Retro Player of the Year 1955-56 UPDATE — Paul Arizin

[AEnigma]

General Project Discussion Thread

Discussion and Results from the 2010 Project

In this thread we'll discuss and vote on the top 5 players and the top 3 offensive and defensive players of 1955-56.

Player of the Year (POY)(5) — most accomplished overall player of that season
Offensive Player of the Year (OPOY)(3) — most accomplished offensive player of that season
Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY)(3) — most accomplished defensive player of that season

Voting will close sometime after 10:00 AM EST on Thursday, August 1st. I have no issue keeping it open so long as discussion is strong, but please try to vote within the first three days.

Valid ballots must provide an explanation for your choices that gives us a window into how you thought and why you came to the decisions you did. You can vote for any of the three awards — although they must be complete votes — but I will only tally votes for an award when there are at least five valid ballots submitted for it.

Remember, your votes must be based on THIS season. This is intended to give wide wiggle room for personal philosophies while still providing a boundary to make sure the award can be said to mean something. You can factor things like degree of difficulty as defined by you, but what you can't do is ignore how the player actually played on the floor this season in favor of what he might have done if only...

You may change your vote, but if you do, edit your original post rather than writing, "hey, ignore my last post, this is my real post until I change my mind again.” I similarly ask that ballots be kept in one post rather than making one post for Player of the Year, one post for Offensive Player of the Year, and/or one post for Defensive Player of the Year. If you want to provide your reasoning that way for the sake of discussion, fine, but please keep the official votes themselves in one aggregated post. Finally, for ease of tallying, I prefer for you to place your votes at the beginning of your balloting post, with some formatting that makes them stand out. I will not discount votes which fail to follow these requests, but I am certainly more likely to overlook them.

Current Voter List

Spoiler:

________________________________________
Layaway Voters
* Bad Gatorade
* MyUnibroDavis
* penbeast0

[Colbinii]

How accurate were the box-scores in 1956, especially in the post-season? Are we led to believe that the Hawks/Lakers series really was 2 1-point wins by the Hawks with a 58-point win by the Lakers sandwiched in the middle?

Paul Arzin seems like the easy #1 candidate here.

[eminence]

Arizin is back in form, and will likely make my top 5, but I’m not sure his spot.

[Dutchball97]

This is going to be a more competitive year with pretty much all the heavy hitters from the regular season also having decent to strong post-season runs. Arizin looks to have the best odds as the Warriors were by far the best team, posting a 3.82 SRS when the next best was Boston with 0.72. For most of the season there is an argument Johnston could be the best player on the team but Arizin has a much better finals. Johnston should still make my ballot as well though. Schayes is the 3rd guy I'm positive will make my ballot. Another strong regular season followed by a pretty heroic post-season run with a tiebreaker win over the Knicks to get into the play-offs, a close win over the higher seeded Celtics and then they took the dominant Warriors to a deciding game 5. This season it's also more clear Schayes is the true driving factor of their success with his increased minutes load.

With just 2 remaining spots there are going to be some guys left off that would have gotten into the top 5 in most years we've had so far. Pettit is an obvious candidate as the MVP and he made the play-offs this time, even winning a series. That said his post-season was a tale of two match ups as he did great against the Lakers but not so much against the Pistons. Meanwhile Cousy was 3rd in MVP voting but I'm not as convinced of his impact this season as the Celtics are pretty well behind the top offense in the league, the Warriors. In the play-offs he was there for a short but a good time, having maybe his most explosive series of his career averaging 26.3/8/8.7 on 50% shooting from the field and 92% from the line. Was it enough to put him over someone like Pettit? I'm not sure. Stokes deserves a mention for his immediate impact on the defense of the Royals but they also were far and away the worst offense and worst team overall in the league so that's going to be a hard sell. I will have to think about breaking my own rule about the play-offs when it comes to my DPOY though but I didn't put Johnston on my OPOY ballots either so we'll see.

The losing finalist, Pistons, have a couple guys who could be in the mix. Foust seemingly had the most per minute impact, leading the league in WS/48 but he played only 28 MPG and while Hutchins and Yardley upped their minutes in the post-season by a substantial amount, Foust stayed roughly the same. Hutchins received serious MVP consideration with 9 votes in 4th place behind only Pettit, Arizin and Cousy. While the Pistons were good, not great, on defense in the regular season, they had 2 very strong defensive performances against the Hawks and Warriors so it's not crazy to think Hutchins might have been the driving factor for this team. Yardley was just an All-Star this season and was still a year away from making All-NBA teams and receiving MVP votes but in the play-offs we definitely did get to see a glimpse of the player he'd be going forward with a really strong performance.

