The 2024 NBA Legends Brunch Honors Tamika Catchings, Jalen Rose, Reggie Miller, and Larry Bird While Also Featuring ABA Panel Discussion
The NBA Legends Brunch is the highlight of NBA All-Star Weekend. I covered this event six times as a credentialed journalist (2005-10), and I watch it every year on TV when I am not able to attend. TNT's Ernie Johnson is a wonderful host/master of ceremonies, and you can tell that he genuinely enjoys his role.
Retired NBA player Harvey Catchings presented the Pioneer Award to his daughter, Tamika Catchings, who starred for the WNBA's Indiana Fever. Harvey recalled that Tamika had an insatiable love for basketball right from the start; when the whole family went to the gym together, Tamika did not want to leave, imploring her father, "Daddy, can we play one more game?" Harvey said that he never let Tamika win, because he knew that the world can be harsh and that she faced challenges because of her hearing issue and her speech impediment. He told her that she has to set the standard for herself, and that if she does that then she can become one of the greatest basketball players ever.
After receiving the award from her father, Tamika began her speech by remembering when her father first brought her to the NBA Legends Brunch and she wondered why she had to sit next to old people, but she grew to understand that this was a blessing. She said that she could have never imagined standing on the NBA Legends Brunch stage as a Legend, let alone as the Pioneer Award winner. Tamika modeled her game after players that her father played with or against--including Julius Erving, Larry Bird, and Bob Lanier--but her favorite player of all-time (other than her father, she hastened to note!) is Alonzo Mourning. Her father told her that to be a great player you have to be great at more than one thing, and Tamika felt that Mourning's game embodied that.
Read more »Labels: ABA, Artis Gilmore, Bob Costas, Darnell Hillman, Indiana Pacers, Jalen Rose, Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, Spencer Haywood, Tamika Catchings
posted by David Friedman @ 11:07 AM
Roger Brown: Ankle Breaker and Shot Maker
Note: This article was originally published on December 27, 2004 at HoopsHype.com but the link no longer works, so I have reprinted the article in its entirety below. Nine years after I wrote this piece, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame finally inducted Roger Brown.
Roger Brown overcame unjust banishments from the NCAA and the NBA to lead the ABA's Indiana Pacers to three championships. Brown's peerless skills and amazing ability to deliver in the clutch inspired basketball legends Julius Erving and George Gervin during the early days of their careers.
Brown starred at Brooklyn's Wingate High. In 1959 he outscored Connie Hawkins 39-18
in the New York City Championship game at Madison Square Garden, but Hawkins'
Boys High prevailed 62-59. Brown signed with the University of Dayton Flyers,
but he never played college basketball. He and Hawkins were falsely implicated
for being involved with Jack Molinas, a former college basketball star turned
mobster who paid players to shave points. Hawkins and Brown were banned by the
NCAA and the NBA.
Hawkins
played in the short lived American Basketball League and then spent several
years touring with the Harlem Globetrotters before leading the Pittsburgh
Pipers to the championship in the ABA's first season (1967-68). He later
reached a settlement agreement with the NBA and became an All-Star with the
Phoenix Suns. In 1992 Hawkins was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball
Hall of Fame.
Brown's
life took a different path. He worked in a General Motors plant in Dayton for
five years, declining an opportunity to join the ABL because he could make more
money working for GM. This proved to be a wise decision when the league folded
during its second season.
In 1967
Brown signed with the ABA's Indiana Pacers, realizing that this might be his
last opportunity in professional basketball. Most players who do not play
college basketball struggle during their first professional seasons--even
All-Stars like Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and Dirk Nowitzki.
Brown jumped from high school basketball to professional basketball without
missing a beat, averaging 19.6 ppg and making the All-Star team as a rookie
despite playing only AAU ball after his prep days.
Pacers'
broadcaster Bobby "Slick" Leonard coached the team from 1968 until 1980: "Roger Brown
was a money player. Anytime the game was on the line, Roger was always there.
Roger had tremendous ability--one of the greatest small forwards to ever play
the game. I've seen everyone that came down the pike in the last 50
years--playing against them, coaching them or broadcasting them. Roger Brown
deserves to be in the Hall of Fame."
