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Saturday, March 07, 2026
Russell Westbrook Exposes the Low Barriers to Entry for Media Members
If you believe the headlines--and I would caution against believing any headline from any source--Russell Westbrook "goes off," "blasts" the media in an "agitated" way, makes "fiery" comments, and "fires back" at media members. After Westbrook's Sacramento Kings lost 133-123 to the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night, Westbrook spoke to the assembled media for a little more than six minutes. You can judge for yourself the tone and tenor of Westbrook's comments by watching this video (and if the video does not play on your device or if the video is subsequently taken down, you can find another
link to the video without much difficulty):
Note that Westbrook did not raise his voice, did not use profanity, and did not personally insult anyone. He asserted that media members who cover the Kings make unfounded statements about him, his teammates, and his team without proper "context," and he challenged specific media members to repeat those unfounded statements to his face. One of the media members singled out by Westbrook is Matt George, who does a Kings podcast. George declined to address Westbrook's concerns at the press conference, and then after the press conference he did a podcast about the situation followed by making the rounds at various media outlets to defend himself and repeat his hope that Westbrook is not on the team next season. There are many words to describe a man who declines to address another man face to face only to speak about him behind his back, but I'll stick with a family-friendly word: coward.
It is not Westbrook's fault that the Kings are having a horrible season. He is playing hard, and he is playing well. The Kings have been a dysfunctional organization for quite some time.
Mike Brown won the Coach of the Year award in 2023, and then the Kings fired him in 2024 to
hire Doug Christie, who had no prior head coaching experience at any
level and who is coaching the Kings about as well as one would expect
from someone who has no prior head coaching experience.
Westbrook is an all-time great being covered by hacks who accuse him of padding his stats by "stealing" rebounds, a false notion that is unsupported by the numbers. Justin Termine admits that he is "an entertainer, not a journalist,"
and after listening to him I agree that he is not a journalist but I question how entertaining he is. Termine recently asserted that
Westbrook has spent his career accumulating individual statistics that
do not correlate with team success. Termine calls himself a basketball
historian, but he apparently does not realize how rare it is for a team to reach the Western Conference Finals four times,
as the Oklahoma City Thunder did (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016) with Kevin
Durant and Westbrook leading the way. Westbrook was an All-NBA Team
member in three of those four seasons, and would have made it in all
four had he not been limited to 46 games in the 2014 season (he averaged
26.7 ppg, 8.1 apg, and 7.3 rpg during that playoff run to reaffirm his
All-NBA status).
A major cause of the low quality of media coverage is the low barrier to entry for the profession, a topic that I have mentioned before but is worth discussing in greater depth. I speak from personal experience because I spent seven years as a credentialed reporter in NBA media rooms, so I
saw firsthand how news is gathered, how narratives are manufactured, and
how often incompetent media members ask ridiculous questions. Before I became a credentialed reporter, I devoted myself to learning the NBA game, learning pro basketball history, and honing my writing skills, but I found out--to my horror--that obtaining credentials and getting writing assignments has much less to do with what you know than who you know. This is in marked contrasted to other professions and endeavors. For example, in the 1990s, I was an ACE-certified personal trainer, in 1995 I earned the U.S. Chess Federation's Expert title, and in 2016 I became an actively licensed attorney.
To become a certified personal trainer, you must pass a certification exam.
To become a chess Expert (top 3% of all chess players in the United States), it is necessary to earn 2000 rating points in officially sanctioned tournaments.
To become an actively licensed attorney, you must score high enough on the LSAT to be admitted to law school, you must graduate law school, and you must pass the bar exam. To maintain actively licensed status, you must earn continuing education credits.
You cannot become a certified personal trainer, a chess Expert, or an
attorney based on your connections; to achieve each of those status
levels, you must meet objective standards.
In contrast, anyone who knows the right person can show up at a sports event as a credentialed reporter. There is no education requirement and no competency requirement. Reread those two sentences, and then you will understand why the quality of media coverage is generally low--and I am not just speaking about NBA media coverage: the Wall Street Journal's chess coverage is embarrassingly bad, the general coverage of the World Chess Championship is pathetic, and political coverage is riddled with agenda-driven bias and misinformation.
The media members who hate Westbrook and slander Westbrook do so not only because they are incompetent but because they are outraged that he is not afraid to expose them as unqualified hacks. Westbrook is not feuding with Hubie Brown or Tim Legler or Doris Burke or any competent NBA commentator; he is feuding with people who are unqualified to do their jobs. There is a major
difference between objectively being one of the greatest basketball
players of all-time versus having a media platform because you know a
guy who knows a guy; deep down, these media members know their real
value and their real level, and they resent being reminded of those
truths.
Russell Westbrook is a real man who works hard every day without making excuses. He is loyal to his team and to his teammates, even when that loyalty is not returned. He is not afraid to call out anyone's nonsense. There is a cliche suggesting that one should never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel (or, in today's parlance, have unlimited access to multimedia platforms)--but Westbrook does not think about his protecting his image or trying to be popular: he protects his teammates, and he challenges media members who ask dumb questions and who make unfounded assertions.
Westbrook deserves better media coverage than he receives--and, as the listening and viewing public, we deserve better media coverage than the slop that is provided to us.
"Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association" Examines the ABA's Impact on Sports and Society
"Time has marched on, but the memories are forever."--Julius Erving speaking about the ABA
George Karl, Julius Erving, and Common are the executive producers for Amazon Prime's four part documentary "Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association."
Episode one begins with some quotes that place the ABA's significance in historical context. Gervin declared, "The ABA was the first integrated workplace in America." Bob Costas--who began his broadcasting career as a play by play announcer for the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis--noted, "A legend is something that has an element of mystery. The ABA may be the last significant legend in American sports." Erving said, "[There is a] responsibility for those who come to the other side of this to tell the story."
George Mikan, who was honored as the greatest basketball player of the first 50 years of the 20th century, served as the ABA's first commissioner, and he minced no words about the ABA being in a money war versus the NBA. Much of the narrative arc of episode one is framed around "ABA Attack," the league's plan to seize market share from the NBA to force a merger between the two leagues, much as the AFL rose to prominence a few years earlier and eventually forced a merger with the NFL. The first prong of the attack was "Steal a Star."
Rick Barry was the NBA's Rookie of the Year in 1965-66 after averaging 25.7 ppg and 10.6 rpg, and he won the NBA scoring title in 1966-67 (35.6 ppg) en route to leading the San Francisco Warriors to the NBA Finals, where they lost to a dominant Philadelphia team featuring Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet Walker, and Billy Cunningham.
Barry jumped to the ABA after the 1966-67 season even though a court upheld the reserve clause in his contract with the Warriors, which meant that he would have to sit out the 1967-68 season before suiting up for the ABA's Oakland Oaks.
Barry scoffed at the notion that today's players are better than players from his era, noting that when he played he did not have access to strength coaches, agility coaches, or dieticians the way that modern players do. He said that one would have to "be on drugs or something" to not understand how much better players from his era would do in today's era than they did in their era when they had no access to modern sports science. Barry said that he was not arrogant, but that he was--and is--confident because confidence "is the key to great success."
With Barry ineligible for the 1967-68 ABA season, the ABA activated the second prong of its attack: "Welcome Castoffs."
Connie Hawkins was blackballed by the NBA after being falsely implicated for being associated with infamous college basketball fixer Jack Molinas. Hawkins played in the American Basketball League and then for the Harlem Globetrotters before the ABA welcomed him in the league's inaugural season. As I noted in my obituary for Hawkins, he "led the Pittsburgh Pipers to the 1968 ABA title, averaging 30.7 ppg in
seven games versus the New Orleans Buccaneers. Hawkins averaged 29.9
ppg, 12.3 rpg and 4.6 apg during the 1968 playoffs after averaging 26.8
ppg, 13.5 rpg and 4.6 apg during the regular season. Hawkins was the
league's top scorer during the regular season, playoffs and Finals." Hawkins soon settled his lawsuit versus the NBA, after which he signed with the Phoenix Suns and made the All-NBA First Team in 1970.
