Short Guy

OVERRATED
Spud Webb

Like Gary Coleman and Emmanuel Lewis, the 57" Spud Webb made people laugh. Sadly, also like Coleman and Lewis, the Spudster had little impact on his profession. Because of his shocking win in the 1986 slam dunk contest, fans mistook Webb—who had a 42-inch vertical leap—for a legitimate NBA star. During a four-team, 12-year NBA career, Webb averaged 9.9 points and 5.3 assists. Heck, even his crowning achievement comes up short. Although Spud's performance in the dunk contest was a rallying cry for little men worldwide, it was little more than a feel-good moment manufactured by the NBA. In reality, two incomparable twists, spins and windmills by Dominique Wilkins, Webb's Atlanta Hawks teammate, blew the field away. The judges were the only ones there who thought 'Nique had come up short.

UNDERRATED
Tyrone (Muggsy) Bogues
HIS HANDS WERE too small to palm the ball. He was a 27.8% three-point shooter. He never dunked. But besides going down as the shortest player in NBA history, 5'3" Tyrone (Muggsy) Bogues has to be considered one of the better point guards of his time. Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning got credit for Charlotte's rise from expansion joke to Eastern Conference contender, but it was Bogues and his frantic, Speed Buggy pace that boosted the Hornets and sent fans info a frenzy. In his 14-year career Bogues twice averaged more than 10 assists per game. Opposing guards would try to post Bogues up, and he would anchor himself like a fire hydrant. He even retired with 39 blocked shots, "People always say we'll probably never see another Larry Bird," former Charlotte coach Allan Bristow once said, "but we have a better chance of seeing another Larry Bird than we do another Muggsy Bogues."