Defining Impact on Winning and Evaluating Great One on One Scorers
Here are some recent NBA headlines: "Harden's 47 points lead Rockets over Jazz 102-97," "Harden has 2nd straight triple-double, Rockets top Grizzlies," "Harden's 50-point triple-double leads Rockets over Lakers," and "Harden scores 29 to lead Rockets past Blazers 111-104." Those headlines would lead one to believe that James Harden is the primary, if not only, reason that the Houston Rockets are enjoying a four game winning streak. There is no doubt that Harden has posted impressive individual numbers during these four games--but does that mean there is a connection between his numbers and the team's success?
I have often said that Harden is an updated version of Stephon Marbury, meaning that he puts up numbers that are not really impacting winning. I have been asked/challenged at times to explain or justify that assertion.
So, let's look at some other numbers from that winning streak, during which Houston beat Utah 102-97, Memphis 105-97, the L.A. Lakers 126-111 and the Portland Trail Blazers 111-104. Harden's plus/minus numbers from those games are -1, +3, +14 and -15 respectively. Thus, the Rockets outscored their opponents by 35 points but they only outscored them by one point while Harden was in the game.
Plus/minus numbers can be noisy for a variety of reasons but they are not completely meaningless, particularly when they are used in conjunction with the eye test. The eye test tells us that Harden is flashy, that Harden scores a lot, and that Harden holds onto the ball for most of the shot clock such that it is highly likely that if Houston scores while he is in the game he will either be making the shot or delivering the assist. The eye test also tells us that he is, at best, a lazy and indifferent defender, though his attention seems to pick up at least momentarily if someone posts him up.
Take away the offensive sizzle and the defensive fizzle and what do you have? Sound and fury signifying, if not nothing, then very little in regards to winning basketball.
Why are the Rockets winning now? Collectively, they are defending better. Their bench is playing much better and is killing the other team's bench on many nights. Also, at the end of the Lakers' game, Harden did take over by hitting several clutch shots. Not surprisingly, that is the one game out of this four game sample size during which his plus/minus numbers were significantly positive.
If you believe in basketball karma (or just karma in general), you also have to think that the way Harden is allowed to repeatedly commit fouls and violations on offense is going to come back to haunt him, as it has throughout his postseason career when he is awarded bogus calls much less frequently. His step back, step back move last night versus Utah--which in old school terminology is known more simply as a traveling violation--is just the latest, most egregious example of how Harden is permitted to blatantly break the rules. The media narrative is that he is a foul-drawing genius. Some people call him the greatest one on one player in the game today, if not all-time. I get sick to my stomach when I hear that.
Michael Jordan and
Kobe Bryant had fundamentally complete skill sets in all areas of the court, plus supreme athleticism.
Julius Erving did not have as great or consistent of a jump shot as those guys, but during his prime it was impossible to guard him one on one. George Gervin, Adrian Dantley, Alex English, Bernard King and Mark Aguirre did not have the all-around games that Erving, Jordan and Bryant did, but as pure one on one scorers they take a back seat to no one. Don't forget Jerry West and Pete Maravich as well. George Gervin was smooth and efficient.
Adrian Dantley was an undersized post up technician with deceptive quickness and power.
Alex English was a poet and he was poetry in motion. Bernard King was a scientific and explosive scorer who repeatedly practiced certain shots from various areas of the floor and then made sure that those were the shots he took during games.
Mark Aguirre could teach a master class on post up play and he could also beat you off the dribble.
Jerry West and
Pete Maravich could shoot (and connect) from anywhere on the court at any time.
To put Harden in that group is an insult to the way that those players developed their craft so that they could score within the rules. Harden's points count in the record books, much like the home runs hit by Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and the other PED cheaters, but just like
Bonds, McGwire and the others did not truly surpass Hank Aaron, Harden has not truly surpassed his great predecessors. James Harden is regularly permitted to (1) travel, (2) lock his arms into the defender's, flail and be awarded two free throws, (3) jump into a stationary defender while shooting a three pointer and be awarded free throws, and (4) bulldoze into the lane, commit an offensive foul but instead be awarded free throws. These things do not happen once in a while; they are a regular part of Harden's repertoire. I am not convinced that he could score much more than 20 ppg if he were officiated correctly.
Most conspiracy theories regarding the NBA are nonsense but one has to wonder if the NBA is for some reason invested in Harden's success and/or invested in promoting offense in general to the point that defense becomes an afterthought (at least until the playoffs, when some semblance of sanity returns). During the Lakers' game, the Lakers resorted to keeping their hands down or completely away from Harden so that they could not possibly be called for a foul. Of course, that just lets Harden shoot uncontested shots that any competent NBA player can make. San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich figured out several years ago that Harden must be defended with "high hands" (which makes a lot more sense than no hands, which the Lakers tried), because if a defender moves his hands anywhere near Harden then Harden is going to be awarded free throws.
If you are too young to remember Adrian Dantley, then find some old footage and watch how he drew fouls. He used impeccable footwork, fakes and body positioning. He made basketball moves to score and if he got fouled he earned it. He did not bulldoze opponents, he did not travel and he did not flail.
The way that James Harden plays is not great one on one offense and the way that the NBA officials let him get away with blatant fouls/violations makes Harden almost unwatchable for any basketball purist.
Labels: Adrian Dantley, Alex English, Bernard King, George Gervin, Houston Rockets, James Harden, Jerry West, Julius Erving, Kobe Bryant, Mark Aguirre, Michael Jordan, Pete Maravich
posted by David Friedman @ 8:21 PM
Legends Brunch Honors Alonzo Mourning, Five Great Mavs
Most mainstream media coverage of this All-Star Weekend either revolves around the seemingly 24 hour a day party circuit that has become this event's trademark or the spectacle that will take place tonight at Jerry Jones' billion dollar pleasure palace--but the hidden gem that sparkles brightest for me is the Legends Brunch. It is both a duty and a privilege to recognize, acknowledge and praise the people whose hard work and sacrifices built NBA basketball into the popular sport/multibillion dollar business that it has become.
