The 15 Best NBA Careers by Michigan Players
They might have to revise their list once the NBA Finals are over (Go Duncan!), but Fansided is out with a list of the 15 Best NBA Careers by Michigan Players. You'll find the list and their rationale here.
There have been 64 Wolverines who have played in the NBA and this is how they rank the top 15 careers:
1. Chris Webber
2. Rudy Tomjanovich
3. Jamal Crawford
4. Glen Rice
5. Juwan Howard
6. Rickey Green
7. Jalen Rose
8. Cazzie Russell
9. Roy Tarpley
10. Campy Russell
11. Tim Hardaway Jr.
12. Jordan Poole
13. Terry Mills
14. Phil Hubbard
15. Loy Vaught
What do you think? I'd move Jamal up to No. 2. If things keep going like they are, there's little doubt that Duncan Robinson and Franz Wagner will be on the list in a few years.
glen rice would be my #1, as much as we all love c-webb.
and roy tarpley would be my vote for 'wasted the most talent because of peruvian marching powder'. gifted athlete, but couldn't overcome addiction.
Re Tarply and his love for the nose candy. His teammate, Antoine Joubert aka “The Judge”, ran step for step with Roy in his enjoyment of that particular entertainment.
There’s a reason Scott Skiles said “ok fat boy, show me what you got” when they first met. That whole team loved to party.
The 85/86 basketball team was my absolute favorite even though they flamed out in the tournament three straight years and Gary Grant, aka “The General”, was my favorite Wolverine round baller.
Sorry to thread-jack here. I now return you to your normally scheduled thread; already in progress.
IIRC joubert was just ahead of his time with medical marijuana. i did not hear about him and white powders. not saying it didn't happen, but i/we had enough contact with the team that i think we might've heard about it? maybe not.
I thought the devil's dandruff was more Scott Skiles pharmaceutical of choice
Scott called him fat boy because Joubert was kinda pudgy--as was Skiles. I doubt it was a nose candy reference.
Of all the hyped basketball recruits at Michigan over the years, the one who stuck around but seemed to me to most underperform the hype was The Judge.
He was the #1 ranked player in the nation which clearly he wasn’t.
Everyone wanted him and he was a media sensation before social media. One of Frieder’s biggest mistakes was promising him a four great starters job but you had to if you were going to land him.
He was too slow and chubby to play guard well, at 6’5 he was too small and weak to play in the paint. He never passed so when he got the ball the offense died.
Grant and Thompson were both far better guards.
Tarpley was a dominant player who couldn’t outrun his problems. I’d put him at least #3 on this list if he’d been sober.
And I was telling my kids about Joubert last night; my dad used to think M had a guy named “Joe Bear.”
I agree about Rice, would keep often-overlooked Tomjanovich 2nd, with Webber 3rd
Ranking based on only NBA career, there is no way you can put Glen Rice or anyone else over Chris Webber. I do think Rice should be higher at #2 or #3 and definitely above Jamal Crawford.
Chris Webber is the only one to make the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player which summarizes it best. He reached a level professionally that the others never did--a perennially All-NBA level player who might have been even better without the knee injury.
Glen Rice does have a ring... but point taken.
That is true, but Webber never got to play with someone like Shaq or Kobe, let alone both at the same time.
He took the Sacramento Kings to the Western Conference Finals which might be as impressive given that franchise's history. He is one of the few Michigan alums to have his number retired by an NBA team as well.
And an nba all star mvp. I have zero problem with C Webb and Glen 1 and 2. In Glens prime he was an elite elite scorer. The 97 season with the hornets was one of the most amazing shooting seasons I’ve ever seen. Dude was efficient and lethal. I think he averaged 35 for half that season after a slow start. His 56 at Miami is one of the best shooting performances I’ve ever witnessed.
good point
this is NBA careers
This is the way!
Glen Rice won a NCAA championship in a way nobody has done in modern basketball. Take your 6 favorite UM bball players and put up each ones career game (scoring) and that is what he did 6 times in a row. Just amazing. He is UM basketball's Charles Woodson.
Of course we are talkin NBA where he had over 150 30pt+ games. In a league that had Kevin Willis jack up 14 foot hooks while he was wide open! If he had Steph Currys's shot attempts per game whoa boy!
