In the annual Michael Jordan-LeBron James debate, the
arguments center around who had more help.
LeBron has had a rotating cast of sidekicks over the years,
from Zydrunas Ilgauskas to Dwyane Wade to Kyrie Irving to Kevin Love. Jordan
had Hall of Famers Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman and Phil Jackson on the
sideline.
A player that rarely gets talked about from the early Jordan
years will get talked about here – Horace Grant. How did a player with one
all-star appearance, no MVP votes and a 11.2 career scoring average end up in
the top 50 – because he was the missing link.
Jordan, Pippen and Grant were the Bulls big three who led
Chicago to three straight titles in the early 1990s. When Jordan retired to
chase a baseball dream, the Bulls still won 55 games and advanced to the
Eastern Conference Finals without him. In 1994-1995, Grant signed with Orlando
and even though the Bulls got Jordan back, the Magic knocked off the Bulls in
that year’s conference finals.
Clearly, the Bulls need another Big Three, so the Bulls
signed Rodman.
Even though Grant had modest traditional stats, he had strong
advanced stats. His PER numbers were low compared to others on this list. He
had a career PER of 16.0 and just two years above 19.0. He did have five
seasons in a row of 9.0 win shares or above, including 1991-1992 when he had
14.1 win shares. His career win shares rank him 50th all time.
Grant played for four franchises in a 17-year career and
never had a losing record. Unlike Pippen or Jordan, who only made the NBA
Finals with the Bulls, Grant made the Finals with the Bulls, Magic and Los
Angeles Lakers. Two of the greatest NBA playoff juggernauts in NBA history were
the 1990-1991 Bulls (15-2 in the playoffs) and 2000-2001 Lakers (15-1) and
Grant was the starting power forward for both. His teams won 65 percent of the
regular season games he played in and 67 percent of the postseason games.
Despite all this, Grant is a long shot to make the
basketball hall of fame, while Rodman is already there. In my system, Grant is
clearly the better player, just not the flashy one. Here’s a look at Grant’s
best seasons according to advanced stats – not including winning percentages –
versus Rodman’s.
|
Horace Grant
vs. Dennis Rodman
|
|||||||||
|
Grant
|
Rodman
|
||||||||
|
Year
|
PER
|
WS
|
+/-
|
VORP
|
Year
|
PER
|
WS
|
+/-
|
VORP
|
|
91-92
|
20.6
|
14.4
|
7.3
|
6.7
|
91-92
|
17.0
|
12.6
|
4.9
|
5.8
|
|
93-94
|
19.8
|
10.0
|
5.2
|
4.6
|
88-89
|
16.3
|
8.1
|
4.7
|
3.8
|
|
90-91
|
17.6
|
10.3
|
4.4
|
4.3
|
89-90
|
15.4
|
9.3
|
3.4
|
3.2
|
|
92-93
|
17.5
|
9.1
|
3.7
|
3.9
|
87-88
|
17.4
|
6.8
|
3.3
|
2.9
|
|
94-95
|
16.9
|
9.5
|
3.5
|
3.7
|
93-94
|
13.4
|
8.7
|
3.5
|
4.2
|
Grant was a four-time all-defensive selection. He could guard centers, power forwards and small forwards. On offense, he could do some damage in the paint, on the break and in making the high post jump shot. He could shape his game to fit in with Jordan and Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway and then Shaq and Kobe Bryant. He did all the little things that winning teams need someone to do. And he did it long enough to land in my top 50.
|
Horace
Grant bio info
|
|
|
Career
|
1987-2004
|
|
Games
|
1,165
|
|
Points
|
11.2
|
|
Rebounds
|
8.1
|
|
Assists
|
2.2
|
|
FG Pct.
|
50.9%
|
|
All-Star games
|
1
|
|
NBA MVPs
|
0
|
|
NBA Titles
|
4
|
|
Playoff seasons
|
13
|
|
Playoff games
|
170
|
|
Points
|
11.2
|
|
Rebounds
|
8.6
|
|
Assists
|
2.1
|
|
FG Pct.
|
53.0%
|
|
Hall of Fame
|
|
|
Top 100
rankings
|
||
|
|
Points
|
Top 100 ranking
|
|
1-year
|
312.04
|
67th
|
|
5-year
|
1,425.33
|
52nd
|
|
10-year
|
2,515.88
|
47th
|
|
Career
|
3,362.53
|
41st
|
|
Horace Grant
at his peak
|
|||
|
1991-1992
|
Grant
|
Top 5
|
Points
|
|
PER
|
20.6
|
25.76
|
|
|
Win Shares
|
14.4
|
14.85
|
|
|
Box +/-
|
7.3
|
8.33
|
|
|
VORP
|
6.7
|
7.38
|
|
|
Total Advanced Stats
|
49.0
|
56.32
|
87.01
|
|
Playoff PER
|
16.3
|
24.01
|
|
|
Win Shares
|
3.3
|
3.53
|
|
|
Box +/-
|
6.7
|
7.80
|
|
|
VORP
|
1.9
|
2.09
|
|
|
Total Advanced Stats
|
28.2
|
37.42
|
75.37
|
|
Reg. Season Win %
|
81.48
|
81.48
|
|
|
Playoff Win %
|
68.18
|
68.18
|
|
|
MVP Voting (75 points)
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
Playoff MVP (25 points)
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
Total Score
|
|
|
312.04
|
|
Grant’s 10 greatest seasons
|
|
|
1991-1992
|
312.04
|
|
1995-1996
|
284.46
|
|
1990-1991
|
281.97
|
|
1993-1994
|
276.22
|
|
1992-1993
|
270.63
|
|
2000-2001
|
244.67
|
|
1994-1995
|
239.56
|
|
1989-1990
|
233.49
|
|
1988-1989
|
194.41
|
|
1987-1988
|
178.43
|
|
Career
winning percentage
|
|||
|
|
W
|
L
|
Pct.
|
|
Regular Season
|
758
|
407
|
65.06%
|
|
Playoffs
|
107
|
53
|
66.88%
|
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