I doubt anyone from the Lakers or Knicks will be a serious candidate this time around.

[AEnigma]

How accurate were the box-scores in 1956, especially in the post-season? Are we led to believe that the Hawks/Lakers series really was 2 1-point wins by the Hawks with a 58-point win by the Lakers sandwiched in the middle?

Paul Arzin seems like the easy #1 candidate here.

Final scores are pretty safely recorded, and if they were to be off, it would certainly not be to that radical a degree. You can see the boxscore scan right on the page if you scroll closer to the bottom.



That Game 2 performance is why the 1956 Lakers technically have a top ~20 all-time PSRS.

[Dr Positivity]

Tricky year. Pettit has probably the best regular season, but he gets owned by Hutchins defense in the playoffs. Arizin has a great playoffs and they clearly pick him in MVP voting over Johnston, but up to this point I hadn't been the highest on his impact outside of his numbers. Schayes has a well rounded impcat and pretty good playoffs though worse stats, and Syracuse arguably could've repeated again despite Seymour declining. Cousy has big assist lead and huge playoffs in 3 Gs, but they have a pretty nice team with some solid depth pieces like Risen, Loscutoff and Nichols in his best season and they still don't do anything.

[LA Bird]

Looking at the Royals roster, it's crazy how quickly the team changed. Davies retired, Risen went to the Celtics, Coleman and McMahon traded to the Hawks mid season. You got Stokes, Twyman, Fleming, Regan coming in as rookies plus Ricketts (#1 pick ahead of Stokes) from the Hawks trade. Wanzer became player coach and played what was effectively his last season with a bunch of rookies. Fast forward three years, Stokes got paralyzed and two of the other original rookies (Regan, Ricketts) left the league too. Three other rotation players (Lovellete, King, Paxson) are gone as well which left Twyman as the only remaining rotation player. Wanzer gets fired as coach soon too and the Royals have a brand new team again before the arrival of Oscar Robertson.

Also, Hutchins had two Thurmond-esque performances against two of the best offensive bigs in back to back series:

Bob Pettit
Regular season: 25.7 ppg on 50.2% TS
Previous round: 26.7 ppg on 51.5% TS
Against Pistons: 14.6 ppg on 44.2% TS

Neil Johnston
Regular season: 22.1 ppg on 55.5% TS
Previous round: 27.0 ppg on 53.7% TS
Against Pistons: 13.6 ppg on 40.6% TS

[eminence]

Do we know if Hutchins had those matchups or is that just expected?

[Dr Positivity]

Do we know if Hutchins had those matchups or is that just expected?

I think it's a pretty safe assumption he was guarding Pettit

Well of course, Bill Russell was the greatest defensive player but he didn’t play me. He had Tom Sanders on his team, who was a very good defensive player. Early in my career, there was a player named Mel Hutchins who did an excellent job of playing against me. So, those were two of the really good defensive players. Overall, best defender who you had to be aware of where he was at all times was Bill Russell because if you didn’t, he’d block your shot down your throat.

[eminence]

I believe both Yardley/Schayes have similar quotes about Hutchins being the strongest man defender they faced. More curious about Johnston.

I’m a bit concerned about Hutchins possibly getting some extra love in the MVP vote due in part to his offcourt opinions.

[Djoker]

Wow Mel Hutchins was a total defensive monster at least when it comes to man to man D. I don't particularly like that his team is 4th in DRtg (=average) despite having Foust on the team as well. Mel won't make my ballot but looks like a possible frontrunner for DPOY.

Arizin and Johnston looks like two offensive monsters that led the Warriors to the title.

Pettit was probably the frontrunner for POTY before his terrible series against the Pistons. He probably drops to #2 or #3 for me.

Celtics 3rd in ORtg after several years of offensive dominance although Cousy still got his usual numbers. Feels like a down year for the team failing to even make the EDF. Cous probably brings up the rear with Schayes.

