Los Angeles Legend Joe Caldwell
I interviewed Joe Caldwell several times many years ago, and I included his insights in an article about his life and career and also in an article about the art and science of NBA defense. Those articles focused primarily on the ABA and the NBA, with some discussion about Caldwell's achievements in college and as a member of the gold-medal winning Team USA squad in the 1964 Olympics.
Caldwell also had a decorated high school career as one of the top athletes from the Los Angeles area. Caldwell attended Fremont High School, which was affiliated with The Southern League, a high school athletic conference of L.A. city schools from the 1950s through the 1980s. Caldwell is a member of the California Interscholastic Section (CIF)-Los Angeles Hall of Fame.
The CIF-L.A. Hall of Fame video tribute to Caldwell notes that he won
the 1960 City of Los Angeles Player of the Year award after averaging
24.8 ppg while leading Fremont to the city championship, and that
Caldwell was a champion high jumper in high school.
Dennis Love, who has put together a website about The Southern League, informed me that Caldwell was inducted in the Southern League Hall of Fame in 2007. Love also stated that the Los Angeles Unified School District is putting together a district-wide Hall of Fame booklet that will recognize the Southern League Hall of Fame members.
Love is trying to find a copy of Caldwell's autobiography Banned From Basketball. My understanding is that the book is out of print, but if anyone has an extra copy or knows where to buy one you can contact me or leave a message in the comments section of this article.
Labels: ABA, Arizona State, Carolina Cougars, Dennis Love, Fremont, Joe Caldwell, Southern League Hall of Fame, St. Louis Hawks
posted by David Friedman @ 2:27 PM
The Art and Science of NBA Defense
This article was originally published on February 2, 2005 at Suite101.com. The Revolution Will be Televised (and analyzed frame by frame)NBA defense has reached an unprecedented level of sophistication. Former All-Star Hersey Hawkins says, "I can think about my first year in the league and how detailed scouting reports have become about stopping other teams. By the time I retired (in 2001) I was getting books--15-20 pages on the other team, their sets and what my player likes to do." Videotape was just starting to be used as a scouting tool when Hawkins entered the league in 1989, but now coaches scour footage frame by frame, looking for any individual and team tendencies that can provide an edge.
Johnny Bach, Phil Jackson's "defensive coordinator" on the Chicago Bulls' first three championship teams, has seen a lot of changes during his more than 50 years of college and professional coaching: "I think scouting is far better than it ever was...we have it on DVD and we have it edited. I don't think players had as much information as they have now and I think it contributes to playing the scorers better--deciding who are the scorers and really concentrating on how we're going to push them out a little further (away from their favorite areas). You have so much information available--the statistics alone, then you have the pictorial review that I can produce to a team. What we call 'criticals'--out of bounds plays, what they do after a timeout, what they do when the score's tied, what's the last shot of the quarter--all these things are broken down now."
Coaching staffs use the DVD information to adjust their game plans in the same way that chess masters employ prepared sequences of moves to catch their opponents by surprise. Bach adds, "Believe me, every coach is trying to find something that works well for his team--and on the other bench there is a staff saying, 'You're not going to be able to run exactly what you practiced. We're going to take you out of it.'"
Looking back on his three decades in professional basketball, two-time NBA Executive of the Year (1990, 1997) Bob Bass concludes, "There is no question that defense is really so much better now than it was. I mean, you can't even compare it. We didn't have videotape-we had 16 millimeter film. It is really difficult to break down plays with that. We just didn't have the technology that you have today."
Bass mentions another change that happened in the past 15-20 years: "Coaches got a lot more conservative because they're trying to protect their jobs. When they have total control of the game, they can protect their jobs a lot more." He cites a specific example: "I recall one coach--I won't mention his name. He would be down by 10 with two minutes or something to go. He would never allow his team to shoot three pointers because he would rather get beat by six or eight--sometimes when you come down and fire up a bunch of threes when you are down 10 you can end up getting beat by 20 in those last two minutes. I'll never forget that guy. He did that on a consistent basis." This coach was trying to manufacture a statistical justification--such as a good ranking in team point differential or points allowed--to keep his job even if his team had a losing record.
Observations on the 2004 NBA FinalsJoe Caldwell's tough defense against Hall of Fame guards (including Oscar Robertson) and Hall of Fame forwards (including Julius Erving) earned him two All-Star selections in the NBA and two more in the ABA. Caldwell describes the defensive trap that current Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown implemented when Caldwell played for the ABA's Carolina Cougars: "We let a guy (offensive player) take off by the out of bounds line heading toward his goal, but he's going down the sideline. We had a thing where he'd get to a certain point and then it was up to that guard to make him either turn and come back or go behind his back and when he did that, it was my job--or whoever was in the middle--to shut that position off. They don't do that stuff now. He tried to do it in Detroit. They came close to it, but they're still not fast enough. If L.A. had been playing right they could have beaten them, but they weren't playing right."
Caldwell explains, "L.A. was trying to dribble the ball up. You can't dribble the ball up against that. You have to pass it. They didn't do any of that, right? Fisher wants to dribble it up, right? Kobe wants to dribble it up. I was like, 'What are you doing?'" Caldwell notes that Gary Payton's well documented struggles during the series only compounded the problem for the Lakers: "When he tried to dribble it up, he was dribbling it off his foot or going too fast and he was passing it at the wrong time. That's what the trap does--it makes you do things that you are not supposed to do. So Larry Brown is a master at it. He's been doing it for (over) 25 years."
Caldwell suggests that the Lakers should have countered the trap with quick passes to break down the defense, creating fast break opportunities that would have put a lot of pressure on Piston center Ben Wallace, who served as the last line of defense; Caldwell concludes, "He's not going to block all the shots. He might block (some) in the first half, but in the second half he's going to be too tired."
