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#28 Walt Frazier


MVPs: 0. Finals MVPs: 0. All-NBA 1st Team: 4. 2nd Team: 2. All Star: 7. MVP: 1.

Defensive POY: 0. All-Defense 1st Team: 7.

Career Averages: 18 PPG/ 6 RPG/ 6 APG/ 1.9 SPG/ .2 BPG/ .490 eFG%/ .786 FT%.

Best Season: 23/ 7/ 6/ .512/ .808 (1971-72).

Postseason Averages: 21 PPG/ 7 RPG/ 6 APG/ 2.1 SPG/ .3 BPG/ .463 eFG%/ .769 FT%.

Best Postseason: 24/ 7/ 6/ .536/ .736 (1972).

Championships: 2 (#1 player on both). Runner-ups: 1 (#1 player).


Why he's below Julius Erving: Frazier didn't have as long a period of greatness. He's the first player on my list to have a prime that lasted less than a decade. Voters at the time also didn't seem to recognize him as the Knicks' most valuable player, giving Willis Reed the Finals MVP both times they won. It's kind of like Stephen Curry not winning Finals MVP despite being the team's best player; it holds his rank back just a little bit.


Why he's above the rest: Frazier was the best all-around player on one of the great teams in NBA history--the early 70s Knicks. Though he never won Finals MVP, I have him as the Knicks' best player all three seasons they made the Finals. He's one of the best defensive guards of all time, making 1st Team All-Defense 7 times even though he was competing for the award with other great defenders like Jerry West and John Havlicek. He could do a little bit of everything on the court--a good shooter, good passer, and good rebounder on top of his defense. And in the 1970 Finals, he delivered one of the greatest game 7s in history: 36 points, 19 assists, and 7 rebounds on way to the Knicks' first championship.



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