How Do The Best Of The Best Not Have Rings?

Players in their prime settling for the opposite of greatness

by Brody Fischer 11/8/21

Damien Lillard, Paul George, Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson, Vince Carter. these might just be some of the biggest names that haven't won a ring. not even a single person has even been to the finals. Why are these players considered Legends if they haven't proven to be some of the best. well that where your wrong. Damien Lillard has broken multiple three point records, scores on average more than 25 ppg and has brought his team countless times to the playoffs but he could never win a ring. coach terry stots unsuccessfully surrounded him with a good team. with older players out of there prime, and new players out of collage, and no team chemistry, this just isn't a team you can say can win a championship. We can also talk about people like Paul George, or Allen Iverson that were never really surrounded by any talent to begin with.

So why is it that there are people that have won rings that I bet you have never heard of like Randy Brown and Ron Harper who were the point guards for the legendary 96' dream team for the bulls. well, Quite the big part of this is that they were with people like Jordan or scotty pippin but they also had multiple records each, in category's in assist or steals per game. its unfortunate that you've never heard of these people because they would each average 15 ppg which, on average back then, would make up about a third of all points scored. what about the legendary duo of Shaq and Kobe and there years of championships. there were multiple unheard hero's that set up Kobe and Shaq for success but they were never the ones to get any credit. its sad to see that the real hero's that made the supposed "hero's" we here about nowadays are completely unspoken of because the only things that people see is al the points that were scored and the offensive efforts that people made. just think maybe someone like a taco fall is famous because he is some 7'6 tall but what does he do. he sits the bench to start games, barley gets any ppg, and is still out rebounded by the starting point guard Marcus Smart. You only see the highlights of offensive efforts and even people that are just tall, but you never hear about people that get the game saving steals or blocks.

Now let me give a bit of praise to the unheard hero's. Dennis Johnson. you probably have heard of the big three in the 1980 Boston Celtics team but this man had the best defensive records of the whole team. that's right the famous quote "Defense wins championships" was just thrown out the window. he saved the team from losing most games because of his defensive efforts but i think we can all agree first of all we have never heard of Dennis Johnson but almost all of us have heard of the big three at one point in our lives. another person is Manu Ginobili . he has made two all-star teams made it onto his hometowns Olympic team three times. he averages 18 ppg and 5 app and this number will put nearly any rookie or point guard to shame.

in the end, the un heard hero's are the ones to make a difference. now don't get me wrong, people like Michael Jordan are amazing legends but he didn't carry the whole team on his back. with the help of the unheard hero's is why he won consecutive championships, not because he had the highest ppg average though the seasons. its all the people like Dennis Johnson, and Manu Ginobili who make differences. which brings be to my biggest point, you need humble un heard hero's that are willing to give up the spotlight to give teams chances to win games. then from there, games turn into playoff runs, 4-0 series and westers or eastern conference champs then finally. bring your team to a championship and win it all. so before you say someone is an amazing player think to yourself..."why is he an amazing player?" maybe its because of an un heard hero.