pmoehrin Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Surprised no one has mentioned Tony Gwynn.I don't think he would qualify, in the spirit of the original question. Yeah, he played on some bad Padres teams, but he also played on three NL Western division winners, and went to two World Series.He did spend 12 seasons on pretty pitiful teams out of the 19 in his career.I mentioned him on the first page.The Padres made three playoffs, but I never really felt like they were serious contenders in any of the three years. The best team he was on was that '98 squad which was pretty loaded, but they had no shot in the series against the Yankees.Otherwise just four years where his team won at least 85 games, and seven years where they lost at least 85, so definitely could have been on better teams I'd say. Unlike Johnson though, Tony never wanted to leave San Diego. I think he could have easily broken the bank had he decided to actually get his market value, but he was content to just stay in San Diego for his whole career and left alot of money on the table in doing so. I don't think he was ever top 20 in salary at any point in his career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter Morgan Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Curtis Martin and Mats Sundin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninersdd Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Curtis Martin and Mats SundinNot Sundin. The Leafs made the playoffs 6 straight years prior to the lockout, including 2 conference finals. BEAR DOWN ARIZONA!2013/14 Tanks Picks Champion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmoehrin Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I think one of the ultimate great players that never played for a good team was Sonny Jurgensen.He's a HOF QB as he should be, but Matthew Stafford already has more playoff starts for his career. When the Redskins finally did hire George Allen and started to get good, he got hurt and lost the starting job to Billy Kilmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnus Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Steve Nash with the Suns. Never could quite make it over the Conference Finals hump. Not sure he ever will, now.Suns had great offense, and no defense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninersdd Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Steve Nash with the Suns. Never could quite make it over the Conference Finals hump. Not sure he ever will, now.Suns had great offense, and no defense.No, I thought this thread was about guys who spent their entire careers on bad teams, not the best players who never won a championship. Nash's teams were pretty good since 2001, with the worst being the mediocre Suns teams the last couple of years. (Sorry if I sound like an ass) BEAR DOWN ARIZONA!2013/14 Tanks Picks Champion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnus Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 No offense taken. He was the best I could think of right now. It's been a long day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sport Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Curtis Martin played in a Super Bowl and went to the playoffs multiple times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 What about guys like Ray Allen or Ray Borque, who did win championships, but not until the twilight of their career with teams other than those they spent the bulk of their careers with?The Bruins hovered around championships in the late '80s/early '90s (ran into the Edmonton and Pittsburgh buzzsaws) and were solid enough in the '80s. It wasn't till the twilight of Bourque's career that the Bruins fell off.Ray Allen would be a good one if not for the fact that we're into his sixth year of not-horrible teams. This exercise is pretty hard for the NBA, as the nature of the game makes it hard for a great player to be on an otherwise horrible team for long: they either singlehandedly will the team up to mere mediocrity, or depart. You can be the flower in the cow pie a lot easier in the other sports.I hope no one has mentioned Shane Doan. He's an interesting case: the player who has been mistaken for a "great player who spent his career on horrible teams" because of sheer tenure. Doan is one of the laziest cowards ever to play the game. ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmoehrin Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 This exercise is pretty hard for the NBA, as the nature of the game makes it hard for a great player to be on an otherwise horrible team for long: they either singlehandedly will the team up to mere mediocrity, or depart. You can be the flower in the cow pie a lot easier in the other sports.Yeah I would say basketball is definitely the toughest sport to accomplish this. Pretty much all of your game's elite players were all on great teams for the majority of their careers.Artis Gimore is a name that comes to mind as someone who you could potentially argue should be here, but even he has an ABA title to his name. And those Bull teams of the late 70's and Spurs teams of the early 80's were far from terrible.I mentioned Elton Brand earlier. He's probably the best player you could say without question played for horrible teams for most of his career. Just three playoff appearances to date and none of his teams have yet to get past the second round.Buck Williams may be another. Got to two NBA finals with the Blazers, but outside of that played for alot of mediocre teams that either missed the playoffs or went first round and out.Larry Nance may be another. Teams were decent, but never was on a team that could seriously challenge for the NBA title.Odds are in the NBA if your a great player your team is at least going to be decent. Its just rare to get a great player on a team that has nobody around him. That may happen for a couple years, but greatness feeds into greatness. Players will go out of their way to play with guys like LeBron, Kobe, Garnett, Duncan, Dirk, which is part of the appeal with having these guys on your roster. And the NBA is probably the most liberal sport in terms guys being able to go where and as they please, especially if your a superstar player, so I don't see the trend of great players being on great teams changing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Untytled Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Besides this year, Ilya Kovalchuk qualifies considering he has only played in the playoffs 3 times during his career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sport Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I root for a lot of terrible teams so instantly a number of guys popped into my head. - Bengals: Willie Anderson. He was drafted in 1996 and didn't make the playoffs until 2005 when a cheap shot ended any hope that team had of advancing. He played with the Bengals through the 2008 season. In that time the team went 8-8, 7-9, 3-13, 4-12, 4-12, 6-10, 2-14, 8-8, 8-8, 11-5, 8-8, 7-9, 4-11-1. During that time he made the pro bowl every year from 2003 through 2007. He spent one year with Balitmore where they lost to Pittsburgh in the AFC championship game and then retired. - Blue Jackets: Rick Nash. One playoff appearance and it was a first round sweep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOldRoman Posted December 13, 2012 Author Share Posted December 13, 2012 Ken Griffey Jr.No. Junior was on some very good Mariners teams in his prime, although he only went to the playoffs twice in his prime. He was still a national figure, and not someone average fans barely knew because his team was terrible (which was kinda the point of this thread). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sport Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 If he hasn't been mentioned then this is a surprise. Takeo Spikes.Bengals, Bills, Eagles, 49ers, and Chargers. and he's never been in a playoff game. He played with the Eagles and Chargers after their regular playoff appearances and with the 49ers before they advanced to the level they're at now. He never even appeared in a Monday Night game until 2007, his 10th season in the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tBBP Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I personally have never tnought of Takeo Spikes as "great"...but then that's just me.Willie Anderson on the other hand... +1. *Disclaimer: I am not an authoritative expert on stuff...I just do a lot of reading and research and keep in close connect with a bunch of people who are authoritative experts on stuff. || dribbble || Behance || Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kramerica Industries Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I was thinking that was London Fletcher who was the poor schmuck of a linebacker, not Takeo Spikes.But Fletcher went to two Super Bowls with the Rams, so he certainly doesn't make the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayJaxon Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Ken Griffey Jr.No. Junior was on some very good Mariners teams in his prime, although he only went to the playoffs twice in his prime. He was still a national figure, and not someone average fans barely knew because his team was terrible (which was kinda the point of this thread).With Gwynn, Dawson, and Santo mentioned, I'm pretty sure Junior belongs in this category. He may be the greatest player to never reach the World Series. The thread isn't about how Nationally known they turned out not to be because of their teams. The thread is about the greatest players who spent their entire careers on bad teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckymack Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 What about Tony Romo? He's barely made the playoffs, yet recently eclipsed several of Aikman's franchise records for QBs. How have we made it this far and not mentioned Tony Gonzalez? IIRC, he's never made it passed the first round. Sigs are for sissies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 NFL records are for wiping your ass with; Tony Romo is not a better quarterback than Troy Aikman, let alone a great player in his own right. ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smzimbabwe Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 How about Joe Torre? I think he had a pretty good career, 9 all-star appearances, an MVP award, batting title, gold glove, the list goes on...Never made the postseason as a player... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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