Monday, October 31st, 2011 at 10:15 am  |  39 responses

Videos: Ringless Stars

The best to never win a ‘Chip: Barkley, Ewing, ‘Nique and more…

by Eldon Khorshidi / @eldonadam

When viewed in retrospect, the defining measure of an athlete’s success is obvious, and for a lot of guys, cruel and painful. No matter how many points you score, regular season games you win or highlights you produce, you’re not certified until you hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Fact is, many of the greatest basketball players to ever breathe have exited the hardwood with the unfortunate—and sometimes shameful—absence of a Championship ring.

LeBron. Melo. CP3. DWill. DRose. Durant. Dwight. All of these guys are phenomenal, out-of-this-world basketball players, but all are yet to achieve greatness at its highest level. In a matter of a few seasons, the window for some of the NBA’s elite to win a title will begin to wane, and before we know it, it’ll shut, with their legacies locked away for eternity and their shortcomings irreparable. Some eventually get over the hump—it took MJ seven years, Dirk 13 years, Gary Payton 17 years, and so on—but opportunities to win a Championship are few and far between.

Below are 10 of the best players to never win a ‘Chip. Although they ultimately fell short, we relive some epic single-game performances (and one highlight mix) that help demonstrate each player’s superb talent. There’s a wide range of guys on our list, from Pete Maravich to Reggie Miller to everyone in between. Not trying to downplay anyone’s accomplishments, but there’s a harsh reality at hand: the players in this gallery will forever remain ringless.

Note: There are a countless number of All-Stars and Hall-of-Famers who fit the bill, so for the purpose of narrowing the field, we’ve excluded guys who played in the ABA (George Gervin, Connie Hawkins, Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel, etc.) or later won a Championship as a coach (Lenny Wilkins). We’ve also excluded active players, and guys without good footage on YouTube—which really sucks—such as Elgin Baylor, Nate Thurmond, Walt Bellamy and many others.

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  • Mike Posted: Oct.31 at 10:18 am
    Vince?

  • J.C. Posted: Oct.31 at 10:27 am
    LeBron? ehehehehehehehehe

  • manu Posted: Oct.31 at 10:39 am
    iverson really was a 1 man team…man if he had a low post scoring threat

  • andy Posted: Oct.31 at 11:07 am
    AI, more like a hair BELOW six feet, or so I’ve heard many times. In some court-level video clips the dude looks 5’10″… amazing

  • nbk Posted: Oct.31 at 11:33 am
    Man I was just 14 again watchin that Iverson clip. I hope there is another player with a similar amount of courage and skill sometime soon (I realize there won’t be anyone as good at that size in the near future).

  • marc Posted: Oct.31 at 12:09 pm
    An eric snow basket sighting lol

  • GP23 Posted: Oct.31 at 12:47 pm
    No Chris Webber?..

  • GP23 Posted: Oct.31 at 12:51 pm
    …or Dikembe Mutombo?

  • Yann Blavec Posted: Oct.31 at 1:20 pm
    Allen Iverson is the best 6’0″ shooting guard of all time.

  • MLK4Life Posted: Oct.31 at 1:25 pm
    That Game 1 of those Finals is my favorite game of all time. AI, my favorite player of all-time. Everyone thought they’d get swept.

  • Matthew Richardson Posted: Oct.31 at 3:43 pm
    No Elgin Baylor, Walt Bellamy, George Gervin, Dan Issel, Artis Gilmore??

  • LA Huey Posted: Oct.31 at 4:25 pm
    No Keyon Dooling?

  • rocksinmypants Posted: Oct.31 at 5:36 pm
    man,i remember watching that iveroson game when he destroyed my lakers, but i didnt remember all the kobe turnovers.

  • nbk Posted: Oct.31 at 6:06 pm
    No Laker fan ever does

  • The Nupe Posted: Oct.31 at 7:02 pm
    Some pretty impressive stuff here. Something I don’t get is that if someone ‘only’ makes 4 or 5 all star games( e.g. B. King or C. Mullin), why/how are they justified as HOFers or considered greatest of all time. I get that All-star appearances don’t mean ‘best’, but seems like their would be some correlation.