Leonard
used an isolation play that took advantage of Brown's one-on-one skills as well
as his passing ability: "We gave him the ball, isolated him and put all four players
above the free throw line on the other side of the floor. If they came with a
double team, we just cut the man whose defender left toward the basket and he
would get a layup." If the opponent tried to guard Brown one-on-one, things got
ugly. Leonard remembers, "He had some unbelievable moves. I've seen guys who
were guarding him fall down. He had reverse dribbles and stuff. Matter of fact,
one time when Larry Bird was younger he was working out with Roger over at
Butler Fieldhouse and he wanted Roger to teach him that baseline move that
Roger had. He could paralyze you."
Roger Brown
enjoyed his greatest season in 1969-70, winning the Playoff MVP after averaging
28.5 ppg, 10.1 rpg and 5.6 apg in the postseason. In the last three games of
the ABA Finals versus the Los Angeles Stars, Brown carried the Pacers to their
first title, scoring 53, 39 and 45 points, including an ABA Finals single game
record seven three pointers. Brown did all this while being guarded by the
Stars' Willie Wise, who Erving has frequently mentioned as one of the players
who guarded him toughest. Hall of Famer Rick Barry says of Wise, "He was one of
the best defensive players that I ever played against."
Like Connie
Hawkins, Roger Brown sued the NBA and received an out of court monetary
settlement. Brown could have jumped to the more established league--but that
never crossed his mind: "I want to clear my name. I have no intention of
jumping." Brown felt tremendous loyalty to the team and to the Indianapolis
community. In fact, while he was still an active player he was elected to a
seat on the Indianapolis City Council.
The Pacers
won their second ABA title in 1972 when Brown outscored Barry, then a member of
the New York Nets, 32-23 in the sixth game of the ABA Finals. Barry says, "Roger was an outstanding player. He certainly had a terrific basketball career
and probably is one of the more underrated guys that most people don't know a
whole lot about. He is not really given the recognition that he deserves for
the career that he had." He continues, "I sent something in when they asked me
to do it when they were trying to get some support for him for the Hall of Fame
because, based upon the other people who are in the Hall of Fame, I certainly
feel that he is deserving of it based upon his skill level."
Mel Daniels
played center for those Pacer teams. Daniels, who won two ABA regular season
MVPs and ranks among the top dozen postseason rebounders in pro basketball
history (1608 playoff rebounds, 14.8 rpg), declares, "Those who did not see
Roger Brown or didn't know him, missed a treat. He was so good one-on-one that
I remember defenders actually screaming for help. He actually dislocated or
broke eight guys' ankles (with a) crossover dribble move. He would look at you
and put the ball down and look at you again and if you made a move, he would
react opposite to that move and get to the basket. Sometimes it was so easy for
him, he would laugh at people and miss the layup because he was laughing."
Darnell
Hillman was an outstanding shot blocker for the Pacers and he offers a similar
description of Brown's devastating offensive arsenal: "As clever and
quick as he was, Roger had the uncanny ability to make you sometimes turn
around in circles and he hasn't even left his spot. You think, 'I've lost him,
I've got to find him and recover,' and he hasn't even left his spot. He'd laugh
about it." Hillman notes, "In three years of playing Roger I only beat
him twice. I played Roger every day, either before or after practice. (At
first) I leaned too much on my jumping ability, rather than the technique and
art of playing position defense. Playing against him taught me how to stay on
the floor and learn the different tricks. One of the things that Roger taught
me was that if you are guarding an offensive player, most guys give away when
they are going to shoot the basketball--watch a guy's left hand. When he is
getting ready to shoot the basketball it's got to come to the ball on the right
hand--then you want to close up. When he taught me that it improved my ability
to close out on guys and really change their shots."
Before he
won four NBA scoring titles, a young Gervin learned a lot from playing against
Brown: "He probably had one of the best first steps in basketball. You've
really got to understand basketball to know what I'm saying when I say 'first
step.' Matter of fact, I learned that from him when I played against Roger
Brown--that first step. He used to pivot and make you move and he isn't going
anywhere. It was probably one of the best moves that I picked up and when I
went to the guard spot it really helped to take my game to the next level."
Gervin
wishes that today's players emulated Brown's game: "What guys don't realize
today is that first step is everything because if I can get the first step on
you then you will never catch me--and if you do catch me then all I have to do
is fake and you will go for the fake because you are trying to catch up--you are
in a recovery situation. That's where Roger was good. He forced you into a
recovery situation all the time, so you had to go for his fakes." Gervin
contrasts Brown's use of the first step with the way that many current players
set up their moves: "Dribbling that ball five, six, seven, eight seconds is a
travesty. What are the other four guys doing--standing there watching? A lot of
the guys pound the ball today, but we used to move the ball around and when we
got it we took that first step and made something happen. So we (retired
legends) hope and pray that the guys understand that you really need to give
the ball up. If you're not going to make your move, give it up, go back and get
it. Don't just stand there and pound it."
