Old School: KJ

SportsCenter dropped a little doozy the other night: Only three guys since the NBA-ABA merger in '76 have had seasons in which they averaged over 21 points and 11 assists while their team won 50 games or more. Nice stat. Anyway, the three guys were Magic (predictably), Kevin Johnson and Chris Paul.

Magic won MVP's in the three years that he did it, while Paul is in line for a top-three finish this season. KJ? Not a single, stinkin' MVP vote.

But he gets the next best thing... he becomes a blog topic here. I know, I know, spoiling him for sure, but the guy was a stud, he deserves it.

For the record, KJ turned the trick in '90, when he put up a career-high 22.5 points per game, throw in 11.4 assists, 54 wins, a trip to the conference finals and all while combining with Tom Chambers to form one of the coolest tandems in NBAville. By the way, KJ was 23 at the time, just one year older than Paul is now.

Definitely one of the most overlooked PG's of his generation, considering his exploits, and he was probably never better than he was in '90. He dropped 30-plus in Game 5 of PHX's opening round win at Utah, including the game winner as time expired - the game has since been preserved on the NBA's Greatest Games and it's on NBA TV from time to time. He then led the Suns past Magic and his Lakers in a 4-1 series, which at the time was considered a minor miracle. He started alongside The Magician at the very next All-Star Game.

Now get this garbage: On January 9, 1990, the Suns hosted the Lakers and KJ had 34 and 15, while Magic had 24 and 24. Seriously, people talk about Kidd and Nash going at it, or Paul and Williams now, but have two PG's ever gone at it like that? Not bloody likely.

Final note: Everyone remembers his dunk on Olajuwon in the '95 playoffs, but just know, it was only good enough for the second best dunk of his career. And if you don't believe me, just ask Mark Eaton.