One of my few quibbles with "Soul Power" is that Roger Brown's story of exile and redemption was not told in parallel with Hawkins' story. Like Hawkins, Brown was blackballed by the NBA before being embraced by the ABA. Brown won the 1970 ABA Playoff MVP after leading the Indiana Pacers to the first of their record three ABA titles (1970, 1972-73), and he remained loyal to the Pacers even after the NBA lifted its ban against him. Brown is the quintessential ABA player: he was cast aside by the NBA, he played his entire pro career in the ABA, and his accomplishments were ignored for far too many years before he was finally inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. "Soul Power" included highlights of Brown's play and cameo appearances by his daughter and grandson, but did not explain that Brown had overcome significant obstacles just like Hawkins did. Erving was one of many Hall of Famers who spoke highly of Brown to me, so I am surprised that Brown's story was not done justice in "Soul Power." I understand that every documentary has space/time limitations that inevitably cause some good material to end up on the cutting room floor, but the story of the ABA cannot and should not be told without prominently mentioning Brown.
Barry had an immediate impact in his first ABA season, leading the league in scoring in 1968-69 (34.0 ppg), but he only appeared in 35 games due to injury. The Oaks won the 1969 ABA title thanks to the efforts of Warren Jabali, who earned the 1969 ABA Playoff MVP award after averaging 28.8 ppg, 12.9 rpg, and 2.9 apg as the Oaks went 12-4 during the postseason. Episode one devotes significant coverage to not only Jabali's basketball prowess but also his militant attitude (or what was perceived to be his militant attitude). Jabali passed away on July 13, 2012, so in death as in life he seems condemned to have other people speak for him and define him. I strongly encourage anyone interested in learning about Jabali to read my tribute to him, including a full-length interview from 2005.
The ABA suffered a setback when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) chose the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks over the ABA's New York Nets; he told each league to make their best offer, and the Bucks made the better offer. The ABA subsequently tried to offer more than the Bucks had offered, but Abdul-Jabbar kept his word to take the best first offer.
With Barry injured, Hawkins jumping to the NBA, and Abdul-Jabbar spurning the ABA for the NBA, the ABA desperately needed a flagship player. Episode two ("Growing Pains") begins by focusing on the third prong of the ABA's attack: "Draft Underclassmen." The NBA had a rule against signing any player before his college class graduated, but the ABA's Denver Rockets drafted and signed 20 year old Spencer Haywood in 1969 after he led Team USA to the 1968 Olympic gold medal and excelled as a sophomore for the University of Detroit in 1968-69 (32.1 ppg, 22.1 rpg). Haywood's family picked cotton in Mississippi, and the ABA created a "hardship" exception for drafting underclassmen.
Haywood authored one of the most dominant rookie seasons in pro basketball history, winning Rookie of the Year, All-Star Game MVP and regular season MVP
honors in 1969-70 after leading the ABA in scoring (30.0 ppg) and
rebounding (19.5 rpg). He joined Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld as the only players in pro basketball history to win Rookie of the Year and regular season MVP in the same season.
Haywood's contract with the Rockets proved to be worth far less than the advertised value of $1.9 million. After the team refused to make things right, Haywood jumped to the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics in 1970. Haywood's college class had not yet graduated, so rival NBA teams sought an injunction to prevent Haywood from playing in the NBA. This set off a legal battle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Haywood won in court, and this changed the game forever on the court. "Hardship" is now called "early entry," as the modern NBA has done away with the pretense
that teenagers are only being drafted if they can prove that their
families are suffering financial hardship. Seven subsequent "early
entry" players became members of my basketball Pantheon: Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James.
With Connie Hawkins and Spencer Haywood both jumping to the NBA, the ABA desperately needed a new, young superstar. This led to the fourth prong of the ABA's attack: "Draft the Doctor Now."
Julius Erving (also known the Doctor or Dr. J) won three ABA regular season MVPs (1974-76), three ABA scoring titles (1973-74, 1976), and two ABA championships (1974, 1976) while establishing himself not only as the greatest player in ABA history but one of the greatest players in pro basketball history--but he did not look like a superstar as a high school player: Erving arrived at the University of Massachusetts in 1968 as a 6-3, 165 pound forward before growing three inches and gaining at least 30 pounds. Like many players who reached their final height later in life, Erving developed multi-positional skills: he could handle the ball and pass like a guard, but he could also rebound and play inside.
After the Supreme Court compelled the NBA to permit Spencer Haywood to play, the league still was not drafting underclassmen, so the ABA had an opportunity to swoop in and obtain the Doctor's services. The Virginia Squires signed Erving in April 1971, after he completed his junior year at UMass.
As a young player, Erving's most dominant skill was rebounding, and he already had an unselfish mindset well beyond his years: he had the ability to be a dominant scorer, but he was not obsessed with scoring. Charlie Scott was the Squires' primary scoring option during Erving's rookie season (1971-72), and it was obvious that Scott was chasing the scoring title, so Erving averaged 15.7 rpg (third in the league) while scoring 27.3 ppg as the second option. Scott jumped to the NBA's Phoenix Suns late in the season after he had clinched the scoring title (34.6 ppg, setting the ABA single season scoring record), and then Erving averaged 33.4 ppg in the final 10 games of the regular season, with three games of at least 40 points. In the playoffs, Erving averaged 33.3 ppg, 20.4 rpg, and 6.5 apg, one of the most dominant state lines ever posted by a rookie in postseason play.
In "Soul Power," Costas explained Erving's impact: "With all due respect to other great ABA players, Dr. J is what gave the league credibility outside league cities and outside the core of ABA fans because even the franchises that did consistently well operated outside the notice of most American sports fans. So, a lot of it took place, relatively speaking, in the shadows."
If there had been any doubt about the quality of the ABA initially, by 1971 it was clear to any objective observer that the ABA's best players could match up with the NBA's best players, as demonstrated in the two ABA-NBA Supergames played in 1971 and 1972. Although the NBA All-Stars won the first game 125-120 and the second game 106-104, it was eye-opening for the casual fan (and for the NBA itself) to see just how competitive the interleague matchups were.
After the NBA was forced to realize how good the ABA players were, the NBA began a counter-attack to the ABA's attack, and the first prong of that counter-attack was "Poach the Players." The NBA shifted from a haughty position of asserting that ABA players were not that good to an aggressive position of trying to sign ABA players to NBA deals.
Rick Barry and Julius Erving only faced each other once in a playoff series, and Barry's New York Nets prevailed 4-3 over Erving's Squires in the 1972 ABA Eastern Division Finals. The Nets faced the Indiana Pacers in the ABA Finals. Roger Brown outscored Rick Barry 32-23 in game six as the Pacers won the series, 4-2. Brown led the Pacers in playoff scoring (20.5 ppg) in 1972, but Freddie Lewis (19.2 ppg) was named the 1972 ABA Playoff MVP. "Soul Power" noted that the Pacers were not only successful on the court, but they proved to be a unifying force within an Indianapolis community that had previously been divided along racial lines. The Pacers' players comprised a close-knit group that remained close-knit decades after they retired. Larry Brown, who was a three-time ABA All-Star before becoming a Hall of Fame coach, said, "I wish our world was like the Pacers' locker room. It's all about can you play and are you a decent human being. Do you care about the people that sit next to on both sides. That's the only thing that matters."
Barry jumped back to the Warriors after the 1971-72 season, making it all the more imperative for the ABA to not lose Erving, which led to the second prong of the NBA's counter-attack: "Steal the Doctor."
