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#36 Willis Reed


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

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

#12 Career RPG.

Career Averages: 19 PPG/ 13 RPG/ 2 APG/ .6 SPG/ 1.1 BPG/ .476 eFG%/ .747 FT%.

Best Season: 21/ 14/ 2/ .521/ .747 (1968-69).

Postseason Averages: 17 PPG/ 10 RPG/ 2 APG/ .2 SPG/ 0 BPG/ .474 eFG%/ .765 FT%.

Best Postseason: 26/ 14/ 2/ .510/ .786 (1969).

Championships: 2 (#2 player on 1, #5 player on 1). Runner-ups: 1 (hurt before playoffs).


Why he's below Dwyane Wade: Wade played 400 more games in his career as Reed and 99 more playoff games. Though Reed won more Finals MVPs, Wade made the Finals several more times as a top-2 player and won his Finals MVP as his team's best player. I have Walt Frazier as the Knicks' best player all 3 times that Reed won a regular or postseason MVP.


Why he's above the rest: Whether I discount them or not, Willis Reed has 2 Finals MVPs. Every other retired player with fewer than 2 is ranked below him. No one with at least 3 combined MVPs and Finals MVPs is ranked below Reed. Willis was one of the best defenders and toughest players of his time, but he played at the same time as Russell, Wilt, and Kareem. Since only one center gets on all-league teams, it's impossible to judge Reed by his 1 1st Team All-NBA and 1 1st Team All-Defense. Since he can't be judged by defense (especially since blocked shots weren't counted) or by toughness or by number of all-league teams, how do we fairly judge Reed's career? I go back to his 3 combined MVPs. Whether I discount them or not, only 13 other players in league history have matched that number.



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