FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991) is the list of the 50 greatest players in the history of

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

international

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, as selected in 1991, by FIBA Magazine.

History

Background

In June 1991,

organised the Jubilee Game between Europe and Balkan selections in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

, to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of

. A few months earlier, the monthly magazine FIBA Basket, the Federation's official publication, was issued for first time.

Process

The list was created in honor of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the sport of basketball, by

James Naismith James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Scottish-Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United State ...

. 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 The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

. Nonetheless, 5 players with U.S.A. citizenship that played in leagues other than the NBA, did make the list ( Brabender, Luyk, Galis,

Cruz Cruz is mostly a surname but is also used as a first name. It is of Iberian Peninsula, Iberian origin, first found in Castile (historical region), Castile, Spain, and later spread throughout the territories of the former Spanish Empire, Spanish ...

, Morse). The results were published on the FIBA Basket monthly magazine which lasted from 1991 until the end century.

List of inductees

Key:

By nationality

*Player nationalities were selected by the national team eligibility of each player. Total is more than 50 because players of the former Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and the USSR are listed for multiple federations.

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

This is a list of the Top10 players (

Bob Morse Robert Duncan Morse (born January 4, 1951) is an American former professional basketball player. He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991), FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. In 2008, Morse was chosen as one of the 50 Greatest EuroLea ...

finished 17th) as published on the ''FIBA Basket'' magazine in 1991.

Other FIBA Basket awards

Best player in Europe

References

Notes

Sources

* *FIBA Basket monthly magazines 1991-1998 {{FIBA50 European basketball awards Players