Pierce, Nowitzki and Other Single-Team Lifers
Posted by Neil Paine on July 2, 2010
After opting out of his contract and briefly causing panic in New England, Paul Pierce has apparently come to terms with the Boston Celtics in a deal that will keep him in green and white for four more years (and possibly for the remainder of his career). Meanwhile, Dirk Nowitzki was in New York to meet with various suitors, but he has since made his way to Dallas, and the Mavs are "cautiously optimistic" that he'll be back with them next season, locked in with a long-term deal similar to Pierce's.
It only seems like yesterday when these guys entered the league, but they're actually making impressive progress on the list of all-time leaders for career games played with one (and only one) team:
Player | Franchise | Games |
---|---|---|
John Stockton | UTA | 1504 |
Reggie Miller | IND | 1389 |
John Havlicek | BOS | 1270 |
Hal Greer | PHI | 1122 |
Kobe Bryant | LAL | 1021 |
Joe Dumars | DET | 1018 |
Calvin Murphy | HOU | 1002 |
Dolph Schayes | PHI | 996 |
Alvan Adams | PHO | 988 |
David Robinson | SAS | 987 |
Wes Unseld | WAS | 984 |
Isiah Thomas | DET | 979 |
Tim Duncan | SAS | 977 |
Kevin McHale | BOS | 971 |
Fred Brown | OKC | 963 |
Bill Russell | BOS | 963 |
Jerry West | LAL | 932 |
James Worthy | LAL | 926 |
Dirk Nowitzki | DAL | 920 |
Tom Sanders | BOS | 916 |
Magic Johnson | LAL | 906 |
Larry Bird | BOS | 897 |
Paul Pierce | BOS | 884 |
Mark Eaton | UTA | 875 |
Michael Cooper | LAL | 873 |
If Pierce plays all 82 games in 2011, he will pass Bill Russell for 3rd on the all-time Celtics list, trailing just John Havlicek and Kevin McHale. And Nowitzki is already Dallas' all-time leader in games played, period, not just among those who spent their entire careers with the Mavs.
But they're not just building their reputations on longevity alone... Pierce and Nowitzki are also among the best of the NBA's all-time single-teamers (1952-present):
Player | Franchise | G | MP | PER | WS | WS/48 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
John Stockton | UTA | 1504 | 47764 | 21.83 | 207.70 | 0.209 |
David Robinson | SAS | 987 | 34271 | 26.18 | 178.67 | 0.250 |
Reggie Miller | IND | 1389 | 47619 | 18.36 | 174.40 | 0.176 |
Bill Russell | BOS | 963 | 40726 | 18.88 | 163.51 | 0.193 |
Jerry West | LAL | 932 | 36571 | 22.90 | 162.58 | 0.213 |
Tim Duncan | SAS | 977 | 35577 | 25.02 | 162.31 | 0.219 |
Magic Johnson | LAL | 906 | 33245 | 24.11 | 155.79 | 0.225 |
Dirk Nowitzki | DAL | 920 | 33732 | 23.76 | 150.18 | 0.214 |
Kobe Bryant | LAL | 1021 | 37366 | 23.50 | 145.93 | 0.187 |
Larry Bird | BOS | 897 | 34443 | 23.50 | 145.83 | 0.203 |
Bob Pettit | ATL | 792 | 30690 | 25.37 | 136.05 | 0.213 |
John Havlicek | BOS | 1270 | 46471 | 17.53 | 131.72 | 0.136 |
Dolph Schayes | PHI | 866 | 29800 | 21.96 | 118.69 | 0.191 |
Kevin McHale | BOS | 971 | 30118 | 20.02 | 113.04 | 0.180 |
Paul Pierce | BOS | 884 | 32936 | 20.80 | 112.58 | 0.164 |
Wes Unseld | WAS | 984 | 35832 | 16.00 | 110.08 | 0.147 |
Julius Erving | PHI | 836 | 28677 | 21.97 | 106.24 | 0.178 |
Elgin Baylor | LAL | 846 | 33863 | 22.70 | 104.15 | 0.148 |
LeBron James | CLE | 548 | 22108 | 26.86 | 103.27 | 0.224 |
Hal Greer | PHI | 1122 | 39788 | 15.66 | 102.65 | 0.124 |
Paul Arizin | GSW | 648 | 24897 | 19.66 | 95.06 | 0.183 |
Sam Jones | BOS | 871 | 24285 | 18.68 | 92.29 | 0.182 |
Neil Johnston | GSW | 516 | 18298 | 24.72 | 91.99 | 0.241 |
Joe Dumars | DET | 1018 | 35139 | 15.31 | 86.21 | 0.118 |
Calvin Murphy | HOU | 1002 | 30607 | 18.00 | 84.12 | 0.132 |
Dan Issel | DEN | 718 | 22342 | 20.99 | 82.35 | 0.177 |
James Worthy | LAL | 926 | 30001 | 17.73 | 81.23 | 0.130 |
Isiah Thomas | DET | 979 | 35516 | 18.11 | 80.69 | 0.109 |
Cliff Hagan | ATL | 745 | 21731 | 19.50 | 75.07 | 0.166 |
Jack Twyman | SAC | 823 | 26147 | 17.79 | 75.01 | 0.138 |
Willis Reed | NYK | 650 | 23073 | 18.57 | 74.92 | 0.156 |
Alvan Adams | PHO | 988 | 27203 | 18.32 | 73.47 | 0.130 |
Rudy Tomjanovich | HOU | 768 | 25714 | 16.93 | 70.35 | 0.131 |
Dwyane Wade | MIA | 471 | 17717 | 25.67 | 69.76 | 0.189 |
Manu Ginobili | SAS | 553 | 15387 | 21.65 | 69.48 | 0.217 |
Amare Stoudemire | PHO | 516 | 17686 | 22.57 | 67.93 | 0.184 |
Yao Ming | HOU | 481 | 15727 | 23.04 | 65.66 | 0.200 |
Tony Parker | SAS | 668 | 22063 | 18.30 | 65.50 | 0.143 |
