nd team All-NBA, 3 time 3rd team All-NBA, 1 time champion, 1 finals MVP
20. Kawhi Leonard – 1 MVP Runner Up, 2 time 1st team All-NBA, 1 time champion, 1 finals MVP, 2 time DPOY
Here we have two former finals MVPs from Southern California who I have a bit of a soft spot for: Kawhi is practically from my hometown and I went to a Paul Pierce basketball camp when I was in high school. Pierce was an assassin who came up clutch when his team needed him most and is one of only a couple of guys from his generation to go back and forth with Lebron and come out on top, as evidenced by his scoring 41 in game 7 of the 2008 eastern conference semis to knock out the Cavs. Pierce and his Celtics practically drove Lebron out of Cleveland and made him see that forming a super team was the only way to get past Boston’s Big Three. So if you are looking for someone to blame for the whole super team movement, look no further than The Truth.
Kawhi Leonard is another guy to come out on top against Lebron, taking home the finals MVP as the Spurs knocked off Lebron and the Heat in the 2014 finals. Kawhi has a chance to move way up on this list as he is the best wing defender since Pippen (and may be even better than Pippen) and has added a consistent offensive game that is sure to make him a candidate for best player in the league for years to come. And even if he does become the best player in the league, don’t expect him to ever talk about it, or anything else for that matter.
19. John Stockton – 2 time 1st team All-NBA, 6 time 2nd team All-NBA, 3 time 3rd team All-NBA, 9 time assist leader, NBA all-time assist leader
18. Chris Paul – 1 MVP Runner Up, 4 time 1st team All-NBA, 3 time 2nd team All-NBA, 1 time 3rd team All-NBA, 4 time assist leader
17. Steve Nash – 2 MVPs, 1 MVP Runner Ups, 3 time 1st team All-NBA, 2 time 2nd team All-NBA, 2 time 3rd team All-NBA, 5 time assist leader
16. Allen Iverson – 1 MVP, 3 time 1st team All-NBA, 3 time 2nd team All-NBA, 1 time 3rd team All-NBA, 4 time scoring leader
Now we come to four small guards with big game, none of whom, however, were able to lead their teams to the championship, which really only Isiah and Curry have ever been able to do at that size. Stockton made a name for himself as the assist king and pick-n-roll maestro as he teamed up with Karl Malone to lead the league in assists a ridiculous 9 times. He was also known to be a bit of a dirty player as he was one of those guys you loved if he was on your team but hated if you had to play against him.
Chris Paul is like John Stockton 2.0 as he is the same caliber floor general but with a greater scoring punch and ability to take over games offensively. He is, however, downgraded a little bit by the fact that he has never made the conference finals and does not appear to be all that fun to play with unless you enjoy getting yelled at.
Steve Nash took the point guard position one step further with his shooting ability and court wizardry that made his “7 seconds or less” Suns one of the most fun teams to watch in my lifetime. Add in his two MVP trophies and he ranks highest of these three assist men to me.
And then there is Iverson. He is my favorite post-Jordan-era non-Laker as he had me wearing Reebok Answers with an “Only the Strong Survive” t-shirt to middle school and thinking I was way cooler than I actually was. He transcended sports and was as influential off the court as on as he connected with people from all racial and economic backgrounds and introduced a whole generation of kids to hip hop style while bringing street-ball moves into the mainstream. He even had a white kid from the suburbs (me) practicing his crossover in the driveway while rocking that number 3 Sixers jersey. And on the court he was maybe the best pound for pound scorer the league has ever seen and played all out on every possession while leaving everything he had on the floor and wearing his heart on his sleeve. And yes A.I., I am talking about the game, not practice, but the game.
15. Scottie Pippen – 3 time 1st team All-NBA, 2 time 2nd team All-NBA, 2 time 3rd team All-NBA, 6 time champion
14. David Robinson – 1 MVP, 2 MVP Runner Ups, 4 time 1st team All-NBA, 2 time 2nd team All-NBA, 4 time 3rd team All-NBA, 2 time champion, 1 time DPOY, 1 time scoring leader, 1 time rebounding leader
Pippen and Robinson are two all-time greats who were never the “Batman” on a championship team, but were a couple of the best “Robins” Jordan and Duncan could have asked for. Pippen was one of the best wing defenders of all-time as he could guard point guards to power forwards and teamed up with Jordan to wreak havoc on the perimeter. Six titles later and there is no doubt that he was a great player in his own right who was simply overshadowed by being teammates with the G.O.A.T. My favorite Jordan/Pippen story is the time they played against Tony Kukoc and Croatia in the ’92 Olympics after the Bulls spent the last two seasons hyping Kukoc up as their next great star. Jordan and Pippen proceeded to annihilate poor Kukoc and were basically inside his shorts anytime he managed to get his hands on the ball. Needless to say, Kukoc managed only 4 points in Croatia’s 33 point loss to Pippen and the Dream Team.
Robinson had a bit of a different path to becoming Robin as he spent most of his career as Batman and even took home an MVP award while also finishing second in MVP voting twice. Thanks mainly to not being able to beat Hakeem or Shaq, he was never able to lead the Spurs to the finals, yet alone the title. The drafting of Duncan in ’97 changed all that as now Robinson had his partner-in-crime and showed his character and leadership by taking a back seat to Duncan’s overwhelming talent and even became a mentor to his own replacement as the team’s best player.
The Jello's Jiggling 