One of the really fun aspects of the brunch is that except for the tables right at the front that are reserved for certain players and their families you can sit wherever you want, providing an opportunity to really mingle with the retired players. My tablemates included
Ollie Taylor, Nate Williams (one of Pistol Pete Maravich's teammates with the New Orleans Jazz), Major Jones (one of four brothers who each played at Albany State before playing in the NBA) and Jones' wife Renee Taplin-Jones.
TNT's Ernie Johnson served as Master of Ceremonies, deftly mixing self-deprecating humor with appropriate praise for the distinguished gathering of all-time greats. NBA Commissioner David Stern opened his remarks by acknowledging how big this event has become (the attendance likely exceeded 1000 people in one huge ballroom): "Standing room only is what this group deserves." He called the Legends Brunch "a highlight among highlights" during All-Star Weekend. "Former players are the foundation of our success," Stern added.
This year's Legends Brunch honored a particularly eloquent and accomplished group. Stern presented the Legend of the Year award to Alonzo Mourning, whose tireless work for Haiti's earthquake victims is just the latest in a long line of his charitable endeavors. The face of Mourning known to the general public was perpetually twisted into an intense and fiery visage during his playing days but we saw a completely different side of him during his acceptance speech. Mourning said, "This particular honor I will cherish simply because of Wayman Tisdale," the Phoenix Suns' great who was honored
at last year's Legends Brunch shortly before losing his battle with cancer. Mourning added, "I've always been hesitant about receiving awards for doing what you are supposed to do." Mourning believes that every person has an obligation to do something to make the world a better place and that the world would be completely different if more people fulfilled that obligation. He quoted Muhammad Ali: "Service to others is the rent you pay on Earth."
Dallas Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time rushing leader who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame later this year, presented the Legends Leadership Award to Derek Harper. Harper was the point guard for some great Dallas teams in the 1980s but he readily acknowledged that he "owes Mark (
Aguirre) money" because all of the Mavs from that era know that "we lived off of Mark," one of the most
underrated forwards in pro basketball history.
Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman presented the Pioneer Award to Rolando Blackman, who was born in Panama City but raised in New York City. Blackman praised his "great, cerebral teammates" who helped him to be so successful. Blackman said that he is known as a deadeye shooter (the four-time All-Star owns a .493 career field goal percentage) but that many people don't understand that teamwork played a big role in that success; his teammates set good screens and delivered their passes on time and on target. Blackman said that this lesson applies to life in general because "We really don't do anything by ourselves."
Three-time All-Star and two-time Sixth Man of the Year Detlef Schrempf presented the Humanitarian Award to Sam Perkins, who seemed to be truly surprised and humbled. Perkins thought that he was just going to attend the Brunch until he found out shortly before he traveled to Dallas that he would in fact be one of the honorees. Mourning mentioned how difficult it is for him to accept that his playing days are over but Perkins joked that he can deal with this because he is not the oldest retired player in the room: there are "cats, cougars and mountain lions," so Mourning and Perkins are just starting out down that trail. Perkins said that he is more of an "honorable mention" than a true legend when compared to some of the all-time greats present at the brunch.
Bill Walton presented the ABC (Athletics, Business, Communities) Award to James Donaldson, a one-time All-Star with Dallas who previously had been Walton's teammate with the Clippers in both San Diego and Los Angeles. The massive Donaldson--listed at 7-2, 275 pounds during his playing days--was born in England and after 14 NBA seasons he finished his playing career in Europe before returning to the United States to open a thriving physical therapy business.
Magic Johnson presented the Career Achievement Award to his long-time friend Mark Aguirre, noting that Aguirre still holds the Maverick single season scoring average record (29.5 ppg, 1983-84). Johnson applauded Mourning for his charitable work before turning his attention to Aguirre and the other Maverick award winners, declaring, "What you've seen here this morning are some of the smartest guys to play basketball." Johnson added, "We (Johnson's L.A. Lakers) used to hate to play Dallas" because the Mavericks executed their offense better than any other team in the league.
Aguirre seemed to be truly overwhelmed by the whole event, gushing that he had no idea about the extent of Mourning's philanthropic endeavors or about some of the worthwhile projects being led by the other honorees. Aguirre expressed his desire to become more involved in those activities and offer whatever support that he can. He also praised the "incredible mentors" who helped him along the way, specifically mentioning legendary DePaul Coach Ray Meyer. Aguirre revealed that Meyer taught him how to perfect Oscar Robertson's trademark one handed jumper so that he could always keep defenders guessing about the timing and release point of the shot. Most of the speakers echoed Mourning's call that we should all be givers and not just takers but Aguirre admitted that he "took" a lot of ideas during his playing days: besides Robertson's shot, Aguirre also "stole" Alex English's runner and Bernard King's patented spin move. Aguirre reminisced about playing an old Mattel NBA game as a child and said that he is proud to pass on to his daughters knowledge about the history of the game and the feats accomplished by his heroes, including Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell.
Labels: Alonzo Mourning, Derek Harper, James Donaldson, Mark Aguirre, NBA Legends Brunch, Rolando Blackman, Sam Perkins
posted by David Friedman @ 3:39 PM
Overlooked and Underrated: Four Fabulous Forwards
This article was originally published in the February 2004 issue of Basketball Digest.Some forwards have instant name recognition: Elgin, Doc, Bird. This article is not about that kind of player; it is about players whose accomplishments are not as widely known and appreciated as they should be.
Maurice Stokes made a smashing debut with the Rochester Royals: 32 points, 20 rebounds and eight assists. Later that season he set a franchise record with 38 rebounds in one game. He won the 1955-56 Rookie of the Year award and also made the All-NBA Second Team, finishing in the top 15 in the league in scoring (11th), rebounding (second) and assists (ninth).
Stokes posted outstanding numbers in the next two seasons, ranking third in assists twice and earning a rebounding title in 1956-57. Bob Cousy describes the 6-7, 240 pound Stokes as "Karl Malone with more finesse." Stokes seemed to be a certain future Hall of Famer*, but his career came to a sudden, tragic end after only three years; he became paralyzed due to post-traumatic encephalopathy, the aftermath of hitting his head after falling to the court in his last regular season game (he played in one playoff game before the full effects of the injury set in). He never completely recovered, dying of a heart attack in 1970 at age 36.
