The Unsung — Tom Chambers.

Thomas Doane Chambers (born June 21, 1959)

Played for: San Diego Clippers (1981–1983), Seattle SuperSonics (1983–1988), 

Phoenix Suns (1988–1993), Utah Jazz (1993–1995), Maccabi Tel Aviv (1995–1996), 

Charlotte Hornets (1997), Philadelphia 76ers (1997)

Tom Chambers (Basketball Reference [Player] — Power forward (PF)

20,049 points (18.1 per game), 6,703 rebounds (6.1 per game), 2,283 assists (2.1 per game) in 1,107 games

 

4× NBA All-Star (1987, 1989–1991) 

2× All-NBA Second Team (1989, 1990)

Israeli League champion (1996)

Sure, why not feature a basketball case? Chambers was born in Ogden, Utah and basically became a promising prospect in the blink of an eye. Sure, he played as a decent guard at 6'2 in his sophomore year of high school...and then he grew up to a frame of 6'9 in the span of six months (interestingly, he is listed as 6'10 in the NBA, so he rose even a bit more then). He attended Aurora Central for his junior year before having to re-locate due to his dad getting a job that saw him attend his senior year at Fairview in Colorado, where he led the state in scoring. In his final game for Fairview, he set a big school state tournament record of 50 points and 22 rebounds. Chambers decided to attend Utah over BYU and gradually rose to key-line starter by his sophomore year. In his last three seasons, he earned WAC honors, being named to the Second-team in 1979 & 1980 before being named to the First-team in 1981. In June of that year, he was selected in the NBA draft as the 8th pick of the first round by the San Diego Clippers. Noted players of the draft included Mark Aguirre for the Mavericks at #1, Isiah Thomas at #2 for Detroit as the only Hall of Fame selection that year, Buck Williams at #3 for New Jersey while Chambers was picked in-between Steve Johnson and Rolando Blackman.*

In his first game as a player in the NBA on Halloween night in 1981 against the Houston Rockets, he played 24 minutes and logged in 13 points. It didn't take him long to record some firsts, with back-to-back games seeing him do the following: his first double-double came with 21 points and 11 rebounds on November 12 versus Portland while his first 30-point game came two days later with 36 points against Indiana. Playing 81 games with 58 starts, Chambers logged 17.2 points per game with 6.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists on a field goal percentage of 52.5%. The following year saw him start 81 games and average 17.6 points per game while shooting 47.2% from the field with 6.6 rebounds per game. The Clippers in those two years won a combined total of 42 games under the ownership of noted pervert/loser Donald Sterling. At any rate, Clippers had Terry Cummings (drafted in 1982) looking pretty good at power forward, which saw him win Rookie of the Year in 1983 (one quote said that Chambers was a key part of the benefits reaped by Cummings, as other teams had to use their big forwards for Chambers). They proceeded to trade Chambers and Al Wood in August 1983 to the Seattle SuperSonics that saw the Clippers get James Donaldson, Greg Keiser, Mark Radford and two draft picks. None of the players acquired by the Clippers stayed with the team past 1985 (incidentally, Cummings was traded in 1984 by the Clippers* to the Bucks).

In his first year with Seattle in the 1983-84 season, he played in all 82 games and averaged 18.1 points per game on 49.9% shooting with 6.5 rebounds per game. He got a taste of playoff action for the first time, where he had an average of 13 points in the five-game series against Dallas*. Chambers set a new high in points per game for the 1984-85 season with 21.5 on 60 starts and 81 total appearances with 48.3% shooting. After a year plagued by injury, Chambers rebounded in 1986 with back-to-back seasons of playing all 82 games, which saw him selected to the 1987 NBA All-Star Game. Chambers had his first bite of lengthy playoff action that year when he averaged 23 points a game as the Sonics lost to the Lakers in the Conference Finals. In his first seven seasons as a player, he had scored 10,811 total points, which actually was 10th most for players in that timespan behind legend such as Alex English and Larry Bird. The summer of 1988 would see his career reach a new height. A new collective bargaining agreement saw players with at least seven years and two NBA contracts played the classification of "unrestricted free agent" that could sign anywhere, as opposed to accepting a qualifying offer or, well, being traded (for those curious, you could get offers, but teams had the "right of first refusal" to match an offer). In July of that year, he was contacted by the Phoenix Suns and found a willing team to play for to the tune of five years and $9 million as the first high-profile unrestricted free agent (one news source reported he had made $950,000 in his last year with Seattle).

