Dantley was someone I had difficulty ranking. Excellent scorer who drew fouls like few else, but of all the high scoring wings of that period his refusal to shoot threes really stands out. Just over 40 career attempts from deep! Intriguing player.
Dantley was the guy I was hinting at in an earlier post as a ball-stopper. Breaking plays. Going iso. Brilliant at it. But always a problem even back in the 80s. Ego problems. Chemistry problems. Problems with teammates. They followed him around.
Detroit got rid of him so they could allow the guards more control of the offense. Utah got rid of him to make way for K Malone because they didn't want Dantley hurting his development.
A brilliant scorer but he often broke the offense to do it. He would hold the ball too long while he sized up his defenders. Everyone would stop moving. Not that it allowed the defense to stop him because Dantley was so dang good at what he did. But it did make it hard for his teammates to play with him and keep up with him. That was more the issue.
I remember Bulls fans were delighted when DET traded Dantley because he used to roast Scottie Pippen. Pip could do nothing with him. Nobody could. One of the unstoppable scorers.