[AEnigma]

Offensive Player of the Year

1. Bob Cousy
2. Paul Arizin
Probably the most I have needed to think about Cousy here. However, I feel the Warriors themselves give us too clear evidence of the importance of playmaking rather than sheer scoring efficiency. Jack George was second-team all-NBA and second in the league in assists, and Tom Gola was also in the top five for assists and arguably was the biggest correlative factor to the team’s sudden spike. Oh, and Johnston has been the runner-up for this award the past two years. I am fine deferring to Arizin as the team’s top offensive representative, but the margins here are close, and this is probably the most offensively talented starting lineup the league has seen to this point (and may remain as such until the 1966-68 76ers).

3. Slater Martin
Competed with George for the title of league’s second best playmaker during the regular season and then elevated his play in the postseason. This does not show up on the postseason tab, but he was also brilliant in the tiebreaker game against the Hawks (not that it ultimately mattered). And of course over the next two seasons he will be the lead playmaker for a team that was literally a point away from winning two titles. Have not rewarded him thus far, so seems like the appropriate time to acknowledge his excellent playmaking across multiple title-winning teams.

Defensive Player of the Year

1. Mel Hutchins
Initial instinct had been to go with Stokes for the massive defensive turnaround, but this year I think Hutchins earns it for his similarly massive impact against Pettit and Johnston (and as discussed last thread, being the recognised team MVP). Admittedly a sour note to see the team so rapidly decline the following year (despite Hutchins playing more) and then rebound slightly in 1958 after Hutchins left, but the Pistons also went 1-5 without him this year, so for 1956 at least I struggle to argue he was not substantially impacting the team.

2. Maurice Stokes
Outstanding defensive talent, and I feel a bit bad that I will ultimately not be awarding him DPoY. Athletic, mobile, strong, top of the line rebounder… However, the team is just a bit too irrelevant for me, and absent any postseason showing, he is disadvantaged relative to Hutchins. Definitely deserves some first place votes though… and the more I look at his roster, the more I am inclined back toward my initial instinct to give him the top spot here. Will ponder this further.

3. Joe Graboski
Felt like I was on an island voting for him the past few threads, but hopefully he will attract some attention this go-around as the defensive anchor of a relatively comfortable title-winner.

Player of the Year

1. Paul Arizin
Agree that Arizin is a relatively easy choice here as the title-winning best player on the best team who was also the best performer in the postseason and a top two performer in the regular season. Despite my criticisms of his defence and playmaking, for this season, he is the standout player.

2. Bob Cousy
3. Bob Pettit
Cousy’s efficiency decline has started, but in the playoffs he looks like the best guy on the court for two of three games, and for the series overall, against the Nationals. The Celtics outscored the Nationals in total and had been a better regular season team, so easy enough to argue they were just relatively unlucky (albeit nowhere near the extent of the Lakers). I do not think Cousy makes teams more competitive than Schayes does generally, but looking at this season specifically, hard to take anyone other than Arizin over him.

Tangent: at this point I have no idea what to make of Cousy. I cannot recall any other sports figure remotely analogous to a superstar who is seemingly snakebitten in the postseason, then as he exits his superstar prime his team suddenly becomes an unstoppable juggernaut which casually churns on without him. The problem is I am also not overly impressed by any other non-Mikan talent from this pre-Russell era, so he keeps finding his way into my top two or three.

This year feels particularly silly because I am ranking him above Pettit, but next year I will have him several spots below, even though both essentially replicate their 1956 regular seasons. Yes, the postseason is different, but I do not want to over-index on bad matchups: Pettit is not a worse player by virtue of playing five games against Hutchins, just as Cousy is not a worse player by virtue of playing seven games against Slater Martin. So set aside the negative positional matchups. 1956 Cousy was spectacular against the Nationals, and 1957 Cousy struggled against the Nationals. 1956 Pettit was underwhelming against the Lakers, and 1957 Pettit was excellent against the Lakers — with the acknowledgment that Martin switched teams and that the 1957 Hawks had Hagan and Macauley drawing attention.

In other words, 1956 Pettit is essentially peak regular season Pettit already, and it is just his playoff translation holding him back. I prefer Pettit to Cousy as a talent — again emphasising that neither are anywhere close to Mikan or Russell — but not by enough to ignore when Cousy plays better in the postseason. Pettit did not at all look like the best player on the court against those Pistons (although he did fare better than Johnston did), and that is a severe blemish on his candidacy here when those Pistons were wholly disregarded in all-NBA voting and looked like a less serious threat to win a title than all three eastern teams did — including Cousy’s Celtics. Nevertheless, I agree Pettit was too good in the regular season to be listed any lower than third.