In his first seven years, he averaged 15 shots a game. In his first season with Phoenix, he shot over 20 times a game with future Hall of Fame contributor Cotton FitzSimmons as a coach and players such as Kevin Johnson and Jeff Hornacek leading the way. He proceeded to average 25.7 points per game on 47 percent shooting in 81 appearances for the Suns. He averaged 26 points a game for the team in the playoffs that saw them lose to the Lakers in the Conference Finals. He was named to the All-NBA Second Team for the first of two straight seasons. He had his peak in points per game in 1989-90 with 27.2 per game (81 played), which included a franchise record (passed in 2017) 60 points on March 24, 1990 versus Seattle, doing so on a pulled hamstring. The 1990-91 season saw Kevin Johnson shine the most in scoring over Chambers, who averaged 19.9 points per game (76 games) on 43 percent shooting, although he made the All-Star Game for the fourth time. In the first ten seasons that Chambers played from 1981 to 1991, he was sixth in points for all players with 16,608, sandwiched between a few Hall of Famers such as English (leading with 19,967) and Isiah Thomas (15,130 at 10th)*. In point of fact, his point total for his first ten seasons is still in the top 40 of all players in 2026. He played in 69 games in 1991 and had 16.3 points per game before the arrival of Charles Barkley in the 1992-93 season saw Chambers play off the bench to the tune of 12.2 points per game under new head coach Paul Westphal. The Suns made it all the way to the NBA Finals and Chambers played off the bench for all but one game, which saw highs as 18 points in each of the first two games versus the Lakers and five games of zero points (in one interview months later, he said he "looked awful"). His one start was in Game 7 of the Conference Finals versus Seattle, where he had 17 points in 29 minutes as the Suns won 123-110 to reach their first Finals in nearly 20 years. In the Finals versus Chicago, Chambers played 20 minutes in each of Games 2-4 and played a key role in Game 3 by hitting the tying lay-up to force double OT in a game the Suns won in triple overtime. He had 12 points in Game 6, which saw the Suns lose on a three-pointer late as Chicago won their third straight title.

The Suns did not pick up the option year on his contract (as added by Chambers while deferring money to help them try to sign Danny Ainge). He soon signed with Utah to play off the bench with their tandem of stars in Karl Malone and John Stockton*. He made appearances in 161 combined games over two seasons with the Jazz, with his most noted moment coming on April 15, 1995 when he scored 15 points against the Clippers to reach the 20,000 point club as the 24th player to do so.* In 1995, Chambers took a detour to play for one season for $500,000 for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel of the Israeli Super League and the FIBA EuroLeague (in contrast, he made nearly $2 million with his Jazz tenure). He had solid enough stats in Super League as Chambers was part of a champion team for the only time (meanwhile, in the EuroLeague, Dominique Wilkins led Panathinaikos to the title). He returned to the NBA in 1996, now a 37-year old. He played 12 games for Charlotte before being waived. He played one further game on November 26, 1997 for Philadelphia, scoring six points in nine minutes and that was it. 2021 saw him make the finalist list for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, but he did not make it. Chambers and Antawn Jamison (who by sheer coincidence, also played 16 seasons like Chambers) are the only eligible 20,000 point scorers not in the Hall (Joe Johnson, retired recently in 2022, will be around there, but if Amar'e Stoudemire can get in the Hall, screw it, why not Johnson too?). From 1981 to 1998, eight players had 20,000 points: Jordan, Malone, Wilkins, Olajuwon, Barkley, Drexler, Ewing...and Chambers. In a tough era, Chambers still found a way to stand out as a solid player, and he shouldn't be left out of the Hall.

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Tom Chambers to the Hall.

N O T E S

Photo source: 1989-90 Wasatch Basketball All-Stars (unlicensed) Trading Card Database

*Speaking of UHOF candidates, Rolando Blackman and Mark Aguirre. We shall see.

*The only awesome thing Adam Silver did is banning Donald Sterling from the NBA. Never forget that David Stern was too gutless to act against that dogshit owner for generally being terrible in every aspect of the game. Granted, it took a racist tape for Sterling to go down, but, hey, cool to ban that guy. 

*Yes, for a considerable amount of time, the First Round was only best-of-five. Incidentally, Chambers was a small part of an odd moment of Game 5 - called "Moody Madness" by Maverick fans. With a one point lead, the Mavericks tried to not screw up the inbound with one second to play by bouncing the ball off Chambers at mid-court but he actually caught the ball and proceeded to miss the shot. Somehow, the clock never actually started on the play and the referees somehow ruled that Seattle would have the inbound attempt. They did not get the right inbound and the Mavericks won the game, their first playoff series victory in team history.

