Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 revision of our top 50 Brooklyn Nets.

As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Basketball Association.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Brooklyn made it to the playoffs, but they lost both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving who wanted out, this ending what should have been an NBA contender.  There is one new entrant and four elevations.

As always, we present our top five, which was not affected by the last season:

1. Jason Kidd

2. Julius Erving

3. Buck Williams

4. Brook Lopez

5. Vince Carter

You can find the entire list here.

Kevin Durant, who finished the year in Phoenix, went to #13 from #26, and the other of the departed, Kyrie Irving, rose to #17 from #25, which, yes, shocked us too.  Remember, this plays more into the team in question and that with so few players who can make an impact, elevating is easy for stars…even disgruntled ones.

Shooting Guard, Joe Harris, who is now with Detroit, went up one spot to #33.

The returning Spencer Dinwiddie, who came back to the Nets in the Kyrie trade, went up two spots to #35.

The lone new entrant is Nic Claxton, who debuts at #40.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

Kyrie Irving told the people of Boston that he would be there for years.  That was technically true, as it was only two.  Irving joined the Brooklyn Nets as a Free Agent in 2019, and he would be joined by Kevin Durant, who would be unable to play due to injury.

Injuries were also a factor for Irving, who only played 20 Games in his first Brooklyn season due to season-ending shoulder surgery.  He was far healthier in his second year, as was Durant, and they had an incoming James Harden, creating a superteam in the East.  Irving went to the All-Star Game that year, was a Third Team All-NBA Selection and he averaged 26.9 Points per Game.  Injuries among the big three prevented a deep run for the Nets, and it looked like they could get there soon, but an implosion was about to take place.

Irving refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine and was held to playing half of the season's worth of games in 2021-22.  Harden asked for a trade out of Brooklyn, and Irving seemingly became more and more controversial by the month.  He survived the season, and when the pandemic was over,, Irving went back to his usual self.  What did that mean?  He was still incredible on the court, and miserable off of it,  Irving was chosen for another All-Star Game, posted great numbers bt wanted out and got his wish, when the Nets engineered a trade to Dallas

Irving wasl a superstar and game-changer, but is an enigma wrapped in a riddle.  

This one can be considered a little tricky.

When Kyrie Irving surprisingly requested a trade from Cleveland (to get away from LeBron, let's be honest!), Boston arguably stole him in the deal considering that the best player that they gave up, Isaiah Thomas was never the same after that hip injury that took him out during the previous playoffs.  Irving wanted to prove he could lead a powerhouse team, and he did…sort of.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  We have a new one to unveil today, that of the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

The Cavaliers were formed in 1970, but it was not until they drafted LeBron James. They would reach the NBA Finals for the first time in 2007, but James grew frustrated and took his talents to the Miami Heat.  He returned and brought Kevin Love with him and joined a team that had Kyrie Irving. The Cavaliers would win the Eastern Conference four years in a row (2015-18), and they would win their first and only championship in 2016.

As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the NBA.

3. Playoff accomplishments.

4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

This list is updated up until the end of the 2018-19 Season.

The complete list can be found here,but as always we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. LeBron James

2. Mark Price

3. Brad Daugherty

4. Zydrunas Ilgauskas

5. Larry Nance

We will continue our adjustments on our existing lists and will continue developing our new lists.  

Look for or All-Time Top 50 Edmonton Oilers coming next!

As always we thank you for your support.

The Cleveland Cavaliers struck gold when they landed the #1 Draft Pick in 2003 so that they could draft their home state hoops prodigy, LeBron James.  After James left, the Cavs were blessed by the lottery Gods again in 2011 when they won the draft to pick first and choose Kyrie Irving, who was the consensus best player in the draft.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com are always looking to add new sections to our website.  Last month, we uploaded our top 100 active NFL players and how their Hall of Fame resumes stack up.  

We are doing the exact same thing with the NBA.

As opposed to 100 like we did in Football, we are going with only 50 in Basketball.  

We liked the idea that we used in Football with a modern “Modern Positional Average”, so we are doing something similar here.  With advanced analytics, we decided that we don’t have to isolate based on position so they are all on one list.

Inspired by Jay Jaffe’s JAWS statistic that looks at the best seven-year stretch of a baseball player according to bWAR, we are doing the same with current basketball players.  Specifically, we compiled the average PER, Win Shares and VORP for each of the past Hall of Famers based on their best seven-year period.  The additional thinking behind this is that in Basketball, there is an additional focus on periods of greatness as opposed to sports like Baseball, where compiling statistics is more glorified.

