Well, I guess Dr J, Bob Lanier, and Tom Gola (and Red Auerbach) don’t count because while they played for original A10 teams, they played before the league. 

But as for guys who actually played in the A10, I think it’s a close between Eddie Jones and Marcus Camby.   Camby was a DPOY and the best shot blocker in the NBA, but Jones made All-NBA third team one year (meaning he was one of the 15 best players in the league) and was all defense a couple of times, too.  I’d probably lean Jones but it’s close. 

Other names that came to mind are Aaron McKie, Lamar Odom, Jameer Nelson, and Deonte West.  Plenty of other guys who had nice NBA runs, too. 

Also, best A10 player in the NFL goes to Mo Allie-Cox.  Still so weird to see him catching TDs for the colts.

I'll ignore the Bob Lanier oversight.

It's interesting to see how Temple had so many great college players who did not pan out in the NBA.  Macon, Stansbury, Granger Hall, plenty of others too.  I chalk this up to what was the one-time rap of Bob Knight and Coach K players...while the genuine superstars can adapt, the majority are taught to play a very specific way in college which did not translate well to the NBA.  

FQ,  a few others I would add to your group:

David West       Averaged 17 and 7 for 7 seasons over an 8 year period.  Would have been 8 for 8 but an injury slowed him down.

Norm Nixon.   The phenomenal Duquesne point guard averaged 15.7 points, over 8 assists and 1.5 steals per game during a 10 year NBA career.  Helped lead the Lakers to 2 championships, and was eventually traded to the lowly Clippers so that Magic did not have to share point guard duties.

As far as best A10 player in the NFL, if you will allow a technicality, Pitt's Sam Clancy deserves a lot of consideration.  In four years at Pitt, he averaged 14.4 points, 11.6 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.  He had more impact on a game than Cox did.  Sam went on to have a good career as a defensive linemen, primarily with the Browns as I recall.  The technicality is that for a brief period, after GW left the Southern Conference but before the new A10 branding, our conference was known as the Eastern Athletic Association which became better known as the Eastern 8.  Clancy was technically an Eastern 8 player.  The season after he graduated, Temple, St. Joe's and Penn State would join the conference (for Penn State, this would mean re-joining), Pitt would follow Villanova to the Big East (Nova had left two seasons earlier), and the now ten school conference would be renamed the Atlantic 10.

 

Didn't a GWU center make Camby wet his pants?

Mark Macon was on SI's cover, I think, in high school.   Oh well.  

Temple has had great coaches.  And, they stayed.  That's a lesson for some college administrators: Hire smart, and keep the good staffers happy. 

It's good to see Obi Toppin making an impact last night because his rookie year didn't go so well when you consider how high he was picked in the draft. It may be hard for him to shine with the Knicks because he plays the exact same position as Julius Randle, who is the Knicks best player and an All-Star. Two other A-10 players in the NBA right now(besides Yuta) are VCU's Bones Hyland on Denver and St.Joe's DeAndre Bembry on Brooklyn. 

The Dude,  Lionel Simmons from La Salle. It actually looked like he'd be a dominant NBA player as a rookie, I'm not sure what happened afterwards. Rhode Island's Cuttino Mobley and St.Louis' Larry Hughes are 2 others

Last edited by Thomas (10/21/2021 8:17 pm)

How about Roy Hinson for top 5? Scored nearly 20 points a game one year and was then traded for the #1 overall pick, used to take Brad Daugherty.  Career averages of 14 points 7 boards.  

I was stunned to learn that the current A10 schools, (which excludes any school that left the A10) produced an incredible 8 players taken 1st or 2nd,
4 #1 overall NBA picks:

Lanier
Hetzel
Si Green 
D*ck Ricketts 
Marcus Camby
Tom Stith 
Bob Ferry 
Tom Gola
 

Last edited by The Dude (10/21/2021 11:37 pm)

FQ, not in consideration?  West, as you say, and Nixon, each won 2 NBA titles.  Nixon was the Lakers leading scorer during one of their Championship runs.  Here are the stats for each:

Player                             GP   Min.     Pts.    FG%      R       A      S       B

E. Jones                         954   34.4   14.8    43.7      4.0    2.9    1.7     0.6

Camby                           973    29.5     9.5    46.6      9.8    1.9    1.0     2.4

West                             1,034  28.2   13.6    49.5      6.4    2.2    0.7      0.8

Nixon                              768   35.5   15.7    48.3      2.6    8.3    1.5      0.1


A bit of apples to oranges here due to positions but I believe what this shows is that all four players should be in the same conversation for having the best career.  Nixon did not play for as many seasons but what's very surprising is that he had a better career shooting percentage than the much taller Camby.  I'd say that Camby was the strongest influence on defense, Nixon and West on offense, and Jones was the most complete player of the four.  

I think the most interesting thing about this thread is how few top level NBA players came out of the A-10.  You would think that after a few decades you would get at least one perennial all star or top level player coming out of this league, which is considered one of the top 10 basketball leagues.  

Also, I think you are all underselling Lamar Odom.  I think he has better, or last least comparable, stats as the four players you listed above.

Only very recently, pre Obi has the A10 not been producing....

Previously really impressive and I think starting with Obi will see a return to more good career NBA caliber players