Bob Pettit says that Stokes "easily would have been one of the Top 50 players" if he had been able to finish his career. Bobby Wanzer, a three-time All-NBA guard who served as Rochester's player-coach during Stokes' rookie season, goes even further, declaring, "If things had worked out differently, Maurice would have become one of the top 10 players of all time."
Roger Brown also had an abbreviated career, playing eight years for the ABA's Indiana Pacers. Brown was blackballed from the NBA due to alleged improper associations with gamblers. He eventually received a cash settlement from the NBA, but Brown remained in the ABA due to his strong feelings of loyalty to the Pacers; the 25 year old Brown had been working for GM in 1967 before becoming the first player signed by the team.
Brown was a remarkable shooter, making an ABA record 21 straight field goals over a three game stretch in the 1968-69 season. He averaged 32.7 ppg and 10 rpg to earn the 1970 ABA Finals MVP in the Pacers' six game win over the Utah Stars. Brown scored 53, 39 and 45 points in the last three games. Bill Sharman, Hall of Fame Boston Celtics' guard and then coach of the Stars, raved, "Roger Brown is the closest thing to Elgin Baylor, when Baylor was at his peak--the way he handles the ball and shoots, his great ability changing direction and speed. One-on-one, he’s as good as there is."
Brown outscored Hall of Famer Rick Barry, then of the New York Nets, 32-23 in the deciding sixth game of the 1972 Finals as the Pacers became the first ABA team to win multiple titles. Sadly, Brown's body began to break down by the next season. Brown spent part of the 1973 ABA Finals in traction because of a back injury. Two years later he retired. He died of liver cancer in 1997.
Mark Aguirre put the expansion Dallas Mavericks on the map. He notched the first triple double in franchise history (30 points-11 rebounds-16 assists) in a 149-139 win over Denver on January 14, 1983 and he had consecutive 40 point outings on December 10-11, 1983. Aguirre played in three All-Star games and responded to not being selected for the 1985 contest by dropping a career high (and team record) 49 points against Julius Erving's Philadelphia 76ers.
Aguirre was an explosive scorer: he had a 24 point quarter against the Nuggets on March 24, 1984 (finishing with 46 points) and on May 5, 1988 he scored 27 points--two short of the NBA playoff record--in a quarter against Hakeem Olajuwon's Rockets. Aguirre led the Mavs to the Western Conference Finals that season and Dallas pushed the powerful Showtime Lakers to the limit before bowing in seven games.
On February 15, 1989, Dallas traded him to Detroit for Adrian Dantley. During a meeting of Detroit's team leaders and their newly acquired scoring machine, Pistons' center Bill Laimbeer bluntly stated that he had heard some bad things about Aguirre but said that he would give Aguirre a chance because Aguirre was Isiah Thomas' childhood friend. Aguirre's response: "I'm glad you’re giving me a chance, because that's all I need."
In his book
Bad Boys, Thomas explained why Aguirre was a better fit for the Pistons than Dantley: he was younger, a more dangerous outside shooter/three point threat and a better passer. Aguirre was very effective at delivering the pass out of the double team. Before the trade he was averaging 4.3 apg, including 17 assists in one game; in comparison, elite point guard Gary Payton's career single game high for assists is 17. Aguirre's assists numbers went down with Detroit because Thomas and Joe Dumars did much of the playmaking, but Aguirre's passing skills added another dimension to the team.
The Pistons went 31-6 after the trade, including 29-4 with Aguirre as a starter. He was a key player on the Pistons' back to back champions in 1989 and 1990; contrary to the expectations of his critics, Aguirre sacrificed being a 25 ppg scorer to win championships much like high scorers Wilt Chamberlain, Earl Monroe and Bob McAdoo confounded their naysayers.
At first glance Scottie Pippen may not seem to fit the mold of an underrated player: he was a member of the original Dream Team in 1992 and in 1996 he was selected as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players. Yet, many critics question his worthiness for the latter honor and even his eventual induction in the Hall of Fame. Considering his impressive career, he receives a shocking amount of derision and disrespect.
It is interesting and revealing that teammates, opponents and coaches consistently praise Pippen. Phil Jackson, his coach with the six-time champion Chicago Bulls, declares, "Scottie was our team leader. He was the guy that directed our offense, and he was the guy that took on a lot of big challenges defensively…the year that Michael retired, Scottie I think was the most valuable player in the league." Former teammate and current Bulls coach Bill Cartwright flatly states that Pippen "was as much a part of winning the championships as MJ. I don't think it would have gotten done without him."
Last year, Sacramento Kings' star Chris Webber declared, "Pip is the most underrated player in the game." Around the same time, Blazers' assistant Jim Lynam called Pippen "an indescribably great player," adding, "I knew the guy was good, but I had no idea how good."
Memphis Grizzlies' coach Hubie Brown breaks it down scientifically: "He’s 6-8 and he can see over the defense, which is a major advantage for a point guard. He also doesn't rush anything. You don't see Portland running back downcourt and forcing threes. You don't see them trying to get the ball in the paint and wasting so much time that two options of a play are already gone. He has a presence and he’s playing with a lot of confidence."
The
Oregonian selected the 37 year old Pippen as the midseason MVP of the resurgent 2002-03 Blazers: "Statistics don't tell the whole story with Pippen, whose ability to guard anyone from Atlanta power forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim to San Antonio point guard Tony Parker to Boston small forward Paul Pierce has given the Blazers incredible versatility."
Pippen has earned seven All-NBA First, Second and Third Team selections, including three First Team nods. Every retired player with three or more First Team honors is in the Hall of Fame except Paul Westphal, who had an injury shortened career and only made the Second Team once. Every retired player with seven combined selections is in the Hall. Pippen ranks first in career playoff steals, second in three pointers made, fourth in assists and tenth in points (11th counting Julius Erving's ABA totals).
During Jordan's brief retirement Pippen made First Team All-NBA, First Team All-Defense, won the All-Star MVP and placed third in MVP voting. The jarring disconnection between his high level of play over a 16 year career and the way that his achievements are too frequently belittled qualifies Pippen as an underrated player.
