Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 at 3:02 pm  |  83 responses

Videos: Best Undersized Guards

Iverson, Hardaway, Murphy and more…

One of the most widely accepted beliefs among fans is that the NBA game is played above the rim; if you don’t have a freakishly athletic frame or have trouble grabbing the rim, you’re probably better suited for the NCAA or overseas. To be honest, this is the truth. Undersized guys are underdogs. The odds are pinned against them, and more times than not, these guys fail at the NBA level.

But then there are the select few who don’t make excuses; the guys who look in the mirror and pay zero attention to their height and wingspan; the guys who simply don’t care. Above are videos of the 10 best undersized guards in the history of our game. To counteract their lack of size, these shorties had to perfect other aspects of their games, whether it be a killer crossover, fade-away jumpshot, quick hands, or exceptional court awareness. There’s no definitive ranking here, but all of the names below can be found in SLAM’s 500 Greatest NBA Players Of All Time.

The main hurdle in compiling the best undersized players was, well, determining who and what is considered “undersized”. For this list, we set the bar at six feet (6-0) or shorter, and used Basketball Reference as the measuring stick. That means if you’re 6-1 or 6-2 according to BR, you were left off the list. Several guys fell into this category, including Nate ‘Tiny’ Archibald, Bob Cousy, Nick Van Exel, and Kevin Johnson.

There were numerous height-challenged players who attained remarkable goals and achieved special accomplishments throughout their careers, so molding together a list of 10 was no easy task. As the famous addage goes, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog”, and there’s no better way to represent that than these video clips.—Eldon Khorshidi

Honorable Mention: Muggsy Bogues, Anthony ‘Spud’ Webb, Earl Boykins, Brevin Knight, Speedy Claxton, Mark Price

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  • Tom

    no mention of Mark Price????…….dude averaged 25ppg for a few seasons and was definitely 6ft or less….same with Zeke

  • Mo

    Hot Stepper! You don’t forget about him being undersized because of the market he plays in or because of rumors about his future. You forget about him being undersized because of how BIG he affects the game.

  • http://slamonline.com Eldon Khorshidi

    @Tom Zeke is listed at 6-1…. list was created solely by me, so there’s some forgotten names. Price on the honorable mention list now.

  • http://www.twitter.com/BigFutureLG BigFutureLG

    AI is def tha best small man…in my opinion

  • add

    AI best undersized player ever, to bad yall cant put tiny on here dude could call, much respect

  • add

    AI definitely the best undersized player ever, too bad yall cant put tiny on the list, dude could ball

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Mark Price’s best scoring season was 19.6PPG. for the record.

  • robb

    Zeke’s official height was 6’1. We know he’s 6’0 but I think the Slam guys went with the official measurements here.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    NBK
    I was about to write that. Mark Price wishes he averaged 25 points per game.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    Zeke was deffinitely under 6 which would make him the undisputed best little man ever the hardware to go with the sick game.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    @ robb – I think the slam guys went with what ever measurements would allow them to put Allen Iverson at #1 on the list…

  • http://slamonline.com Eldon Khorshidi

    @Wayno there’s no definitive ranking here, just a compilation of the 10 best. The “who’s the best” debate can start in the comments section.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    No Eldon went by their official measurements.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRROpiNAvPw EJ

    Mark Price should be on the list, not honorable mention.

  • Myung

    Co-sign EJ. Mark Price should definitely be on anybody’s top 10 of “under 6 feet players” in League history. As a Hawks fan, I’m glad you’re showing Mookie some love, but there’s no way he should rank ahead of Price on this list. Same goes for Dana Barros and Michael Adams. I know it’s a subjective list, but don’t Price’s career numbers speak for themselves? Also, I can’t stand Nate, but if Speedy Claxton (who I REALLY can’t stand, as an angry Hawks fan… the Speedy signing was one of the biggest robberies in professional sports history… look at the contract and look at the numbers he put up for the Hawks and especially the # of games played) is on the honorable mention list, then Nate Robinson has to be on there as well. And JJ Barea just played an instrumental role in the Mavs title run. I know he’s only been in the League a short (no pun intended) while, but he also merits an honorable mention nod if the bar is Speedy Claxton and Brevin Knight.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    They had Isiah higher than Iverson on the all-time list. Why would that change now?

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    And Tim still has the best crossover of all time.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Mark Price should have made it over Terrell Brandon. He was way better than Brandon.

  • http://dsjfklf.com Jukai

    Eldon already admitted he forgot about Mark Price. Let the Mark Price thing go. Dude was probably 3-4 on that list.
    Commentator ranking list #1:
    AI, Hardaway, Murphy, Blaylock, Brandon, Anderson, Stoudamire, Michael Adams (barely remember this dude), Dana Baros (who???).
    I can’t properly place Paul. He’s somewhere on top. His career isn’t done.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    jukai you don’t remember Dana Barros? He was Gary Payton’s backup when they went to the WCF against Phoenix in 93. He was really only “very good” for that one season in 94-95, other then that season his high in PPG & APG together was 13 & 5 the season before.

  • http://slamonline.com The Black Rick Kamla

    boy was this was scattered….I mean…c’mon who’s idea was it to consider anything over 6’0″ regular size?? Everyone who follows basketball knows any height between 5’10″ and 6’2″ is arbritrary. Should just rename the list to best guards under 6 feet, and still there is no way possible Kenny Anderson or Terrell Brandon would beat out Mark Price for a spot on the list…or Dana Barros…Dana Barros??

