Retro POY 1954-55 (Voting Complete)

[Doctor MJ]

In this thread we'll discuss and vote on the top 5 best player seasons of 1954-55.

Schedule will be Mon-Fri, and Thu-Mon. Typically this will be morning to morning.

Some things to start us off:

NBA
The Year in Review http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... _1955.html
Playoff Summary http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... _1955.html
Final Box Score http://webuns.chez-alice.fr/playoffs/1955.htm

[ThaRegul8r]

Who would people be most interested in reading about this year?

[lorak]

About Slater Martin or Larry Foust.

[fanofcoils]

No offense, but I think these years should be going forward instead of going backwards as people know less and less each time you go backwards.

[Doctor MJ]

No offense, but I think these years should be going forward instead of going backwards as people know less and less each time you go backwards.

Well, I don't think changing the order is going to make people miraculously become experts about the '50s.

[Sedale Threatt]

No, let's just start over.

[semi-sentient]

Final rankings:

1. Dolph Schayes
2. Bob Cousy
3. Neil Johnston
4. Larry Foust
5. Bob Pettit

[Dr Positivity]

I'm not putting anything into Syracuse getting the title and Fort Wayne not. They had the exact same record and within close SRS range (Fort Wayne had 2.01, Syracuse 1.23), then their Finals came down to 1 point in the 7th game, which Syracuse had on their homecourt via a tiebreaker I don't know of (head to head?). Either way it's close enough to be irrelevant who actually got the title between the two

I'm very intrigued by Foust. By far the most efficient player in the league and right up there in all the advanced stats, whatever they mean for this time period. Unlike Kenny Sears he appeared to get recognition for it, making 1st team All-NBA, and it looks like in this year they didn't care about positions as much as just putting the 5 best guys on, considering 4 bigs in Johnson, Schayes, Pettit and Foust made it. Noteably in 56 Foust had a similar statistical season and got no MVP votes, but looking at that year he got no All-NBA love either, so in 55 he was likely respected more cause of the Ws. Foust's teammate Yardley didn't make the 2nd team - combined with the statistical advantage and the fact that Cs were more important than swings at this time, I'm putting Foust ahead of Yardley as the man on Fort Wayne for this season

Johnson has probably the best stats in the league, but on a mediocore team despite having Arizin. Don't know what to do with him.

Pettit is pretty good but not dominant statistically this year.

Schayes is a #1 contender considering he looked to have near league best defensive impact

The Lakers are good this year but Mikellson and Lovelette don't do enough to make the list

Cousy has a great year. Best efficiency of his career at .48 TS%, 21ppg with league leading 8apg and Boston's pretty solid. Noteably Boston plays a full 10 points faster pace than anyone else so Cousy's stats are a little inflated. I don't think he's near the league best as a scorer like his 21ppg would indicate

My 5 is Foust, Schayes, Johnson, Cousy, Pettit. That's the 1st team All-NBA, they all led at least solid teams - I'm not seeing anyone after that better.

1. Foust
2. Schayes
3. Johnston
4. Cousy
5. Pettit

Larry Foust getting a 1st place vote means it's the right time to end this project, lol. But I really like his efficiency and its clear team impact, while being his team's rebounding and defense anchor at C. Schayes gets #2 for a great all around impact. I think it's right to put the two best guys on Syracuse and Fort Wayne in the top 2 this year cause they were clearly the league's 2 best teams. Johnston is statistically dominant but it looks a bit empty compared to most. Still #3. Cousy has arguably his finest season and makes 4. Rookie Pettit is good enough for 5

[shawngoat23]

I know nothing about this year, and haven't found much data, but here's what I came up with:

1. Dolph Schayes
2. Larry Foust
3. Neil Johnston
4. Bob Cousy
5. Bob Pettit

[lorak]

1. Johnston
2. Schayes
3. Foust
4. Cousy
5. Pettit

[penbeast0]

Due today and don't have time for a writeup now . . . will try to get one up. Though I often convince myself differently during the writeups, going into it with a top 5 of . . .

1. Schayes -- Best player on best team. Strong defensive rep and great free throw shooting make up for low percentages from the floor
2. Foust -- Star of the other top team, very efficient scorer.
3. Johnston -- League statistical leader in both scoring and rebounding while also quite efficient
4. Cousy -- Unique playmaking ability; more efficient this year
5. Vern Mikkelsen -- 2nd team all-NBA to Pettit but best player on 3rd best team and good defensive rep
Can't see Pettit having the worst record and being a legit MVP candidate as a rookie.

[Optimism Prime]

1. Neil Johnston
2. Dolph Schayes
3. Bob Cousy
4. Larry Foust
5. Bob Pettit

[Sedale Threatt]

1. Schayes
2. Cousy
3. Johnston
4. Pettit
5. Foust (I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable fan, and I had literally never heard of this guy before.)

[ronnymac2]

Final Rankings:

Dolph Schayes
Bob Cousy
Larry Foust
Neil Johnston
Bob Pettit


Couldn't study this year much......

[drza]

I almost feel like I shouldn't vote, because I haven't had time to look in much depth at all. But, as always, here are my thoughts:

1) Parity is the name of the game. We're looking at a league where the best and worst teams were within 5 SRS points of each other...compare that with last season, where the Magic had more than 16 SRS points on the Timberwolves. This was just an entirely different world, so I just have trouble judging it by the same standards as today re: hollow stats. I mean, both of the teams that missed the playoffs were still playing for a shot at the postseason in the last week of the year...I just don't see putting up great stats on a team like that similar to I would, say, Ricky Davis posting huge numbers when neither he nor the team he was playing against really cared who won.

2) How much difference should a year really make? Last year Pettit and Johnston finished 1-2 on my ballot as their teams met for the title...do I all of a sudden act like they forgot how to play because a year later their teams were bad? I don't have enough info to greatly separate the player from the team, but I just think that if a player has shown a track record of being really good on really good teams and also has great numbers this season on a bad team, I'm probably going to give some benefits of doubt.

3) I'm appreciating the effort that someone went through to talk more about Foust and compare him with Kenny Sears as far as accolades, because as I saw with Sears it's really hard for me to rate guys I've never heard of.

Anyway, here are my rankings:

1) Schayes
2) Foust
3) Johnston
4) Cousy
5) Pettit

[Mean_Streets]

1. Dolph Schayes
2. Bob Cousy
3. Neil Johnston
4. Bob Pettit
5. Larry Foust

[Doctor MJ]

Hey guys,

I'll tally up the votes later tonight.

Incidentally, Syracuse won the regular seasons matchup over Fort Wayne 7-2, so it seems like they deserve that HCA. Dolph will definitely be my #1.

[TrueLAfan]

1. Dolph Schayes
2. Larry Foust
3. Neil Johnston
4. Bob Pettit
5. Bob Cousy

[Doctor MJ]

My vote:

1. Dolph
2. Foust
3. Johnston
4. Cousy
5. Pettit

[Doctor MJ]

Guys, going to tally tomorrow.