Statistical Analysis of All Pacers Players
The discussion of the worst starting Pacers ever inspired me to dig deeper. Now it's 11 AM and I'm not sure where the night went. That said, I've seen how far down the rabbit hole goes, and will share my results. I started a new thread as I wanted to incorporate more than just the worst, but rather all Pacers. This came about because I wanted some Pacer related numbers that I couldn't find anywhere. I crunched all of the seasons in a spreadsheet and regurgitated them here.
If you wish to skip over the stats, information, and methods, you can scroll down to see my three All Pacers Teams as well as the two worst Starting Pacers teams.
The statistics for this study were gathered from basketball-reference.com. Additional info found on wikipedia, pacers.com, nba.com and youtube.
This is only for the Pacers during their NBA years (1976-2009). Positions are listed as G, G-F, F-G, F,F-C, C-F, and C. Games Started was not a listed stat before the 81-82 season, at least on the sites I used. An asterisk has been placed next to players who I do not have complete information on. If there is an asterisk, I will include the year with the highest mpg. For the purposes of determining if someone was a starter during those years, I'll include those with 20+ mpg
I'm not a basketball expert by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I'm just a bored fan waiting for the NFL season to start. I hope to generate discussion, provide my research to others, and see what I've missed. At first I had to break this up into 3 messages, but I've got it slim enough it can fit as just one. Was having a problem with getting the tables to show correctly.
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Section 1 - Games Started, by Position
Minutes per game for best year in parenthesis() where needed.
Center
Rik Smits 792
Steve Stipanovich 365
Brad Miller 100
Greg Dreiling 69
Scot Pollard 52
Roy Hibbert 42
David Harrison 33
Erick Dampier 21
Rasho Nesterovic 19
Zan Tabak 14
Granville Waiters 13
Dwayne Schintzius 8
Primoz Brezec 5
Bruno Sundov 4
John Edwards 1
Courtney Sims 0
Greg Kite 0
Jawann Oldham 0
Center-Power Forward
Herb Williams 496
LaSalle Thompson 219
Clemon Johnson 49* (25.1)
James Edwards * (31.0)
Dave Robisch * (26.0)
Tom Owens 40
Rick Robey * (19.7)
Len Elmore * (19.2)
Stuart Gray 4
Scott Haskin 2
Brad Branson 2
Carlos Rogers 1
Mark West 1
Power Forward-Center
Jermaine O'Neal 497
Jeff Foster 339
Derrick McKey 304
Wayman Tisdale 137
Detlef Schrempf 98
George Johnson 88* (28.0)
Antonio Davis 60
Sam Perkins 41
Mike Bantom 37* (33.8)
George McGinnis 4* (28.0)
Dan Roundfield * (30.7)
Darnell Hillman * (28.1)
Ron Behagen * (22.2)
Russ Schoene 5
Adrian Caldwell 1
Brent Scott 0
John Williams 0
Lari Ketner 0
Forward
Dale Davis 617
Chuck Person 461
Clark Kellogg 241
Danny Granger 220
Ron Artest 185
Troy Murphy 165
Stephen Jackson 162
Al Harrington 127
Austin Croshere 86
Louis Orr 41* (24.4)
Sam Mitchell 31
Jonathan Bender 27
James Jones 24
Brandon Rush 19
Bill Garnett 15
Marty Byrnes 12
Wil Jones * (33.9)
Alex English * (33.3)
Mickey Johnson * (32.3)
Devin Durrant 8
Kenny Williams 7
Malik Sealy 6
Shawne Williams 6
Ike Diogu 3
Maceo Baston 2