*Aguirre was in fifth with 16,691 and Blackman had 15,269. See, Unsung HOF potential right there.

*Hey John Stockton, have hundreds of athletes died because of the COVID-19 vaccine? 

*I forgot for a moment that some news outlets stupidly didn't count ABA stats for point totals. Chambers was the 20th player with 200000 *NBA only* points but was 24th when counting the ABA stats for Julius Erving, Dan Issel, Artis Gilmore, and Rick Barry. Apologies.

Good ol' links about Chambers:

5 Questions with former U. of U. and NBA star Tom Chambers – Deseret News

"Today's NBA, are you kidding me, they can't touch me" - Tom Chambers on why defenses couldn’t handle him in this era - Basketball Network

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The Unsung – Bernie Nicholls.

Bernard Irvine Nicholls (born June 24, 1961)

Played for: Los Angeles Kings (1981–1990), New York Rangers (1990–1991), 

Edmonton Oilers (1991–1993), New Jersey Devils (1993–1994), Chicago Blackhawks (1994–1996), San Jose Sharks (1996–1998)

Bernie Nicholls (Hockey Reference [Player] — Center (C)

475 goals, 734 assists, 1,209 total points, 1,292 penalty minutes in 1,127 games

 

3x NHL All-Star Game selection (1984, 1989, 1990) 

I appreciate the quirks that come with high-point players in the National Hockey League (NHL), particularly ones that basically fell through the cracks in the high-scoring era of the 1980s. Of course, players with 1,000 points weren't going around on an insane level for a few decades (three in the 1960s, nine in the 1970s, twelve in the 1980s, and 32 in the 1990s). I want to focus my attention on a player that was one of only 26 at the time who averaged one point (whether by goal or assist on a goal) a game that played 1,000 games...Bernie Nicholls. Born in West Guilford, Ontario, he actually played a variety of sports as a kid that ranged from hockey (at the age of four) to football. All of this came with a childhood that him recover from feet that were pointed inward (pigeon toe, which had to be corrected as a youth). He played in junior league with the hometown Huskies from 1975 to 1977 and rose up to play in Woodstock (where he had 41 goals in 40 games, still a rookie record). He rose through the depths to the Kingston Canadiens of the OMJHL for major junior hockey that inspired the Los Angeles Kings to draft him with the 73rd pick in the 1980 draft (Wren Blair, who had seen Nicholls through his junior league play, was a key advisor for his selection to GM George Maguire). The 1980 training camp saw him stay with the Canadiens one more year before he was meant to play for the Kings with the 1981 training camp, but he apparently came in out of shape (evidently one could not get enough ice time in the summer), which meant he had to play with the American Hockey League affiliate in New Haven, save for one game in 1981 (November 19 in Calgary, where he remembered a player getting their teeth knocked out). Eventually, he went on a tear, scoring 41 goals in 55 games in the AHL. When the Kings hired Don Perry in the middle of the 1981-82 season, he decided to give young players like Nicholls a shot and he was called up in February 1982.

He scored his first point on an assist in February 20's game against Calgary. He had his first multi-point game with a three-assist night on March 7 versus the Hartford Whalers before finally getting a goal two days later against the Colorado Rockies. He had a fit of magic in that month where he had three hat tricks in the span of ten days (March 17, 20, and 27). He finished with 14 goals and 18 assists (32 points) in 22 games; the Kings only went 9-11-2 in that time, but the Kings actually snuck into the Stanley Cup playoffs (16/21 teams made the postseason). In the best-of-five series vs Edmonton (3rd best team in points), he had a goal in each of the first two games before going cold in the next two (Game 3, memorably called "Miracle on Manchester" for the Kings scoring 6 unanswered goals in the third period/OT saw Nicholls record 21 penalty minutes). In the decisive Game 5, Nicholls scored the go-ahead goal in the 7-4 win that got the Kings to the second round; the Kings lost to Vancouver in five games, with Nicholls limited to one goal. Nicholls stayed with the NHL for good and in the 1982-83 season, a knee injury hindered him to 71 games with 28 goals and 22 assists (50 points) that saw him take a career-high 124 penalty minutes. He improved in the 1983-84 season with his first All-Star selection in a season where he had his first 40-goal season (41) with 54 assists for a near-100-point season with 95. Nicholls played every game of the next three seasons, which saw him record his first 100-point season in 1984-85 and a 90-point season the next year. In his first seven seasons from 1982 to 1988, he had 533 points (230 G, 303 A) in 476 games. And then came Gretzky. The August 1988 acquisition of Wayne Gretzky saw Nicholls put on the second line that ultimately gave Nicholls an unprecedented season, which saw him named to the All-Star Game before finishing with 70 goals and 80 assists for 150 points; 21 of his goals came on the powerplay and he recorded a career high in plus-minus at 30. Sure, his season was overshadowed by guy likes Mario Lemieux and Gretzky having 150-point seasons as well, but, well, so it goes. 17 players have had 150-point seasons, but it should be noted that no player has recorded a 70-goal & 150-point season since Nicholls did so. Nichills had 75 points in 47 games for the Kings in the 1989-90 season, but the team, feeling that they needed some grit despite having a now three-time All-Star...traded him to the New York Rangers (for Tony Granato and Tomas Sandström), a move that Nicholls hated (incidentally, Nicholls was only the second player to be traded in the midst of a 100-point season)

