The Top 10 NBA Players Ever - #5

This is yet another 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.

#5 Oscar Robertson
Oscar Robertson averaged a triple double for the first 5 seasons of his career. That included an over 30 points per game average. Strangely, 1961-2 was the only individual season in which he averaged a triple double (and not by a little bit: 30.8 ppg, 12.5 rpg, and 11.4 apg).

While with the Cincinnati Royals, Robertson was plagued by inferior teammates. In an era of stacked teams, the Royals usually rivaled the Pistons for thinnest amount of talent on the squad. Despite leading the league in assists per game 7 times during his 14 year career, the Big O was actually criticized for being too selfish and scoring too much. Robertson led the league in ppg once, in his 8th season (only the second in which he averaged fewer than 30 a game).

Robertson won only one NBA championship in his career. That took place at the end of the 1970-1 season with the Milwaukee Bucks and a young Lew Alcindor. While viewed as somewhat of a playoff underachiever, Oscar averaged the most assists per game in 7 different postseasons. His teams made the playoffs 10 of his 14 seasons in the league. With the Royals, he ran into Wilt's Philadelphia teams and the Celtics; his Bucks contended with Wilt's Lakers and the Knicks, preventing him from winning more titles.

Because of his team's lack of winning, Oscar won the MVP award only once, for the 1963-4 season. But he was voted 1st team All-NBA each of his first 9 seasons and to the 2nd team the two subsequent years. Every young guard who came into the league after Oscar entered in the 1960-1 season, was compared (unfavorably) to the Big O. Robertson quickly vaulted ahead of the great Bob Cousy in the court of public opinion, sometimes begrudgingly.

Oscar finished his career with the most assists in NBA history. He's still 5th all time and has the 4th most apg for a career (9.5). His ppg career average of 25.7 is good for 9th best in NBA history. He also averaged the 3rd most minutes per game in history. Robertson's career FG% (48.5) and FT% (83.8) are testaments to his efficiency. Despite his proficient shooting, opposition coaches wanted Oscar to score, understanding that he was far more dangerous when he was able to get his lesser teammates going.

Robertson's statistics are staggering. During the first part of his career, he took a team devoid of talent and carried them to respectability. In the latter part, he led a great club into title contention every year. He was the best rebounding guard of all time, one of the best passers, and one of the best scorers.