Britton Johnsen 1
Kenton Edelin 1
Anthony Frederick 0
Bill Martin 0
Brian Rowsom 0
Bruce Kuczenski 0
Calvin Natt 0
Darvin Ham 0
Dyron Nix 0
Etdrick Bohannon 0
Greg Kelser 0
Jerome Lane 0
Josh McRoberts 0
Josh Powell 0
Leroy Combs 0
Marcus Haislip 0
Mark Pope 0
Mark Strickland 0
Michael Brooks 0
Pete Verhoeven 0
Samaki Walker 0
Terry Mills 0
Tremaine Fowlkes 0
Corky Calhoun * (16.4)
Mel Bennett * (13.6)
Steve Green * (13.1)
Clyde Mayes * (10.5)
Tom Abernethy * (8.9)
Rudy Hackett * (7.6)
Tony Zeno * (7.4)
Dick Miller * (6.8)
Forward-Guard
Mike Dunleavy 139
Chris Mullin 134
Adrian Dantley * (41.2)
Peja Stojakovic 40
Ron Anderson 28
Tony Brown 26
Duane Ferrell 25
Mike Sanders 20
Michael Curry 7
Ricky Pierce 2
Eddie Johnson 1
Gerald Paddio 1
Sean Green 0
Guard-Forward
Reggie Miller 1304
John Long 149
Billy Knight 73* (40.0)
Earl Tatum * (32.6)
Marquis Daniels 48
George McCloud 26
Fred Jones 19
Brook Steppe 13
Kevin McKenna 13
Randy Wittman 11
Dudley Bradley * (24.7)
Ron Mercer 4
Rawle Marshall 2
Tracy Jackson 0
Vincent Askew 0
Bob Carrington * (17.7)
Johnny Neumann * (10.8)
Guard
Vern Fleming 520
Mark Jackson 390
Jamaal Tinsley 365
Jalen Rose 212
Jerry Sichting 163* (31.2)
Micheal Williams 113
Pooh Richardson 97
Anthony Johnson 96
Butch Carter 82
Don Buse 78* (30.8)
Clint Richardson 75
Haywoode Workman 72
Travis Best 71
Johnny Davis 70* (32.5)
Jim Thomas 67
Jarrett Jack 53
T.J. Ford 49
Kenny Anderson 31
Terence Stansbury 31
John Duren 24
Travis Diener 21
Ronald Murray 17
Sarunas Jasikevicius 16
Kareem Rush 15
Scott Skiles 15
Erick Strickland 10
Ricky Sobers * (34.9)
John Williamson * (34.5)
Andre Owens 7
Keith McLeod 7
Stephen Graham 6
Bryan Warrick 5
Darrell Armstrong 4
Dwayne McClain 4
Byron Scott 3
Eddie Gill 3
Quinn Buckner 3
Fred Hoiberg 2
Malik Sealy 2
Sidney Lowe 2
Jamison Brewer 1
Jerome Allen 1
Jose Slaughter 1
Byron Dinkins 0
Everette Stephens 0
Guy Morgan 0
Kevin Ollie 0
Kyle Macy 0
Lester Conner 0
Norm Richardson 0
Orien Greene 0
Ralph Jackson 0
Raymond Townsend 0
Richard Morton 0
Rickey Green 0
Sedric Toney 0
Tim Hardaway 0
Tyus Edney 0
Walker Russell 0
Freddie Lewis * (17.3)
Phil Chenier * (16.5)
Joe Hassett * (15.3)
Mike Flynn * (13.5)
Kevin Stacom * (13.0)
Wayne Radford * (12.5)
Ron Carter * (9.0)
Brad Davis * (8.6)
Darrell Elston * (8.0)
Kenny Natt * (7.8)
Bobby Wilson * (7.2)
Willie Smith * (7.0)
Jerome Anderson * (6.1)
John Kuester * (4.2)
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Section 2 - Ranking each Player by Position
Here are my breakdowns for each position (G, G-F, F-G, F, F-C, C-F, C)
I have included their best season, not their average. Averages didn't give a very good reading, especially for players who were brought along as rookies.
Warning: These rankings are my opinion. Take that as you will.
Obviously Mark Jackson is at the top of this one. Vern was a distributor for many years (84-95). Don Buse led the league in steals the Pacers first year in the league. Tinsley had some good years before he became a persona non grata. A few surprises to me here, as I remembered Scott Skiles being better than he was with us. That must have been after we got rid of him. I'm hopeful that our current guys, or someone we draft, moves up this list.
