Calbear73 said:
PG - Jason Kidd, Kevin Johnson
SG - Phil Chenier, Ed Gray, Russ Critchfield
SF - Lamond Murray, Ryan Anderson
PF - Shareef Abdul Raheem, Leon Powe
C - Mark McNamara, Bob Presley, Imhoff
Point Guard - Jason Kidd is one of the best point guards to ever play in college and the NBA. Unbelievable passer, great scorer and tremendous defender. Strong and powerful, he could win games in a variety of ways.. Not the best shooter, he improved his shooting in his NBA career, but he found ways to score. He could dominate a game without scoring a lot of points. The upset of Duke in the NCAA's was one of Cal's best wins ever.
I agree, except for Kidd being a "great scorer". He was a good scorer at 15 ppg. Great scorers usually score over 20 ppg. And at 0.468 FG%, he was a good shooter.
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Kevin Johnson was simply one of the fastest players to ever play for the Bears. Not a great shooter, but great leader, ball handler & passer and could break down a defense with his quickness.
KJ "not a great shooter?" KJ shot the rock at 0.477 percentage at Cal. Among the guards and forwards, Jerome Randle shot 0.454, Allen Crabbe 0.446, Russ Critchfield 0.454, Theo Robertson 0.479, Charlie Perkins 0.514, Jason Kidd 0.468, Phil Chenier 0.412, and Charlie Johnson 0.400. Only Perkins and Theo on this list shot better than KJ.
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Shooting Guard - Phil Chenier was ahead of his time, one of the best pure shooters Cal has ever had and he could shoot equally well with either hand.Very good defender, great ball handler & passer and he had hops. John Wooden said losing him to Cal was one of the biggest recruiting losses of his career.
What do you mean by "ahead of his time" and "pure shooter"? He was a very good scorer and a good all-around player, but I always felt Charlie Johnson was the slightly better player of the two. Chenier the better scorer, CJ the better rebounder, passer, and defender. Chenier once said that CJ taught him how to be a better defensive player. In the NBA, CJ was a starting guard on two NBA champion teams.
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Ed Gray was instant offense and could score whether shooting or driving to the hoop. Also a good defender and could run the floor with anyone. Still think we would have beat North Carolina and Antawn Jamison in the NCAA's if he wasn't hurt.
I think you are right on this one.
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Russ Critchfield would be the third shooting guard. Another great shooting who carried the team on his back in the days when we didn't have a great team. Not the tallest guard as I believe he was 6' or 6'1" but great shooter at a time when there were not a lot of great shooters. Again, it was a different time, but he could play today.
I wouldn't put Rusty Critchfield 3rd behind anyone I've seen at Cal. Helluva clutch shooter. Loved the low cuts and floppy socks, pre-Pete Maravich. There were a lot of good shooters around in the AAWU when Rusty played. Most teams had one or two. The problem was that UCLA had about 7 of them. Cal had Charlie Perkins who shot 0.514, better than Critchfield. USC had Bob Hewitt (0.464), Tom Marsh (.541), and Mack Calvin (0.450). Stanford had Art Harris (0.481), UW had George Irvine (0.565). But UCLA had Lucius Allen (0.462), Lynn Shackleford (0.498), Edgar Lacey (0.578), Mike Lynn (0.457), and Kenny Heitz (0.500), not to mention Mike Warren and Kareem.
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Shooting Forward - Lamond Murray was simply amazing at 6'7". The man could shoot, jump & rebound, score and could run with the best of them. He and Kidd were a dynamic duo on one of the best teams ever assembled at Cal.
You are probably right. My personal favorite would be Larry Friend, then Murray. But other shooting forwards like Allen Crabbe, Jackie Ridgle, and Dan Wolthers were also fine scoring forwards at Cal.
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Ryan Anderson was more of a power forward at Cal, but I would take him behind Murray because the man could shoot. Leterally transformed his body and game from high school to college. Amazing to watch him grow over this three years at Cal and based on his college performance, I would take him ahead of any other shooting forward Cal has had.
Anderson WAS a power forward at Cal, and is a power forward in the NBA, though more of a stretch 4. Why not leave him at power forward on your Cal All-Time team, and name some other shooting forwards, perhaps, as your backups to Murray?
