The Basketball Hall of Fame Welcomes A Diverse Class of 12 Inductees
The 2019 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class includes the first black player drafted by an NBA team (Chuck Cooper of the Boston Celtics), an all-black team that became the first squad to win three straight collegiate national championships (Tennessee A&I, 1957-59), the New York Knicks' first superstar (Carl Braun), the pioneering women's team from Wayland Baptist, two of the greatest defensive players in pro basketball history (Bobby Jones and Sidney Moncrief), the face of the Warriors' franchise for six decades (Al Attles), two prominent NBA All-Stars from the 1970s/1980s (Paul Westphal and Jack Sikma), NBA championship-winning coach Bill Fitch, one of the first European players to make a big impact in the NBA (Vlade Divac) and one of the WNBA's first stars (Teresa Weatherspoon).
Divac gave the first speech during Friday night's induction ceremony. I was struck by the fact that when he first arrived in the United States he did not speak a word of English, but now he gave a wonderful Hall of Fame acceptance speech in that language. Think about that for a moment. Could you move to Serbia in your 20s, qualify for the Hall of Fame in some endeavor and then give your acceptance speech in Serbian? Divac declared, "To me, the game of basketball has always been about love." He also said, "You have to give in order to receive...Basketball is the opposite of selfishness. Basketball is solely about giving and sharing and caring for one another."
Jack Sikma is
one of the few players who has a move named after him. Sikma patented
the inside pivot move that is now referred to by his name. He had
tremendous footwork and smarts. Before the ceremony, Bill Walton said,
"He was a beautiful player" and a "brilliant analyst as to what to do
(and) when (to do it)." In the final three seasons of his career,
Sikma--who up to that point had made seven three point field goals in
the nine years since the league had added the three point arc to the
court--shot 203-618 (.328) on three pointers. His coach, Milwaukee's Del
Harris, was two decades ahead of his time in terms of spacing the court
and having his center shoot from long distance--and Sikma was both talented enough and smart enough to make that late-career addition to his skill set.
Braun, who received the honor posthumously, was known for his two handed set shot that was unorthodox even during his own era. The highlight reel showed that he had many other shots in his repertoire as well, including a running one hander. Braun set the NBA's single game scoring record of 47 points. His daughter Susan accepted the award on his behalf and stated that her father played for the love of the game, and that she can picture him now in heaven with his old teammates taking a brief break to watch the ceremony before going right back to playing the game he loved.
I grew up rooting for Julius Erving's Philadelphia 76ers. A major contributor to those great teams was
Bobby Jones, who was efficient offensively and tenacious defensively. Jones had asked his Denver Nuggets teammate David Thompson and his former 76ers coach Billy Cunningham to present him but Thompson is ill and Cunningham was unable to attend as a result of Hurricane Dorian. In their places, Jones tapped Erving and Charles Barkley. Jones mentioned that he is happy that the Hall is rewarding defense and he said that he would not have had the career he did without the teachings of his college coach, Dean Smith. Jones thanked all of his teammates and he even thanked the referees, which is likely a first at a Hall of Fame ceremony. I interviewed Jones 14 years ago at the 2005 ABA Reunion in Denver and found him to be every bit as gracious, humble and soft-spoken in person as he has always appeared to be.
Fitch was not able to attend the ceremony but he gave his speech via a pre-recorded video. His name may not be familiar to younger fans, but he lifted the Cleveland Cavaliers from first year expansion team to three straight playoff appearances, then he coached the Boston Celtics to a title in his second year with the team and then he led Houston to the NBA Finals in his third year with that team. Later he led the Nets and then the Clippers to the playoffs in an era when both teams were perennial laughingstocks. He ranks 10th in NBA history with 944 regular season wins.
The accomplishments of Tennessee A&I and their coach John McClendon (who the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame honored as a contributor in 1979 and as a coach in 2016) are remarkable: they won three straight national titles--they are the first basketball team to win back to back national titles in any collegiate division--and they did so while overcoming the blatant racism of the day. They also played a style featuring pressure defense and fast-breaking offense that was far ahead of its time. Dick Barnett, the team's star who later became an NBA All-Star and a two-time NBA champion, narrated the video that placed the team's accomplishments in the historical context of an era that included the brutal murder of Emmett Till, the saga of Rosa Parks and the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education. Barnett began the video by declaring that Coach McClendon "sounded the trumpet that would never call retreat."