Guard-Forwards:
Reggie's category. Billy Knight played well for the Pacers in two separate stints, going back to the ABA days. Wittman played 4 years here('88 - '92), with very low mpg. His only year with double digit minutes still produced the lowest score here.
Forward-Guards:
Dantley played 23 games for the Pacers during the 1977-78 season, and then we traded him. Awesome. Some recent names at the top, not so much at the bottom. It is important to note that I, like many on this board, have an unfair bias towards more recent players. I did what I could to avoid that here, but the numbers spoke pretty convincingly. Sanders and Ferrell had 3 "meh" years here, but got enough starts to make the list.
Forwards:
Clark Kellogg, if only he'd stayed healthy. Pretty good company at the top of this list, and I think Danny will be on top when it's all said and done. Rush may look low, but he really struggled at the beginning of his rookie season.
Power Forward - Center:
Jermaine gave us his best years, and then some. If I was judging ABA, and not just NBA, McGinnis would be on top here. What we got from him from 80 - 82 was the tail end of the ABA MVP, scoring champion, and all-time team member. Derrick's contributions didn't always show on the stat sheet. Was impressed with the numbers that Roundfield put up in the late seventies.
Center - Power Forward:
Herb Williams played for some of our awful teams, but he stayed healthy and is all over the Pacers all-time stat list. Edwards was solid during our early NBA years. Tank had a low scoring average, but was an enforcer during a physical period in basketball.
Center:
The Dunkin' Dutchman gave us stability in the middle. Stipo was supposed to be the next big thing before his injury. Both Brad and most of this board wish he'd never left Indy. Hibbert seems high here, especially joining his fellow foul champion Harrison, but he's done fine considering. Some stinkers at the bottom of this one. Waiters and Tabak pulled down some monster numbers. Dreiling's are even worse. In seven seasons with the Pacers, the above is as good as it got.
Section 3 - Choosing Best and Worst All-Pacer teams
Well, this started off trying to figure out what the worst starting 5 we could put together was. Now it turns out, I'm just as interested in the top good team. Of course putting Ron Artest, Harrison, Tinsley, and the other nutcases would be fun, but I'm looking at pure production. This was not based on team chemistry, but rather it is similar to how First Team NBA is chosen. I could very well get some of these positions wrong, and I can't imagine anyone agreeing 100%. I welcome any critiques, corrections, or disagreements.
All Pacers Squad
First Team
PG Mark Jackson
SG Reggie Miller
SF Adrian Dantley
PF Clark Kellogg
C Rik Smits
Second Team
PG Vern Fleming
SG Billy Knight
SF Danny Granger
PF Dale Davis
C Jermaine O'Neal
Third Team
PG Don Buse
SG Jalen Rose
SF Derek McKey
PF Detlef Schremph
C George McGinnis
The Worst All-Pacers Starter Team
First Team
PG John Duren
SG Randy Wittman
SF Marty Byrnes
PF Zan Tabak
C Greg Dreiling
Second Team
PG Terence Stansbury
SG Duane Ferrell
SF Bill Garnett
PF David Harrison
C Granville Waiters
Now, if you want to up the threshold on number of starts for the worst team to 20, you don't lose much. Stretch it out to 40, and you're looking at something closer to:
40+
First Team
PG Jim Thomas
SG Clint Richardson
SF Louis Orr
PF Tom Owens/ Clemon Johnson
C Greg Dreiling (captain)
I'm not saying that I'm right, of course. Several of these guys were playing before I could really appreciate them live. I appreciate any of you that read this whole thing. I'll be happy to explain my choices, hear other opinions, and admit I was wrong.
Cheers,
The discussion of the worst starting Pacers ever inspired me to dig deeper. Now it's 11 AM and I'm not sure where the night went. That said, I've seen how far down the rabbit hole goes, and will share my results. I started a new thread as I wanted to incorporate more than just the worst, but rather all Pacers. This came about because I wanted some Pacer related numbers that I couldn't find anywhere. I crunched all of the seasons in a spreadsheet and regurgitated them here.
