Check out the previous entries in ClutchPoints' 100 greatest NBA players of all time series based on Josh Eberley's E-Rank: 100-91 | 90-81 | 80-71 | 70-61 | 60-51 | 50-41
In a grouping chock full of legendary point guards and MVP winners, the standout name is likely a center. We are all the way up in the top 40 and, still, the NBA’s 75th anniversary Team missed on names who are appearing on the list!
E-Rank Insight: E-Rank did consider shooting efficiency. Rather than penalizing players in eras that didn’t have the same emphasis or attention given to efficiency, or suffered from a lack of spacing overall, E-Rank looked at rTS% and the overall efficiency of a player in their own era.
A question for you the reader: There are five point guards in this group of 10, how would you have arranged the order?
Check out the gallery for players 40-31 on the list.
40. Isiah Thomas 481.75 (75th Anniversary Team)
Isiah Thomas’ playoff heroics and overall playoff resume squeezed him in the top 40 just slightly ahead of Gary Payton. Perhaps holding down the ascent of Michael Jordan remains his most memorable accomplishment, though, alas, E-Rank did not award extra points for such a feat.
39. Anthony Davis 482.45 (75th Anniversary Team)
The greatest weapon of all time may just have been bubble Anthony Davis. The 2020 title run aside, the college freshman phenom has been nothing short of sensational at both ends of the floor since coming into the league in 2012! His third chapter in Dallas will dictate whether he can climb even higher in a future update.
38. Russell Westbrook 486.55 (75th Anniversary Team)
There will always be heavy-handed camps of both cheerleaders and critics for Russell Westbrook. Few players have dictated the floor and stat sheet like prime Russ.. The weight he carried was enormous and, in his younger years, very few players played his position with more ferocity. An elite athlete with a motor you couldn’t oversell and a nasty competitive spirit.
37. Steve Nash 503.75 (75th Anniversary Team)
What if Steve Nash just shot 10 triples a game? He has talked about it, it wasn’t in his nature, the game wasn’t at that point, but one of the most efficient dual-threat point generals of all time just missed playing in the juiced era. A hilarious irony, given that the Seven Seconds or Less Suns pointed the way for many of the greats who came next. A two-time MVP winner and for at least another season or two, the greatest Canadian basketball player ever.
36. Jason Kidd 512.2 (75th Anniversary Team)
The heart of two Finals teams, both of which had no business climbing as high as they did. Jason Kidd got his full-circle moment winning with Dallas in 2011. One of the best two-way players to ever play the position, and despite early in his career being knocked for his shaky jumper he finished as one of the all-time 3-point leaders. Kidd and Nash — two players who did stints in Dallas and Phoenix and took turns sitting at the top of the league's point guard hierarchy — finishing side-by-side feels right.
35. Dwight Howard 517.85
All the way up at 35 and still, he was not a member of the 75th Anniversary Team, an objective miss by a voting panel that very clearly ignored both the impact and accomplishments for the oft-controversial career narrative around Dwight Howard. He mentioned it this weekend at his Hall of Fame inauguration but, truly, a slap in the face for a man who very clearly sits near the top of the pyramid. An eight-time All-NBA member and three-time Defensive Player of the Year, many might argue he was also snubbed of an even bigger award back in 2011.
34. Bob Cousy 530.35 (75th Anniversary Team)
Eight straight years leading the league in dimes is rather incredible. Bob Cousy tape has often been reviewed with cynicism and few would argue his skill set would translate well to the modern era, but it’s important to judge players off of what they did, where and when they were at the peak of their career. 12 times he made an All-NBA Team and helped win six titles.
33. Rick Barry 549.35 (75th Anniversary Team)
A scoring leader in both the ABA and NBA, a Finals MVP, a champion. Forget the free-throw shooting, Rick Barry averaged just shy over 30 a game over a 10-year span. One of the best scorers to ever set out on the hardwood.
32. John Havlicek 573.65 (75th Anniversary Team)
Modern fans are quick to discuss a player’s ring count when Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan are being defended, but the same delivery is not as routine with older talents such as Hondo. The man won eight titles. EIGHT! John Havlicek also did it in two different eras, charting a championship course without Bill Russell setting the tone, a feat many of the prior mentioned Celtics of this list cannot claim to also hold.
31. Scottie Pippen 589.35 (75th Anniversary Team)
The second-best perimeter player of Michael Jordan’s era was his teammate. People forget, MJ left and Scottie Pippen stepped up. The Chicago Bulls still won 55 games and lost a tight seven-game series in the second round in 1994, and he almost snagged his own MVP award too. It’s a silly part of fandom that Pippen may have garnered more global respect if he scored more on his own team rather than fitting the role the Bulls needed him to play in the dynasty.