The history of professional basketball does not consist entirely of the exploits of the select few players that nearly everyone knows by one name. As the above examples clearly show, many other players deserve recognition and respect for their significant contributions to the game.
* 9/1/09 Note: The Basketball Hall of Fame finally inducted Stokes as a member of the 2004 class, less than a year after this article was originally published.
Here is a sidebar article that I wrote as a companion piece for the above story:
What is a Hall of Famer?If a Major League baseball player hits 500 home runs or wins 300 games he can pretty much write his Hall of Fame acceptance speech. In basketball, matters are not so clear; there are no "magic numbers" that guarantee induction. Also, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame encompasses all levels of the game, not just the professional.
Connie Hawkins and Roger Brown played against each other during their high school days in New York. Both endured several years of unjust exile from pro ball before eventually landing in the ABA. Brown played all eight of his pro seasons in the ABA; Hawkins played two years in the league with the red, white and blue ball before he reached a settlement agreement with the NBA and joined the Phoenix Suns. He retired after playing seven seasons in the NBA. Hawkins is in the Hall of Fame and Brown is not, but how do they compare statistically?
Their regular season professional averages are very similar. Hawkins enjoys an advantage in rebounding but this is not surprising since he was a forward/center and played close to the hoop; Brown was a forward/guard who possessed a tremendous outside game. Brown's prowess from beyond the arc compensates at least somewhat for the difference in rebounding. It should also be remembered that he played alongside Mel Daniels, one of the greatest rebounders in either league, so the Pacers did not need Brown to exert himself as much in this area.
Hawkins' playoff statistics are much gaudier superficially but he played significantly fewer postseason games than Brown; moreover, most of his playoff appearances occurred during his prime, while Brown's playoff numbers are diminished by some appearances as an injured back-up at the end of his career. Brown was a key contributor to three championship teams and set an ABA playoff record with 53 points in game four of the 1970 Finals.
None of this is meant to demean Hawkins; he is clearly a deserving Hall of Famer. The question is, why does Brown not receive any consideration for this honor? Do Hall voters weigh it against Brown that he never "proved" his abilities in the NBA?
Career Regular Season Statistics
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| Gms | PPG | RPG | APG | FG % | FT% | Star |
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| Brown | 605 | 17.4 | 6.2 | 3.8 | 46.9 | 79.1 | 4 |
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| Hawkins-Pro | 616 | 18.7 | 8.8 | 4.1 | 47.9 | 77.9 | 6 |
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| Hawkins-NBA | 499 | 16.5 | 8.0 | 4.1 | 46.7 | 78.5 | 4 |
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| Hawkins-ABA | 117 | 28.2 | 12.6 | 4.3 | 51.5 | 76.5 | 2 |
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Roger Brown did not win a regular season MVP.
Connie Hawkins won the 1968 ABA regular season MVP.
Career Playoff Statistics
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| Gms | PPG | RPG | APG | FG % | FT% | Titles |
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| Brown | 110 | 18.7 | 6.4 | 3.7 | 48.1 | 79.2 | 3 |
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| Hawkins-Pro | 33 | 25.0 | 12.0 | 4.5 | 46.8 | 73.4 | 1 |
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| Hawkins-NBA | 12 | 19.3 | 11.4 | 4.8 | 39.5 | 81.5 | 0 |
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| Hawkins-ABA | 21 | 28.2 | 12.3 | 4.3 | 50.5 | 70.7 | 1 |
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Roger Brown won the the 1970 ABA Finals MVP.
Connie Hawkins won the 1968 ABA Finals MVP.
Labels: Connie Hawkins, Mark Aguirre, Maurice Stokes, Roger Brown, Scottie Pippen
posted by David Friedman @ 5:15 AM
Will Stephon Marbury be a 21st Century Bob McAdoo or Mark Aguirre?
Stephon Marbury made his Boston debut on Friday night, scoring eight points on 4-6 field goal shooting while passing for two assists (and committing three turnovers) in 13 minutes as the Celtics beat Indiana, 104-99. Marbury has always been able to put up good individual numbers but throughout his career when he comes to a team that team gets worse and when he leaves a team that team gets better--so it should not be a surprise that in a five point win Marbury accumulated a -7 plus/minus number in his limited action. As I have noted many times, plus/minus numbers are noisy, so maybe it was not Marbury's fault that the Celtics lost ground while he was on the court but it will be interesting to monitor this over a larger sample size of games. Also, while a lot has been said about Marbury's talent, the 31 year old last played in the All-Star Game in 2003. Other All-Stars that season included Jamal Mashburn, Antoine Walker, Steve Francis and Gary Payton; obviously, they are not All-Star players now and it is far from certain that Marbury is anywhere close to being the player that he was in 2003.
There are some examples of star players with questionable reputations accepting lesser roles to play on championship teams.
Bob McAdoo and
Mark Aguirre helped the Lakers and Pistons respectively win championships in the 1980s but it is a big stretch to compare Marbury to either of those players. As a Buffalo Brave, McAdoo won the 1975 MVP and placed second in MVP voting in 1974 and 1976; he led the league in scoring three straight years, led the league in field goal percentage once and annually ranked among the league leaders in rebounding and blocked shots. He also put up big time numbers in the playoffs, including 37.4 ppg and 13.4 rpg in the 1975 postseason. Aguirre was one of the best scoring forwards in the NBA in the mid-1980s, ranking in the top ten in scoring five times; he led the Dallas Mavericks to the 1988 Western Conference Finals.
In short, McAdoo and Aguirre were truly franchise players, while Marbury has only been a franchise player in his own overactive imagination. McAdoo and Aguirre made important contributions to championship teams because they were elite level players whose skill sets fit in perfectly with what their new teams needed. Marbury is a shoot first point guard with an exaggerated belief in his own abilities and an aversion to playing the tough defense that has been Boston's trademark since acquiring Kevin Garnett. Also, the knocks against McAdoo and Aguirre turned out to be largely unfounded, while Marbury has a long and well documented record of poor on court performance (at least in terms of fitting into a team concept) combined with hefty doses of negative off court drama.