Episode three ("Icarus") shines the spotlight on Erving, one of the greatest and yet most underrated players in pro basketball history. Five-time ABA All-Star Ralph Simpson made a bold statement early in the episode: "I don't never think there will be another Dr. J. I think there will be another Michael Jordan. Doc did things that were just incredible, that defied human nature." Simpson echoed what many players who played with and/or against Erving have told me: Erving, particularly when he showcased his full talents in the ABA, had something that no other player ever had. The respect, even awe, that fellow professional basketball players have for Erving is rare. I have spoken with many professional basketball players, and I cannot think of a player who is more revered by other players than Erving.
Larry Brown, who coached against Erving in the ABA and in the NBA, said, "When he went to the NBA, Julius was great. Everybody recognized him as being one of the great players ever. They didn't really see the true Julius when he was in the ABA."
After his sensational rookie season, Erving took a closer look at his Virginia contract and--much like Spencer Haywood did--realized that the deal was not quite as good as it had seemed at first. Erving and his representatives disputed the validity of the contract with the Squires, and Erving signed a contract with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks--but then the Milwaukee Bucks selected Erving (whose college class had now graduated) with the 12th pick in the 1972 NBA Draft. Erving joined forces with Pistol Pete Maravich in some preseason games with the Hawks before a three judge panel ordered Erving to return to the Squires. Erving had a sensational second season with the Squires, averaging a career-high 31.9 ppg to win the first of his three scoring titles. After the 1972-73 season, the cash-strapped Squires traded Erving and Willie Sojourner to the New York Nets for George Carter, Kermit Washington, and cash considerations. The Nets then signed Erving to an eight year contract reportedly averaging $350,000 per season, making Erving one of the highest paid pro basketball players at that time.
In his three seasons with the Nets, Erving won three regular season MVPs, two ABA titles, two ABA Playoff MVPs, and two scoring titles. Erving led the Nets to the 1974 ABA championship, averaging 28.2 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.8 spg and 1.4 rpg during the Finals in a 4-1 win over the Utah Stars. "We won the first time we went to the Finals," Erving said. "And most teams don't win the first time they go to the Finals. It was one of my greatest thrills in my whole career." The 1973-74 Nets had the youngest starting lineup in pro basketball (average age: 22.6 years old), and they are perhaps the most underrated championship team in pro basketball history: the Nets went 22-3 down the stretch--10-1 to finish the regular season and
12-2 in the playoffs. The Nets tied the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks' pro
basketball record for best
playoff winning percentage (.857), a mark that stood until Erving's 1983
Philadelphia 76ers went 12-1 (.923); in an expanded playoff format, the 2001 Lakers went 15-1 (.938), and then the 2017 Warriors went 16-1 (.943).
The fifth prong of the ABA's attack was "Unconventional Leadership." The Spirits of St. Louis, the team that hired young broadcaster Bob Costas straight out of Syracuse and that dethroned the Nets 4-1 in the 1975 playoffs, were owned by the Silna brothers, who were barely older than the squad's star players. Kentucky Fried Chicken owner John Y. Brown and his wife Ellie owned the Kentucky Colonels. Ellie led an all-female board of directors that ran the team; at that time, it was unprecedented for women to have an active and controlling role in the operation of a professional sports franchise. Ellie hired Hubie Brown (no relation), and that proved to be the key move for a team that had repeatedly fallen short despite having a talented roster. The Colonels won the 1975 ABA Finals versus the Pacers in yet another chapter of that storied rivalry. Hubie Brown used a 10 man rotation, installed a strong defense, and got the most out of Hall of Famers Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel, and Louie Dampier.
The Colonels challenged the 1975 NBA champion Golden State Warriors to a winner take all game, but the Warriors declined, which speaks volumes about the relative strength of each league at that time; the sixth prong of the ABA's attack was "Just Kick Their Ass," which is what ABA teams did to NBA teams in preseason games that were played with great intensity. Any pretense about the NBA's alleged vast superiority over the upstart ABA falls apart when considering that the ABA teams beat the NBA teams more often than not in head to head play: in 1974, the ABA went 15-10 versus the NBA, followed by a 16-7 edge in 1975 and a 31-17 advantage in 1976.
Episode three ended by cramming in a lot of information in the last five minutes, with scant details. The seventh prong of the ABA's attack was "Steal the Refs," and the eighth prong of the ABA's attack was "Steal Their Biggest Legend," referring to Wilt Chamberlain, who the San Diego Conquistadors signed in 1973 as a player/coach. Chamberlain's player rights were still owned by the L.A. Lakers, so Chamberlain coached the Conquistadors in 1973-74 but did not play for them. The ninth prong of the ABA's attack was "Secret Drafts." ABA executives signed college players to secret contracts so that the players could maintain their college eligibility while also being legally bound to play for a particular ABA team. The episode concluded by noting that in 1975 the New York Nets and Denver Nuggets--two of the league's most stable and successful franchises--had petitioned the NBA for membership without informing the other ABA teams. Dan Silna, co-owner of the Spirits of St. Louis, stated that he had been "betrayed by my partners," and Erving called it "Mutiny on the Bounty."
Episode four ("Party's Over") chronicled the end of the ABA, culminating in the ABA-NBA merger during which four ABA teams (Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets, San Antonio Spurs) joined the combined league while the players from the remaining ABA teams were placed into a dispersal draft.
Before the ABA's demise, the league tried everything it could do to survive. The 10th prong of the ABA's attack was "Draft High Schoolers." The Utah Stars signed Moses Malone straight out of high school in 1974, and he had an immediate impact as a rookie, averaging 18.8 ppg and 14.6 rpg (fourth in the league), including a league leading 5.5 offensive rebounds per game--the first of nine times that Malone led the ABA or NBA in that category.
The 11th prong of the ABA's attack was "Find New Basketball Fans." The league struggled financially overall, but Denver and San Antonio developed loyal fan bases, and that carried over after both teams joined the merged league in 1976.
The 12th prong of the ABA's attack was "The First Slam Dunk Contest." The ninth and final ABA All-Star Game featured the hometown Denver Nuggets--who had the best record in the league--facing All-Stars from all of the other teams. The Nuggets won, 144-138. The halftime show was the first official Slam Dunk Contest, with Julius Erving, David Thompson, Artis Gilmore, George Gervin, and Larry Kenon squaring off for the crown. Thompson was an incredible leaper and he did some spectacular dunks, but Erving stole the show with his last dunk: he trotted from one free throw line to the other end of the court, cradling the basketball like a softball in his huge hands, and then he turned around, ran back where he came from, took off with his foot straddling the free throw line, and threw down the clinching dunk. Erving had previously dunked from the free throw line in games, but this particular free throw line dunk became an iconic symbol of his special talents and of how he embodied the free spirited nature of the ABA.
Erving's Nets captured the 1976 ABA title in the league's
final season. In The Ultimate "Five Tool" Players, I explained why Erving's 1975-76 campaign is one of the greatest single season performances in pro basketball history:
Julius Erving put up the first--and most impressive--five-tool season.
In 1975-76, he led the ABA in scoring (29.3 ppg) and ranked in the top
seven or better in the league in each of the other four categories. He
also placed eighth in two point field goal percentage and seventh in
three point field goal percentage. Erving actually came very close to
being a five-tool player in each of the three previous seasons, missing
by just .6 apg and .2 spg in 1972-73, .8 rpg in 1973-74 and .6 spg in
1974-75. All of that was just a warm-up for Dr. J’s final dramatic
operation in the ABA, when he led the New York Nets to the 1976
championship over the Denver Nuggets, topping both teams in all five
statistical categories during that series: 37.7 ppg, 14.2 rpg, 6.0 apg,
3.0 spg and 2.2 bpg. Performances like that inspired the two quotes that
best summarize Erving’s impact on the game: ABA Commissioner Dave
DeBusschere once said, "Plenty of guys have been ‘The Franchise.’ For
us, Dr. J is ‘The League’"; Pat Williams, the 76ers General Manager who
acquired Erving shortly after the 1976 ABA Finals, later said of Erving,
"There’s never been anyone like him, including Michael. If Julius was
in his prime now, in this era of intense electronic media, he would be
beyond comprehension. He would blow everybody away."
