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Hall Talk

by Harlan Schreiber (2/23/04)

This past week, the Basketball Hall of Fame released its list of finalist for the class of 2004. On the player side, there are some interesting names with some career accomplishments:

Clyde Drexler 1983-1998 20.4 ppg, All-NBA once

Bobby Jones 1974-1986 11.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, Sixth Man of the Year 1982-83

Gus Johnson 1963-1972 17.5 ppg, 12.9 rpg

Bernard King 1977-1993 22.5 ppg, led NBA in scoring 32.9 ppg in 1984-85

Chet Walker 1962-1974 18.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg

Johnny Kerr 1954-1966 13.8 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 844 consecutive games played (then NBA record)

Maurice Stokes 1955-1958 16.4 ppg, 17.3 rpg

Clyde Drexler

First off, there is only one hands down Hall of Famer in the group, Drexler. It is often forgotten but the Glide was clearly and by far the second best two guard in the Michael Jordan Era. He wasn't Jordan but Drexler was as close as anyone got at that time. In fact, before the wave of star shooting guards of the late 1990s and today, Drexler was as a good as any two guard in NBA history outside of the big guns, Jordan, Jerry West, and Oscar Robertson.

When you compare Drexler's career numbers with some of the other two guards who were considered Hall of Famers, Drexler beats them in almost all categories by per game averages and in efficiency:

Player	Games	PPG	FG%	RPG	APG	TOPG	EFF
Clyde Drexler	1,086	20.4	0.472	6.1	5.6	2.7	22.42
Dave Bing	901	20.3	0.441	3.8	6.1	N/A	19.33
Hal Greer	1,122	19.2	0.452	5.1	4.1	N/A	18.13
Joe Dumars	1,018	16.1	0.461	2.2	4.5	2.1	14.19
Reggie Miller	1,243	18.9	0.474	3.1	3.1	1.8	17.08
Pete Maravich	658	24.2	0.441	4.2	5.4	N/A	20.98
Mitch Richmond	976	21.1	0.455	3.9	3.5	2.6	17.46
George Gervin	791	26.2	0.511	4.6	2.8	2.7	22.07
Walter Davis	1,033	18.9	0.511	3.1	3.8	2.5	16.48

As you can see, Drexler is a much more dominant court presence than all these guys. We realize that per game averages and efficiency have their weakness, but Drexler is way ahead of all these guys in aggregate stats, and is just a different level of player. But what about the new wave, the renaissance of great two guards who poured into the NBA in 1996 and beyond?

Obviously, Drexler's career stats are better than those of Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen, Vince Carter, and Paul Pierce. These guys are young but showing some Drexler-like ability (if not MJ-like). They would have to sustain their level of play for a while to catch Drexler but it is instructive to see if they, in their current career years, match up with Drexler's career year.

Player	Year	Age	PPG	FG%	RPG	APG	TOPG	EFF
Clyde Drexler	1988-89	26	27.2	0.496	7.9	5.8	3.2	28.87
Ray Allen	2000-01	25	22.1	0.481	5.2	4.6	2.5	22.23
Kobe Bryant	2002-03	24	30.1	0.451	6.9	5.9	3.5	28.02
Allen Iverson	2000-01	25	31.1	0.421	3.8	4.6	3.3	22.27
Tracy McGrady	2002-03	23	32.1	0.456	6.5	5.5	2.6	28.81
Paul Pierce	2001-02	24	26.1	0.442	6.9	3.2	2.9	23.85
Vince Carter	2000-01	24	27.6	0.461	5.5	3.9	2.2	23.92

Drexler's career best stacks up pretty damn well with these guys. Only Kobe and McGrady are in his neighborhood. We do recognize that Drexler's 1988-89 season was a higher offensive season than the points scarce 2000s but still he is so much better than Iverson, Allen and company that more than makes up for offensive context. Further, Drexler put up almost as strong efficiency records as Allen, Carter, Iverson, and Pierce in the nadir of scoring, the mid-1990s, when Drexler was already approaching his mid-30s. The chances that these guys maintain that kind of production to that age is not likely as none of the newer guys are currently ahead of their pace of their career years. (But certainly McGrady and Kobe have a chance of eclipsing Drexler).

It is also worth noting that Drexler had three other years comparable to his career year and was the key cog in two NBA Finals teams and winning one ring with the Rockets in 1994-95. So no matter how goofy Drexler's jump shot or his full court head down drives looked, this guy was as good as anyone to date but Jordan, Oscar, and West.

As a quick postscript, Jordan is clearly better than Drexler. I know we all knew that (as he outplayed Drexler on many occasions, including the 1991-92 Finals). But the numbers also bear it out too. Jordan's career efficiencey is 29.19, higher than the best single years of all the players mentioned above. He is still the king.

The Rest

We already talked about Chet Walker, Gus Johnson, and Bobby Jones last year. Walker was a solid small forward with a short but good career. IF he had stuck around for longer maybe, but as is, Walker is clearly short. Johnson was one of the first monster power forwards of the 1960s. But he had an even shorter career than Walker (only 10 seasons) and he had tons of injuries. His peak level is Hall of Fame caliber but did not complement enough to get in. Jones was the kind of player everyone loved, a hustler and a battler, but he really was a complementary guy on a good Sixers team and his nomination is not warranted.

As for the new guys:

Bernard King: King is an interesting case, he was about as good as any player in 1984-85 and he was inspirational in his comeback with the Bullets. The problems with King are two-fold 1) he missed a ton of time with injuries (he missed 438 career games) and 2) King didn't do anything besides score. As a one-trick scorer small forward, King has a lot of competition like Adrian Dantley, Mark Aguirre, and Walker among others. King was better than these guys at his best but his constant injuries hurt his candidacy. On the other side, guys like James Worthy are in the Hall with short careers as well. King's peak also separates himself from all these other pure scorers as well (only Dantley can rival him). I wouldn't vote King for the Hall but you can't quibble if he gets in.

Johnny Kerr: Kerr was a solid center in the 1950s and 1960s, known for his iron man streak which has since been broken by Randy Smith and A.C. Green. Kerr was the next tier below Wilt and Russell in the 1950s and early 1960s, he was good but not great, maxing out at 17.8 ppg and 14.0 rpg in 1958-59. (You can imagine why Wilt could score 50 ppg in the early 1960s when you consider Kerr was the best the NBA had to offer). Kerr the player is nowhere near a Hall of Famer. Of course, Kerr will and should get in the Hall. But not as a player. Kerr is an NBA lifer who went from good player for 12 years to good coach. He did well coaching for the expansion Bulls but finished with a 93-191 career coaching record. Since then Kerr has remained a staple as a Bulls broadcaster. That's 50+ years of NBA service. Should be enough to get him in.

Maurice Stokes: Stokes was the first true power forward in the NBA, a dominating presence on the boards for the Rochester Royals. Stokes played for three seasons and pulled down 17.3 rpg (!). Unfortunately, Stokes' career had a sad ending. During a game in late 1957-58 season, Stokes hit his head on the court and was concussed. The concussion was not properly diagnosed and Stokes flew with the concussion which caused him brain damage, leaving him unable to speak or walk. Stokes' teammate Jack Twyman took him and cared for Stokes, until Stokes died of a heart attack in 1970.

Stokes was a dominant player for the three years he played but his career is remembered more for the tragic end and then what he accomplished, He is a sad tale, a man incapacitated for no good reason. Still, his three years are not enough to merit Hall consideration. Purists might say he is not worthy of enshrinement but Stokes deserves to be remembered and if a a nice ceremony in Springfield did that, I wouldn't compain.

Maurice Stokes

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