To keep everything modern, the average we used is the last 14 inductees, but only the ones who were Modern Era Inductees.  This excludes Direct-Elect Candidates (contributors, Early African-American Pioneers, International and Veterans).  The only exception is Vlade Divac, who was chosen via the International Committee, but has a healthy NBA career to draw upon.

As of this writing, the 14 players from the last four induction classes who we are using for the composite averages are:

Ray Allen, Maurice Cheeks, Vlade Divac, Bobby Jones, Grant Hill, Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Sidney Moncrief, Steve Nash, Shaquille O’Neal, Jack Sikma and Paul Westphal. 

While we are not looking at traditional statistics, we are averaging out All-Star Games and All-NBA Selections.  With the latter, we are looking at this in weighted fashion.  In terms of Third Team All-NBA Selections, one point will be assigned, Second Team All-NBA Selections will have two points will be granted, and First Team All-NBA Selections will have three points.  

Here are the averages:

Based on their elite seven-year stretch the average PER of the last 14 Modern Era Hall of Famers is 21.5.

Based on their elite seven-year stretch, the average Win Shares of the last 14 Modern Era Hall of Famers is 65.1.

Based on their elite seven-year stretch, the average VORP of the last 14 Modern Era Hall of Famers is 27.8.

With All-Star and All-NBA Selections, we look at the entire career of the player.  

The average All-Star Selections of the last 14 Modern Era Hall of Famers is 7.4.

The average All-Pro Selections (based on the pointed average of one for a Third Team, two for a Second Team and three for a First Team Selection) is 9.8.

We are also adding NBA Championships. Often,  players in this team sport more than any other (except for NFL Quarterbacks) are judged by the number of rings they have.  Perhaps, that shouldn't be as regarded as it is, considering the average amount of titles of our last 14 Modern Era Hall of Famers is less than 1.  Specifically, it is 0.79.

Wrapping this up in a bow, the six variables we are looking at Elite Period PER, Elite Period Win Shares, Elite Period VORP, All-Star Games, Weighted All-Pro Selections, NBA Championships.

This will be a regular feature on Notinhalloffame.com, and we will be updating this at the end of the season.

You can find our new section HERE.

As always, we here at Notinhalloffame.com thank all of you for your support!

Pre-2019-20 Rank: #15, Pre-2020-21 Rank: #14, Pre-2021-22 Rank #14, Pre-2022-23 Rank #14, Pre-2023-24 Rank: #15.

Peak Period: 2014-15 to 2020-21.

For many years, Kyrie Irving has been the most polarizing player in Basketball, and at times, all North American sports.  It has never been about his play, as he is a multi-time All-Star, a three-time All-NBA Selection at Point Guard who can take over a game.  He helped LeBron James win the NBA Championship in Cleveland, and when he wanted to be the alpha, he was primarily applauded when he became a Boston Celtic in 2017, but that was when things became weird for the former Uncle Drew.

Irving pledged to bring greatness to Boston, but despite two All-Star years (and no deep playoff run), he signed with their rival Brooklyn, where a super team formed with him, Kevin Durant, and James Harden.  The big three fell apart as quickly as they came together, with Irving’s Brooklyn run marred by his refusal to get the jab and alleged antisemitism.  Irving, who marches to his tune, may have alienated many fans, but he is true to his convictions, knowing that it would (and did) cost him millions in endorsements.  He would force his way out of Brooklyn and, in his first full year in his fourth team, the Dallas Mavericks, where, along with Luka Doncic, he went to the NBA Finals.

With all his past (and maybe future) controversies, Irving might have to do more than most to ensure a spot in Springfield, and if he adds a ring in Dallas, his biggest haters will struggle to keep him out.

If we are to believe Tristan Thompson of the Cleveland Cavaliers, then Kyrie Irving is already a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer.

In an interview with Yahoo Sports’ “Posted Up” Podcast, Thompson had the following to say in regards to Irving:

“There’s nothing to argue.  The man (Irving) has a gold medal, he’s an NBA champion, he’s an All-Star Game MVP and he’s made multiple big shots in his career.  First of all, you know when you’re looking for a house on the apps, you do a filter? How about you do Kyrie’s résumé and then put the filter to see how many guys show up that have it. You’d be surprised how many of those guys aren’t.”

While we are not exactly sure which filters Thompson was referring to, there is some merit to what he said regarding Irving.  In the seven full seasons that he has played in the NBA, the Point Guard has been an All Star five times, a Third Team All-NBA selection (2015), a Rookie of the Year (2012) and an NBA Champion (2016). 

Basketball Reference has Kyrie listed as a 36.4% chance to enter the Hall, though that should shoot up quickly.  At age 26, Kyrie Irving still has many great years left in him but with all due respect to the Boston Celtic he has a couple of years before he can legitimately considered for the Hall of Fame, which is not that far away.