A truly forgotten player who never put up great stats but was able to put up consistently good stats and become a well known defender and help his team to playoff success was Jack Sikma. For some reason Sikma is almost totally forgotten in today’s NBA despite being a 7 time all-star. Sikma attended little known Illinois-Wesleyan University where he starred for four years. He is the only player in NBA history from IL-Wesleyan. Sikma’s numbers followed a linear progression going from 15 points and 11 rebounds his freshman year to 27 points and 15 rebounds his senior year. In total Sikma played in 107 career games and averaged 21 points and 13 rebounds. The Seattle Supersonics took a gamble and selected the little known Sikma with the 8th pick in the 1977 NBA draft. The gamble would pay off as Sikma averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds his rookie year. The next year his numbers jumped to 16 points and nearly 10 rebounds as he made his first all-star appearance and helped the Sonics win their only title in franchise history.

After nine seasons with the Sonics which saw him become one of the franchises all-time greats and their greatest center, the Sonics and Sikma parted ways with each other via a trade to Milwaukee. Sikma had a good career in Milwaukee though he never did reach the level of success he had in Seattle.

The Bucks where a veteran team who were trying to reach the NBA finals and unfortunately never did. They’re one of the greatest forgotten teams in NBA history in that they won more games than any other franchise in the 1980s including the Celtics and Lakers yet had very little playoff success.

Sikma played for the Bucks for five season and was a starter for 4 of them. He began to decline and in 1991 retired from the NBA. Sikma appeared in 1107 career games and averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds per game.

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