Erving
praises Brown's well rounded skills: "Roger handled the ball and moved a lot
like Scottie Pippen in his prime. Scottie could handle the ball and run a team.
Roger was a much better shooter than Scottie and a prolific scorer who could
get his points in bunches. At that time I was 21 and he was probably 31, 32.
His depth of knowledge made him someone 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 by that 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's
body began to break down during the 1972-73 season and he spent part of the
1973 ABA Finals in traction because of a back injury. He was never again the
same player, retiring two years later. Brown never averaged 25 ppg in the
regular season, but he played on well balanced teams that had several potent
scoring threats. Look at Tracy McGrady's numbers when he won scoring titles in
’03 (32.1 ppg) and ’04 (28.0 ppg) compared to this year (23.1 ppg as of
December 25). Does his decline in scoring indicate that his skills have eroded
or that his role has changed? Brown's ability to score at will in the clutch
suggests that he could have put up bigger regular season numbers if the Pacers
had needed him to do so. Hall of Fame voters should consider a player's overall
impact, not just raw statistics.
Brown died
of liver cancer in 1997. Erving eloquently summarizes Roger Brown's legacy: "When I first got into the ABA, Roger Brown and the Indiana Pacers were the
best franchise in the league. They had the guys with the biggest reputations,
they had big game players in terms of clutch play--but Roger Brown was the go-to
guy and when you are the go-to guy on a team with Darnell Hillman, George
McGinnis, Bob Netolicky, Mel Daniels, you are talking about a pretty special
player. His reputation coming up paralleled the achievements of Connie Hawkins,
including the negative experience of being blackballed from the NBA. Then, he
played with the Pacers and led them to titles, in addition to being head and
shoulders above others as a citizen, running for political office and winning.
It's a great basketball story. He contributed in more ways that just basketball
but his basketball contributions are far from being insignificant and they are
enough to warrant him being in the Hall."
Labels: Bobby "Slick" Leonard, Connie Hawkins, Darnell Hillman, George Gervin, Indiana Pacers, Julius Erving, Mel Daniels, Rick Barry, Roger Brown
posted by David Friedman @ 5:57 AM
Artis Gilmore: Still Waiting for Hall of Fame Call
This article was originally published on July 5, 2005 at HoopsHype.com.
Here is a question that is guaranteed to stump your friends: Who is the NCAA Division I career leader in rebounds per game average? After they round up the usual suspects--Wilt, Russell, Kareem--you can provide a hint: this player's college career ended after Kareem's did. When they give up after you tell them that the answer is not Walton or Shaq, be prepared for some surprised looks when you say, "Artis Gilmore, 22.7 rpg."
Gilmore led unheralded Jacksonville to the 1970 NCAA Championship game against perennial powerhouse UCLA. Coached by the legendary John Wooden, the Bruins had already won three straight titles en route to a record seven consecutive championships. Gilmore had 19 points and 16 rebounds as Jacksonville gave the Bruins their toughest battle yet in a title game before succumbing 80-69. He was a Consensus All-America 1st Team selection in 1971, but Jacksonville lost a first round NCAA Tournament game to Western Kentucky on a last second shot. Gilmore led Jacksonville to a 48-6 record during those two seasons, averaging 24.3 ppg to go along with his record rebounding average.
He had an immediate impact upon joining the ABA's Kentucky Colonels for the 1971-72 season, winning Rookie of the Year and MVP honors after ranking tenth in scoring (23.8 ppg) and leading the league with 17.8 rpg, .598 field goal shooting, 3666 minutes played (43.6 mpg) and an ABA record 422 blocked shots (5.0 bpg). Kentucky improved from 44-40 in 1970-71 to a league record 68-16. Gilmore posted virtually identical numbers in the postseason, but a hot-shooting Rick Barry led the New York Nets to a 4-2 upset victory over the Colonels.
