The Top 10 NBA Players Ever - #10

This is the final installment in my list of the top 10 NBA players of all time. It is admittedly a subjective list. Are individual statistics more important than the number of championships a player led his team to? Admittedly, these types of lists will always be contentious.

#10 Elgin Baylor
Elgin Baylor took the NBA to another level. He was the forerunner to Julius Erving and Michael Jordan in terms of his artistry in the air. He brought a high wire act to the offensive side of the ball. He was an incredible scorer and rebounded far better than his 6'5" inch frame would suggest.

Baylor averaged 27.4 points a game over his career. That's good for the 4th highest average in league history. He played 14 seasons (the final two he played just 2 and 9 games respectively) and finished in the top 5 in scoring 9 times. From the 1960-1 season until 1962-3, Elgin averaged at least 30 points per game each season. He put up 38. 3 ppg in 1961-2, despite splitting time between the NBA and the military.

In 1960, Baylor scored 71 points in a game against the Knicks, a record for a single game. In Game 5 of the 1962 NBA Finals, he scored a postseason record 61 points against the Boston Celtics. He scored over 30 points a game in 4 consecutive postseasons, including averaging 38.1 in 1961 and 38.6 the next year. He led all postseason players in scoring for those 4 years. His final playoff scoring average was 27 ppg.

During the 1965 playoffs, he destroyed his knee. Ligaments and tendons were ruptured. Part of his kneecap had to be removed. Contemporaries agree than Baylor was never the same after the knee injury. He struggled the next season, but then came back to post 4 straight campaigns of at least 24 ppg. And that was post-injury Baylor!

Elgin cracked the top 10 in rebounding 8 times. In 1960-1, he averaged 19.8 boards per contest, his high watermark. Baylor's career 13.5 rpg is the 9th highest average ever. Remember, he was a small forward. He grabbed just under 13 rebounds a game in the playoffs. Baylor also sought out his teammates with a 4.3 career apg average (4 in the playoffs).

But the two knocks on Elgin are his lack of an MVP award and a title. The Lakers made the Finals 8 times while Elgin played and lost all of them. He played in the same era as the Boston Celtics dynasty, which were just too strong for the Lakers year in and year out. While he never won an MVP award, he finished in the top 6 in the voting 8 times. During an 11 year span, he made the All-NBA 1st team 10 times (only missing in 1965-6, when he was coming back from that devastating knee injury).

In conjunction with the laudatory stats and the plethora of All-NBA 1st teams, Baylor's place in history is predicated on his offensive repertoire. No player before him took to the skies like Baylor. Not only would he score two points, but he would yank momentum to his team's side with his magical moves. He was a pioneer when it came to dunking with flare. He helped pave the way for the game we know today.