Chris Anstey: If Bill Simmons has the NBA Pantheon, this is my Shrine to NBL imports

More recently, with the re-emergence of the NBL onto Australia’s sporting landscape, everyone wants to rank greatness.

Is Bryce Cotton the greatest import to ever play in the NBL?

Here’s the thing though – no matter how strong a person’s opinion is, it will be just that: an opinion.

Here’s what I know for fact: I began playing basketball in 1992 and played my first NBL game in 1994.

Over the years I heard stories about great players who had come before me, but I never watched them play. For me, to compare Rocky Smith to Bryce Cotton or Cal Bruton to Darryl McDonald is unfair and impossible.

What I do know is that nominating the greatest player of all time is not only often grossly skewed by recency bias, but it also often shows an unwillingness to accept how great players before any of our time were.

The greatness of a player should not be measured by lining their skills up across generations, rather by comparing the gap between their impact on games against those they played against.

It must also take the longevity of that impact into account, and recognise how a player changed the way the game is played.

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PART III: ‘SECRET’ SHAME FOR WOMEN’S BASKETBALL AFTER DECADES OF NEGLECT

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PART V: A BOOMERS LEGEND'S BLUEPRINT FOR AUSTRALIAN BASKETBALL'S FUTURE

NBA DREAMS: 20 AUSSIES SET TO DOMINATE US COLLEGE HOOPS (MEN)

WNBA DREAMS: 20 AUSSIES SET TO DOMINATE US COLLEGE HOOPS (WOMEN)

FULL SHRINE: 12 AUSSIES JOIN IMPORTS IN LEGEND'S PANTHEON

In my time, Michael Jordan changed the way basketball was played globally. So did Steph Curry. And Dirk Nowitzki. Before my time though, so did Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and Larry Bird.

LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal are two of the most physically gifted athletes to ever play the game and changed how the game was officiated, but so was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before my time.

So, let’s weigh in on the current debate surrounding the greatest NBL import of all time by recognising three of the greats who, through stories I have heard and limited footage I have seen, deserve their place in any conversation that involves historical greatness.

Ken Richardson

Joined the West Adelaide Bearcats in 1974 and led them to the grand final before winning the SA State League’s MVP award en route to his first South Australian state championship. After a successful two-year stint with St Kilda, Richardson delivered the Bearcats another five straight SA titles as player coach from 1978-82, claiming the NBL’s inaugural MVP award in 1979 as well.

Rocky Smith

Quite possibly the NBL player who was most dominant against his nearest rival than anyone in history, but only graced our shores for two seasons. Smith was named league MVP and Grand Final MVP on his way to the 1980 NBL championship with the St. Kilda Saints before being identified by the Brazilian national league and becoming the country’s highest paid basketball player in the 1980s.

Al Green

An NBL MVP, two-time champion and the centrepiece of an Adelaide 36ers team known as “The Invincibles”. His 39.5 points per game in 1984 still rank as the second-most in history, trumped only by Andrew Gaze in 1987. Green’s 71 points against Frankston still stands as the most ever scored in an NBL game.

There are, of course, imports I played with and against that I would not leave out of any conversation around NBL greatness. For me, the discussion around the current talent in the NBL being the best it has ever been is one worth debating.

Would Adelaide 36ers fans consider their current team better than their 1998 team which featured Brett Maher, Darnell Mee, Mark Davis, Kevin Brooks, John Rillie and Martin Cattalini? More broadly speaking, how would this type of line-up stack up against any current NBL team?

How would the current Wildcats team stack up against their own 1993 roster which included Ricky Grace, James Crawford, Andrew Vlahov and Scott Fisher?

For that matter, the 1993 Melbourne Tigers team featuring Gaze, Lanard Copeland, Mark Bradtke and Dave Simmons might believe that they could compete with the talent on both current Melbourne teams.

There have been incredible imports who have impacted both the NBL and the wider Australian sporting community over the years that, although none would likely consider themselves the best to ever do it, I include when I am asked about greatness in the NBL.

Davis, Mee, Copeland, Fisher and Dwayne McClain were incredible players in incredible eras and deserve to be spoken about for generations to come. Steve Woodberry and Chris Williams, like Rocky Smith, were only in Australia for a short time, but they were two of the best players I ever saw in the NBL.

And then there are these guys, players who demonstrated sustained greatness and dominated over many years, did things that very few players could do and were figureheads in the championships they won.