No doubt. Webber also played on some of the best kings teams ever. The early 2000’s kings were robbed
Franz could rise up as high as second on this list IMO if he stays healthy. Rudy T could have had an argument for top of the list had his face not been caved in. Had a wonderful coaching career.
Poole is way too high. LeVert is probably better than Poole, who probably shouldn't even be on the list. Poole is nothing but a mediocre chucker at this point in his career.
Yea, agreed with this. Poole averages about a point more per game on much better efficiency, but Levert averages more rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, less turnovers, more win shares, and is actually a positive defensive player.
Do you really pay $135M to a mediocre chucker?
Golden State does. It's widely regarded as one of the worst contracts in the NBA. Duncan Robinson's was too until this playoff run.
Huh? Widely regarded by who? GS overpayed him, but if GS wanted to move that contract, they would be able to find several buyers. He's 23 years old, and there are certainly franchises that would be willing to invest in that. This is not Russell Westbrook or Chris Paul making the maximum $40+ million where you would need to pay a team to take the contract off your books.
The Warriors would actually have a tougher time moving the Klay Thompson contract than the Poole one.
by who? sports media and people who regard such things. also if you watch him, he's clearly not worth the contract. Being overpaid shouldn't be considered a feather in anyone's cap.
Are we judging the player or the contract? Because guess what, Tim Hardaway was not worth the contract he was paid. Or Caris LeVert. Or Duncan Robinson, even with this playoff run. But if we are judging the player, Jordan Poole's 2022 season at age 22 is already as good as any individual year Caris LeVert has played in his career to date. Poole's contract at least has the potential to pay off given his age and potential to grow as he enters the prime of his career.
Poole has had one great year. Caris has had a career. Jordan may get there eventually, but shouldn’t be on this list yet.
Am I missing something here? LeVert has had a 7-year NBA career to date playing a total of 392 games, around 11,000 minutes, scoring ~5500 points. Poole: 4-year NBA career to date playing a total of 266 games, around 7,000 minutes, scoring ~4200 points.
One guy has had a career and the other one good year? Poole in a "down" 2022-23 still statistically matched LeVert's career PER. Again, Poole is being graded on a curve that the other players are not.
If literally all we judged players on his how many points they score you might have a point, but it isn't and you don't.
A flashy, often brilliant handles, ballhogging, swing door defense playing, mediocre chucker
Mediocre chucker who was a vital piece to an NBA championship. The Warriors do not win the 2022 NBA Championship without him. Can't be said about any other player on this list.
Don't get the Poole hate right now. "At this point in his career," Jordan Poole is 23 years old in his 4th year in the NBA. Caris LeVert was 22 years old in his rookie year. Poole might never end up figuring it out on defense, but his offensive bag at 23 is pretty good. In a worst case scenario, the floor for his career looks like Tim Hardaway Jr with a ring.
The Warriors do not win the 2022 NBA Championship without him. Can't be said about any other player on this list.
What does this mean? Yeah, nobody else on that list played in the 2022 NBA Finals so, sure, Poole sort of wins by default. Who's to say Caris, Robinson, Wagner, Hardaway Jr., etc. couldn't have succeeded as well in that environment.
It's telling in that series that the longer it went on the less Poole played; he averaged nearly 28 minutes a game vs. Dallas but was down to around 19 against Boston, and his two highest minute totals were games the Warriors lost by a combined 28 points.
I don't think if Poole figures it out on defense, and while his offense is decent from a volume standpoint his offensive efficiency save for 2022 hasn't been great. Last year seemed with given what happened with Green in the offseason so I'll give him a pass somewhat for that but it isn't "hate" to say GSW is paying him to be the next stalwart of their team and he hasn't really lived up to it.
Jordan Poole came close to averaging a 50-40-90 in the playoffs in 2022. He shot better from the field than Steph Curry at eFG%, 3PT%, and FT%. Do you understand how unreal that is at the usage rate he was at? He carried them in the opening round with Steph Curry out and ended up their 3rd leading scorer for the playoffs. Poole finished the playoffs in the top 3 in Player Efficiency Rating (PER), VORP, Win Shares, and usage rate for the Warriors, ahead of Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins. And he was 22 years old for god sakes.
I don't understand how the curve that Poole is graded at is so much higher than some of the other players mentioned on here. Duncan Robinson has twice had the same opportunity (this season and 2020) and hasn't matched what Poole did in the playoffs last year. I am not going to sugarcoat how disappointing Poole was this year in the playoffs (it's a big mark against him), but I think you are being a bit unfair in describing his performance in the 2022 playoffs last year. It's the reason the Warriors had to give him that contract.
