Starbury and the 50 Most Overrated Stars in NBA History
Stephon Marbury has a star on his head, got paid like he was the savior of any NBA team, and filled up a stat sheet to get away with it at the time.
He earned over $150 million in his career and was traded three times; each time he was averaging at least 17 points a game and never played in more than six playoff games as the focal point of a team.
Marbury was part of an era where you could earn upwards of $10 million a year so long as you were a flashy, high-scoring point guard or athletic forward who could score 23 a game while playing no defense and loafing through blowouts.
Most of the so-called stars in the NBA came from the period of time where owners would pay anything for an exciting player, and they did, which is the biggest reason the league is facing a lockout this season.
Any star can be considered overrated based on what he was paid at a certain point in his career compared to the rest of the league, comparing his regular season output to his playoff output, or just him having a much better reputation than what is deserved in hindsight.
So buckle in, because here I have the 50 most overrated stars in NBA history, and I'm sure we'll have some opinions to dispute at some point in this long list.
50. Wilt Chamberlain
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I feel like you can't really have this list without Chamberlain, but I think he did do many great things for the game, so I can't put him very high on the list.
Chamberlain piled up the stats, we all know that. However, people have ragged on him for his lack of drive and his failing to come up big in the playoffs, especially against Bill Russell.
My biggest beef with Wilt is how inflated his stats are from the era that he played in. It's a strange comparison, but for a second let's pretend basketball is baseball and Michael Jordan is Babe Ruth.
Ruth hit 60 home runs in 1927, MJ averaged just under 37 points a game in 1987-88. Let's call them both modern day records for their time.
Now, pretend that there was a miraculous player that came along that was the baseball equivalent to Chamberlain. Chamberlain averaged around 36 percent more points per game than Jordan, meaning his baseball equivalent would have hit 81 home runs in his best year and hit at least 60 home runs four more times.
If that had happened in baseball in a completely different era, people would look at it as a bit sketchy. They would take it with a grain of salt, but still appreciate it.
Wilt was a special player, and one of the most talented of his era, but calling him the best ever (which people do try to argue) because of his stats is way off base.
By the way, I don't want to make you read 200 words for every slide, so I promise this will be the longest one, as Wilt is probably the most controversial player in NBA history when it comes to ranking him.
49. Bill Bradley
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I have a bit of beef with some of the players of the 1950s, especially some of the supposed Hall of Famers.
However, I don't want to pretend to know enough about these guys to give a definite judgment, so I won't put them too high on the list.
Bill Bradley played in the late '60s, and his inclusion in the HOF is baffling to me.
He averaged 14 points, three rebounds and four assists on his career, and his best season was a 16-4-4.5. How those numbers are HOF-worthy is beyond me.
48. Tom Sanders
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As far as I can tell, Sanders was inducted into the HOF based solely upon the fact that he won eight championships with the Boston Celtics.
Tom Sanders is the Phil Rizzuto of the NBA. A good player and a contributor to some great championship teams, but not a HOFer.
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47. Slater Martin
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Another guy who contributed to great teams, Slater Martin won five championships with the Minneapolis Lakers and St. Louis Hawks, but never really had any good numbers of note.
Martin averaged 10 points, three rebounds and five assists for his career, but was only ever in the top three in any single-season category once (assists during the 1955-56 season).
46. Tom Gola
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Tom Gola put up 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists on his career, and only led the league in any category once in his career. He committed 311 fouls in the 1959-60 season.
Aside from that, he won only one championship, 1956 with the Philadelphia Warriors.
44. George McGinnis
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George McGinnis averaged 30 points a game in the last season he was in the ABA, so you knew some NBA team would jump on him as soon as they could.
He had three good seasons in the NBA with the 76ers and the Nuggets, but then he went downhill quickly.
His ABA numbers were inflated with a huge usage percentage (he was the most used player in ABA history), and they couldn't hold up as he switched to the NBA.
43. Bernard King
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Bernard King gets a lot of love in NBA circles, mainly because he was the man on the Knicks for a handful of years, but he never really took any of his teams anywhere, and never got much love when he was playing.
