Doug Moe: ABA Champion, Three-Time ABA All-Star, and Successful NBA Coach
Doug Moe, who won an ABA championship and earned three ABA All-Star selections before becoming a successful NBA coach, passed away today at the age of 87. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Moe rose to prominence as a two-time All-America selection at the University of North Carolina, where he formed an enduring friendship with his teammate Larry Brown, who became a three-time ABA All-Star before having a Hall of Fame coaching career. Moe's college career ended after he received $75 to fly to a meeting with point shavers, even though he did not participate in the point shaving scheme.
Moe played basketball in the Italian League before joining Brown with the New Orleans Buccaneers in the ABA's first season, 1967-68. Moe led the Buccaneers in scoring (24.2 ppg, second in the league) and Brown led the league in assists (6.5 apg) as both players made the All-Star team. The Buccaneers finished first in the Western Division with a 48-30 record and they advanced to the ABA Finals, where they lost in seven games to the Pittsburgh Pipers, who were led by the incomparable Connie Hawkins. Moe finished second to Hawkins in the regular season MVP voting.
In the summer of 1968, the Buccaneers traded Brown and Moe to the Oakland Oaks for Ronald Franz, Steve Jones, and Barry Leibowitz. Moe ranked third on the Oaks in scoring (19.0 ppg) during the regular season, trailing league scoring champion Rick Barry (who averaged 34.0 ppg but only played in 35 games) and Warren Jabali (21.5 ppg). Brown led the league in assists again (7.1 apg), and Barry, Moe, and Brown all made the All-Star team while Jabali won the Rookie of the Year award. Jabali won the Playoff MVP as the Oaks routed the Indiana Pacers 4-1 in the ABA Finals. Moe ranked third on the team in playoff scoring (19.8 ppg).
After the 1969 season, the Oaks sent Moe to the Carolina Cougars as part of a three team trade. Moe averaged 17.3 ppg for the 42-42 Cougars, earning his third straight All-Star selection. Prior to the 1970-71 season, the Cougars shipped Moe to the Washington Capitols for Gary Bradds and Ira Harge. This reunited Moe with Brown. The Capitols moved to Virginia and became the Squires. Moe's 32 year old knees were wearing down by this point, but he still averaged 13.0 ppg in 78 games as the Squires went 55-29 to finish first in the Eastern Division before bowing 4-2 to the Kentucky Colonels in the Eastern Division Finals.
Moe finished his playing career averaging 6.8 ppg for the 1971-72 Squires, a team that featured ABA scoring champion Charlie Scott (who jumped to the NBA's Phoenix Suns before the end of the season), and rookie sensation Julius Erving, who averaged 27.3 ppg and 15.7 rpg in the regular season before supersizing those numbers to 33.3 ppg and 20.4 rpg in the playoffs.
Brown and Moe both retired after the 1971-72 season. Brown became Carolina's head coach, and he hired Moe to be his assistant coach. Moe served under Brown for two years in Carolina, and then Moe served under Brown for two years in Denver before being hired to be San Antonio's coach after the 1976 ABA-NBA merger. Moe led the Spurs to Central Division titles in 1978 and 1979. The Spurs lost 4-3 to the Washington Bullets in the 1979 Eastern Conference Finals. The Spurs fired Moe after starting 33-33 in the 1979-80 season.
Moe served as Donnie Walsh's assistant coach in Denver for the 1980-81 season, but then took the helm after the Nuggets started 11-20. They went 26-25 the rest of the way under Moe. Moe's Nuggets led the NBA in scoring for five straight seasons, and his
1981-82 squad still holds the NBA's single season scoring record (126.5 ppg). Moe led the Nuggets to a winning record in seven of his nine full seasons with the team, he guided them to the 1985 Western Conference Finals, and he earned NBA Coach of the Year honors in 1988 after leading the Nuggets to a 54-28 record, which at that time was the team's highest single season win total since joining the NBA. George Gervin won three of his four scoring titles while playing for Moe's Spurs, and Alex English won the 1983 scoring title while playing for Moe's Nuggets. Moe went 19-37 as Philadelphia's coach in the 1992-93 season before the team fired him. Moe rejoined the Nuggets as a coaching consultant in 2002, and he worked as an on the bench assistant coach for the Nuggets from 2005-08 under George Karl. After Moe passed away, Karl tweeted that Moe was his "big brother."
In 1997, Moe was one of 30 players selected to the ABA All-Time Team, and in 2018 he received the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement award, which has been presented annually since 2009 by the National Basketball Coaches Association (NBCA). Moe was always quick with a quip or a soundbite, and he called everyone--including himself--a "stiff." He was a bit of a showman on the sidelines, and his teams were high scoring and fun to watch, but they also won a lot of games: Moe ranks 26th in NBA history with 632 regular season coaching wins.
Anyone who was associated with the ABA in any capacity joined a fraternity that transcends anything else that the person did during his life, and that feeling was palpable when I covered the ABA Ol' School Reunion in Denver in 2005. The ABA not only had all-time great players who are household names--including Erving, Gervin, and Moses Malone--but it also had some great players whose names and accomplishments are not brought up as much as they should be. One such great player is James Silas. Moe shared with me his memories of coaching against prime James Silas and then coaching Silas after Silas injured his knee: "My recollections of when he was really great are from before he got
hurt, when he was playing against us. He was absolutely the best—the
ultimate guy at the end of the game. He was just terrific.
Unfortunately, he hurt his knee and was never quite the same—still a
great player, but there is no telling how great he would have been had
he not gotten hurt. People really didn't get to know the real Silas in
the NBA. That is a shame. He really was 'Captain Late' and he was the
best."
Doug Moe was one of the original ABA players, and he is eternally a part of that fraternity and that legacy.
Labels: ABA, Alex English, Connie Hawkins, Denver Nuggets, Doug Moe, George Gervin, Julius Erving, Larry Brown, NBA, Philadelphia 76ers, San Antonio Spurs
posted by David Friedman @ 11:38 PM
Julius Erving as Viewed by his Contemporaries, Part II
In my October 3, 2013 article Julius Erving as Viewed by his Contemporaries, I quoted several people--including coaches Adolph Rupp, Kevin Loughery, and Babe McCarthy--who praised Erving as a great all-around player and great clutch performer. Since that time, I did in depth archival research of articles published throughout Erving's pro basketball career, and it is fascinating to see how Erving was perceived and described during those years. This article focuses on 1972-74, covering Erving's first three professional seasons.
Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers recognized Erving's greatness very quickly. When Erving was a rookie during the 1971-72 season, Rick Barry predicted that Erving would become the greatest forward of all-time: "He's almost reached that point already. He's blessed with everything it takes to be number one: jumping ability, speed, soft touch, big hands, desire to excel, and the great attitude" (quoted in Pete Vecsey's February 5, 1972 New York Daily News column). Carl Braun compared rookie Erving to Elgin Baylor--at that time widely considered to be the greatest forward of all-time--and concluded that Baylor was stronger but Erving was faster. Braun added that Erving was not only a great forward but Erving was versatile and skilled enough to become the best guard in pro basketball: "Like Jerry West, you don't 'stop' Erving, he just has an off night" (quoted in Jerry Cassidy's April 27, 1972 article in the New York Daily News). Even before Erving won the first of his two ABA titles, Willis Reed
called him "the best young forward I've ever seen," a quote mentioned
in Dave Anderson's October 1, 1972 syndicated column discussing the
bidding war for Erving's services.
Gary Long's April 6, 1972 Miami Herald article included quotes from two of Erving's Virginia Squires teammates. After
rookie Erving tied the ABA single game playoff scoring record with 53 points as his Squires defeated the Floridians 118-113, Ray Scott--who played 10 years in the NBA before joining the Squires--said, "There's never been anyone in the NBA like him. There's
nobody I can compare Julius with. He's first. What's really beautiful is
he's still learning, and he's willing to learn." Adrian
Smith, the 1966 NBA All-Star Game MVP who joined the Squires after a 10
year NBA career, declared, "In my 11 years in pro basketball, I've never
seen another guy come into the game like this one."
Milwaukee Bucks' Coach Larry Costello called Erving "probably the best forward playing basketball today," and Chicago Bulls' Coach Dick Motta asserted that Erving is "the best basketball player around" (both quotes are from a syndicated UPI article published on September 24, 1972).
A little while later, Motta said of Erving, "The man has to be the most exciting basketball player I've ever seen. He means 25 percent, no make that 30 percent, more power to the team he plays for." Motta added, "If Milwaukee gets Erving, everybody can pack it up for the next 20 years. Teaming him with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would mean the end of any real competition in the NBA." Those quotes appeared in the October 12, 1972 edition of The Atlanta Constitution when Erving was under contract with the Squires, had signed a deal with the Atlanta Hawks, and had been drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks. Erving played for the Hawks in the 1972 preseason before a court ruling sent him back to Virginia, where he played one more season before being traded to the New York Nets.
Atlanta Hawks' Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons called Erving--who was not even halfway through his second pro season--"the most spectacular player I've ever seen play the game, and I've seen a few...For example, Spencer Haywood of Seattle was All-NBA last season, and he can't do HALF the things Erving can on the court" (quoted in Dave Hicks' December 3, 1972 column in The Arizona Republic).
In his August 4, 1973 New York Daily News column, Dick Young wrote (in his trademark staccato style, with some missing definite articles), "It was off-the-record at time, but I suppose it's okay to tell now: About a year ago, Al McGuire was asked to name best basketball player in land. 'Julius Erving,' he said. 'And Number 2 is Rick Barry.'" Note that McGuire expressed that opinion before Erving joined the New York Nets. During Erving's three seasons with the Nets, he won three regular season MVPs, two ABA titles, two ABA Playoff MVPs, and two scoring titles (to go along with the scoring title he won in 1973 with the Squires, averaging a career-high 31.9 ppg).
In an August 9, 1973 Highland Park News and Journal article, Bob Guerrero raved about Erving's first Los Angeles appearance after Erving scored a game-high 31 points in the Ralph Bunche Memorial Basketball Benefit that pitted Erving's Pro All-Stars (including Connie Hawkins, Charlie Scott, and Paul Westphal) versus a UCLA Alumni team featuring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe, and Mahdi Abdul-Rahman. The Pro All-Stars won 143-105, and Guerrero was very impressed by Erving:
He's said to be the best forward in professional basketball and may well be one of the best cagers of all-time...
Dr. J, as he's known around the ABA and the rest of the basketball world, defies description on the basketball court and might be a combination between a Walt Frazier and Elgin Baylor.
At 6-7 he lacks the size of a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or a Wilt Chamberlain, but plays defense with the abilities of a Bill Russell in his prime.
Erving has an unlimited assortment of shots only because he reacts to the pressure of the defensive player after it is applied and can usually be seen sailing or twisting toward the basket with two or three other players trying to stop him.
What he does with a basketball is usually seen just once, he may have as much trouble describing his shot[s] as people who saw them from the stands.
UCLA has long been noted for basketball excellence, having dominated the college game for the past 10 years almost as regularly as the sun coming up, with players like Jabbar, Keith Erickson, Sidney Wicks, Lucius Allen, Curtis Rowe, and company.
But never in the history of Pauley Pavilion has a star the magnitude of Julius Erving done his thing, whatever it may be, with a basketball.
Erving made the All-Defensive Team once in his 16 season professional career, but he ranks among the all-time leaders in both steals and blocked shots, and his teams regularly ranked among the league leaders in points allowed and defensive field goal percentage, so it is interesting that Guerrero heaped such praise on Erving's defense after watching Erving play in an exhibition game. It is also noteworthy that Guerrero called Erving the biggest star to ever play in Pauley Pavilion right after mentioning Abdul-Jabbar's record-setting UCLA career.
A September 4, 1973 article by Ralph Trower of the The Journal Times (Racine, Wisconsin) quoted Jim Chones--a member of the ABA's 1973 All-Rookie Team--declaring, "Erving is the best I've ever seen."
Even at a young age, Erving had a thoughtful approach to his craft. An October 21, 1973 New York Daily News article by Kay Gilman quoted Erving explaining how he developed his unique playing style: "I'm a Pisces. I have a wild imagination and I've always been one to experiment. I used to watch games on TV. My palms would sweat and I'd think of moves no one else had done. I'd learn by watching good guys and bad guys. I'd dream up fantastic moves and then go out on the court and make them work. Some of them took a long time. I'm underweight. I'm not going to be able to jump higher or run faster. Eventually I will slow down. I've got to magnify my strengths--my quickness and my moves. It's called experience."
Erving did not brag, but he always had justified confidence in his abilities. Responding to a question early in his career, Erving said, "Am I the best? Well, I haven't seen them all, but the ones I've seen sure can't do the stuff I can do."
Advertising by definition involves some degree of hype/promotion, but it is worth noting that early in the 1973-74 season the San Antonio Spurs called Erving "one of the best forwards to ever play the game" in a newspaper ad for tickets to the upcoming Spurs-Nets game. Tickets for that game were available for $5, $4, and $2!
Despite all of the accolades and despite his gaudy statistics, Erving focused on team success, not personal glory. Prior to the Nets' October 31, 1973 game versus the Denver Rockets, Erving told reporters, "There are two ways you can determine how well you played. How you feel, and what the stat sheet says. I go by how you feel." Erving scored 38 points on 13-21 field goal shooting in a 107-104 loss, and afterward he said, "How good can you feel about losing?" The Nets started 4-1 in 1973-74, but then lost nine straight games, including a 121-109 setback versus the Kentucky Colonels on November 2, 1973. After that game, Erving said, "I don't care about my own performance. I'm terrifically disappointed because we lost. Nothing else mattered."
