FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991)

FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991) is the list of the 50 greatest players in the history of FIBA international basketball, as selected in the year 1991, by FIBA Magazine. The list was created in honor of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the sport of basketball, by James Naismith. FIBA had a group of international basketball experts, composed mainly of international basketball coaches, vote for the 50 greatest players list. Each expert voter was tasked with picking 25 players. The voting was tallied as, 25 points for a 1st place vote, 24 points for a 2nd place vote, and so on. There were 51 players selected, as a result of a tie in the vote totals. Players from all over the world were considered to be eligible for the voting, including NBA players.

Five European players that had played in the NBA up to that time made the list (Divac, Petrović, Marčiulionis, Volkov, Martín). However, no U.S.A. NBA players made the list, because they were not competing in major FIBA-organized tournaments until the 1992 Summer Olympics. Nonetheless, 5 players with U.S.A. citizenship that played in leagues other than the NBA, did make the list (Brabender, Luyk, Galis, Cruz, Morse).

FIBA's 50 Greatest All-Time Players (1991)

  • Player nationalities were selected by the national team eligibility of each player:
Country Player (current independent country)
Yugoslavia
12
Krešimir Ćosić (Croatia)
Dražen Dalipagić (Serbia)
Ivo Daneu (Slovenia)
Mirza Delibašić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Vlade Divac (Serbia)
Dragan Kićanović (Serbia)
Radivoj Korać (Serbia)
Toni Kukoč (Croatia)
Dražen Petrović (Croatia)
Dino Rađa (Croatia)
Petar Skansi (Croatia)
Zoran Slavnić (Serbia)
Soviet Union
10
Alexander Belov (Russia)
Sergei Belov (Russia)
Stepas Butautas (Lithuania)
Otar Korkia (Georgia)
Šarūnas Marčiulionis (Lithuania)
Anatoly Myshkin (Russia)
Modestas Paulauskas (Lithuania)
Arvydas Sabonis (Lithuania)
Sasha Volkov (Ukraine)
Viktor Zubkov (Russia)
Spain
7
Wayne Brabender
Francisco "Nino" Buscató
Juan Antonio Corbalán
Juan Antonio San Epifanio "Epi"
Clifford Luyk
Fernando Martín
Emiliano Rodríguez
Brazil
4
Bira Maciel
Wlamir Marques
Amaury Pasos
Oscar Schmidt
Italy
4
Pierlo Marzorati
Massimo Masini
Dino Meneghin
Antonello Riva
Czechoslovakia
2
Stano Kropilák (Slovakia)
Ivan Mrázek (Czech Republic)
France
2
Jean-Paul Beugnot
Alain Gilles
Greece
2
Nikos Galis
Georgios Kolokithas
Australia
1
Andrew Gaze
Belgium
1
Willy Steveniers
Bulgaria
1
Atanas Golomeev
Hungary
1
François Németh
Israel
1
Miki Berkovich
Peru
1
Ricardo Duarte
Puerto Rico
1
Teó Cruz
United States
1
Bob Morse

FIBA's 50 Greatest All-Time Players (1991) Top 10 Vote Results

Rank Player Country Vote Total
1.
Sergei Belov Soviet Union
311
2.
Dražen Petrović Yugoslavia
280
3.
Arvydas Sabonis Soviet Union
277
4.
Krešimir Ćosić Yugoslavia
273
5.
Toni Kukoč Yugoslavia
264
6.
Nikos Galis Greece
251
7.
Radivoj Korać Yugoslavia
246
8.
Dino Meneghin Italy
221
9.
Dražen Dalipagić Yugoslavia
209
10.
Oscar Schmidt Brazil
205

See also

Sources

  • Bergum, Bob (2015). Basketball All Greats. pp. 67–68. ISBN 9788892508729.