The Overflow
*Does not include active players
| Dave Bing | Kiki Vandeweghe |
| Maurice Cheeks | Carlos Boozer |
| Kevin Johnson | Elton Brand |
| Kyle Lowry | Horace Grant |
| Terry Porter | Blake Griffin |
| Mark Price | Spencer Haywood |
| Lenny Wilkens | Tom Heinsohn |
| Deron Williams | Bobby Jones |
| Walter Davis | Shawn Kemp |
| Jeff Hornacek | Jerry Lucas |
| Hal Greer | Vern Mikkelsen |
| Eddie Jones | Dolph Schayes |
| Sam Jones | Walt Bellamy |
| Pete Maravich | DeMarcus Cousins |
| Earl Monroe | Brad Daugherty |
| Bill Sharman | Marc Gasol |
| David Thompson | Dan Issel |
| Paul Westphal | Neil Johnston |
| Billy Cunningham | Bob Lanier |
| Grant Hill | Ed MaCauley |
| Marques Johnson | Yao Ming |
| Andre Kirilenko | Robert Parish |
| Cedric Maxwell | Jack Sikma |
| Glen Rice | Nate Thurmond |
| Detlef Schrempf | Bill Walton |
| Peja Stokajovic |
Arvydas Sabonis? Toni Kukoč? Robert Horry? Don’t they deserve to be here? Two of the best European players of their time, and a seven time champion with great performances in crucial games. Let me know if they could fit in.
Those are great names! I’ll start with Robert Horry because I think he’s in a different category. There’s no question that Big Shot Rob was a consummate role player who hit several big shots over the course of his career. However, if we ignore for a minute that he played for 7 championship teams, we wouldn’t be talking about him as a top-200 player, let alone a top-100 player. So, no question he had some pretty big moments, but he averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds over his career.
Kukoc is much more relevant to the honorable mention discussion. He had a nice career and had he started in the NBA at age 21 or 22 and played for a team other than the Bulls, he may have developed into a superstar. What happened instead is that he didn’t get started until 25 and played as the 3rd scorer and 6th man during Chicago’s second three-peat. Kukoc never garnered any All-NBA votes, made an All-Star game, or won any major awards. He did win the 6th Man of the Year award in 95-96, but that leaves him behind many of the other players on The Overflow list in terms of accolades and accomplishments. While he was an important part to Chicago’s run, there are too many players who made a bigger impact in the league for him to show up on the honorable mention list.
Arvydis is/was on a different level. I suspect that had he played in the NBA when he first turned pro that he would not only be worthy of honorable mention, but a strong candidate for the top-100. Unfortunately, he played overseas until he was 31 years old so we never got to see how his game looked against the best competition while he was healthy. Additionally, I only factor in NBA (and Olympic/World Championship) performance when rating players since no other league has anywhere near the same level of competition so I don’t factor in what he did in the Lithuanian and Spanish leagues. With only 314 games as an NBA starter and all coming in his 30s, the resume just isn’t there.
FYI–The Overflow (Honorable Mention) started out at just 50 names. It’ll grow as players leave the top-100 and new good-but-not-great careers come to an end, but the competition is pretty cutthroat with such a small honorable mention list.
Thanks again for throwing these names out there!
Kemba Walker recently retried. Four time all-star, 19 points, 4 rebounds (rounding up), and 5 assists a game, and the greatest hornets player of all time. Where does he fall?
Kemba Walker’s career is definitely worthy of being included in The Overflow. He’ll be on their sooner than later for sure.