Roger Brown is Finally Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame!
The "Rajah" has ascended to his rightful throne; the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's ABA Committee selected Roger Brown as a member of the Hall's 2013 Class. Brown joins fellow
ABA Unsung Heroes Artis Gilmore and
Mel Daniels (Brown's Indiana Pacer teammate on three ABA championship teams), who were selected by the ABA Committee in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Brown long ago earned the respect of his peers and of knowledgeable basketball observers--which means more than the bleatings of "stat gurus" or the shamefully wrong verdicts dispensed by previous Hall of Fame voters--but it is still wonderful to see basketball justice served and Brown welcomed into basketball's most exclusive fraternity.
Years ago I asked Daniels to describe Brown's skills and Daniels replied: "I think you could sum it up simply like this. Those who did not see Roger Brown or didn't know him, missed a treat...We ran an isolation play for him and he was so good one-on-one that I remember defenders actually screaming for help. He
actually dislocated or broke eight guys' ankles…I think that Michael Jordan is the best basketball player I have ever seen or one of the
best. Roger Brown was right there in his class."
Julius Erving entered the ABA in 1971-72, one season after Brown made the All-ABA First Team. Erving viewed Brown as a role model: "His depth of knowledge made him someone who I wanted to watch and also watch out for. I was just running and jumping and trying to jump over people and (it helped) just to see what he was doing on the ground, knowing that he was a great jumper in his day but that by this time he had channeled his energies to be a complete player, be a team player and win championships. So he was already at a place that I was trying to get to."
Brown played a key role in the
"Interstate 65 rivalry" that pitted the Indiana Pacers versus the Kentucky Colonels in the ABA version of the Boston Celtics versus the L.A. Lakers; the Pacers and Colonels faced each other twice in the ABA Finals, they appeared in the ABA Finals a total of eight times combined and they won four of the league's nine championships. For quite some time the only participant in that rivalry who the Basketball Hall of Fame welcomed was Kentucky's Dan Issel, who spent most of his pro career in the NBA but in recent years Kentucky Coach Hubie Brown has been recognized by the Hall of Fame as a Contributor (2005), followed by the inductions of players Gus Johnson (2010; he spent most of his career starring in the NBA before making a key contribution to Indiana's 1973 championship team as a reserve), Gilmore, Daniels and now Brown. Pacer Coach Bobby "Slick" Leonard should be the next ABA figure honored by the Basketball Hall of Fame; Indiana players George McGinnis (the 1975 ABA regular season co-MVP with Erving, his eventual NBA teammate in Philadelphia) and Freddie Lewis (the 1972 ABA Playoff MVP) deserve Hall of Fame consideration as well. This is Roger Brown's moment in the sun, though, so the discussions/debates about future Hall of Fame elections can be saved for another day.
Brown performed with elegance, he came up big in the biggest games--he and Erving share the ABA playoff single game scoring record (53 points)--and he made the most of his professional basketball career despite having several prime years stolen from him because of unfounded allegations about being associated with the infamous Jack Molinas (Connie Hawkins, another player who lost prime years of his career because of the same unfounded allegations, played in both the ABA and the NBA and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992). Brown died of cancer in 1997 but at least his family now has the peace of mind that Brown's place in basketball history has been formally acknowledged.
Jerry Colangelo, the Chairman of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Board, should be greatly commended for making good on his promise that the
Hall of Fame Will Recognize Worthy Players Who Have "Slipped Through the Cracks." I passionately believe that
ABA Numbers Should Also Count and I have said for many years that Brown, Daniels and Gilmore deserved to be inducted in the Hall of Fame. I am not seeking any credit for the Hall of Fame honors that Gilmore, Daniels and Brown fully earned with their high quality play but I hope that my advocacy on their behalf had some impact.
Further Reading:
Interview with Ted Green, Producer of "Undefeated: The Roger Brown Story"
"Undefeated: The Roger Brown Story"
Roger Brown: Ankle Breaker and Shot Maker
Overlooked and Underrated: Four Fabulous Forwards Three of the four players I profiled in this article are now members of the Basketball Hall of Fame: Maurice Stokes (class of 2004),
Scottie Pippen (class of 2010) and Roger Brown (class of 2013); Mark Aguirre is perhaps a fringe Hall of Fame candidate but he is unquestionably underrated and his combined collegiate/professional resume is stronger than many people may realize (consensus NCAA Player of the Year in 1980, three-time NBA All-Star, 20.0 ppg career scoring average in 14 NBA seasons despite sacrificing his individual statistics while helping Detroit to win two NBA titles).
