Post#7 » by trex_8063 » Mon Oct 28, 2019 7:50 pm
1st ballot - '11 Dwight Howard
Really a bit of an athletic freak: though only about 6'9" without shoes, he has kinda long arms/reach, freakish ups for a guy that size, and a tremendous amount of strength (particularly in the upper body). Decent foot-speed for his size, too.
On offense, he put that athleticism to good use mostly by way of offensive rebounding (where he was near '19 Rudy Gobert territory), and in finishing at the rim. He's basically the GOAT finisher outside of prime Shaq and perhaps peak Robinson (finishing >75% from <3 ft in '10 and '11, despite huge volume there--->like 50+% of his shot load between the two years, and often going thru 2 or 3 defenders and getting And1's). His FTAr is a ridiculous .877 in '11 (is higher other years), as teams adopted a hack-a-Shaq strategy when he got the ball deep under the rim (because he was basically unstoppable otherwise if you let him get the rock that low).
He also by this point had a little bit of a simple jump-hook (with either hand) that he used quite regularly (was probably at his peak form for this particular move in '11).
He otherwise doesn't have much going for him offensively: has no jump-shot or range to speak, limited [though not terrible] FT shooter, limited repertoire of post-moves outside of the one I mentioned, not much of a passer, and a touch turnover-prone.
Still, to be clear, I'm not trying to imply offensive mediocrity on his part (many of his critics attempt to do so, and it's absolutely untrue, imo). His hands, strength, explosiveness, etc, allow him to be in a GOAT-level tier of finishers when he gets the ball near the rim, and that cannot be trivialized. And if taking a hack-a-Howard strategy, peak Howard's not as big a liability at the line as most versions of Shaq, Wilt, or Russell.
The Magic structured their offense around his inside presence, often spreading the floor with four shooters around him, essentially daring teams to not guard him one-on-one.
And defensively, well......while he doesn't have the footwork or IQ of someone like Tim Duncan [by a long shot], his athleticism again can make up for a multitude of sins (both his, or those of teammates). He anchored a -5.3 rDRTG with a cast of [in descending order of minutes]: Jameer Nelson, Brandon Bass, Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu, JJ Redick, Ryan Anderson, aging Gilbert Arenas, and Quentin Richardson. They were #1 in the league in DREB% and 4th in opp eFG%. Those points literally scream that peak Dwight was an all-time level defensive anchor.
They were also above average offensively with that cast, btw, and won 52 games with a +4.92 SRS. They lost in the first round [6 games] to a good Hawks team, but can't lay it on Dwight: although he did avg 5.5 topg in the series, he also averaged 27 ppg on 67.7% TS and grabbed 15.5 rpg, while helping to hold the Hawks to lowly 101.6 ORtg (Orlando actually outscored them in the series). Dwight's entire supporting cast pretty much vanished in that series, though.
2nd ballot - '75 Artis Gilmore
Was the team's leading scorer [by a significant margin] in both rs and the playoffs while also leading them in shooting efficiency in the rs (2nd to an 11.1 mpg player in the playoffs). Simultaneously anchored a #1-rated -6.4 rDRTG (they were #1 in the ABA in both DREB% and opp eFG%).
One can question the competitiveness of the ABA, though I don't think it was terribly far off the NBA at that time, and at any rate: look what^^^ he did to the league. If he did that in the NBA of the early 80's, we'd have voted him in at least 5-6 places ago.
fwiw, the Colonels rolled to a title (13-3 playoff record) with Gilmore averaging 24 and 18 in the playoffs.
Defensively he's a long and imposing physical presence underneath while on offense having a knack for getting deep paint touches and finishing well.
Could go a number of ways with the 3rd ballot (or 1st/2nd), but I'm gonna go with......
3rd ballot - '15 Anthony Davis
Excellent two-way player, led a mediocre cast to 45 wins and playoff berth in a tough conference. Got swept by a vastly superior team in the playoffs, but he put up monster numbers, keeping them competitive in 2-3 of the games.
I could be swayed to any number of other candidates: most notably Harden, Baylor, McAdoo, or some other year of Howard or Anthony Davis ('18). Connie Hawkins, Bob Pettit, as well as some classic Knicks [Willis Reed and Walt Frazier] are looking OK to me at this point, too (along with perhaps Kevin McHale or Elton Brand???).
"The fact that a proposition is absurd has never hindered those who wish to believe it." -Edward Rutherfurd
"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire
