SLAMonline Top 50: Richard Hamilton, no. 40
The definitive ranking of the best players in the NBA today…
If the SLAMonline Top 50 was based on how a dude looks with a plastic face-mask pressed against his mug, there is little doubt Richard Hamilton would be the Lance of that award. However, Rip, who has sported the mask since the 03-04 season (his “Superman cape,” as he calls it), surely wouldn’t mind the humble ranking.
That’s simply the type of hombre that Hamilton is. He plays big when he needs to. He can score but doesn’t need to score. He doesn’t fiend the spotlight. His career scoring average is a chin hair below 18 ppg, and that number goes up almost 3 points come playoff time – a stage Rip has been to throughout his entire b-ball career minus three seasons with the Wizards (y’all almost forgot that didn’t you).
Rip and winning have gone together for quite a while now. Dude led UConn to its first National Championship in 1999 as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, vaulting him to the seventh overall pick that summer. After the 2002 trade to Detroit, Hamilton and the Pistons have gone to the Conference Finals or better in each of his six seasons with the team including 2004-‘05 when Detroit brought it home for the first time since the Laimbeer era.
Rip isn’t your typical NBA stud though. First of all, he probably wouldn’t label himself a stud. The strongest part of his game is arguably his ability to run around a pick better than anyone in the league. And then he keeps running, and running, and then might run some more. Matter of fact, he might just outrun his own dogs, as he claims.
Not only that, despite leading the Pistons in scoring in each of his six seasons in the D, Rip has been second on the squad in assists in five of those years. Point is that Hamilton is the man without acting like the man. It’s not about him.
The examples pile up. The nickname Rip comes from a tattoo he sports in honor of a childhood friend that passed. You ever see Rip in commercials? Doing a skit at the ESPY’s? Pushing his rap albums? All of that is about as likely as me suiting-up next to Hamilton in the red white and blue next fall.
Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.
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bottle down.)
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@Bryan. I thought I was the only person on the planet who liked Khalid from that team. Man, I wish he had stuck on some NBA team.
GARBAGE POST.
1. LeBron James
2. Dwyane Wade
3. Kevin Garnett
4. Shawn Marion
5. Elton Brand
6. Gilbert Arenas
7. Dwight Howard
8. Danny Granger
9. Joe Johnson
10. Chris Bosh
11. Andre Iguodala
12. Paul Pierce
13. Vince Carter
14. Jason Richardson
15. Jose Calderon
16. Chauncey Billups
17. Rashard Lewis
18. Hedo Turkoglu
19. Antawn Jamison
20. Caron Butler
21. Gerald Wallace
22. Mike Dunleavy
23. Chris Paul
24. Kobe Bryant
25. Amare Stoudemire
26. Steve Nash
27. Dirk Nowitzki
28. Deron Williams
29. Allen Iverson
30. Baron Davis
31. Al Jefferson
32. Tim Duncan
33. Rudy Gay
34. Carmelo Anthony
35. Carlos Boozer
36. Yao Ming
37. Pau Gasol
38. Jason Kidd
39. Brandon Roy
@Lz: It was deliberate, no question about it. Even the announcers we shocked. Will never forget that moment.
Scott; Seriously you would take Lil’Dun over guys like Josh, Monta, Camby, Tayshaun, RIP, and Artest? Maybe the Knicks have a job for you?
@Scott – Hedo?
@Bryan – why? I realize North Americans will never appreciate him as much as Europeans, but just curious as to why the comment.
(jeez, what a pathetic list)
that said, i have to think Slam are going throw some rookies here or this is gonna be some crap list
i’m out today… rip as #40 is absurd.
@Lz – agree about Sabonis. It’s a shame really. Also, remember the Sheed tryin to kill Ruben B.B. incident. The guy is a douchebag of epic proportions. His (wasted) talent and skill irrelevant.
@Russ – excellent!!
@Jukai – I don’t know what happened to you, man. Last year, from what I remember, you were not like this. Something happen in your personal life, sent you over the edge and now you are venting in cyber space or what? Either way..not a good look. (waits for it)
@Jukai – I am sure you are smart enough to find other ways to kill it. I know we all have bad days. I’ve been on here slinging mud at times, but it’s been going on for a while with you now..just making sure you are all good. Carry on, as TAD would say.
@ciolkstar. I cannot agree with “misleading triple doubles” any more. He is opportunistic and his team mates know he can/will rebound. I am sure he has instructed bigs to leave it up to him to rebound and make sure they run. I am sure they didn’t all appreciate it either. Which one of those triple doubles stands out in anyone’s mind or is memorable? NONE. They are meaningless. I can’t remember was he involved in a Ricky Davis type stat padding incident. I think he was.
I have no idea why in my last post, my criteria idea took such a hit. There should have been a common grading rubric to why these players were where they were, it should not have been “a) who is the best and/or b) how much do they help their team” cause that leaves a lot of room. Should we only account for last year? Are we looking forward to the year ahead? Should we factor in past achievements? Should we factor in lower stats cause of the team they are on? Should we factor in past injuries or erase them and assume they’re going to be healthy? How much should we factor in team chemistry vs raw talent? Should it only be about raw talent? Do we factor in upside? Do we factor in that they’re past their primes? Should we look at their past to make sure their teammates or system aren’t making them better then they are? Which is more important, athleticism or skill? If Devin Harris played better than Jason Kidd but we know Jason Kidd is better, what do we do?
All this shoulda probably been hammered out for an “OFFICIAL LIST” but it wasn’t. And that’s fine, because I know this is just a list that was thrown out between a bunch of Slam writers, and then fine tuned through yelling and screaming. Still, I wish we could see “Ben Osbourne’s Top 50 list” and “Myles Brown’s top 50 list” and “Russ Bengtson’s top 50 list” instead of this compromised ‘official’ list which no one really seems to like. I digress though, my last comments were just to get on Russ’ nerves. I immediately regretted saying “pathetic” after I posted my first response, but I still felt that contributing to Russ’ aneurism was probably a more fun cause than apologizing. If you guys really need to know, the list is just as valid as anyone’s: after rating O’Neil at 25 on mine and then reading everyone’s arguments, I wanted to toss him to 40. No one has perfect opinions, and even though I’m incredibly close, I don’t either… but I just feel no one is happy with this list, the writers included (some of these summaries are showers of praise while others are a bit like bash-fests) and I’d just rather see THEIR opinions instead of SLAM’s badly conglomerated opinion. No lie, peace.
@Lz- it’s hard to argue with most of what you are saying. But at the very least there is a possibility some bigs who’s bread and butter is rebounding not running the floor, would not be happy. Most of the people you mentioned are not “bigs”. I ultimately question his unselfishness and motivation.. let’s remember this is they guy who quit on the Nets and demanded outta there. How does that factor into his TEAM first attitude. Has the guy ever found a coach he likes? He has done this to every team he’s been on.
down a certain ring with the Spurs in the next comment. What gives and what does this tell us? Yes, he is loyal – to himself and his money (again Starbury anyone?)// Yes, there is a flip side to the Vince argument. But if Jason is the great unselfish leader you believe him to be.. would you not find a way to tap into Vince. We are talking about Vince here.. not a Collins twin. Remember? The same Vince that tore it up after getting traded from the Raps late in the season. If anything, I am willing to bet Vince got a taste of the real Jason Kidd and got discouraged and hence no effort. The reason you never hear a bad word spoken about him is because it’s taboo. Same as it was talking smack about MJ when he was dominating. It all came out later.
This list, to me, feels like one big compromise. I want real opinions, not the list that came about when Myles threatened to shank Lang if Josh Smith was placed that high.
Once again, even though Eboy can get away with saying “There is no way possible that Sheed makes this list now,” I apologize for thinking I could guess who would be on the list in the future. I have read what many of the writers of Slam feel about certain players, so I figured I would make an educated guess. It was written without thought when I was waiting for several programs to load on my computer. I shall only complain about the present, and wait before I whine about the future.
so quit Slam and try took for some Paris Hilton/Brittney kinda thing
I think Rip’s in a good spot, I had him at 36 so 40 isn’t that far off. I’m just worried that SLAM wont take a good look at Rasheed and place him around the same area. I’ll insert my foot in my mouth when he is number 39.
@Jukai, my point is keep it to the bball yeah?
I like this artcle also shows how humble Rip is the man doesnt even dunk anymore and he is athletic as they come. This is mostly saying that he has all the talent but only shows it if he needs to. In my opinion maybe we should make a list with no Piston because its hard to rank them because they all use each other so well. (I had him @ 29 on my list a lil off) If stephen Jackson doesnt make the list someone needs a time out
Perhaps with the following posts you guys can include the individual ranks given by each SLAMwriter? Just as a footnote or something. No explanation needed. Just Name:Rank, Name:Rank, etc.. I’m just curious is all.
thats probably just cause of NBA/America mentality of celebrities.
[:P]
Am I the only one who slightly differentiates slamonline from slam, being that it’s more of a blog than an online magazine? I think this list is a perfectly reasonable mash up of what slamonline thinks of players. I rate this kind of discourse more like freedarko’s most FD players rather than pitchfork’s 100 best records type scenario…
Rip is a pure shooter who just wants a job to do, but can do many things well. And is super athletic because at one point or another I have seen him do most of the dunks you seem on top 20′s and has latteral quickness and agility to get almost anywhere on the court
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