Speed KillsUsing speed and passing to relentlessly attack the defense is not a new idea. In the 1950s and 1960s the Boston Celtics won championships with a wide open style that encouraged players to adjust to situations on the fly. Hall of Fame point guard Bob Cousy, the maestro conductor of the Celtic fast break, declares, "Basketball is more of a free-flowing game of instinct and reaction to an action...Normally people associate basketball players with height, but in my judgment speed and quickness are what separate the men from the boys...Every time down the floor is a different situation. Your action is a reaction to what the defender is doing. We (the Celtics) relied primarily on transition rather than set plays. There was always constant movement. We were always trying to impose the maximum pressure on the opponent whether it was on defense or offense."
This year the Phoenix Suns, with Steve Nash orchestrating a relentless fast break attack, embody the "free flowing" game that Cousy loves. The 2005 playoffs should be very interesting--will teams trap Nash and force him to give up the ball early, preferring to concede open jump shots instead of fast break dunks? Will teams disable the Suns' fast break by pounding the small Phoenix team on the offensive glass? Will DVD analysis of the Suns reveal some other weakness that can be exploited?
Labels: Bob Bass, Bob Cousy, Detroit Pistons, Hersey Hawkins, Joe Caldwell, Johnny Bach, Larry Brown
posted by David Friedman @ 6:29 PM
Larry Miller: The ABA’s All-Time Single-Game Scoring Leader and an ACC Legend
In an article that originally appeared in the July 29, 2005 issue of
Sports Collectors Digest, I told the story of Larry Miller, a two-time ACC Player of the Year at North Carolina who set the all-time ABA single-game scoring record; the picture to the right shows Carolina Cougars President Carl Scheer presenting the game ball to Miller after Miller's 67 point outburst. Here is the complete text of the
SCD article, including quotes about Miller from Larry Brown, Woody Paige and Joe Caldwell (it should be noted that the online auction mentioned in the article is over and that Kobe Bryant now holds the record for most points scored by a pro guard in a single game, 81):
Revisiting Larry Miller's Permanent Record: Most Records are Made to be Broken, but This One Will Last for an Eternity
Ask this question of your favorite know-it-all hoops fan: who holds the ABA regular season single-game scoring record? When he is stumped after listing Hall of Famers like Rick Barry, Julius Erving and George Gervin, you can tell him that the answer is Larry Miller, a 6’4” Carolina Cougars guard who scored 67 points versus the Memphis Pros on March 18, 1972. The 67 points were not only an ABA record, but also the most points that a pro basketball guard had ever scored, a mark later broken by Pete Maravich, who totaled 68 points against Walt Frazier’s New York Knicks on February 25, 1977. David Thompson (73) and Michael Jordan (69) are the only other pro guards to score more in a single game than Miller did.
Woody Paige, who appears on ESPN’s Around the Horn and Cold Pizza, covered Larry Miller’s 67 point game as a young beat writer for the Memphis Commercial-Appeal: “Johnny Neumann was guarding Miller for a lot of the game and he came by press row. I said something to him—I don’t remember what—and he said, ‘The guy is really hot.’ That’s what I always remember and I quoted him saying that in my article. Of course, Neumann was about the worst defensive player in basketball.”
Miller’s teammate Joe Caldwell had seven assists in the contest: “That was a fun game for me because (on 2/5/71 against Kentucky) I had scored 56. So when Larry Miller got hot I made sure that the ball stayed in his hands. I was so happy that he set a new ABA record. It was one of the most exciting moments for me to be involved in a game when a guy gets hot like that. Somebody has to keep the ball in his hands.”
Paige recalls, “He did a lot of one-two pump fakes. He was a guy who would go up and go up again and eventually put a guy in the air.” Miller adds, “I was always a great driver to the basket. So if I took off like I was going to drive and then stopped I could easily get a jump shot.” Miller shot 25 of 39 from the field, missing his lone three point attempt, and used his pump fakes to draw a lot of fouls, connecting on 17 of 23 free throw attempts. He also had eight rebounds and four assists while playing 46 of a possible 48 minutes. Miller’s point totals by quarter were 21, 17, 20 and nine. Miller concludes, “It’s kind of nice to have a record that will never be broken (since the
ABA no longer exists).”
The aftermath of the 67 point game is at least as dramatic as the game itself. Miller recalls, “I lived in a house by a lake (near
Greensboro) at that time. The night I broke the record was a Saturday night. Two days later my house burned down. The night before that Wendell (Ladner) was at my house for dinner. It was just an amazing series of events. (At first) We thought that (the fire had been caused) because his wife was smoking. We had a sand ashtray that everyone put their cigarettes in.” The blaze was actually started by a lightning strike. “It started where the TV was plugged in and it burned out from there. It was about four o’clock in the morning. I had to run across the lake in my underwear to my nearest neighbor. I had a big gash in my left hand, my shooting hand. I lost two dogs under the bed and all the belongings in the house. I didn’t even have a uniform. We had a game in
New York that night against the Nets in
Long Island. We were in the running for the playoffs. The insurance man got a uniform and got it cleaned. I went to the hospital. They sewed up my left hand with 11 stitches. We found me some clothes. The team went up to
New York. I caught a later plane in the afternoon and took a limo to the arena. I played that night with 11 stitches in my shooting hand…and we won the game.”
Miller adds, “I still have scars from it. It goes from about that first line on the ring finger to the tip. It was a strange story. If that had happened today it would be all over the news.”
Despite his record setting game—and a solid season in which he averaged a career high 18.4 ppg—the Cougars did not keep Miller: “I was traded from the Carolina Cougars after I was (team) MVP that season. I wasn’t under contract and they let me go because I wouldn’t agree to play for the same contract that I had the previous season. I was threatened that they would let me go if I wouldn’t sign a contract for $45,000 and I wanted $60,000, which I did (eventually) get. I mean, could you imagine that happening today? After that happened, 250 people canceled their season tickets. Even at that point if they (season tickets) were only $100, they lost $25,000.”
Miller averaged 13.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg and 2.4 apg in 486 games over seven
ABA seasons. He averaged 7.7 rpg as a rookie, a remarkable accomplishment for a 6’4” guard. He averaged more rebounds per minute in his career than All-Star guards Jerry West, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Steve Francis. Despite his solid numbers, Miller played for five teams and nine head coaches during his
ABA career. Miller feels that he never had the opportunity to stay in one system long enough to show what he was really capable of doing: “It was proven at levels before that—and even at that level—that I could score and I could play defense--and I could pass and I could dribble. I wasn’t the fastest guy in the world, but I wasn’t a guy who was going to get beat on defense and nobody was going to steal the ball from me.”
