Isiah thomas gets no love !!

[jrlebert]

Isiah wasn't liked by his peers, and to be honest, was overshadowed, rightfully so, by a ton of other guards that were his contemporaries. Yes, he won back-to-back rings, and yes, he is still 5th all time AST/G and 16th steals/G. And yes, he was remarkably consistent, especially for a starting PG. But... while it wasn't his job to score, he has fewer career points than Dale Ellis, Reggie Theus, Terry Cummings, Walter Davis, Clifford Robinson, and Antawn Jamison.

Please don't cite the fact that he outscored Magic. Magic lost 4-5 peak years to HIV/AIDS.

Isiah's Career Similarity Score is closest to Earl Monroe, another HOFer, and Stephon Marbury, neither of whom will be confused with all-time greats.

Do a quick check, all-time, of Clyde Drexler's stats. Here's a fun one:

Players who tallied the following for their career:

20,000 pts / 5000 assists / 5000 rebounds / 1500 steals / 500 blocks

Karl Malone
Michael Jordan
Kobe Bryant
Larry Bird
Kevin Garnett
CLYDE DREXLER

...and that's it. And the incredible thing... If you make the list 200 steals, 6000 assists, and 6000 boards with the same points and blocks, CLYDE IS THE ONLY ONE EVER.

Yes, I know they didn't keep track of certain stats when Wilt and Oscar were playing, and they would, no doubt, certainly be on those lists, too, but think about the pantheon of greats we are talking about. And Clyde did win a ring, with Hakeem's Rockets in 1995. (Another player who doesn't get nearly enough love...)

[pwaldo]

Anyone specific you have in mind?

Not really. In all sports you have more people collecting newer players instead of HOF players but it seems like you don't run into many basketball collectors who collect players before the 1980s. I guess the collectors being younger and basketball not quite taking off before then has something to do with it though.

[Uofacollector]

Jordan did him dirty turning his back on him for the dream team. But then again they did just fie lol. But he was an awesome top 13 all time in my book