20 Second Timeout is the place to find the best analysis and commentary about the NBA.
Monday, February 16, 2026
The 2026 Legends Brunch Honors Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Candace Parker, Baron Davis, and Jamal Crawford While Featuring a Panel Discussion With Olympians Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, and Pau Gasol
The Legends Brunch is the highlight of NBA All-Star Weekend, a celebration of the great players who built the NBA from a fledgling league into a global enterprise. I cherished covering the Legends Brunch in person from
2005-2010, and every year that was my favorite All-Star Weekend event, along with attending the ABA Reunions in 2005 and 2006.
NBC is covering the NBA this season for the first time since 2002, so for the first time in more than two decades TNT's Ernie Johnson was not the host for the Legends Brunch telecast. Bob Costas, who served as NBC's main NBA host the last time that the network had an NBA contract, hosted the 2026 Legends Brunch. His communication style is different than Johnson's--Costas did not lead things off with a poem he wrote--but Costas is every bit as informed and talented as Johnson is.
Costas began the telecast by providing a brief recap of NBA All-Star Saturday Night, and then he introduced NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Silver acknowledged the presence of the family members of Chuck Cooper (the first Black player drafted by an NBA team), Earl Lloyd (the first Black player to play in an NBA game), and Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton (the first Black player to sign an NBA contract). Then, he presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Abdul-Jabbar said that he is "deeply humbled, filled with gratitude for a league that gave me far more than a career. It gave me a home, a purpose, and a family." Abdul-Jabbar thanked all of his coaches and teammates collectively, but he singled out one coach by name: Farrell Hopkins, who he credited with impressing upon him the importance of being able to score effectively. Abdul-Jabbar took that advice to heart, eventually breaking Wilt Chamberlain's NBA career scoring record in 1984 and then holding the mark until LeBron James surpassed him in 2023. Abdul-Jabbar expressed gratitude that the NBA provided "a platform to stand for something larger than myself," namely social justice and community service. He emphasized the importance of what an athlete does beyond the basketball court: "Greatness is not measured in points only or in wins, but in the impact we leave behind."
Magic Johnson presented the Pioneer Award to Candace Parker, the only WNBA player to win championships with three different teams and the only WNBA player to win the Rookie of the Year award and the regular season MVP in the same season. Parker stated that she has been inspired by NBA legends, singling out Magic Johnson and Julius Erving in particular. She also noted the strong influence that her college coach, Pat Summit, had on her.
The Legends Brunch included a special tribute to the three pioneers mentioned above: Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd, and Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton. This is part of the NBA's season-long recognition of how Cooper, Lloyd, and Clifton played key roles in integrating the league.
Andre Iguodala, the President of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), spoke on a host of topics. He mentioned Chris Paul--who recently retired after being released by the L.A. Clippers--and said that Paul has a special ability to "lock in" to competition while also being able to "lock through" as a connector bringing people together. Iguodala recalled that when Paul was a rival player he did not like him very much, but that after serving as an NBPA Vice President while Paul was the NBPA President he saw firsthand how much Paul did on behalf of NBA players. Iguodala praised Abdul-Jabbar for speaking to him 15 years ago about the value of keeping up with the times to learn to speak the language of young people. Abdul-Jabbar advised Iguodala to do things like watching reality TV shows to better understand how young people think and how they communicate.
Antonio Davis, the President of the National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA or Legends of Basketball), spoke about the NBRPA's mandate to help Legends live with dignity and wellness so that they can prosper and can continue to make positive contributions to their communities.
The Bob Lanier Community Impact Award was first presented to Pau Gasol in 2023, and then Jalen Rose earned the honor in 2024. The award was not presented at the 2025 Legends Brunch, but it is important to keep Lanier's name alive, and to recognize players who have a positive community impact. Gasol presented this award to Baron Davis and Jamal Crawford. Davis spoke about his efforts to bridge the gap between the "privileged" and the "underprivileged." He said that he learned the importance of community while he grew up in the L.A. area. Crawford declared, "This honor truly means a lot to me. I feel so blessed because this isn't something you seek recognition for. You do what feels right to uplift as many people as possible, especially those who need it most." He thanked his grandparents, parents, sisters, and community members who inspired him. He lives by the motto, "If you can help someone, do it." Crawford added, "Giving back is not about recognition. It's about responsibility." He thanked Abdul-Jabbar and Erving for providing inspiration to him when he was a child--and even today. Crawford said that the sport's legends are the most important part of the game.
Robertson recalled Team USA's tryout process for the 1960 Olympics, which involved eight teams competing in Denver. The AAU was very powerful at that time, and tried to get as many of their players as possible on the Olympic team. Costas asked Robertson if the 1960 squad was the greatest U.S. team ever other than the fabled 1992 Dream Team. Robertson acknowledged his team's greatness but also felt that the 1956 squad led by Bill Russell should be considered.
Robertson wore a knee brace, but Costas pointed out that Robertson looks much younger than 87. Robertson explained that he is wearing the brace because old men sometimes do "foolish" things; he strained his leg trying to see how much weight he could lift over his head.
Magic Johnson said that a key moment for the 1992 Dream Team happened when Michael Jordan rejected the honor of being the only captain and insisted that Larry Bird and Magic Johnson should be co-captains with him. Johnson said that this forged team unity. He remembered that the Dream Team's scrimmages were often Eastern Conference players competing against Western Conference players, and he said that those now-legendary battles were very intense.
Johnson praised Robertson not only as a great player but also as the first player who became a "businessman outside of basketball," along with Dave Bing.
One of Johnson's most vivid Olympic memories is how Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen made a point of taking turns guarding Toni Kukoc--their future Chicago Bulls teammate--full court when Team USA faced Croatia in the 1992 Olympics.
Johnson singled out Erving for helping him when he was weighing the pros and cons of leaving Michigan State as an underclassman. After Johnson sought Erving's advice, Erving not only counseled him but he flew Johnson to Philadelphia to stay with him for a few days to discuss matters in detail. Johnson said that this was an important time not just in his career but in his life, and he praised Erving for being such a great mentor. That story epitomizes not only how special Erving is, but also the impact that basketball's legends can have (1) when their counsel is sought and (2) when young players have the humility to realize that they don't know everything and that they can benefit from the experiences of the great players who came before them.
You would not know this from following many of the mainstream NBA media outlets, but 37 year old Russell Westbrook is having an excellent, resurgent season following an offseason during which it appears that the only offer he received was a non-guaranteed, one year veteran minimum deal from the Sacramento Kings; that is the type of contract given to a fringe player whose ability to perform as a rotation player at the NBA level is questionable at best, not to a future Hall of Famer who is still a very good player.
Westbrook is averaging 14.0 ppg, 7.2 apg, and 6.8 rpg in 25 games this season, including 15.1 ppg, 7.7 apg, and 7.6 rpg in 19 starts. It is not his fault that Sacramento's highest paid and highest profile players are terminally allergic to playing good defense, nor is it his fault that the Kings appear to be outmatched at coach more often than not in the wake of last season's decision to fire two-time NBA Coach of the Year Mike Brown.
Instead of stories documenting how well the unwanted Westbrook is playing at this advanced stage of his career, we are inundated with hot takes about how terrible it is that the L.A. Clippers cut the disgruntled and unproductive Chris Paul.
Media members have created a distorted narrative in which triple doubles are significant unless they are posted by Russell Westbrook. Westbrook became the all-time triple double leader in 2021, and he has normalized all-around greatness to the extent that he is punished for being a statistical unicorn. Every other NBA player who has a unique form of greatness is praised for that uniqueness--think of Stephen Curry's record-breaking three point shooting--but Westbrook's greatness is not only dismissed; it is often mocked.
