lukekarts wrote:Re: Wes Unseld.
He's one of those players - I guess in the same mould as guys such as Ben Wallace, Dennis Rodman and Dave DeBusschere, that made his name through 'passion' and 'heart' rather than stats. Still, his stats weren't all that bad...
His prime was 5 years where he averaged 13.92 points on ~50% shooting; 17 rebounds, 3.5 assists. His scoring efficiency was OK - top 10 in TS%, twice; 1st in eFG% for one season and top 10 a further 3 times. Equally, his rebounding was really good, top 5 in rebounds per game for 8 seasons, including 1st once and 2nd three times; also reflected in his TRB%. Advanced metrics showed his defence to be excellent, which supports the reasons he earned his MVP - DWS ranked him 2nd, 4th, 6th, 6th, 2nd etc. over respective seasons.
Now, I don't really put much emphasis into stats, moreso what I see and hear. My argument in that case was this: Wes Unseld 'did all the unspectacular things that lead to glamorous victories' (quote stolen from NBA.com, but it sums it up perfectly). His arrival in Washington took them from a 36 win team to a 57 win team, a season which ended at the hands of the stacked New York Knicks in the Conference Finals. He earned a lot of work for his defensive efforts against players like Kareem, Wilt, and less so Willis Reed. His offensiive game wasn't spectacular but he hustled for points and considering his size disadvantage he was pretty effective. He was a very good passer for his position which contributed immensely. They're all the reasons he was elected to the Hall of Fame and the NBA 50th anniversary team.
Yes, it's important to note that Unseld is the bar none GOAT at two aspects of the game - setting picks and outlet passes, and they generally don't show up in the boxscore at all. Reading through the vaults (Google Archive has little that isn't asking to be paid for, but SI does) has quotes like this:
Unseld is important to the Bullets not only because he is one of the few centers with the agility and strength to battle New York's Willis Reed on equal terms and at least keep Lew Alcindor busy, but also because he is the key to the Baltimore offense. The Bullet attack packs all the subtlety of a howitzer, Unseld clearing defensive rebounds and flinging the hardest, fastest outlet passes in the league to his teammates as they scramble downcourt. The man who takes most of those quick shots is Earl Monroe. The Pearl, whose knees are considered the worst two joints in Baltimore—no small accomplishment even though the strippers on The Block are being chased as part of urban renewal—acquired another injury early in the opener against Philadelphia. A knee to the ribs kept him out of all but 11 minutes of the game and the Bullets lost 126-112.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
For Wes Unseld, last Saturday's quiet assault on the Chicago Bulls was just another typical night's work. The big guy played beautifully, managing to draw about as much attention from the crowd as one of the kids hawking Cokes in the Capital Centre, and the Washington Bullets won yet another game, nine now out of their first 11, leaving the rest of the NBA's Central Division an early-season shambles. Unseld finished with just four points, which is what most superstars get before they're warmed up, and he couldn't have been more delighted. "It is not my job to look good," he says. "It is my job to make other people look good." And, the 6'7", 245-pound center-forward could have added, to make other people's people look bad.
Against Chicago, six Bullets finished with more points than Unseld. All that firepower left Unseld free to roam in comparative obscurity, doing what he enjoys most: setting murderous picks, hauling in rebounds, directing a devastating defense, neutralizing the other center—this time, Nate Thurmond—and triggering the Bullets' offense with some of the most amazing passing in the league. There were also the blocked shots, the steals, the forcing of turnovers. After you watch Unseld play, scoring becomes a shallow statistic.
"I have to admit I didn't know just how great he really was when I came here," says K.C. Jones, now in his second season as the Bullets' coach. "You have to be with him to appreciate how much he does. It's that air of leadership. He just does it all. He's so big, yet so quick."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Just how far Washington goes beyond the division will depend upon the left knee of Wes Unseld, the granitic 245-pound foundation of the Bullets' fast break and defense. Actually both of Unseld's knees are bad, but the left is (or was) worse and was operated on this summer. If the exhibition tour was an indication of things to come, the Brahman Bullet will be operating at full bore.
