My 10 Most Underrated Players in NBA History

[Music] one of the most discussed topics on this channel is the underrated and under-appreciated players of the nba's past when i'm asked who i think the most underrated players are it's very difficult to answer because the truth is there's just so many of them these are players who for one reason or another have been forgotten or overlooked as the years have gone on simply off the top of my head i wrote down 35 players who had a chance at making this list and then i narrowed those 35 down to only 10. now one crucial detail to note for my list there are no active players on my list and i believe there's a good reason for that i've said this before in a previous video but when we're talking about the most underrated players there's usually one major factor that plays a part ignorance and i don't mean that to sound negative but i mean that in the words actual definition it's easy for a player to be under-appreciated when young fans literally know nothing about the player being discussed which is also why it's difficult for a modern player to be underrated to the same extent because although that active player has his fans and his haters by and large everyone is familiar with his skill set and talent take a player like damian lillard for example everyone knows he's a legitimate superstar and is one of the best point guards in the entire league but i also believe that he's building the perfect recipe to be one of the most underrated players of all time when we flash forward 20 to 30 years into the future when people are reflecting on this current era 30 years from now for the most part they'll remember guys like steph curry who won several championships and made a huge impact on the game of basketball with his three-point shooting they'll also remember guys like russell westbrook who was someone who broke records and completely transformed the way we look at the triple-double but then there's guys like damian lillard who never won any championships never broke any significant records and never immortalized himself in basketball history as a member of some sort of iconic super team no instead he just faithfully and consistently produced superstar numbers for a small market in a less prestigious franchise there's lots to be appreciated there but decades later those things aren't widely remembered and are rarely discussed which naturally leads to that player becoming underrated over time that's why there's such an old school flavor to this list and if i'm still doing this youtube thing 20 years from now i'll be using the same explanation to tell you why there's more players from the 2020s than there are from the 2040s so without further ado let's get into it first off sydney moncrieff sydney was a 6'3 point guard shooting guard who spent the majority of his career with the milwaukee bucks throughout the 1980s he was arguably the best defensive player during his prime and he's the only guard to ever win the defensive player of the year award multiple times he was an incredibly gifted athlete and was a reliable and incredibly efficient score especially by point guard standards as she shot above 50 from the field over the course of his career averaging as high as 22.5 points per game in 1983. this point is almost never mentioned but sydney's bucks were actually the first team to ever eliminate michael jordan's bulls from the playoffs which they did in 1985. in that series sydney put up 26.5 points on 50 40 90 percentages while containing jordan well below his usual efficiency standards one of the major reasons why he's overlooked is due to the fact that he played in a stacked eastern conference throughout the 1980s and although he's one of the greatest perimeter defenders to ever play sadly great defensive players aren't celebrated nearly to the extent that great offensive players are speaking of under-appreciated defensive players second up is michael cooper you can't have an honest conversation about the showtime lakers of the 1980s without bringing up this man's impact although the 80s lakers were an all-time great offensive team they had a strong defensive presence as well and cooper was easily the best defender on that squad he was incredibly tenacious with his on-ball defense and was usually the player who was assigned to contain the opponent's best perimeter score for his career cooper made an astonishing eight all defense teams and his 1987 campaign was even better as he was that season's defensive player of the year he was one of the original three and d type of players as he shot as high as 38.7 percent from three point range and was usually among the league leaders and three point attempts third up is moses malone i'll keep saying it because i feel pretty confident about it but moses malone is the most underrated center of all time i believe a major part of why he's so underrated is the fact that he's arguably the greatest journeyman to ever play as moses played for eight different franchises throughout his basketball career i mean for goodness sake look at how many different jerseys this guy wore over the course of his career due to this no one specific franchise can claim him as their own which certainly affects how he's remembered moses was simply dominant though especially in terms of his scoring and rebounding he was a 13-time all-star a three-time league mvp won six rebounding titles and was the best player on the 1983 philadelphia 76ers a team that won the nba championship and has a legitimate case for the title of the greatest team in nba history moses's nickname was the chairman of the boards and there are few players who have dominated a single aspect of pro basketball as much as malone dominated the offensive boards during the 1981-82 season moses averaged 6.9 offensive rebounds per game no one else in the history of the nba has ever officially averaged as many offensive rebounds as moses did that season that's a ton of second chance opportunities to consistently provide for your team if you're still not thoroughly impressed consider this there are eight players in nba history with over 4 000 offensive rebounds robert parrish is second all time with 4 598. moses has 6731 and that doesn't even include his two seasons in the aba honestly it's laughable how much he dominates everyone else in that area next up is bob mcadoo when we talk about the nba's 50 greatest players ceremony in 1997 people usually point to dominique wilkins as the biggest nub from that list but i could give a strong argument that it was actually bob mcadoo during kareem abdul-jabbar's individual dominance in the 1970s mcadoo was one of the only players who legitimately challenged him as a regular mvp candidate and he actually won the award over kareem in 1975. mcadoo was a 6-9 center but he played the game like a smooth small forward as he scored the vast majority of his points outside of 10 feet with his stellar footwork and with his incredibly reliable jump shot mcadoo led the league in scoring for three consecutive seasons from 1974 to 1976 getting as high as 34.5 in 1975. he did eventually win two nba championships in his