duminică, 15 septembrie 2013

10 great NBA players that never won a ring

NBA greatness is reduced to one thing: the championship rings won. The rings have the power of transforming players from `villains` to `heroes` and `contenders` to `champs`.

This being said we’d like to shed some light on the players that may not have won a ring , yet they are still legitimate top NBA basketball players because of their great skill and athleticism.

Without further ado, we present you `The Ringless’ .


Charles Barkley (1984-2000)

Charles Barkley

Despite his relatively shortness (6ft 4.75in)  , “Sir Charles” is one of the best power forwards to ever play the game of basketball so he couldn’t miss from this list.

He ranks 18th all-time in rebounds (12,546), 21st in steals (1,648)  and 23rd in points (23,757), and is one of only four players to record at least 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 1,500 steals throughout his career.

He managed to win the 1993 MVP award by averaging 25.6 points, 12.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. This prevented Michael Jordan from winning his third straight MVP. To force ”His Airness” to take a brake is not an easy task.

Unfortunattely for him , Jordan claimed the 1993 championship cutting off the Phoenix Suns in 6 games.
Taking all that into account, Barkley is undoubtedly a Hall of Famer and he owns his place among NBA legends.


Patrick Ewing (1985-2002)


Ewing was selected as a No.1 draft pick by the New York Knicks and he lived up to the expectations the team and the fans had .

He finished his career ranked sixth all time in blocks (2,894)  , 18th in points (24,815)  and 24th in rebounds (11,607)  , and is one of only six players
Patrick Ewing
 in NBA history to record at least 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 2,500 blocks in his career.


He made two appearances in the NBA Finals, in 1994 and 1999, but wasn't able to push the Knicks past the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs, respectively. His 11 All-Star appearances, seven All-NBA nods, two Olympic gold medals and the 1986 Rookie of the Year award are proof of what he could do on the court. 








Karl Malone (1985-2004)


During his 19-year career ,”The Mailman” Malone proved to be an all around player contributing in every relevant way possible.

He ranks second all time in total points scored (36,928), 10th in steals (2,085), sixth in total rebounds (14,968), 48th in assists (5,248) and 58th in blocks (1,145) . He was quite of a stats-filler.
Karl Malone


He is also in a very select company being one of the  only three players in NBA history who have at least 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 5,000 assists to their name: Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kevin Garnett.

He made three appearances in the NBA Finals: twice with the Utah Jazz  (1997 & 1998), and once in the final season of his career (2004) with the Los Angeles Lakers—but fell short all three times.


Reggie Miller (1987-2005)


Reggie Miller is regarded as one of the best shooters in NBA history.

Up until being surpassed by Ray Allen during the 2010-11 season, Miller held the all-time record for made three-point field goals (2,560). Allen also broke Miller's record for most postseason three-point field goals (320) in the first round of the 2013 playoffs.
Reggie Miller

He ranks 14th on the NBA's all-time leaderboard for points scored (25,279) , 39th in steals (1,505) and 91st in assists (4,141)  . He's one of only five players in NBA history to achievee at least 25,000 points, 4,000 total rebounds, 4,000 assists and 1,500 steals, alongside Karl Malone, Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant.











                                                        Dikembe Mutombo (1991-2009)


This guy is one of the best shot blockers ever so the fact that he holds the title of  second-most blocks in league history (3,289) shouldn’t be a surprise.
Dikembe Mutombo
After all , commercials are ,to some extent, truthful . 

Not nearly as annoying for the public as this commercial depicts him he proved himself to be an even more inconvinient presence for his opponents on the court.

After being drafted fourth overall by the Denver Nuggets in 1991, Mutombo led the league in blocks per game from his third season through his fifth. He led the league in total blocks for five straight years, from 1993-94 through 1997-98, and finished with the most total rebounds in four of his first nine years.






Allen Iverson (1996-2010)


The number 1 pick in the 1996 draft pick turned out to be capable of transforming the Philadelphia 76’ers into a championship contender but because the supporting crew was missing, the team couldn’t reach the peak of the mountain.

When Allen Iverson retired he was ranked 19th all time in points (24.368) , 12th all time in steals (1.983) and 38th in assists (5.624). These numbers prove that he was more than a scorer contributing in all major offensive compartments.
Allen Iverson

The 2001 league MVP should be credited for getting his team to the Finals just like LeBron James is praised for dragging the Cavaliers to the 2007 Finals.











Tracy McGrady (1997 - 2013)


This recently retired player is known as one of the NBA’s most feared scorers in the early 2000’s. His career averages of 19.6 points , 4.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds along with his seven NBA All-Star appearances, seven All NBA selections and two NBA scoring champion titles justifies his presence on this list.
Tracy McGrady

One of the facts that attest his status as a player that deserved a championship ring is the Kobe Bryant vs. Tracy McGrady debate during which both players stated that the other was the toughest player they had to guard in their career.
A sample of his NBA star pottential was provided to us in Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Playoffs in the first round. A Houston Rockets – Dallas Mavericks match where he blew past Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki and dunked over  7’6” center  Shawn Bradley.  `T-Mac` also scored the game winning basket for a 113-111 win.  That’s not your average bear .... I mean .. `baller`.

However despite his `star power` he couldn’t manage to reach the NBA Finals until this last season when he had the greatest opportunity of his career to win a championship ring with  the San Antonio Spurs. Unfortunatelly for him, the Spurs fell short to the reigning champions the Miami Heat.


Steve Nash (1996-Present)


Throughout his career Nash climbed the ranks of the NBA's all-time assists leaderboard, where he currently sits fourth with 10,249 ‘shares’ .


Steve Nash


The two-time league MVP is one of only four players in league history to have at least 15,000 points, 10,000 assists and 800 steals to his name.


When Nash joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012 it would seem that the desired ring would not elude him much longer but an injury drove him away from this possible accomplishment.


Later on, when he stepped back on the court his co-star teammates either leaved (Dwight Howard’s case)  or suffered an injury (Kobe Bryant’s case) . 


So his championship winning meter show quite low values at the start of the new season.


Vince Carter (1998-Present)


The Golden State Warriors  selected Carter with the No. 5 pick in the 1998 draft, but the Toronto Raptors quickly swooped in and acquired him via a draft-day trade.

Vince Carter
Carter won the 1999 Rookie of the Year award after averaging 18.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.1 steals per game throughout his first year in the NBA. From there, he'd go on to post 10 straight seasons where he averaged at least 20 points per game.

He couldn't be much more unlucky in terms of NBA Finals appearances, though. He was traded to the then-New Jersey Nets roughly a season-and-a-half after they made it to back-to-back finals, then joined the Orlando Magic (in 2009) and Dallas Mavericks (in 2011) as both teams were coming off finals appearances of their own.




Chris Paul (2005-Present)


Even if ”CP3” is miles away from retiring it is obvious that he is one of the greatest point guards to ever play in the NBA.

He came into the league in 2005 as the No. 4 overall draft pick by the New Orleans Hornets, then led the NBA in total steals as a rookie (175). Per-game averages of 16.1 points, 7.8 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 2.2 steals helped him secure the 2006 Rookie of the Year award.

Through his first eight seasons, CP3 led the league five times in steals per game and twice in assists per game.
Chris Paul

It is unlikely that Paul will leave the Los Angeles Clippers in 2013 , meaning  his teammate Blake Griffin is his one and only aid for an NBA title.









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