ACC Memories
Detroit Pistons Coach Larry Brown remembers the impact that Miller had at the University of North Carolina: “I was a coach when he was a freshman at
Carolina. I coached him one year. Coach Smith, when he signed Bobby Lewis and then Larry Miller back to back, that changed our program and got us back to where we had been. He had as much to do with the success at
Carolina as anybody. He was a phenomenal college player. I thought he was a great pro. He just got banged up a little bit. I just thought that he was a great competitor and a great player. I loved the guy. He was fun to be around. He had great strength and quickness and he could handle the ball. He was a great all-around player.”
Miller fondly remembers his Tar Heel days: “The biggest deal in that part of the country was winning the ACC Tournament, because (otherwise) you didn’t get in the NCAAs. That was even bigger than the Final Four. Those ACC Tournaments were probably my greatest college moments, because we won both of them. I had really good tournaments in both of them and I was the MVP of both of them.”
Miller led UNC to the NCAA Final Four in 1967 and 1968, earning First Team All-American honors and the ACC Player of the Year Award after both seasons. In the 1967 ACC Tournament Finals he made 13 of 14 field goals, scoring 32 points in an 82-73 win over Duke. He is one of only two players to win two ACC Player of the Year Awards and two ACC Tournament MVPs. Miller made the 1968 All-Final Four Team and averaged 21.8 ppg and 9.2 rpg in his Tar Heel career.
Memories and Memorabilia
Miller is selling over 1000 pieces of memorabilia from his high school, college and ABA career, with a portion of the proceeds going to his hometown Catasauqua (
Pennsylvania) Public Library. Listed items include jerseys, basketballs, various ACC trophies and awards, recruiting letters (including one from South Carolina’s Frank McGuire), and photographs documenting highlights of Miller’s career, including the 67 point game. Miller explains why he is selling these items now: “All that stuff was in my family home in
Pennsylvania. My father passed away a little over ten years ago and my mother just passed away a year ago. All that stuff was there in the house in a trophy case and being stored away. It wasn’t doing any good. A lot of the stuff is letters and so forth. Some of the coaches have passed away now. People collect that stuff. It doesn’t do any good being in boxes.”
Miller looked into various options before deciding to auction the memorabilia on Ebay. Before the items go up for bidding they can be viewed at Omillaja.com. Miller says, “Using a website to promote the Ebay sale is what I’m trying to do. If it works out OK then I may do some other things along those lines. I’m basically just working on the format.” Miller does not go to sports collector shows or do appearances to sign autographs: “No, I haven’t done any of that. Matter of fact, I’m even out of the reunion business—going back to the reunions and stuff like that. I’m just kind of relaxing.” The last time he set foot on a basketball court was several years ago: “I went out to
L.A. for a UNC versus UCLA alumni game. That was the last time I had a uniform on. That was in the early ‘90s. One time I played in a reunion at
North Carolina about six years after I played (retired from pro ball). I didn’t think I was going to play at all. I hadn’t picked up a basketball in those years and then I played the most of anybody on the team. I was so sore I couldn’t even climb the stairs.”
Woody Paige will never sell his only collectible from his days covering the ABA because it has special meaning for him: “Charlie Finley owned the Memphis team toward the end and my Dad was very ill. He had his leg amputated and Charlie Finley was very nice to him. For my Dad’s birthday the Memphis team signed a ball to him, personalized it. I kept that. I can’t think of anything else that I have. I had press guides from the very beginning, which would probably be worth something. I had all the media guides from the beginning to the end…because I was going to write the definitive history of the league. Well, I ended up giving them away to two brothers who collect ABA memorabilia.”Labels: ABA, Joe Caldwell, Larry Brown, Larry Miller, Woody Paige
posted by David Friedman @ 1:49 AM
The "NBA 14" Paved the Road that Led to Riches for Today's Stars
Anyone who wonders why Oscar Robertson never received coaching or front office opportunities in the NBA should read
this great article by the Chicago Tribune's Sam Smith. Smith spent some time with former Sixer and Bull Chet Walker, who was one of 14 players--including Robertson--who filed law suits challenging the NBA's economic structure; this resulted in the creation of a free agency system that has enabled today's players to make millions of dollars. Robertson, Walker and several others of the "NBA 14"--including
Joe Caldwell--paid a heavy price for their activism, although it is also true that some of them (Bill Bradley, Wes Unseld) do not seem have suffered as much retribution as others.
Smith reports that Walker "is hardly one of those chip-on-the-shoulder old-timers living in the past and looking for a handout. He has done well and mostly is retired now." Walker is somewhat bemused by the ultimate outcome of his efforts as a labor activist during his playing career, telling Smith, "I never thought I'd be saying guys are making too much money. But you hear of these guys rejecting $10 million a year, it's absurd. You can't believe it. I don't have cable, so I don't watch much NBA. But I watch the Lakers. I don't understand these owners, how they evaluate talent. How do you pay Kwame Brown $9 million? Amazing. And these guys think they're making this money because they're great players." Smith writes:
Actually, they're making it in large part because of guys like Walker, who was one of the so-called NBA 14, the group of players that successfully brought on the modern NBA era with the first free agency. Many, like Walker, suffered for it. His career ended prematurely even though he averaged almost 20 points per game his final season for the Bulls in 1974-75.Labels: Chet Walker, Joe Caldwell, Oscar Robertson
posted by David Friedman @ 2:47 PM
Joe Caldwell: Banned from Basketball
Joe Caldwell starred at Arizona State University and he has been inducted in both the ASU Hall of Fame and the PAC-10 Hall of Fame. He won an Olympic gold medal in 1964 and became an All-Star in the NBA and the ABA before his pro career abruptly ended. Three decades later, he still seeks the money and respect that he believes he is owed. Here is a link to my HoopsHype.com article about the player whose amazing jumping ability earned him the nickname "Pogo Joe" (10/4/15 edit: the link to HoopsHype.com no longer works, so I have posted the original article below):
It is said that there are two sides to every story--and then there is the truth. Joe Caldwell's story involves lawsuits and disputes about contracts. All that drama makes it too easy to forget just how good of a player he was.