- Section 1 - Listing of all Pacers Players by position including number of starts
- Section 2 - Ranking of all starters by position
- Section 3 - All time best and worst Pacers squads (10 game starters only)
If you wish to skip over the stats, information, and methods, you can scroll down to see my three All Pacers Teams as well as the two worst Starting Pacers teams.
The statistics for this study were gathered from basketball-reference.com. Additional info found on wikipedia, pacers.com, nba.com and youtube.
This is only for the Pacers during their NBA years (1976-2009). Positions are listed as G, G-F, F-G, F,F-C, C-F, and C. Games Started was not a listed stat before the 81-82 season, at least on the sites I used. An asterisk has been placed next to players who I do not have complete information on. If there is an asterisk, I will include the year with the highest mpg. For the purposes of determining if someone was a starter during those years, I'll include those with 20+ mpg
I'm not a basketball expert by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I'm just a bored fan waiting for the NFL season to start. I hope to generate discussion, provide my research to others, and see what I've missed. At first I had to break this up into 3 messages, but I've got it slim enough it can fit as just one. Was having a problem with getting the tables to show correctly.
----------------------
Section 1 - Games Started, by Position
Minutes per game for best year in parenthesis() where needed.
Center
Rik Smits 792
Steve Stipanovich 365
Brad Miller 100
Greg Dreiling 69
Scot Pollard 52
Roy Hibbert 42
David Harrison 33
Erick Dampier 21
Rasho Nesterovic 19
Zan Tabak 14
Granville Waiters 13
Dwayne Schintzius 8
Primoz Brezec 5
Bruno Sundov 4
John Edwards 1
Courtney Sims 0
Greg Kite 0
Jawann Oldham 0
Center-Power Forward
Herb Williams 496
LaSalle Thompson 219
Clemon Johnson 49* (25.1)
James Edwards * (31.0)
Dave Robisch * (26.0)
Tom Owens 40
Rick Robey * (19.7)
Len Elmore * (19.2)
Stuart Gray 4
Scott Haskin 2
Brad Branson 2
Carlos Rogers 1
Mark West 1
Power Forward-Center
Jermaine O'Neal 497
Jeff Foster 339
Derrick McKey 304
Wayman Tisdale 137
Detlef Schrempf 98
George Johnson 88* (28.0)
Antonio Davis 60
Sam Perkins 41
Mike Bantom 37* (33.8)
George McGinnis 4* (28.0)
Dan Roundfield * (30.7)
Darnell Hillman * (28.1)
Ron Behagen * (22.2)
Russ Schoene 5
Adrian Caldwell 1
Brent Scott 0
John Williams 0
Lari Ketner 0
Forward
Dale Davis 617
Chuck Person 461
Clark Kellogg 241
Danny Granger 220
Ron Artest 185
Troy Murphy 165
Stephen Jackson 162
Al Harrington 127
Austin Croshere 86
Louis Orr 41* (24.4)
Sam Mitchell 31
Jonathan Bender 27
James Jones 24
Brandon Rush 19
Bill Garnett 15
Marty Byrnes 12
Wil Jones * (33.9)
Alex English * (33.3)
Mickey Johnson * (32.3)
Devin Durrant 8
Kenny Williams 7
Malik Sealy 6