  • http://dsjfklf.com Jukai

    NBK: LOL, sorry, I checked out his stats, he’s got that one-hit-wonder syndrome, but I just don’t remember him. I was a Phoenix fan back then but I just wasn’t very old enough to remember a backup to a superstar. I think I placed him fine.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Your placement is fine by me, I was just asking cuz my family hated him for whatever reason (maybe he hit some big shots against Phoenix?) – I was pretty young too, but I remember that I was conditioned not to like that guy as a player.

  • Russ M

    Calvin Murphy is suppossed to be an automatic for this list. The Hall of Famer is better then at least 4 or 5 of the 10 listed. This isn’t even debatable.

  • http://dsjfklf.com Jukai

    ^^^
    It’s not, which is why he’s on the list…

  • Myung

    Lots of Hawks ties… former Hawks: Mookie, Kenny Anderson, Terrell Brandon (we had his rights and waived him), Brevin Knight, Spud, and Speedy Claxton. Mark Price was recently our shooting coach. And Chris Paul was the point guard we drafted with the 2nd pick in the 2005 Draft. Oh wait. Billy Knight took Marvin Williams instead. Sigh.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Pardeep

    Pound for pound AI is the greatest ever.

  • Gaz

    you can add BETCATS penis to the list of undersized 1s.

  • Arch

    Am I the only 1 who think Bubba Chuck’s Crossover was the best SINCE timmy’s..n his handle was second to none??

  • haha

    tom….the most price averaged was 20. i dont know where you got 25 from.

  • Russ M

    Jukai:
    If your old enough to be aware of just how good Calvin Murphy was, you’re probably at the age where you could benefit from a trip to the eye doctor. I’ll be making an appointment today.

  • http://slamonline.com The Black Rick Kamla

    @Pardeep, agreed, inch-for-inch, pound-for-pound, greatest player to ever play the game

  • Lz – Cphfinest3

    Muggsy Bogues had a better career than both Dana Barros, T. Brandon and arguably M. Adams and Mookie. Just saying that judging by career Tyrone Bougues should be there.

  • http://www.optimabbc.be Max

    yes, my youtube doesn’t work..

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Shout out to Michael Adams…

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    LZ
    Make that argument to me. I can see Barros, but the other ones are questionable.

  • spit hot fiyah

    people are sleeping on terrell brandon, illest mid range game i have ever seen. Had some really good years at cle, mil, and min, really underrated

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Shout out to Jim Les.

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Shout out to Ernie DiGregorio.

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Shout out to Keith “Mr.” Jennings…
    Shout out to Greg Grant.

  • http://dsjfklf.com Jukai

    Yeah, I thought about Bogues cause he was really a great passer and a shockingly decent slasher, but certainly not a dependable scorer and obviously not anything of a defender. But once again, Dan Baros?
    I co-sign Spit Hot Fiyah, people are clowning Brandon on here, dude was pretty great before injury.
    Ernie DiGregorio played six years and averaged 9 points and 5 assists. Sterling player.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Spit Hot Fiyah and Jukai
    As good as Brandon was, he wasn’t better than Mark Price. Everything Brandon did, Mark Price did and for longer. I had Brandon in my top point guards of the 90s blog, but I had him well below Mark Price.

  • http://dsjfklf.com Jukai

    Allenp: Yes. True. But I think Brandon was better than Anderson, Stoudamire, and Adams (and whoever the hell Baros is). If he’s in the middle of the group, why is everyone trashin’ him?
    Mark Price was great and I probably woulda put him in the 4th spot after Calvin.

  • Russ M

    His stats aren’t overly impressive, but John Bagley had a nice career for someone who was only 6ft AND fat.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    I think Kenny Anderson gets a lot of street love. It’s arguable who had the better career between he and Brandon given all Brandon’s injuries and the fact that he put up his best stats on a crap team.
    Damon Stoudamire was horse at one time, as was Michael Adams. I think the only clear mistake is Barros.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Uhm did you get this list or the idea for it off of Basketball Powers (.com)? Cuz these are very similar, even include Dana Barros, except its top 10… Also they too didn’t include Mark Price.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    @ Pardeep – Isiah Thomas is pound for pound better than AI…Isiah is what AI should have/could have been had he played team ball. Isiah > AI all day every day.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Where does Mark Price rank all time, iyo?

  • http://sdjfklf.com Jukai

    Teddy: While I’m aware you’re probably asking that as a joke, if I may…
    He’s kinda too far away from all-time for anyone to make an educated guess… I could look in slam’s top 500 but far too lazy for that. Ya gotta look at point guards.
    He ain’t in the holy 11 (Magic, Oscar, Thomas, Stockton, Kidd, Frazier, Payton, Cousy, Nash, Archilbald, KJ) so ya gotta look at the tier 2 points… he doesn’t have the resume to be better than Billups and DJ… he’s probably worse than guys like Cheeks and Hardaway… you’re looking at roughly a top 16-20 point guard, battling the spot with Mark Jackson, Calvin Murphy, Fat Lever, Lenny Wilkens and the ilk.
    And I didn’t throw in Paul, Williams and Rose who will probably all be better than Mark Price when it is all said and done.

  • Armando

    Agree with with your top ten, but KJ isn’t in that tier.. Paul, Rose and/or Williams will be probably. KJ’s stats are gaudy indeed (although he didn’t have any sort of range), and I’m not saying he wasn’t a great guard, but I wouldn’t put him at the same level as the other ten… I’m not old enough to remember Wilkens but I think there can be made an argument for him being at least at a Tim Hardaway level. Mark Price is definitely a top 10 sub 6-0 player (going by official measurements), Barros shouln’t be close to consideration.

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