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Power Forward - Shareef Abdur-Rahim was the best insider player in Cal history. He could score inside or out, great rebounder and one of the most athletic insider players ever at Cal. Freshman of the Year and PLayer of the Year in his only season at Cal. He could have easily gone into the NBA right out of high school and been a start. We may never see another player with his all-around skills.
I'm in the minority, but I did not enjoy watching Cal when Shareef got the ball. The rest of the team cleared out one side of the court for Shareef, and went to the opposite side, so he could back his man down, back and forth, until he got close enough to score. Shareef's teammates made him better, and I prefer players who make their teammates better. 8 rebounds per game is a good rebounder, not a great one. He had only offensive skills from close in to mid range. He hardly ever passed the ball, and his defense never impressed me. He had all the inside scoring skills, but did not show great all-around skills, IMO.
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Leon Powe was a powerful inside presence and scorer. He did the dirty work and carried the load while he was at Cal.
Good description. He was a better rebounder than Shareef. When the ball went in to him, it didn't matter whether he had one, two, or three defenders, he would try and score. He seldom passed, was a fine rebounder and adequate defensively.
None of the big three, Anderson, Shareef, or Powe was much of a team player, looking to make their teammates better. They were all outstanding athletes. My personal favorite PF to watch was not quite of that caliber, but more of a team player, John Coughran. Al Grigsby was no slouch, either. And Bryan Hendrick was a very good PF, who could play center as well.
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Center - Mark McNamarra played his last two seasons at Cal after transferring from St. Mary's. He was the most dominant big man ever to play at Cal. Yes, Imhoff won an NCAA championship and was a very good player for his time, but McNamarra was force inside scoring, defending and rebounding. No other center matched his all-around numbers.
Total disagreement here. McNamara was dominant all right, all inside 3 feet, as Stu pointed out. He had no offense or defense outside 3 feet. Imhoff had a nice jumper to 12 feet, and a fine hook shot. He was not the scorer that McNamara was, unless it was in the clutch, where he was as good as anyone. They were equal in rebounding, with Imhoff the much better passer, and setting screens, running plays, etc. Imhoff's defense was way better than McNamara, either defending a center or blocking shots. Imhoff was the best center in the country for two seasons, and was a consensus first team All-American. He had much better numbers and career than McNamara in the NBA. And McNamara dropped a lot of passes, is my recollection. Cal's entire team, including Imhoff, made only 6 turnovers a game in 1960. McNamara made 2.5 TOs on his own.
I would pick Ansley Truitt as the second best center to play in the last 60 years at Cal. He was more athletic than Imhoff, was not quite the scorer McNamara was, but he did it with a variety of jumpers, hooks and layups. He was a better rebounder than either Imhoff or McNamara, and was a team player as well as a fine defender. The best all-around center to play at Cal, IMO.
Dick Doughty, Imhoff's backup was nearly as good as Imhoff any time he got the chance. Leonard Taylor scored nearly 20 ppg his last two years, and was a good center for 4 seasons. Beside Imhoff, Doughty and Truitt, several other centers were better than McNamara on defense: Bob Presley, Jamal Sampson, Yogi Stewart, Francisco Elson, Devon Hardin and Richard Solomon.
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Bob Presley simply had skills. One of the most athletic centers to ever play at Cal. He could score, rebound and defend. Don't feel like he ever reached his full potential, but this guy did enough in his time at Cal to make this team.
Presley had few skills. He had great anticipation for rebounds and shot blocks, but had few offensive skills, other than he could out leap anyone. He was OK as a defender except when he played the stronger centers. I wouldn't put him on an all-time team, because he and some of his teammates did all they could to disrupt the Cal team, threatening to boycott the team unless they were given more opportunities. They joined the Black football players in a boycott, and ended up forcing the resignation of Rene Herrerias and Pete Newell, which wrecked the Cal basketball program for years to come.
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Darrel Imhoff would be on the team for winning the NCAA championship and getting to the finals twice. He played in the NBA and had a nice career. But no where near the skill of the more recent impact centers at Cal.
"Recent impact centers?" Who would they be? Richard Solomon? Devon Hardin? Don't make me laugh. We haven't had an impact center since Mark McNamara, and he does not compare to Imhoff. Let me put it this way: On Cal's 1959 team, you could replace Imhoff with McNamara (or any other Cal center, except for maybe Truitt) and Cal would not have won that NCAA title in 1959. You can take that to the bank.