Players Ranked by Championship Minutes Played Since 1980

Last year I discovered that nobody cares about how many rings pro basketball players have. Well, not exactly, but I discovered that no one cares enough to keep track and post the numbers on the Internet. I guess people don’t really respect NBA Champions the way they think they do. Even on monster statistical sites there is no page to go to listing NBA player champions year by year, or the number of rings won by player. Sure, you find short and usually incomplete lists of players who have won three or more rings drifting around, but forget about a complete list unless you get it here.

Quest for the Ring (QFTR) has provided the basketball world with the missing information and then some. Here for the second year we have the complete and correct listings for winners of the QFTR in multiple formats. Each year, scheduled for August, the following Reports are in this historical series:

1. Players and Teams Who Won the Quest for the Ring 1980-1994
2. Players and Teams Who Won the Quest for the Ring 1995-2010
3. Alphabetic Logs of all Players Who Have Won the Quest for the Ring 1980-2010
4. Players Ranked by Number of Championships and Rings Won Since 1980
5. Players Ranked by Minutes Played in Championship Years Since 1980
6. Most Recognized High Impact Players 1980-2010
7. Cities and Franchises That Won the Quest for the Ring 1950-2010

In 2010 these will be posted one each day beginning with #1 on August 21 and finishing with #7 on August 27.

After these look for the new and improved Real Coach Ratings and the second annual Report on player salaries, team payrolls, and team cap space.

Championships are by themselves crucial history, but they are also very important for the present, because players who have already won rings are, all other things equal, more valuable than players who have never won a ring. You might as well add about .050 to each such player's Real Player Rating. So a .700 becomes a.750, an .870 becomes a .920, and so forth.

PLAYERS RANKED BY CHAMPIONSHIP MINUTES PLAYED SINCE 1980
There are two versions. The first listing is called the inclusive version. In this one all players who won who played 300 minutes or more during any and all Championship seasons are included. So the first listing includes all players except ones who played very, very little. Players who played fewer than 300 minutes are not listed in either version.

The second listing is called the strict version. In this one all players who played 1,200 minutes or more during any and all Championship seasons are included. The second listing includes only players who were starters or heavy minutes non-starters for much of the season.

Even our listings are technically incomplete, because they cover only the modern era, the years from 1979-80 to the present. We simply have very little interest in years prior to 1980. For one thing, there was no 3-point shot prior to 1980, which to QFTR is an indispensible part of basketball. In fact, if the 3-point shot was removed from the game, we would chances are shut down this Site.

Each entry consists of (1) The rank (2) The player (3) The total minutes the player was on the court during all seasons when he and his team won the Championship and (4) The number of rings. In this report the rankings are by total minutes.

QFTR's basketball history project, which has now grown to seven Reports scheduled for August each year, was originally motivated by the realization that no one anywhere has in one spot a complete listing of all players who have won rings and how many they won.

Just posted yesterday was the straight up ranking of players by number of rings won, was what originally motivated QFTR's history of basketball project. In this related but separate Report this information is shown with number of minutes for the rankings.

Minutes played are a pretty good approximation of how good the player was. So therefore when you rank by number of minutes, you are getting a relatively rough but halfway decent ranking according to how good the players were while they were winning their Championships. Many will agree that the listing by minutes rather than the straight up number of rings is the better "ultimate ranking" of pro basketball Champions.

Real Player Ratings produced by QFTR in very recent years are obviously better than number of minutes. In an ideal world, we would be able to calculate Real Player Ratings for all the Championship teams and rank by them rather than by minutes. In the real world, we don't right now have the resources to do this, mainly because the data needed to calculate hidden defending is not available for years prior to 2005-06.

Incidentally, we will in the not too distant future report out the Ratings for the 2006, 2007, and 2008 Championship teams. The Ratings for the 2008 Celtics were reported but in the relatively crude version with no hidden defending adjustments, so they need to be redone.

Getting back to the task at hand, we have to use minutes in these historical Reports. Always remember that, as the User Guide to the Real Player Rating system explains, when you compare two players, the player with more minutes is not necessarily the better player. But that is often true. The bigger the gap in minutes, the more likely it is that the player with more minutes was the better player.

The format in the first version just below is rank/player/number of rings/total minutes played during those Championship seasons. The sorting order is number of minutes.