Nikola Jokic Posts First 30-20-20 Stat Line in Pro Basketball History
Last night, Nikola Jokic posted historic numbers--31 points, 22 assists, 21 rebounds--as his Denver Nuggets defeated the Phoenix Suns 149-141 in overtime. Jokic dominated the overtime with five points, five assists, three rebounds, and one steal. This is not only the first 30-20-20 stat line in pro basketball history, but Jokic broke Wilt Chamberlain's 47 year old record for single game assists by a center (Chamberlain had 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists for the Philadelphia 76ers in a 131-121 win versus the Detroit Pistons on February 2, 1968). Jokic joined his teammate Russell Westbrook and Chamberlain as the only three players in pro basketball history to have a 20-20-20 game. This was Jokic's seventh 15-15-15 game this season and the 14th of his career, tying two Oscar Robertson records.
It is unfortunate that the NBA and its media partners ignore ABA numbers when discussing all-time records, but it should be noted that Julius Erving had 26 points, 20 rebounds, and 15 assists in a 138-91 playoff victory versus Rick Barry's New York Nets on April 13, 1972. Erving was a rookie when he accomplished that feat, and--as far as I can determine--Jokic is the only other player in pro basketball history to notch a 26-20-15 game (in addition to last night's performance, Jokic had a 35-22-17 game versus Sacramento on January 23, 2025).
Jokic now has 29 triple doubles in 2024-25, matching his career-high for a season, and tying for sixth on the all-time single season list behind Westbrook (42 in 2016-17), Robertson (41 in 1961-62), Westbrook (38 in 2020-21), Westbrook (34 in 2018-19), and Chamberlain (31 in 1967-68). Side note: as long as you are not brainwashed by Amin Elhassan and Zach Harper or LeBron James' p.r. man Dave "Vampire" McMenamin, you understand that Westbrook is an all-time great.
The prevailing media narrative seems to be that Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will win the 2024-25 regular season MVP award. Gilgeous-Alexander is having a great season for the West-leading 52-11 Thunder; he ranks first in the NBA in scoring (career-high 32.8 ppg), second in steals (1.8 spg), and eighth in free throw percentage (.898). Gilgeous-Alexander has no skill set weaknesses, and there is nothing negative to say about his game--but Jokic is nearly averaging a triple double and he is poised to become the first player in pro basketball history to rank in the top three in scoring (28.9 ppg, third), rebounding (12.9 rpg, third), and assists (10.6 apg, second). I explained my MVP criteria in an article handicapping the 2017 MVP race, and my MVP criteria remain the same: "My philosophy about the MVP award remains unchanged; the MVP should be
the best all-around player in the league, unless there is a player who
is so singularly dominant in one or two phases of the game that this
dominance makes him more valuable than the league's best all-around
player at that time. So, Shaquille O'Neal should have won several MVPs
(instead of just one) even though he was never the best all-around
player in the league; his dominance in the paint made him more valuable
than anyone else during his prime."
O'Neal averaged more than 28.9 ppg three times in his 19 season career, and he averaged more than 12.9 rpg three times; he exceeded both of those numbers in the same season just twice, and in one of those seasons (2000-01) he captured his lone regular season MVP. Jokic is putting up "Shaq-like" numbers as a dominant big man and he is the best all-around player in the league as signified by his scoring/rebounding/passing excellence, so I would designate him as the clear choice for 2024-25 MVP--not based on one game, but based on his season-long triple double dominance.
The 2025 NBA Legends Brunch Honors Oscar Robertson, Gary Payton, and Rick Barry, and Features a Panel Discussion With Run TMC
The Legends Brunch is the most meaningful and special NBA All-Star Weekend event; it is important to acknowledge and honor the people who built the sport. I had the privilege of covering the Legends Brunch in person from 2005-2010, and every year that was the highlight of All-Star Weekend for me, along with attending the ABA Reunions in 2005 and 2006.
Ernie Johnson is the perfect host for the Legends Brunch, and he consistently hits the right notes in terms of when to be serious and when to be humorous. This year ends TNT's four decades of covering the NBA, and during his traditional Legends Brunch poem Johnson expressed gratitude for TNT's long run, and appreciation to the production crew behind the scenes that makes sure everything runs smoothly.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Oscar Robertson. Silver called Robertson "A man of dignity, character, and respect." During a video tribute for Robertson, John Havlicek said that Robertson is the best player he ever played against, quite a statement from a Hall of Famer who spent 16 NBA seasons playing against many of the greatest players of all-time, including Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain,
Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Julius Erving. Abdul-Jabbar, who played with and against Robertson, termed Robertson a "pioneer in the game of basketball."
During his acceptance speech, Robertson emphasized that his guiding thought has always been, "Situations in life should be as fair as possible." Robertson said that this principle impacted both how he played the game--keeping his teammates involved--and how he worked to represent the players' interests when he served as the President of the Players Association from 1965-74; his friends Jack Twyman and Tommy Heinsohn persuaded him to accept the latter role, and Robertson was one of the "NBA 14" who filed a lawsuit that paved the way for the huge guaranteed salaries that today's NBA players take for granted. Robertson, Archie Clark, Dave Bing, Dave Cowens, and Dave DeBusschere later founded the National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA). Robertson said that as a player and as a retired player he sought to partner with the NBA team owners as opposed to having an adversarial relationship with them. Robertson thanked Chris Paul for his role with the Players Association to help the retired players finally obtain health insurance in 2016. Recalling the Legends Brunch's humble beginnings, Robertson looked at the large assembled audience and concluded, "This is magnificent!"
Damian Lillard presented the Hometown Hero Award to Gary Payton. Lillard is a Bay Area native who said that when he was a kid he was inspired by Payton, who was already an established NBA player. Payton said that he is sad that his mother and father did not live long enough to see this moment. He acknowledged that other Bay Area natives--including Jason Kidd, Antonio Davis, and Brian Shaw--could have received the honor instead of him. Payton emphasized the importance of giving back to the community, mentioning that the reason that he took the head coaching job at College of Alameda is that he seeks to positively influence the community, particularly young people.
Stephen Curry introduced the program's always poignant "In Memoriam" segment. He spoke briefly about Jerry West,
Bill Walton, Dikembe Mutombo, and Al Attles. Then, a video tribute accompanied by live music honored other Legends who passed away within the past year. I was a Philadelphia 76ers fan growing up, so three names in particular caught my attention and brought back memories: Pat Williams (the general manager who built the 76ers' 1983 championship team), Joe "Jellybean" Bryant (Kobe's father, who played for the 76ers from 1975-79), and Harold Katz (the 76ers' majority owner from 1981-1996).
Julius Erving, the NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1977 and 1983 and an All-NBA First Team member for the 76ers' 1983 championship team, presented the Legend of the Year award to Rick Barry, who spent nine of his 14 professional seasons playing in the Bay Area (eight during two separates stints with the Warriors, plus one with the ABA's Oakland Oaks). Erving said that Barry is "as iconic for his scoring ability as for his style" and that Barry was "a player ahead of his time." Erving added that Barry, who is six years older than he is, "was one of my heroes, and
he is still one of my heroes." Erving noted that Barry shared the proceeds from his 1967 All-Star Game MVP award with his teammates, inspiring him to do the same thing. Erving mentioned how often he and Barry spent time together, including going to Israel, coaching in the "Big Three," and doing Spalding commercials.
During the video tribute to Barry, one of the clips showed Barry saying that he wanted every game to come down to the last 10 seconds with the ball in his hands. Barry also declared that you play the game to be a champion.
After Barry joined Erving on stage, Barry mentioned that his speech was supposed to last just four minutes, and he scoffed that asking him to limit his remarks that way is like asking him to only take 10 shots in a game because he would just be warming up by that point. Barry said that he feels an "extreme sense of gratitude" for receiving the Legend of the Year award. He looked around the crowd, and singled out several people from his journey, including his wife Lynn, who he credited for helping him mellow out during the past 34 years. He also mentioned his oldest son Scooter, who was born just a few months before he won the 1967 All-Star Game MVP. Barry pointed out Clifford Ray, the starting center on Golden State's 1975 championship team, and he said that there is "no one in the world I would rather run the pick and roll with."