Barnett's speech was powerful and gripping on a sweeping historical scale. Teresa Weatherspoon's speech was powerful and captivating in a more personal manner. If you have not seen her speech yet, stop reading for a moment and watch it now:
Teresa Weatherspoon's 2019 Basketball Hall of Fame Speech.
Weatherspoon began by noting that there was "nothing rolling for me" (i.e., she was not using the teleprompter). She spoke of the importance of the history of the game and she became overcome by emotion several times, including when she thanked God for knowing her name and for making it such that her name is remembered. She also was deeply moved when she thanked each of her older brothers and sisters for watching over her while she watched and learned from them. Weatherspoon concluded by telling a story about three frogs trapped in a deep barrel of hot water. The frogs jumped and jumped trying to get out, while the critics outside the barrel told them to stop jumping and accept that there was no way out. First one frog gave up and died, and then a second frog gave up and died. The third frog never gave up and he eventually escaped. What was his secret? He was deaf! Weatherspoon said that she has always been "deaf" to the critics and naysayers who tried to put limits on what she could accomplish. What a wonderful message! I can definitely picture showing this speech to my daughter Rachel when she is a little older.
Younger fans who may be dimly aware of Al Attles as a presence around the Golden State Warriors probably have no idea that he was a player, a championship-winning coach and an executive during his six decades (!) with the franchise. Attles was not big even during his playing days but he was known as the "Destroyer" and everyone around the league knew not to mess with him.
When I was a kid, there was a time that Sidney Moncrief was arguably the second best guard in the league behind only Magic Johnson. Moncrief's Milwaukee Bucks could never get past Boston and Philadelphia to reach the NBA Finals but he was a great player who played on some great teams. Injuries curtailed his prime and shortened his career but when he was healthy and at his peak he wreaked havoc at both ends of the court. Moncrief said, "The game taught me how to prepare for opportunities, how to execute strategies, how to compete unconditionally, and how to adjust when you experience setbacks."
Chuck
Cooper was the first black player drafted by an NBA team, Nat
"Sweetwater" Clifton was the first black player to sign an NBA contract
and Earl Lloyd was the first black player to play in an NBA game. Lloyd
was inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003 and Clifton was
inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.
Julius
Erving joined Bill Russell, Elgin Baylor, Tommy Heinsohn, Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins, Ray Allen and
Mannie Jackson as presenters for Chuck Cooper. As noted above, Erving (along with
Charles Barkley) also presented Bobby Jones, so this ceremony marked the
14th and 15th times that Erving has been a Basketball Hall of Fame presenter. It was awesome to see such an array of talent from across the generations sharing the stage, but also poignant to look at how the aging process eventually takes its toll even on our sporting heroes.
In addition to Weatherspoon's powerful and inspirational speech, I was most touched by the tributes to Tennessee A&I and Chuck Cooper. I recall the poignant words of Earl Lloyd near the conclusion of the must-see documentary
"Black Magic": "Black folks are the most forgiving and nicest people on this Earth. I
said, 'What could we have possibly done to deserve the kind of treatment
we are getting?' It's a tough question to answer truthfully. One person
said to me, 'Well, the Lord will test you.' I said, 'I understand that
but 200 years is a long time to be tested. I wish somebody would tell me
if I passed or flunked this test.'"
The ceremony closed with a speech by
Paul Westphal, who combined a nice mixture of humor with some very plaintive messages about thanking those who have helped you before it is too late to do so. He wondered aloud if the recently deceased
John Havlicek and
John MacLeod knew how much they had meant to him. Westphal called Havlicek the "best mentor a rookie could ever have." MacLeod was Westphal's coach in Phoenix when Westphal blossomed into a perennial All-Star/All-NBA player.
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The diversity of the 2019 Basketball Hall of Fame class is wonderful but for those of us who tend to focus more on the NBA one wonders why certain players, coaches and teams have been honored while others have not been recognized. Some players wait decades before they are inducted, other players who seem to be deserving have yet to be inducted, and then other players are inducted quickly despite not seeming to be inherently more qualified than those who suffered long waits and those who have not been inducted at all.