4. Neil Johnston
5. Dolph Schayes
Staying on the subject of disappointing postseasons, Dolph Schayes was the most aggravating player to consider while drafting this ballot. I tried to talk myself into listing him higher on the basis of his defensive advantage over Pettit and Johnston and his superior proof of resilience against the Pistons, but he did not play especially well against either the Celtics or the Warriors, his team was a mild disappointment in the regular season, and he slipped down to the all-NBA second team for the first time since 1951.

Part of trying to talk myself into Schayes involved looking at his head-to-head performance with Johnston. The best angle I found was that, like with Cliff Hagan, Neil Johnston seems weirdly more productive in postseason losses than in postseason wins — even correcting for his bad matchup with the Pistons.

Johnston in 3 wins against the Nationals: 19/20/6 on 40.6% true shooting

Johnston in 2 losses against the Nationals: 39/14/7 on 70.2% true shooting

Small sample silliness, but something that weighs on me. Problem is, Johnston still outperformed Schayes in one of those wins, and even if I were assessing them as perfectly equal, Johnston was the second-best player on a dominant title team while Schayes might have been left off my ballot entirely if the Celtics had been marginally more clutch. Accordingly, the advantage this year goes to Johnston.

[trex_8063]

fwiw, Here are the league leaders in TS Add (everyone >50):

1. Neil Johnston, PHW (+270.9)
2. Paul Arizin, PHW (+228.6) [#1 and #2, comfortably.....no wonder the Warriors were tops on offense!]
3. Larry Foust, FTW (+190.5)
4. Bob Pettit, STL (+163.9)
5. Bill Sharman, BOS (+142.1)
6. Ed Macauley, BOS (+125.7)
7. Dolph Schayes, SYR (+116.5)
8. Chuck Share, STL (+104.0)
9. Kenny Sears, NYK (+98.7)
10. Bob Houbregs, FTW (+96.1) [in <22 mpg, fwiw; +6.5% rTS]
11. Ray Felix, NYK (+84.3)
12. Clyde Lovellette, MNL (+82.4)
13. Dick Schnittker, MNL (+76.4)
14. George Yardley, FTW (+57.6)
15. Tom Gola, PHW (+55.7)
16. Harry Gallatin, NYK (+54.9)

[Dr Positivity]

3. Joe Graboski
Felt like I was on an island voting for him the past few threads, but hopefully he will attract some attention this go-around as the defensive anchor of a relatively comfortable title-winner.

I might consider Gola over him for Warriors

[AEnigma]

3. Joe Graboski
Felt like I was on an island voting for him the past few threads, but hopefully he will attract some attention this go-around as the defensive anchor of a relatively comfortable title-winner.

I might consider Gola over him for Warriors

Gola has arguably the clearest defensive impact signals of any guard thus far, and I know he will accordingly receive some votes (possibly even more votes) on this ballot, but I do not really believe that he was overall affecting more possessions than Graboski, no. It is to his immense credit as a guard that I would call him consistently the second most important defender on the team and reasonably close to Graboski. That is as far as I can go when considering a list of the league’s top three defenders. I understand that many here are more willing to consider guards for this award than I am, but for me it is close to a non-starter (1981 Dennis Johnson is the only definite exception).

[Doctor MJ]

How accurate were the box-scores in 1956, especially in the post-season? Are we led to believe that the Hawks/Lakers series really was 2 1-point wins by the Hawks with a 58-point win by the Lakers sandwiched in the middle?

Paul Arzin seems like the easy #1 candidate here.

I have no reason to believe that game scores are suspect. It's the individual player box scores that are subject to gamesmanship.

Of course the thing with any 58-point win is that the losing team probably raised the white flag once they got down big early on, and hence it's not really representative of two teams trying their hardest all the way through.

[Doctor MJ]

Tricky year. Pettit has probably the best regular season, but he gets owned by Hutchins defense in the playoffs. Arizin has a great playoffs and they clearly pick him in MVP voting over Johnston, but up to this point I hadn't been the highest on his impact outside of his numbers. Schayes has a well rounded impcat and pretty good playoffs though worse stats, and Syracuse arguably could've repeated again despite Seymour declining. Cousy has big assist lead and huge playoffs in 3 Gs, but they have a pretty nice team with some solid depth pieces like Risen, Loscutoff and Nichols in his best season and they still don't do anything.

I mean, we saw the team fall off to absolutely nothing after they lost him to the military. I get there are more factors involved in that than just one player, but when I think of a lack of evidence of impact, I'm typically looking at guys for whom the team does unexpectedly well without them.