Barry recalled that his father once told him "The older you get the faster the years go by," and he said that those words have proven to be true. Barry reflected on how it feels to be an octogenarian, and he reminisced about the 1967 NBA All-Star Game. Barry did not mention that he scored a game-high 38 points on 16-27 field goal shooting, but he focused on the overall talent level present in that contest and how competitive the players were. Barry noted that 13 of the 20 1967 NBA All-Stars are on the NBA's 50 Greatest Players List; that group includes Pantheon members Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, and Jerry West. Barry recalled that East Coach Red Auerbach was ejected. It is also worth emphasizing that the East attempted 37 free throws and the West attempted 26 free throws in a 135-120 West win. The concept of the league's best players playing hard, playing defense, and committing fouls in an All-Star Game is unimaginable to a generation of players who have been led astray on All-Star Weekend by LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry (as correctly emphasized by Sirius XM NBA Radio host Brian Geltzeiler during the Saturday morning show that he hosts with Sam Mitchell).
Barry said that he can't stand load management and he mentioned that he hated blowouts during his playing career because his minutes would be limited in such games. Barry still misses playing because he loves to compete, and he said that the NBA should add a designated free throw shooter rule so that he can make a comeback (Barry led the league in free throw shooting seven times, and currently ranks eighth in career free throw percentage at .893). Barry's competitive fire is limited these days to fly fishing and pickleball.
The Legends Brunch concluded with a panel discussion with Run TMC hosted by Bob Costas. Ernie Johnson introduced the discussion by saying that he always wanted to be like Costas but never quite measured up. Costas returned the compliment by noting that Johnson had carved his own path as one of the best of all-time.
Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin only spent two years together as Golden State teammates (1989-91) but during that short time they formed lifelong friendships while etching a permanent place in the hearts of fans who fondly recall their on court exploits. The trio's name--a play on words combining the first letters of each of their first names along with the name of legendary rap group Run DMC--was chosen as a result of a fan voting contest. During the panel discussion, Mullin noted that he had "seniority" and knew as soon as he heard the Run TMC option that it was by far the best one. Mullin, who is from Brooklyn, went to high school with Run DMC founding member Darryl McDaniels.
The trio's short tenure ended when Coach Don Nelson traded Richmond for Billy Owens. Costas recalled that Nelson later called the deal a "no brainer--I had no brain when I made the trade." The Warriors reached the second round of the playoffs in Run TMC's final season together and they did not advance that far in the postseason again until 2007, when Nelson--during his second stint with the franchise--coached the "We Believe" squad that upset the number one seeded Dallas Mavericks. The players were understandably upset that Nelson broke up their trio, but Mullin noted that Nelson "was a visionary" who played small ball and exploited matchup advantages in unconventional ways that he learned during his playing days with the Boston Celtics when the Celtics had a fast team featuring the relatively undersized Dave Cowens at center. Mullin also praised Al Attles for being a mentor to everyone in the Warriors organization, and he spoke about how much he cherished the "brotherhood" that he shared with Hardaway and Richmond through good times and bad times. Mullin said that he felt like he never had an athletic advantage at any level during his basketball career, so he had to rely on his teammates to help him. Hardaway said that Mullin is way too modest, noting that Mullin was a three-time Big East Player of the Year during the Big East's glory years. Hardaway said that Mullin's work ethic and superior conditioning set a great example for him and for Richmond. Hardaway gave a shout out to Archie Clark as the inventor of the
crossover move that Hardaway made famous as the "UTEP two step" or
"killer crossover." Richmond is the most soft-spoken of the trio, but he told a funny story about receiving some trash talk from Hardaway after he had a poor shooting night and then returning the favor a short while later after Hardaway had an even worse shooting night--0-17 from the field in a December 27, 1991 game versus Minnesota. Hardaway emphasized that the Warriors won that game anyway, and then he had a big performance in his next game (30 points on 13-21 field goal shooting as the Warriors beat the Lakers).
The 2025 NBA Legends Brunch hit the ball out of the park (to use a mixed metaphor), but here is one suggestion for the 2026 edition: resume giving out the Bob Lanier Community Impact Award, named in honor of the Hall of Fame center who played for Detroit and Milwaukee. That award was first presented to Pau Gasol at the 2023 NBA Legends Brunch, and then Jalen Rose received the award last year, presented by
Hall of Famer Dave Bing. It is not clear why that award was not presented this year. Lanier devoted his post-playing career to community service and to encouraging players to participate in community service, and his legacy deserves to be honored and remembered.
Russell Westbrook's "Perfect" Triple Double Provides a Reminder of How Exceptional He is
The Denver Nuggets' 132-121 victory versus the Utah Jazz on Monday December 30 featured two triple doubles. Denver's MVP candidate (and three-time NBA regular season MVP) Nikola Jokic had the 144th triple double of his career (36 points, 22 rebounds, 11 assists), and his teammate Russell Westbrook had the 201st triple double of his career (16 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists). Jokic ranks third all-time in triple doubles, behind only Oscar Robertson (181) and Westbrook (201), who became the triple double king in 2021. While Jokic had the "bigger" triple double versus Utah, Westbrook had the more uncommon triple double: Westbrook did not miss a shot (7-7 FG, 2-2 FT) and did not commit a turnover, authoring just the third "perfect" triple double since the NBA began officially tracking individual turnovers during the 1977-78 season. Jokic (in 2018) and Domantas Sabonis (earlier this season) are the only other players who have had "perfect" triple doubles. This is the second time that Westbrook shot 100% from the field during a triple double game.
Denver Coach Michael Malone effusively praised Westbrook: "First-ballot Hall of Famer, one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game. And what I admire so much about him, aside from the leadership and toughness that he brings every single day, is he's got no ego." Malone added, "He came here for one reason and that's to help us win a championship. And he hates to lose, and that's another thing I love about him. He's built the right way, and I'll go to war with Russell Westbrook any day."
Seven of the top 12 career leaders in triple doubles are active players. It could be argued that triple doubles in general are easier to get now than in previous eras due to lenient scorekeeping for assists, but it is biased and foolish to praise some players' triple doubles while acting as if the triple doubles by the all-time triple double leader are worthless; the distance between Westbrook and Robertson on the career triple double list--20--would tie Charles Barkley and Tom Gola for 29th all-time. Kevin Durant, Scottie Pippen, Bill Russell, Kevin Garnett, and Stephen Curry are just a few of the Hall of Famers/future Hall of Famers who have less than 20 career triple doubles. In other words, Westbrook is head and shoulders above everyone in terms of triple doubles, and the margin of his dominance cannot be explained just by the nature of how the game is played now or by how statistics are recorded now.
Denver fans need not concern themselves with how easy or difficult it is to get a triple double, or with how many career triple doubles Jokic and Westbrook will have, because what matters most now for their team is that Westbrook's energy and unselfishness are, as I predicted, a breath of fresh air for a Nuggets team that lacks depth.
Raveling posted the conversation in 11 parts on YouTube. Here are the links, plus notes about each part:
Part 1:
Raveling concluded his introduction by declaring that Brown is regarded by acclamation as the greatest clinician in basketball history.
Brown recalled that when he was an assistant coach for Larry Costello with the Milwaukee Bucks, Costello had 11 different sets just to get the ball to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. "It was a mind-blowing experience" for Brown to learn Costello's offensive philosophies. Brown said that he developed the concise way of speaking that is a trademark of his broadcasting style from his experiences teaching at the Five-Star Basketball Camp when he made a conscious effort to be mindful that a coach/teacher must be aware of the attention spans of players/students.
