NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team
The 50 Greatest Players in National Basketball Association History (commonly referred to as the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team) were chosen in 1996 on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to comprise the fifty best and most influential players of the first half-century of the NBA, with respect not only to performance at the professional level but in consideration of sportsmanship, team leadership, and contributions to the growth of basketball and irrespective of positions played; only players to have played at least a portion of their careers in the NBA were eligible for selection. Selected and announced in conjunction with the 50th anniversary team were a list of the ten best head coaches and ten best single season teams in NBA history.
Contents |
[edit] Players
[edit] NBA team
The list was compiled based upon unranked voting completed by fifty selected panelists, of whom sixteen were former players voting in their roles as players, of whom thirteen were members of the print and broadcast news media, and of whom twenty-one were team representatives—contemporary and former general managers, head coaches, and executives—of whom seven were also former players; even as players, whether representing players or teams, were proscribed from voting for themselves, only three voting players—Bill Bradley, John Kerr, and Bob Lanier—were not themselves selected to the team.
The announcement of the team, undertaken by commissioner David Stern in New York City, New York, United States on October 29, 1996, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, which occupied the site of the former Commodore Hotel, where the original NBA charter was signed on June 6, 1946, began a season-long celebration of the league's anniversary. The players were assembled in Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1997 All-Star Game Weekend, and only three—Pete Maravich, Jerry West, and Shaquille O'Neal—were absent; Maravich, having, aged just 40 years, died in 1988, was represented by two sons, whilst O'Neal was injured and could not attend and West elected not to participate.
At the time of the announcement of the team, ten of the fifty players were active, but only one— Shaquille O'Neal—played during the 2005-06 season.
[edit] Players selected
[edit] A
[edit] B
[edit] C
[edit] D
[edit] E
[edit] F
[edit] G
[edit] H
[edit] J
[edit] L
[edit] M
[edit] O
[edit] P
[edit] R
[edit] S
[edit] T
[edit] U
[edit] W
[edit] TNT addendum
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the release of the fiftieth anniversary team, fourteen broadcasters employed by the American television network Turner Network Television, a broadcaster of NBA games and the network on which the programs The NBA on TNT and Inside the NBA air, including four former players and two panelists who voted on the initial NBA list, released a list of the Next 10 Greatest Players, considering for selection contemporary players who were unestablished in 1996 and historical players whom voters originally omitted. Released on February 18, 2006, the ranked list was presented in conjunction with the NBA's 2006 All-Star Weekend.
[edit] Players selected
- Tim Duncan [4]
- Kobe Bryant
- Dominique Wilkins* [1]
- Allen Iverson
- Bob McAdoo*
- Kevin Garnett
- Reggie Miller
- Connie Hawkins*
- Jason Kidd
- Gary Payton
[edit] Coaches
Concomitant to the selection of the NBA's fifty greatest players was the unranked selection, undertaken exclusively by members of the print and broadcast media, of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History, of whom four—Phil Jackson, Don Nelson, Pat Riley, and Lenny Wilkens—were active at the time of the list's announcement; only two—Jackson and Riley—coached teams during the 2005-06 season. Wilkens was also the only member of the coaches list to have been a member of the players list.
[edit] Coaches selected
[edit] Teams
Concomitant to the selection of the NBA's fifty greatest players was the unranked selection, undertaken exclusively by members of the print and broadcast media, of the Top 10 Teams in NBA History, chosen from amongst all single season individual teams. Each won its league championship, and the teams combined to average 66 wins per season.
[edit] Teams selected
[edit] External links
- National Basketball Association 50th Anniversary Team page
- National Basketball Association Top 10 Coaches page
- National Basketball Association Top 10 Teams page
- TNT article detailing "Ten Next" selection process
[edit] Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Starred players have, as of the close of the 2005-06 season been inducted as players into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
- ↑ Italicized players were active upon the announcement of the team and thus played at least as recently as the 1996-97 season.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Inducted into Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. Apart from Wilkens and Sharman, the only other person so honored is John Wooden.
- ↑ Italicized players in the "Next 10" were active upon the announcement of the team and thus played at least as recently as the 2005-06 season.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Bracketed record and winning percentage reflect all games played through the 2005-06 NBA season; the preceding record is that of the coach at the time of his selection.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 To be considered for induction, a head coach must have been retired for at least five calendar years or must have been a coach at the professional, collegiate, or secondary level for no fewer than 25 years; coach is ineligible for induction.
- ↑ Italicized players were inducted subsequent to the announcement of the ten best teams.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Inducted into Basketball Hall of Fame as coach.
- ↑ Having been injured during the ninth game of the season, Baylor did not play for the team after November 11, 1971, and retired from professional basketball soon after the completion of the season.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Having neither been fully retired for five years nor an active head coach for at least 25 years, coach is as yet ineligible for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame as coach.
- ↑ A player is not eligible for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame until he has been fully retired for five calendar years; of the six, Jordan, Pippen, and Grant are, as of the conclusion of the 2005-06 season, ineligible for induction.
- ↑ A player is not eligible for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame until he has been fully retired for five calendar years; of the six, only Rodman, having retired after the 1999-2000 season is, as of the conclusion of the 2005-06 season, eligible for induction.
