MVPs: 0. Finals MVPs: 0. All-NBA 1st Team: 10. 2nd Team: 0. 3rd Team: 0. All Star: 11. MVP: 1.
Defensive POY: 0. All-Defense 1st Team: 0. 2nd Team: 0.
Career Averages: 27 PPG/ 13 RPG/ 4 APG/ .431 eFG%/ .780 FT%.
Best Season: 38/ 19/ 5/ .428/ .754 (1961-62).
Postseason Averages: 27 PPG/ 13 RPG/ 4 APG/ .439 eFG%/ .769 FT%.
Best Postseason: 39/ 18/ 4/ .438/ .774 (1962).
Championships: 1 (#9 player, retired before postseason). Runner-ups: 8 (#1 player on 2, #2 player on 3, #3 player on 2, #5 player on 1).
Why he's below Kevin Durant: Like Durant, Baylor played with some of the greatest players of all time. Unlike Durant, Baylor was often outclassed by his teammates. He was the best player on a Finals team only 2 times out of his 9 Finals appearances, and his team didn't win a championship until the year he retired less than a month into the season. The truth is his performance fell off fast after his 5th season, and his peak barely overlapped with West's prime. Had Baylor been better for longer, both players would have found more success and a higher ranking on my list.
Why he's above the rest: The inventor of hang time, Baylor helped change a game of volume shooting and forced post moves into a game of attacking the basket and getting the best shot possible. He was the first non-center to score 70+ points in a game and still holds the single game scoring record by a forward with 71 and the Finals single game scoring record with 61 points
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