I'm not discounting his playoff performance completely; as you noted he had a great playoff until the Finals. But he struggled in said Finals and then had a very middling season this year. I think he's a fine player and NBA economics are what they are but a lot of Poole's justification for that contract, as you noted, is because he had a great playoff run. Duncan Robinson had a season where he led the league in 3 shooting and has been one of the best outside shooters in the league since he arrived. And even that contract has rightfully be called one of the worst in the league and he's clearly not a dominant player.
Poole isn't graded on some unfair curve. He's graded like a guy who is paid to be a superstar and who instead seems like a really good scorer and not much else. That's not his fault but he's going to be paid more than Jaren Jackson and Jalen Brunson, for example, and both of those guys are demonstrably more valuable to their teams. And Jackson is basically Poole's age and is already a DPOY. Poole feels a lot like Tyler Herro, another 23-year-old all-offense (but a bit of a better rebounder and ball handler if a worse shooter) and that contract is incredibly divisive.
I don't want to come across as a hater of People but only argue that a lot of his value seems tied to a 2-month run a year ago and that if you put a number of other guys on GSW they may well have had similar careers.
I have my doubts Duncan Robinson will make this list, but I guess we will see. Robinson is already 29 years old (only 2 years younger than Tim Hardaway Jr!!!), and I think his ceiling is going to be close to what you see now. A great role player and 3 point sniper. But I don't think he will be able to play long enough to rise above some of the other players. I would be happy to be wrong about that because it has been fun to watch how good he has become.
Microwave Robison!
(I hope some get the reference.)
For an NBA Career (not just playing career); I give it to Rudy T. Coaching two NBA Title winners has to account for quite a bit of added bonus.
Jordan Poole being ranked #12 feels like a stretch. He's a really good offensive player (exception being this year when he was pretty inconsistent) but he's a bad defender and I'm not sure he's going to get much better on that front. He's a better playmaker than he was earlier in his career but he's still got a ways to go there. Franz is a more complete player and still has a good chance of making that leap.
I was going to grouse by Hardaway Jr but he's really been a solid NBA player for years now and while he's not a star he's definitely a guy who can be successful on a good team.
Order this list by career earnings and it goes:
1. Webber
2. Howard
3. Crawford
4. Rose
5. Hardaway
6. Rice
7. LeVert
Modern NBA money will favor the younger guys especially if they play through a full post-rookie, free-agent deal. Hardaway will be #2 on the list if he plays out his current deal and may pass Webber if he gets a few veteran, pine-riding contracts. Robinson and Poole will rocket up the list if they stick around through the end of their current deals and then manage to hang onto roster spots for a few years.
I'd give a little more love to Coach Howard. You don't play 19 seasons (2 with championship teams) just by being likeable. He's on the list of top 50 players for games played -- but by that metric, Jamal Crawford (#19 on that list) should maybe get more love.
Ranking by win shares per game for every UM guy who played in at least 250 games. If Franz had played enough games he'd be in between Campy & Vaught. Makes me sad to see how much Stauskas really didn't pan out.
I had 13 of the 15 on my list. Didn’t have Swaggy - needs more than one good season - and TH2 - oversight. Players in roughly the same spots.
My extra guys were Mike Magee and Mark Hughes, as I scrapped bottom of the barrel get to 15. In hindsight, I’d exchange them for Tim Hardaway and Caris Lavert,
I also had Loy Vaught higher, but after checking his stats, 15 seems right. Must be a good list, since I agree with most of it. (Joking)
Mike McGee should be somewhere on the list . Close to a decade in the league, with an average close to double figures and a couple of rings.
Tim McCormick? Mike McGee?
They're not glaring omissions, but this list seems a little skewed to the past 10-15 years at the bottom.
I'd also say Loy Vaught is about 5 spots too low.
Cool topic though.
Hubbard's career would have been much brighter but for the brutal knee injury that knocked out his entire junior season. Never the same after that.
Good time to bring up just how much damn fun the '75-'76 team was. Race horse basketball.
They missed on Caris LeVert, should be ahead of Hardaway and Poole, he's a better all around player than them. Whether he should be ahead of the others, I'm not sure.