His Knicks never made it past the second round of the playoffs and he was only a top three MVP vote-getter once in his career, and only an All-Star four times.
42. Reggie Miller
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Reggie Miller was a stupendous shooter, and could score with the best of them at the peak of his career, but was he a legitimate number one option for a team?
The Pacers got to the NBA Finals once in 15 playoff appearances, which makes you wonder what would happen if he would have been the second-best player on a team, instead of the best.
41. Kevin Johnson
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Kevin Johnson is known as a Suns all-time great to many people, but he broke down early in his career and never got the accolades one would think he would have gotten.
KJ had a good first four seasons with the Suns, but in the following seven seasons he played in 70 games or more only once.
Aside from that, he only made three All-Star teams and was never quite the player he could have been had he stayed healthy.
40. Michael Finley
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Michael Finley is a polarizing player for some reason. Either you love him or you hate him, and I tend to lean toward the latter.
Finley really only had five full seasons where he would have been considered a top-tier talent in the NBA, at which point he turned into a spot-up shooter with even spottier defense.
39. Carmelo Anthony
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A lot of questions have been circling around Carmelo Anthony recently since he was traded to the Knicks.
We all know he can score in as many ways as any other player in the NBA, and he can certainly score in the clutch.
However, his teams have made it past the first round in the playoffs only once in his career, and he had regularly underperformed up until two years ago.
Some may question his leadership, leading to many questioning whether or not he can get a team to the Finals.
38. Andre Iguodala
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Andre Iguodala has really stepped up his game this year, and has nearly made his way off this list entirely, as he is starting to live up to being a number one option on a team.
He has had good defense, but some would argue that his offense comes up short, as he has never topped 20 points per game and shoots low percentages for a number one guy.
Plus, he is getting paid like a guy who should be scoring around 22 or 23 a game, not 16 or 17.
37. Vin Baker
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Vin Baker was a big man that got paid like an elite player for a time, but after his fourth year in the league he was obviously nowhere near an elite player.
After his fourth year, he got injured and never averaged over 20 points or eight rebounds again up until the end of his career nearly a decade later, yet teams continued to pay him big bucks.
36. KC Jones
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K.C. Jones was another Celtic who played well, but probably shouldn't be a Hall of Famer.
Jones was a good defender, but he averaged only seven points, four assists and four rebounds in his career (and did even worse in the playoffs).
Besides that, he never made an All-Star team and never led the league in any category, yet he's a HOFer.
35. World B. Free
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Sometimes a gimmick is enough to make a player more memorable, and therefore seem like a better player 30 years after the fact.
Free could dunk like the best ABAers that had recently come over to the NBA, so he was a fan favorite in many places.
However, for a guard he was bad at getting his teammates involved (averaged fewer than four assists in his career) and only made one All-Star team.
34. Kiki Vandeweghe
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How Kiki Vandeweghe ever survived in the NBA with a name like Kiki and left with such a good reputation is beyond me.
Kiki had four years where he looked like one of the better players in the game, but every season he had was riddled with mediocre rebounding and average defense at best.
After the early part of his career, Vandeweghe was injury-plagued and never got back to his previous success.
33. Dan Majerle
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The only thing underrated about Dan Majerle is his nickname—everything else is blown up about him.
Thunder Dan was a good bench player for about three years, a good starter for about three more, and that's about it.
His career averages of 11 points, four rebounds and two assists look like that of a decent player, not like a guy that should be a part of the Suns "Ring of Honor" and brought back to the NBA Shooting Stars contest at every All-Star Weekend.
32. Eddie Johnson
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Of the two Eddie Johnsons of note in the NBA, one was a coked-up crazy dude (allegedly) and the other was an okay basketball player.
Eddie A. Johnson's (the non-cocaine one) biggest achievement was a Sixth Man Award in 1989—otherwise he is a vastly overrated guy.