It has become fashionable to speak of a star player's "gravity," most notably in reference to Stephen Curry, so it is important to emphasize that Curry is not the first player whose greatness drew extra defensive attention that created open shots for his teammates. Early in the 1973-74 season, Nets' center Billy Paultz said, "Erving has only helped me. Julius opens things up for me, because when Dr. J goes one on one to the basket, he either forces a foul or a double team. If my man tries to double team, that leaves me open for a short jumper."
In a November 13, 1973 Memphis Commercial Appeal feature article, Woody Paige wrote of Erving, "...he has averaged close to 30 points a game and 15 rebounds a game, and most say he can be the best forward ever to play; others claim he already is. It is said that two doctors influenced basketball: Dr. James Naismith invented it, and Dr. J is making it an art."
In a December 3, 1973 UPI report filed after the Nets defeated the Carolina Cougars, 121-103, Cougars forward and 1973 ABA MVP Billy Cunningham--who became Erving's coach with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1977--said of Erving, "He's sensational, one of the best ever." Erving had 32 points, 17 rebounds, six assists, six blocked shots, and four steals versus Cunningham and the Cougars. In that same report, Nets Coach Kevin Loughery declared, "I've been in basketball a long time, and I've never seen anyone play better than Doc has in the last 10 games. He hasn't just been scoring or rebounding. He's been everywhere."
Erving's reported salary for the 1973-74 season was $300,000, which ranked third in the ABA and tied for eighth in pro basketball. In the January 4, 1974 edition of the Holland Evening Sentinel (Michigan), Leo Martonosi opined, "We feel that the 'pro jocks' are overpaid and they eventually could kill the goose that laid the 'Golden egg.'" If Martonosi thought that athletes making more than the President earned ($200,000 a year at that time) was a problem, what would he have thought of today's athletes who earn tens of millions of dollars per year?
As noted above, Erving was an excellent defensive player even though he only received one All-Defensive Team selection. After Erving held Dan Issel--at that point the ABA's leading scorer--to 12 points as Erving's Nets defeated Issel's Kentucky Colonels 83-82 in a December 19, 1973 game, Loughery said of Erving, "That's the real superstar...He has such tremendous pride...people don't recognize his defensive ability because he's also a top scorer." Erving finished with 30 points, 12 rebounds, four blocked shots, and two steals. Per Doug Smith's December 20, 1973 Newsday recap, Erving scored 16 fourth quarter points, including the game-winning jump shot from the foul line area.
A January 20, 1974 AP story noted that Erving ranked among the league leaders in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots, steals, assists, and field goal percentage, and contained this Loughery quote about Erving's impact: "I've never seen anyone better. In overall ability, he's as good as anyone I've ever seen. He does so much offensively and defensively, and he's also a leader in his own quiet way. The guys look to him. He's tremendously coachable and that makes it easier for me. He not only has unique talents, he's a unique guy."
A February 27, 1974 L.A. Times article by Dwight Chapin quoted Loughery raving about Erving: "He's the best and most exciting forward in pro basketball. And even though he's only 23, he's a leader. I mean a real leader. You know what he can do on the court. Off the court, he's one of the nicest guys you'd want to be around." Erving transformed the Nets into winners not just with his superior basketball skills but also with his leadership. Erving explained, "The reputation of the Nets last year was that if you got up on them early, they'd start squabbling among themselves. They were losers. From the minute I knew I was coming here I was preparing myself to stop that. I knew I'd have leadership responsibilities. There has to be criticism among the players, but I guess what I've tried to do is make it constructive and cut down on meaningless griping. I don't think you should cuss a guy out for missing a pass. You should boost him up by saying something like, 'It's all right. We'll get it next time.' And when something goes wrong in a game or there's a flareup at practice I know it's easier for me to be the one who apologizes. A guy who the public doesn't consider such a big star might feel, 'Damn, I'm not going to bow down to the blankety-blank just because he's the big shot around here.' But for me it's no problem to go over and say I'm sorry."
In that same article, Doug Moe--a three-time ABA All-Star who later became an assistant coach in the ABA and a head coach in the NBA--said of Erving, "He comes at you with those long, open strides, and you have a tendency to keep backing away because you think he's not really into his move yet. If you keep backing, if you fail to go up and challenge him, he'll simply glide right by you."
A March 25, 1974 article in the Greeley Daily Tribune (Colorado) described a 112-100 Nets victory over the Denver Rockets during which Erving scored 21 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, and "brought the crowd to its feet in the first half when he slam dunked the ball on a fast break. He left the floor at the free throw line, cocked the ball behind his head, then rammed it through the hoop." I have heard some people suggest that the slam dunks from previous eras were "basic" compared to what players do today; the next time any player dunks from the free throw line in a game, feel free to make note in the comments section of this article.
After Erving scored a game-high 43 points on 19-26 field goal shooting, grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, and dished for a team-high six assists in the season finale--a 102-96 win over the Denver Rockets that clinched the Eastern Division title for the Nets--Loughery said, "During the last month, Doc has been the best forward I've seen. He can't do any more than he has already done."
In 1973-74, Erving's unselfish leadership and great all-around play--he
finished in the top ten in scoring (first, thus notching his second
consecutive scoring title), rebounding (seventh), assists (sixth), field
goal percentage (ninth), steals (third), and blocked shots (third)--helped
the Nets post a 55-29 regular season record before going 12-2 in the
playoffs en route to the franchise's first championship. The Nets
tied the pro basketball record for best playoff winning percentage set
by the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks. That mark stood until Moses Malone and
Erving led the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers to a 12-1 postseason run in
1982-83 (the current record is 16-1, held by the 2016-17 Golden State
Warriors).
Erving won the first of his four regular season MVP awards, and as he accepted that honor he said, "My goals were to rise to the top and realize my God-given talents to
their greatest potential and to make whatever team I'm playing for a
winner. One of the things I want to do in my career is to be acknowledged as one of the best players who has played the game." Erving singlehandedly won several games for the Nets during the last month of the season, prompting Loughery to declare, "In all my years in professional basketball I've never seen a better player than Doc was during that time."
As the 1974 ABA playoffs began, Kentucky Colonels coach Babe McCarthy said, "The Doctor is the most dynamic player in the American Basketball Association. He can do things with a basketball that you thought no mortal man ever could." During the regular season, Erving hit a game-winning shot versus the
Colonels that all but clinched the regular season Eastern Division title
for the Nets; he scored 41 points on 16-25 field goal shooting in that 114-112 overtime win on March 16, 1974. Eight days later, Erving had 33 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, and yet another game-winning shot as the Nets beat the Spurs, 99-97.
The April 14, 1974 edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader
included this quote from Larry Brown, then the Carolina Cougars' coach:
"Julius does things with a basketball that must be seen to be accepted.
