Who’s the most consistent winner for his own team in the NBA history? That’s the question I asked myself couple of years ago, in February 2007 to be precise. So then I decided to rank all franchise guys since the 1979-80 season. This winter week, I proceeded to update the research finally -- and I took into consideration every player that has ever played in the best basketball league in the world. Of course, that means I eventually run into some difficulties: players in the 1950s and 1960s played fewer games with fewer playoff rounds but nonetheless, you can’t deny the overall career win percentages. Why win percentages? Throughout the years, I've read and seen tons of articles/videos about basketball history, and an interesting idea popped up in my head... which elite player had the best winning percentage for a particular team he played on (at least seven consecutive seasons)? Why I decided to use the number seven as a cutoff? Hell, I don’t remember that. I just know a player has to play at least seven full season for the same team in order to appear on these lists. If he’s traded during his seventh season, e.g. Chris Webber in Sacramento, he’s ineligible too. Seven seasons leading the same squad is definitely worthy of franchise-star label. I created three categories (regular season, playoffs and overall) and ranked the unquestionable stars and their era's teams. In the end, I got to the number 50... of these 50 basketball stars, whose fans had the best, most successful times following and cheering for their hero with a ball? It bears mentioning: I know these rankings are somewhat inept and with considerable holes -- it examines a player's whole career with his franchise, so he could have been too young and green to contribute in the beginning or too old and creaky to be the force in his twilight days, and I didn't have time or strength to consider games missed because of injuries or whatever (Anyone who wants to explore that in their free time?). "The diehards gonna shake their heads" part: even I feel ashamed that my ranking generates Mr. Ewing ahead of Mr. Hakeem in the 'B' category. But hey, you cannot have everything! I calculated an average of a player's respective franchise seasons, e.g. Barkley, 8 Sixer seasons, .565 average, then his playoff rating number (see my points system below) and combined it in the 'C' part. This isn't to tell who's been the best hoopster or who coulda/woulda/shoulda outplayed whom in a freaking one-on-one game -- this is how they led their teams/cities through thick and thin during number of years. Some bonafide superstars just haven't had the opportunity to play somewhere so long to make the list (e.g. Moses Malone). Also, some franchise stars have played most of their power years together (e.g. Stockton & Malone, 1985-03), and since it was too difficult to determine who was the better player overall (actually you might make a case for either of the two), I decided to include them both. Unfortunately for the all-time super greats like Scottie Pippen or Kevin McHale, nobody sane would ever claim they were better players than MJ or Bird, respectively, so they are off the ranks. Furthermore, as in the D-Wade case for example -- his last two seasons he had the awesome help of one guy named James, rest assured you can’t say with a straight face Wade was the best player on the team in every one of his nine Heat seasons. I told you, this is an imperfect science. Honestly, I admit the list of 50 may be incomplete, but I tried to throw in there everybody who was clearly worthy of all-time status AND fulfilled said prerequisites. Of these, those who are already retired from the game of basketball and have not their jersey number retired by the team they played the most games for: Payton, Mikan (his #99 is a part of Honored Minneapolis Lakers banner) & Shaq (his #34 will be retired during this current NBA season). As you'll see, the way the numbers shook out produced a ranking that conformed very much with a fan's conventional wisdom, with a few interesting exceptions. In other words, it's nice to know that the numbers have our backs. Now, on to the list. Enjoy.