After the Nets celebrated in their locker room, Erving decamped to the shower, and there is a striking series of photos of him sitting in the shower by himself, still wearing his uniform. Sitting on a couch looking at those photos nearly 50 years later, Erving said, "I think basketball has always been an escape from the real world. So I think sitting in the shower on the floor, that was like the preparation for going back to reality. Knowing this is the swan song of the ABA, it was like just looming over you. With all the joy and excitement of playing basketball, and winning trophies and all that, there is this flip side--the sadness associated with the ABA being done."
The 13th prong of the ABA's attack was "Surrender." The league had fought the good fight for nine seasons, but had never obtained a national television deal or any other revenue source large enough to keep battling against the NBA. The ABA started the 1975-76 season with nine teams, but the Utah Stars and San Diego Sails folded before the end of the campaign while the Virginia Squires limped to the finish line with a 15-68 record and then folded after not being able to make payroll. The NBA refused to accept more than four ABA teams in the merged league. The Kentucky Colonels accepted a little more than $3 million compensation from the surviving ABA teams. The Silna brothers owned the Spirits of St. Louis, and they had some leverage as the last ABA team left out of the merger, because the merger could not proceed until all underlying claims had been resolved. The Silnas negotiated a deal to receive $2.2 million in compensation for their players who were signed by NBA teams, plus a 1/7th share of each of the surviving ABA teams' visual media revenue in perpetuity. "In perpetuity" is the key concept here; based on the buyout the Colonels accepted, it appears that the NBA valued the media rights portion of this deal at around $1 million--but as the NBA became more popular and the league's media rights soared in value, the Silnas and their lawyer Donald Schupak pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars before the Silnas reached a confidential settlement with the NBA in 2014 to end the payments. That settlement was reportedly worth $500 million.
Each of the four surviving teams paid $3.2 million to join the NBA. The Nets also paid over $4 million to indemnify the New York Knicks. Erving claimed that Nets' owner Roy Boe had promised to renegotiate his contract if a merger took place, but Boe (1) asserted that he had not made such a promise and (2) did not have sufficient financial resources to pay more to Erving. Thus, the Nets sold Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers for around $2.5 million, and the 76ers then signed Erving to a six year deal worth around $3.5 million. Steve Austin was the fictional "Six Million Dollar Man," but Erving had become a real life $6 million man at a time when $6 million was a lot of money to pay to acquire any athlete--even an athlete as extraordinary as Erving, who 76ers' General Manager Pat Williams termed the "Babe Ruth of basketball" to convince the team's owner Fitz Dixon to acquire Erving. In the first post-merger season, Erving won the 1977 All-Star Game MVP and led the 76ers to the NBA Finals, where they took a 2-0 lead versus the Portland Trail Blazers before dropping four straight games. Erving won the 1981 NBA regular season MVP award--becoming the only player to win a regular season MVP award in both leagues--before teaming up with Moses Malone to lead the 76ers to the 1983 NBA title.
"Soul Power" concludes by focusing on the shameful way that the NBA shortchanged ABA players regarding pension payments. The NBA may not have a legal obligation to pay any more money than it has already paid to retired ABA players, but the NBA has abrogated its moral responsibility in a manner that is a blot on the league's name that can never be wiped out. For decades, the NBA dragged its feet, clearly waiting for as many retired ABA players to die off as possible to limit the amount that the league would pay out. In 2022, the NBA finally took some minimal steps to help retired ABA players, but the limited benefits provided are a drop in the league's vast bucket of money and not nearly enough to make up for decades of neglect. "NBA Cares" is an empty slogan papering over the reality that the NBA cares most about maximizing its profits; the NBA not only failed to credit ABA players with their years of service in the ABA, but it shortchanged the "pre-65ers," the players who laid the groundwork for the NBA to become a multi-billion dollar business.
Scott Tarter, an attorney from Indianapolis who grew up watching the Pacers and later got to know many of the retired ABA players, is the CEO of Dropping Dimes Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping retired ABA players.
Other than the unnecessary disrespect directed toward the great NBA players of the 1960s and the omission of the details of Roger Brown's story, "Soul Power" provides a compelling narrative tracking the ABA from its humble beginnings to its on court greatness to its sad demise--but it should be noted that the ABA did not really die: the legacies of Connie Hawkins, Mel Daniels, Roger Brown, Spencer Haywood, Julius Erving, Artis Gilmore, Moses Malone, George Gervin, and other great players who began their professional careers in the ABA are interwoven into basketball history, and the modern game borrowed/stole a lot from the ABA, including the three point shot, the Slam Dunk Contest, and a wide open style of play.
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Supplementary Materials
Those interested in learning more about the ABA should check out NBA TV's 2006 documentary "The Last Night of the ABA" focusing on game six of the ABA Finals but also providing a lot of meaningful background and context about the ABA.
For many years, I vigorously advocated for Roger Brown to be inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, an honor that he received posthumously in 2013. Here is more information about Roger Brown:
George Raveling--who starred as a player at Villanova before successful coaching stints at Washington State, Iowa, and USC--passed away yesterday at the age of 88. Raveling was inducted in the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013, the same year that he received the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (the Hall's highest honor other than induction). Raveling was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a Contributor in 2015. After Raveling passed away, Michael Jordan issued this statement: "For more than 40
years, he blessed my life with wisdom, encouragement, and friendship. He
was a mentor in every sense and I'll always carry deep gratitude for
his guidance. I signed with Nike because of George, and without him,
there would be no Air Jordan."
Raveling led Villanova to NIT appearances in 1959 and 1960, and he was selected by the Philadelphia Warriors in the 1960 NBA Draft but he did not play in the NBA. Instead, Raveling became an assistant coach at Villanova. Raveling not only provided security at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s
famous "I Have a Dream Speech" in 1963, but after Dr. King delivered the speech
he gave a printed copy of the speech to Raveling. Raveling donated the
copy to Villanova in 2021.
Raveling joined Lefty Driesell's staff at Maryland in 1969, thus becoming the first Black coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
In 1972, Washington State hired Raveling as head coach, and he became the first Black coach in the Pacific-8 (Pac-8) Conference (the conference is now the Pac-12). Raveling guided the Cougars to the NCAA tournament in 1980, the school's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1941. He was the UPI Pac-8 Coach of the Year in 1976, the Pac-8 Coach of the Year in 1976 (shared) and 1983, and the runner-up for the AP's national Coach of the Year award in 1983.
Raveling then moved on to Iowa, leading the Hawkeyes to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths (1985, 1986). He was an assistant coach to Bobby Knight for the 1984 Team USA squad that won Olympic gold, and he was an assistant coach to John Thompson for the 1988 Team USA squad that won Olympic bronze (the last time Team USA was comprised entirely of college players).
Raveling coached USC from 1986-1994, winning the Kodak National Coach of the Year award (1992), the Basketball Weekly Coach of the Year award (1992), and the CBS/Chevrolet National Coach of the Year award (1994). On September 25, 1994, his jeep was blindsided in a collision, and Raveling suffered nine broken ribs, a fractured pelvis, a fractured clavicle, and a collapsed lung. He was just 57 years old, but he retired from coaching to focus on his lengthy rehabilitation program. Raveling finished with a 335-293 career record in 22 seasons, including six NCAA Tournament appearances and five 20-win seasons. He had a losing record in his first season at each of the three schools that he coached, and he had a winning record in his last season at each of those three schools.
After he returned to health, Raveling worked as a basketball analyst for CBS and Fox Sports, served as the Director for International Basketball for Nike, and authored several books. His most recent book (published in 2025), What You're Made For, distills a lifetime of wisdom into chapters such as "To Be a Trailblazer" and "To Serve Others." Raveling's 2013 conversation/interview with Hubie Brown is a master class of basketball--and life--wisdom, and is essential viewing.
