TBTEW: Point Guards 26-30

Introduction

30. Stephon Marbury: Starbury holds the distinction of being one of the most maligned athletes of his generation. Much of the criticism is warranted; he was never a good defender, he probably dominated the ball a bit more than he should have, he wasn't especially efficient, and his teams never won all that much.

But let's focus on what he could do. You don't average 19 points and 8 assists over a 13 year career without doing something right, and Marbury could certainly create shots for himself and for his teammates. It's also not true that he always lost; he was the leading scorer (and assist-er) on the 44 win 2003 Suns.

What I consider his most impressive performance occurred on the 2004 Knicks, who he joined through a midseason trade. The Knicks were floundering, at 14-21, when they traded for Marbury, and promptly went 25-22 the rest of the way. That does not seem particularly impressive, but when you consider that the Knicks' other four starters come playoff time were Nazr Mohammed, Kurt Thomas, Tim Thomas (who was replaced by an old Penny Hardaway after he was injured in Game 1 against the Nets), and Shandon Anderson, I think Marbury deserves a lot of credit for keeping that group near .500.

29. Jimmy Jones: The best point guard of the ABA. How good was he? I don't really know. He had some statistically dominating seasons in the early years of the ABA, especially 1969, when he averaged 26-6-6 while leading the league in FG% and PER. He wasn't a one year wonder, averaging 19-5-5 over 7 ABA seasons, and improving on those numbers (and efficiency) in the playoffs.

An efficient scorer, Jones is a difficult player to evaluate because I don't know how his impressive statistical output would have translated to a superior league. It is easy to point to his lack of success in the NBA as proof that he simply dominated a weak league, but it should be noted that he didn't reach the ABA until he was 23, had his best year at 24, had a decent season on a per minute basis in his first NBA season, 1975, and started to decline rapidly when he hit 31-in an era when quick guards did not age well. So, how good was he? I'm still not sure, but the ABA's best point guard deserves a mention here.

28. Doc Rivers: Doc will probably be remembered as a coach more than a player, but he was a very good player as a pass-first point guard in the 1980s. Rivers may be underrated now because he never received big minutes (and put up big statistics), always less than 33 a game, but per minute stats reveal a prolific passer and tough defender.

I was surprised by how much Doc Rivers resembled his protégé, Rajon Rondo, statistically. From 1986-1988, Rivers' best three seasons, he averaged 15 points, 11 assists, and 2.3 steals per 36 minutes, which is pretty close to what I think Rondo can achieve. Add that to decent rebounding and a surprisingly good ability to draw fouls, and you have all the makings for a great, unheralded point guard.

Unfortunately, Rivers fell off after those three years, and only averaged 27 minutes a game over his career, preventing him from climbing any higher on this list, but it should be remembered how great he was for those few years.

27. Andre Miller: He's never been great, but he's been good for a long time. His best season was probably 2002, when he averaged 17 and 11, winning the assist crown, but almost a decade later he was anchoring an overachieving Blazers team, without missing a beat in between (okay, there was that year with the Clippers he wasn't so great, but I think "being on the Clippers" counts as extenuating circumstances).

In making these ratings, I generally favored peak performance over longevity, but quietly consistent performance over a whole decade should be recognized. And I know I didn't realize how many good seasons Miller had strung together until I made these rankings, and I suspect I'm not the only one. I think part of it is that he's always played out of the spotlight. He left Cleveland before LeBron got there, and then swapped teams with Iverson in the Denver-Philly trade, both times ending up on the team with less media attention. Plus he played for the Clippers.

26. Fat Lever: Lever is the other end of the spectrum from Miller. He only had four good years, but they were a great four years. From 1987 through 1990, he averaged 19 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 2.5 steals, and only 2 turnovers. That's right, over a four year period, he almost averaged a triple double, was one of the best defensive guards in the game, and never turned the ball over. If he could only shoot, there would have been no holes in his game. As it was, he gave us four great years of unorthodox domination and someone we could compare to Rajon Rondo while making ourselves feel smart. And isn't that enough?

You Wouldn't Have Thunk It

After Andre Miller, who is a good player, but hardly a scoring machine, put up 52 points on the Dallas Mavericks the other day, I used Basketball-Reference's Game Finder to find all the other 50 point scorers (from 1987 to the present), and I found some other unlikely heroes.

Tony Delk, who scored 53 points for the Phoenix Suns in a 121-117 overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings on January 2nd, 2001. Delk went 20/27 from the field and 13/15 from the line, and finished with 53 points, 6 rebounds, 0 assists, and only 2 turnovers in 50 minutes of action. However, the rest of the team shot 27/74 (.365), including a 5/18 night from Jason Kidd and a 2/10 performance from Clifford Robinson. Meanwhile, Vlade Divac scored 34 for Sacramento, and Peja added 33 on a combined 24/37.

Willie Burton, who scored 53 for the Philadelphia 76ers in a 105-90 victory over Miami on December 13, 1994. Like Delk, the rest of Burton's team failed to pick up the shooting slack, with Clarence Weatherspoon shooting an egregious 4/20. However, the Adelman Kings were a much better team than the Glen Rice-Kevin Willis-Bimbo Coles Heat, and Burton's 53 points on 19 shots and 28 free throw attempts were enough to carry the 76ers, who enjoyed a 51-20 free throw attempt disparity.

Vernon Maxwell, who scored 51 points for the shorthanded Houston Rockets in a 103-97 victory over Cleveland on January 26, 1991. This game took place a couple weeks after Hakeem Olajuwon was injured by a Bill Cartwright elbow to the face, and the Rockets depended on Maxwell, Otis Thorpe, and Kenny Smith for offense. Maxwell went 14/25 from the field and took 22 of Houston's 27 free throws in a comeback win. The game was a sloppy affair, with Houston turning the ball over 26 times and Cleveland coughing it up 25 times. The Rockets withstood Larry Nance's 29-10-4 (steals) and Darnell Valentine shooting 9/11 with 5 steals.

Tracy Murray, who scored 50 points for the Washington Wizards on February 10, 1998 in a 99-87 win over the hapless Golden State Warriors, who were led by Joe Smith's 36. Murray went 18/29 from the field and 9/10 from the line. The rest of the Wizards shot 19/62 (31%), not giving Murray much help, although Rod Strickland's 20 assist night certainly helped (Strickland also scored 21 and added 12 rebounds). Fellow 50 point scorer Tony Delk appeared in this game, shooting 6/19 and turning the ball over 7 times.

Dana Barros, who scored 50 points for the 76ers on March 14, 1995 in a 136-107 loss to Houston (yes, the same 76ers team that Willie Burton scored 53 for). Barros actually averaged 21 points that year for a team with no other legitimate scoring options (Burton's outburst notwithstanding), so it wasn't that surprising that he scored 50 points, but I included this game for the reason that he scored 50 points while attempting only 2 free throws. How did he do it? By shooting 21/26 from the field, including 6/8 from three! Impressively, Barros added 8 assists while only turning it over 4 times. Clarence Weatherspoon had another bad game, shooting 5/13 with 4 turnovers (4 turnovers is acceptable when you have 50 points and 8 assists, not when you have 11 points and 1 assist), while the Rockets had Clyde Drexler, Kenny Smith, and Mario Elie combine to score 72 points on 23/34 shooting.