========== PLAYERS RANKED BY CHAMPIONSHIP MINUTES PLAYED SINCE 1980 ==========
-Inclusive version: Includes all players in all Championship seasons who played 300 minutes or more
-Includes years 1980-2010

Rank / Player / Minutes / Rings
1 Michael Jordan 18,580 6
2 Scottie Pippen 16,873 6
3 Kobe Bryant 14,165 5
4 Magic Johnson 14,108 5
5 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 13,199 5
6 Robert Horry 12,376 7
7 Dennis Rodman 11,476 5
8 Horace Grant 10,635 4
9 Michael Cooper 10,405 5
10 Shaquille O'Neal 10,315 4
11 Tim Duncan 10,072 4
12 Larry Bird 9,380 3
13 Derek Fisher 9,154 5
14 Ron Harper 9,091 5
15 James Worthy 8,170 3
16 Robert Parish 8,138 4
17 Byron Scott 8,082 3
18 Tony Parker 8,008 3
19 Bruce Bowen 7,657 3
20 A.C. Green 6,805 3
21 Jamaal Wilkes 6,778 3
22 Kevin McHale 6,619 3
23 Steve Kerr 6,585 5
24 Norm Nixon 6,250 2
25 Hakeem Olajuwon 6,130 2
26 B.J. Armstrong 6,098 3
27 Rick Fox 6,053 3
28 Toni Kukoc 5,948 3
29 Isiah Thomas 5,917 2
30 Manu Ginobili 5,684 3
31 Pau Gasol 5,402 2
32 Dennis Johnson 5,397 2
33 Bill Laimbeer 5,315 2
34 Cedric Maxwell 5,232 2
35 Kurt Rambis 5,107 4
36 Bill Cartwright 4,997 3
37 Joe Dumars 4,986 2
38 John Paxson 4,947 3
39 Lamar Odom 4,901 2
40 Luc Longley 4,816 3
41 Mario Elie 4,793 3
42 Vernon Maxwell 4,609 2
43 Kenny Smith 4,239 2
44 Otis Thorpe 4,097 2
45 Vinnie Johnson 4,045 2
46 Gerald Henderson 4,031 3
47 James Posey 3,735 2
48 Brian Shaw 3,713 3
49 John Salley 3,675 3
50 Danny Ainge 3,561 2
51 James Edwards 3,537 2
52 Stacey King 3,525 3
53 Andrew Bynum 3,423 2
54 Will Perdue 3,422 4
55 Malik Rose 3,403 3
56 Brent Barry 3,373 2
57 David Robinson 3,230 2
58 Mark Aguirre 3,073 2
59 Ben Wallace 3,050 1
60 Sam Cassell 3,004 2
61 Moses Malone 2,922 1
62 Dwyane Wade 2,892 1
63 Randy Brown 2,875 3
64 Paul Pierce 2,874 1
65 Tiny Archibald 2,820 1
66 Richard Hamilton 2,772 1
67 Chauncey Billups 2,758 1
68 Chris Ford 2,723 1
69 Tayshaun Prince 2,701 1
70 Devean George 2,697 3
71 Mychal Thompson 2,687 2
72 Jordan Farmar 2,666 2
73 Jason Caffey 2,660 3
74 Ray Allen 2,624 1
75 Carl Herrera 2,623 2
76 Ron Artest 2,605 1
77 Glen Rice 2,530 1
78 Udonis Haslem 2,491 1
79 Andrew Toney 2,474 1
80 Maurice Cheeks 2,465 1
81 Julius Erving 2,421 1
82 Scott Williams 2,396 3
83 Jim Chones 2,394 1
84 Kevin Garnett 2,328 1
85 Scott Wedman 2,318 2
86 Bill Wennington 2,315 3
87 Rajon Rondo 2,306 1
88 Gary Payton 2,305 1
89 Lindsey Hunter 2,277 2
90 Stephen Jackson 2,254 1
91 Antoine Walker 2,199 1
92 Beno Udrih 2,097 2
93 Jud Buechler 2,051 3
94 Cliff Levingston 2,033 2