Part 2:
Brown reminisced about his playing career at Niagara, and about his interactions with Larry Costello and Frank Layden, who later became successful NBA head coaches. Brown said, "I owe everything to Larry Costello," who hired Brown to be an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks, thus giving Brown his first opportunity to coach in the professional ranks.Layden was Brown's teammate/roommate at Niagara, and later served as one of Brown's assistant coaches with the Atlanta Hawks.
Part 3:
Brown recalled becoming a high school basketball coach, and realizing that his future would be in basketball, not baseball. Brown also discussed playing basketball for the Army's team, and playing basketball in the Eastern Basketball League, which at that time was stacked with NBA-caliber players who had been banned from the NBA because of their actual or presumed associations with point shaving/fixing games.
Part 4:
Brown discussed his experience coaching baseball, basketball, and football at the high school level.He said that coaching high school sports for about $17,000 a year was the happiest time of his life--but it is evident that he also wanted to make his mark at higher levels, and so he took a pay cut to $7000 a year to take his first college job at William & Mary before going to Duke as an assistant coach to Vic Bubas.
Brown talked with reverence about Al LoBalbo, who mentored him and many other coaches. Brown described LoBalbo as "the ultimate clinician," the progenitor of the "Ball-You-Man" defensive concept utilized by Bobby Knight and many other Hall of Fame coaches, and the biggest single influence on his life other than his father. Brown said that one great piece of advice that LoBalbo gave him was to never use a whistle as a coach, but to command attention and respect with his voice alone.
Part 5:
Brown talked about his experiences working at Five-Star Basketball Camp, and some of the greatest players from that camp who made it to the NBA--and some of the greatest players from that camp who got sidetracked and did not make it to the NBA. Brown recalled that he used to tell the campers that the coaches are not impressed by how great they may think that they are, because the coaches have already seen Moses Malone, Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, and many other future Hall of Famers, plus other highly talented players who went the wrong way due to drugs, alcohol, or having a bad attitude. Brown told the campers that they have to choose which way they are going in life.
Brown said that when he coached high school basketball he insisted that his players participate in other sports as well, for two reasons: 1) He wanted them to benefit from the wisdom of the other coaches; 2) he felt that playing multiple sports provided the maximum opportunity for players to earn college scholarships and thus get a free education. Brown cited a specific example of one of his high school basketball players who ended up getting a football scholarship after first balking at the notion of playing any sport other than basketball. Brown added that his personal experience was that baseball was his first love, and if he had been limited to just playing baseball then he would have never had the career in basketball that he had.
Part 6:
Brown talked about serving as an assistant coach along with Chuck Daly on Vic Bubas' coaching staff at Duke. Raveling noted that this is perhaps the only time that one college coaching staff had two future Hall of Famers serving as assistant coaches. Brown called Bubas "the most organized man that I've ever met in my lifetime." Brown said that Daly's mantra was "Shooting makes up for a multitude of sins." At that time, Duke struggled to recruit the elite athletes, and thus focused on recruiting players who were great shooters.
Brown noted that after working alongside Daly he made a point each time he coached a team to have one player who was a pure shooter who could not run, jump, or play defense, because it is possible to "hide" one such player but it is not possible to "hide" two of them on the court at the same time.
Brown did not receive any college head coaching offers during his time at Duke, and he was seriously considering going back to New Jersey to coach high school sports before he received a call from Larry Costello, who hired Brown to be an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks at $20,000 for the first year and $22,000 for the second year. What impressed Brown the most about coaching in the NBA was how hard the team's two best players worked: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson set a high standard of professionalism that everyone else then followed. Brown also praised Bob Dandridge as "one of the greatest small forwards to play the game at both ends of the floor." Brown said that after his tenure in Milwaukee, every time he became a head coach the first thing he did was gather his players around, tell them how hard Abdul-Jabbar and Robertson worked, and emphasize that the players can either do things the right way by working hard or else they can leave: "We will never fine you. You will always fine yourself for your lack of professionalism. I've been with two of the greatest ever. They worked, and you're going to work." Brown said that a coach has to set the tone early, and make the expectations clear.
Part 7:
Brown described taking his first head coaching job in the professional ranks, signing a three year deal with the ABA's Kentucky Colonels in 1974 for $45,000 the first year, $50,000 the second year, and $55,000 the third year. He said that his 1974-75 Kentucky team--featuring Hall of Famers Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel, and Louie Dampier--was by far the best team he ever coached. The 1975 Colonels won the ABA championship, storming through the playoffs with a 12-3 record.
Part 8:
After the Colonels were not part of the 1976 ABA-NBA merger, Brown became coach of the Atlanta Hawks. The legendary Ted Turner bought the team. Turner also owned the fledgling TBS network, and the Atlanta Braves. The Hawks had suffered three straight losing seasons, and they went 31-51 in Brown's first year with the team. Turner met with Brown after the season, told Brown that the payroll for the players would be cut from $1,400,000 to $800,000, and the team would be the worst team in the league for the next two years so that they could get the number one overall draft pick twice (this was before the NBA instituted the Draft Lottery). Brown described how Turner told him all of this while pacing back and forth in his gigantic office tossing a pen in the air that he kept dropping instead of catching! After Turner finished outlining his plan, he asked Brown, "What do you think?"
Brown replied, "How about if we try winning?" A stunned Turner asks Brown how the team would win on an $800,000 budget if the team lost on a $1,400,000 budget. Brown said that he needed to have total control of which players they brought into camp, and that the team would use a variety of full court presses based on the game situation. Brown led the Hawks to the playoffs with a 41-41 record, and in the next two seasons the Hawks went 46-36 and 50-32, winning the 1980 Central Division title. During that period Brown and his scouts scoured the country for overlooked players, and found gems such as Charlie Criss, a 29 year old 5-8 guard who had been playing in the CBA (the successor to the Eastern League, Brown's old stomping grounds) and with the Washington Generals.
Brown said that Turner did not know anything about basketball, but he gave Turner credit for not interfering with the way that he picked the players and coached the team.
Part 9:
Brown shared more memories about coaching the Hawks under Ted Turner, including the time when Turner offered Brown the opportunity to be the Atlanta Braves' manager! Brown thought that the idea was ludicrous, but he asked Turner what Turner planned to pay him to coach the Hawks and manage the Braves at the same time. Turner exclaimed that he would not pay Brown anything extra because if Brown did this he would be in the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Baseball Hall of Fame. At that point, Brown told Turner that they could not talk about this any more.
Part 10:
Brown coached the Hawks until 1981. Next, he became a color commentator for USA Network, which broadcast NBA doubleheaders (much like TNT has been doing for the past several decades). Brown then spent five years coaching the New York Knicks before enjoying a long career as a broadcaster first with CBS and then with TNT. Brown's New York teams were injury-riddled, but they reached the playoffs in 1983 (losing to the eventual champion Philadelphia 76ers) and 1984 (losing to the eventual champion Boston Celtics).
After TNT went under different management and reduced Brown's broadcasting role, Brown accepted an offer from Jerry West to return to NBA coaching in 2002 at the age of 69. Brown spent three seasons coaching the Memphis Grizzlies. Brown led Memphis to a 50-32 record in 2003-04, earning his second NBA Coach of the Year award (he won his first in 1978 with the Hawks).
