RealGM 2023 Top 100 Project - #45 (Clyde Drexler)

[ShaqAttac]

i dont really know who to vote for but good args have been made for wb impact and he was maybe #1 on better teams than dwights and won an mvp. drexler teams also werent as good and the arg for him isnt that good. wb vs kobe is dumb but idt drexler is kobe so i guess ill go

VOTE

1. WESTBROOK
maybe more impact than kd in pos and an mvp. beat 67 win team and took 73 win team to 7

2. DWIGHT
idk his impact but it probably good considering he was a great defender who scored a bunch and beat peak bron. i was gonna vote dray but choking and punching ppl is not cool and its dumb people are using behavior against dwight while hyping dray

imma nom

Walton
chip and mvp and swept kareem and played more minutes than embid. also crazy impact

[f4p]

Vote:
1. Drexler

I was actually going for vote for draymond but just too many questions about how perfectly his situation fit him (also makes evaluating steph hard as well, tbf). drexler was a #1 for a long time and had a great 1995 playoffs. WS is wrong but it actually has him above Hakeem in the 1995 playoffs. very efficient that year. huge in game 5 against the jazz. great in game 1 comeback against orlando. as a rockets fan, him shooting early against the jazz before stockton's buzzer beater in game 6 in 1997 and him laughing on the court after a horrendous 1-13 fg/4-10 ft game 5 against utah in 1998 always left something of a bad taste in my mouth, but that's about 1% as important as the 1995 title. 2 more title appearances in portland, even if on a very deep team, and a decade as a franchise leader seems like enough of a tiebreaker to make me put him above draymond.

Alternate
2. Draymond

is draymond on charlotte being a great defender but losing in the 1st round every year getting nominated for #45? of course not. is it possible draymond on GSW has had more impact than some top 30 guys? even maybe some top 20 guys? probably. where does that fit overall, i don't know. incredibly impressive defense (independent of situation), perfect fit on offense with his superstar teammate, and great playoff performer. very similar to the manu case with massive impact in a great situation. draymond fewer years, manu fewer minutes per game. manu being around for more years seems fair enough to have him 7 or 8 spots higher. maybe we went too high on manu, even though i voted for him? maybe we're going too high on draymond, even though i'm voting for him? when does fitting in perfectly as a #2 eclipse being worse as a #1? of course, draymond has also basically won playoff series without steph so who is to say what he does as a #1 who isn't a #1 at scoring.

[Doctor MJ]

Induction Vote 1: Draymond Green



As I've been saying: I think Green's impact is clear cut superstar worthy. Not quite as valuable as his best teammate (Curry), but not someone we should be placing tiers lower due to his scoring limitations when you look at the holistic result of his game.

Induction Vote 2: Clyde Drexler

Recognizing we may have a tiebreak on our hands, I'm putting my preferred guy among the likely candidates. I've said negatives about him before, but I do see him as a guy who can function quite effectively both as a #1 and a #2 and didn't seem stubborn about the difference.

Nomination Vote 1: Paul Arizin



I'm really sold on Arizin as a player. I think at his best he was the best non-big the NBA ever saw until Oscar & West showed up, and I'd say arguably he was the most modern player the NBA saw until them also. This was a guy who was known for his one-handed jump shot at a time when this was not yet the norm, and he was also known for slashing his way to the basket.

For the early to mid stages of his career, he was also someone who seemed to correlate greatly with his team's success. Now, by moonbeam's RWOWY he comes off more mild here in favor of teammate Tom Gola, and I'm willing to have that conversation given that Gola was supposed to be a best-in-world candidate coming out of college, but my guess is that what we're seeing here is that Gola's arrival on the team coincided with Arizin really getting his sea legs back after the military service, and since that took a year, that prior year gets effectively held against him.

I will say there are considerable longevity concerns with Arizin, and frankly that's why I didn't vote for him earlier.
There are also concerns about why the later years with Wilt didn't feel like a team with overwhelming talent, and there while my answer would be the style of play the Warriors chose to play around Wilt, it doesn't change the fact that Arizin's impact didn't age as well as we'd like in practice.

Nomination Vote 2: Dave Cowens

I think it's time for Cowens. I don't think he should have won MVP...but I don't think he was far from it. He really came in and his arrival re-opened the championship window for the post-Russell Celtics. Playing with extreme motor which seems to be respected as high on the BBIQ scale (despite the shooting efficiency), this is an impressive thing to me.

[Doctor MJ]

Induction Vote 1:

Howard - 3 (Joao, trelos, HBK)
McHale - 1 (beast)
Drexler - 5 (AEnigma, trex, Clyde, OSNB, f4p)
Westbrook - 4 (Samurai, iggy, falco, ShaqA)
Green - 2 (hcl, Doc)

No majority. Going to Vote 2 between Drexler & Westbrook:

Drexler - 1 (Doc)
Westbrook - 1 (trelos)
neither - 4 (Joao, HBK, beast, hcl)

Drexler 6, Westbrook 5

Clyde Drexler is Inducted at #45.



Nomination Vote 1:

Embiid - 3 (Joao, trelos, iggy)
Jones - 1 (beast)
Pierce - 4 (AEnigma, trex, hcl, falco)
Gervin - 3 (Clyde, Samurai, OSNB)
Reed - 1 (HBK)
Walton - 1 (ShaqA)
Arizin - 1 (Doc)
none - 1 (f4p)

No majority. Going to Vote 2 between Pierce, Embiid & Gervin:

Embiid - 1 (HBK
Pierce - 0 (none)
Gervin - 0 (none)
none - 4 (beast, ShaqA, f4p, Doc)

Eliminating Gervin:

Embiid - 1 (Samurai)
Pierce - 1 (OSNB)
neither - 1 (Clyde)

Embiid 5, Pierce 5. Tie.

Both Joel Embiid & Paul Pierce are added to Nominee list. No Nomination vote next time.

[Doctor MJ]

I see everyone but your top two has another teammate also show up on the list. This is a bit unfair to players who played when there were less rounds though(Kareem and Russell would likely end up top 3 at least)

Who did I miss?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I meant: the players you voted top two in this project are the only ones who don't have another teammate on this list.

Hmm. As I stated I've compiled nearly 200 players on to the spreadsheet I'm sharing upon request. I could have just shared the spreadsheet and not listed out any players, but I hardly think it makes sense to call me out for bias based on choosing instead to post the top 10 by objective counts.

Re: unfair to guys who played with less rounds. Of course. I've simply given the data such as it is.

[AEnigma]

Doc, he is not accusing you of bias, he is trying to obliquely praise Lebron and Russell for maintaining top levels of success across different rosters.

[Doctor MJ]

Doc, he is not accusing you of bias, he is trying to obliquely praise Lebron and Russell for maintaining top levels of success across different rosters.

Oh gosh! Wish I had not been so defensive in my reaction.

My apologies Ohayo!