31. Craig Ehlo
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The first thing people think of when they hear Craig Ehlo's name is the historic shot that Michael Jordan made over him in the 1989 playoffs; otherwise, Clevelanders regard him as a Cavs cornerstone.
Maybe they feel for him being forever immortalized as the guy that Jordan drained a shot over, maybe they liked the way he played, but his numbers in no way are good enough to to be a beloved player.
30. Antawn Jamison
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My biggest beef with Antawn Jamison is the amount of money he is being paid. It's ungodly, really, to think of how much he is getting paid.
The basketball-reference fan-ratings have Jamison at 133 all-time, just above Tommy Heinsohn and Brad Daugherty.
Jamison is a low percentage-shooting (for his position) forward who jacks up way too many shots and plays less than no defense.
29. Dick McGuire
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As far as I can tell, Dick McGuire is in the Hall of Fame because, hey, one of the 1950s Knicks had to make it, so why not the guy nicknamed "Dick the Knick."
McGuire averaged eight points, four rebounds and five assists on his career and made only one All-NBA team (second team).
28. Amar'e Stoudemire
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Amar'e Stoudemire is a high-scoring big man who has always been a part of a fast-paced, high-scoring offense, usually with one of the best offensive point guards in the NBA on his team.
Otherwise, he is a decent rebounder and a mediocre defender with bad knees and eyes that fall out of their sockets every once in a while.
He had little playoff success with the Suns, and just got swept by the Celtics in his first series with the Knicks.
27. Chris Mullin
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Chris Mullin had only five years in his career where he both played in enough games and put up the numbers necessary to earn him the reputation that he has today.
People see him as one of the better forwards of the late '80s and early '90s, and his shooting and scoring make it seem that way, but he didn't stay at a high level for long enough to be considered as good as people make him out to be.
26. Rodney McCray
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Rodney McCray came into the league with a lot of fanfare back in 1983, and for some reason people still see him as a good player to this day.
McCray was wildly inconsistent in his years, and never really lived up to his full potential offensively, although he was a pretty good defender in his day.
25. Chris Bosh
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People called Chris Bosh a superstar up until about September of last year—then he was downgraded to star, which may even be a stretch.
Before coming to Miami, Bosh topped out at about 23 points a game while shooting the ball 16 or 17 times a game. He was also a somewhat inconsistent rebounder and a soft defender.
Aside from that, Bosh's teams have only been to the playoffs twice, and not once have they gotten out of the first round.
Strangely enough, people are starting to knock Bosh down so far that he may start becoming underrated soon enough.
24. Danny Manning
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At the peak of his career, Danny Manning could score with the best of the scorers in the NBA, but that's about the most he could do.
For a man his size (6'10"), Manning was an exceptionally poor rebounder who often was too soft on defense and made only two All-Star Games in his supposedly star-studded career.
23. Corey Maggette
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Corey Maggette seems to be the most generic basketball player of the last decade, but that has nothing to do with his rankings, it's just an observation.
Maggette was a good scorer and at times a good rebounder, but he has a streaky shot and is overconfident with his three-point shooting ability.
He is also a weak defender and is a good number three option on a team at the very best; unfortunately I have seen him go as the second best and at times the best player on his team.
22. Chris Webber
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Chris Webber was touted as the next big thing coming out of college, and for a while in the NBA he lived up to that billing.
Webber played the most games of his career in his rookie season (not a good sign), and never topped 2,000 points in a season in his career, usually a sign that he was often injured or bothered by bumps and bruises.
However, people still talk about the guy like an argument could be made for him to be a top-60 or -75 guy in NBA history.
21. Gilbert Arenas
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Agent Zero went from completely underrated to completely overrated from the beginning to the current spot in his career.
Gil cracked 2,000 points and 400 assists for three straight years, followed by three straight years of injuries and suspensions.
Arenas got paid by the truckload in the process, making $17 million this year for doing very little on the basketball court.
20. Glen Rice
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Strange aside really quickly here, Glen Rice is the first person I think about whenever anyone mentions the Charlotte Hornets even though he only played there for three years.
