Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

I'll start - Alvin Robertson. Guy was a stud, and I doubt most people even know who he is now.

He won a gold medal, 4 All-Star appearanced, Defensive PoY, 6 time all-NBA defense, and still has the career steals per game record in NBA history.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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4 All-Star appearanced, Defensive PoY, 6 time all-NBA defense

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Don't these accolades present an argument against him being underrated?

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

I'm not sure if this counts since I don't think hes underrated for what he did in the NBA. But many people don't realize how good Arvydas Sabonis really was in his prime before coming to the NBA. I've heard him described as "Shaq with the ability to pass like Magic." Many believe he would've gone down as one of the best centers ever if he had been able to legally come to the NBA earlier.

From wikipedia:

In between rehab stints, "Sabas" would find himself out on the court playing pickup games with Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter and others. Observers strongly contend even to this day, that had Sabonis played for the Blazers in the early 1990s, they would likely have won a NBA championship


In 1995, he finally joined the NBA with the Trail Blazers, and won Rookie of the Month and Player of the Week awards in 1996. He was later runner-up for both the Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man awards. He remained with Portland for seven years, playing in 470 regular season and 51 playoff matches with them and often leading the team in rebounds. He was a very effective player in the NBA, and was named European Player of the Year twice while in Portland, but his career there had considerable "what-might-have-been" overtones. Had he joined the Blazers when they were at their peak in the early 1990s, many Portland fans feel it would have been a dynasty. During his years in Europe, he suffered a series of knee and Achilles' tendon injuries that robbed him of most of his mobility.



Ex-players and current players alike contend that Sabonis, fairly unknown in the U.S., would have been recognized as one of the top centers ever to play the game of basketball had he come to America in his prime. Scottie Pippen was quoted as saying that Arvydas was "the best European basketball player to ever play the game". Ex-Spur Sean Elliott routinely claimed that Arvydas "should be in the conversation as one of the greatest centers ever". Hall of Famer Bill Walton describes "Sabas" as "the greatest passing center of all time". And Dino Radja, a former Boston Celtics player, said that Sabonis would have been an all-star "ten times over" had he played his healthy years in the States.

Brian Meehan, a columnist for The Oregonian, followed Sabonis' career over the course of decades. Recalling the 1988 Olympics, when Sabonis' Soviet team beat a United States team with the likes of David Robinson, Meehan notes one play when a healthy Sabonis reacted to a teammate's missed shot: Sabonis slashed towards the rim, jumped over Robinson, and slammed the ball home. Meehan is of the opinion that it was the play of Arvydas in the '88 Olympics that influenced Team USA to use professional players in the Olympics, thus the "Dream Teams" of 1992 and 1996. Meehan ranks Sabonis as the 6th best all-time center behind, in no particular order, Hakeem Olajuwon, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Vince Carter...oh crap..he's the opposite of underrated.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Sam Cassell.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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I'll start - Alvin Robertson. Guy was a stud, and I doubt most people even know who he is now.

He won a gold medal, 4 All-Star appearanced, Defensive PoY, 6 time all-NBA defense, and still has the career steals per game record in NBA history.

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He also is one of the few players to get a quadruple double (steals in his case). I think Hakeem did it also, but with blocks.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Jeff Hornacek? Detlef Schrempf?

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Adrian Dantley, Alex English

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

hornacek is a good choice imo...

how long before someone here says nash??

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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I'm not sure if this counts since I don't think hes underrated for what he did in the NBA. But many people don't realize how good Arvydas Sabonis really was in his prime before coming to the NBA. I've heard him described as "Shaq with the ability to pass like Magic." Many believe he would've gone down as one of the best centers ever if he had been able to legally come to the NBA earlier.

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He would also lead "biggest career wrecked by injuries of the past 20 years" (Grant Hill as runner-up). It's true, he was a very effective player in the NBA about 12 years after his peak year (I'd say it was 1987-1988 or so). He's still going to end up in the Hall of Fame, btw.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Schrempf is a great choice.

Whenever I watch classic NBA All Star games, there's Rolando Blackman. Until that point I had never heard of him.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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hornacek is a good choice imo...

how long before someone here says nash??

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I just assume Nash is the correct answer to every thread in this forum (& others), so the question is really who's the 2nd most underrated player.

I always liked Thunder Dan.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

adrian dantley, artis gilmore and bob mcadoo (i realize these three are generally outside the window) are all really underrated.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

I am not going to defend this at all, just a gut call and say:

Vlade Divac

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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adrian dantley, artis gilmore and bob mcadoo (i realize these three are generally outside the window) are all really underrated.

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No on McAdoo. He's pretty strongly rated.

Those other two are guys I saw in the classic NBA all star games and had no idea who they were.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Great answers so far. Dantley and Hornacek were insanely effective.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

dumars - and just because someone has made all star games and won championships doesn't mean he can't be underrated.

also, "underrated" always needs more qualification. i'm just assuming we are talking about underrated by the general public - not by diehard nba fans.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Tom Chambers, Chris Mullin

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Mark Aguirre?

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Mullin was on the original Dream Team. I think that disqualifies him from this. Sure, he's not quite as recognized as the rest of them, but deservedly so (one of the 3 "worst" non-Laetner dream teamers).

Chambers is a great choice though.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Nash FTL

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Might not be THE answer but a guy who definitely comes to mind is Terry Porter

/homerism included

The guy is #1 on Portland's assist list, 11th NBA all-time. In ten years in Portland, he led the team to the Finals twice and in only one season did a team he played on fail to make the post-season. If you ever watched Porter play, you realized that although Clyde got all the attention, Porter was pretty important to that run of success in the early 90's. He played a bunch of craptacular seasons near the end but his numbers earlier in his career were pretty nice.