Caldwell played for Arizona State from 1961-64, setting the Sun Devils career scoring record with 1515 points; he still ranks seventh on the school's scoring list and second in career scoring average (18.2 ppg). His tremendous leaping ability earned him the nickname "Pogo Joe" and enabled the 6-5 swingman to grab 929 rebounds, which is still the second best total in school history. He led Arizona State to the NCAA Tournament in each of his three varsity seasons and a 65-18 overall record. In 1975 he became a charter member of the school's Hall of Fame and in 2004-05 Caldwell joined the Pac-10 Hall of Fame, a special honor since ASU was not a member of the Pac-10 (or, to be precise, the Athletic Association of Western Universities, as it was then known) during Caldwell's college career. Caldwell is very proud that the Pac-10 chose to remember his contributions even though ASU was a Western Athletic Conference member during his career; he contrasts this with how the NBA ignores ABA history and statistics.
"Pogo Joe" Caldwell was the fourth leading scorer on the 1964 U.S. Olympic basketball team that went 9-0. Caldwell scored 14 points in the 73-59 gold medal game win over the Soviet Union.
"It was such an honor when I was chosen to be one of the 100 players to go to Kentucky to train and to be chosen out of those 100 players to be one of the 12 members of the Olympic team," Caldwell says. "When we got together we trained and we learned from each other. To this day my fondest memory is standing on that podium and saying that I am the best in the world."
The Detroit Pistons selected Caldwell with the second overall pick in the 1964 NBA draft. Caldwell earned a place on the 1964-65 All-Rookie Team by averaging 10.7 ppg and 6.7 rpg. Midway through his second season, the Pistons traded Caldwell to the St. Louis Hawks. Caldwell's numbers steadily improved and the Hawks' record soared as well. In 1967-68, he averaged 16.4 ppg and St. Louis finished first in the Western Division with a 56-26 record.
In 1968-69, Caldwell averaged 15.8 ppg and made the All-Star team for the first time. The Hawks moved to Atlanta prior to the season but were still located in the Western Conference. They knocked off Elvin Hayes and the San Diego Rockets in the first round of the playoffs before falling 4-1 to the powerful Wilt Chamberlain-Jerry West-Elgin Baylor L.A. Lakers. In 1969-70 Caldwell made the All-Star team again, ranking 18th in the league in scoring at 21.1 ppg. The Hawks won the Western Division with a 48-34 record. Atlanta defeated Chicago 4-1 but in the Western Division Finals the Hawks were no match for the Lakers, who swept them. Caldwell averaged a team-high 25.0 ppg in the playoffs, the sixth highest postseason scoring average in the NBA in 1970.
Defense was always one of Caldwell's strong suits and in 1969-70 he earned All-Defensive Second Team honors. He believes that superior conditioning is an essential part of being a great defensive player. "When I was playing I thought that I was in the best shape possible," Caldwell explains. "I thought that I could run all night long."
Caldwell honed his defensive skills in part by practicing against Hawks player-coach Richie Guerin, a former All-Star, and Lenny Wilkens, who later was selected as a member of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players List.
"That's where I trained my mind for speed and size," Caldwell says. "Richie Guerin was an extremely good right-handed player and he was an excellent coach. I would play in practice against him. Then I would play in practice one-on-one against Lenny Wilkens. Then I would switch up the next day and play Paul Silas and Jim Davis, the big guys who were fast. That's why I was able to guard Dr. J (a few years later), because I had trained myself against different sized players and where they were going to go. When you train yourself like that and then you get involved in it, it becomes a part of you."
Caldwell's best NBA season also turned out to be his last one. He felt that the Hawks were not paying him his true market value. His agent Marshall Boyer negotiated a better deal with the ABA's Carolina Cougars, so Caldwell signed with them. A few years earlier when Rick Barry jumped leagues, a court ordered him to sit out one season because of the option clause that was then a standard part of every NBA contract. But in Caldwell's case, a court ruled that he did not have to sit out because the Hawks' offer was less than 75 percent of the value of his previous deal with the team; thus, Caldwell was a free agent and the Hawks had no right to invoke the option clause. Caldwell fervently believes that the NBA never forgave him for this ruling.
Caldwell averaged 23.3 ppg for the Cougars in 1970-71, ranking seventh in the ABA. He made the All-Star team and the All-ABA Second Team but Carolina did not qualify for the playoffs. A knee injury forced Caldwell to miss 23 games in 1971-72 but he returned to form the next season, making the All-Star team and the All-Defensive Team. The Cougars were now coached by Larry Brown, who was in his first season as a professional coach. Brown won the first of his three ABA Coach of the Year awards after leading Carolina to a 57-25 record, the best mark in the Eastern Division. The Cougars lost 4-3 in the Eastern Division Finals to the Kentucky Colonels.
While coaching Carolina, Brown employed a lot of the principles that later became his trademarks. On offense he emphasized team play and quick ball movement, while on defense he utilized the jump-and-switch defense that his mentor Dean Smith used at North Carolina; this system had previously been developed by Ben Carnevale at the Naval Academy and Bob Spear later used it at Air Force, where Smith got his first job as an assistant coach. The jump-and-switch tactics worked perfectly for the Cougars, who had several quick guards and forwards. Caldwell ranked fourth in the ABA in steals in 1972-73, the first year that totals were kept in that category in either league. He had 10 steals in one game, setting an ABA record in that category.
Caldwell also ranked fourth in the ABA in steals in 1973-74, as the Cougars placed three players in the top ten. Carolina's record slipped a bit, though, and the Cougars met the Colonels a round earlier. Carolina's one weakness was at center, while Kentucky had the best center in the league, Artis Gilmore, who dominated play as Kentucky swept Carolina.