The other part of this situation that cannot be ignored or understated is just how difficult it is for a starting player to not only adjust to coming off of the bench but to be effective in that role (as the Detroit Pistons have recently discovered after benching Rip Hamilton in favor of Rodney Stuckey). Even if a player has the right attitude, this is still not an easy transition to make.
When I asked McAdoo how he made the adjustment to coming off of the bench and having a reduced role, he immediately replied, "Who said I adjusted? I didn’t adjust. I mean, I never complained or anything, but I never adjusted. It was very hard for me mentally to do that for four years--really, for five years, because even when I went to Philly, they wanted to do the same thing and bring me off of the bench. It was something that I had to accept because it is a team game; it’s not like tennis or golf. I didn’t complain, I just dealt with it. That’s the only thing I can say--I dealt with it. I didn’t adjust to it." McAdoo played for two L.A. Lakers championship teams (1982, 1985).
Aguirre expressed similar thoughts to me about his role with the Detroit Pistons, who won championships in 1989 and 1990: “That was the hardest thing that I ever did. It was extremely difficult to produce 14 points in like 24 minutes. So I got through it and nobody will know how difficult that was."
The 2000-01 Portland Trailblazers provide an excellent cautionary tale about just how delicate team chemistry can be. After pushing the eventual champion Lakers to seven games in the 2000 Western Conference Finals, the Blazers looked like they were going to post the best record in the NBA in 2001. In the second half of the season, they signed Detlef Schrempf to add depth to their frontcourt. Schrempf was a versatile, talented player but adding one more body to the mix had a trickle down effect on the minutes/shot attempts for other players. The Blazers went 8-12 down the stretch and lost in the first round of the playoffs.
The Boston Celtics are a proven championship team--in contrast to that Portland squad--so the analogy is not a perfect fit but there is no denying that it can be risky to add a new player into your rotation late in the season. The Celtics won close to 80% of their games this season prior to signing Marbury. If their winning percentage dips to 70% in the final weeks of the season then the Cleveland Cavaliers could end up with the top record in the Eastern Conference--and that type of winning percentage decline would not be the least bit surprising considering Marbury's track record.
Labels: Bob McAdoo, Boston Celtics, Mark Aguirre, Stephon Marbury
posted by David Friedman @ 2:56 PM
NBA Legends Pay Dues Again
The April 9 edition of
USA Today contained an interesting article by Chris Colston titled
"NBA Legends Pay Dues Again." According to Colston's research, out of 148 assistant coaches in the NBA there are 55 who played in the NBA and/or ABA, 13 of whom made the All-Star team at least once. Six of those players are Hall of Famers (counting Adrian Dantley, who will be enshrined with this year's class) and three of them were selected to the
NBA's 50 Greatest Players List.
Looking at Colston's list, I realized that I have interviewed two of the three Top 50 players, four of the six Hall of Famers and nine of the 13 All-Stars. Here are links to some of the stories that I have done that feature quotes from All-Stars who have become coaches:
Dropping Knowledge--Mark Aguirre, New York assistant coach
Cowens Helped Restore Celtics Pride--Dave Cowens, Detroit assistant coach
A True Basketball Artist--Alex English, Toronto assistant coach
From "Hoya Destroya" to Yao's Mentor--Patrick Ewing, Orlando assistant coach (Ewing worked for Houston at the time this article was published)
The Legacy of the ABA--Maurice Lucas, Portland assistant coach (this article is not specifically about Lucas but it contains a quote from him about his ABA teammate Artis Gilmore)
The Numbers Don't Lie--Bob McAdoo, Miami assistant coach
James Silas: "Captain Late" Commanded Respect in the Clutch (Part II)--Doug Moe, Denver assistant coach (this article is not about Moe but it includes his memories about coaching Silas and coaching against Silas)
Dependable and Durable--Jack Sikma, Houston assistant coach
Celtic Sub Shined Brightly as a Sun--Paul Westphal, Dallas assistant coach
Labels: Alex English, Bob McAdoo, Dave Cowens, Doug Moe, Jack Sikma, Mark Aguirre, Maurice Lucas, Patrick Ewing, Paul Westphal
posted by David Friedman @ 8:20 AM
The Man Behind the Suns' Rise
John MacLeod lifted the Suns from expansion team status all the way to the 1976 NBA Finals. Although he never made it back to the Finals, his tenure in Phoenix consisted of much more than that one playoff run; he helped build the Suns into perennial Western Conference contenders. Later, he coached the Dallas Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals, that team's best playoff performance until Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas to the 2006 NBA Finals. MacLeod coached several All-NBA and All-Star performers but you may be surprised to learn who he says "had the softest shot of anybody I've ever seen." You can read all about his career in my newest article for HoopsHype.com (10/4/15 edit: the link to HoopsHype.com no longer works, so I have posted the original article below):
When John MacLeod became the Phoenix Suns' coach in 1973, the team had just finished its fifth season and he had no NBA experience. MacLeod had spent the previous six years leading Oklahoma to a 90-69 record and two NIT appearances--a very good run at a school that has always been known primarily for its football program. MacLeod's success caught the eye of Phoenix general manager Jerry Colangelo, who had gone through five different coaches--including two interim stints himself--in the team's brief NBA existence.
The Suns showed little improvement in MacLeod's first two years, but everything came together in 1975-76. The 1976 Suns were led by guard Paul Westphal (20.5 ppg) and center Alvan Adams (19.0 ppg), who won Rookie of the Year honors and was the first rookie to play in the All-Star Game since Sidney Wicks in 1972.
The Suns started the season 14-9 but went through a 4-18 stretch that put their playoff chances in serious jeopardy. Phoenix then traded forward John Shumate to Buffalo for forward Garfield Heard. Shumate had been a productive player but things just clicked for the Suns after Heard joined the team; they went 24-13 the rest of the way, finishing with a 42-40 record and beating out the Lakers for the last playoff spot by just two games.