Anyway, everyone was high as they possibly could be on Glen Rice when he came out of college, and for the most part he lived up to his hype, as he scored a lot early on in his career.
Unfortunately, there are a few other things Rice didn't do well on the floor. He was a poor rebounder, got next to no assists and was a mediocre defender at best.
19. Larry Johnson
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When Grandmama was at his peak, by golly he was a forced to be reckoned with.
Unfortunately, most people only choose to remember the highs of LJ's career, and omit the lows.
When he got traded to the Knicks for Brad Lohaus and Anthony Mason, Johnson inexplicably quit rebounding at a high rate, his shooting percentages went down, and he quit producing at a high level, but his salary just skyrocketed.
18. Patrick Ewing
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Patrick Ewing is a touchy player for many basketball fans out there, and putting forth the argument that Ewing failed to win a title in his career isn't usually enough to dissuade someone of their opinion of a player.
The biggest argument behind Ewing's overrated-ness is the Ewing Theory, which, as defined by ESPN's Bill Simmons, states (I love to write this like it's a scientific theory, it just makes me all warm inside) that for some reason a certain team will play better in the absence of their star player.
In the 1999 Eastern Conference Finals, Ewing tore an Achilles, yet the Knicks went on to win three of their next four games to make it to the NBA Finals.
17. John Starks
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Besides constantly wearing a sad face, John Starks made a name for himself by being overpaid by none other than the New York Knicks.
Starks never averaged more than 13 points a game in a full season, and the Knicks still decided to pay him like he was something special even though he was an average guard with an average shot and average defense.
16. Vince Carter
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Vince Carter started off his career by stuffing a stat sheet in Toronto, dunking over huge men and dropping jaws rather than focusing on playoff success.
Then, he was traded to the Nets. They were supposed to be an unstoppable force as Carter would be teaming up with Jason Kidd just two years removed from losing in the NBA Finals.
The only problem? The Nets got worse, winning five fewer games with Carter in 2004-05 and faring worse in the playoffs.
The Nets would have a few more good seasons before they would go completely downhill, eventually trading Carter in 2009.
15. Kenyon Martin
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Kenyon Martin was a big part of the early 2000s Nets teams that made the Finals, and after the Nets traded him to the Nuggets, Martin has never been anywhere near an NBA Finals.
Martin has been a good player, but people gush about him like he has been one of the best players of the past decade.
He has been a great defender, though he is slowly deteriorating, but he has never been the offensive presence that people make him out to be, and it makes it seem as if he may not be a viable number two option on an NBA team.
14. Mark Eaton
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Mark Eaton is one of the biggest men to ever play the game, and many people have the belief that just because he was that size that he was an absolutely dominating force.
He was a great shot blocker for his time in the NBA, but he never did develop into much of a scorer, and even shot a miserable 45 percent for his career even though he stood at 7'4", plus he was a very mediocre rebounder for a guy that size, only averaging double-digit rebounds twice in his career.
13. Charles Barkley
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Chuck is the ultimate wayward superstar in NBA history. One would think that a team would do whatever possible to keep their superstar, but Sir Charles was parted out to four quarters for a dollar twice in his career.
Besides that, Barkley's teams only ever made it to the NBA Finals once—his Suns were dispatched by Jordan's Bulls in six games in 1993.
12. Antoine Walker
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Antoine Walker shot too much, was a bad ball-handler, and never saw his teams amount to anything in the playoffs when he was a key part of the team.
Walker led the league in turnovers once in his career, and always had high totals, averaging three a game for his career.
Besides that, he continually jacked up shots whenever he would get the ball, leading the league in three-pointers attempted three times and field goals attempted once, despite not being a good enough shooter to justify these numbers.
11. Tracy McGrady
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Tracy McGrady is one of the best players never to make it to the second round of the playoffs, a very dubious title for a supposed superstar.
McGrady and his teams made the playoffs seven times in his 14-year career, and despite usually having a good cast of players around him, they never made it out of the first round.
10. Jerry Stackhouse
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Jerry Stackhouse is a guy that always got paid around $8 or 9 million a year, but never did much in terms of on-court production or playoff success to earn it.