Not only that but he was great around the commmunity.

So yeah, homer it up!

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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Mark Aguirre?

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He was awesome. When he was hot, there was nobody hotter. I remember one game where he had something like 29 in the 4th quarter, just launching threes with guys draped all over him.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

I always thought Rik Smits was pretty underrated. When he was healthy, which unfortunately wasn't very often, that guy was impossible to guard in the post. He was 7'4", had a wide array of post moves, and a silky smooth touch. Excellent range for a man of his size. He had some legendary battles vs. Ewing and Shaq in the playoffs.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Porter was a stud. Buck Williams and Kersey should be in this conversation as well.

BRAG: I CURRENTLY PLAY IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS JEROME KERSEY

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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Adrian Dantley, Alex English

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I'd throw in my underrated top 5 of
Robertson
Dantley [it's a close one for me btw him and Alvin]
Marques Johnson
Rolando Blackman [very, very good player]


It's pretty hard to have an 'underrated' big guy, usually they're overrated.

Chris Mullin was not underrated, hell, he just made the HoF, won 2 Golds, Dream Team, et al.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

I'll throw in Jack Sikma too. He invented the "Sikma Pivot" and was a great scorer and rebounder in his prime.

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Porter was a stud. Buck Williams and Kersey should be in this conversation as well.

BRAG: I CURRENTLY PLAY IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS JEROME KERSEY

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Sleepy Floyd as well. That guy could really fill it up.

There is 0.000% chance Kersey is the most underrated player of the past 20 years.

I like the Buck Williams nod though.

And if we stretch back a bit more...Bernard King. More than 20 years ago though.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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Porter was a stud. Buck Williams and Kersey should be in this conversation as well.

BRAG: I CURRENTLY PLAY IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS JEROME KERSEY

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I see what you did there.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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Porter was a stud. Buck Williams and Kersey should be in this conversation as well.

BRAG: I CURRENTLY PLAY IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS JEROME KERSEY

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That Blazer's team was stacked. They also brought Cliff Robinson and Drazen Petrovic off the bench. Most people have probably never heard of Petrovic, who went on to be an all star with the Nets, and whose life came to an early, tragic end.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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Tom Chambers, Chris Mullin

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Chambers yes (one of my favorite players ever), Mullin no. Mullin got plenty of press IMO.

My choices just off the top of my head and primarily because of seeing them play a lot would be Terry Porter (absolutely KILLED the Suns in his prime) and Nate McMillan. Nate wasn't much of a scorer but IIRC he had a tendency to fill up the stat sheet and played solid defense.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

I was always a big fan of Dale Ellis, coming off that curl to bury the open J. Is he more than 20 years ago? God, I'm getting old.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Sean Elliott is in the Terry Porter mold of underrated. Those old Spurs teams had some really solid guys on those teams.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Kevin Willis

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Mario Elie was another glue guy who could have probably been a "star" and scored a lot more for a bad team.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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Porter was a stud. Buck Williams and Kersey should be in this conversation as well.

BRAG: I CURRENTLY PLAY IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS JEROME KERSEY

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That Blazer's team was stacked. They also brought Cliff Robinson and Drazen Petrovic off the bench. Most people have probably never heard of Petrovic, who went on to be an all star with the Nets, and whose life came to an early, tragic end.

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Yes, that team ruined me for life on pro sports.

Those guys were my heroes and they couldn't get it done against MFING Detroit and Chicago.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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Kevin Willis

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And recently signed by the Dallas Mavericks, clearly the final piece in their championship puzzle!

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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Sean Elliott is in the Terry Porter mold of underrated. Those old Spurs teams had some really solid guys on those teams.

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1. In the WC semis against PHX in 1993, the Suns were up 8 or so with a couple of seconds left. Kevin Johnson walked the ball over to the ref and Elliott ran over to the ref and demand that he call TRAVELING! Whiny bitch.

2. Had him on my 1998 fantasy basketball league. He was worthless.

Verdict: NOT underrated.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

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Most people have probably never heard of Petrovic, who went on to be an all star with the Nets, and whose life came to an early, tragic end.

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Drazen is, if anything, overrated because of that early, tragic death. Best european player ever as some call him? Montenegro please, he wasn't even the best Croatian player while he played.

Re: Most underrated NBA player of last 20 years
 

Kersey had one good year (19/9-ish)and a few other solid ones.

Buck Williams was about a 13/9 guy while he was with Portland.

Drazen didn't do much of anything when he was a Blazer other than make some exciting plays, it wasn't until he left for NJ that he thrived.

Cliff wasn't much of a factor on those early 90's teams either, his success didn't come until the mid-to-latter half of the decade.

You're forgetting Duckworth who was a fairly average center as well (15/7ish for a few years) especially in those days.

Then the scrubs like Danny Young, Mark Bryant, Wayne Cooper.

I guess you could say they were all decent to above-average players who just happened to come together in the right way at the right time.

I watched a bunch of games with those guys though and imo Clyde, Terry, and Buck were the ones who made it go with a little dash of Kersey. On a semi-related note Kersey still has the best rim-check I've ever seen. He was doing one of those patented Kersey breakaways, all huffing and puffing, nobody within 20 yards of him and BOOOM...I thought the dude was gonna break his [censored] arm off lol, still funny when I think about it.