There are not easy or obvious answers to these questions. A little over a decade ago,
then-NBA Commissioner David Stern described the Hall of Fame selection process as "absolutely unacceptable" and "troublesome." For many years, I loudly and repeatedly chastised the Hall of Fame for ignoring players and coaches who spent the bulk of their careers and/or their best seasons in the ABA.That particular situation did not improve until
after Jerry Colangelo became the Hall of Fame Chairman. Suddenly, doors that had been closed to the ABA for decades opened up and in rapid succession the Hall of Fame welcomed ABA stalwarts
Artis Gilmore (2011),
Mel Daniels (2012),
Roger Brown (2013),
Bobby "Slick" Leonard (2014),
Louie Dampier (2015),
Spencer Haywood (2015),
Zelmo Beaty (2016) and
George McGinnis (2017).
The ABA problem was perhaps simpler to address because it was obvious that a whole group of worthy candidates was being ignored specifically because of their ABA connections. The most glaring omissions have now been rectified and it is further heartening to see a guy like Bobby Jones--a defensive-minded player who began his career in the ABA--get recognized as well.
It is not so simple to figure out why particular individuals have not been inducted decades after their accomplished careers ended. There is not a set of objective criteria signifying what a Hall of Famer is, and the longer that someone is neglected the easier it is to keep neglecting that person in favor of more recently retired players whose accomplishments are better known.
I enjoyed watching the 2019 Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony and I learned some things about various inductees that I did not know, but I also feel bad for players like
Bob Dandridge who have seemingly been forgotten. Dandridge was a two-way player who performed a key role for two NBA championship teams (1971 Bucks, 1978 Bullets). Will Dandridge have to wait to be inducted posthumously like Braun was this year and like Roger Brown was in 2013?
Labels: Bobby Jones, Carl Braun, Chuck Cooper, Dick Barnett, Jack Sikma, Julius Erving, Paul Westphal, Sidney Moncrief, Teresa Weatherspoon, Vlade Divac
posted by David Friedman @ 9:01 PM
Reflections on Final Four Weekend
This was an action packed basketball weekend, with the 2019 Basketball Hall of Fame inductees being announced, the NCAA Men's Final Four in full swing, Baylor claiming the 2019 NCAA Women's Championship, and several NBA teams jockeying for playoff position as the season winds down. I will address the NBA playoffs in my annual Playoff Predictions article within the next week, so this article will focus on the Hall of Fame and men's college basketball.
The Hall of Fame's North American Committee chose Bill Fitch (coach),
Bobby Jones (player), Sidney Moncrief (player),
Jack Sikma (player),
Paul Westphal (player) and the Tennesee A&I teams of 1957-59 (
the first collegiate team in any division to win consecutive titles). The Women's Committee selected Teresa Weatherspoon (player). Al Attles was selected as a contributor and Chuck Cooper (player) was chosen by the Early African American Pioneers Committee. The International Committee tapped Vlade Divac (player), the Veterans Committee chose Carl Braun (player) and the Women's Veterans Committee selected the Wayland Baptist University Teams of 1948-82.
NBA commentators and fans often get upset about the Hall of Fame induction process, and wonder why non-NBA players/teams that they have never heard of get selected while some prominent NBA All-Stars are left out. The Hall of Fame voting is far from perfect, and I have lobbied successfully (along with others) for the long-overdue inclusion of neglected ABA players and coaches such as
Artis Gilmore,
Mel Daniels,
Roger Brown and
Slick Leonard.
It also must be remembered that the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is not an NBA Hall of Fame or even a pro basketball Hall of Fame; it is designed and intended to honor people and teams from all levels of the game, as one can see from looking at the various committee names listed above. So, for example,
Bobby Dandridge and Chris Webber were not beaten out by Vlade Divac, and no one is necessarily saying that Divac was a better player than those guys; Divac was the one international player selected this year, and he was being compared with other international players. Dandridge and Webber must pass muster with the North American Committee or, failing that, at some point with the Veterans Committee (I am not sure what time frame the Veterans Committee looks at; Webber surely would not yet be eligible but I don't know where Dandridge fits in that regard).