Shawne Williams 6
Ike Diogu 3
Maceo Baston 2
Britton Johnsen 1
Kenton Edelin 1
Anthony Frederick 0
Bill Martin 0
Brian Rowsom 0
Bruce Kuczenski 0
Calvin Natt 0
Darvin Ham 0
Dyron Nix 0
Etdrick Bohannon 0
Greg Kelser 0
Jerome Lane 0
Josh McRoberts 0
Josh Powell 0
Leroy Combs 0
Marcus Haislip 0
Mark Pope 0
Mark Strickland 0
Michael Brooks 0
Pete Verhoeven 0
Samaki Walker 0
Terry Mills 0
Tremaine Fowlkes 0
Corky Calhoun * (16.4)
Mel Bennett * (13.6)
Steve Green * (13.1)
Clyde Mayes * (10.5)
Tom Abernethy * (8.9)
Rudy Hackett * (7.6)
Tony Zeno * (7.4)
Dick Miller * (6.8)
Forward-Guard
Mike Dunleavy 139
Chris Mullin 134
Adrian Dantley * (41.2)
Peja Stojakovic 40
Ron Anderson 28
Tony Brown 26
Duane Ferrell 25
Mike Sanders 20
Michael Curry 7
Ricky Pierce 2
Eddie Johnson 1
Gerald Paddio 1
Sean Green 0
Guard-Forward
Reggie Miller 1304
John Long 149
Billy Knight 73* (40.0)
Earl Tatum * (32.6)
Marquis Daniels 48
George McCloud 26
Fred Jones 19
Brook Steppe 13
Kevin McKenna 13
Randy Wittman 11
Dudley Bradley * (24.7)
Ron Mercer 4
Rawle Marshall 2
Tracy Jackson 0
Vincent Askew 0
Bob Carrington * (17.7)
Johnny Neumann * (10.8)
Guard
Vern Fleming 520
Mark Jackson 390
Jamaal Tinsley 365
Jalen Rose 212
Jerry Sichting 163* (31.2)
Micheal Williams 113
Pooh Richardson 97
Anthony Johnson 96
Butch Carter 82
Don Buse 78* (30.8)
Clint Richardson 75
Haywoode Workman 72
Travis Best 71
Johnny Davis 70* (32.5)
Jim Thomas 67
Jarrett Jack 53
T.J. Ford 49
Kenny Anderson 31
Terence Stansbury 31
John Duren 24
Travis Diener 21
Ronald Murray 17
Sarunas Jasikevicius 16
Kareem Rush 15
Scott Skiles 15
Erick Strickland 10
Ricky Sobers * (34.9)
John Williamson * (34.5)
Andre Owens 7
Keith McLeod 7
Stephen Graham 6
Bryan Warrick 5
Darrell Armstrong 4
Dwayne McClain 4
Byron Scott 3
Eddie Gill 3
Quinn Buckner 3
Fred Hoiberg 2
Malik Sealy 2
Sidney Lowe 2
Jamison Brewer 1
Jerome Allen 1
Jose Slaughter 1
Byron Dinkins 0
Everette Stephens 0
Guy Morgan 0
Kevin Ollie 0
Kyle Macy 0
Lester Conner 0
Norm Richardson 0
Orien Greene 0
Ralph Jackson 0
Raymond Townsend 0
Richard Morton 0
Rickey Green 0
Sedric Toney 0
Tim Hardaway 0
Tyus Edney 0
Walker Russell 0
Freddie Lewis * (17.3)
Phil Chenier * (16.5)
Joe Hassett * (15.3)
Mike Flynn * (13.5)
Kevin Stacom * (13.0)
Wayne Radford * (12.5)
Ron Carter * (9.0)
Brad Davis * (8.6)
Darrell Elston * (8.0)
Kenny Natt * (7.8)
Bobby Wilson * (7.2)
Willie Smith * (7.0)
Jerome Anderson * (6.1)
John Kuester * (4.2)
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Section 2 - Ranking each Player by Position
Here are my breakdowns for each position (G, G-F, F-G, F, F-C, C-F, C)
I have included their best season, not their average. Averages didn't give a very good reading, especially for players who were brought along as rookies.
Warning: These rankings are my opinion. Take that as you will.
