On the surface, Kari Lehtonen is a strange player for us to rank.  The Finnish Goalie has 310 Wins, but never finished higher than eighth in Vezina voting.  He has over 110 Goalie Point Shares, and is in the top 50 all-time in that category, but has only been in the playoffs three times.

So, what do we have?

Lehtonen was the second overall pick in 2002, taken by the Atlanta Thrashers, who were not good, never good, and had the most apathetic fan base in the NHL. After playing mostly in the AHL, he became their main Goalie in 2007, but again, Atlanta was horrible, and most of the success that the Thrashers had come from Lehtonen.

The Thrashers traded Lehtonen to the Dallas Stars, but they were in a down period, and he did not have much help up front.  He logged more minutes wearing the Dallas green, and in the 2013-14 campaign, Lehtonen led all netminders in Games (65) and Minutes Played (3.804).  Coincidentally, this was the year when had his only Vezina finish (eighth).  He retired after the 2017-18 Season, and because of the lack of success of Dallas in that time, keeps him from being remembered as much as he should.

Lehtonen also represented Finland multiple times, peaking with a Bronze Medal in the 2014 Olympics.                           

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 revision of our top 50 Oklahoma City Thunder.

As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Basketball Association.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, OKC went as far as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could take them, and coincidentally, he was the only jump on the list.  There were no new entrants.

As always, we present our top five, which was not affected by the last season:

1. Russell Westbrook

2. Gary Payton

3. Kevin Durant

4. Shawn Kemp

5. Jack Sikma

You can find the entire list here.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, wo is arguably a top five player now, skyrocketed to #27 from #36.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

1952 SEMI-FINAL RESULTS:

Thank you for all of you who have participated in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project, and if you are unaware of what that is, simply, we acted as if the PFHOF had their first class in January of 1946?

We have completed the first two years, where a Preliminary, Semi-Final and Final vote for the 1946 Class, which inducted two full classes

For “1950” a Preliminary Vote with 132 players whose playing career ended by 1943. We are also following the structure in that players have 20 years of eligibility, and if they do not make it into the Hall, they are relegated to the Senior Pool.

Each voter was asked to select 25 names from the preliminary list, with the top 25 vote getters named as Semi-Finalists.

A week later, the voters were asked to pick 15 names from the 25 Semi-Finalists, and next week, they will pick five from the remaining 15. We will continue this process weekly until we catch up to the current year.

30 Votes took place

This is for the “Modern Era”

Bold indicates they advanced to the Finals:

This is for the “Senior Era”

*Bold indicates they advanced to the Finals:

This is for the Coaches/Contributors

*Bold indicates they advanced to the Finals:

Next Saturday, we will be posting the results of the 1952 Class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project.

Thank you to all who contributed, and if you want to be a part of this project, please let us know!

If you are a regular visitor at Notinhalloffame.com, you know that we created the Notinhalloffame NBA Cup, where in every regular season game, we award points (5-4-3-2-1) to the top five performers.  This is the fourth year that we have done this, and Denver’s Nikola Jokic winning the first two, and Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers winning last year.

To keep everyone regularly in the loop this time, we have decided to give regular updates, starting at Thanksgiving.  We will this going forward with every update as the first player breaches the elevated ten-point threshold afterward.

Here is the current top ten, based on the first player to breach 270 Notinhalloffame Cup Points:

1. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets, 65 Cup Points, 15 Games, 4.33 Cup Points per Game, 27.5, PPG, 13.1 RPG, 8.9 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 33.8 PER, 3.3 WS. 

Here we are on our first tally, and who else would you expect at the top but Nikola Jokic!, who is now an NBA Champion and Finals MVP  At present, the Joker is leading the NBA in Rebounds (197), Rebounds per Game (13.1), Triple-Doubles (6), True Shooting Percentage (.701), Field Goals (162), PER (33.8), Win Shares (3.3), Box Plus/Minus (15.2) and VORP (2.2).  Right now, he is the best player in Basketball, and that is not in dispute.

2. Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns, 63 Cup Points:  15 Games, 4.20 Cup Points Per Game, 31.4 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 5.5 APG, 0.7 SPG, 1.2 BPG, 25.2 PER, 2.2 WS.

