Looking at sports history and reminiscing about legendary players from different eras is a fun pastime for most sports fans. These great players kindle fond memories. The attraction of the great ones to the fans may come in various avenues; their statistics, what they did in big moments, individual awards, or how they led their team to a title.
We connect to these players on so many levels, but a common thread is to remember them by jersey number. Babe Ruth’s number 3, Wayne Gretzky’s 99, Jordan’s 23, or a Walter Payton 34 jersey are all iconic and fun to remember.
SHN Project: Best Team By Jersey Number
Our Sports History Network team would like to solicit your help in putting a fun twist on your sports memories by kicking off an endeavor to field the best pro basketball teams by jersey number. That team should consist of a Point Guard (PG), Shooting Guard (SG), Center (C ), Small Forward (PF), and Strong Forward (SF).
If a player is listed as playing that position in their career, they become eligible to play it on our team. Additional criteria are that they had to play in the BAA, NBL, NBA, or ABA and wear the jersey number for at least a part of 5 different seasons. Our team of SHN experts will provide some information, personal preferences, and other tidbits about the players of each to help you make an informed decision in the poll we will provide. After the deadline is reached, we will post the results on JerseyDispatch.com.
It is time again to look at the following jersey number and come up with the best five to put on the floor that all wore the Number 4 for at least five seasons in the NBA, ABA, or BAA. To help us, we recruited Pro Basketball experts to toss comments about some of these players. Boni Jose and Felix Alvarado of the hit podcast Full Court Press with Boni and Felix. These heavy hitters will give us the scoop on some very legendary players to help with the voting.
NBA Forwards Candidates (Jersey #4)
Dolph Schayes dribbled the hardcourts as a Forward and Center with this jersey identification number 4 on the Syracuse Nationals (1950-63) and Philadelphia 76ers (1964) for 14 seasons as he drained 12887 points, handed out 1939 assists, and grabbed 7613 rebounds in his career.
Michael Finley played the Guard and Small Forward positions with this jersey number 4 on the Phoenix Suns (1996-97), Dallas Mavericks (1997-2005), and San Antonio Spurs (2006-10) for 14 seasons as he registered 17306 points, passed for 3245 assists, hauled down 4804 rebounds, swatted away 323 shots averaged 15.7 points each for his career.
Nick Collison played the position of Forward wearing the number 4 on the Seattle SuperSonics (2005-08) and the Oklahoma City Thunder (2009-18) for 13 seasons as he scored 5359 points, dished out 939 assists, crashed the boards for 4701 rebounds, and blocked 469 shots for his career.
Carl Braun played the Guard and Forward positions with this jersey number 4 for the New York Knicks (1948-50, 1953-61)and Boston Celtics (1962) for 12 seasons as he registered 10625 points, passed for 2892 assists, hauled down 2122 rebounds, swatted away shots, averaged 13.5 points each for his career.
Jim Paxson dribbled the hard courts as a Guard and Forward with this jersey identification number 4 on the Portland Trail Blazers (1980-88) and Boston Celtics (1988-90) for 11 seasons as he drained 11199 points, handed out 2300 assists, grabbed 1593 rebounds, and blocked 93 opponent’s shots for his NBA career.
Jerry Sloan dribbled the hardcourts as a Guard/Forward with this jersey identification number 4 with the Chicago Bulls (1967-76) for ten seasons as he drained 10571 points, handed out 1925 assists, grabbed 5615 rebounds, and blocked 32 opponent’s shots for his career.
Adrian Dantley – Felix Alvarado & Boni Jose of the Full Court Press podcast tell us this about the legend, “a.k.a. Teach, played for 15 seasons (1976-77 to 1990-91) on seven teams (Buffalo Braves, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz, Detroit Pistons, Dallas Mavericks, and the Milwaukee Bucks). He’s a Rookie of the Year (1977), a 6x All-Star, a 2x NBA scoring champ (1981 & 1984), an Olympic gold medalist (1976), a 2008 Hall of Fame inductee, and averaged 24.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, three assists in 955 regular season games. He was an intelligent and fundamentally sound offensive threat who finished his career averaging 54% from the field, one of the highest ever recorded by an NBA non-center, and averaged 30+ points per game for 4 straight seasons.”