Prior to the 1974-75 season, the Carolina franchise fell apart due to financial problems. A new ownership group bought the team and relocated what was left of it to St. Louis, renaming the franchise the Spirits of St. Louis after Charles Lindbergh's famous plane. Several of the team's top players departed and Brown left to coach the Denver Nuggets. St. Louis' roster was filled with young, talented and outlandish players, with rookie Marvin Barnes by far the most talented and outlandish of the bunch.
Barnes averaged 24.0 ppg and 15.6 rpg in 1974-75 but not without going through some controversy that ultimately ended Caldwell's career. Barnes was constantly feuding with the coaching staff and management due to his undisciplined habits on and off the court. At one point during the season he disappeared entirely. The team's management claimed that Caldwell had led Barnes "astray."
Bob Costas, then a young broadcaster for the team, later noted, "Marvin spent much of his life 'astray.' He didn't need a map or someone to take him there."
Nevertheless, the team used the Barnes situation as a pretext to suspend Caldwell, who was then 33 years old and still a very productive player (14.6 ppg, 5.1 apg, 4.4 rpg in 25 games prior to the suspension). He testified in court that he had nothing to do with Barnes briefly leaving the team but Caldwell never played another pro basketball game.
More than three decades later, Caldwell still insists that the Barnes situation was just a convenient excuse to mask the real issue. "Marvin Barnes, I was trying to stop that young man," Caldwell says. "I was trying to stop all the young basketball players. I told them that there are three things that you have to do before you get to the pros: eat right, get your rest and be on time. Those are the only three things that you have to do. If the man says practice is at 6:00, he doesn't mean 6:01. He doesn't mean 6:02. He means 6:00 sharp. That's what I was training them (the young players). I was trying to train them, when they (Spirits management) told me that I was bad for their business, so they kicked me out of basketball. I really had nothing to do with Marvin Barnes other than trying to tell that young man to get himself together. Stop having 35 telephones or 15 telephones in his house and all that silly mess. They chose to do what they did because of my pension--and that's an ongoing fight for 25 years now."
Caldwell's original contract with the Cougars included provisions for a very generous pension plan. Caldwell adds that this came in the form of an "irrevocable guarantee" that could not be amended by any party but that almost immediately after signing this deal the team tried to change it, offering to give him a bigger salary in exchange for agreeing to reduce the pension. He declares that his adamant stance that he is entitled to this pension poisoned his relationship with the team's management and is the real reason behind not only his sudden banishment but the fact that no team in either league signed him.
Caldwell says that the ABA--and later the NBA after the leagues merged in 1976--kept him suspended to make sure that he will never receive his pension.
"A man who was in great physical condition like myself, who prided himself on defense--and you know how hard it is to play defense--you have to keep the drugs out of your system, keep the alcohol out of your system, you have to come to play every night because there is a good offensive player on every team," Caldwell says.
"Every team we played, that was the guy I was assigned to--I don't care if he was 6-9 or 4-1 I had him. So, why would a guy like that never play after he turned 33? The NBA said I was too old. They've been playing guys who are 41, 42 and I probably could still outplay them now. It's crazy what they tried to say that I was, but I'm not that person. I'm a basketball player. I've always loved the game and I will always love it. I'll go away from here loving it. I was going to play until I was 40. I was going to play 20 years. I had trained my body to play 20 years and then I was going to retire. I was going to be the first 20-year man instead of Robert Parish. That was my dream."
*********************************************************************************
Joe Caldwell's story is fascinating on many levels; he had an excellent college career, he treasures his Olympic experiences above all of his basketball accomplishments, he starred in two leagues and, last but not least, he has been engaged in various legal battles with the ABA and the NBA for well over 30 years. He won some--unlike many players who jumped leagues, Caldwell did not have to sit out a season--and lost others. I touch on some of those legal battles in my article but it really would take a book to do them justice. For those who are interested to read Joe Caldwell's entire story in his own words, his autobiography, titled
Banned from Basketball, can be ordered
here. Caldwell levels some pretty serious charges, both in conversations that I have had with him and in his book. I don't necessarily agree with everything that he says but other people have taken advantage of opportunities to express themselves about Caldwell over the years so he certainly has the right to give his version of events--and he deserves to be remembered as an outstanding player.
Returning to the more pleasant subject of Caldwell's on-court achievements, here are some "DVD extras" to accompany my article about Caldwell:
Caldwell has special memories of his matchups with Jerry West and Oscar Robertson. "Jerry West was an excellent player. He was right handed; everybody knew from jump street that he was going to the right," Caldwell says. "But Jerry West's ace in the hole, because he was an excellent offensive player, his shot was (taken) going back to the left. He would take two steps back to the left and shoot the jumper. That's why he was so awesome. Then if you guarded him wrong, he would go all the way (to the hoop) with the left hand. Oscar Robertson was a physical guy. I would pick Oscar up (in the backcourt) and make him throw it to someone else to bring it up. He and Wes Unseld had the wide body. I called them big butt guys back in those days. They could use those hips to knock you around. Oscar was round--had big hips, big thighs--but he could move. He'd throw those hips at you, you stumble, and that was all he needed--that one step you take backward. He'd step back and shoot that little one handed jumper. He was good at it."
Caldwell played against
Roger Brown in the ABA but actually first met him when they were both in high school. "I met Roger Brown and Connie Hawkins back in the late 50s at a high school All-American game in New York," Caldwell says. "I always thought that Roger Brown could have been one of the greatest forwards of all-time if he had not been delayed from playing pro basketball. Roger was about 6-5, extremely fast and had a good jump shot. I kind of missed part of his career because I was in the NBA at that time. The ABA has fond memories of all the good guys who came through--Moses Malone, Dr. J, we had an entourage of great players who ended up in the NBA."
I've spoken to many ABA players and to a man they talk about the special bond that exists between them. Caldwell is no exception to that: "Back in those days, when I went over there people were saying that it was not a real basketball league. When you insult great players like Dr. J and George McGinnis that automatically brings the players closer together. When I got there I got involved with a lot of the guys and became head of the union and got to know them pretty well. We had an understanding amongst each other and we hung out together and we talked. We had some of that kind of stuff when I was in the NBA, but more so in the ABA. So it’s a good family unit."