Nicholls wound up playing for three teams in the span of four years. After closing the 1990 season with 31 points in 32 games, he had 65 points in the 1990-91 season before the Rangers decided they wanted Mark Messier so bad that they traded Nicholls and two others for Messier in October 1991. With his wife expecting twins, Nicholls only returned to play in December and played 49 games. The 1992 playoffs actually saw the Oilers make the Conference Final with eight goals and 11 assists for Nicholls in the playoff run. And yet the Oilers traded him to the Devils in the middle of the 1992-93 season; he endured personal tragedy in the latter part of the season but rebounded in the 1993-94 season, the only full one with New Jersey. With regimented control that focused on defense and support, he had 19 goals and 27 assists in 61 games (for a +24, his second highest for a season) and reached the Conference Final once again with 13 points in 16 games. His 1,000th career point (407 goals, 593 assists) came off a goal on February 13, 1994 versus Tampa Bay in his 858th game. At the time, he was the 16th fastest player to 1,000 points (now he ranks at 27th). He signed as a free agent with Chicago in 1994 and recorded 111 points in 107 games and made one more Conference Finals. He closed his career out with two seasons in San Jose before recording two assists in ten games of the 1998-99 season before the team announced his retirement in November 1998 (he didn't exactly want to retire, but so it goes).

From 1981 to 1999, 28 people had 1,000 points, and 25 of them are in the Hall. But the charact I wanted to share comes here among 1,000 games people (as demonstrated here - Nicholls is one of the 16 centers on here)

So yes, one can't go "compiler" or "-39", because in that list, one should know that all but Nicholls and Steve Larmer* were inducted into the Hall of Fame. To expand further, now the list of one-point-a-game for 1,000 games played is now a list of 37 with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jaromír Jágr, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, Steven Stamkos alongside Larmer, Nicholls...and Theo Fleury (who probably is unfairly snubbed from the Hall). Nicholls and his points ranks as 42nd of the 98 people with 1000+ points in an 18-season span, ahead of Hall of Famers such as Dino Ciccarelli and Bernie Federko. Regardless of how the story of Nicholls sounds, it had a storybook type of ending in one way. In late 2011, Nicholls asked the Los Angeles Kings (specifically Darryl Sutter, who had just been hired as head coach to replace Terry Murray) if he could work for the team as a coaching consultant (specifically in lending aid in practice). He even worked the first few months for free. When the Kings made the 2012 Stanley Cup Final and won it all, Nicholls received a Stanley Cup ring and got his day with the Cup, which saw him bring it to his hometown. In 2021, he was inducted into the Haliburton Highlands Hall of Fame while remaining true to his community, so in that sense, he really did win at life.

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Bernie Nicholls to the Hall.

N O T E S

Photo credit: File:Nicholls.png - Wikimedia Commons, 1986 trading card

*Speaking of Unsung cases, Steve Larmer. We'll make a case for him this year - he never missed the playoffs in any full season of his career, true story. Maybe Fleury or Bellows gets a look too. Also, we don't knock people out of the HOF to get others in. Except Bill Wirtz and Harold Ballard, those people suck and never deserved to be in.

*Call me a contrarian, but I always thought it was silly they didn't just induct Jaromír Jágr into the Hall of Fame already. Oh, but he still plays hockey as a 50-year old...LAME, they inducted Gretzky immediately after he retired, they wanted to wait for Jagr to stop playing? Really? Besides, I always think obvious HOFers should be elected separately from the others because hey, let's spend time talking about less-obvious guys.