Phoenix advanced to the Western Conference Finals, where they faced the defending champion Golden State Warriors, owners of the league's best record, 59-23. Rick Barry, the 1975 Finals MVP, scored 38 points in game one as the Warriors destroyed the Suns 128-103 but Phoenix grabbed home-court advantage with a 108-101 game two victory despite Barry's 44 points. After that, the teams traded wins, with Golden State enjoying home-court advantage for game seven--but Barry inexplicably scored just six points in the last 34 minutes of the game and Phoenix won 94-86 to advance to the Finals for the first time in franchise history.
In the Finals, the upstart Suns faced the heavily favored Boston Celtics, the 1974 champions. Powered by Dave Cowens' triple double (25 points, 21 rebounds, 10 assists), Boston captured Game One 98-87. The Celtics led by as many as 28 in game two before settling for a 105-90 win. When the series shifted to Phoenix, the Suns won two close games, setting the stage for what would later be called "The Greatest Game Ever Played."
Thanks to ESPN Classic and NBA TV, just about every basketball fan has seen Game Five of the 1976 NBA Finals and heard Brent Musburger's enthusiastic descriptions of the triple overtime contest that contained so many dramatic moments. "I remember walking out on to the floor of the Boston Garden at 9 pm on a Friday night," says MacLeod. "There was no air conditioning, it was hot and there was already a lot of Boston spirit in there because instead of going home (from work) people went right to the taverns and had a couple beers and then came to watch the game."
Phoenix trailed 32-12 in the first quarter and 42-20 in the second quarter but the Suns battled back to get within 94-89 with 56 seconds left in regulation. Ex-Celtic Westphal scored five straight points in the next 17 seconds and each team added one more free throw to send the game into overtime knotted at 95-95. The first overtime ended in a 101-101 tie and then the teams battled through a tightly contested second overtime until Phoenix forward Curtis Perry hit a jumper with five seconds left to put the Suns up 110-109. John Havlicek, despite being hobbled by a plantar fascia injury, countered with a runner to give Boston a 111-110 lead. Initially the clock ran out after Havlicek's shot but the referees determined that there should still be one second left.
The Suns were out of timeouts but Westphal cagily reminded MacLeod that if the Suns called a timeout anyway that Boston would shoot one technical free throw and Phoenix would then be permitted to advance the ball to the frontcourt for the inbounds pass (that rule was later changed as a result of this game). After Jo Jo White made the free throw the Suns inbounded the ball to Heard, whose jumper beat the clock and sent the game into a third overtime.
Fatigue and foul trouble had taken their toll on both teams' starters by this point and little used reserve Glenn McDonald proved to be the Celtics' hero, scoring six points in a little over a minute late in the third overtime to give the Celtics just enough of a cushion to escape with a 128-126 victory. "It was a fantastic game with great shots, great defense. Just a game that people who attended will never forget and a game that people who watched on TV will always remember where they were when everything took place," MacLeod says.
Game Six, played less than 36 hours after game five ended, proved to be an anti-climactic matchup of two mentally and physically drained teams. Boston prevailed 87-80, which at that time tied for the second fewest points scored in a Finals game since the introduction of the 24-second shot clock. "We weren't expected to be there; we came out of a situation where we had a lot of players injured early in the year but all of a sudden we perked up," MacLeod says of that magical season. "It was a great run--something I’ll never forget."
Injuries caused the Suns to drop to 34-48 and miss the 1977 playoffs but the team bounced back to post a 49-33 record in 1977-78. Westphal averaged 25.2 ppg and he received a lot of help from 1978 Rookie of the Year Walter Davis (24.2 ppg); both players made the All-NBA Second Team as the Suns emerged as one of the highest scoring teams in the NBA (112.3 ppg, fifth out of 22 teams). The Milwaukee Bucks defeated them 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs.
"Walter Davis was a special, special player," MacLeod says. "He was one of the most unbelievable pressure players that I've ever been around. He loved to practice and he loved to play. When we had a late game situation it was going to be either Walter or Paul, but for the most part it was going to be Walter because he was uncanny. Pressure did not bother him. He never got rattled. He made a ton of game-winning shots for us. He had great speed. He could go from the top of the key at one end of the floor to the top of the key at the other end of the floor full bore and then pull up and the end result would be a soft, feathery jump shot. He was a great shooter."
The Suns ranked second in the league in scoring (115.4 ppg) and went 50-32 in 1978-79 as Westphal (24.0 ppg) made the All-NBA First Team and Davis (23.6 ppg) made the All-NBA Second Team. Phoenix beat Portland 2-1 in the first round and then smashed the Kansas City Kings 4-1 to reach the Western Conference Finals, where they faced Seattle, the defending conference champions. The Suns lost the first two games in Seattle but rallied to take the next three contests. Seattle escaped with a 106-105 game six victory in Phoenix and then rode outstanding performances by Jack Sikma (33 points, 11 rebounds), Gus Williams (29 points) and Dennis Johnson (28 points) to a 114-110 game seven win.
Phoenix improved to 55-27 in 1979-80 but dropped to third in the Pacific Division standings behind Seattle and the resurgent Lakers, who paired rookie Magic Johnson with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Phoenix beat Kansas City 2-1 in the first round but lost 4-1 to the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals. That series was actually a little closer than the final margin suggests, as the first two games in L.A. each went to overtime before the Lakers prevailed. After that, a close road win gave L.A. a 3-0 lead.
Prior to the 1980-81 season, the Suns traded Westphal to Seattle for defensive stopper (and 1979 Finals MVP) Dennis Johnson. The Suns still scored a lot (110.0 ppg) but the addition of Johnson helped them improve to third in points allowed (104.5 ppg). Phoenix set a franchise record for wins for the fourth straight season, going 57-25 to win the Pacific Division with the best record in the Western Conference. Magic Johnson missed more than half the season with a knee injury and his Lakers were bounced out in the first round but the Suns failed to take advantage of this, falling behind 3-1 in the conference semifinals against the 40-42 Kansas City Kings. The Suns forced a game seven in Phoenix but the Kings prevailed 95-88 behind 23 points each from Ernie Grunfeld and Reggie King.
Magic Johnson returned to health in 1981-82 and Walter Davis missed 27 games due to injuries, so the Suns fell back to third in the Pacific (46-36). They beat Denver 2-1 in the first round before being swept 4-0 by the Lakers.