Labels: ABA, Artis Gilmore, Basketball Hall of Fame, Bobby "Slick" Leonard, Freddie Lewis, George McGinnis, Indiana Pacers, Kentucky Colonels, Mel Daniels, Roger Brown
posted by David Friedman @ 6:27 AM
LeBron James Has Become Amazingly Efficient
LeBron James scored 32 points on 12-18 field goal shooting during Miami's 107-97 win against the L.A. Lakers on Sunday. He set a Miami franchise record for most consecutive 30 point games (five) and he became just the second player in NBA history to score at least 30 points while shooting at least .600 from the field in five straight games, a feat that only Adrian Dantley (1979) and Moses Malone (1982) had previously accomplished. James' combination of productivity and efficiency in those five games is incredible but this is just a continuation/extension of what is shaping up to be a tremendous season even considering the high standards previously set by the three-time regular season MVP. Through 48 games, James is averaging 27.0 ppg while shooting a career-high .562 from the field and a career-high .421 from three point range. James is still a mediocre free throw shooter (.738, slightly below his career average) but is combination of high scoring, tremendous shooting efficiency and productive rebounding (8.1 rpg)/playmaking (6.9 apg) is very rare. It is often misleading to compare statistics from different eras without providing proper context regarding rules changes, scorekeeping changes (assists are awarded much more liberally now) and other factors but it is legitimate to suggest that few players in pro basketball history have been capable of putting up the across the board numbers James is currently posting; that short list would include names such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson. Those three players shot free throws much better than James but did not have the shooting range that James now possesses (Robertson played in the pre-three pointer era but was known more for methodically powering his way to the hoop than for bombing away from the equivalent of modern three point range).
James' field goal percentage has gone up almost every season of his career and the overall arc is incredible, starting at .417 and progressing to this season's stratospheric heights (James currently ranks in the top 10 in field goal percentage for the first time in his career). James has tremendously improved both his shot selection and his shooting form; when I covered him in person during his time as a Cleveland Cavalier I marveled at how high his field goal percentage was each season after his rookie campaign even though he often took bad shots and even though his shooting form was not good; in
Cavaliers and Wizards Work Overtime to Produce an Instant Classic (a playoff game recap from James' third season but first trip to the playoffs) I offered my take on James' shot selection and his room for growth as a player:
So far, James has a triple double, two 40 point games--including a record 41 points in his first road playoff game--and two game winning shots. I still say that he shoots too many "Oh no--good shot" shots, but the amazing thing is that he makes most of them; you almost wonder if maybe the off-balance, fadeaway jumper is not a bad shot for him--but when you see him miss that kind of shot at the end of regulation and then score on a power move to the hoop to win the game in overtime you realize that when he stops settling for the fadeaway he may become completely unguardable. At one point when LeBron launched an off balance fadeaway I remarked to Mike Conley, who covers the Cavs for Cleveland.com, "That's a bad shot." The words were barely out of my mouth when the ball hit nothing but net. "I guess that's why we're up here watching and he's playing," I added, shaking my head.
When the ESPN NBA Countdown crew compared James' 2012-13 performance to other MVP caliber seasons, they left out one obvious comparison. See if you can guess who authored these MVP numbers:
82 games, 35.0 mpg, .521 FG%, .222 3FG%, .787 FT%, 8.0 rpg, 4.4 apg, 2.1 spg, 1.8 bpg, 24.6 ppg
This same player followed up that season with these numbers:
81 games, 34.4 mpg, .546 FG%, .273 3FG%, .763 FT%, 6.9 rpg, 3.9 apg, 2.0 spg, 1.7 bpg, 24.4 ppg
Again, for the sake of an easy side by side comparison, here are James' 2012-13 numbers:
48 games, 38.4 mpg, .562 FG%, .421 3FG%, .738 FT%, 8.1 rpg, 6.9 apg, 1.6 spg, .9 bpg, 27.0 ppg
The first set of numbers comes from Julius Erving's 1980-81 season, when he became the first non-center to win the NBA MVP since Oscar Robertson in 1963-64. The big statistical differences between 1981 Erving and 2013 James are in three point field goal percentage and assists but those can be explained contextually. The three pointer had only been added to the NBA game in 1979-80 and most three pointers attempted during that era were either heaves to beat the shot clock and/or end of quarter buzzer or desperation shots at the end of a game. Erving only attempted 18 three pointers in 1980-81 and 11 three pointers in 1981-82 but he shot a very respectable .330 (good enough for sixth in the league) from three point range in 1975-76 (the ABA's final season) when the three pointer was a more regular part of his repertoire. As for the assists, I am not suggesting that Erving passed as well as James does but it is undeniable that
assists are awarded more generously now than they were in previous eras; Erving was an excellent passer and his assist average was good for a forward during his era.
Regardless of the context one supplies and regardless of which player comparisons one prefers, it is clear that James is performing at a historically significant level this season.
The Accelerated Growth Curve of LeBron James that I described in 2007 has unfolded in remarkable fashion and now that James
is an NBA champion he has fully earned the right to be compared with champions/legends/Hall of Famers like Oscar Robertson, Julius Erving, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan.
Labels: Cleveland Cavaliers, Julius Erving, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Miami Heat, Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson
posted by David Friedman @ 8:17 AM