[Dr Positivity]

Vote

1. Bob Pettit - He had a poor playoff series against Pistons but overall I think an efficient 26, 16 and 3 with floor spacing and all time great motor/physicality that must have been inspiring is the best player in the NBA, and beats the Lakers with a pretty weaksauce supporting cast.

2. Dolph Schayes - I still think Schayes has an all around element competitors like Arizin and Johnston don't, I think I now rate his defense higher than Pettit's for his career (especially rookie Pettit) but there is a clear statistical difference between them. Schayes was up against it in playoffs with Seymour putting up washed or injured type stats, but they still were a potential repeat losing by 5 in deciding game 5 in conference finals, and would've had an easier opponent in finals. When looking at all these years together it just seems in the team results like Schayes is making an impact beyond the stats.

3. Paul Arizin - He has an all time great playoff run for this era. It comes together for Sixers with Gola lining up with prime Arizin/Johnston and George has random All NBA season.

4. Bob Cousy - This would've been a good year to be a contender in the pre Russell years as they get Risen and Loscutoff and it still doesn't happen, but nevertheless Cousy is way in front in assists and decent scorer.

5. Bill Sharman - He has a pretty nice skillset at this point with efficient 20ppg, almost 5 assists and plus defensive intensity, I'll take that over Johnston despite the team results.

I'll pass on Stokes on a non playoff team and seems like his skillset on offense would be weirder to fit than above players.

Offensive player of the year

1. Paul Arizin
2. Bob Cousy
3. Bob Pettit

Defensive player of the year

1. Mel Hutchins
2. Maurice Stokes
3. Tom Gola

[Doctor MJ]

I might consider Gola over him for Warriors

I think Gola's a guy that really needs a lot of discussion.

First, I'd say he was probably the most hyped prospect since at least Alex Groza (born 7 years earlier), so we're talking about someone who we might call a "generational prospect" by today's parlance. (Note: Russell coming out the next year might make that a little tricky, but I think it's clear that many at the time were more impressed with Gola than Russell, as off-the-mark as we know that now to be.)

Second, it's with his arrival that the Warriors go from a below average team to champs, and by Moonbeam's RWOWY analysis it made him the king of the team.

But, by ORtg/DRtg, his impact this year seems to be entirely offensive (they had a better rDrtg the prior year).
And, the next year without Gola, the team is still the best offense in the league.
And, the year after with Gola now the big MPG guy on the team, the elite offense disappears.

So I think what we're talking about here is a situation where Gola really did provide strong +/- impact as a rookie, but did so in a goldilocks situation where he was able to use his jack-of-all-trades skillset to shore up some of the weak spots on the team, but that this wasn't something the Warriors actually needed every year, nor was it something that Gola ensured every year by his presence.

From there, Gola's career fades into obscurity as the Warriors run everything around Wilt, and then Gola never really makes a dent after leaving the team.

I tend to see Gola as a guy who could have had a much more successful NBA career had things gone differently, but "differently" largely means that fitting in next to the right volume scorers. Those volume scorers didn't need Gola in order to do their thing, but Gola needed them in order to contribute that value-add.

And of course, as we've talked about, the Warriors go from being 2-time #1 ORtg to consistently below average on offense with the arrival of Sauldsberry who is treated like a major scoring force from Day 1, but should shot well enough to warrant this role on any of the team he was on in his career. For me this means that the rest of the Warriors don't really have to explain why the team fell off - I don't give them credit for success they didn't have, but I don't think there's any reason to think the success they did have was fluky.

In the end, I don't see enough of a throughline with Gola to see him as a guy who was "the real MVP" of these Warriors. I think there's a serious question between he, Johnston, and George for who was the 2nd most valuable player for the team in the chip run, but that's as far as I'd go.

[trex_8063]

Defensive Player of the Year
1. Maurice Stokes - Defensive turnaround, with him being thought the primary reason. #1 defense in the league, he leads the league in rpg. idk, it's hard to go against him, though I am considering switching my #1 and #2 ballots.

2. Mel Hutchins - This is based upon the MVP consideration he got (which obviously have little to do with pretty numbers and/or his offensive game), the testimonials from guys like Pettit, and those astounding playoff containment performances. Strongly considering him over Stokes, so may switch them around. But will go this route for now.