  • thegfunk Posted: Oct.31 at 7:26 pm
    Watching Barkley go to work in the post is great.

  • rocksinmypants Posted: Oct.31 at 7:30 pm
    Lol @ nbk. It’s not like that at all. I’m a Kobe guy but I ain’t blind. I was also amuse at Derek fisher getting blown by lol. Given it was to an in his prime A.I. But……. The lakers won so no worries. To bad ai didn’t have a better supporting cast

  • coggie13 Posted: Oct.31 at 8:16 pm
    what about A.I’s 60 point game?

  • Dr. DL Posted: Oct.31 at 8:37 pm
    Man I’d forgotten just how good AI was, that year especially. The most painful experience of my life as a sports fan was seeing my Blazers choke against the Lakers in game 7 that year, so of course I loved seeing Iverson singlehandedly beat them in game 1. Of course he couldn’t do much beyond that in the series, though. The other thing I’d forgotten was just how unwatchable the rest of the 2000 76ers were. Aside from Mutombo the roster was full of Eric Snows, Matt Geigers, George Lynchs and Tyrone Hills. Guys who don’t crack the rotation let alone start for plenty of other teams. It just shows what leadership and grit can do for a team as Iverson had both in droves.

  • Showfan12 Posted: Oct.31 at 9:09 pm
    how about steve nash!!!!

  • Hursty Posted: Oct.31 at 9:17 pm
    Haha, that Bernard King video, during that 1st half, they ran a variation of the same play 4 straight times and he still scored off it. Damn.

  • Ugh Posted: Oct.31 at 10:46 pm
    I really see Carmelo Anthony as a new Alex English. And I thought Gilbert Arenas was going to be a new Bernard King, but he got a little lost on the way.

  • robb Posted: Oct.31 at 10:50 pm
    I’m glad Miller never got one.

  • Dre Posted: Nov.1 at 12:14 am
    Barkley has better post-moves than Dwight

  • RJ Posted: Nov.1 at 4:52 am
    AI’s stepback over Lou..

  • L Posted: Nov.1 at 5:36 am
    No CWebb? L

  • Donatello Posted: Nov.1 at 7:25 am
    I’m officially drained. No CWebb? C’mon, slam @RJ not Lou but Lue

  • Jwizz Posted: Nov.1 at 8:18 am
    dj mbenga has more rings then all these guys :(

  • THE NOTORIOUS KING Posted: Nov.1 at 10:54 am
    so ALLEN IVERSON is the BEST player from the last decade hands down

  • THE NOTORIOUS KING Posted: Nov.1 at 10:58 am
    Luke Walton has more rings then all of em -_-

  • Allenp Posted: Nov.1 at 11:09 am
    That Iverson game is one of my best NBA memories of all time. Seriously.
    That game and the shot Jordan hit in 1998, are two moments I can remember so vividly.

  • Allenp Posted: Nov.1 at 11:13 am
    And if Eric Snow, Aaron Mckie and Deke weren’t injured that series, Sixers might have taken it to six, possibly seven. They would have still probably lost though.

  • Allenp Posted: Nov.1 at 11:19 am
    I’m sorry, but y’all know this is one of my favorite topics. Dude averaged 35.6 points for the series. It’s crazy that Lue got a label as an Iverson stopper for “holding” Iverson to 35.6 points per game.

  • rocksinmypants Posted: Nov.1 at 12:32 pm
    Just shows how good iverson was. Or how stupid people are.

  • Allenp Posted: Nov.1 at 12:41 pm
    NBK
    Holla at me if you still want to discuss that Isiah/Kobe thing.

  • nbk Posted: Nov.1 at 1:15 pm
    Yup Allen, I’m interested in this big time.

  • nbk Posted: Nov.1 at 1:17 pm
    We are talking about building a title team around one of them as your centerpiece right?

  • nbk Posted: Nov.1 at 2:07 pm
    you need to get a twitter Allen, or someway to holler at you without the use of luck lol

  • Allenp Posted: Nov.1 at 4:13 pm
    My bad. this is my email ajpowell75@gmail.com

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