Most underrated player of all-time

[AStark1991]

In your opinion, who is the single most overlooked player in NBA history? My vote goes to the late great Dennis Johnson. 3x champion, 1x Finals MVP, 5x All-Star, 2x All-NBA, 9x All-Defense. Regarded by Larry Bird as the best player he ever played with and has been singled out by both Magic Johnson and George Gervin as being the toughest defender they ever faced. I'll also add Nate Thurmond's name to the conversation as an honorable mention. Both Wilt and Kareem were very adamant about how tough he was to play against.

[ronnymac2]

Maurice Lucas is the most underrated player of all-time.

[AStark1991]

Maurice Lucas is the most underrated player of all-time.

Great choice. He was a badass in every sense of the word. One of the most brutal enforcers the league has ever seen.

[The Explorer]

George Mikan. I think he should be rated much higher than he commonly is.

[Ol Roy]

Jack Sikma

[AStark1991]

Jack Sikma

Another great choice. The 1979 Sonics are also a very overlooked championship team. In a lot of ways they were a precursor to the 2004 Pistons in the sense that they didn’t have a bonafide superstar but came together and won a title with cohesive teamwork and suffocating defense.

[lessthanjake]

I think guys like Sidney Moncrief, Marques Johnson, and Paul Pressey are pretty underrated. Those 1980s Bucks teams were actually really good and just couldn’t get over the hump against great Celtics and Sixers teams.

Unlike some other teams in history that were really good in the regular season over a long timespan but didn’t have a ton of playoff success, those Bucks teams were pretty consistently only losing to genuinely great teams in the playoffs. These were the teams they lost to in the playoffs:

- 1980: Lost a really close series to a 56-win defending champion Sonics team
- 1981: Lost a really close series to a 62-win, 7.76 SRS Sixers team, led by Julius Erving.
- 1982: Lost to a 58-win, 5.74 SRS Sixers team, led by Julius Erving.
- 1983: Lost to a 65-win, 7.53 SRS Sixers team, led by Moses Malone and Dr. J. They lost in 5 games, but actually handed the Sixers their only playoff loss that year.
- 1984: Lost to a 62-win, 6.42 SRS Celtics that that would win the title.
- 1985: Lost to a 58-win, 4.17 SRS Sixers team, led by Moses Malone and Dr. J, with a rookie Barkley.
- 1986: Lost to a 67-win, 9.06 SRS Celtics team, which won the title.
- 1987: Lost to a 59-win, 6.57 SRS Celtics team.
- 1988: Lost a very close series to a 50-win, 4.02 SRS Hawks team led by Dominique Wilkins that would go on to be incredibly close to beating the Celtics (Note: This was the least good opponent the 1980s Bucks lost to, but it came in easily their worst regular season—they actually only were a 42-win, 1.21 SRS team that year)
- 1989: Lost to the 63-win, 6.24 Pistons, which won the title.

Basically, over the course of a decade, the Bucks averaged a 5 SRS and about 52 wins a year, and just kept losing to great teams in the playoffs. Obviously, they weren’t one of the NBA’s truly elite teams, or they would’ve been able to push past those great teams more often (though they did beat the 1983 Celtics, took out the Sixers in 1986 and 1987 when the Sixers were a bit past their best, and beat the 5+ SRS Hawks in 1989, so they didn’t only beat minnows in the playoffs). But they were really good and I think the players responsible for that get underrated.

[tsherkin]

George Mikan. I think he should be rated much higher than he commonly is.

I think that ultimately comes down to criteria.

Mikan played in a super-early version of the game. He was the first superstar of the league, of course, and wildly successful in his relatively-brief career. But in no way does he compare to a the top-end guys from even a decade later, you know what I mean? He started to decline almost as soon as some of the more basic rules and court dimensions we know today began to be implemented (though they did later widen the lane again for Wilt, if memory serves). So I think there's probably a good deal of the criticism which is often leveled against the 60s which is MORE appropriate for his era. Integration happened in his 3rd season, for example, and he had only 3 other seasons of relevance. So he had none of the longevity, weaker competition, a particularly different rules and style environment. It's just so hard to compare that to anything forward of him, you know?

[Hook_Em]

KJ beat prime Magic, Stockton and Payton in the playoffs.

[Bubbachuck2]

1960's - Hal Greer
1970's- Paul Westphal
1980's-Marques Johnson/Larry Nance
1980's/1990's- Mark Price
2000's- Elton Brand/Manu

[AStark1991]

1960's - Hal Greer
1970's- Paul Westphal
1980's-Marques Johnson/Larry Nance
1980's/1990's- Mark Price
2000's- Elton Brand/Manu

Good list. For the 2000's I'd go with Shawn Marion. The fact that he never made an All-Defensive Team is absolutely crazy.

[AStark1991]

1960's - Hal Greer
1970's- Paul Westphal
1980's-Marques Johnson/Larry Nance
1980's/1990's- Mark Price
2000's- Elton Brand/Manu

Good list. For the 2000's I'll go with Shawn Marion. The fact that he never made an All-Defensive Team is absolutely crazy.

[DorianRo]

I would give Milan a shout out too. He dominated the game to the point the NBA had to change its rules to stop him. Yet you never hear him being in the top 10

[DorianRo]

I think Kobe is criminally underrated over the past decade too. He’s the closest thing to MJ we will see, has 5 titles, has taken down far greater teams in the west than most anyone we’ve seen yet it seems like he drops more and more in the GOAT rankings. I’ve seen some people put curry over him. WTF. If anything Kobe has had the best career since MJ.

He didn’t play in the LeEastern Conference. He was in great conference his entire career.

[Narigo]

Bobby Jones and Horace Grant

Bob Pettit among casuals

[eminence]

Dolph Schayes

[trelos6]

underrated is always tricky. Mikan may be underrated now, but in 1960 he was considered the GOAT.

Same for a guy like Dennis Johnson. All NBA, all D, FMVP, he certainly had his accolades in the 80's, and was not considered underrated then.

I'm going to go for a guy like Terry Porter. He only made a couple of all star teams, but I think 2 seasons in the early 90's were pretty good.

Of course, if you want to play the underrated today forgotten by fans game, then we have a host of older players: Mikan, Moses, Pettit, Barry, Schayes, Arizin, Cheeks, Lucas, Marques Johnson, Bob Davies, Cliff Hagan etc.

[One_and_Done]

So far almost every name I am seeing belongs on the overrated list.

The answer is Lebron. The fact he isn't the consensus GOAT makes that clear.

[tsherkin]

If anything Kobe has had the best career since MJ.

Has he really, though? What makes his career better than Duncan's? Or Lebron's? He certainly hasn't been individually better than Jokic. Kobe was very good, but "most underrated player of all-time" is very much wildly inaccurate.

[DorianRo]

If anything Kobe has had the best career since MJ.

Has he really, though? What makes his career better than Duncan's? Or Lebron's? He certainly hasn't been individually better than Jokic. Kobe was very good, but "most underrated player of all-time" is very much wildly inaccurate.

He didn't go join superteam in a weak east like Lebron . He bested Duncan a bunch of times in the post season . He won more titles. etc. Looking back I'm sure Kobe wished he would have went to the east and superteamed it up to play trash like Lebron. How has Lebron done since he went to the West? A bubble title?