Frank Layden Coached With a Smile and Left the Fans Smiling
Frank Layden, who passed away on July 9, 2025 at the age of 93, was the second Utah coach in Jazz history after the franchise spent its first five seasons based in New Orleans. The Jazz did not post a winning record or make a playoff appearance in New Orleans, nor did they do so in their first four Utah seasons--but they went 45-37 and reached the second round in their fifth Utah season (1983-84), which was Layden's second full season on the Jazz bench. That year, Layden won the Coach of the Year award, the Executive of the Year award, and the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship award--a trifecta that is unlikely to ever be matched, as only a handful of other people have won even two out of those three awards, much less won two of them in the same year.
After his great success in 1984, Layden led the Jazz to four more playoff appearances in the next four seasons before suddenly retiring with an 11-6 record in the 1988-89 season. When he retired from coaching, Layden said, "I think America takes all sports too seriously.Sometimes in the NBA, you feel like a dog. You age seven years in one.
The pressure in the NBA is intense. It's time to have my time." Two-time NBA scoring champion (1981, 1984) Adrian Dantley was Utah's best player during most of Layden's time with the Jazz, with John Stockton arriving in 1984-85 (but not becoming a full-time starter until 1987-88) and Karl Malone arriving in 1985-86 (but not becoming an All-Star until 1988). Layden returned to the bench in 1998 for a brief stint as the coach of the WNBA's Utah Starzz before retiring from coaching for good, citing his desire to "enjoy life."
Layden posted a 277-294 record as an NBA head coach, which is not bad considering the condition of the Jazz franchise when he took over. Layden had a strong basketball pedigree dating back to his time as a player at Niagara, where he was a teammate/roommate of the legendary Hubie Brown. Layden served as an assistant coach for Brown with the Atlanta Hawks before joining the Jazz.
However, Layden will be remembered for more than his basketball acumen or his won/loss record. He had a jovial personality, and he would banter good-naturedly with fans, one time asking a heckler if he paid for his seats. Layden explained that he could accept barbs from paying customers but not from the "freebies." Layden co-hosted two NBA blooper tapes with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marv Albert.
It seems like a lot of the characters and quirky personalities of the game like Frank Layden have been replaced by "quants" (I call them "stat gurus") who are long on spreadsheets and short on one-liners. There is a place in basketball for analytics and data (properly utilized), but there is also a place for subjectivity and just good old fashioned fun--and Layden understood that.
Milwaukee Bucks Beat Philadelphia 76ers 135-127 in Hubie Brown's Final Broadcast
For Hubie Brown, the game is always the most important thing, so in deference to his approach I will focus first on what happened in Hubie Brown's last game as an analyst before shifting my attention to Brown's legacy and the tributes paid to him during a very special and well-produced broadcast.
The Milwaukee Bucks sans two-time regular season MVP and 2021 NBA Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 135-127. Prior to the game, Brown noted that both of these teams must improve defensively, which he
emphasized is a collective effort and not just a matter of individual
one on one defense. The final score indicates that neither team is a defensive juggernaut, to put it mildly.
Brown's pregame choices for players to watch proved to be very prescient: Damian Lillard scored a season-high and game-high 43 points to lead the Bucks to victory, and Tyrese Maxey scored a team-high 39 points in a valiant effort for the 76ers. Before the game, Brown praised Lillard's three point shooting and his complete game as a scorer/playmaker/rebounder, and he complimented Maxey's complete game plus his unstoppable off the dribble moves. Lillard shot 14-27 from the field--including 8-15 from three point range--while passing for a game-high eight assists and grabbing seven rebounds. Maxey nearly matched Lillard shot for shot and play for play, shooting 16-23 from the field--including 5-10 from beyond the arc--while dishing for five assists and pulling down four rebounds.
Gary Trent Jr. scored 23 points off of the bench for the Bucks, and Bobby Portis added 18 points, a game-high 13 rebounds, and five assists as the Bucks' reserves outscored the 76ers' reserves 54-35.
The 76ers' purported "Big Three" combined to score 78 points, but this is an example of how numbers can be deceiving. Maxey did as much as he could and he played hard at both ends of the court, but Joel Embiid (27 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, five turnovers) lumbered up and down the court, looked a step and a half slow on defense, and accumulated his statistics based more on size/raw talent than on consistently playing championship-level basketball. Paul George drifted around the court, putting up solid starter numbers (12 points, six assists, five rebounds), but having little impact on the game's outcome.
During a defense-optional first quarter when Milwaukee outscored Philadelphia 40-39, Brown mentioned Lillard's ability to score at all levels, draw fouls, and make free throws, and he noted Lillard's willingness to take the big shot in late game situations. After Lillard made a long three pointer, Brown quipped to his play by play partner Mike Breen, "If he steps back any deeper, he's going to be with you and me at the table."
Brown mentioned how much he loves Philadelphia's Kyle Lowry, who he described as the "heart and soul" of Toronto's 2019 championship team for Coach Nick Nurse before joining Nurse with the 76ers. Lowry, who is battling a hip injury, played just six minutes, and has had a limited impact this season, but the 76ers desperately need more players who play with the energy and hustle he displays when his body is right.
What struck me most during this game is how bad Embiid looks, despite his superficially impressive statistics. Embiid did not jump for rebounds in his area on several possessions, he did not run hard, he rarely fought for low post position, and he did not set strong screens. Embiid spent most of his time on offense drifting around the perimeter, and he did a poor job protecting the paint on defense. Yes, he scored nearly a point per minute while leading the team in rebounds and tying for the team lead in assists, which shows that even at half speed he is still a very productive player statistically--but a team cannot win a championship when its best player is out of shape, does not play hard, and is chronically unavailable. This is not a one game assessment/indictment of Embiid; what he showed during this game--the gaudy numbers and the small impact on team success--is what he has shown throughout his career, and it is sheer folly to believe/expect that he is going to show anything else on the back end of his career. To top things off, sideline reporter Lisa Salters dropped a bombshell: Embiid told her that he will likely need another knee surgery, followed by a long rehab process. Embiid will turn 31 in a month, and he has never played in more than 68 games in a season (a high water mark that he reached in 2022), so it is fair to wonder if he will ever be fully healthy and available to play on a regular basis.
I have consistently said that it is ridiculous to assert that the 76ers have "tanked to the top" and that if they ever win a championship with Embiid that will happen despite the infamous "Process," not because of it.
The Bucks were ahead 65-63 at halftime even though Maxey had 26 first half points and Embiid had 24 first half points, the first time this season that they both scored at least 20 points in a half. Embiid already looked gassed by the second quarter, and he had just three points in the second half.
The Bucks led by as many as 25 points in the second half before the 76ers cut the margin during garbage time. Breen asked Brown what went wrong for the 76ers, and Brown succinctly noted the 76ers' two problems: bad shot selection, and not playing as aggressively as they had played in the first half. It should be added that both problems can be traced to the basketball habits of Embiid, the team's most talented player; half of his field goal attempts came from beyond the arc even though he was the biggest and strongest player on the court, and his casual approach to defense is not likely to inspire supreme effort from anyone on his squad. It matters little that Embiid shot a high percentage from beyond the arc (4-7) or that he has a good shooting touch; for the 76ers to be a championship contender, they need for Embiid to dominate the paint while shooting timely three pointers, instead of regularly shooting three pointers while occasionally posting up. If Embiid is not physically capable of playing the right way, then the team should shut him down until his body is right; if he is not willing to play the right way, then the coaching staff and management must confront Embiid about this.