Part 11:
Brown talked about being inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Brown said that he was "shocked" and felt humbled when he was first told that he would be honored. During the months after the April announcement until the enshinement ceremony, Brown reflected on his life and all the people who had helped him along the way, and tried to figure out how to include all of that into his speech. Here is Brown's Hall of Fame enshrinement speech:
Raveling concluded by asking Brown how he wants to be remembered. Here is Brown's reply:
"I always wanted to be referred to as a teacher. I wanted to be a person that you would think of as being organized and never cheated--whether it was 55 minutes of business law in the classroom, or whether it was a two hour practice, an hour and a half practice, a three hour practice, that we never cheated you in your time. I wanted them to always think that even though you might not like the approach, but that we tried to get them to reach their potential. If they would just think of me in that light, I would be very happy because basketball has taken me and my wife around the world. Basketball changed me from being a corner guy hanging out to having a major future. And then, through the clinics, and in the world clinics, and then when Jack Ramsay and I and Calvin Murphy and [Bill] Walton went to 25 countries for the NBA, we had a chance to affect a lot of FIBA national basketball teams...As we both know, it's no different than any other business that you're in: you've got to prepare, you never underestimate the audience, you never underestimate their IQ and how much they want. So you never talk down. You talk to them. What you're hoping for is for them to raise their game IQ-wise by your mistakes, by mistakes that you've made. And don't be afraid to tell them about your mistakes...I know a lot of people say Hubie's so intense, but that's why I go always back to those two guys, my Dad and Al LoBalbo." Brown paused for a moment and became teary-eyed before concluding, "They forced you to pursue excellence, and to never cheat the people that you're responsible for. That's what you're hoping for."
Is Stephen Curry the Greatest Point Guard of All-Time?
Stephen Curry's recent declaration that he is the greatest point guard of all-time provides an excellent opportunity to combine a history lesson with a discussion about how to evaluate and rank basketball players. When ranking athletes and teams, there has always been a lamentable tendency to live in the moment and forget about the past, and this tendency seems to have become more pronounced with the proliferation of social media; social media users often drive many public conversations/debates, and social media users tend to be young people who may not know or care about things that happened before they were born. Also, social media platforms encourage brevity at the cost of depth and complexity, which leads to overly simplistic, binary debates such as "Is Michael Jordan or LeBron James the GOAT?" That question ignores even the possibility that the greatest player of all-time might be neither of those players.
Before determining whether or not Curry is the greatest point guard of all-time, it is worth examining if he even is a point guard! Historically, a point guard is a team's primary ballhandler and playmaker. There have been pass-first point guards and there have been scoring point guards, but it is rare that a point guard is neither the primary ballhandler nor the primary playmaker; an obvious exception would be the nominal point guards for the Chicago Bulls when the team won six championships during an eight year span in the 1990s: B.J. Armstrong, John Paxson, Steve Kerr, and Ron Harper may have been listed in the boxscore as the point guards playing alongside shooting guard Michael Jordan at various times, but Scottie Pippen--a point forward--ran the offense while Jordan served as the secondary playmaker. Armstrong, Paxson, and Kerr were spot up shooters, while Harper was a slasher and (at that stage of his career) a defensive specialist.
Curry has not led the Warriors in assists since the 2015 season; Draymond Green has been the Warriors' primary playmaker since that time, while Curry has been most lethal off of the ball. Curry is the team's secondary playmaker, and many of his assists happen after he catches the ball, is trapped, and then passes to an open teammate. In contrast, point guards typically bring the ball up the court, run the offense, and create assist opportunities from their initial action, not after the initial action has already been run.
Curry plays like a shooting guard who has excellent passing skills, and in that regard he is more similar to Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant than he is to Magic Johnson. However, comparing Curry to Jordan or Bryant is not a conversation that would generate much traction on social media, because almost all fans would reflexively take Jordan over Curry, and I suspect that most fans--the sensible ones who understand the importance of size and the value of playing at a high level at both ends of the court--would take Bryant over Curry.
However, Curry is the size of a typical point guard (6-3), he scores more than most of the greatest point guards of all-time, and he has won more championships than most of the greatest point guards of all-time, so framing the conversation as a Curry versus Magic Johnson question--which is what Curry did, and how the conversation has then continued on social media--deftly avoids pitting Curry versus Jordan or Bryant.
For the sake of this discussion, we will accept the premise that Curry is a point guard instead of focusing on the reality that Green is the Warriors' point forward. How should a relatively small sharpshooter who spends a lot of time playing off of the ball be compared with a 6-9 player who was always his team's primary ballhandler and playmaker?
In Part I of my Pantheon series, I mentioned the importance of both high peak value and durability. The greatest players perform at a very high level for a sustained period of time. When evaluating players, their skill set strengths and weaknesses should be assessed as well. A comprehensive, objective evaluation encompasses much more than "ring counting" or sound bites or subjective impressions.
Magic Johnson led the NBA in assists four times (1983-84, 1986-87), he retired as the all-time regular season assists leader (he now ranks seventh with 10,141), and he is still the all-time regular season leader in assists per game (11.2 apg). He tops playoff career leaders in both total assists (2346) and assists per game (12.3 apg). Johnson led the NBA in free throw percentage in 1989 (.911), and he shot at least .843 from the free throw line in each of his final seven full seasons. Johnson is not known for his defense, but he led the league in steals in 1981 and 1982 and he was an excellent defensive rebounder, a skill that fueled the L.A. Lakers' fast break attack because he could just get the ball off of the boards and barrel down court.
Despite playing with several potent scorers--including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who held the regular season career scoring record from 1984-2023--Johnson averaged 19.5 ppg during his career while shooting .520 from the field. Johnson won three regular season MVPs (1987, 1989-90), and three Finals MVPs (1980, 1982, 1987) while playing on five championship teams (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987-88). Johnson's Lakers were the first NBA team to win back to back titles since the 1969 Boston Celtics. Johnson finished in the top three in regular season MVP voting for nine straight seasons (1983-91), and he made the All-NBA First Team in each of those nine seasons as well.
His numbers and accomplishments speak volumes, but it is important to dig into specifics to understand the context. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Johnson competed for MVPs with his teammate/six-time MVP Abdul-Jabbar, three-time MVP Moses Malone, three-time MVP Larry Bird, four-time MVP Julius Erving, and five-time MVP Michael Jordan; to win championships, Johnson's Lakers beat Erving's 76ers, Bird's Celtics, and Isiah Thomas' great Detroit teams that later won back to back titles.
Johnson was great from day one, and--as indicated above regarding MVP voting and All-NBA First Team selections--he remained dominant for a decade. Abdul-Jabbar only won one of his six NBA titles prior to playing with Johnson. In the 1980 NBA Finals, Abdul-Jabbar averaged 33.4 ppg, 13.6 rpg, and 4.6 bpg as the Lakers took a 3-2 series lead over Erving's 76ers, but Abdul-Jabbar severely sprained his ankle near the end of game five and was unable to play in game six. With Abdul-Jabbar out of the lineup, rookie Johnson produced 42 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, three steals, and a blocked shot while shooting 14-23 from the field and 14-14 from the free throw line in a 123-107 Lakers win. After that monumental performance, Johnson explained what position he played: "C-F-G Rover." As John Papanek put it in Sports Illustrated, a "rookie three years out of high school played one of the greatest games
in NBA playoff history at all five positions—center, point guard,
shooting guard, small forward and power forward."
Few players in pro basketball history could legitimately play all five positions. During his 16 year pro career, Julius Erving made the All-Star team at both forward and guard, and when he was a young player he utilized his jumping ability and superior rebounding skills to play spot minutes at center, but Erving did not have the necessary height or weight to play extended minutes at center. LeBron James can play all five positions. Johnson is the only player who not only played extended minutes at all five positions when the stakes were highest, but he did so in the same NBA Finals game!
I think that Johnson, more than any player in pro basketball history,
could be teamed up with any four decent players and turn that quintet
into a very competitive team. That does not necessarily mean that
Johnson was the greatest player ever--he was not as good defensively as
Jordan or Russell or several other Pantheon members--but it puts him in a
special, hard to define category. Young fans may believe that LeBron
James has that quality but what I see from James is a mixed bag: he has
won three championships but he has also left several championships on
the table because of inexplicably passive play. Johnson never left any
championships on the table; he lost to all-time great players/teams in
their primes (the Malone/Erving Sixers, Bird's Celtics, the Bad Boys
Pistons, the Jordan/Pippen Bulls). There is no footage of the 1980s
equivalent of Jason Terry outdueling Johnson in the fourth quarter of
key NBA Finals games.