Guards:
Guards PPG RPG APG SPG BPG MPG
1. Mark Jackson 10.0 3.8 7.8 1.2 0.1 32.6
2. Vern Fleming 14.3 3.9 7.4 1.1 0.1 35.1
3. Jalen Rose 20.5 5.0 6.0 0.9 0.6 40.9
4. Don Buse 8.0 3.3 8.5 3.5 0.2 36.4
5. Ricky Sobers 18.2 4.1 7.4 2.2 0.3 38.2
6. Micheal Williams 15.0 3.6 8.2 2.9 0.3 34.8
7. Jamaal Tinsley 15.4 4.0 6.4 2.0 0.3 32.5
8. Pooh Richardson 10.4 3.6 7.7 1.3 0.2 32.4
9. Johnny Davis 18.3 2.4 5.7 1.2 0.3 37.6
10. John Williamson 20.7 2.5 3.7 1.6 0.2 35.2
11. Haywoode Workman 7.7 3.1 6.2 1.3 0.1 26.4
12. Travis Best 11.9 2.9 6.1 1.4 0.1 31.9
13. Anthony Johnson 9.2 2.2 4.3 0.8 0.3 26.4
14. Jarrett Jack 13.1 3.4 4.1 1.1 0.2 33.1
15. T.J. Ford 14.9 3.5 5.3 1.2 0.2 30.5
16. Butch Carter 13.4 2.1 2.8 1.8 0.2 28.0
17. Scott Skiles 6.8 1.9 4.9 0.8 0.0 19.6
18. Jerry Sichting 11.5 2.1 5.7 1.1 0.1 31.2
19. Travis Diener 6.9 1.7 3.8 0.5 0.1 20.5
20. Clint Richardson 9.7 3.1 4.5 0.7 0.1 27.1
21. Ronald Murray 11.0 2.0 3.5 1.1 0.1 22.9
22. Jim Thomas 11.1 3.3 2.9 1.0 0.1 25.7
23. Terence Stansbury 7.1 1.5 1.7 0.6 0.2 17.3
24. Sarunas Jasikevicius 7.4 1.3 3.0 0.4 0.0 17.9
25. Kareem Rush 8.3 2.4 1.3 0.6 0.3 21.2
26. Erick Strickland 6.5 2.0 2.9 0.5 0.1 18.0
27. Kenny Anderson 6.0 1.8 2.8 0.6 0.1 20.6
28. John Duren 4.5 1.3 2.4 0.8 0.1 17.5
Obviously Mark Jackson is at the top of this one. Vern was a distributor for many years (84-95). Don Buse led the league in steals the Pacers first year in the league. Tinsley had some good years before he became a persona non grata. A few surprises to me here, as I remembered Scott Skiles being better than he was with us. That must have been after we got rid of him. I'm hopeful that our current guys, or someone we draft, moves up this list.
Guard-Forwards PPG RPG APG SPG BPG MPG
1. Reggie Miller 24.6 3.6 3.8 1.3 0.2 38.9
2. Billy Knight 26.6 7.5 3.3 1.5 0.2 40.0
3. John Long 15.2 2.7 3.2 1.2 0.1 28.3
4. Earl Tatum 14.4 3.6 4.0 1.8 0.5 32.6
5. Marquis Daniels 13.6 4.6 2.1 1.1 0.5 31.5
6. Fred Jones 10.6 3.1 2.5 0.8 0.4 29.5
7. Dudley Bradley 8.4 2.7 3.1 2.6 0.6 24.7
8. George McCloud 7.2 2.6 2.5 0.7 0.1 19.2
9. Brook Steppe 7.0 2.0 1.3 0.6 0.1 14.0
10. Kevin McKenna 6.3 1.6 1.9 0.8 0.1 15.1
11. Randy Wittman 5.2 1.6 2.4 0.4 0.1 21.3
Guard-Forwards:
Reggie's category. Billy Knight played well for the Pacers in two separate stints, going back to the ABA days. Wittman played 4 years here('88 - '92), with very low mpg. His only year with double digit minutes still produced the lowest score here.