Throughout the telecast, Brown suggested that at full strength both of these teams are capable of challenging Boston, Cleveland, and New York for conference supremacy. Theoretically, that may be true, but from a practical standpoint it looks highly unlikely that the 76ers will ever be healthy enough or focused enough to advance past the second round (and they are on course to not even make the Play In Tournament this season). As for the Bucks, their ceiling is higher than the 76ers' ceiling: with a healthy Antetokounmpo teaming up with Lillard, Portis, Brook Lopez, and the recently acquired Kyle Kuzma, the Bucks are capable of reaching the Eastern Conference Finals, but anything beyond that seems out of reach.
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Milwaukee was the most fitting location for Hubie Brown's final broadcast, because that is where his NBA journey began in 1972 when Larry Costello hired him as his assistant coach (at that time, NBA teams only had one assistant coach, not an army of assistants). During this game, Breen and Brown seamlessly included details about Brown's remarkable basketball journey into the broadcast without detracting from their attention to the live action.
Brown successfully coached at the high school, college, and professional levels. After working for Costello in Milwaukee, Brown led the Kentucky Colonels to the 1975 ABA title before coaching three NBA teams: Atlanta Hawks (1976-81), New York Knicks (1982-86), Memphis Grizzlies (2002-04). He won the NBA Coach of the Year award in 1978 and 2004, and he finished third in the balloting in three other years (1979-80, 1984).
Brown first did analysis on nationally televised NBA games for the USA Network in 1981. After he coached the Knicks, Brown did analysis for CBS from late 1986 until 1990, and then he worked for TNT from the early 1990s until he became Memphis' coach in 2002. Brown left the Grizzlies due to unspecified health reasons, but he soon joined ABC/ESPN. Brown was initially the network's lead analyst, and he worked the 2005 and 2006 NBA Finals in that capacity, but then he was replaced as the lead analyst by the Mark Jackson-Jeff Van Gundy duo. Brown continued to do games for ABC/ESPN, and he also did games for ESPN Radio, including 14 NBA Finals. Overall, Brown was a commentator for a record 18 NBA Finals. In addition to his success as both a coach and a commentator, Brown was a tremendous clinician at basketball camps in the U.S. and at basketball camps/clinics held around the world. Breen said that Brown has taught basketball to more people than anyone, and that statement is not hyperbole.
Brown said that his 50-plus years in pro basketball as a coach and media
member went by very quickly, and that what he thinks about the most are
the people who opened doors for him. Brown mentioned that working for Costello provided the equivalent of a Master's degree and a Doctorate in basketball in just two years. Brown said that he learned a lot from Costello, from teaching at various clinics, and from speaking at a variety of corporate engagements.
During the first quarter, Mike Tirico made a live appearance, and he chatted with Brown and Breen. Tirico remembered calling Lillard's series-winning shot in 2014 with Brown by his side, and he reminisced about calling Kobe Bryant's 60 point career finale alongside Brown.
Breen said that Brown has been an "NBA father" to his play by play partners, and he said that it is a "privilege" to call a game with Brown.
When Mark Jones joined the broadcast, he talked about the excitement he felt the first time
that he worked with Brown, and he spoke about Brown providing pointers for his
basketball playing kids. Like all of Brown's broadcast partners, Jones mentioned that Brown treated him like family.
Brown
later talked about the importance of making everyone feel included on a team, whether that team is a sports team or a broadcasting team. Brown explained that he learned an important lesson about team
chemistry while assisting Costello, who put Brown in charge of working
with the last three players on the bench at a time when NBA rosters had
just 10 players. Brown said that on a strong team like the Bucks during
that era, the last three players on the roster did not play very much
and were often upset with their limited roles. When Brown became a head coach, he lengthened his
player rotation to give more players playing time and decrease the
number of dissatisfied players on the bench.
Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, who played for Costello and Brown in Milwaukee, recorded a message during which he noted that when Hubie Brown speaks everyone listens and respects what he says.
When Dave Pasch made a live appearance, he pointed out that it is rare
to be an icon in just one field, but that Brown is an icon in two fields
(coaching and commentating). Pasch said that Brown always asks his play
by play announcer how he is doing, and if he had enough time to talk.
Pasch quipped that just once he wanted to mess with Brown and say that
he had not had enough time to talk.
Basketball Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing, who played for Brown when Brown coached the Knicks, praised Brown's "vast knowledge" of basketball.
Hall of Famer Pau Gasol called it a "privilege" to play for Brown in Memphis.
Other people who recorded tributes to Brown include Indiana Coach Rick Carlisle, Miami Coach Erik Spoelstra, and NBA Commissoner Adam Silver.
ESPN/ABC ran a graphic stating that Brown coached against or broadcasted
80% of the players in NBA history, a statistical nugget that is
stunning but not surprising.
Near the end of the broadcast, Breen shared with the audience a look at "The Hubie Sheet," the meticulous notes that Brown brought to each game and then marked up during the broadcast:
Brown downplayed this, saying that being prepared is part of the job--but the way that Brown treated each game like a masterpiece deserving the most careful thought and analysis demonstrates his dedication to his craft.
After the game, the referees presented the game ball to Brown, who joked about receiving a present
from them despite leading the league in technical fouls along with Kevin
Loughery.
Next, ESPN/ABC ran a piece featuring several of Brown's colleagues reminiscing about Brown. Dick Stockton is one of the most gracious people who I have ever had the privilege of interviewing,
and he made an eloquent tribute to Brown: "I hope that the viewing
audience of NBA basketball realize what kind of a treasure Hubie Brown
has been in a brilliant career which longevity is beyond comparison. I
worked with a lot of different people in a lot of sports in my 55 year
career as a broadcaster but he stands out because of his love of the
game and the way he expressed the game."
Breen asked Brown to summarize his thoughts about his career. Brown said that he learned from his father to always give 100%, and that he viewed both coaching and broadcasting as being part of a team whose job is to teach. Brown thanked all of his well-wishers on behalf of his family, and he noted that the day was almost overwhelming. Brown mentioned that a cardinal principle that he always upheld is to never underestimate the IQ of the audience.
Brown deserved all of the heartfelt praise that he received, but I would be remiss if I did not note that the same employer that is gushing over him as he departs relegated him to second tier status for most of his tenure with ESPN/ABC; he was only the lead analyst at ESPN/ABC for a brief time, but he is the best NBA analyst of
all-time, and he should have been on the number one team for a lot longer than he was. Howard Cosell once declared, "I never played the game"
(which was also the title of his 1985 autobiography), meaning not only
that he never played pro sports but that he never stooped to playing the
game of being popular at the expense of being authentic to his values. Based on ESPN's other hiring choices, it is fair to assume that the network chose "entertainment"--which is, after all, what the "E" stands for in ESPN--over in depth analysis. I mean no disrespect to Van Gundy or Jackson, who both did well during their time at ESPN, but Brown is a better analyst than either of them.
I interviewed Hubie Brown in 2006 and 2009.
My approach to basketball writing has always focused on the perspective
of a coach/scout analyzing the skill set strengths and weaknesses of
players and teams, and then determining what the optimal strategy should be
for a team based on a skill set analysis of that team and the opposing
team. This analytical approach is heavily influenced by Brown, and I
agree with Brown that you don't talk down to the audience, but rather you
provide high level information to the audience with the belief and
expectation that the audience can follow along and will appreciate being
educated. I can crack jokes and be silly, but my primary focus is
spreading knowledge, not producing one liners or click-bait hot takes. During the
time that I covered the NBA as a credentialed media member at regular
season games, playoff games, and All-Star Games, I cherished the
opportunity to speak in person with coaches and scouts. I learned a lot
from those conversations, but those conversations also reaffirmed that I
analyze and perceive the game the way that coaches and scouts do, in
contrast to the way that many media members who favor sensationalism and
superficiality do.
