ESPN's NBA Rank Reaches its Final 36

My list of 36 contains 32 guys currently not already ranked in the top 100 by ESPN.

I lost 4 guys from my top 36:  I am told that I overrated Ray Allen by 22 spots (50 v. 28); Reggie Miller by 17 spots (51 v. 34), Rick Barry by 10 (37 v. 27) and Gary Payton (41 v. 35). 

Here are my 32 remaining guys listed alphabetically by last name):

Kareem, Barkley, Baylor, Bird, Kobe, Wilt, Drexler, Duncan, Durant, Dr. J, Ewing, KG, Havlicek, LeBron, Magic, Jordan, Karl Malone, Moses Malone, George Mikan, Nash, Dirk, Hakeem, Shaq, Chris Paul, Bob Petit, Pippen, Oscar, David Robinson, Russell, Stockton, Wade, West.



I cannot imagine that the remaining 32 guys are not absolute locks to be in ESPN's top 36.  Who are the 3 absolute worst guys on my list?  Pippen, Ewing and Havlicek?  Are those guys gonna be ranked below 100?  No.

So who are the 4 guys I missed (supposedly underrated)? We know that, right or (very) wrong,  Steph Curry will be on the ESPN top 36.

Of the guys who were on the 1996 Top 50 list and who have not yet been ranked by ESPN in its top 100, we have remaining Dave Bing, Hal Greer, Kevin McHale, and Bill Sharman.  You gotta think that McHale at least will make it.

I did not have Jason Kidd on my list, as I did not evaluate him as a top 36 player (was Jason Kidd as good as the guys I have in my top 36?  I'd say no.).  But he did play 50,000 minutes, so I imagine he will be another fill-in.

Then if you look at the ESPN PG ratings you will see that they have Isiah Thomas above Chris Paul and Kidd, so Isiah will make it.

Therefore, look for ESPN to add McHale, Kidd, Thomas, and Curry to my top 32, probably in that order.  Hell, Curry might be #1 overall in their minds.

So what will be the horrible glaring errors for ESPN's #nbarank?

Well, in 1996, Dave Bing, Hal Greer, and Bill Sharman were considered top 50 all-time players by a panel of experts.  These three gentlemen are not in the #nbarank top 100.  Seems hard to imagine. 

In addition, poor Neal Johnston continues to be completely forgotten.  http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/johnsne01.html  Now, compare Neal Johnston's NBA statistics and honors with those of Yao Ming (their #89) or Bill Walton (their #42) and tell me that Neal Johnston deserves to be left out of the top 100 completely.

HM