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Do you long to return to a simpler time, when men were men, shoes were canvas, hair was long and shorts were short?  Then take a trip back in time with me as I count down the top fantasy players of all time. See the first post of the series for more on my methods. As we head towards the revelation of the greatest of greats, here are the rankings of players #51-31 as they performed in their peak seasons:

Check out the A-Train, Artis Gilmore, roaring down the tracks at #51. They say you never forget your first statistical love, and Artis’ .652 field goal percentage was my initiation into the mysteries of numerical bliss. (I grew up in Chicago.) Many a night Artis patrolled the statistical paint in my Statis-Pro basketball game, which for those of you who don’t know is what passed as methadone before the arrival of fantasy hoops.

Surprising how low Karl Malone is, isn’t it? Malone did indeed produce in three categories, but apparently mailmen don’t deliver steals, blocks, threes, low turnovers, or on Columbus Day.

If any of you knew that Dana Barros would rank higher than Karl Malone, please write me and tell me how to run my fantasy team. But the stats speak for themselves.

Here’s another player, like Donyell Marshall or Brent Barry, who might have shined had clueless coaches recognized his talent. I went to college in Boston and had the pleasure of watching Barros carry a woeful Boston College squad on his 5’11” frame. For years I maintained he was a potential NBA star, and I was right. Yet Barros, who got 40.5 minutes in the season he shined, never had a remotely similar campaign in terms of minutes and averaged only 22.9 for his career. When he had the opportunity, however, he showed what kind of game he truly had.

Speaking of how team situations can make or break a player, take a look at Scottie Pippen, another of my hometown favorites. Pippen proves my maxim that, in fantasy, “the worse, the better.” Alongside Jordan, Pippen was an excellent but not all-time-great fantasy specimen. But with Michael gone, Pippen showed his true mettle. Look at Scottie’s numbers for the last year before Michael’s first retirement, then the two years Michael was (mostly) away, then the first year after Michael came back full-time:

It’s hard to imagine what Pippen could have done if he’d been lucky enough to be drafted by the Nets instead of getting stuck on the Bulls.

Finally, you’ll note the high place Kirilenko has on this list. With Andrei banished for years to statistical Siberia by Czar Jerry the Terrible, Kirilenko owners have been eating borscht instead of caviar. But he’s escaped from exile and is back to putting up revolutionary numbers: in fact he’s 5th overall (yes, that read 5th) in the last 10 games. He’s taken in about 90 percent of ESPN/NBA leagues, but if you are in one of those 10 percent for pete’s sake grab an all-time all-star for nothing.

The countdown continues soon…