No. 1: Elgin Baylor
As good a player as Worthy was (and he was VERY good), it’s not even close. There is absolutely no doubt that Baylor ranks #1 among small forwards.
It’s possible that Elgin is the most overlooked, under-rated superstar of all-time. For those readers who were too young to see him in action, you missed watching a very special player. Unfortunately he played at a time when few NBA games were televised, and there is limited video of him in action to be seen.
Baylor was a mid-air acrobat who did things nobody else was doing. He seemed to have an ability to hang in the air longer than anybody and had the agility to maneuver his body in ways never seen before.
Elgin mastered every shot you could imagine, and several that nobody could, from seemingly impossible angles. A direct line can be drawn from him to Connie Hawkins to Dr. J to Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant, who admits that he “stole” moves from Baylor.
Elgin played his first two years in Minneapolis before moving west with the Lakers to L.A. in 1960. He averaged 24.9 points his rookie year, and bested that the next 6 straight seasons, including 3 consecutive years when he averaged over 30 PPG. Following a knee injury that would plague him the rest of his career, he dropped to only 16.6 points in 1965-66, but then had 4 successive years of 24 or more PPG.
His Lakers teams had the misfortune of playing the Celtics in the Finals 6 times in the 60s and came up short each time. Three of those series went 7 games, and once game 7 went into overtime. But the dynamic duo of Baylor and his great teammate Jerry West were always outdone by a Boston team that featured multiple Hall-of Famers, including Bill Russell (a good friend of Baylor’s), Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, Sam Jones and John Havlicek, along with several others.
In 1962, Baylor set a Finals record that still stands today when he scored 61 points against the Celtics. He also scored 71 points in a regular season game against the Knicks, the highest by a Laker until Bryant scored 81 in 2006.
For his 14-year career, all with the Lakers, Baylor averaged 27.4 PPG, the best in Lakers history. He also ranks 4th in total points (23,149), 10th in games played (846), and even though he was only 6-5, he is tied for second with George Mikan in rebounds per game (13.5). In the postseason he ranks second on the team in PPG (27.0), third in rebounding (12.9) and 5th in points (3,623).
Naturally his Lakers jersey is retired. And earlier this year, at long last, a statue in his honor was unveiled outside Staples Center. Elgin, an 11-time All-Star, is truly one of the all-time NBA greats.
Next: Ranking the 10 greatest power forwards in franchise history
For those following closely, here is the chronological order of the 10 best small forwards: Pollard-Baylor-Hawkins-McMillian-Russell-Wilkes-Cooper-Worthy-Fox-Artest.
In the next installment, the top 10 shooting guards will be ranked.
All statistics courtesy of www.basketball-reference.com