MVPs: 0. Finals MVPs: 0. All-NBA 1st Team: 0. 2nd Team: 1. All Star: 8. MVP: 0.
Defensive POY: 0. All-Defense 1st Team: 6.
Career Averages: 16 PPG/ 11 RPG/ 3 APG/ .9 SPG/ .5 BPG/ .432 eFG%/ .699 FT%.
Best Season: 18/ 13/ 2/ .442/ .664 (1967-68).
Postseason Averages: 16 PPG/ 12 RPG/ 1 APG/ .8 SPG/ 2.1 BPG/ .591 eFG%/ .545 FT%.
Best Postseason: 17/ 12/ 2/ .450/ .750 (1972).
Championships: 2 (#3 player on 1, #4 player on 1). Runner-ups: 1 (#3 player).
Why he's below Allen Iverson: DeBusschere was never the best player on his team and certainly not good enough to lead a team to the Finals if he were the best player. He's my highest ranked player who could fairly be called a role player, a below average shooter who never averaged more than 18.2 PPG in a season. His career was also pretty short, only 11 healthy seasons, and he retired while he was still playing well so his career stat totals are underwhelming.
Why he's above the rest: If he made 8 all star teams, can we really call DeBusschere a role player? Probably, but he still deserves to be ranked higher than the other role players on my list. He made 1st Team All-Defense 6 times (each year the award existed during his career) and is often called the best defensive forward of his era. If Defensive Player of the Year existed during his career, he likely would have won the award at least once. He was a good rebounder too, averaging a double-double every year of his career. So we've got an 8-time all star who was the 3rd best player on a team that won multiple championships and was one of the best defenders of all time. I think he deserves to be ranked this high, role player or not.
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