Forward-Guards PPG RPG APG SPG BPG MPG
1. Adrian Dantley 26.5 9.4 2.8 2.1 0.7 41.2
2. Mike Dunleavy 19.1 5.2 3.5 1.0 0.4 36.0
3. Chris Mullin 11.3 3.0 2.3 1.2 0.5 26.5
4. Peja Stojakovic 19.5 6.3 1.7 0.7 0.2 36.4
5. Ron Anderson 10.4 4.1 2.3 0.9 0.1 24.5
6. Tony Brown 6.6 3.5 1.9 0.7 0.1 19.3
7. Mike Sanders 6.2 2.8 1.1 0.5 0.3 18.7
8. Duane Ferrell 6.4 2.3 1.1 0.6 0.1 18.0
Forward-Guards:
Dantley played 23 games for the Pacers during the 1977-78 season, and then we traded him. Awesome. Some recent names at the top, not so much at the bottom. It is important to note that I, like many on this board, have an unfair bias towards more recent players. I did what I could to avoid that here, but the numbers spoke pretty convincingly. Sanders and Ferrell had 3 "meh" years here, but got enough starts to make the list.
Forwards PPG RPG APG SPG BPG MPG
1. Clark Kellogg 20.1 10.6 2.8 1.7 0.5 34.1
2. Dale Davis 11.7 10.9 1.5 0.7 1.6 34.7
3. Danny Granger 25.8 5.1 2.7 1.0 1.4 36.2
4. Chuck Person 21.6 6.5 3.6 1.0 0.2 37.7
5. Ron Artest 24.6 6.4 3.1 1.7 0.9 41.6
6. Mickey Johnson 19.1 8.3 4.2 1.9 1.4 32.3
7. Troy Murphy 14.3 11.8 2.4 0.8 0.5 34.0
8. Alex English 16.0 8.1 3.3 0.9 1.0 33.3
9. Stephen Jackson 18.7 4.9 2.3 1.3 0.3 35.4
10. Al Harrington 15.9 6.3 1.4 0.7 0.3 33.6
11. Austin Croshere 10.3 6.4 1.1 0.5 0.7 23.3
12. Wil Jones 13.0 7.6 2.4 1.3 1.0 33.9
13. Brandon Rush 8.1 3.1 0.9 0.5 0.5 24.0
14. Louis Orr 11.5 4.1 1.7 0.7 0.3 24.4
15. Jonathan Bender 7.4 3.1 0.8 0.2 0.6 21.1
16. Sam Mitchell 7.2 3.1 0.9 0.3 0.1 17.3
17. James Jones 4.9 2.3 0.8 0.4 0.4 17.7
18. Bill Garnett 6.4 4.4 1.0 0.4 0.2 17.3
19. Marty Byrnes 4.9 2.4 2.2 0.5 0.1 18.0
Forwards:
Clark Kellogg, if only he'd stayed healthy. Pretty good company at the top of this list, and I think Danny will be on top when it's all said and done. Rush may look low, but he really struggled at the beginning of his rookie season.
Power-Forward Centers PPG RPG APG SPG BPG MPG
1. Jermaine O'Neal 20.1 10.0 2.1 0.8 2.6 35.7
2. Derrick McKey 12.0 5.3 4.3 1.5 0.6 34.4
3. Detlef Schrempf 19.1 9.5 6.0 1.0 0.3 37.8
4. George McGinnis 13.2 8.5 4.0 1.1 0.2 28.0
5. Wayman Tisdale 16.0 6.5 1.6 0.7 0.7 27.6
6. Dan Roundfield 13.4 10.2 2.5 1.0 1.9 30.7
7.Antonio Davis 10.5 7.3 0.8 0.5 1.0 28.5
8. Jeff Foster 7.0 9.0 0.7 0.8 0.2 26.1
9. Mike Bantom 15.3 7.4 2.9 1.2 0.6 33.8
10. George Johnson 13.0 5.7 2.4 1.0 0.6 25.6
11. Sam Perkins 6.6 3.6 0.8 0.4 0.4 20.0
12. Darnell Hillman 10.7 8.5 2.0 1.2 1.3 28.1
13. Ron Behagen 11.2 6.5 1.3 0.6 0.4 22.2
Power Forward - Center:
Jermaine gave us his best years, and then some. If I was judging ABA, and not just NBA, McGinnis would be on top here. What we got from him from 80 - 82 was the tail end of the ABA MVP, scoring champion, and all-time team member. Derrick's contributions didn't always show on the stat sheet. Was impressed with the numbers that Roundfield put up in the late seventies.
