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20. Alexander Belov
Accolades: 1972 Olympic Gold medalist, 2007 FIBA Hall of Fame Inductee
Alexander Belov is not loved by American fans because he scored the winning basket in the controversial 1972 gold medal game. Despite this, Belov was a winner and dominant everywhere he went. He won a World Championship gold medal in 1974, a Soviet National League title in 1975, and three European Saporta Cup Finals in 1971, 1973 and 1975. Belov passed away very early at the age of 26 after a short battle with the rare blood cancer, cardiac sarcoma. He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991.
19. Doug Wrenn
Accolades: 1998 Washington HS Player of the Year
Doug Wrenn used to do his thing in Seattle. He would give Jamal Crawford, Brandon Roy, and Nate Robinson the business on city courts. He was a 6'6" scorer with a bad temper. In 2003, he was a top ten high school prospect along with Melo, LeBron, and Wade. Doug averaged 22 PPG, 8.4 RPG, and 7.3 APG as a senior in high school and was expected to put up similar numbers in college.
Wrenn attended UConn, but then tr@nsferred back home to the Washington Huskies where he complained about playing time and his role with the team. Nowadays, Doug can't stay out of trouble. He had to do some time for pulling out a gun during a traffic dispute in 2009. If it weren't for his bad temper, Wrenn could've been in the league sonning his hometown friends all over again.
18. Jack Ryan
Accolades: NYC Streeball legend, averaged 26 PPG in HS
Black Jack Ryan was and still is a deadly three-point shooter. His jumper is so money his other nickname is "Water." The game came so effortlessly to Jack, he never took it seriously until it was too late. He had a drinking problem and was never in shape, but it didn't matter. Ryan still became a legend.
When he was 29, he got a tryout with the Nets, but injured his knee and was told to go to the CBA to get in shape. He wasn't feeling that and went back to running pick-up games in his hometown of Brooklyn. Chris Mullin once said, Jack was the best shooter he had ever seen that never played in the NBA. These days he travels the country as the "Hoop Wizard" performing magic tricks with basketballs like spinning eight at a time during halftime shows and birthday parties.
17. Lenny Cooke
Accolades: 2000 adidas ABCD MVP
There was actually a player ranked higher than LeBron James in high school and his name was Lenny Cooke. A year older than James, Cooke was a 6'6" manchild that could do no wrong on the basketball court. All that changed one fateful day at the 2001 ABCD camp. Lenny's team beat Carmelo's squad to set up a showdown between he and James. With LeBron's team down by two, James hit game-winning three-pointer in Cooke's mouth to win the game. LeBron outscored Lenny 24-9. That was the day Lenny Cooke started to head in the wrong direction. He lost confidence, took advice from the wrong people and the rest is history. These days he's overweight and still hanging on to the hoop dreams he had over a decade ago.
16. Bob Kurland
Accolades: 2x Olympic Gold medalist, 1961 Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee
The NBA isn't for everyone. Bob Kurland was a dominant big man before that term ever existed. Kurland was such a force that the NCAA banned defensive goaltending in 1945. He played six years of Amateur Athletic Union basketball for Phillips Petroleum, winning three championships. Since he never played professionally, he was eligible as an amateur for the 1948 and 1952 Olympics and won gold medals both times.
15. Larry Brown
Accolades: 1964 Olympic Gold medalist, 1969 ABA Champion, 3x ABA All-Star, 1968 All-ABA Second Team
We know Larry Brown as one of the greatest coaches of all time. He's the only coach to win a championship in both the NCAA and NBA. People forget that Larry Brown used to ball though. He was the first ABA All-Star Game MVP, he led the ABA in assists three years in a row, and has the record for most assists in an ABA game with 23. Although he led the Olympic struggle team in 2004 to a bronze medal, he does have a gold medal as a player from the 1964 Olympics. One parallel for his coaching and playing career is his affinity for changing teams. Brown played for five teams in five years, and coached for 14 different teams spanning the NBA, ABA, and NCAA.
More to come in the next post