The first time that I spoke with Caldwell we discussed the jump and switch defense that Coach Larry Brown has been using throughout his career. I used those quotes in my article titled
The Art and Science of NBA Defense.
For more information about the evolution of defensive theory in pro basketball and the history of the jump and switch defense, check out my
Hank Egan interview.Labels: Atlanta Hawks, Carolina Cougars, Detroit Pistons, Jerry West, Joe Caldwell, Lenny Wilkens, Marvin Barnes, Oscar Robertson, Richie Guerin, Roger Brown, Spirits of St. Louis
posted by David Friedman @ 3:47 AM
The Kobe Show is in Full Effect/Veteran Shaq Still the Class Clown
As you probably already know, Kobe Bryant won the 2007 All-Star Game MVP award as he led the West to a 153-132 win with 31 points, six assists, six steals and five rebounds. My fourth and final 2007 All-Star Weekend report for HoopsHype.com describes that performance--and also tells you about the busy schedule he maintained throughout the weekend. Also, I did not have an opportunity to post a link to my third report, which described Saturday's All-Star Weekend happenings. Here are those two links (10/5/15 edit: the links to HoopsHype.com no longer work, so I have posted the original articles below):
Veteran Shaq Still the Class Clown
February 18, 2007
For the most part, the East's practice Saturday at the Jam Session Center Court followed standard All-Star Saturday protocol. The East team went over some basic NBA plays and how the point guard will signal them during the game. There were the usual shooting contests, with the squad divided into two groups, one at each basket. Then came the half-court shot contest, with "pride" on the line as Coach Eddie Jordan put it, although one strongly suspects that the players privately increase the stakes.
Gilbert Arenas, LeBron James and Vince Carter each sank half-court shots. Just as the practice appeared to be winding down, Shaquille O'Neal made a special request: that the players hold an impromptu breakdancing contest between the bigs and the smalls. The packed crowd loved it as Shaq went first and showed off an array of moves belying his size and age. James took center stage and received enthusiastic support from the audience as well. Dwight Howard then offered some freestyle moves. Shaq joined in during both James' and Howards' performances as the fans roared their approval. It is easy to see why Shaq is so well liked--he is charismatic and fun loving and really knows how to give the crowd what it wants. He revels in being, as he puts it, the "class clown."
After the East's practice finished and before the West's practice began there was a media availability period on the court. I spoke with some players who I did not catch at yesterday's media session.
Caron Butler looks forward to a potential Scottie Pippen comeback. "Pippen was my idol (as a kid)," Butler told me. "I hope that he (Pippen) comes back to play. The game needs it. He's a great ambassador for the game. Everybody out here grew up watching him."
I asked Kevin Garnett what he thinks about the possibility of Scottie Pippen coming back. "No thoughts whatsoever," he replied tersely.
I then asked him if he would be happy to play with Pippen if the Timberwolves signed him. "If he came to the Timberwolves I'll be happy to play with him but other than that I have no thoughts."
How long will Garnett continue to have to hear questions are trade rumors and about when will he finally win a title? "I'm pretty sure that until I win it, that will be the next question," Garnett replied. "If you are single the next question is, 'When are you going to get a girlfriend?' If you have a girlfriend, the next question is, 'When are you going to get engaged?' When you get engaged the next question is, 'When are you going to get married?' When you get married the next question is, 'When are you going to have kids?' When you have a kid the next question is, 'When are you going to have another kid?' So people are always going to come up with new questions.”
I asked Garnett if he watched the Rookie-Sophomore Challenge and he replied to that query with a lot more energy and enthusiasm than he displayed when talking about Pippen. "Yeah, I watched," he said. “It was terrible. Terrible. The rookies were too laid back. The rookies did not come out with the fire that I thought they would have. It looked like they did not want to be there."
He did not accept the idea that the young players got caught up in the hype and did not know how to prepare for that type of showcase. "They know how to prepare for a game," he declared, incredulous that anyone would propose such an excuse. "I know that it's entertainment and their chance to display their skills and stuff, but they still have to put forth some effort. It looked like they were just out there."
I asked Gilbert Arenas if the half-court shot that he nailed on his first attempt foreshadows the kind of performance that he is going to have on Sunday. "No, I'm going to go out and have fun," Arenas replied. "If having fun gets me close to the MVP, then I'm going to take it. If not, then it's up for grabs for somebody else."
He is not concerned that his comments and predictions of 50 point outbursts will create a backlash against him. "I said that I was going to score 50 against Phoenix and I scored 50 against Phoenix. I said I was going to score 50 against Portland."
I pointed out that the Portland players seemed to resent what he said--and that Arenas did not come close to getting 50 against them. "At the end of the day, I still have one more game against them. So if I score 50, hey, everything that I said was true." Arenas does not believe that Portland shut him down the last time he faced the Trail Blazers despite the fact that he scored just nine points on 3-15 shooting. "I was playing possum. I just tried to win the game. I want to hit 50 in their building; I didn't want to hit 50 in my building."
After the media availability ended, the West held its practice, which went pretty much like the East's--except that no one breakdanced. Tony Parker and Ray Allen were the only players who sank half-court shots. Yao Ming deserves an honorable mention for trying an over-the-head half-court shot that hit the front of the rim.
Another All-Star Saturday tradition is a press conference by commissioner David Stern, sort of the NBA's version of a State of the Union address. Stern was joined on stage by Players Association executive director Billy Hunter as he announced that the NBA and the Players Association had finally reached an agreement to close the one open item in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement: how to deal with the pensions of the so-called "pre-65ers," players who retired before the pension fund was founded. The gist of the new plan is that the "pre-65ers" will now be included, retroactive to July 1, 2005. Each player who was previously ineligible will receive a lump sum payment of $20,000. After that, many players who never received benefits will begin to receive regular payments, while established members of the pension plan will receive a 50 percent increase in their benefits. This is welcome news for the pioneers who laid the foundation for today's game.