3. Bob Pettit - Solid defense (-1.4 rDRTG, good for 3rd), with him leading the team comfortably [close 2nd in league] in rpg.

If I went with anyone else, it would have to be someone from the Nationals [being the 2nd-best defense]. But they feel like more of an ensemble effort (with Seymour, Lloyd, and then Schayes [and Kerr] shoring up the boards).
I have a hard time seeing the case for Joe Grabowski---not with only three spots on the ballot---given he averages [in 33 mpg] just 9.7 reb/36 minutes (league average [all positions] is about 9.0) as PF for the 5th-rated [+0.4 rDRTG] team (and that's with Tom Gola on the team, too). Not without some strong testimonials, or evidence that he was [at 6'7" and playing PF] a premier level rim protector. Honestly, if I were to give it to anyone on the Warrior roster, it would probably be "Mr. All-Around", Tom Gola.


Offensive Player of the Year
1. Neil Johnston - I'm going with the guy who leads the whole league [by +42.3 over 2nd!] in TS Add, while also being 2nd in the league in ppg, AND averaging 3.2 apg for the #1 offense. For me, it had to be one of he or Arizin, I'm going with Johnston over Arizin based on the slightly higher apg and nearly 3% better shooting efficiency. For me that outweighs the couple extra points Arizin is scoring, though their respective playoff performances does give me pause (and I may switch these picks).
Still, even in the playoffs, Johnston was going for >20 ppg on +2.7% rTS, and upped his distribution to 5.1 apg (barely behind PG Jack George---who was 2nd in the league in apg in the rs---and +2.2 apg ahead of Paul Arizin). Note also that half of Johnston's playoff sample is while [presumably] being guarded by Mel Hutchins.

2. Paul Arizin - I struggled a little with the decision of who to go with for #1, so it seems only fitting that I give #2 to the loser of that battle. And really I don't see a problem giving 1 and 2 to a couple teammates, as this team was SO far ahead of everyone else offensively (+2.2 over 2nd place, and even drubbing a Celtic team with Cousy/Sharman/Macauley).

3. Bob Cousy - Leads the leauge in apg by a country mile at the helm of the 3rd-rated offense [+1.9 rORTG], while also being 7th in ppg (and a slight positive TS Add [+0.3% rTS]).

Top HM: Bob Pettit; I think he has a strong case to be on the ballot. The only other guy I really see a strong case for is Bill Sharman (if you happen to think him the better offensive player on that Celtic squad).


Player of the Year (this seems more wide open than previous years)
1. Bob Pettit - Again, very wide open. I could see re-ordering the top 3.
Pettit is leading the league in ppg [with a TS Add that's 4th], and a close 2nd in rpg [for 3rd-rated defense]. He tops the league in PER, is 3rd in WS/48, and tied for 2nd in estimated BPM, while playing a sizable 38.8 mpg (which lands him a super-close 2nd in total WS, and #1 in estimated VORP). In the playoffs, things fall off a lot, though more than half that sample is playing against Mel Hutchins, who I nearly had as my #1 pick in DPOY balloting. Pettit still averaged a formidable 19.1/10.5 @ +2.4% rTS in the playoffs as a whole.
Far from an open and shut case, I can see going as low as 3rd for him, and will reconsider after reading the arguments of others. But for now I'm giving him the top spot.

2. Paul Arizin - See above arguments regarding the respective offensive games of he and his teammate, Neil Johnston. This is sort of the balance of my [near coin-flip] decision for OPOY: I'll give Arizin the edge in POY balloting, and base it on the fact that his defensive reputation is at least slightly better than Johnston's.

3. Neil Johnston - His individual numbers are so bonkers, and coming for the clear best [title-winning] team, and I have him #1 on OPOY balloting. Can't see going worse than 3rd with him. For me, the top 3 have to be these three guys in some order. The only other guy I kinda see a case for is Schayes.

4. Dolph Schayes - Very nice rs (probably 4th behind only those three guys coming in ahead of him, and followed up with a strong playoff run, coming just 1 game shy of going to the Finals again (losing to the eventual champs, btw). Schayes averaged 23.4 ppg @ +5.8% rTS and 14.8 rpg in the division finals (Schayes had 28 pts @ +6.4% rTS and 16 reb in the final game, which they lost by just 5 pts).

5. Bob Cousy - Had him 3rd on my OPOY ballot. Though they lost in only a 3-game series, Cousy was astounding. Hard to leave him off my ballot overall.

Top HM: Probably Bill Sharman.