He's 6-7 and he plays like he's 7-7. Or he's quick enough to play like
5-7. He has his own style and nobody else has it. I don't think there's a
better player anywhere."
In the first round of the 1974 ABA playoffs, the Nets faced Erving's previous team, the Virginia Squires, and won the series 4-1 as Erving averaged 26.0 ppg, 8.4 rpg, and 6.0 apg with shooting splits of .562/.400/.737. The Nets swept the Kentucky Colonels in the Eastern Division Finals as Erving averaged 29.8 ppg, 9.0 rpg, and 3.0 apg with shooting splits of .515/.667/.733.
Erving had a game-high 30 points and a team-high 14 rebounds in New York's 89-87 game three win versus Kentucky, capping off his performance by hitting the game-winning shot at the buzzer over Hall of Fame center Artis Gilmore. After the game, McCarthy said, "When the pressure is on and the chips are down, he might be as good as anybody in the game."
Here is a photo of Erving's game three game-winning shot:
After Erving scored a game-high 47 points to lead the Nets to an 89-85 victory over the Utah Stars in game one of the 1974 ABA Finals, the postgame conversation focused on whether Erving had already established himself as the greatest forward of all-time. Loughery said, "Baylor was the best for a longer time, but Doc is a better all-around player than Baylor ever was. Doc can do everything Baylor could do on offense and more, and he plays much better defense." Utah Coach Joe Mullaney declared, "I've seen him have a few other games like this. He's just the best there is. He never throws up a bad shot, and when he's looking to the basket he's just unstoppable." Erving's scoring outburst fell just six points short of the ABA single game playoff scoring record that he shared with Roger Brown.
In a May 2, 1974 syndicated column, Dave Anderson quoted legendary
coach Adolph Rupp, who called Erving "The Babe Ruth of basketball." Rupp
also said, "Up until now, I always thought Jerry West was the greatest
basketball player I ever saw, with Oscar Robertson right behind him, but
I think right now that Julius Erving is the best." One of the things
that set Erving apart from other great players is that, even as a young pro, he proved capable of
playing forward, center, and guard. Anderson quoted Loughery: "We used Doc at center
when Billy Paultz was hurt and Doc did well. We haven't used him at
guard too often, but if we did he'd be an All-Star guard. At center, his
size might hurt him but he's a leader. If he was a center, he'd be
right there when they picked the All-Star center." It is notable that Erving not only dominated game one offensively--shooting 19-29 from the field and
9-10 from the free throw line--but in the final six minutes of the game
he took the defensive assignment on Jimmy Jones, and held the All-ABA
First Team guard to just one point. Erving's defense and positional versatility are inexplicably ignored or diminished when today's "experts" talk about the greatest basketball players of all-time.
Erving scored a game-high 32 points as the Nets won game two, 118-94. The Nets trailed 94-91 near the end of the fourth quarter of game three, and Loughery drew up a play for Erving to attempt a three point shot. That play call may surprise those who believe the fiction that Erving was not a good shooter or that he only became an adequate shooter later in his career, but the reality is that Erving shot .395 (17-43) from three point range that season; he would have led the league in three point field goal percentage but for the fact that he was just short of making the minimum number of three point field goals (20) to qualify for the leaderboard. It is very important to note that only 15 ABA players made at least 20 three point field goals that season, and Erving's total of 17 3FGM ranked 19th in the league; this was long before "stat gurus" contrived "advanced basketball statistics" to support the argument that every shot attempt should be a layup, a free throw, or a three point shot. Loughery explained why he called the play for Erving: "Doc is by far the best in the league on three pointers." The "by far" description is an exaggeration--Louie Dampier shot .387 (48-124) from beyond the arc that season, just a shade worse than Erving while attempting almost three times as many three pointers as Erving--but it would no doubt surprise many "experts" that Erving was a reliable enough three point shooter that his coach drew up a play for Erving to shoot a three pointer when his team trailed by three points in an ABA Finals game. The Stars guarded Erving tightly to prevent him from getting a shot off, but after Wendell Ladner missed a three pointer the Nets secured the rebound and Brian Taylor drained a three pointer to send the game to overtime. The Nets won 103-100 as Erving led the team in scoring (24 points), rebounding (13), and assists (seven).
In a May 9, 1974 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Bill Lyon wrote:
...there is growing opinion that Erving is the best player--ABA, NBA, or interplanetary--to ever slam dunk his way along a baseline.
Billy Cunningham, who has been a star in both the ABA and the old, established NBA, says point blank: "He's the most exciting player I have ever seen."
Testifies Dave DeBusschere, probably the NBA's finest defensive forward: "He's the best basketball player there is right now. I expect him to go and become the greatest who ever played the game." The reason DeBusschere was smiling when he said that was he has signed a 10-year contract to become the Nets' general manager, starting next year.
Willie Wise of Utah, who tried to guard Dr. J for one half and "held" him to 12-for-14 from the field in the first game of the ABA title finals, just shook his head:
"Baby, if he's not the best, then I'm in for a REAL treat."
Adds a slightly awed writer who has covered Dr. J regularly:
"I gave up trying to describe his moves. Even the average ones are semi-incredible; the rest they ought to get on tape and ship right to the Hall of Fame."
On a ho-hum, so-so night Erving, playing forward, will score 30 points, grab a dozen rebounds, deal out a handful of assists and, at the other end of the court, produce perhaps 10 turnovers with steals and blocked shots. His total worth, offensively and defensively, what points he accounts for and what points he denies the opposition, may approach 75 in a game.
The Stars avoided a sweep by winning game four, 97-89. Erving scored a team-high (but series low) 18 points on 9-22 field goal shooting. In a UPI article dated May 10, 1974, Wise pushed back against any assertions that he had stopped Erving:
"Actually, nobody stops Erving. He just had a bad shooting night. All anyone can do is wave, shout, and carry on in the hope that he'll miss a few."
That would turn out to be Erving's second lowest point total in an ABA or NBA Finals game; he scored at least 20 points in 31 of his 33 career Finals games, and his streak of 26 straight Finals games with at least 20 points is second all-time to Michael Jordan's 35 game streak. Note that Stephen Curry, who is often lauded as a Pantheon-level player, failed to score at least 20 points in eight of his 34 NBA Finals games.
With the Nets on the verge of winning the title, DeBusschere praised Erving's ability to draw fouls by driving to the hoop, and he mentioned an underrated aspect of Erving's game: "He's quite a playmaker...some of those passes just went bang, bang, bang."
After Erving's New York Nets defeated the Utah Stars 4-1 in the 1974 ABA Finals, the Associated Press' Bert Rosenthal wrote a May 12, 1974 article including some interesting quotes about Erving. Utah Coach Joe Mullaney said, "He's just a fantastic player. He's exceptionally gifted. He has a unique talent. He has that real long body, a soft touch on his shots, amazing physical equipment, and he's so unselfish, something you rarely see in a player of his caliber." Arnie Ferrin, then the Utah Stars' general manager, declared, "He's as
good a basketball player as I've ever seen. Obviously, he's the best
forward in the game."