Inspired by Unseld's apparent health, the Bullets' promotion office came up with a new nickname, The Sure Shots, which will fit only if the Bullets improve upon their 44.1% field goal mark, poorer last season than all but two NBA teams. When Unseld plays, he adds two dimensions—rebounding and picking—to the Bullet offense. Without him, as they were for much of last season, Washington relies almost solely on one-on-one efforts by either Elvin Hayes or Phil Chenier, the slick young guard who has signed a seven-year contract calling for something like $2.5 million. In just his third season Chenier led the team in scoring with a 21.9 average. He and flashy Kevin Porter give the Bullets a solid backcourt. But sharpshooters have their off-nights and when Hayes and Chenier found their one-on-one assaults flagging, the Bullets were often in trouble. Now, with Unseld, they can go to the fast break. And when that does not work, running your man into the big guy when he sets a pick is a pleasant prospect.
Unseld also gives the Bullets a more flexible defense. Jones prefers to use his muscle against strong centers like Abdul-Jabbar or Bob Lanier, but will switch Hayes to the position against quicker pivotmen. In the latter case, Unseld becomes a power forward in tandem with Mike Riordan, a smooth operator cast, modestly, along the lines of John Havlicek.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Also a pretty interesting quote from the post championship article:
Unseld, the center who had labored for nine years without a championship and was voted MVP mainly on sentiment—Dandridge having been more valuable during Washington's 21 playoff games—drew the most reporters. "What I feel is relief," said Unseld. "Aren't you happy?" he was asked. "Sure I'm happy," he said. "Look at me. I'm ecstatic." An ecstatic statue, apparently.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Almost all the SI articles I've read treat Unseld as the superstar and Hayes as the secondary guy. This in this artice: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm, Big E is in the title but the article talks about Unseld for multiple paragraphs and how his injury left them in disarray before even getting to them. It continues:
For the Bullets, the season might have been much worse were it not for Elvin Hayes, who has done an extraordinary job of filling the void left by Unseld. He has played more minutes (45 per game) than any man in the NBA, his rebounding average of 18.6 is far ahead of anyone else's and, despite a wretched .413 shooting percentage, he is clearly having his most brilliant season.
Hayes had some fine years—at least statistically—with the Rockets before joining the Bullets last season. He is the only man whose name is not Russell or Chamberlain who has led the NBA in rebounding for even so much as a singgle season between 1958 and 1973. And he is one of five players in the league's history ever to win titles in both scoring and rebounding.
Yet during his four years with the Rockets, Hayes was variously considered a ball hog, a rotten apple, a dumbbell and a guaranteed loser. Each season Hayes would try to explain that he was the victim of circumstance—as the lone big-name player on a poor team he was being assessed an unfair portion of the blame. And he would promise to sweeten his often sullen demeanor. By the time he left Houston, the NBA had come to expect an annual "New Big E" to go along with the yearly "New Wilt."
As it turned out, all Hayes needed was a new team. He fit in easily with the Bullets, played excellently last season and has been even better this year, particularly in those areas only other players are likely to notice. Forward Mike Riordan points to Hayes' improvement at picking and passing, additions to his game that have helped replace Unseld's considerable expertise. Hayes also has been a human Electrolux under both backboards. In 27 games this season he has ended up with more rebounds than points, a remarkable feat for a player who regularly scores more than 20.
It's pretty clear Houston Hayes had a horrible reputation, like some Washington era Webber Portland era Zbo style bashing before all 3 players found a good situation
The two most important facts about Wes Unseld's career
- Everyone in his time agreed his boxscore stats came nowhere near capturing what he did offensively and defensively
- Everyone in his time treated him like a superstar
So while I didn't vote for him, I'm not that upset at him making it this high