I will miss Brown very much, because for more than half of my life I have viewed any game that he did as must-see, appointment television. Anyone who would like to learn more about Brown should watch Brown's 2013 conversation with George Raveling, which includes timeless wisdom not only about basketball, but about life, as
well as a wealth of information about basketball history from the 1950s through the 2000s. Recently, NBA.com's Ben Lambert did an interesting interview with Brown.
Hubie Brown was an excellent coach, a premier clinician, and the greatest NBA analyst of all-time. His presence on the NBA airwaves will be missed, but he will never be forgotten and his influence is indelible.
Raveling posted the conversation in 11 parts on YouTube. Here are the links, plus notes about each part:
Part 1:
Raveling concluded his introduction by declaring that Brown is regarded by acclamation as the greatest clinician in basketball history.
Brown recalled that when he was an assistant coach for Larry Costello with the Milwaukee Bucks, Costello had 11 different sets just to get the ball to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. "It was a mind-blowing experience" for Brown to learn Costello's offensive philosophies. Brown said that he developed the concise way of speaking that is a trademark of his broadcasting style from his experiences teaching at the Five-Star Basketball Camp when he made a conscious effort to be mindful that a coach/teacher must be aware of the attention spans of players/students.
Part 2:
Brown reminisced about his playing career at Niagara, and about his interactions with Larry Costello and Frank Layden, who later became successful NBA head coaches. Brown said, "I owe everything to Larry Costello," who hired Brown to be an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks, thus giving Brown his first opportunity to coach in the professional ranks.Layden was Brown's teammate/roommate at Niagara, and later served as one of Brown's assistant coaches with the Atlanta Hawks.
Part 3:
Brown recalled becoming a high school basketball coach, and realizing that his future would be in basketball, not baseball. Brown also discussed playing basketball for the Army's team, and playing basketball in the Eastern Basketball League, which at that time was stacked with NBA-caliber players who had been banned from the NBA because of their actual or presumed associations with point shaving/fixing games.
Part 4:
Brown discussed his experience coaching baseball, basketball, and football at the high school level.He said that coaching high school sports for about $17,000 a year was the happiest time of his life--but it is evident that he also wanted to make his mark at higher levels, and so he took a pay cut to $7000 a year to take his first college job at William & Mary before going to Duke as an assistant coach to Vic Bubas.
Brown talked with reverence about Al LoBalbo, who mentored him and many other coaches. Brown described LoBalbo as "the ultimate clinician," the progenitor of the "Ball-You-Man" defensive concept utilized by Bobby Knight and many other Hall of Fame coaches, and the biggest single influence on his life other than his father. Brown said that one great piece of advice that LoBalbo gave him was to never use a whistle as a coach, but to command attention and respect with his voice alone.
Part 5:
Brown talked about his experiences working at Five-Star Basketball Camp, and some of the greatest players from that camp who made it to the NBA--and some of the greatest players from that camp who got sidetracked and did not make it to the NBA. Brown recalled that he used to tell the campers that the coaches are not impressed by how great they may think that they are, because the coaches have already seen Moses Malone, Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, and many other future Hall of Famers, plus other highly talented players who went the wrong way due to drugs, alcohol, or having a bad attitude. Brown told the campers that they have to choose which way they are going in life.
Brown said that when he coached high school basketball he insisted that his players participate in other sports as well, for two reasons: 1) He wanted them to benefit from the wisdom of the other coaches; 2) he felt that playing multiple sports provided the maximum opportunity for players to earn college scholarships and thus get a free education. Brown cited a specific example of one of his high school basketball players who ended up getting a football scholarship after first balking at the notion of playing any sport other than basketball. Brown added that his personal experience was that baseball was his first love, and if he had been limited to just playing baseball then he would have never had the career in basketball that he had.
Part 6:
Brown talked about serving as an assistant coach along with Chuck Daly on Vic Bubas' coaching staff at Duke. Raveling noted that this is perhaps the only time that one college coaching staff had two future Hall of Famers serving as assistant coaches. Brown called Bubas "the most organized man that I've ever met in my lifetime." Brown said that Daly's mantra was "Shooting makes up for a multitude of sins." At that time, Duke struggled to recruit the elite athletes, and thus focused on recruiting players who were great shooters.
Brown noted that after working alongside Daly he made a point each time he coached a team to have one player who was a pure shooter who could not run, jump, or play defense, because it is possible to "hide" one such player but it is not possible to "hide" two of them on the court at the same time.
Brown did not receive any college head coaching offers during his time at Duke, and he was seriously considering going back to New Jersey to coach high school sports before he received a call from Larry Costello, who hired Brown to be an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks at $20,000 for the first year and $22,000 for the second year. What impressed Brown the most about coaching in the NBA was how hard the team's two best players worked: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson set a high standard of professionalism that everyone else then followed. Brown also praised Bob Dandridge as "one of the greatest small forwards to play the game at both ends of the floor." Brown said that after his tenure in Milwaukee, every time he became a head coach the first thing he did was gather his players around, tell them how hard Abdul-Jabbar and Robertson worked, and emphasize that the players can either do things the right way by working hard or else they can leave: "We will never fine you. You will always fine yourself for your lack of professionalism. I've been with two of the greatest ever. They worked, and you're going to work." Brown said that a coach has to set the tone early, and make the expectations clear.
Part 7:
Brown described taking his first head coaching job in the professional ranks, signing a three year deal with the ABA's Kentucky Colonels in 1974 for $45,000 the first year, $50,000 the second year, and $55,000 the third year. He said that his 1974-75 Kentucky team--featuring Hall of Famers Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel, and Louie Dampier--was by far the best team he ever coached. The 1975 Colonels won the ABA championship, storming through the playoffs with a 12-3 record.
Part 8:
After the Colonels were not part of the 1976 ABA-NBA merger, Brown became coach of the Atlanta Hawks. The legendary Ted Turner bought the team. Turner also owned the fledgling TBS network, and the Atlanta Braves. The Hawks had suffered three straight losing seasons, and they went 31-51 in Brown's first year with the team. Turner met with Brown after the season, told Brown that the payroll for the players would be cut from $1,400,000 to $800,000, and the team would be the worst team in the league for the next two years so that they could get the number one overall draft pick twice (this was before the NBA instituted the Draft Lottery). Brown described how Turner told him all of this while pacing back and forth in his gigantic office tossing a pen in the air that he kept dropping instead of catching! After Turner finished outlining his plan, he asked Brown, "What do you think?"
Brown replied, "How about if we try winning?" A stunned Turner asks Brown how the team would win on an $800,000 budget if the team lost on a $1,400,000 budget. Brown said that he needed to have total control of which players they brought into camp, and that the team would use a variety of full court presses based on the game situation. Brown led the Hawks to the playoffs with a 41-41 record, and in the next two seasons the Hawks went 46-36 and 50-32, winning the 1980 Central Division title. During that period Brown and his scouts scoured the country for overlooked players, and found gems such as Charlie Criss, a 29 year old 5-8 guard who had been playing in the CBA (the successor to the Eastern League, Brown's old stomping grounds) and with the Washington Generals.
Brown said that Turner did not know anything about basketball, but he gave Turner credit for not interfering with the way that he picked the players and coached the team.
Part 9:
Brown shared more memories about coaching the Hawks under Ted Turner, including the time when Turner offered Brown the opportunity to be the Atlanta Braves' manager! Brown thought that the idea was ludicrous, but he asked Turner what Turner planned to pay him to coach the Hawks and manage the Braves at the same time. Turner exclaimed that he would not pay Brown anything extra because if Brown did this he would be in the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Baseball Hall of Fame. At that point, Brown told Turner that they could not talk about this any more.
Part 10:
Brown coached the Hawks until 1981. Next, he became a color commentator for USA Network, which broadcast NBA doubleheaders (much like TNT has been doing for the past several decades). Brown then spent five years coaching the New York Knicks before enjoying a long career as a broadcaster first with CBS and then with TNT. Brown's New York teams were injury-riddled, but they reached the playoffs in 1983 (losing to the eventual champion Philadelphia 76ers) and 1984 (losing to the eventual champion Boston Celtics).