In 1982-83 the Suns went 53-29 but Denver knocked them off 2-1 in the first round. The Suns dropped to 41-41 in 1983-84 but defeated Portland and Utah to advance to the Western Conference Finals. There they faced the powerful Lakers, who promptly took a 2-0 lead before eliminating the Suns in six games.
Injuries decimated the Suns in the next couple seasons and Davis spent a couple stints in drug rehabilitation programs. MacLeod was fired during the 1986-87 season when the Suns were 22-34.
Next season he became Dallas' head coach, leading the Mavericks to 53 wins in 1987-88. Dallas beat Houston 3-1 in the first round, a series capped off in game four when Mavericks forward Mark Aguirre scored 27 points in one quarter. "Mark Aguirre was undersized for a 'four' but we played him at the 'three' a lot," MacLeod explains. "He had the softest shot of anybody I've ever seen and that was how he got it off over taller defenders. He'd get the ball on the rim and instead of bouncing out it would kind of roll around like it was massaging the rim and then it would go in. Mark was a tremendous offensive player. He had a complete offensive game. He was a passer. He was a power player inside who could play against bigger people and he also had the ability to drive the ball to the basket."
The Mavericks defeated Denver 4-2 to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history, where they faced MacLeod's old nemesis from his Phoenix days: the L.A. Lakers. Dallas battled very gamely against the defending champion Lakers but the home team won every game in the series, with the Lakers wrapping up matters with a 117-102 game seven victory. Dallas started 9-3 in 1988-89 but injuries and Roy Tarpley's indefinite suspension from the NBA for drug use sent the team reeling. Dallas traded Aguirre to Detroit for Adrian Dantley midway through the season; Aguirre helped the Pistons to win their first championship, while Dantley initially refused to report to Dallas. Not surprisingly, Dallas’ record plummeted and MacLeod was fired early in the 1989-90 season.
MacLeod had a brief run as the New York Knicks' coach, leading the team to the 1991 playoffs, before being replaced by Pat Riley. He coached at Notre Dame from 1991-99, winning Big East Coach of the Year honors for the 1996-97 season. Since then, he has been an assistant coach in Phoenix, Denver and most recently in Golden State, where he served under Mike Montgomery before Don Nelson took over as head coach.
Labels: Dallas Mavericks, John MacLeod, Mark Aguirre, Paul Westphal, Phoenix Suns, Walter Davis
posted by David Friedman @ 6:56 PM
Mark Aguirre: Dropping Knowledge
Mark Aguirre earned three All-Star appearances and played on two championship teams during a golden age of NBA small forwards, the 1980s. During that decade, legends like three-time MVP Larry Bird and 1981 MVP Julius Erving headlined a group of forwards that included Adrian Dantley, Alex English, Bernard King, Dominique Wilkins and James Worthy. Aguirre could score from anywhere: on the post, facing up or bombing away from outside. He also was an excellent passer, very capable of making teams pay for double-teaming him. Now he works as an assistant coach for the New York Knicks, tutoring their big men on the finer points of post play.
Here is a link to my article about Aguirre (9/3/15 edit: the link to HoopsHype.com no longer works, so I have posted the original article below):
The 1980s were a golden age for NBA small forwards, headlined by three-time MVP (1984-86) Larry Bird and 1981 MVP Julius Erving. Adrian Dantley, Alex English, Bernard King, Dominique Wilkins and James Worthy are a few of the talented forwards who had at least some of their prime years during that decade. Another player also deserves to be included in that group: Mark Aguirre
Aguirre starred at DePaul University from 1979 to 1981. He won the Naismith Award in 1980 and was also named Player of the Year by the AP, the UPI
and the USBWA after averaging 26.8 ppg and 7.6 rpg while shooting .540
from the field. DePaul finished the regular season as the No. 1 ranked
team in the country in 1980 and 1981 but on both occasions the Blue
Demons were upset in the NCAA Tournament. Ray Meyer helped Aguirre to hone his skills.
"I
was always physically strong," Aguirre says. "When I got to him, he
turned what I was doing into more of an art, if you want to call it
that, where I would totally be in control of my pivot. You would never
be in control of me. I could pretty much say that I'm going here and
when you do what you do I'm going to have you either this way or that
way. It took knowing angles, locking people, understanding my leverage
and things like that."
Aguirre left DePaul after his junior season and the Dallas Mavericks selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1981 draft. Aguirre
missed 31 games due to injuries but still averaged 18.7 ppg and ranked
seventh in the league in three-point field goal percentage (.352). He
clearly established himself as the team's best player in 1982-83,
ranking sixth in the league in scoring (24.4 ppg), a better average than
either Bird or Erving posted that year. He also ranked third on the
team in rebounding (6.3 rpg) and second in assists (4.1 apg).
He
earned his first All-Star selection in 1983-84 when he ranked second in
the league in scoring (29.5 ppg) and maintained his status as Dallas'
third best rebounder (5.9 rpg) and second best playmaker (4.5 apg). He
also shot a career-high .524 from the field. Dallas qualified for the
playoffs for the first time in franchise history, beating Seattle in the first round before bowing to the powerful Lakers.
Aguirre's scoring averages in December (32.3 ppg) and January (30.5
ppg) that season are the two best monthly averages in Mavericks'
history.
Aguirre
posted good numbers in the first half of the 1984-85 season, but was
not selected to the All-Star team. After learning of the snub, Aguirre
scored a career-high 49 points and grabbed nine rebounds against
Erving's 76ers in a 111-109 Dallas win."When
I wasn’t selected, that was upsetting and, sure, I wanted to let
everybody know that it was a mistake and I had one of the better
forwards in the league to do that against," Aguirre says of his
performance against one of the legends of the game. "That happened to be
the first game, but from that night on I was going to go after
everybody. It helped me; it made me better." Aguirre had four more 40-point games in the last 30 games of the season.
The
6-foot-6 foward earned All-Star selections in 1987 and 1988 as the
Mavericks emerged as a real force in the Western Conference, winning 55
games in 1987 and 53 games in 1988. Seattle stunned Dallas in the first
round in 1987, but the Mavericks made it to the Western Conference
Finals in 1988 before being eliminated in seven games by the defending
champion Lakers.
