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The Top Ten #2 NBA Draft Picks August 25, 2006 by Tim Adams In a previous article I listed the top ten #1 draft picks, and what is evident is that most of the great #1s are big men. Besides Magic, Oscar Robertson and Elgin Baylor the #1s are strictly interior guys. Nobody under 6'5" made that list. The #2s are a contrast in that most guys here are under 6'5" and where as center is the typical #1 position, the point guard is the most common position for the #2s. This list doesn't have nearly as many first ballot Hall of Famers that the #1s have, but is an extremely talented bunch nonetheless. 1. Jerry West Mr. Clutch, Zeke From Cabin Creek, The Logo, whatever you want to call him, Jerry West takes the top spot on this list pretty easily. In regards to West's legendary credentials the question is where to begin. You could start off with his 25,192 points or the fact that he averaged 27 points for his career, on a team (Lakers) that made it to nine NBA Finals. Or that he only turned it on more so when it counted and averaged 29.1 points in his 153 playoff games. He was rewarded by being named to 13 All-Star games and to the All-NBA first team ten times. He was also decent on the defensive end as well, and was named to the NBA All-Defensive first team four times. West has seen success as well as the general manager for the Lakers and currently as the President of Basketball Operations with the Grizzlies. 2. Bob McAdoo McAdoo comes in at number two on this list despite having a somewhat paradoxical career. He is a Hall of Famer who was somewhat of a basketball vagabond. McAdoo played on seven different NBA teams and then went on to play in the Italian Lega 1 for several seasons. That's definitely not the normal career trajectory of a typical future Hall of Famer, but than McAdoo wasn't your typical player. He only played one season in the NCAA before coming to the NBA and earning himself the Rookie of the Year Award in '75. Then, in his third season he put up huge numbers (34.5 ppg, 14.1 rpg, 2.12 bpg), and won himself the MVP Award. Unfortunately injuries took their toll on McAdoo and he began bouncing around the league before landing on the Showtime Lakers in 1982. He teamed up with fellow HoFers Magic, Kareem and James Worthy to win NBA titles in 1982 and 1985, as arguably one of the best 6th men of all-time. 3. Wes Unseld Not far on the heels of McAdoo is Wes Unseld, who like McAdoo was an MVP. Unseld won his MVP award his very first year in the league (1969) and is still the only rookie to have won the award. He also took home the Rookie of the Year Award and went on to play in six All-Star games. He played a total of 13 seasons and helped lead the Washington Bullets to the NBA title in 1978, earning himself the Finals MVP in the process. His career average of 14.0 rebounds per game ranks sixth for NBA players and at 6'7" he stands out as one of the greatest undersized rebounders of all time. 4. Jason Kidd Kidd should sometime in the near future surpass Wilt Chamberlain for third place on the career triple-doubles list. So Kidd, of course, ought to be considered one of the most well rounded and multi-dimensional players in the game today. But it may be easy to overlook Kidd as he doesn't put up huge numbers in any single stat column. So let it be known that this is a guy who currently has over 7,900 assists, which ranks eighth on the career list, and his 9.2 per game average ranks fifth. He is one of only three players, along with Oscar Robertson and Magic to compile 12,500 points, 5,500 rebounds and 7,500 assists. He is the only player besides Magic to have averaged a triple-double in a playoff series of at least six games. He also helped lead the New Jersey Nets to back-to-back NBA Finals in '02 and '03. 5. Isiah Thomas Thomas, who was picked second behind his hometown buddy and future teammate Mark Aguirre, is second in this pack of five guards who were primarily points and Isiah is here for several reasons. First, he was the leader of two NBA champion Pistons squads, earning the Finals MVP after averaging 27.6 points, 7 assists and 5.2 rebounds in the 1990 series. Isiah ranks 4th and 5th respectively in career assists per game and total assists. His 13.9 assists per game average in 1985 has only been surpassed by John Stockton. 6. Gary Payton The Glove, who was the second pick in the 1990 draft behind Derrick Coleman, played thirteen seasons with the Sonics. He teamed up with Shawn kemp and Detlef Schrempf for several deep runs in the playoffs in the mid '90s, making it to the Finals in '96. Payton, for his career has played in over 130 playoff games (and counting). He's played in nine All-Star games and been named to nine All-Defensive first teams. He ranks sixth in career assists with over 8,700, and ranks third in career steals with over 2400. Payton's 21,455 career points ranks second behind only Jerry West for players under 6'5". 7. Earl Monroe The Pearl, a second pick behind Jimmy Walker in 1967, was one of the most dazzling guards to have played the game. Monroe came into the NBA and took home the Rookie of the Year Award. Monroe was traded from the Bullets to the Knicks in 1972 and helped the Knicks to back-to-back Finals appearances against the Lakers, of which the Knicks won in 1973. Monroe teamed up on those Knicks teams with Walt Frazier to form one of the best backcourt tandems the game has seen. 8. Dave Bing Bing was another Rookie of the Year, taking the award in 1966 while playing for the Pistons. He was a point guard who was also a potent scorer. In his second season he upped his scoring average to 27.1, which led the league. He scored at least 20 points in each of his first seven seasons. . He ranks in the top 50 in both career points per game (20) and assists per game (6). 9. Terry Cummings Cummings being on this list may come as a surprise to some as he wasn't considered a super duper star, and only appeared in two All-Star games. Cummings though, did have an extremely impressive career. He logged over 18 seasons and 1,183 games, while averaging 16.4 points and 7.3 rebounds. He scored at least 20 points per game in seven seasons and average at least 8 rebounds in seven seasons as well. Cummings is yet another on this list to have been named Rookie of the Year (1983). 10. Alonzo Mourning Mourning was a major force for the Hornets and Heat for many years before kidney problems greatly effected his play. He in fact retired in 2003, but has since come back and been an integral part of the Miami Heat rotation. Mourning has still been able to average 18 points and 9 rebounds for his career, and he ranks sixth with a career average of 2.9 blocks per game and tenth with 2,136 total blocks. He has been in seven All-Star teams and was twice named Defensive Player of the Year. Tim Adams
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