In 1972-73 the Colonels went 56-28 and advanced to the ABA Finals, where they lost in seven games to their arch rivals, the Indiana Pacers--Gilmore averaged 22.1 ppg, 17.3 rpg, 5.3 apg and 4.0 bpg for the series. During the regular season, Gilmore again led the ABA in rebounding (17.6 rpg), field goal percentage (.559) and blocks (3.1 bpg) and ranked second in minutes played (3502) and tenth in scoring (20.8 ppg).
Darnell Hillman, a great shot blocker who played forward and center for the Pacers, will never forget his encounters with Gilmore. "If I wanted to be anyone other than Darnell I wanted to be Artis' size and still have my jumping ability. Every time I walked out on the floor with him, I always challenged him as best I could--6-9 versus 7-2. Artis would block my dunk shots all the time and that was the key that really turned me on to go back after him and block his dunks. So that was a rivalry right there between Artis and I." Hillman learned the value of preparation and anticipation by playing against Gilmore and practicing against Indiana teammate Mel Daniels, a two-time ABA MVP. "I gave away a lot of pounds and inches, so I had to be very clever. That came from playing against Mel in practice.When Artis decided to throw it down, he was going to throw it down and I had to be there to catch it before he really got a full head of steam going to throw it down."
Daniels, the director of player personnel for the Pacers since 1996, offers this scouting report of Gilmore: "He was very efficient, a very good offensive basketball player, could defend, could block shots, run very well, and score on the block. If you look at some of the guys who are in the Hall of Fame, he should definitely be in the Hall of Fame. The guy has proven himself in both leagues."
Kentucky went 53-31 in 1973-74, sweeping Larry Brown's Carolina Cougars in the first round of the playoffs before being swept by Julius Erving's Nets in the second round. Gilmore led the ABA in rebounding (18.3 rpg), ranked first in minutes (3502) and second in blocked shots (3.4 bpg).
The Colonels hired Hubie Brown as head coach before the 1974-75 season. Gilmore echoes what teammate Joe Hamilton told this writer at the ABA Reunion: Brown's encyclopedic basketball knowledge and meticulous game planning are the hoops equivalent to the football wizardry of New England Patriots' coach Bill Belichick. Gilmore says of Brown, "He was a very detail-oriented coach and as a result when we competed against teams he had statistics and reports about some of the things that were successful against those particular teams. In a sense, he was ahead of his time by having such detailed scouting reports." That may not seem like a big deal now, but only a few years earlier Bill Fitch and the Cleveland Cavaliers made expansion draft selections on the basis of statistics found on basketball cards.
In 1974-75, Gilmore ranked first in minutes (3493), second in rebounding (16.2 rpg), second in field goal percentage (.580), second in blocks (3.1 bpg) and sixth in scoring (23.6 ppg). The Colonels finished with a 58-26 record, including a 22-3 mark in the last 25 games. Kentucky stormed to the title with a 12-3 postseason run. Gilmore ranked first in playoff rebounding (17.6 rpg) and was among the postseason leaders in scoring, field goal percentage and blocked shots. He averaged 25 ppg, 21 rpg and 1.2 bpg in the 4-1 win over Indiana in the ABA Finals. In a game three victory he rang up 41 points and 28 rebounds and in the game five series clincher he had 28 points and 31 rebounds.
Kentucky's success on the court did not lead to financial stability for the franchise, so owner John Y. Brown sold star forward Dan Issel to the Baltimore Claws for $500,000. The Claws franchise was in much worse shape financially than Kentucky and could not pay the $500,000, so the deal was reworked with the Denver Nuggets paying the $500,000 for Issel and compensating Baltimore by shipping them Dave Robisch.
Losing Issel was a big blow to the Colonels, who fell to 46-38 in 1975-76. They beat Indiana in a first round mini-series and pushed the 60-24 Nuggets to seven games in the next round. Gilmore had his best professional scoring average (24.6 ppg, fourth in the league) and ranked first in rebounding (15.5 rpg), second in field goal percentage (.552), second in minutes (3286) and third in blocks (2.4 bpg).
The NBA agreed to merge with four of the remaining ABA teams after the 1975-76 season. The owners of the Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels received financial settlements in lieu of joining the combined league. A dispersal draft was held to allocate the ABA players whose teams folded and Gilmore was selected first overall by the Chicago Bulls.
The Bulls started 3-14 in the 1976-77 season, but closed on a 20-4 run to qualify for the playoffs with a 44-38 record. Chicago lost 2-1 to Bill Walton and the Portland Trail Blazers, who went on to win the championship. Gilmore ranked fourth in rebounding (13.0 rpg) and blocked shots (2.5 bpg) and tenth in field goal percentage (.522).