All-Star Saturday of course culminates with the various skills events on Saturday night. Each squad in the Shooting Stars competition consisted of a current player, a retired player and a WNBA player. Each one shot from a prescribed area on the court in a designated sequence, with the winning team being the one that made all of the shots in the fastest time. The Bulls team of Scottie Pippen, Ben Gordon and Candace Dupree seemed to have pulled out a dramatic win by a margin of less than three seconds when Pippen sank a half-court shot--but after a video review the Bulls were disqualified because earlier in the round Gordon and Dupree had shot out of sequence, a fact immediately and gleefully pointed out by Detroit participant Bill Laimbeer. His team won the trophy, but the crowd booed him lustily. It seemed like the more they booed the wider his smile became. "The era I played in was very intense and competitive," Laimbeer later explained. "There was no shaking hands or hugging or kissing or anything like that. It was we're going to go out there and kick your butt in basketball. People miss those days, so they still hang on to them."
The Miami Heat won the next two contests, as Dwyane Wade knocked off Kobe Bryant in the Skills Challenge finals for his second consecutive win in that event and Jason Kapono won the Three-Point Shootout with a final round score of 24, one shy of Craig Hodges' 1986 single round record of 25.
The Slam Dunk contest is always the marquee event of All-Star Saturday night, whether or not it ultimately lives up to that designation and its positioning as the final, headlining contest of the night. Defending champion Nate Robinson made a gallant effort to repeat but Gerald Green literally leaped over him to win. Green was going to jump over a life-sized cutout of Robinson to reprise Robinson's dunk over Spud Webb last year, but Robinson was a good sport and stood in for the cutout. Green clinched his victory on his last dunk by earning the only perfect score of the night by soaring over a table that was placed just inside the free throw semicircle.
Another of Green's dunks involved an old-school homage to Dee Brown, the first Boston Celtic to win the Dunk Contest. Green pumped up his shoes and covered his eyes with his arm a la Brown in 1991. The tallest competitors in this event rarely receive much love and Dwight Howard was no exception, despite a jaw-dropping dunk during which he slammed the ball with his right hand while simultaneously slapping a sticker of his face on the backboard with his left hand. Howard put the sticker 12 feet off of the ground. That was impressive to see even if the judges only awarded it a 42 (out of 50).
Former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker sat across from me on the shuttle bus ride to the MGM Grand after the Dunk Contest. I asked him if he ever wonders what it would have been like to play Roger Federer when he was in his prime. Becker admitted that he does think about that kind of thing and said that, in his opinion, Federer would beat him on hard courts but lose to him on grass.
I made my way over to the Tropicana Resort and Casino for the NBA/ABA All-Star Reunion Party, an event organized by Roland "Fatty" Taylor, a former teammate of Julius Erving's with the Virginia Squires. The party featured a very nice buffet, a DJ spinning a combination of new and older music and concluded with a performance by BET comedian Chris Thomas. If you are in Vegas but don't have a ticket for the All-Star Game, you can watch the game at the Tropicana with Taylor and other former ABA players. Prior to that, there will be the premiere screening of the movie "Something to Cheer About," which portrays the story of Oscar Robertson's Crispus Attucks high school state championship team. "We had a wide open game, pushed the ball up the court and ran," Taylor recalled of his ABA days. "I'm pretty sure that before the (1976) merger we were more exciting than the NBA."
Playing in the ABA taught standout defensive guard Mike Gale that life is full of trials and setbacks and how important it is to be strong enough to bounce back from the low moments. Gale's 1972 Kentucky Colonels went 68-16 in the regular season but lost in the first round of the playoffs. "You can be up and then in an instant you can be down," Gale noted. He later played for the 1974 New York Nets squad that Julius Erving led to an ABA title.
"Pogo" Joe Caldwell was known as a tough defensive player for many years in both the NBA and the ABA. For the past three decades he has been embroiled in a complicated dispute involving the language in his contract regarding his pension benefits. Caldwell never played another professional game after this disagreement began and his new biography titled
Banned from Basketball tells his side of the story.
**********************************
The Kobe Show is in Full Effect
February 19, 2007
The NBA All-Star Weekend is a hectic time for anyone who takes part in the festivities: players, coaches, fans, writers and broadcasters. Few people were busier this weekend than Kobe Bryant. He took second place in the Skills Competition, served as a judge in the Slam Dunk Contest and made the various public appearances that are part of the All-Star experience. He capped everything off on Sunday night with a command performance in the main event, earning All-Star Game MVP honors after producing a game-high 31 points, six assists, six steals and five rebounds. His West team cruised to a 153-132 win.
It's not like Bryant spent the earlier part of the day resting to prepare for the game, either. He was a presenter at the eighth annual Legends Brunch, held this year at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. "This is absolutely the best part of the weekend for me," NBA Commissioner David Stern said in his opening statement.
The Legends Brunch honorees this year included Cheryl Miller, Bob Cousy/Tom Heinsohn, the ABA Alumni, KC Jones, Magic Johnson and Dr. Jack Ramsay/the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers championship team. Each year this event gets bigger and better, providing retired players a chance to reconnect with each other and also affording fans an opportunity to mingle with their heroes and get autographs and take pictures.
Last year, TNT's Ernie Johnson served as emcee and comedian Chris Tucker did a standup routine at the end. This year, comedian George Wallace was the emcee and he interjected his comedy throughout the brunch, ad-libbing deftly when something happened that provided an opportunity for a joke or a funny remark.
Cheryl Miller, the recipient of the Legends Humanitarian Award, was presented by Julius Erving. "She looked me straight in the eye," Erving recalled of the first time he met her, "and said, 'I'm going to be a champion in college and then I'm going to take your job.' I said, 'Are you serious?' and she said, 'Absolutely--if they let me.'"
Erving pointed out that in addition to Miller's well documented on-court accomplishments that she also has "taken an active, supporting role with a number of charities."
Derek Fisher presented co-honorees Bob Cousy and Tom Heinsohn, who received the Legends Visionary Award. Neither Celtic legend was able to attend the brunch but both expressed their gratitude via prerecorded videos.