In the 1974 ABA Finals, Erving averaged 28.2 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.8 spg, and 1.4 bpg with shooting splits of .513/.333/.750. In 1974, Erving led the ABA in playoff scoring for the third straight time (27.9 ppg) while also averaging 9.6 rpg, 4.8 apg, 1.6 spg, and 1.4 bpg. Championship teams tend to have experienced veterans, but the Nets featured the youngest starting lineup in pro basketball.
In a May 16, 1974 UPI article, Milton Richman cited Rupp calling Erving the Erving the best basketball player ever, and Richman concluded, "For Julius Erving, or Dr. J as everybody calls him, I have the feeling this is only the beginning. I can't ever remember a young man his age accomplishing and accumulating so much, so quickly, and still staying unspoiled."
Perhaps Dan Issel put it simplest when asked his opinion about Erving, as quoted in the May 23, 1974 Kentucky New Era: "I think he's the best basketball player in the world today."
Labels: ABA, Artis Gilmore, Billy Cunningham, Dan Issel, Dick Motta, Doug Moe, Julius Erving, Kevin Loughery, Larry Costello, New York Nets, Rick Barry, Utah Stars, Virginia Squires, Willie Wise, Willis Reed
posted by David Friedman @ 8:25 PM
James "Captain Late" Silas Commanded Respect in the Clutch
This article was originally published in three parts at Suite101.com on February 28, 2005, March 8, 2005 and March 17, 2005.Before Tim Duncan made bank shots with the regularity of a metronome, before David Robinson ran the floor like a gazelle and before George "Iceman" Gervin finger rolled his way to four scoring titles, the San Antonio Spurs were led by an amazingly skilled 6-2 dynamo who earned the nickname "Captain Late." His paycheck read "James Silas" but Spurs' broadcaster Terry Stembridge tagged him with a nickname worthy of a superhero after Silas produced several electrifying 20-point fourth quarter performances.
Bobby "Slick" Leonard coached the Indiana Pacers to three ABA titles. He also was the captain for the 1953 NCAA champion Indiana Hoosiers before enjoying a seven year NBA career during which he competed with and against legends such as Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Jerry West. He does not mince words when speaking about Silas' exploits: "Jimmy Silas really should be in the Hall of Fame. I liken Jimmy Silas a lot to Sam Jones in Boston. We had to double team Jimmy Silas between the three point line and the top of the key, trying to get it (the ball) away from him. I mean this guy was a monster. He had the stop and pop jumpers. He was strong, could play defense, pass—I mean, this guy was a great, great basketball player. All you ever hear people talk about are the great players in the NBA. Well, I would put this guy up against any of them."
In the 1974 ABA playoffs, Silas and the Spurs extended the defending champion Pacers to seven games. The teams met again in the 1975 playoffs, with the Pacers advancing after a hard fought six game series. The Pacers double teamed Silas even though he was playing alongside future Hall of Famer and Top 50 selection Gervin. Leonard says, "He was that dangerous. If you go down there (to San Antonio), when they left Hemisfair and went into the Alamodome, you see the two players up there in great big pictures across that backdrop—George Gervin and Jimmy Silas." Despite the extra defensive attention, in the 1975 playoffs Silas averaged 18.8 ppg and led the ABA in postseason assists (10.0 apg).
Told that Leonard considers him the most underrated guard in ABA history, Silas offers a direct reply: "I feel like that, too." He adds, "I always respected Indiana because Indiana was the team to beat in the ABA at that time. They had some supreme players—Roger Brown, Mel Daniels, George McGinnis, Freddie Lewis, Don Buse and on and on. That was a great team, a team that you had to get up for. It was just something that I loved--I loved the game so much and I really valued my play against teams that I thought were good. Indiana was a team that you had to play well against to beat them."
Bob Bass, two-time NBA Executive of the Year, coached the Spurs at that time: "They doubled him to get the ball out of his hands, no question about it. That was not done a lot. Everybody doubles nowadays. He was the guy that we always went to late in the game, even though we had Gervin. We went to Silas late because he was such a great free throw shooter. He was one of the guys who could back you down. Like Oscar Robertson backed people down, he'd back you down, and if you came to double, we had the floor spaced well enough all along the baseline that he could make the play, make the pass or make the shot and get fouled. He was just a terrific guy at the end of games."
"Captain Late" did his damage close to the basket. Bass says, "He reminds me of Baron Davis. Not the way that they play, but the way that they’re built. Baron Davis is built just like he was, about 6-3, and real physical, real strong. Silas' release on his jump shot was real high above his head. You couldn't get to it. He would back you down around 12, 14 feet and shoot a little fall away that was nearly impossible to guard if you didn’t double him."
Unaware of Bass' comparison, Silas offers this scouting report: "Take Sam Cassell and combine him with Baron Davis--the strength and quickness of Davis combined with Sam's ability to get off any kind of shot. I really think that those two guys are closer to the way I played than anybody else that I’ve seen play in the league." Silas adds this about the "Captain Late" title: "I felt that my game was good for 48 minutes or however long I was on the floor, so I took offense at first, because I thought that it meant that I was only deadly at the end of the game. But it fit what I was about and I came to love it."
Silas' numbers steadily increased during his ABA career, from 13.7 ppg and 3.1 apg in 1972-73 as a rookie with the Dallas Chaparrals (as the Spurs were known before moving to San Antonio) to 15.7 ppg and 3.8 apg in 1973-74 to 19.3 ppg and 4.9 apg in 1974-75. He consistently delivered in late game situations; even if the original intention was not to go in Silas' direction, the ball often ended up there. Bass says, "I remember calling a play and Gervin had a bad mismatch, like he did most of the time because he was so big for a guard. I was going to go to Gervin at the end of the game, but he said, 'Give the ball to Jimmy Si and he’ll get it done.' For a guy of that stature, a guy as good a player as Gervin was, to say that, you can imagine what kind of respect James Silas had with our team."
In the 1975-76 season "Captain Late" ranked sixth in the ABA in scoring (23.8 ppg), fourth in field goal percentage (.519), fourth in free throw percentage (.872), fifth in assists (5.4 apg), fifth in minutes played (3112) and ninth in steals (1.8 spg). He made the All-ABA First Team ahead of Gervin (who averaged 21.8 ppg and 2.2 apg) and only an otherworldly season from another basketball superhero, Julius "Dr. J" Erving, kept him from winning MVP honors. Erving's Nets and Silas' Spurs met in the ABA playoffs and Silas' tremendous season came to a sudden, disappointing end in the first game of the series; he broke his ankle by landing on the foot of Nets' guard Brian Taylor after shooting a jump shot. The Nets beat the Spurs and went on to claim the last ABA championship. That summer the NBA and ABA merged and the Spurs were one of four ABA survivors in the new 22 team league. It seemed that Silas would at last get the chance to showcase his skills on a large national stage.