twilight years as a solid scoring spark off the bench for the showtime lakers in the 1980s fifth up is chris webber one of the more recent legends on my list but weber absolutely has very good reasons to be here when people talk about the great power forwards of the 2000s they always talk about tim duncan dirk nowitzki and kevin garnett as they should but in the first half of the decade weber was legitimately in the conversation for the title of the best power forward in the game and many people seem to have forgotten that he was the best passer out of that group and was putting up monstrous stat lines during his prime and if it wasn't for the league screwing him over in the 2002 west finals then he would be known today as an nba champion and as the superstar who put an end to the shaq and kobe dynasty next is mark price the six foot point guard played in the nba from 1986 to 1998 and his best years were as a member of the cleveland cavaliers not only did he have an incredibly smooth handle but price was simply one of the best pair shooters the game has ever seen his field goal percentage was just a bit shy of having 50 40 90 career percentages which is absolutely incredible not only was he a near 20 points per game score in his best years but he was also just slightly behind the league leaders and assists per game i'm definitely planning on making his own video at some point and considering his talent it's quite surprising how overlooked he's become seventh on the list is adrian dantly he played in the nba from 1976 to 1991 and spent his best years as a member of the utah jazz and detroit pistons adrian was a smooth and fundamentally sound 6'5 small forward whose mid-range game and ability to finish in the paint was consistently among the best of the best he was a six-time all-star and a two-time scoring champion to simply say that dantly was an underrated score would be a gigantic understatement in 1981 he averaged 30.7 points the following year he averaged 30.3 points and then 30.7 points in 1983 and then 30.6 points in 1984. that's a streak of four straight seasons where he averaged over 30 points per game the only players who have a longer streak of seasons are michael jordan and wilt chamberlain those are literally the only two players what's even more impressive is the fact that dantly shot an insane 56.4 percent over that four season stretch that's incredibly efficient even for a center but for a 30 points per game small forward that's basically unheard of add that to the fact that he was consistently among the most efficient free-throw shooters in the league and yeah dantly is clearly underrated next up is dolph chase many players are underrated and under-appreciated but few legends are so underappreciated that most young basketball fans have never even heard of them that's the category this chase falls into as the legend played from 1949 to 1964 spending almost the entirety of his career with the syracuse nationals the 6-8 power forward was a solid score getting as high as 24.9 points per game and was also an elite rebounder as he led the league in 1951 with 16.4 per game despite being a big man he was also one of the best free-throw shooters of league history as he led the league on three separate occasions getting as high as 90.4 percent from the charity stripe he made 12 all-nba teams and won the nba championship in 1955 and he certainly would have been the finals mvp if the award had existed at that point in history next is james worthy the six ninth small forward is one of the most overlooked rates of basketball history and was the perfect running mate for magic johnson james loved to run the floor and score in transition and was the most frequent beneficiary of magic's no-look passes that wasn't the only way he scored his points though james was great with his back to the basket and in face up situations with the opponent as he had one of the quickest first steps the game has ever seen his unique ability to find his way to the paint led him to have an elite field goal efficiency he also had the nickname big game james worthy which was very fitting considering the fact that he's one of the great big game performers of league history like when he was named the 1988 finals mvp which capped off his heroic performance in game 7 against detroit where he dropped 36 points 16 rebounds and 10 assists on 68 shooting the lakers needed every single one of those statistics to win that deciding game by just three points it always annoys me whenever people refer to magic johnson and kareem abdul-jabbar as one of the best duos of league history because the truth is they weren't simply just a duo they were a superstar trio with james worthy being the third head on the showtime lakers three-headed monster lastly is the late great elgin baylor i've saved this guy for last because in my opinion he's the most underrated player in nba history kobe bryant put it this way elgin baylor was the michael jordan before michael jordan and the julia serving before julia serving when he wasn't busy serving in the military he was serving up his opponents dropping 38.3 points per game in 1962. he also has the all-time record for the most points ever scored in an nba finals game when he dropped 61 points against bill russell and the celtics in 1962 just for good measure he also snagged 22 rebounds that same game it's one thing to score like that but to rebound like rodman at the same time is mind-boggling baylor also has the highest career rebounds per game average for anyone who didn't play at center with an incredible 13.5 per game not only was he not a center but he stood at only 6 foot 5 inches tall which makes it even more impressive no player his size or smaller ever had an average as high as 9 rebounds per game and baylor got 13.5 if you ask me the laker connection is actually the reason why he's so underrated because not only is he so overshadowed by all the other laker greats but he's easily the greatest laker legend to never win an nba championship at least in technicality since he was a member of the 1972 lakers but he only played in nine games that season before his bad knees resulted in him retiring so what do you guys think who's on your list for the most underrated players in nba history i look forward to hearing some of your picks in the comments section below thanks for watching as always make sure to like and subscribe for more basketball content and i'll see you guys in the next video you

Channel: Jonny Arnett

Views: 306,437

Keywords: NBA, Basketball, Chris Webber, James Worthy, Underrated, Lakers, Celtics, Damian Lillard, Elgin Baylor, Moses Malone, GOAT, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe, Jxmy Highroller, Mike Korzemba, Dom2k, Andy Hoops, SB Nation, Secret Base, BSolz, Basketball Time Machine, Legend of Winning, Clique Productions, Bob McAdoo, afunkydiabetic, First Take, Undisputed, Highlights, Magic Johnson, Showtime Lakers, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Michael Cooper, Steph Curry, Giannis, Bill Russell, ABA

Id: sjgvjr_fYe0

Length: 14min 28sec (868 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 16 2021