Back to the point about Johnson's incredible versatility as a teammate.
Russell needed a point guard and someone to be a scoring threat. Jordan
needed Pippen (and never advanced past the first round of the playoffs
without him). You can go down the line and most of the great players
needed a certain kind of accompanying star and/or supporting cast to
maximize their greatness--but Johnson legitimately could play all five
positions and he exuded a team-first ethos that smoothed over any
potential ego conflicts (Abdul-Jabbar was hardly a barrel of laughs to
play with for most of his career and it was amazing to see the joy that
radiated from him after he had played with Johnson for a little while).
Johnson won a championship while paired with point guard Norm Nixon in
the backcourt and then he won championships paired with shooting guard
Byron Scott. Johnson won championships with Abdul-Jabbar as the main
post up scoring threat and then he won championships as a post up
scoring threat when Abdul-Jabbar had to accept a lesser role due to his
age/declining skills. Johnson made it to the Finals with an aging James
Worthy, a young Vlade Divac, journeyman Sam Perkins and not much else in
1991--and it took the combined efforts of Jordan/Pippen in their primes
to prevent Johnson from winning a sixth title.
I think that the sudden, shocking end to Johnson's career combined with
Jordan's immediate meteoric rise has actually resulted in Johnson being
somewhat underrated by today's commentators.
Johnson was never a defensive stopper, but for some reason his defense has gotten worse as time passes--at least in the popular imagination. It is important to remember that Johnson was not only an excellent defensive rebounder, but--particularly as a young player--he played the passing lanes very well. His rebounds and steals often became fast break points for the Lakers. Also, he did not shy away from tough defensive assignments, and Coach Pat Riley did not hesitate to give Johnson such assignments. To cite just one example, Riley had Johnson guard Erving at times during the 1982 Finals. Riley explained, "Magic on Doc seemed like an ideal matchup to me. Dr. J is a great offensive rebounder. He'd hurt us real bad. Defensive rebounding is Magic's strength. So we put him in the position we wanted him to be in."
Curry is a 6-3 player who opposing teams "hunt" on defense; Johnson was a 6-9 all-around talent who could effectively guard even Pantheon level players, at least for stretches. That contrast brings us to the crux of why Johnson is a greater point guard (and greater player) than Curry: Johnson's size enabled him to do things--including rebound, defend, and be a post up scoring threat--that Curry just cannot do, and Johnson was better than Curry in every skill set area except for shooting. Johnson passed better, rebounded better, defended better, and handled the ball better.
Curry's accolades include two regular season MVPs (2015-16), one Finals MVP (2022), two scoring titles (2016, 2021), and four free throw percentage titles (2011, 2014-15, 2018). Curry is the career leader in regular season free throw percentage (.909). He has led the league in three point field goals made seven times (2013-17, 2021-22) and his career regular season three point field goal percentage (.428) ranks 12th all-time, but he has never led the league in three point field goal percentage. Curry led the NBA in steals in 2016.
Because Curry won back to back regular season MVPs, it is easy to forget that he has not consistently played at an MVP level throughout his career: he finished in the top five in MVP voting just two other times, and he won one Finals MVP during the Warriors' four championship seasons. Curry has earned just three All-NBA First Team selections. Abdul-Jabbar, Bird, Erving, Jordan, and Moses Malone all performed at a high level in the 1980s, but Johnson was the best player of that decade; Curry has not even been demonstrably the best player in a given five year stretch, let alone the best player for a decade.
A strong case can be made that Magic Johnson is the greatest point guard of all-time, but the evidence just does not support ranking Curry as the greatest point guard of all-time. I respect Curry's greatness, and after his 50 point game seven performance versus Sacramento in last year's playoffs I acknowledged that in the past I may have underrated him, but I do not consider him to be a point guard, and even if I considered him to be a point guard I would not rank him ahead of Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, or Jerry West. Robertson and West were big-time scorers like Curry, but they also served as the primary ballhandler and playmaker on their respective teams, and they were better than Curry as rebounders and defenders.
Definining Athleticism, and Correlating Athleticism With Basketball Greatness
In 2007, I wrote Is Steve Nash the Best Athlete in the NBA?, an article that was not just about Nash specifically but rather an examination of how athleticism is thought about and discussed:
Athleticism is often defined very narrowly. In the context of
basketball, athleticism is usually understood to refer primarily to
explosiveness laterally (quickness) and vertically (jumping ability); in
football, athleticism usually is defined by one's performance in the 40
yard dash and in the bench press. However, this kind of thinking leads
to a lot of stereotyping and superficial analysis, usually along racial
lines--i.e., Larry Bird being praised for his cerebral skills while
Michael Jordan is commended for his athletic ability. The reality is
that Bird was a phenomenal athlete, possessing superb hand-eye
coordination, quickness for a step (a concept that will be explained
below) and better jumping ability than most people seem to think;
compare his blocked shot totals to those of legendary leaper Dominique
Wilkins (Bird has the edge, with 755 blocks in 897 games compared to
Wilkins' 642 blocks in 1074 games)--and while Bird did not have the
broad jumping ability of a Julius Erving, he was more than capable of
playing above the rim to get rebounds and even throw down some dunks
(albeit ones that fans would term "generic"), particularly early in his
career.
Nikola Jokic's emergence as not only a two-time regular season MVP but also an NBA champion and NBA Finals MVP provides a great opportunity to further explore athleticism in general, and basketball athleticism in particular. In the popular imagination, it seems that basketball athleticism is defined very narrowly, as noted above. The ability to broad jump--in other words, the ability to take off from one spot, soar through the air, and then dunk the basketball before returning to the ground--attracts a lot of attention and praise, and when a basketball player is described as "athletic," that is shorthand for "He can jump high above the rim" or "He can take off from the foul line and dunk." Most NBA players can execute a generic one handed dunk, so even though dunking may be considered an "athletic" move for a non-NBA player it is not a sign of elite NBA level athleticism--but flying through the air and dunking, particularly if the dunk is accomplished over a defender, is considered to be a sign of elite NBA level athleticism. To some degree, straight-line speed--particularly when dribbling a basketball--is also considered to be a sign of elite NBA level athleticism; a player may be described as "the fastest player in the league from baseline to baseline," and this is meant to indicate that said player has elite NBA level athleticism.
Such narrow definitions and descriptions of athleticism not only fail to capture the full breadth of what athleticism is, but they also fail to correlate athleticism with basketball greatness. Jumping high above the rim, broad jumping or sprinting very fast from baseline to baseline do not have much correlation with basketball greatness unless the player who has such abilities can apply them effectively on offense or defense.
Broad jumping ability is most useful in creating high percentage scoring
opportunities, but it is important that the ability is deployed with an
understanding of time/score/game situation. Julius Erving, Michael
Jordan, and Kobe Bryant are three players who not only had tremendous
broad jumping ability but they each also had a great understanding of
basketball fundamentals; for example, Erving's greatness is not defined by his mid-air feats, but by his ability to combine his physical skills with his broad understanding of the
game--including knowing when to dunk, and when to execute a different shot or play. Similarly, Jordan and Bryant both knew how to use broad jumping ability in concert with basketball fundamentals to create high percentage scoring opportunities.
Athleticism should be defined in a broader way than just jumping high and running fast. Court vision, strength, hand-eye coordination, mental toughness, agility, and quickness are valuable athletic abilities.
Court vision refers not only to the ability to see what is happening on the court right now, but also to visualize what could or will happen depending on the movements of the other nine players. It has been said that Larry Brown could see where all of the other players were on the court at the same time, and that as a coach he would stop practice if a player were the slightest bit out of position. Brown was a three-time ABA All-Star guard who led the league in assists in each of the ABA's first three seasons before becoming the only coach to lead a team to an NCAA title (Kansas, 1988) and an NBA title (Detroit, 2004).
