Greatness Underrated: 5 NBA Legends You Should Know More About.
We can understand why the title of this piece raises questions since, in all honesty, how can greatness be undervalued or underappreciated? Keep reading, and we’ll shed light on a few NBA legends that aren’t talked about enough.
There have been numerous undervalued and overlooked players throughout the NBA’s history.
Unlike the legends you know, yeah, those guys. These players often stand out in their own unique way. Let’s take a look at 5 of them:
Scottie Pippen: Want to know what’s more difficult than playing in the Jordan era? Being a team member. The pressure and expectations can make or break you.
Not this guy, it would be an understatement to say that Pippen was as essential to Michael Jordan and his rings as breath is to the lungs.
Did you realize that neither Scottie Pippen nor Michael Jordan has ever won a championship on their own? Crazy, huh? In actuality, it wasn’t until after the latter’s draft that the former even made it to the finals.
How come? Let’s take a deeper look. Scottie was a lockdown defender who had the challenging job of stopping the star player of the opposing team every single night, as demonstrated by Magic Johnson in the 1991 Finals.
He also averaged 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists and an astounding two steals throughout the course of his 17-year career and had the most assists for a forward till someone broke the record. We won’t say who for now.
The point is, put some respect on Scottie’s name.
Dennis Rodman: Rodman, Nicknamed the worm, was renowned for his distinctive sense of fashion. The wedding dress, dating the sexiest ladies, the hairstyles, the nose rings, and the wrestling performance.
He was troublesome, yes, but despite all, he was one of the best defenders the sport had to offer, and he didn’t even make his league debut until he was 25 years old. Dennis still has the record for the most rebounds in NBA history.
He was a member of MJ’s team as well, and without him, they would not have been able to win those championships. a true icon in pop culture, fashion, and basketball.
Jerry West: ‘Logo’ as he’s popularly called, Jerry West was one of the very best in his era and he’s arguably the best basketball mind ever.
Oh, he’s called ‘Logo’ because the NBA’s popular logo is a silhouette of West in his playing days, although the sneaky NBA commissioner at the time would never admit to it for fear of paying heavily in royalties.
He’s the only player to win the finals MVP while being on the losing team, yeah, that’s how great he was. He was an All-Star in all 14 seasons he played with the Lakers. During that time, he was selected All-NBA on 12 occasions and All-Defense on five more, also averaging 27 points per game in his career.
He helped assemble the showtime Lakers from behind the scenes before being the frontman that birthed the dynasty that was Kobe & Shaq.
More recently he consulted for the Golden State Warriors which saw them win 3 championships under his watchful eye. A true legend on and off the court.
Hakeem Olajuwon: Hakeem ‘The Dream’ (that’s where the nickname comes from) was one of the few NBA greats to win a championship in the ’90s, with 2 finals MVPs to boot. Ignore the people saying it was because MJ retired, sounds like an MJ problem.
Back to Hakeem, he was the pioneer of big men with amazing footwork, which he used to dazzle his defenders, which brought about the move called the ‘Dream shake’ because he would easily beat his fellow big men.
He is also on record saying his team would have beaten the Bulls if they met, that’s the energy we like over here. Olajuwon averaged 21.8 points on 51% shooting, 11.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 3.1 blocks in 1,238 career games. Enough said.
Isaiah Thomas: Yes, Isaiah Thomas. You know, not many players in NBA history can tell you they got the better of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan on different occasions. Well, Isiah can and with his head held high.
‘Zeke’ as he was known was as annoying a player as he was a talented and fearless leader, he won 2 championships with ‘The Bad Boy Pistons’, and he averaged 19.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 9.3 assists in 979 regular season games. Thomas was a 12-time All-Star.
The man was so annoying that other NBA legends had to blackball him from the 94 Olympic Dream Team. Michael Jordan hated his guts; his best friend Magic Johnson couldn’t stand him.
Regardless, Zeke is still the only top 50 player to have never played with another Hall of Famer. The definition of a self-made superstar.
Can you now see why the title of this makes sense? We’ll stop here for now, let us know if we missed out on anyone.