95 Bob McAdoo 2,000 2
96 Trevor Ariza 1,998 1
97 Kendrick Perkins 1,912 1
98 Jason Williams 1,874 1
99 Sasha Vujacic 1,868 2
100 Michael Finley 1,823 1
101 Rick Mahorn 1,795 1
102 Rasho Nesterovic 1,785 1
103 Clint Richardson 1,755 1
104 Bobby Jones 1,749 1
105 Shannon Brown 1,700 1
106 Avery Johnson 1,672 1
107 Samaki Walker 1,655 1
108 Marc Iavaroni 1,612 1
109 Jerry Sichting 1,596 1
110 Mehmet Okur 1,580 1
111 Corliss Williamson 1,574 1
112 Rick Robey 1,569 1
113 Bill Walton 1,546 1
114 Spencer Haywood 1,544 1
115 Mitch Kupchak 1,537 2
116 Mike McGee 1,522 2
117 Sean Elliott 1,509 1
118 Mark Landsberger 1,508 2
119 Eddie House 1,480 1
120 Craig Hodges 1,398 2
121 Tony Allen 1,373 1
122 Fabricio Oberto 1,365 1
123 Pete Chilcutt 1,347 1
124 Adrian Dantley 1,341 1
125 Francisco Elson 1,332 1
126 Alonzo Mourning 1,302 1
127 Clyde Drexler 1,300 1
128 Larry Spriggs 1,292 1
129 Mark Madsen 1,291 2
130 Josh Powell 1,284 2
131 Franklin Edwards 1,266 1
132 Quinn Buckner 1,249 1
133 M.L. Carr 1,240 2
134 Wes Matthews 1,238 2
135 Devin Brown 1,238 1
136 Scott Brooks 1,225 1
137 Isaiah Rider 1,206 1
138 Luke Walton 1,166 1
139 Scott Burrell 1,096 1
140 Dickey Simpkins 1,080 2
141 Steve Smith 1,032 1
142 Rodney McCray 1,019 1
143 Earl Cureton 987 1
144 Jim Brewer 966 1
145 Glen Davis 940 1
146 Trent Tucker 909 1
147 Elden Campbell 892 1
148 Jaren Jackson 861 1
149 Mike Penberthy 851 1
150 Kevin Willis 840 1
151 Chucky Brown 814 1
152 Leon Powe 809 1
153 Vladimir Radmanovic 771 1
154 Bob Hansen 769 1
155 Billy Thompson 762 1
156 Jacque Vaughn 760 1
157 Rick Carlisle 760 1
158 Chucky Atkins 751 1
159 Stanislav Medvedenko 729 1
160 Dennis Hopson 728 1
161 Matt Bullard 725 1
162 Mitch Richmond 709 1
163 Bob Sura 707 1
164 Russ Schoene 702 1
165 Jerome Kersey 699 1
166 Tony Massenburg 699 1
167 Clemon Johnson 698 1
168 Rasheed Wallace 673 1
169 Jason Kapono 665 1
170 Matt Bonner 654 1
171 Shandon Anderson 638 1
172 Antonio Daniels 614 1
173 Eddie Jordan 608 1
174 Danny Ferry 601 1
175 Don Ford 580 1
176 Reggie Johnson 549 1
177 Brian Scalabrine 512 1
178 Mike James 512 1
179 Darvin Ham 484 1
180 Speedy Claxton 471 1
181 Tyronn Lue 468 1
182 Derek Anderson 465 1
183 Greg Kite 464 1
184 Greg Foster 451 1
185 Sam Vincent 432 1
186 Mike Smrek 421 1
187 Nazr Mohammed 414 1
188 Wayne Simien 414 1
189 Travis Knight 410 1
190 Frank Brickowski 404 1
191 Joe Kleine 397 1
192 David Thirdkill 385 1
193 Milt Wagner 380 1
194 Michael Doleac 371 1
195 Darrell Walker 367 1
196 Micheal Williams 358 1
197 D.J. Mbenga 355 1
198 Tim Breaux 340 1