Boston Coach Bill Fitch called Larry Bird "Kodak" because it seemed like Bird could take a picture of the court with his mind and know where every player was. Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, and LeBron James are three other all-time greats blessed with elite court vision. Jokic is similar to Bird, Robertson, Johnson, and James because he can see plays before they develop; such players can make a pass that creates an opening, as opposed to merely passing to a player who is already wide open.
Strength is an important athletic ability, but not in terms of specific movements such as the bench press or the squat; strength is important in basketball only to the extent that a player can leverage it to gain an advantage, such as better rebounding position or better post position (both offensively and defensively). Moses Malone was a master of the subtle (and not so subtle) application of strength to improve his positioning in the paint to grab rebounds and convert high percentage shots. Players like Malone and Jokic prove that it is not necessary to fly above the crowd to have an athletic advantage over the competition; strength, when properly utilized, is very difficult to counter.
Hand-eye coordination is an underrated athletic ability that enables a player to handle the ball with dexterity even against pressure defense, and to use the dribble or the pass as appropriate to gain an advantage for his team. Dribbling in one place to show off just wastes precious time on the shot clock without gaining an advantage; much of the ball handling that generates praise and social media views is worse than useless in terms of winning basketball. A player's overall body movements may seem awkward, but if that player has finely tuned hand-eye coordination then he can control the ball in a way that defeats even high level defense. When Jokic advances the ball up the court after snaring a defensive rebound, his body movements may not match traditional expectations for grace and athleticism, but his superior hand-eye coordination enables him to control the ball and to make plays for himself and his teammates.
It may be easier to notice differences in jumping ability between various players than to notice differences in some of the other athletic abilities, but differences in hand-eye coordination and mental toughness may be more important than differences in jumping ability. As Charles Barkley has said, a deer can run and jump, but that does not mean that a deer can play basketball.
Quickness is not the same as sprinting speed. Quickness encompasses both mental quickness and physical quickness; it is a tremendous advantage to process events quickly mentally, and then be able to move quickly physically based on openings to pass, shoot, or drive that may only be available for a split second. A player who has a combination of elite court vision plus physical quickness can be very effective even if he does not jump particularly high or run particularly fast.
Agility is the ability to maintain body balance even in seemingly awkward or unfavorable situations. While jumping ability can be measured, agility is more difficult to quantify, and that is probably why an agile player like Jokic is sometimes described as awkward or unathletic; the way that Jokic moves does not fit the stereotype of what an athletic player looks like, but if you observe Jokic you will notice that he rarely falls down, he is rarely out of position, and he repeatedly makes passes and shots that an uninformed viewer may consider to be lucky. If some guy in the park makes one awkward shot every five games, then that is probably luck--but when Jokic makes such shots and passes on a regular basis, it is incorrect to dismiss such plays as luck or to suggest that he is not athletic.
Describing Jokic as unathletic is lazy and imprecise. Jokic has not demonstrated elite abilities in high jumping, broad jumping, or straight line speed, but he has demonstrated elite abilities in terms of court vision, strength, hand-eye coordination, mental toughness, agility, and quickness. I would argue that if one takes a comprehensive view of athleticism then Jokic is one of the best athletes in the NBA; players whose athleticism is limited to jumping high and running fast are not athletic enough overall to match up with Jokic, and that is one reason why Jokic has enjoyed so much recent success both individually and in terms of leading the Denver Nuggets to the franchise's first championship.
It Would Have Been a Travesty if Antoine Davis Surpassed Pete Maravich's NCAA Career Scoring Record
Antoine Davis' college basketball career is officially over now that Detroit Mercy has decided not to pay a fee to play in a postseason tournament to extend their season and provide him with a chance to break Pete Maravich's NCAA career scoring record. The 6-1, 165 pound Davis deserves credit for being a consistent and productive player who averaged at least 23.9 ppg in each of his five (!) collegiate seasons, but he played 144 college games--he was one of many players granted an extra season of eligibility as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic--and it would have been a travesty if he had broken Maravich's mark despite never averaging 30 ppg in a season. Davis said that he feels "cheated" that Detroit Mercy did not participate in postseason play, but the Titans finished 14-19 this season and did not earn the right to play more games. Detroit posted sub-.500 records in each of Davis' five seasons, including 8-23 in 2020. Maravich's LSU teams were not powerhouses, but they never suffered a losing season, and in 1970 they finished second in the SEC behind Kentucky while posting a 22-10 record (including 13-5 in the SEC).
Davis was a very good college player, but Maravich was by far the most dominant scorer in college basketball history. Maravich scored 3667 points in 83 games (44.2 ppg) in three varsity seasons. When Maravich's college career ended in 1970, he had scored nearly 700 points more than the second highest scoring collegian of all-time, Oscar Robertson, who scored 2973 points in 88 games (33.8 ppg) in three varsity seasons for the University of Cincinnati. Maravich is one of just five players who led the NCAA and NBA in scoring, and his college career scoring average is a record that has stood longer than Babe Ruth's career home run record stood; Austin Carr ranks a distant second with a 34.6 ppg college career scoring average.
Maravich played in an era when varsity careers lasted three seasons, not four (and certainly not five), and he competed against the best players because it had not yet become vogue to leave school early to join the professional ranks; there is no question that Early Entry Players Have Diluted Both College and Pro Basketball. Maravich's era was also more physical than the modern era. The three point shot did not exist in college basketball until the 1980s, and a review of the documented distance of Maravich's college field goals made suggests that if the three point line had existed he would have averaged well over 50 ppg! That estimate does not even take into account the reality that if the three point shot rule had been in effect then the spacing would have been different and opposing teams would have been forced to defend Maravich more closely, opening up driving lanes and creating opportunities to draw fouls. It is conceivable that Maravich would have averaged 55 ppg or more in today's college game with the three point shot, watered down talent, and less physicality. Looking back at what Maravich accomplished in college and in his 10 year NBA career, it is not difficult to believe that he could have doubled Davis' college career scoring average of 25.4 ppg, because Maravich was a much more skilled (and bigger) player.
If Maravich's point total is ever surpassed by a player who played four (or more) seasons, then the NCAA should list two record holders: the three season record holder (Maravich) and the four (or more) season record holder. This is not a Roger Maris/Babe Ruth situation which involved a single season record with the regular season lasting slightly longer in Maris' time than in Ruth's; this is a completely changed college basketball landscape in which varsity players participate in dozens more games than Maravich did, with the opportunity to buy the opportunity to play even more games despite playing for a team with a losing record. It is worth noting that Maravich's 22-10 team did not even qualify for the NCAA Tournament during that more competitive era, because at that time only conference champions were invited to the NCAA Tournament.
NBA's 75th Anniversary Celebration Game Provided Stirring Trip Down Memory Lane
On Wednesday night, ESPN and ESPN2 did a simulcast of the Brooklyn Nets-New York Knicks game; ESPN did a regular broadcast, while ESPN2 presented an NBA 75th Anniversary Celebration game featuring old-school graphics from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, plus guest appearances from legendary players and broadcasters. Dave Pasch and Hubie Brown handled the ESPN duties, while Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy--each clad in 1970s-style yellow ABC blazers--hosted the 75th Anniversary Celebration Game. Normally, I would be glued to any broadcast featuring Brown, but I could not resist the stirring trip down memory lane provided by the 75th Anniversary Celebration Game. I have been following pro basketball since I was a young child in the 1970s, and this sport has been a huge part of my life: I love to play basketball, I love to watch basketball, and I love to write about/analyze basketball. The game changes and evolves, but my fascination endures.
