James Worthy Properly rated?

I gotta say I've felt like the last 20 or so years Worthy has become overrated. Not saying he isn't good. He was really good. But I think there's been a push to put him in a different, higher tier of greatness since his retirement. His numbers and accolades don't exactly match much of the frustration and bonehead plays he made throughout his career. Let me just say, I'm not shitting on Worthy. Love him. But he caused me a lot of stress. I still think we really screwed up drafting him over frigging Dominique Wilkins. I think a similar sort of thing is happening with Manu Ginobli and Spurs fans, where he's so beloved that they forget all of the times he made them pull their hair out with his turnovers in crucial situations. Spurs fans had a love
/hate relationship with Manu, but now that hes old and recently retired, I see a lot of sentimentality and historical amnesia. Again, I just want to stipulate that I love Big Game James. All time Lakers great; but we still should've drafted Dominique Wilkins (can you imagine wilkins and magic on the fast break? my god). What do you guys think? Thoughts on Worthy? Underrrated? Overrated? Properly rated?

[QUOTE=LA Lakers]I gotta say I've felt like the last 20 or so years Worthy has become overrated. Not saying he isn't good. He was really good. But I think there's been a push to put him in a different, higher tier of greatness since his retirement. His numbers and accolades don't exactly match much of the frustration and bonehead plays he made throughout his career. Let me just say, I'm not shitting on Worthy. Love him. But he caused me a lot of stress. I still think we really screwed up drafting him over frigging Dominique Wilkins. I think a similar sort of thing is happening with Manu Ginobli and Spurs fans, where he's so beloved that they forget all of the times he made them pull their hair out with his turnovers in crucial situations. Spurs fans had a love
/hate relationship with Manu, but now that hes old and recently retired, I see a lot of sentimentality and historical amnesia. Again, I just want to stipulate that I love Big Game James. All time Lakers great; but we still should've drafted Dominique Wilkins (can you imagine wilkins and magic on the fast break? my god). What do you guys think? Thoughts on Worthy? Underrrated? Overrated? Properly rated?[/QUOTE]
Worthy is not perfect but the guy was super clutch when the going gets tough.
There are many players who look good in the regular season then falter under pressure in the playoffs.
James on the other hand would score like 17-18 pts in the year and actually averaged 22-24 pts/game in the playoffs. [URL="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/worthja01.html"]https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/worthja01.html[/URL]
And it's not like he took more shots and not efficient, his EFG% actually was higher than his regular season. He is perfect next to Magic IMO, unlike Wilkins who tends to dominate the ball. Bird was not happy when Boston signed him...

I love James Worthy too, but have also always felt he was a bit overrated. If he didn't have Magic Johnson leading the break, he was not going to feed at the trough like he did IMHO.

He also had KAJ and Magic to occupy the opposition's defensive plans, so they were never going to really focus on stopping him. I think they would let him eat if they could successfully FUBAR the other two and Byron Scott.

Worthy and Jamaal Wilkes had similar career numbers and career success, but you hardly ever hear Wilkes mentioned. I think James Worthy was exciting to watch though, and Wilkes was not as flashy.

Having Dominique Wilkins in place of James Worthy changes the entire trajectory of the NBA landscape. I