Durant remains a superstar and when he is healthy, he is among the best in the world.  KD is chasing another title and MVP with the Suns, and he is having one of his best starts in recent years.  At present, Durant is second in scoring (31.4) has not averaged over 30 Points per Game since the 2013/14 Season, but is over that right noe.

3 (TIE). Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder, 57 Cup Points:  14 Games, 4.07 Cup Points Per Game, 30.4 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 6.3 APG, 2.4 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 30.8 PER, 2.9 WS.

Gilgeous-Alexander broke through to the upper-tier last season, and he is proving that this was no fluke.  He is leading the NBA in Steals per Game (2.6) is third in PER (30.8) and fourth in Points (30.8).  The Canadian is now an MVP contender.

3 (TIE). Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers, 57 Cup Points, 14 Games, 4.07 Cup Points per Game, 31.9, PPG, 11.3 RPG, 6.1 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.8 BPG, 31.2 PER, 2.6 WS. 

Embiid is the reigning MVP, NIHOF Cup Winner, and two-time scoring champion, and he is currently leading the NBA in scoring again (31.2).  The 76er is also first in Usage Percentage (36.4), and is second in PER (31.2), third in Win Shares (2.6) and VORP (1.4) and is in the top ten in Rebounds and Blocks per Game.  Could we have a dogfight between Embiid and Jokic again?

5. Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks, 56 Cup Points:  15 Games, 3.73 Cup Points per Game, 30.5 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 8.1 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 26.8 PER, 2.1 WS. 

Doncic is on a four-yea streak of First Team All-NBA stars, and he is on pace to add a fifth.  Hs is third on Points per Game (30.5), sixth in Assists (8.1), and is in the top ten in PER (26.8), Box Plus/Minus (7.8), VORP (1.3) and Win Shares (2.1).

6. (TIE) Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics, 55 Cup Points:  15 Games, 3.67 Cup Points per Game, 27.9 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 4.1 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.4 BPG, 22.4 PER, 2.2 WS. 

Tatum begins the year the way he ended the last one: a MVP contender on a power team.  He has already a nabbed a Player of the Week Award, is seventh in PPG (27.9) and is poised to take the Celtics on his back to a title.

6. Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors, 55 Cup Points:  14 Games, 3.93 Cup Points per Game, 29.4 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 3.8 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG, 23.6 PER, 1.7 WS.

The Warriors are an aging team, but Father Time has not yet found Curry, who is the best beyond-the-arc shooter of all-time.  He is  sixth in PPG (29.4) and is leading the league in 3-Point Field Goals (73).

8. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks, 54 Cup Points:  14 Games, 3.86 Cup Points per Game, 29.6 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 4.6 APG, 1.1 SPG, 1.1 BPG, 27.8 PER, 1.6 WS.

The two-time MVP has never had a better supporting cast than he does now, and he is responding by doing what he always does: dominate.  Antetokounmpo, however has slightly less metrics than previous years, but the arrival of Damian Lillard means he does not have to always carry the load.  This will cost him a Cup Point or two but the selfless European is totally fine with that.

9. LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers, 51 Cup Points:  15 Games, 3.40 Cup Points per Game, 25.7 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 6.7 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 25.9 PER, 2.1 WS.

James set the all-time scoring record last year, and he continues to defy time by playing at an elite lvvel. 

19 (TIE). Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves, 48 Cup Points:  14 Games, 3.64 Cup Points per Game, 26.1 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 5.1 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 20.0 PER, 1.4 WS.

Edwards took the necessary step in his basketball evolution last season, and he continues to progress this year.  The young T-Wolves star is tenth in PPG and is poised to have his first 25-plus PPG year.

10 (TIE). Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento Kings, 48 Cup Points:  14 Games, 20.2 PPG, 12.4 RPG, 7.1 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 23.3 PER, 2.1 WS. 

Sabonis was an All-NBA Selection for the first time last year, and he is currently posting similar numbers this year.  He is second in Rebounds per Game (12.4)

Our next update will be up on next Fridat.