More Under-Rated

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

I tried to find the "Under-Rated" thread from a few weeks ago but couldnt find it.

Here are a few guys who have gone overlooked and even forgotten.

1. Clarence Weatherspoon
When he came into the league as a power forward for the 76ers he was instantly compared to Charles Barkley. It was unfair to the kid. He never was even a shadow of Barkley.

But in his sophomore season in the league the guy put up 18 and 10 to go with a block; played every game of the year.

Who remembers this? When i saw the stats i was surprised because it had completely slipped my mind.

Though injuries went on to limit him later on, Weatherspoon was a good, under-rated player when he was young.

You wanna know who else is under-rated?

2. Fat Lever

Long before fantasy leagues, this guy was filling out box scores like it was going out of style - if he was playing today he'd be a fantasy stud muffin. Check out these stats, bear in mind this guy is 6-3" 175:

(In order - Points, Rebounds, Assists

84-85 12.8, 7.5, 5
85-86 13.8, 7.5, 5.4
86-87 18.9, 8, 8.9
87-88 18.9, 7.8, 8.1
88-89 19.8, 7.9, 9.3
89-90 18.3, 6.5, 9.3

Who else, besides Dwyane Wade, at this kind of frame could do this for 6 consecutive years? He made 2 All-Star games so maybe he isn't as under-rated as Eddie Johnson was who never made an All-Star game, but still...these are incredible stats.

3. Pooh Richardson
Don't let the name fool ya' now.

Before his knees went way he was straight-up ballin'. Not a bad point guard early on back in the day.


Other Under-Rated Guys:
Xavier McDaniel, Terry Cummings, Tom Chambers, Buck Williams, Larry Nance, Dale Ellis, Jeff Malone, Loy Vaught.

 

[Shakes]

Fat Lever's stats are somewhat inflated by the pace the Nuggets played at. They played at a pace factor of around 106 through that stretch, for example even the "7 seconds or less" Suns only played at a pace of around 96.

You need to take off at least 10% from his numbers to compare him to current players. Which leaves him still very good, but not really super star level or anything.

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

Shakes wrote:

Fat Lever's stats are somewhat inflated by the pace the Nuggets played at. They played at a pace factor of around 106 through that stretch, for example even the "7 seconds or less" Suns only played at a pace of around 96.

You need to take off at least 10% from his numbers to compare him to current players. Which leaves him still very good, but not really super star level or anything.

What i can't understand is how a guy averages 7 points and 5 boards a game now and everyone acts like he's a star but just about every glittering stat from the past is dismissed, denied, and excused away.

If what Lever did was so easy why don't we see any guards (with the exception of Wade, one of the leagues top 5 players) doing that much? If those Suns teams were so similar why didn't Steve Nash average 7 or 8 or 9 boards to go with his scoring and assists.

The accomplishments from the past don't have to be dismissed or denied as if they were easily attained. They just need to be celebrated and respected because they are legitimate.

 

[Shakes]

I'm not dismissing him, I'm saying that his raw stats make him look better than he was for those of us who are used to the pace of today's game. The Nuggets of that time period make the Suns look like the grind it out Pistons or Spurs.

Admittedly I'm also not particularly impressed by point guard rebounding totals as they have basically zero effect on overall team rebounding (Jason Kidd is similarly overrated in this area).

 

[AirP]

Frank Breakfast-Styleham wrote:

Shakes wrote:

Fat Lever's stats are somewhat inflated by the pace the Nuggets played at. They played at a pace factor of around 106 through that stretch, for example even the "7 seconds or less" Suns only played at a pace of around 96.

You need to take off at least 10% from his numbers to compare him to current players. Which leaves him still very good, but not really super star level or anything.

What i can't understand is how a guy averages 7 points and 5 boards a game now and everyone acts like he's a star but just about every glittering stat from the past is dismissed, denied, and excused away.

If what Lever did was so easy why don't we see any guards (with the exception of Wade, one of the leagues top 5 players) doing that much? If those Suns teams were so similar why didn't Steve Nash average 7 or 8 or 9 boards to go with his scoring and assists.

The accomplishments from the past don't have to be dismissed or denied as if they were easily attained. They just need to be celebrated and respected because they are legitimate.

That fast pace ball was fun to watch and had the Nuggets had worth a crap players maybe that run and gun style would have worked. Fat Leaver was a decent player but his stats are definitely boosted because of that style.

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

My bad. Sorry for misunderstanding you bro.

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

Wow, did Ervin Johnson really average 11 rebounds and nearly 3 blocks (only 7 points but still - I can't believe Ervin Johnson averaged 11 and 3!) one year!?