Full disclosure: we’re cheating a little bit here. Truck Robinson never played a single season for the Utah Jazz. In fact, he only played two seasons for the New Orleans Jazz, in 1977-78 and 1978-79.
Nonetheless, the years the Jazz spent in the Big Easy qualify as part of their franchise history. More importantly: holy cow, was this guy underrated.
Thought experiment: you receive a visitor from the near future, and he tells you that throughout the 2021-22 NBA season, one player will average 24.2 points and 13.4 rebounds per game. Who do you anticipate that player will be? Realistically, it has to be Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, or Karl Anthony-Towns, right?
Well, those were Truck Robinson’s averages as a member of the New Orleans Jazz in 1978-79. His averages of 22.7 points and an astonishing 15.7 rebounds per game from the season prior are nothing to sneeze at, either.
Robinson isn’t beloved among Utah Jazz faithful, and for good reason: he only spent two seasons with the franchise, and they played in a whole different area code while he did. Regardless, he isn’t just underrated among Jazz fans. He’s underrated altogether.
Inevitably, highly-talented players will enter and exit the NBA, and eventually become lost to history. Time has never lost a battle to memory. Nonetheless, these five NBA players deserve more recognition for their contributions to the Utah Jazz franchise.