For too many years, the ABA has been treated like a crazy relative that has to be kept hidden from view and not discussed in polite company, so it is very fitting that the Legends Brunch recognized that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of that league. "(The ABA) featured dazzling above-the-rim players like Julius 'Dr. J' Erving, Connie Hawkins, George 'Ice' Gervin, David Thompson, George McGinnis, Moses Malone and Roger Brown," Bryant said as he introduced the five ABA superstars (Rick Barry, George Gervin, Julius Erving, Spencer Haywood and Artis Gilmore) who presented ABA 40th Anniversary tribute award to a large group of ABA alumni. It is heartening to see a current player of Bryant's stature have such an awareness of the history of the game and it is a very nice touch that he mentioned
Brown, a vastly underrated player who I wrote about two years ago.
John Havlicek introduced a video tribute to his legendary coach Red Auerbach. "Red Auerbach was a great man and the godfather of the Celtics," Havlicek declared. He explained that one of Auerbach's best attributes was that he did not overcoach. Havlicek quipped that if someone gave Auerbach some chalk and a chalkboard at the start of his coaching career, those items would have still been like new when Auerbach retired from coaching. Auerbach's strength was understanding how to motivate people to continue to work hard to be successful. Havlicek added that the numerous overseas clinics that Auerbach did set the stage for the emergence of top level basketball talent around the world.
Satch Sanders introduced his teammate KC Jones, the winner of the Legends Coaching Achievement Award, by relating two stories that capture the essence of Jones' insight into how to play winning basketball. Sanders said that during their playing careers Jones once noticed that a certain player on an opposing team always put a lot of backspin on his bounce passes, slowing the ball down. Instead of taking advantage of that observation to get steals in the regular season, Jones waited until the playoffs to apply this knowledge in a practical way, stealing the ball at a critical time that shaped the outcome of a playoff series. Sanders also mentioned that Auerbach had such faith in Jones that he let Jones decide when the Celtics would employ a pressure defense and when they would pull back from it.
Magic Johnson won the Legend of the Year award and was introduced by his son Andre. Magic gave credit to several veteran ballplayers who helped and inspired him as a youngster and early in his NBA career: Terry Furlow, George Gervin, Ralph Simpson and Dave Bing. He wished that more of the current players had a greater understanding and appreciation for the sacrifices that players from earlier generations made. "It's a shame that young players don't understand that the reason they are making $15-20 million a year is the guys out here (at the Legends Brunch)," Magic said.
Dr. Jack Ramsay spoke about his 1977 Portland team that was anchored by the multi-talented Bill Walton, whose chronic injuries prevented that team from possibly becoming a dynasty. "For one season and most of another," Ramsay declared, "this team was as good as any."
Several players and team officials from that 1977 championship team were on hand to receive their awards, including players Walton, Johnny Davis, Lionel Hollins and Maurice Lucas, assistant coach Jack McKinney, team physician Bob Cook and broadcaster Bill Schonely.
After the various honorees received their awards and Dave Bing led a moment of silence for the Legends who passed away in the past year, National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA) president Len Elmore concluded the brunch by emphasizing the organization's renewed commitment to its slogan "We made this game." The NBRPA keeps alive the memory of the contributions of the game's pioneers and helps out any retired players who need financial and/or medical assistance. "We have set our sights on helping others and committed to helping our own," he explained.
After the Legends Brunch, I followed a circuitous route to the Thomas & Mack Center, the site of the All-Star Game. No direct shuttle service was provided from the Mandalay to Thomas & Mack, so I had to take one shuttle to the MGM Grand and then board a different one to get to the arena.
Fortunately, I made it there in plenty of time--something that cannot be said of most of the East squad. LeBron James had 28 points, six rebounds and six assists and Dwight Howard contributed 20 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, but most of the East squad played as if the players had enjoyed the weekend in Las Vegas a little too much.
In the pregame media availability session, East Coach Eddie Jordan was asked about the difference between the two All-Star teams and he quipped, "I see the West being old and the East being young."
However, during the game the East looked tired and sluggish while the West played both faster and more crisply. The West set All-Star Game records for most field goals made with 69, surpassing the previous mark of 67 (2003, in a double overtime game), and most assists with 52, shattering the old record of 46 (1984, in an overtime game). "Probably the biggest thing I'm proud of," West Coach Mike D'Antoni said after the game, "is that we set the record for most assists. That's a great thing. We shared the ball and played hard."
Amare Stoudemire's strong performance represents perhaps the culmination of his comeback from microfracture surgery. He had stated before the season that he would make the All-Star team and Stoudemire not only met that goal but played very well. "A lot of people didn't think that I'd be here today," Stoudemire said. "I stayed focused with my goals and I reached them."
Carmelo Anthony played very well in his first All-Star appearance, finishing with 20 points and nine rebounds. "This was the validation of all the hard work that I put in," Anthony commented after the game.
In the end, though, it was Bryant's night and Mike D'Antoni lauded him for setting the tone for the West's win. "Kobe has a competitive edge to him that you can feel," he said. "He wasn't letting up, he said, 'Let's go guys, let's put the hammer down on them.' So you can feel that edge. And he's going to play hard all the time he's on the floor."
After the game, Bryant said that the memory that will last the longest for him from this All-Star Weekend happened outside of public view, when he and fellow Dunk Contest judges Julius Erving, Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins interacted with each other. "We pretty much talked trash the whole time," Bryant said. "You've got guys in the same room who are extremely competitive and you start comparing records and sneaker technology and what a guy could have done if they had the technology that we have--comparing hand size and who can palm the basketball and who can do what. These are things that are fun to talk about. We had a blast doing it."
When Bryant received the MVP trophy from David Stern at center court after the game the crowd reaction was completely different from what it had been in Philadelphia in 2002 when Bryant won his first All-Star MVP and the fans booed to express their displeasure with a statement he had made about being an L.A. player and no longer a Philadelphia person.
"I just feel very blessed and very fortunate to be able to come out tonight and put on a really good show," Bryant concluded.
Labels: 2007 NBA All-Star Weekend, Artis Gilmore, Boris Becker, Fatty Taylor, Gilbert Arenas, Joe Caldwell, Julius Erving, Kobe Bryant, Mike Gale, Pre-1965ers, Rick Barry, Roger Brown, Shaquille O'Neal, Spencer Haywood
posted by David Friedman @ 3:32 AM