Stackhouse led the league twice in turnovers and once in field goals attempted, and otherwise he was just a slightly above-average player who was in love with his jump shot, averaging three three-pointers attempted per game, despite a measly 30 percent three-point percentage.
9. Jalen Rose
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Jalen Rose was an often-injured, often-traded player who had some success scoring, but couldn't rebound or assist much at all.
His 14-3-3 career average is pretty good, but it does not justify the fact that he made over $100 million for his career. And people wonder why we are headed for a lockout.
8. Darryl Dawkins
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Chocolate Thunder had a reputation as a tough guy who could break a backboard at will, but he was never as productive as people remember him to be.
Dawkins averaged 14 points a game for his career and played in only 114 games over the last five years of his career.
Besides that, for a guy with as much toughness as people recall, Dawkins was a terrible rebounder, averaging only six a game for his career.
7. Spud Webb
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When people talk about Spud Webb, the first thing they remember is him in the dunk contest. It's not a good sign that people's biggest memory of you is in an exhibition, and not on the court.
Besides that, people remember him as a part of the great Hawks teams of the '80s, and will often list him as one of the players they had, despite him being a seventh man at best when he was with Atlanta.
Spud was a rich man's Nate Robinson, which is good, but not as good as people like to remember.
6. Penny Hardaway
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Penny Hardaway started off his career quite fast, playing for some good Magic teams that included Shaq, and he averaged 20 points in three of his first four seasons.
After the 1996-97 season, however, he struggled due to injuries and no longer playing with Shaq, averaging around 15 points in three injury-plagued seasons and then absolutely nosediving for the rest of his career.
5. Latrell Sprewell
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Besides constantly looking like a crazy man, Latrell Sprewell was expected to be at least the number two man for a number of his teams, something he just couldn't do.
Spree spent his days shooting gobs and gobs of shots, despite shooting only 42 percent for his career, and only made it to the playoffs five times in his career.
He was a guy who fell in love with his three-point shot at times, and played very poor defense when he didn't care about the game.
4. Shareef Abdur-Rahim
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Shareef got paid like an All-Star for the majority of his career, as he made upwards of $90 million playing in the late '90s and early '00s, but he only ever made one All-Star team.
He was a good scorer, and could rebound a little bit, averaging 17 and seven respectively, but he never had any playoff success, making it to the postseason only once with Sacramento late in his career as a role player. They were dispatched in six games and Shareef only made 23 shots in the series.
3. Damon Stoudamire
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Mighty Mouse, the Jail Blazers' scrappy little point guard, was wildly inconsistent, injury-prone and ridiculously overpaid.
After averaging around 20 points a game for Toronto in his first two-and-a-half seasons in the league, he was traded to Portland, which signed him to an enormous contract the following year.
Once in Portland, the little guy never averaged over 13 points or six assists a game again, and compiled a miserable 40 percent field goal percentage for his career.
2. Steve Francis
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Stevie Franchise, how far off your nickname was.
In less than a decade in the NBA, Francis made over $100 million, despite playing in only one playoff series in his career, where his team was dispatched in five games.
Francis averaged 20 points a game just three times in his career, despite getting paid like he should be around 24 or 25 a game consistently, and was usually a decent rebounder and distributor, averaging five rebounds and five assists for his career.
1. Stephon Marbury
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For me, Stephon Marbury is the ultimate overrated star player.
He racked up stats on teams where he was allowed to shoot the ball nearly 20 times a game, he was a mediocre to bad three-point shooter, despite shooting around four of those a game, and a team featuring Starbury as a top-two player never made it out of the first round of the playoffs.
Starbury made the playoffs only four times (five times if you count with Boston two years ago, but he was a seventh man at that point), and his teams were always dispatched easily.
Once he signed his first big contract, the Nets realized how much they overpaid him and shipped him off; Phoenix did the same thing two years later, and he landed on the Knicks, where overpaid and overrated superstars go to get fat, isn't that right Eddy Curry?
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