After TNT went under different management and reduced Brown's broadcasting role, Brown accepted an offer from Jerry West to return to NBA coaching in 2002 at the age of 69. Brown spent three seasons coaching the Memphis Grizzlies. Brown led Memphis to a 50-32 record in 2003-04, earning his second NBA Coach of the Year award (he won his first in 1978 with the Hawks).
Part 11:
Brown talked about being inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Brown said that he was "shocked" and felt humbled when he was first told that he would be honored. During the months after the April announcement until the enshinement ceremony, Brown reflected on his life and all the people who had helped him along the way, and tried to figure out how to include all of that into his speech. Here is Brown's Hall of Fame enshrinement speech:
Raveling concluded by asking Brown how he wants to be remembered. Here is Brown's reply:
"I always wanted to be referred to as a teacher. I wanted to be a person that you would think of as being organized and never cheated--whether it was 55 minutes of business law in the classroom, or whether it was a two hour practice, an hour and a half practice, a three hour practice, that we never cheated you in your time. I wanted them to always think that even though you might not like the approach, but that we tried to get them to reach their potential. If they would just think of me in that light, I would be very happy because basketball has taken me and my wife around the world. Basketball changed me from being a corner guy hanging out to having a major future. And then, through the clinics, and in the world clinics, and then when Jack Ramsay and I and Calvin Murphy and [Bill] Walton went to 25 countries for the NBA, we had a chance to affect a lot of FIBA national basketball teams...As we both know, it's no different than any other business that you're in: you've got to prepare, you never underestimate the audience, you never underestimate their IQ and how much they want. So you never talk down. You talk to them. What you're hoping for is for them to raise their game IQ-wise by your mistakes, by mistakes that you've made. And don't be afraid to tell them about your mistakes...I know a lot of people say Hubie's so intense, but that's why I go always back to those two guys, my Dad and Al LoBalbo." Brown paused for a moment and became teary-eyed before concluding, "They forced you to pursue excellence, and to never cheat the people that you're responsible for. That's what you're hoping for."
Doncic is Doncic, Washington Shines Early, and Irving Dominates Fourth Quarter as Mavericks Beat Thunder, 105-101
While it is true that game one winners win NBA playoff series more than 75% of the time, there are situations when the better team is flat for whatever reason in game one but then subsequently takes over. It remains to be seen if the defending champion Denver Nuggets have taken over versus the Minnesota Timberwolves, but Denver's game three rout put an end to all of the sweep talk and all of the slanderous talk about Nikola Jokic's legacy. In the other Western Conference second round series, the Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the Dallas Mavericks 117-95 in game one, but the Mavericks seized homecourt advantage with a 119-110 game two win and now the Mavericks are up 2-1 after beating the Thunder 105-101 in game three.
P.J. Washington scored a team-high 27 points on 11-23 field goal shooting, including 5-12 from three point range; the Thunder are conceding corner threes in general--and corner threes to Washington in particular--so even though the Mavericks did not have a great three point shooting performance overall (11-33, .333) they must be happy to be given so many open treys from the shortest three point distance around the arc. Luka Doncic limped through 41 minutes with assorted injuries, but he still produced 22 points, a game-high 15 rebounds, and five assists. Kyrie Irving also had 22 points, and he dished for a team-high seven assists.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 31 points, passed for six assists, and led the Thunder in both rebounds (10) and blocked shots (game-high five). Jalen Williams added 16 points and a game-high eight assists, but overall the Thunder are being pushed around, and slender starter Josh Giddey has been rendered so ineffective that he only played 13 minutes. The Mavericks' size and physicality have been the dominant themes starting with game two, and it is not clear that the Thunder can match up in those areas. The Mavericks won the rebounding battle 48-41, which helped them to launch 10 more field goal attempts than the Thunder. The Thunder outshot the Mavericks from the field .469 to .429 but still lost; it is more likely that the Mavericks will start shooting better than that the Thunder will suddenly become bigger, stronger, and tougher. The Mavericks outscored the Thunder 52-38 in the paint; regardless of what "stat gurus" insist, the truth is that games, series, and championships are won in the paint, not on the perimeter.
Hubie Brown provided the color commentary for ABC. He also did the ESPN color commentary for Dallas's game two win. During his pregame remarks, he praised Doncic's toughness for playing through injuries, and he also highlighted Doncic's pinpoint passing that creates easy scoring opportunities for his teammates. Brown said that Gilgeous-Alexander "is not unstoppable, but if you're guarding him you've got a full night's work ahead of you."
Brown noted early in the game that the big man rolling to the hoop is wide open for the Mavericks: "You've got to be happy if you're Dallas because everything is in the painted area." The Mavericks jumped out to a 15-7 lead, and even though the rest of the game featured runs by both teams the overall pattern had been set: Dallas is more physical, and Dallas can create more easy scoring opportunities.
The Thunder's Lu Dort picked up his second foul with 41 seconds left in the first quarter, forcing him to the bench. Brown mentioned that Dort's absence not only removes a top defender but also slows down the Thunder's running game.
Throughout the game, Brown emphasized that Dallas needs contributions from the bench in general, and from Tim Hardaway Jr. and Josh Green in particular. Dereck Lively II proved to be Dallas' most productive bench player in this game, contributing 12 points and eight rebounds in 27 minutes as Dallas' bench scored 23 points compared to 24 points for Oklahoma City's bench. Dallas can live with a near draw in this category as long as not only Doncic and Irving are cooking but Washington is also having a huge impact.
The Thunder led 52-51 at halftime, but the way that they built that slender margin was not sustainable: they were outrebounded 26-16 and only attempted 38 field goals compared to Dallas' 50, but they outshot Dallas .526 to .400 from the field. Once both teams' field goal percentages reverted to the mean--the Thunder shot .499 from the field during the regular season, while the Mavericks shot .481--the Mavericks regained the lead, outshooting the Thunder .463 to .419 in the second half.
Perhaps Jason Kidd rubbed media members the wrong way during his career, because otherwise it is difficult to understand why he does not receive more credit for being an excellent coach. Brown pointed out during the second half how effective the Mavericks' "soft matchup 2-3 zone" had been.
The Mavericks led by as much as nine points during the fourth quarter, but the Thunder trimmed the margin to 92-89 before Doncic converted a layup at the 6:23 mark. Soon after that, Lively checked in, and the Thunder intentionally fouled him four times during the remainder of the game. Lively shot 5-8 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter and 8-12 overall. The math behind the intentional foul strategy is that if it holds the opposing team to one point per possession or less then the fouling team can either extend a lead or gain ground by making two point shots or three point shots--but that basic math does not take into account several basketball realities, including (1) the team that is fouled can set up an entrenched halfcourt defense, (2) intentional fouling slows down the game and thus kills the fouling team's fastbreak opportunities, (3) intentional fouling sends the message to both teams that the fouling team believes that it cannot win the game by getting a series of defensive stops, and (4) even a bad free throw shooter will likely hit a few free throws when given the chance to develop a shooting rhythm. Thus, intentional fouling ends up conceding more free points than "expected" mathematically while also making it more difficult for the fouling team to score.
By the time the Thunder stopped fouling Lively intentionally, the Mavericks led 100-95.
Irving has been a big-time scorer throughout his career, but so far in this series he has been picking his spots to score. After scoring 14 points in the first three quarters, he had eight fourth quarter points on 4-4 field goal shooting to close the deal.
The Thunder earned the number one seed in the Western Conference--albeit on a tiebreak over the Denver Nuggets and just one game ahead of the third place Minnesota Timberwolves--and they are a young team on the rise, but to win a championship a team must be able to withstand physical play, rebound and defend the paint; those three areas are weaknesses that will be difficult for the Thunder to overcome versus the Mavericks.
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