A Pantheon is a temple dedicated to all gods. American writer and sports analyst Bill Simmons created his Pantheon of the greatest NBA players ever and also disputes the notion that we need to allocate a numerical ranking to players.

Simmons instead adds players over time to his historical list. Steph Curry was the latest player added to the Pantheon.

If Bill Simmons and the NBA can have a Pantheon, the NBL and I can have a Shrine. With apologies to those mentioned above who came before my time, but with a willingness to keep searching for footage and stories, I would induct the following six imports to my Shrine:

Rob Rose

Rose played 472 NBL games over 15 years. A dominant scorer and fierce competitor, Rose assumed point guard responsibilities during the 1992 finals series and led the South East Melbourne Magic to their first championship. Two years later he led the Adelaide 36ers to a championship series in 1994, averaging 32ppg in the series loss.

He would later turn around the fortunes of the Townsville Crocodiles, turning them from league easybeats to NBL finalists in 2001. A two-time league MVP, Rose averaged 19 points and 5 rebounds over his NBL career.

James Crawford

Known as the “Alabama Slammer”, Crawford played for the Geelong Supercats and Canberra Cannons, but is widely regarded as a Perth Wildcat great. Over his 504 NBL games Crawford was a walking highlight package, his above-the-rim play unlike anything Australian basketball had seen.

He sits third on the list of all time NBL scorers with 11,121 points (22.1 per game), third on the all-time rebound list with 4,794 (9.5 per game) and second in blocked shots with 788 (1.5 per game). A generational athlete, Crawford was an integral part of the 1990, 1991 and 1995 Wildcats Championships.

Ricky Grace

Ricky ‘Amazing’ Grace was the head of the deadliest snake in NBL history. Over 482 games, Grace steered the Perth Wildcats to six grand finals series, winning four championships – claiming MVP honours in two of them. The left-handed pass-first point guard was as good as anyone in making his teammates better while still being able to become a prolific scorer throughout his career. While many will reminisce that “if Ricky can’t go left, he’ll go lefter”, he was the best there was at it, and had so many other strings to his bow as well.

Darryl McDonald

Known as ‘Mr. Excitement’ in the streets of Harlem he grew up in, “D-Mac” is the most spectacular passer the NBL has ever seen. D-Mac brought a showtime element to a pass-first point guard, his passing making highlight packages as often as they made his teammates better.

One of the best on-ball defenders in history, his hands created havoc for opposition ball carriers, his deflections and steals leading to fast break points for the Giants, Titans and Tigers.

A three-time champion, incredibly, D-Mac won titles at 40 and 42 years old. Even though he arrived in Australia aged 30, D-Mac was still able to play 486 games, averaging 13 points per game and dishing out the second most assists in history (3518 assists at 7.2 per game). He is the NBL’s all-time steals leader with 1249 (2.6 per game).

Leroy Loggins

For much of the last 30 years, to win an NBL Championship, you had to go through Perth. For much of the 1980s, you had to go through Leroy Loggins.

A three-time NBL champion and MVP, Loggins won his first championship with the West Adelaide Bearcats in 1982 before leading the Brisbane Bullets to titles in 1985 and 1987. Long, wiry and athletic, “Leaping Leroy” was arguably the most versatile player in NBL history, possessing the ability to play multiple positions and score from anywhere on the court.

History tells us that Loggins rarely had as many talented teammates as the teams he regularly defeated, at times almost single-handedly. He retired after 567 games over 21 NBL seasons. He scored the second most points in history (13,106 points at 23.1 per game), grabbed 3,897 rebounds (6.8 per game) and is second in all time steals with 1,221 (2.1 per game).

Bryce Cotton

Cotton joined the Perth Wildcats for the final 11 games of their 2016-17 campaign, leading the Wildcats to a championship and scoring 45 points in a series clinching win against Illawarra. In his first five NBL seasons, Cotton has won three championships, three MVPs and two grand final MVPs. In his first six years, Cotton has played 155 games and averages 22.3 points, four assists and 3.5 rebounds per game.

Cotton has a finals series and at least one more season remaining in the NBL. His success has been incredible, his skills sublime. I recently spoke to Cotton for the first time and, just like each of the players above, he was thoughtful and considered in the way he views both his game, and his standing in Australian basketball.

But unlike each player above, Cotton is still playing, and we can still watch and marvel at his greatness in real time. I plan on watching him as much as possible, knowing I am witnessing one of the great imports in the league’s history firsthand.

Chris Anstey’s “Shrine” of NBL Imports

Rob Rose

James Crawford

Ricky Grace

Darryl McDonald

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