The format in the second version just below is the same: rank/player/total minutes played during those Championship seasons/number of rings. The sorting order is number of minutes. What is different in the second version is that only players and seasons where the player played more than 1,200 minutes are counted.

========== PLAYERS RANKED BY CHAMPIONSHIP MINUTES PLAYED SINCE 1980 ==========
-Strict version: Includes all players in all Championship seasons who played 1,200 minutes or more
-Includes years 1980-2010

Rank / Player / Minutes / Rings
1 Michael Jordan 18,580 6
2 Scottie Pippen 16,873 6
3 Kobe Bryant 14,165 5
4 Magic Johnson 14,108 5
5 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 13,199 5
6 Dennis Rodman 11,476 5
7 Robert Horry 11,252 6
8 Horace Grant 10,635 4
9 Michael Cooper 10,405 5
10 Shaquille O'Neal 10,315 4
11 Tim Duncan 10,072 4
12 Larry Bird 9,380 3
13 Derek Fisher 8,445 4
14 James Worthy 8,170 3
15 Byron Scott 8,082 3
16 Tony Parker 8,008 3
17 Ron Harper 7,952 4
18 Robert Parish 7,732 3
19 Bruce Bowen 7,657 3
20 A.C. Green 6,805 3
21 Kevin McHale 6,619 3
22 Norm Nixon 6,250 2
23 Hakeem Olajuwon 6,130 2
24 B.J. Armstrong 6,098 3
25 Rick Fox 6,053 3
26 Jamaal Wilkes 6,017 2
27 Toni Kukoc 5,948 3
28 Isiah Thomas 5,917 2
29 Manu Ginobili 5,684 3
30 Pau Gasol 5,402 2
31 Dennis Johnson 5,397 2
32 Bill Laimbeer 5,315 2
33 Cedric Maxwell 5,232 2
34 Bill Cartwright 4,997 3
35 Joe Dumars 4,986 2
36 Lamar Odom 4,901 2
37 Luc Longley 4,816 3
38 Mario Elie 4,793 3
39 Vernon Maxwell 4,609 2
40 Kenny Smith 4,239 2
41 Vinnie Johnson 4,045 2
42 John Paxson 3,917 2
43 Steve Kerr 3,780 2
44 James Posey 3,735 2
45 Gerald Henderson 3,696 2
46 James Edwards 3,537 2
47 Andrew Bynum 3,423 2
48 Brent Barry 3,373 2
49 John Salley 3,372 2
50 David Robinson 3,230 2
51 Kurt Rambis 3,131 2
52 Brian Shaw 3,082 2
53 Ben Wallace 3,050 1
54 Moses Malone 2,922 1
55 Otis Thorpe 2,909 1
56 Dwyane Wade 2,892 1
57 Paul Pierce 2,874 1
58 Tiny Archibald 2,820 1
59 Richard Hamilton 2,772 1
60 Chauncey Billups 2,758 1
61 Chris Ford 2,723 1
62 Tayshaun Prince 2,701 1
63 Ray Allen 2,624 1
64 Carl Herrera 2,623 2
65 Ron Artest 2,605 1
66 Glen Rice 2,530 1
67 Udonis Haslem 2,491 1
68 Andrew Toney 2,474 1
69 Maurice Cheeks 2,465 1
70 Julius Erving 2,421 1
71 Danny Ainge 2,407 1
72 Jim Chones 2,394 1
73 Kevin Garnett 2,328 1
74 Rajon Rondo 2,306 1
75 Gary Payton 2,305 1
76 Stephen Jackson 2,254 1
77 Antoine Walker 2,199 1
78 Mychal Thompson 2,007 1
79 Mark Aguirre 2,005 1
80 Trevor Ariza 1,998 1
81 Malik Rose 1,933 1
82 Kendrick Perkins 1,912 1
83 Sam Cassell 1,882 1
84 Jason Williams 1,874 1
85 Michael Finley 1,823 1
86 Rick Mahorn 1,795 1
87 Rasho Nesterovic 1,785 1
88 Devean George 1,759 1
89 Clint Richardson 1,755 1
90 Bobby Jones 1,749 1
91 Shannon Brown 1,700 1
92 Avery Johnson 1,672 1
93 Samaki Walker 1,655 1
94 Lindsey Hunter 1,616 1
95 Marc Iavaroni 1,612 1
96 Jerry Sichting 1,596 1
97 Mehmet Okur 1,580 1
98 Corliss Williamson 1,574 1
99 Rick Robey 1,569 1
100 Bill Walton 1,546 1
101 Spencer Haywood 1,544 1
102 Sean Elliott 1,509 1
103 Eddie House 1,480 1
104 Jordan Farmar 1,474 1
105 Jason Caffey 1,405 1
106 Scott Wedman 1,402 1
107 Tony Allen 1,373 1
108 Scott Williams 1,369 1
109 Fabricio Oberto 1,365 1
110 Pete Chilcutt 1,347 1
111 Adrian Dantley 1,341 1
112 Francisco Elson 1,332 1
113 Alonzo Mourning 1,302 1
114 Clyde Drexler 1,300 1
115 Sasha Vujacic 1,293 1
116 Larry Spriggs 1,292 1
117 Stacey King 1,268 1
118 Franklin Edwards 1,266 1
119 Bob McAdoo 1,254 1
120 Quinn Buckner 1,249 1
121 Devin Brown 1,238 1
122 Scott Brooks 1,225 1
123 Isaiah Rider 1,206 1