Silas completely recovered from his broken ankle in time for the 1976 preseason. The Spurs seemed poised to be a contender in the merged league but their title chances were dealt a crushing blow when Silas suffered a serious cartilage tear in his knee when he collided with the Kansas City Kings' Bill Robinzine during a preseason game. Silas recalls, "Really, it was supposed to be plain and simple. They went in there and operated and evidently it wasn't right (the first time) and they had to go in there again. Back then we didn't have the workout facilities and the types of things that you can do today, but I'm not mad about it. Back then it took a lot longer to come back and play. It took at least a year and a half out of my career."
At that time it was thought that a lot of rest was necessary after knee surgery. New York Knicks' All-Star forward Bernard King, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in 1985, was one of the first athletes to pursue an extremely aggressive rehabilitation program quickly after surgery. Silas reflected on this: "I feel like if I would have known then the things that I know now, I would have worked that thing relentlessly. I was always limited and told the things that I should do and the things that I shouldn't do. So I just followed the instructions of the medical people. I really liked Bernard King's career and how he was told that he would never play again and then I saw tapes about how hard he was working. I thought, 'Wow, if I had done that, I could have come back a lot faster.'"
Silas played 3000-plus minutes in each of the three previous seasons, but logged only 667 minutes while participating in 59 of 164 regular season games in 1976-77 and 1977-78. He would never again play more than 2300 minutes in a season. Bob Bass describes how the injury changed Silas' game: "He just wasn't as explosive. (Before the injury) he could really elevate when he penetrated. When he drove to the basket he could take a hit and finish the shot as well as anybody I've ever seen--maybe the best I've ever seen. You could hit him and he was so strong and could elevate so high that he could still finish the shot. He was a great free throw shooter. It's amazing—George Gervin led the NBA in scoring four times, but he never got to the free throw line as much you'd think he would. He had all of these tricks; he’d move under you or over you. But James Silas could draw a foul as well as anybody who ever played."
After the merger, Bass left the Spurs' bench for a front office position with the team. Denver Nuggets' assistant coach Doug Moe became the Spurs' head coach. He laments that he only got to see Silas at full strength as an opponent: "My recollections of when he was really great are from before he got hurt, when he was playing against us. He was absolutely the best—the ultimate guy at the end of the game. He was just terrific. Unfortunately, he hurt his knee and was never quite the same—still a great player, but there is no telling how great he would have been had he not gotten hurt. People really didn't get to know the real Silas in the NBA. That is a shame. He really was 'Captain Late' and he was the best."
In 1978-79 Silas was healthy enough to play a full season. The Spurs started out 14-14 with Silas coming off the bench, but got a big boost when "Captain Late" rejoined the starting lineup and went 34-20 the rest of the way, winning the Central Division title with the second best record in the Eastern Conference. Silas averaged 16.0 ppg and 3.5 apg in the regular season, increasing those numbers to 19.1 ppg and a team leading 4.7 apg in the postseason. The Spurs narrowly missed making it to the NBA Finals, losing to the Washington Bullets in the Eastern Conference Finals. Silas says, "I felt that we could beat those guys, even though they had Elvin Hayes, Wes Unseld and an awesome team. We had them down three games to one. I think that the turning point was that Washington got really physical and they had the bodies to do it. We really weren't a physical team. For some reason our guys were really, really manhandled and we never could overcome what they were doing."
"Captain Late" had a shot to tie the seventh game at the end of regulation, but did not connect. He thinks that he should have been awarded two free throws: "On the last shot, if you ever see that tape I know—and Elvin Hayes knows—that I was fouled on that shot. I jumped and he jumped and came into my body, but nothing was called. I knew when I saw him running at me that he was out of control and off balance and I knew that I could draw the contact and I did, but there was no call. I got the hit that I wanted, got the shot off, but nothing was called."
Silas' numbers improved to 17.7 ppg and 4.5 apg in 1979-80, his second full season back from the knee injury—but the Spurs slipped to 41-41 and lost two games to one in a first round mini-series versus the Houston Rockets. In 1980-81 the NBA added an expansion team in Dallas and shifted some teams to different divisions. The Spurs moved from the Eastern Conference's Central Division to the Western Conference's Midwest Division. The Spurs also hired a new coach, Stan Albeck. Silas averaged 17.7 ppg and 3.8 apg in 1980-81 and the Spurs bounced back to a 52-30 record, claiming the Midwest Division title—but Houston spoiled the Spurs' outstanding season by winning game seven of the Western Conference Semifinals in San Antonio, 110-105.
The Spurs made significant roster changes after this heartbreaking loss, including a trade that sent Silas to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Silas played one season for the Cavaliers before retiring with 10-year professional averages of 16.1 ppg and 3.8 apg; he shot .495 from the field and .855 from the free throw line. On April 15, 1983 James Silas was selected to the Spurs' All-Decade Team, along with George Gervin, Artis Gilmore, Mike Mitchell and Mark Olberding. The Spurs retired Silas' number 13 on February 28, 1984. He was the first Spur and second Texas pro basketball player to have his number retired (the Houston Rockets retired Rudy Tomjanovich's number 45 on Jan. 28, 1982).
James Silas developed his game through careful observation of moves and techniques used by other players: "I looked at guys who were able to penetrate, take the lick and get the shot off. During pickup games I liked to play around the basket and I never shied away from contact. At 6-2, I could touch the top of the square where you bank your shot on the backboard. So I was a great leaper and I was just a strong guy. I knew that free throws were the only free shots in the game, so I kind of tried to master how to put a guy at my mercy and make him touch me in ways that if we were both moving (I would draw a foul and) most of the time I felt like I could get the shot off."
Silas disagrees with the approach that many current players take on offense: "I always felt—and what guys need to understand today—you don't take the shot that people give you. You take the shot that you want. I was good at being able to go where I wanted to go on the floor and take the shot that I wanted, not the shot that the defensive player expected me to take. Today a defender could give a guy a shot and if the person thinks it's a good shot, he'll take it, but I didn’t like that. If you give me a shot, even if I'm comfortable with it, I'm still going to go where I want to go to take the shot." When it is suggested to Silas that the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team, which fired a torrent of errant jump shots in Athens, could profit by viewing the game in that fashion, he laughs and replies, "You got that right."
The Spurs built a lot of their offense around Silas' ability to break down opposing defenses, particularly in late game situations: "I was real fortunate to have coaches like Bob Bass and Doug Moe who really saw the ability that I had. I don't know if Bob Bass was the first guy to come up with this play, but it was called a 1-4 play. The other four guys lined up on the baseline in the positions that they were good at and I went to work out front. I went to work from the top of the circle to wherever I wanted to go to get whatever shot was best for me. If I was double teamed I could always find the open guy. It was an almost unstoppable play that Bob and Doug let me run when the game was on the line or for the last second shot at the end of a quarter."