During Gilmore's Chicago years he perennially ranked among the league leaders in rebounding, blocked shots and field goal percentage and finished as high as ninth in scoring (23.7 ppg in 1978-79), but the Bulls never surrounded Gilmore with enough talent to be a contender. Before the 1982-83 season, the Bulls traded Gilmore to the San Antonio Spurs, one of the four ABA teams that joined the NBA during the merger. Now the Spurs had a formidable inside-outside duo with Gilmore and All-NBA guard George Gervin. The Spurs won a then franchise-record 53 games and made it to the Western Conference Finals, losing to the defending champion Lakers 4-2. Gilmore led the league in field goal percentage (.626) while ranking fourth in rebounding (12.0 rpg) and fifth in blocks (2.3 bpg).
Injuries to Gilmore and point guard Johnny Moore sent the Spurs plummeting to 37-45 in 1983-84. Even in a down year, Gilmore still led the NBA in field goal percentage (.631) and ranked fifth in blocks (2.1 bpg). He averaged enough rebounds to rank in the top ten, but did not play in enough games or have enough total rebounds to qualify.
Gilmore ranked in the top ten in field goal percentage (.623; second), blocks (2.1; seventh) and rebounds (10.4 rpg; tenth) in 1984-85, but the Spurs were knocked off in the first round of the playoffs.
Age began to take a toll in 1985-86 and for the first time in 15 professional seasons Gilmore failed to average at least 10 rpg. He still managed to rank second in field goal percentage (.618). Gilmore also ranked second in field goal percentage in 1986-87 (.597) as a 37-year-old player in his second to last season.
Hall of Famer Rick Barry faced Gilmore in the ABA and the NBA and had this to say about the big man: "Artis Gilmore was incredibly agile and was just an amazing shot blocker. In fact, I've had him on my radio show a couple times, and I think that he stopped blocking some of the shots because they were calling goaltending on him. I don't think that anybody had ever seen anything like that and they figured that he had to be goaltending, that you can't possibly block somebody's jump shot."
Although Gilmore is listed in Alex Sachare's 1997 book
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's 100 Greatest Basketball Players of All-Time, he has not advanced beyond the finalist stage in the induction process (most of the other 99 players profiled in the book who have been retired long enough to be eligible for induction are members of the Hall of Fame).
When Gilmore finally assumes his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, he will need quite a plaque to detail his accomplishments. Put "Artis Gilmore: Tough, Durable and Consistent" in bold letters at the top and follow it with these achievements:
- NCAA rebounding champion in 1970 and 1971
- All-time NCAA Division I career rebounding average leader (22.7 rpg)
- One of five NCAA Division I players with career averages of 20+ ppg and 20+ rpg
- 1972 ABA MVP and Rookie of the Year
- ABA regular season single game record 40 rebounds versus New York, 2/3/74
- Four-time ABA rebounding champion (1972-74, 76)
- Two-time ABA field goal percentage champion (1972-73)
- Two-time ABA shot blocking champion (1972-73)
- 1974 ABA All-Star Game MVP
- 1975 ABA Playoff MVP
- Five-time All-ABA 1st Team selection (1972-76)
- Four-time ABA All-Defensive Team selection (1973-76)
- Appeared in 670 consecutive ABA/NBA games
- 11 All-Star selections in 17 ABA/NBA seasons
- Ranked in the top ten in rebounding in 12 of 17 ABA/NBA seasons
- Ranked in the top ten in blocked shots in 13 of 17 ABA/NBA seasons
- Ranked in the top ten in field goal percentage in 15 of 17 ABA/NBA seasons
- Four-time NBA field goal percentage champion (1981-84)
- One of seven unanimous selections to the 1997 ABA All-Time Team
- Ranks first in career ABA/NBA regular season field goal percentage (.582); also holds the NBA (.599) and ABA (.558) career records
- Ranks third in career ABA/NBA regular season blocked shots (3178)
- Ranks fifth in career ABA/NBA regular season rebounds (16,330)
- Ranks 18th in career ABA/NBA regular season points (24,941)
Labels: Artis Gilmore, Chicago Bulls, Darnell Hillman, Hubie Brown, Indiana Pacers, Julius Erving, Kentucky Colonels, Mel Daniels, Rick Barry, San Antonio Spurs
posted by David Friedman @ 12:02 AM