Dwight Howard | ORL | 489 | 17466 | 21.69 | 65.38 | 0.180 |
Vern Mikkelsen | LAL | 567 | 18443 | 18.61 | 65.29 | 0.170 |
Brad Daugherty | CLE | 548 | 20029 | 18.85 | 65.19 | 0.156 |
Andrei Kirilenko | UTA | 617 | 18990 | 19.38 | 63.63 | 0.161 |
Zydrunas Ilgauskas | CLE | 771 | 21820 | 18.79 | 63.38 | 0.139 |
Fred Brown | OKC | 963 | 24422 | 17.75 | 63.19 | 0.124 |
Billy Cunningham | PHI | 654 | 22406 | 19.38 | 63.19 | 0.135 |
Chris Paul | NOH | 345 | 12881 | 25.56 | 62.53 | 0.233 |
Chris Bosh | TOR | 509 | 18815 | 21.28 | 61.84 | 0.158 |
Tom Heinsohn | BOS | 654 | 19254 | 17.85 | 60.00 | 0.150 |
Rik Smits | IND | 867 | 23100 | 17.85 | 56.62 | 0.118 |
Tom Sanders | BOS | 916 | 22164 | 11.86 | 56.55 | 0.122 |
Michael Redd | MIL | 568 | 19202 | 19.76 | 54.96 | 0.137 |
Michael Cooper | LAL | 873 | 23635 | 12.81 | 52.47 | 0.107 |
Nate McMillan | OKC | 796 | 20462 | 14.46 | 50.20 | 0.118 |
Mark Eaton | UTA | 875 | 25169 | 10.88 | 44.78 | 0.085 |
Bill Bradley | NYK | 742 | 22799 | 12.20 | 38.76 | 0.082 |
Darrell Griffith | UTA | 765 | 21403 | 14.56 | 21.97 | 0.049 |
We know Pierce will return to Boston, and most experts feel Nowitzki is probably going to be back in Dallas, each for the long haul. But for a while on Thursday, it looked possible that the NBA One-Team Club would lose two of its most notable members.
July 2nd, 2010 at 10:59 am
Neil just posted this because Dirk is ahead of Kobe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just kidding - keep up the great posts.
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:00 am
Ha, yeah, that must be it.
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:03 am
For what it's worth, Kobe does have a higher career SPM than Dirk, +5.53 to +5.11. So there's at least one metric looking out for you, Kobe.
July 2nd, 2010 at 12:45 pm
The big 4 on these lists also have played a ton of playoff games too. TD, Kobe and Dirk are all franchise leaders in playoff games, most likely padding their lead in the near future. Pierce will have to make deep runs in the playoffs for quite a few years to make it to the top of the Celtics list.
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:52 pm
This seems to happen more in basketball than the other two big sports. I think it's great to see a guy play his whole career for one squad.
I'm stunned that Hakeem isn't on that list anywhere. I was certain he played his whole career with Houston and would make such a list.
July 2nd, 2010 at 2:08 pm
I think all of us have blocked out Hakeem's year with Toronto, or Ewing with Seatle/Orlando, and even Pippen's return to Chicago. But that brings up an interesting point: guys like TD, Kobe, Dirk and Pierce could fall *off* of this list should they leave their teams in the future. They'd still be near or at the top of the franchise records, but "lifer" status can easily be derailed.
July 2nd, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Yes, and we should block out Jordan's Wizards years as well.....
July 2nd, 2010 at 9:20 pm
I miss the good o'days when there was more than one good big man. Thinking back to the mid-late 90's Ewing, Robinson, Mourning, O'Neal, Olajuwon, and Mutombo days. Seeing Robinson, Olajuwon, and Ewing on this post made me remember.
July 2nd, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Even Rik Smits was better than most of the centers now.
July 4th, 2010 at 12:26 am
Maybe it's just me and how I feel about regular season and playoff stats being segregated (I understand it because "games" should be out of 82 team games played for each team, not anywhere from 82 to 110 after factoring the postseason), but lists like this seem conducive to combining the regular season and playoffs.
So Kobe Bryant has 1,021 regular season Lakers games, but he also played for the Lakers in the postseason, of which he has amassed 198 more games. His 1,219 total games may put him higher on the list, especially since Hal Greer only has 1,214 (1,122 + 92) for the Nationals/76ers. If you're actually looking at total games played, the Kobe Bryant-Los Angeles Lakers or Tim Duncan-San Antonio Spurs marriages are much more amazing for considering those championships.
I wouldn't change the method or anything, and I know it's easier to look up stats for regular season games only, but that's just my piece on how games should be counted.