SoCalPat
05-17-2015, 05:25 PM
Pac-12 Basketball Rankings: Greatest NBA player
1. UCLA, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.(Not up for debate, both player and school)
2. Cal, Jason Kidd (If UCLA is the Pac-12 ruler at center, Cal is likewise at point guard, as Kevin Johnson also went here.)
3. Oregon State, Gary Payton (Huge gap between best and second-best)
4. Colorado, Chauncey Billups (Ditto Oregon State. Lots of Utah ties here -- Billups was taken right after KVH in the 1997 draft; your all-time NBA CU starting five features a pair of Jazzmen in Alec Burks and Jay Humphries)
5. Arizona State, Lafayette "Fat" Lever. (My toughest pick. You can go with James Harden or Byron Scott here and still get the placement right or very close.)
6. USC, Paul Westphal (USC has two alumni in the HOF, but Alex Hannum and Bill Sharman got there largely on their coaching records)
7. Utah, Tom Chambers (Like ASU, you could go with Andre Miller here and still slot the Utes 7th)
8. Arizona, Gilbert Arenas (This surprised me, both player and ranking. I thought Arizona would fare better here.)
9. Washington State, Klay Thompson (After Thompson? It's probably Craig Ehlo. Ugh ...)
10. Washington, Detlef Schrempf (Would've been Brandon Roy had he stayed healthy, Isaiah Thomas might eventually take this spot)
11. Stanford, George Yardley(Yardley is in the HOF; the only contemporary player of note is Brook Lopez)
12. Oregon, Steve "Snapper" Jones (Although 99 percent of his career was in the ABA; if you're looking for true NBA player, Terrell Brandon is the only choice)
1. UCLA, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.(Not up for debate, both player and school)
2. Cal, Jason Kidd (If UCLA is the Pac-12 ruler at center, Cal is likewise at point guard, as Kevin Johnson also went here.)
3. Oregon State, Gary Payton (Huge gap between best and second-best)
4. Colorado, Chauncey Billups (Ditto Oregon State. Lots of Utah ties here -- Billups was taken right after KVH in the 1997 draft; your all-time NBA CU starting five features a pair of Jazzmen in Alec Burks and Jay Humphries)
5. Arizona State, Lafayette "Fat" Lever. (My toughest pick. You can go with James Harden or Byron Scott here and still get the placement right or very close.)
6. USC, Paul Westphal (USC has two alumni in the HOF, but Alex Hannum and Bill Sharman got there largely on their coaching records)
7. Utah, Tom Chambers (Like ASU, you could go with Andre Miller here and still slot the Utes 7th)
8. Arizona, Gilbert Arenas (This surprised me, both player and ranking. I thought Arizona would fare better here.)
9. Washington State, Klay Thompson (After Thompson? It's probably Craig Ehlo. Ugh ...)
10. Washington, Detlef Schrempf (Would've been Brandon Roy had he stayed healthy, Isaiah Thomas might eventually take this spot)
11. Stanford, George Yardley(Yardley is in the HOF; the only contemporary player of note is Brook Lopez)
12. Oregon, Steve "Snapper" Jones (Although 99 percent of his career was in the ABA; if you're looking for true NBA player, Terrell Brandon is the only choice)