Sonic fans will probably never forget the sight of Dikembe Mutombo clutching the basketball, crying on the floor of the Seattle Center Coliseum. Since that day, when the #8 seed Denver Nuggets eliminated the #1 Sonics from the playoffs, Seattle fans have been calling for a big man to clog the lane and to rough up opposing centers. There can be no question that Mutombo dominated that playoff series, and intimidated the Sonics out of their game plan. The question remains: who is the most intimidating player in the NBA? Some would say Mutombo, while others would vote for future Hall of Famers like Hakeem Olajuwon or Patrick Ewing. Still others would go with young stars like Shaquille O’Neal or Alonzo Mourning.

To answer that question statistically, we must first define what an intimidating player does. First and foremost, an intimidator will block shots. After a player blocks one or two shots in a game, the other team will usually abandon any attempt at an inside game, and will resort to perimeter shots. An intimidating player will also garner a lot of rebounds, muscling other players out of the way. An intimidator won’t shy away from contact, so they will be called for a lot of fouls. At the same time, they will be getting fouled a lot by the other team. The last thing an intimidator would do would be to score a lot of points from the paint, but these statistics are not recorded and so will not be considered.

So to begin our quest to find the game’s best intimidators, we will total offensive rebounds and personal fouls. Defensive rebounds, while important, are less impressive than offensive boards. Many defensive rebounds are simply the result of being in the right place at the right time, and so defensive rebounds will only count as one-half of a board. The NBA does not keep track of how many times a player is fouled, so we will estimate this number by dividing free throw attempts by two. Lastly, we will double blocked shots, and add that to the total. We will then call that total Intimidating Plays, or IP. The formula for determining IP is:

IP=Oreb + (Dreb / 2) + PF + (FTA / 2) + (Blk * 2)

We will then evaluate players based on their total IP per game. This way, we will reward players who make many IP but still stay out of foul trouble. We will use limitations similar to those the NBA uses for it’s statistical leaders; to qualify for this stat, a player must play at least 70 games or make at least 500 IP.

Here, then, are the top ten intimidating players in the NBA:

    Player (team)	     IP/G
1.  Shaquille O’Neal (LAL)   22.2
2.  Alonzo Mourning (Miami)  20.5
3.  Dikembe Mutombo (Atl)    19.9
4.  Patrick Ewing (NY)	     18.2
5.  Jayson Williams (NJ)     17.5
6.  Shawn Bradley (NJ-Dal)   17.3
7.  Ervin Johnson (Den)	     17.0
8.  Vin Baker (Mil)	     16.6
9.  Rony Seikaly (Orl)	     16.6
10. Charles Barkley (Hou)    16.5
11. Shawn Kemp (Sea)	     16.4

Believe the hype. The Shaq Attack is the most physically intimidating player in the NBA. This is particularly remarkable since we are not taking scoring into account; if we had access to points scored in the paint, O’Neal’s lead over the pack would undoubtedly increase. Behind him, we have the Georgetown triumvirate of Mourning, Mutombo, and Ewing. Number five is something of a surprise; relative unknown Jayson Williams had fewer rebounds than Dennis Rodman, but was fouled more often and blocked more shots, and therefore wins the title of most physically intimidating power forward. (Rodman, surprisingly, finished 15th in the NBA and just sixth among power forwards.)

Shawn Bradley can block shots all day long, and grab a couple of rebounds, too.Yes, Sonics fans, that’s our Ervin there at number 7. The argument is settled. Given quality minutes, Ervin can be shot-blocking, rebound machine. Vin Baker of the Bucks, finished second among power forwards to Williams. Rony Seikaly was given the impossible task of filling Shaq’s shoes, and has actually fared quite well for himself. Charles Barkley obviously had a lot to do with Houston’s success last year. By taking over as the Rockets’ enforcer, he allowed Hakeem Olajuwon to concentrate more on scoring. Just ‘cause I’m a Sonics fan, I wanted to point out that Shawn Kemp finished eleventh, a hair behind Barkley. Will somebody please find a way to make this guy happy?

Do physically intimidating players translate to wins? Well, four players in the top ten missed the playoffs. On the other hand, 5 of the 8 top playoff seeds had a player in the top ten. So that question goes unanswered. Perhaps it would help to look at the lineup for the All-Intimidation team:

Pos Player (team)	   IP/G
PG  Allen Iverson (Phi)	   10.1
SG  Jerry Stackhouse (Phi) 11.4
SF  Kevin Garnett (Min)	   13.8
PF  Jayson Williams (NJ)   17.5
C   Shaquille O’Neal (LAL) 22.2

Hmm…two members of the 76ers on this team? Apparently, physical intimidation is not a good way to judge guards - although it should be pointed out that Michael Jordan (10.1) finished third among all gurads behind Stackhouse and Kendall Gill (11.3).

Some of you may be wondering: where’s Jim McIlvaine? At only 18 minutes a game, the Sonics’ center didn’t have a chance at making the top ten, and finished with a score of 10.5. At a glance, it appears that McIlvaine doesn’t come close to replacing Ervin Johnson as the Sonics’ head goon. If we look at McIlvaine’s IP per 48 minutes and compared them to Johnson’s this year and last, Jimmy Mac might look a little better.

Player/Year    Min/G  IP    IP/G  IP/48 minutes
McIlvaine/’97  18.0   860   10.5  27.9
Johnson/’97    31.7   1392  17.0  25.7
Johnson/’96    18.8   848   10.5  26.8

Look at the numbers in the right hand column. I’d call that consistency. The Sonics probably are paying McIlvaine too much, but he’s filled the same role as Ervin did on this team, and just as well.

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