Even a player as gifted as Silas has to make an adjustment when he goes from college to the pros. Joe Hamilton remembers when Silas first showed up in training camp with the Dallas Chaparrals (as the Spurs were known before moving to San Antonio): "Although he was running guard with me, I just had confidence in my ability, so it (competition for playing time) didn't matter because it was all about being together. I was trying to show him the ropes on what he had to do. He already had the ability. One good example is dribbling—you had smaller guys (in the ABA) from Billy Keller to Billy Shepherd to myself who would smack down on the ball when you would go up for the shot. I taught him (Silas) that once he got the ball in the air there was nothing we (smaller guards) could do." In other words, Hamilton—who is 5-10-- and other smaller guards in the league could not block Silas' shot once he got the ball over his shoulders, but they could strip the ball from him down low if he left the ball unprotected in front of his body before he elevated to take the shot.
At the "ABA Ol' School Reunion," which was held in Denver to coincide with NBA All-Star Weekend, Silas and Hamilton reminisced about their time as teammates and Silas thanked Hamilton for helping him as a rookie. Hamilton adds, "James Silas and I would go one-on-one (after practice)—and I'm talking about banging--but when it was over, when the game was over, we'd go drink a cold Pepsi and talk about it. That's where the togetherness was. That's the thing, even today, here we are 30 years later, and he's saying, 'Joe taught me that.' It makes me feel good."
The close knit feeling among the ABA players makes it even more hurtful that the NBA often acts like the ABA never existed. Silas says, "I feel like this: when you look at the Spurs and how they do the statistics and the history of the franchise, when I scored my 10,000th point they gave me a ball to recognize that I had scored 10,000 points for this franchise. If the franchise still exists, I don't see how they can not acknowledge it in the stats…If you look at when the leagues merged, the best players for years to come were the former ABA players. If you really just look at it, until Bird and Magic came along, the guys who were the best players came from the ABA—Moses, the Doctor and Ice were the ones carrying the league. I think that when they write in these magazines during the season they have to give it up—it has to be known what these (ABA) players did for their franchises." He concludes, "The NBA is taking full advantage of the ABA when you talk about merchandise and jerseys being sold. Yet they don't include the true background and statistics (in the record books). This is very unjust and it's very unfair. When I take my kids and my kids' kids (to a Spurs game) and we get a program, they say, 'Dad, you have a ball at home that says you scored 10,000 points just for the Spurs. Why is that not in here?'"
Who better to have the last word about Silas than his teammate, Hall of Famer George Gervin? This is what the "Iceman" said when I asked him about “Captain Late” at the ABA Reunion: "James Silas was a guy who we really went to at the end of the game. James Silas never missed free throws. They don't give him enough credit and I'm disappointed in that, but we (the ABA players) give it to him because we played with him and respect him and a lot of us idolize his play."
Labels: Bob Bass, Bobby "Slick" Leonard, Doug Moe, George Gervin, Indiana Pacers, James Silas, San Antonio Spurs
posted by David Friedman @ 1:20 AM
NBA Legends Pay Dues Again
The April 9 edition of
USA Today contained an interesting article by Chris Colston titled
"NBA Legends Pay Dues Again." According to Colston's research, out of 148 assistant coaches in the NBA there are 55 who played in the NBA and/or ABA, 13 of whom made the All-Star team at least once. Six of those players are Hall of Famers (counting Adrian Dantley, who will be enshrined with this year's class) and three of them were selected to the
NBA's 50 Greatest Players List.
Looking at Colston's list, I realized that I have interviewed two of the three Top 50 players, four of the six Hall of Famers and nine of the 13 All-Stars. Here are links to some of the stories that I have done that feature quotes from All-Stars who have become coaches:
Dropping Knowledge--Mark Aguirre, New York assistant coach
Cowens Helped Restore Celtics Pride--Dave Cowens, Detroit assistant coach
A True Basketball Artist--Alex English, Toronto assistant coach
From "Hoya Destroya" to Yao's Mentor--Patrick Ewing, Orlando assistant coach (Ewing worked for Houston at the time this article was published)
The Legacy of the ABA--Maurice Lucas, Portland assistant coach (this article is not specifically about Lucas but it contains a quote from him about his ABA teammate Artis Gilmore)
The Numbers Don't Lie--Bob McAdoo, Miami assistant coach
James Silas: "Captain Late" Commanded Respect in the Clutch (Part II)--Doug Moe, Denver assistant coach (this article is not about Moe but it includes his memories about coaching Silas and coaching against Silas)
Dependable and Durable--Jack Sikma, Houston assistant coach
Celtic Sub Shined Brightly as a Sun--Paul Westphal, Dallas assistant coach
Labels: Alex English, Bob McAdoo, Dave Cowens, Doug Moe, Jack Sikma, Mark Aguirre, Maurice Lucas, Patrick Ewing, Paul Westphal
posted by David Friedman @ 8:20 AM
Alex English: A True Basketball Artist
When Alex English played, he considered basketball his art and the court was his canvas. The Hall of Famer, eight-time All-Star and 1983 NBA scoring champion (28.4 ppg) is currently an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors. You can read my HoopsHype.com article about him here (9/30/15 edit: the link to HoopsHype.com no longer works, so I have posted the original article below):
Some players' moves look like poetry in motion. Alex English was one of those players and he also was a poet in motion--he has had several books of his poetry published. The soft spoken 6-7 forward was never flashy on or off the court, so his accomplishments are easy to overlook. But, as he says with quiet confidence, "the real basketball fans know."
English averaged 22.6 ppg and 10.3 rpg while shooting .551 from the field as a senior at the University of South Carolina. The Milwaukee Bucks selected him in the second round as the 23rd overall pick in the 1976 draft. Veteran forward Bob Dandridge led the Bucks in 1976-77 with 20.8 ppg and English only scored 5.2 ppg in about 10 mpg of action. Dandridge signed with the Washington Bullets after the season and English's minutes (18.9 mpg) and scoring (9.6 ppg) nearly doubled in 1977-78--but rookie Marques Johnson averaged 19.5 ppg and 10.6 rpg and figured to get the lion’s share of playing time for years to come.
"Indiana offered me my first free agent contract and I got a chance to play," English recalls. "I played for Slick Leonard and we had Mickey Johnson, Mike Bantom--a lot of pretty good players on our squad. We played like I (later) played in Denver--we had a freelance offense but we were more focused on defense. It was an enjoyable time. The other thing I remember is that my second child was born (in Indiana). I got traded right before she was born, so that is something that sticks in my memory."
English averaged 16.0 ppg and 8.1 rpg in 1978-79 but two thirds of the way through the 1979-80 season the Pacers shipped him to Denver. "Going to Denver was probably the best thing that happened to me," English says. "Indiana wanted George McGinnis back home. He had played for Slick Leonard and Slick wanted him back. I got a chance to go to Denver to play for a coach that I had in college, Donnie Walsh," who ironically is now the CEO/President of the Pacers.
