For the first 10 years of his career, Ron Harper played for Cleveland, Toronto and the Los Angeles Clippers. He averaged nearly 20 points a game over those 10 years. In that time he went to the playoffs four times and never won a series. Over the next seven years, he spend five with Chicago and the last two with the Los Angeles Lakers. Five of those years, Harper played on teams that won the World Championship though only once did average over double figures. He altered his role for the good of the team and was reward with championships.
"Perhaps the most moving speaker was Ron Harper, who talked about what it was like to be playing the limited, unglamorous role of defensive specialist on this team after years of being the main man on weak teams. It was so much sweeter, he said, being just a cog on a winning team than being the superstar on a weak one."
From "Playing for Keeps" by David Halberstam