Ron Harper played the position of Guard and Small Forward wearing the number on the Cleveland Cavaliers (1987-90), Los Angeles Clippers (1990-94), and Los Angeles Lakers (2000,-01) for nine seasons as he scored 13910 points, dished out 3916 assists, crashed the boards for 4309 rebounds, blocked 729 shots, and averaged 13.8 points per contest played for his career.
Tony Battie dribbled the hardcourts as a Center/ PowerForward with this jersey identification number the Denver Nuggets (1998), Boston Celtics (2000-04), Cleveland Cavaliers (2004), Orlando Magic (2005-07, 2009), and Philadelphia 76ers (2011-12) for nine seasons as he drained 5082 points, handed out 522 assists, grabbed 4287 rebounds, and blocked 713 opponent’s shots for his career.
Luke Walton was a Forward identified by jersey number 4 on the Los Angeles Lakers (2004-12) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (2013) for nine seasons as he scored 2649 points, dished out 1317 assists, crashed the boards for 1588 in career rebounds, and blocked 102 opposing shots for his career.
Antawn Jamison played the Forward position wearing the digit on the Washington Wizards (2005-10), Cleveland Cavaliers (2010-12), and the Los Angeles Lakers (2013) for eight seasons as he registered 20042 points, passed for 1761 assists, hauled down 8157 rebounds, batted away 421 shots as he was averaging 18.5 points per game for his career.
Greg Smith played the Forward position wearing the digits on the Milwaukee Bucks (1969-72), Houston Rockets (1972-73), and the Portland Trail Blazers (1973-76) for eight seasons as he registered 4097 points, passed for 969 assists, hauled down 3249 rebounds, and batted away 12 shots for his career.
Chris Webber – Boni and Felix have this to say about the big man, “a.k.a. C-Webb, who played for 15 seasons (1993-94 to 2007-08) on 5 teams (Golden State Warriors, Washington Bullets/Wizards, Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Detroit Pistons). He’s a Rookie of the Year (1994), a 5x All-Star, and a 2021 Hall of Fame inductee who averaged 20.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists in 831 regular season games. In our opinion, his best game was against the Indiana Pacers on January 5, 2001, where he recorded 51 points, 26 rebounds, 5 assists, three steals, and two blocks on 51% field goal shooting.”
Chris Bosh – Our Canadian podcasting friends share this information on Mr. Bosh, “a.k.a. CB4, who played for 13 seasons (2003-04 to 2015-16) on two teams (Toronto Raptors & Miami Heat). He’s a 2x NBA champion, an 11x All-Star, and a 2021 Hall of Famer who averaged 19.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, and two assists in 893 regular season games. A big man who shot left-handed stretched the floor, and was a part of the Miami Heat’s “big three.””
Paul Millsap – The Full Court Press Crew of Boni and Felix shine some light on this player too, “Milsap played for 16 seasons (2006-07 to 2021-22) on 5 teams (Utah Jazz, Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets, Brooklyn Nets, and Philadelphia 76ers). He’s a 4x All-Star who averaged 13.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 1085 regular season games.”
Chris Crawford played the position of Forward wearing the number on the Atlanta Hawks (1998-2004) for seven seasons as he scored 1654 points, dished out 154 assists, crashed the boards for 547 rebounds, and smacked down 80 opponent’s shots for his career.
Luis Scola was a Forward identified by the jersey number 4 on the Houston Rockets (2008-12), Indiana Pacers (2014-15), Toronto Raptors (2016), and the Brooklyn Nets (2017) for a total of six seasons as he scored 8882 points, dished out 1194 assists, crashed the boards for 4941 in career rebounds, blocked 224 opposing shots and averaged 12 points every game for his career.
Stromile Swift lined up as a Forward wearing the number 4 on the Vancouver Grizzlies (2001), Memphis Grizzlies (2002-08), Houston Rockets (2006), and the Phoenix Suns (2009) for six years as he provided career 4582 points, created 275 assists, fought for 2535 rebounds, blocked 683 shots, and averaged 8.4 points per game for his career.
Thanks again to Boni Jose and Felix Alvarado for their outstanding work preserving basketball history and helping us today. Remember to check out their work!
Boni Jose and Felix Alvarado of the hit podcast Full Court Press with Boni and Felix. We have the Center candidates up tomorrow for jersey number 4. Make sure you vote, as the results will post on JerseyDispatch.com on Tuesday, February 28. Also, special thanks to references via statsmuse.com, basketball-reference.com, nba.com