English scored 21.3 ppg in the last 24 games of the 1979-80 season as a Nugget. He averaged 23.8 ppg and 8.0 rpg in 1980-81, but the Nuggets just missed the playoffs. In 1981-82, English began a streak of eight consecutive 2000-plus point seasons, which stood as the NBA record until Karl Malone had 11 such seasons; English's run is still the second best in NBA history. Denver made the playoffs in 1981-82 and qualified for postseason play each of the next nine seasons that English played for the Nuggets.
The 1980's Denver Nuggets make the current Phoenix Suns look like turtles crawling through quicksand. The 1981-82 Nuggets still hold the records for points in a season (126.5 ppg) and for most consecutive games scoring at least 100 points (136, including every game of the 1981-82 season). Denver led all teams in scoring for five straight seasons (1981-85), culminating in a 52-30 record in 1984-85 and a berth in the Western Conference Finals versus the powerful Magic Johnson/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar/James Worthy Lakers. English played brilliantly in that year's playoffs (30.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 4.5 apg, .536 shooting from the field and a .890 free throw percentage) and believes that a fast paced team is perfectly capable of winning an NBA title.
"I think that if I had not broken my thumb in the third game, we had a chance to beat the Lakers," English says. "We tied them in L.A., so we had an opportunity to go to the Finals. I don't think that it's the style of play, I think that it's the players that you have. I remember that when we played against the Lakers we always had great games because they also pushed the ball up as well. They had great players. We looked forward to going to the Forum. It was one of the great arenas, along with Madison Square Garden and Chicago Stadium. We beat the Lakers during the regular season, so we weren't afraid of them. We just had a great group of players. The camaraderie on that squad was unparalleled in professional basketball."
That turned out to be the closest that English got to winning an NBA title but he proved to be one of the league’s most productive performers in the 1980s, becoming the decade's leading scorer while playing in 80 or more games for 10 straight seasons. His durability is all the more remarkable considering his slender frame. English explains how he was able to be so productive against bigger, stronger players: "What I did a lot is not let them make contact with me. I would move. A lot of players who were bigger did not like running the floor. I ran. I never stopped moving. I was a strong wiry thin, sort of like Tayshaun Prince. I did my best to stay out of their way and make them run. Eventually, they would end up being tired and I would still be at full strength. We didn't lift a lot of weights back then. I was in great shape; I stretched a lot, so I didn’t have a lot of injuries."
"I played for 15 years but as my years progressed I thought that I got better every year," English adds. "I was consistent. You have some guys who might score 10 points one night and the next night they have 30. I prided myself on being a consistent player with my game and, even though I was thin, being durable. Being durable and being consistent."
English offers a very poetic description of his resilience mentally and physically: "It's like being a willow tree that blows in the wind but it doesn't break. It's a strong branch, a strong tree that bends and can withstand all kinds of tornado-type winds but it doesn't break. That is the kind of idea that I played with. If a guy was posting me up, I would hold for a second but then when he was getting ready to pass I would let go and I would get around and get the steal."
Speaking of poetry, English enthusiastically shares his thoughts about his favorite poets: "One guy who inspired me to write because of his style was Peter McWilliams. He's a contemporary poet. I was an English major in school and I enjoyed reading Edgar Allan Poe. I like Robert Frost, Elizabeth Barrett Browning--there are a lot of folks whose poetry I enjoy. A lot of stuff was difficult to understand but (worth reading) when you put the time and effort in. Shakespeare's sonnets are great."
Reading and writing provide great balance to English's life. "It is important because once basketball was done I was still able to enjoy my life because I enjoy doing other things," English says. "I love to read. I still enjoy writing, although I don't write as much. I think that the love of reading that I have is a genetic thing that I got from my grandmother. My kids love to read, my sons. They read some of the same genres that I do. Maybe it's something in the genes."
Before English got his current job as an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors, he served as the head coach of the North Charleston Lowgators in the NBDL, an experience that he treasures. "What it showed me was what I needed to add to my repertoire to be a coach," English explains. "It also helped me understand where players are today. I had been out of the game for a while. It's a generation thing and the players are different today. It gave me the opportunity to get back into what they're looking for and what they're going to give. It was a great experience to get back in the game and do as well as we did. We ended up losing in the championship in the D-League and that was my first experience coaching. I looked at it as a very positive, uplifting experience in my life."
English elaborates on what he learned about coaching during his time in the NBDL: "It showed me the style that I would like to play and that would win for me. It helped me with my Xs and Os and showed me how important that is. It also showed me that as a coach you don't need to be so stringent or so tight or so structured all the time. I think of Mike D'Antoni--when you look at his team and look at his players you see that they enjoy playing for him. That's how Doug Moe was with us. I knew that all along but it (coaching in the NBDL) only verified that as a coach this is the way you operate. You demand and command discipline and structure. I guess that the way that I coach would also be like being a willow tree. You have to be strong but you also have to be able to bend sometimes."
Great players from all eras share certain traits, according to English. "Great players always had the same mentality. They were always very focused and determined and hard working. They had a vision in mind of what they wanted. They are all that way and they do whatever it takes to get better at the game. The difference that I see is that there are a lot of guys (now) who don't put that effort in, who don't put the time in to be a great player. Once they get that so-called big payday they stop at that and they don't get better. Everything is relative. I got paid well back then--certainly nothing like what they get paid now, but to me back then it was great. It wasn't about the money for me, it was more about my art, which was my game--my ability to play and how I played and what I could do on the basketball court."
English is immersed in coaching now but it is only natural for him to think about his place in the history of the game. He played in eight All-Star games, won the 1983 scoring title (28.4 ppg) and retired after the 1990-91 season with 25,613 points, which still ranks 11th in NBA history and 14th in NBA/ABA history. Other than Dan Issel and Dominique Wilkins, everyone who is ahead of English was selected to the NBA's 50 Greatest Players List.
English is very frank when asked if he thinks that he is underrated: "I know I am. They named the Top 50 players in the league. No player (other than Karl Malone) had scored 2000 points for eight straight seasons. I look at my record when I played. Then I heard that when they (TNT) did the 'next 10' they didn't vote me to that either. They said that they left me off because of the system that I played in. I want to know if they are going to do that with Steve Nash. He's in the same type of system that I was in. Are they going to do that with him? I think that it is unfair. The biggest disappointment in my life--well, not in my life, but the biggest disappointment in my basketball career--is that I don't get those kind of accolades, maybe because I'm quiet and I'm not boisterous. My game was not slam dunks and three-point shots. It was a very simple game but I played it with elegance and fun and I enjoyed it. If that will keep me back from being one of the '50 Greatest,' then I know that the real basketball fans know."
Labels: Alex English, Denver Nuggets, Doug Moe, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, NBDL, North Charleston Lowgators, Toronto Raptors, University of South Caroliina
posted by David Friedman @ 2:44 PM