Center-Power Forwards PPG RPG APG SPG BPG MPG
1. Herb Williams 19.9 9.1 2.2 0.6 2.4 35.5
2. James Edwards 16.7 8.5 1.1 0.7 1.3 31.0
3. LaSalle Thompson 12.5 9.9 1.1 1.0 1.2 31.9
4. Dave Robisch 11.9 6.9 2.0 0.7 0.5 24.6
5. Clemon Johnson 9.7 6.3 2.3 1.0 1.2 23.8
6. Tom Owens 10.5 5.0 1.7 0.6 0.5 21.6
Center - Power Forward:
Herb Williams played for some of our awful teams, but he stayed healthy and is all over the Pacers all-time stat list. Edwards was solid during our early NBA years. Tank had a low scoring average, but was an enforcer during a physical period in basketball.
Centers PPG RPG APG SPG BPG MPG
1. Rik Smits 17.9 7.7 1.4 0.5 1.0 30.5
2. Steve Stipanovich 13.2 8.3 2.2 1.3 1.2 34.1
3. Brad Miller 13.1 8.3 2.6 0.9 0.6 31.1
4. Roy Hibbert 7.1 3.5 0.7 0.3 1.1 14.4
5. Rasho Nesterovic 6.8 3.4 1.6 0.4 0.5 17.3
6. Erick Dampier 5.1 4.1 0.6 0.3 1.0 14.6
7. Scot Pollard 3.8 4.8 0.5 0.8 0.4 17.1
8. David Harrison 6.1 3.1 0.3 0.4 1.3 17.7
9. Zan Tabak 3.9 3.9 0.6 0.2 0.5 14.1
10. Granville Waiters 3.6 2.9 0.8 0.3 1.1 13.3
11. Greg Dreiling 3.5 3.5 0.7 0.3 0.4 14.1
Center:
The Dunkin' Dutchman gave us stability in the middle. Stipo was supposed to be the next big thing before his injury. Both Brad and most of this board wish he'd never left Indy. Hibbert seems high here, especially joining his fellow foul champion Harrison, but he's done fine considering. Some stinkers at the bottom of this one. Waiters and Tabak pulled down some monster numbers. Dreiling's are even worse. In seven seasons with the Pacers, the above is as good as it got.
Section 3 - Choosing Best and Worst All-Pacer teams
Well, this started off trying to figure out what the worst starting 5 we could put together was. Now it turns out, I'm just as interested in the top good team. Of course putting Ron Artest, Harrison, Tinsley, and the other nutcases would be fun, but I'm looking at pure production. This was not based on team chemistry, but rather it is similar to how First Team NBA is chosen. I could very well get some of these positions wrong, and I can't imagine anyone agreeing 100%. I welcome any critiques, corrections, or disagreements.
All Pacers Squad
First Team
PG Mark Jackson
SG Reggie Miller
SF Adrian Dantley
PF Clark Kellogg
C Rik Smits
Second Team
PG Vern Fleming
SG Billy Knight
SF Danny Granger
PF Dale Davis
C Jermaine O'Neal
Third Team
PG Don Buse
SG Jalen Rose
SF Derek McKey
PF Detlef Schremph
C George McGinnis
The Worst All-Pacers Starter Team
First Team
PG John Duren
SG Randy Wittman
SF Marty Byrnes
PF Zan Tabak
C Greg Dreiling
Second Team
PG Terence Stansbury
SG Duane Ferrell
SF Bill Garnett
PF David Harrison
C Granville Waiters
Now, if you want to up the threshold on number of starts for the worst team to 20, you don't lose much. Stretch it out to 40, and you're looking at something closer to:
40+
First Team
PG Jim Thomas
SG Clint Richardson
SF Louis Orr
PF Tom Owens/ Clemon Johnson
C Greg Dreiling (captain)
I'm not saying that I'm right, of course. Several of these guys were playing before I could really appreciate them live. I appreciate any of you that read this whole thing. I'll be happy to explain my choices, hear other opinions, and admit I was wrong.
Cheers,
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