Oscar Robertson was the first guest, as the first quarter of the 75th Anniversary Celebration Game focused on the 1960s. He talked about how competitive the NBA was when the league had just eight teams, and he mentioned playing each team 13 times per season. When Robertson was a rookie in 1960-61, his Cincinnati Royals were a Western Division team. The Royals played the other three Western Division teams--the Bob Pettit/Cliff Hagan-led St. Louis Hawks, the Elgin Baylor/Jerry West L.A. Lakers, and the Bailey Howell/Gene Shue-led Detroit Pistons--13 times each, and they faced the four Eastern Division teams--including Bill Russell's dynastic Boston Celtics stacked with future Hall of Famers, Wilt Chamberlain's Philadelphia Warriors, the Dolph Schayes/Hal Greer-led Syracuse Nationals, and the Willie Naulls/Richie Guerin-led New York Knicks--10 times each.
Robertson also praised the skills of today's players, and he marveled at Kevin Durant's ability to handle the ball so fluidly at seven feet tall.
Marv Albert was the next guest. He talked about the 1960s--when his career began--but he also discussed covering the 1992 Dream Team (the only real Dream Team; the other teams were Team USA, but not Dream Teams). Albert said that when he first did a Dream Team game at the Tournament of the Americas he got chill bumps as the players came on to the court, and he added that without question this was the greatest set of talent ever assembled on one team in sports history. Albert explained that his trademark "Yesss!" call evolved from the "gyrations" of NBA referee Sid Borgia, channeled through one of Albert's friends who would do play by play while he and others played pick up games. Albert recalled that he first said "Yesss!" during a broadcast after a Dick Barnett jump shot, that fans and players began repeating the line back to him, and he soon incorporated it into his routine--but only for spectacular shots and/or shots that happened at key moments.
The second quarter focused on the 1970s. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar talked about doing the Mikan drill as a fifth grader, and how this practice helped transform him from a gangly, awkward player into a skilled player who wielded the sport's greatest weapon ever: the skyhook. Asked why more players do not shoot the skyhook, Abdul-Jabbar provided a very insightful answer: he said that coaches do not teach the shot properly, because after a player masters the Mikan drill fundamentals he should learn to shoot the skyhook in a way that fits his athletic abilities; Abdul-Jabbar insisted that it would be wrong to try to teach another player to shoot the skyhook with the exact same form that he used, because his form was based on his physical characteristics.
Abdul-Jabbar said that Wilt Chamberlain was the strongest player he ever faced, but quickly noted that he never played against Shaquille O'Neal. He explained that both big men were physically imposing in a similar way, but with different physiques.
Another guest representing the 1970s, Bill Walton, was in typical form: he talked straight through his whole segment without giving anyone a chance to ask a question. He remembered playing against NBA players as a 14 year old high schooler, and he noted that Marty Glickman (who also influenced Marv Albert) helped him to overcome his speech impediment. Walton praised David Stern and Adam Silver as two NBA commissioners who have helped grow the sport. Stern was certainly a trail blazer, but I am much less impressed by Silver's legacy thus far.
My favorite NBA decade is the 1980s. In 1981, Julius Erving, after winning three ABA regular season MVPs and two ABA Finals MVPs, became the first non-center to win an NBA regular season MVP since Oscar Robertson (1964), and two years later Erving teamed with Moses Malone for a glorious, record-setting championship run. The Bird-Magic rivalry was outstanding, and the Isiah Thomas-led back to back champion Detroit Pistons remain underrated. Michael Jordan's incredible NBA career began in the 1984-85 season, though he did not start winning championships until 1991.
The third quarter guest who discussed the NBA in the 1980s was Dick Stockton, who is one of the most gracious people I have ever had the privilege of interviewing. I have an indelible memory of the first time I met him: "When I approached Stockton face to face--without prior notice--at a
Cleveland Cavaliers game and asked him if he could take a few moments to
answer some questions for my upcoming Andrew Toney article,
he could have politely--or impolitely--declined: he was a big-time
national TV star who had no idea who I was. Instead, Stockton warmly
agreed to my request and he enthusiastically answered my questions. I
bumped into him on a few subsequent occasions at other games and he
always gave me a friendly greeting. I can assure you that this is not typical behavior in this business."
Stockton shared his memories of covering the great Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals in the 1980s. He made two interesting points: (1) those series were competitive, but often the individual games were blowouts as first one team asserted its will over the other, and then the situation reversed in the next game; (2) CBS marketed team matchups over individual matchups, which Stockton liked because he firmly believes that basketball is a team game. Breen recalled that Stockton influenced his style by telling him that broadcasting is about reaction and not just preparation; Stockton said that viewers will react a certain way to what happens during a game, and if the broadcaster is not in tune with that then he loses credibility. Stockton deflected some of the praise directed toward him by making a point of lauding Sandy Grossman, Pat O'Brien, and the rest of the NBA on CBS crew, stressing that it was a team effort and not just about the announcers.
My favorite NBA broadcasting duo of all-time is Dick Stockton doing play by play
alongside analyst Hubie Brown; they first teamed up at CBS, and then
they later reunited at TNT. Stockton talked about Hubie Brown's meticulous preparation and attention to detail. Stockton has such a great grasp of what it takes to have a top notch NBA game broadcast: he is right that the play by play announcer must have the ability to react to game flow changes, and he is also right that no analyst matches Brown's ability to not only prepare for a game but to then seamlessly weave into the telecast the insights that he gained from his preparation. Stockton noted that Brown talks to the viewer like he would talk to a player who he is coaching. I will always remember Brown telling me that he never talks down to the viewer but rather attempts to help the viewer understand basketball's strategic nuances.
Several of the guests talked about how blessed and fortunate they feel, so I must say that I feel blessed and fortunate that I have had the opportunity to interview Robertson, Erving, Stockton, Brown, and so many other legends.
In the fourth quarter, guest Bob Costas recalled covering not only Michael Jordan's six NBA titles, but also having a close-up view of the excellence of the other stars of the era--many of whom played on the Dream Team. Costas noted that the standard set by the Dream Team led to the emergence of international players on the NBA stage. Asked to weigh in on the ubiquitous Michael Jordan-LeBron James comparisons, Costas said simply, "Statistically they be may be equal, but Jordan was greater." Costas explained that Jordan has had a greater impact on the game by virtue not only of winning more championships but also having more iconic moments, from winning the 1982 NCAA title at North Carolina all the way to the Dream Team and his six NBA titles. Costas emphasized that taking Jordan over James is not a knock on James, comparing this to a baseball historian taking Willie Mays over other great players.
Breen asked Costas about starting his career not in the NBA but in the ABA. Costas is an ABA guy through and through, and it was great to listen to him add some much needed ABA flavor to the telecast. Costas recalled serving as the play by play announcer for the Spirits of St. Louis from 1974-76, and he talked about the noteworthy "in perpetuity" deal executed by the team's owners, the Silna brothers; in exchange for giving up the right for their team to join the NBA via the ABA-NBA merger, the Silna brothers received a share of NBA TV revenue "in perpetuity," which turned into a windfall worth at least several hundred million dollars.
The NBA has a rich history that has produced indelible memories, and it was tremendous fun to revisit so many of those great moments.
"A work of art contains its verification in itself: artificial, strained concepts do not withstand the test of being turned into images; they fall to pieces, turn out to be sickly and pale, convince no one. Works which draw on truth and present it to us in live and concentrated form grip us, compellingly involve us, and no one ever, not even ages hence, will come forth to refute them."--Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Nobel Lecture)
"The most 'popular,' the most 'successful' writers among us (for a brief period, at least) are, 99 times out of a hundred, persons of mere effrontery--in a word, busy-bodies, toadies, quacks."--Edgar Allan Poe
"In chess what counts is what you know, not whom you know. It's the way life is supposed to be, democratic and just."--Grandmaster Larry Evans
"It's not nuclear physics. You always remember that. But if you write about sports long enough, you're constantly coming back to the point that something buoys people; something makes you feel better for having been there. Something of value is at work there...Something is hallowed here. I think that something is excellence."--Tom Callahan
