By Brendon Rosenau
Winning an NBA Championship isn’t guarantee, even for some of the greatest players in the world.
Below are two teams. Team A is loaded with the best the game has ever seen. Team B has 17 rings between them. You think anyone from Team A would want to switch places with Team B?
John Stockton (Team A) vs. Jason Williams (Team B)
Stockton was a point guard in the truest sense of the word. He’s the NBA’s all-time leader in assists (15,806) and steals (3,265) and is third in games played (1,504). To bad for him that in the two years he led his team to the NBA Finals, he ran into some guy named Jordan.
Stockton made 10 All-Star teams, shot over 51% from the field and averaged a double-double 10 straight years. If life was at all fair, he’d have at least one ring. But alas, life is not. Despite being the antithesis of a team player, Jason Williams has the one thing Stockton will never have.
Williams is best known for his media tirade in Memphis and his nickname “White Chocolate.” Yet, he was the starter for the Miami Heat when they won the title in 2006. He averaged just 3.9 assists in the playoffs that year, but with the help of D-Wade and the Big Diesel his primary job was to not lose the game.
For his career, Williams has averaged about a 3:1 assist to turnover ration while Stockton retired at around 5:1. Stockton was five times the player Williams will ever be. His legacy, however, will always be unfairly tainted by the emptiness of his hands.
Reggie Miller (A) vs. Mario Elie (B)
Miller is the NBA’s best three-point shooter of all time and scored over 25,000 points in 18 seasons with the Indiana Pacers. He was a five-time All-Star and was one of the best pure shooters to play in the league. He finally pushed his team into the Finals in 2000, but became the first victim of an L.A. three-peat.
Conversely, Elie scored just over 6,000 points in his NBA career and never made an All-Star roster. He played with the Rockets from 1993 to 1998, then moved to the Spurs for two years. In that span, he was able to collect three championship rings. He once averaged 11.7 points per game at his peak, while Miller went for at least 20 on six different occasions.
Charles Barkley (A) vs. Toni Kukoc (B)
“The Round Mound of Rebound” was just a sensational basketball player. Despite being just 6-foot-6, Barkley was a monster on the glass and could score the rock from all over the floor. He finished his career with over 12,000 rebounds and is sixth all time with 4,260 offensive boards. He averaged 11.7 per game for his career, to go along with 22.1 points in his time with the 76ers, Suns and Rockets. His only chance for a ring came in 1993 when he was with the Suns. Sir Charles won the MVP that year and averaged 27.3 points a game in the Finals. However, that total was 14 points less than Michael Jordan would pour in over the six games series.
Toni Kukoc didn’t have a bad career, but where Barkley thrived, Kukoc wilted. Barkley was a phenomenal rebounder despite his size. Kukoc, at 6-foot-10, barely averaged more than four rebounds per game. He was a decent scorer, but finished with less than 10,000 career points. Barkley scored 23,757 and made 11 All-Star Games. Kukoc got a chance to lead the Bulls when Jordan retired and the results where disastrous. However, in Jordan’s second stint with the team, Kukoc was able to throw three rings on his fingers, giving our B Team seven up to this point.
Karl Malone (A) vs. Robert Horry (B)
Malone ranks second all-time in points (36,928), minutes played, field goals, defensive rebounds and is first in free throws and free throw attempts. He made 14 All-Star teams and was a fixture on the All-NBA team virtually his entire career. He ran the most effective pick-and-roll the game has ever seen with teammate John Stockton in Utah.
He even signed with the Lakers to form a “Super Team.” However, he went 0-3 in his three NBA Finals appearances and has been criticized beyond belief for his actions in the ‘98 Finals against the Bulls. In that series, he missed a pair of free throws that led to a defeat in one game and had the ball stolen moments before Jordan clinched the series.
Perhaps Malone’s character foil is Robert Horry. Horry couldn’t even imagine the career numbers Malone put up. However, in the playoffs, whenever a clutch shot was to be made, “Big Shot Bob” was there.
Horry has won seven NBA titles and may still find himself another one or two before finally calling it a career. What that means is that, at this point, he could give everyone on this list one ring and would still have twice as many as any of them.
Horry’s started just 481 games in his career and has never been a league leader in any single category. He won’t be in the Hall of Fame, yet he’s been in the playoffs every year of his career. He’s been labeled a winner, while Malone has been unfortunately tabbed as a guy who can’t get it done in the clutch. Imagine if the Mailman had just one ring. Sad.
Patrick Ewing (A) vs. Luc Longley (B)
Over 24,000 points. 11,000 rebounds and 2,800 blocks has led Ewing to a Hall of Fame career for the Knick legend. He was one of the most dominant big men in an era that had several Hall worthy centers. He was the leading man on a Knick team that always came up painfully short in the playoffs.
Finally, in 1995, Ewing had his chance for glory, but the ending was not meant to be. Ewing scored close to 19 points a game in the Finals, but was no match for Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon. As the years progressed, Ewing’s title hopes faded, until the 50-game lockout season of 1999. The Knicks became the first #8 seed to reach the Finals, but once again Ewing, who was 37 at the time, ran into a center he couldn’t compete with. This time it was the tandem of David Robinson and Tim Duncan.
Talent wise, Luc Longley isn’t even in the same world as Ewing was. The Australian center finished his career with 4,000 points and just under 2,800 rebounds, which would’ve been just a couple good seasons for Ewing. However, he was a member of the Bulls at the same time Kukoc was and, likewise, won three rings. He provides the one exception to the rule that you need an decent center to win a title. He also rounds out our list by giving the B Team 17 total rings to the A Team’s none.