A. Best win percentage (regular season)*
1 Magic Johnson LAKERS /1979-91, 1995-96/ .717**
2 Bill Russell CELTICS /1956-69/ .705
3 Tim Duncan SPURS /1997-13/ .704
4 Larry Bird CELTICS /1979-92/ .701
5 Shaquille O'Neal LAKERS /1996-04/ .693
6 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar LAKERS /1975-89/ .676
7 Julius Erving SIXERS /1976-87/ .670
8 Michael Jordan BULLS /1984-93, 95-98/ .666
9 Bob Cousy CELTICS /1950-63/ .665
10 David Robinson SPURS /1989-03/ .652
11 Kobe Bryant LAKERS /1996-13/ .651
12 George Mikan LAKERS /1948-54, 1955-56/ .646
13 Karl Malone JAZZ /1985-03/ .642
14 Dirk Nowitzki MAVS /1998-13/ .640
15 John Havlicek CELTICS /1962-78/ .639
16 Kevin Johnson SUNS /1988-00/ .638
16 LeBron James CAVS /2003-10/ .638
18 Sidney Moncrief BUCKS /1979-89/ .636
19 John Stockton JAZZ /1984-03/ .633
20 Billy Cunningham SIXERS /1965-72/ .628
21 Jerry West LAKERS /1960-74/ .627
22 Gary Payton SONICS /1990-03/ .619
23 Steve Nash SUNS /1996-98, 2004-12/ .598
24 Carmelo Anthony NUGGETS /2003-10/ .588
25 Dwyane Wade HEAT /2003-13/ .587
26 Elvin Hayes BULLETS /1972-81/ .584
27 Wes Unseld BULLETS /1968-81/ .579
27 Oscar Robertson ROYALS /1960-70/ .579
27 Dwight Howard MAGIC /2004-12/ .579
30 Hakeem Olajuwon ROCKETS /1984-01/ .575
31 Isiah Thomas PISTONS /1981-94/ .565
31 Charles Barkley SIXERS /1984-92/ .565
33 Willis Reed KNICKS /1964-74/ .564
34 George Gervin SPURS /1976-85/ .563
35 Reggie Miller PACERS /1987-05/ .558
35 Alonzo Mourning HEAT /1995-02, 05-08/ .558
37 Patrick Ewing KNICKS /1985-00/ .557
38 Clyde Drexler BLAZERS /1983-95/ .551
39 Dominique Wilkins HAWKS /1982-93/ .544
40 Paul Pierce CELTICS /1998-13/ .538
41 Bob Pettit HAWKS /1954-65/ .537
42 Walter Davis SUNS /1977-88/ .535
43 Kevin Garnett WOLVES /1995-07/ .526
44 Earl Monroe KNICKS /1971-80/ .523
45 Alex English NUGGETS /1980-91/ .516
46 Allen Iverson SIXERS /1996-06/ .498
47 Bob Lanier PISTONS /1970-79/ .475
48 Chris Mullin WARRIORS /1985-97/ .454
49 Mitch Richmond KINGS /1991-00/ .419
50 Adrian Dantley JAZZ /1979-86/ .409
* at least 7 full seasons with the same team
** no. / franchise star / team / years / win percentage
B. Best playoff rating~
~ Points (1974-2013):
Non-playoffs… 0
First round… 1
Conference semis… 2
Conference finals… 3
NBA Finals… 4
NBA champion… 6
1 Magic LAKERS 4.08
2 Shaq LAKERS 3.88
3 Jordan BULLS 3.77
4 Kareem LAKERS 3.71
5 Bird CELTICS 3.31
6 Kobe LAKERS 3.18
7 Duncan SPURS 3.13
8 Erving SIXERS 3.00
8 Wade HEAT 3.00
10 Hayes BULLETS 2.33 (1972-74 w/o 1st round in playoffs)
11 D-Robinson SPURS 2.29
12 Moncrief BUCKS 2.20
13 I-Thomas PISTONS 2.08
14 Unseld BULLETS 2.07 (1968-74 w/o 1st round in playoffs)
15 Ewing KNICKS 2.00
15 LeBron CAVS 2.00
17 K-Johnson SUNS 1.92
18 Stockton JAZZ 1.89
19 K-Malone JAZZ 1.88
19 Hakeem ROCKETS 1.88
21 Gervin SPURS 1.77
22 Nowitzki MAVS 1.68
23 Pierce CELTICS 1.66
23 Drexler BLAZERS 1.66
25 R-Miller PACERS 1.61
26 Mourning HEAT 1.60
27 D-Howard MAGIC 1.50
28 Monroe KNICKS 1.44 (1971-74 w/o 1st round in playoffs)
29 Nash SUNS 1.40
30 Payton SONICS 1.38
30 Barkley SIXERS 1.38
32 W-Davis SUNS 1.36
33 Anthony NUGGETS 1.28
34 English NUGGETS 1.27
35 Iverson SIXERS 1.20
36 Wilkins HAWKS 1.00
37 Garnett T-WOLVES 0.83
38 Dantley JAZZ 0.71
39 Mullin WARRIORS 0.66
40 Lanier PISTONS 0.55 (1970-74 w/o 1st round in playoffs)
41 Richmond KINGS 0.44
***
~ Points (1948-1974):
Non-playoffs… 0
Division (Conf., 1970-74) semis… 1
Division (Conf., 1970-74) finals… 2
NBA Finals… 3
NBA champion… 5
1 Russell CELTICS 4.61
2 Mikan LAKERS 4.00
3 Havlicek CELTICS 3.25
4 Cousy CELTICS 3.23
5 West LAKERS 2.57
6 Reed KNICKS 2.10
7 Pettit HAWKS 2.09
8 Cunningham SIXERS 1.71
9 Robertson ROYALS 0.80
C. Overall rankings, Top 10 (reg. season + playoffs together)
1 Magic 71.7 + 4.08 = 75.78
2 Russell 70.5 + 4.61 = 75.10
3 Duncan 70.4 + 3.13 = 73.53
4 Bird 70.1 + 3.31 = 73.41
5 Shaq 69.3 + 3.88 = 73.18
6 Erving 69.0 + 3.00 = 72.90
7 Kareem 67.6 + 3.71 = 71.31
8 Jordan 66.6 + 3.77 = 70.37
9 Cousy 66.5 + 3.23 = 69.73
10 Kobe 65.1 + 3.18 = 68.28
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