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 and the author of The Los Angeles Lakers Encyclopedia Rich Shmelter. These heavy hitters will give us the scoop on some very legendary players to help with the voting.
Joe Dumars played the Guard position wearing the digit four on the Detroit Pistons (1986-99) for 14 seasons as he registered 16401 points, passed for 4612 assists, hauled down 2203 rebounds, batted away 83 shots as he averaged 16.1 points per game for his career.
Jim Paxson dribbled the hardcourts 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.
Sidney Moncrief says Boni and Felix was “ a.k.a. Sir Sid, and he played for 11 seasons (10 with the Milwaukee Bucks from 1979-80 to 1988-1989 and 1 with the Atlanta Hawks 1990-91). He’s a 5x All-Star, 2x Defensive Player of the Year (1983 & 1984), and a 2019 Hall of Fame inductee who averaged 15.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in 767 regular season games. He was most known for his defensive play style, and Michael Jordan once told the Los Angeles Times that “when you play against Moncrief, you’re in for a night of all-around basketball [as he hounds] you everywhere you go, [on] both ends of the court.”
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.
Spud Webb, our friends Feix and Boni had great things to say about this baller. “Spud played for 12 seasons (1985-86 to 1997-98) on four teams (Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Orlando Magic). The 5’6” point guard averaged 9.9 points, 5.3 assists, and 2.1 rebounds in 814 regular season games and is best known for his electric performance during the 1986 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.”
Adrian Dantley, the Full Court Press Podcast guys love this player as they state, “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 four 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.
David Wesley played the position of Guard wearing the number 4 on the Boston Celtics (1995-97), Charlotte Hornets (1998-02), New Orleans Hornets (2003-05), and the Cleveland Cavaliers (2007) for nine seasons as he scored 11842 points, dished out 4159 assists, crashed the boards for 2405 rebounds, blocked 161 shots and averaged 12.5 points per contest played for his career.
Byron Scott, well we went to Rich Shmelter, the author of the Lakers Encyclopedia for this LA star. Rich shares that, “"the San Diego Clippers made Scott the fourth overall pick of the college draft on June 28, 1983. However, even though San Diego was dubbed “America’s Finest City”, Scott did not have much time to find the reasoning behind the boastful moniker. Three-and-a-half months later, on October 10, 1983, he was traded to his hometown team, the Lakers. The Lakers went on to win NBA championships in 1985, 1987, and 1988, with Scott in the starting lineup. During this time, he hit on 50% or better from the field in three of his first five seasons and led the NBA from three-point range with a 43.3% success rate. He added his name to the top of the Lakers’ record book in that category when he hit 43.6% of his three-point attempts during the 1986-87 season. In 14 NBA seasons, Scott scored 15,097 points (14.1 avg.), had 2,729 assists (2.5 avg.), and recorded 1,224 steals for an average of slightly over one a game."
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.
Travis Best lined up at Guard wearing the number 4 on the Indiana Pacers (1996-2002) for seven years as he provided career 5376 points, created 2444 assists, fought for 1249 rebounds, and blocked 60 shots for his career.
Clint Richardson dribbled the hardcourts as a Guard with this jersey identification number 4 on the Philadelphia 76ers (1980-85) and the Indiana Pacers (1986-87) for seven seasons as he drained 4084 points, handed out 1461 assists, grabbed 1378 rebounds, and blocked 105 opponent's shots for his career.
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.
Randy Foye was a Guard wearing the digit four on the Minnesota Timberwolves (2007-09), Los Angeles Clippers (2011-12), and Denver Nuggets (2014-16) for six seasons as he registered 7729 points, passed for 2112 assists, hauled down 1686 rebounds, batted away 220 shots as he averaged 10.3 points per game for his career.
J.J. Redick says the podcast duo of Felix and Boni “is a 6’3 guard who played for 15 seasons (2006-07 to 2020-21) on six teams (Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks) and averaged 12.8 points, 2 rebounds, and two assists in 940 regular season games. Known for being one of the NBA’s dependable perimeter threats, he finished his career averaging 41.5% from the 3pt-line.”
Scott Skiles played for 10 seasons (1986-87 to 1995-96) on 5 teams (Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards, Philadelphia 76ers) averaging 11.1 points, 6.5 assists, and 2.5 rebounds in 600 regular season games. He currently holds the NBA record for the most assists in a regular season game (30 assists). Boni and Felix's Full Court Press team is all over Skiles’ stats.
Nate Robinson a.k.a. KryptoNate is a 5’9 guard who played for 11 seasons (2005-06 to 2015-16) on 8 teams (New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans) averaging 11 points, three assists, and 2.3 rebounds in 618 regular season games. He always had an appointment with the rim and notably finished his career winning three Slam Dunk contests in 2006, 2009, and 2010. Boni Jose gives a thumbs up on KryptoNate!
Kyle Macy was a Guard donning the number on the Phoenix Suns (1981-85) for five Pro Basketball seasons as he scored 5259 career points, helped out with 2198 assists, found the ball for 1214 rebounds, blocked 49 opposing teams' shots for his career.
Micheal Williams played the Guard position with this jersey number for the Indiana Pacers (1991-92) and the Minnesota Timberwolves (1994-96, 1998) for five seasons as he registered 4533 points, passed for 2385 assists, hauled down 1050 rebounds, swatted away 95 shots, averaged 11 points each for his career.
Derrick White played the Guard position with this jersey number for the San Antonio Spurs (18, 19, 20, 21, 22) for five seasons as he registered 2508 points, passed for 814 assists, hauled down 722 rebounds, swatted away 173 shots averaged 11.3 points each for his career.
Thanks again to Rich Shmelter, 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 and the author of The Los Angeles Lakers Encyclopedia Rich Shmelter. Make sure you vote, as the results will post on JerseyDispatch.com on Tuesday, February 28. Look back for the Forward Candidates tomorrow! Also, special thanks to references via statsmuse.com, basketball-reference.com, nba.com.