In the decisive game of the Mavericks’ first-round series versus Houston, Aguirre put on one of the best offensive displays in postseason history, scoring 27 points in one quarter, which still trails only Sleepy Floyd's NBA record of 29 set the previous year.
"The
biggest thing is that it came after being in a slump," Aguirre
explains. "I have to give a lot of credit to a good friend of mine--Brad Davis.
We had been pressing, trying to move deep into the playoffs and I knew
that I had to perform in order for that to happen. I kind of pressed
myself and I wasn't playing well. Brad took me to play golf. That was my
first time ever playing golf. That was the day before we played
Houston. He said, 'You need to relax.' He just came to my door, knocked
on my door, pulled me out of my room. I had no idea what golf was. That
relaxed me but when it came I knew it was there. Derek Harper just stopped running plays and he just said, 'Wherever you are at, just ask me for it.' That's what happened."
"He had the softest shot of anybody I have ever seen,"
John MacLeod,
Dallas' coach at that time, recalls. "That is how he got it off over
bigger people. He'd get it on the rim and instead of bouncing back out
the ball would kind of roll around like it was massaging the rim before
it went in. Mark was a tremendous offensive player. He had a complete
offensive game. He was a passer, he was a power player inside--he
played against bigger people--and then he had the ability to drive the
ball to the basket. So, he was a complete player."
"Having
a smaller forward guarding me was never, ever going to work," Aguirre
says simply. "So I played against mostly power forwards, but I could
take them down (on the block), too--but I could also take them
outside."
The
next season, Dallas had the best record in the Western Conference on
December 29, 1988 (17-9) but soon after that the team was rocked by the
loss of talented young forward/center Roy Tarpley, who
was suspended indefinitely for violating the NBA's substance abuse
policy. Then the Mavericks took the strange step of trading their best
player away, shipping Aguirre to Detroit for Adrian Dantley and a 1991
first-round draft choice. Dantley finished that season with his worst
statistics in more than a decade and played in only 55 games in the next
two seasons before retiring.
Aguirre was keenly aware that the spotlight was on him after Detroit traded away the popular Dantley. "We
had to win the title," he states with conviction. "There is no
question. Before I came, I let them know that if we don't win the title
this is a bust. I was totally confident in looking at their team (that I
could help Detroit win the championship). I knew what Adrian was and
he's a great player, but he wasn't an absolute post player. He faced up
more than he posted up. So with me being on the post, I created more
spacing for the Pistons offensively."
The
Pistons went 31-6 after the trade, 29-4 after Aguirre got fully
acclimated and became a starter. He proved that he was willing to do
whatever it took to win a championship, seamlessly accepting fewer
minutes and shot attempts than he was accustomed to getting in Dallas."That
was the hardest thing that I ever did," Aguirre recalls. "It was
extremely difficult to produce 14 points in like 24 minutes. So I got
through it and nobody will know how difficult that was."
The Pistons won back-to-back titles after acquiring Aguirre and statistics do not completely capture his impact on those teams. "He was very underrated," says Scottie Pippen,
who squared off against Aguirre in some memorable playoff series. "He
was a very dominant player when he was with Dallas. Even when he came
over to Detroit and won championships, Mark was still a very bona fide
scorer."
Aguirre
often drew double-teams and made a crisp bounce pass out of the post,
initiating a sequence in which the ball got swung around before Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Vinnie Johnson or Bill Laimbeer
made an open shot. Aguirre's post-up and his pass out of the resulting
double-team led to the score, but there is no statistical record of his
contribution. "No, there’s no stat for that," Aguirre says. "Maybe there will be one day."
In hockey there can be two assists on a play, recognizing the importance of the pass that led to the final pass. "Oh, I would have had a lot of those," Aguirre agrees.
Mentoring the Knicks' Young Post Players
Aguirre has been an assistant coach with the New York Knicks since 2003. He teaches the team's young corps of big men the fundamentals of post play that he first mastered at DePaul. "If
you think about basketball, the closer you can get, the better it is,"
Aguirre says of his coaching philosophy. "So I start there. Being able
to be close to the basket in a manner that is effective for you takes a
few things. It takes cleaning up your footwork first, then understanding
leverage and then understanding how to read your defender. Those I take
in sequence just like that. The first thing I have to teach them is how
to move and get to where you have to go."
Fortunately
for Aguirre and the Knicks, the young players that Isiah Thomas has
drafted and acquired are proving to be good pupils. "The guys I'm teaching now are really learning," Aguirre notes with approval. "Eddy Curry, David Lee and Channing Frye have been really great--I'm really happy with where they are."
I've
always felt that one of Curry's biggest problems has been poor hands. I
asked Aguirre if he agreed with that and what could be done about it."You
are right," Aguirre said, "but what you have to understand is that when
I don't know where my man is I tend to not be able to keep a constant
focus on where the ball is coming from. If I post up and I don't know
where my man is, then I take my eye off the ball and try to find him and
then the ball is there. When I looked at film of him, I saw that he
bobbles the ball if he doesn't get locked in on the ball. When he sees
the ball coming at him then he's fine."
In order to improve Curry's hands Aguirre literally rebuilt his game from the ground up."That's
footwork and that's leverage and that's learning how to lock the
defender," Aguirre explains. "See, once I do those things I don't have
to look at you; I know where you are."
Aguirre teaches his young charges how to seal the defender on their hip."Now
I can focus on the ball, which makes it easier for me to catch the
ball," he says. "If I'm looking for you and then they throw me the ball,
I'm going to miss a few of them. So we had to solve that problem...With a
guy who is supposed to have bad hands, you can look at him a lot of
times and see that he is out of rhythm with the pass. A guy with soft
hands is always in rhythm with the pass. A guy with bad hands is always
out of rhythm with the pass, so you can try to create a rhythm for a guy-- teach him to get in rhythm with the ball and that will help him a
little bit."
Labels: Adrian Dantley, Dallas Mavericks, DePaul, Detroit Pistons, Isiah Thomas, John MacLeod, Mark Aguirre, New York Knicks, Ray Meyer
posted by David Friedman @ 10:07 PM