As indicated by the links above, I interviewed and then wrote articles about Jones, Sikma and Westphal. Jones was the ultimate glue guy, a selfless two-way player who was the premier defensive forward of his era plus an efficient scorer. He did not post dominant scoring numbers but he was a key member of winning teams in Denver and Philadelphia, including the
1983 Philadelphia squad that is on the short list for consideration as the greatest single season team of all-time. The inside pivot move is often called the Sikma move because Sikma was such a master at it. He was a very durable and dependable two-way player who helped Seattle advance to three straight Western Conference Finals while capturing a championship during the middle year of that run (1979). Westphal was a dynamic scorer who was one of the top two or three guards in the NBA in the mid to late 1970s.
I have not yet interviewed Sidney Moncrief, but I included him in my
2007 article about 10 NBA All-Stars who made comebacks after retiring, describing him as follows: "Few people seem to remember how great Moncrief was during his 10-year
career with the Milwaukee Bucks, when he won consecutive Defensive
Player of the Year Awards (1983 and 1984) and made the All-NBA First or
Second Team five times. Chronic injuries dogged him during his final
three seasons and he retired in 1989. After a year off, he felt well
enough to return to the court. Moncrief's 72 games played in 1990-91
were his most since he appeared in 73 contests in 1985-86 but he put up
career-lows across the board and called it quits for good."
Regarding Chuck Cooper, he helped to break the NBA's color line and he should have been inducted a long time ago, although one could argue that he should be inducted as a contributor more so than as a player; Cooper made a great, historic contribution to the league but he was not necessarily a great player, even if one accepts the premise that his career might have been longer and more distinguished in a less prejudiced era.
As for the Final Four, the Virginia-Auburn and Texas Tech-Michigan State games were long on drama but short on good basketball, as has increasingly become the case in college basketball; the sport has been hopelessly watered down by the parade of elite players to the NBA after just one or two collegiate seasons. Few colleges are able to develop and nurture players/teams, and they are instead annually throwing squads together on the fly, which is readily apparent to even a casual viewer.
Imagine the outcry that would take place if NBA teams struggled to shoot .400 from the field and scored less than two points per minute during the playoffs. I have compared the NBA game to the NCAA game in several articles--including
March Madness, Part III--so I will not belabor points that I have made before, but consider some of the numbers from the two Final Four games. In Virginia's 63-62 win over Auburn, the Cavaliers needed a missed double dribble call and three late free throws to sneak by a team that shot just .382 from the field. During one extended stretch, both teams not only failed to score but they failed to fire a shot that even hit the rim! You cannot make a convincing argument that this is the result of great defense; while both teams are good defensive squads, both teams are also apparently incapable of running an offense that generates open shots that their players are capable of consistently making. Saturday night's second game was even worse, as Texas Tech and Michigan State each struggled to score more than 20 points in the first half. Texas Tech pulled away in the second half to capture a 61-51 victory but, again, this looked much more like mediocre offense than great defense. What happened to moving without the ball, crisp passing, and forcing the defense to react/concede? If the best college-age players were not already in the NBA, none of these schools would have made it to the Final Four, or at least they would not have made it there with these rosters.
The biggest college basketball story of the year was the emergence of Zion Williamson but, as we have seen so often in recent seasons, teams that rely heavily on freshmen are far from locks to win the championship. Williamson will likely take his talents to the NBA next season, but it will probably be at least a couple years until we see his game fully blossom on that level; instead of watching his game mature in college, the NCAA loses its most high profile talent, while the NBA gets a player who probably is not quite ready to be a superstar. I am not sure what the answer is, but the current system is less than ideal for both the NCAA and the NBA, at least in terms of putting the best basketball product on the floor (both leagues are making money hand over fist, so they may disagree with my assessment that the current system is less than ideal).
I will be watching the Virginia-Texas Tech NCAA Championship Game on Monday night--I have watched every NCAA Championship Game for the better part of the past three decades--and I hope to see a contest that is not only dramatic but that is also played at a high level at both ends of the court. I am hopeful but not optimistic (and since I have a 50% chance of being right, I will go on the record to pick Texas Tech to win).
Labels: Basketball Hall of Fame, Bobby Jones, Jack Sikma, NCAA Tournament, Paul Westphal, Sidney Moncrief
posted by David Friedman @ 3:15 AM
Wayback Machine, Part X: The 1984 Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball
The front cover photo of the 1984
Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball featured Moses Malone shooting a left handed jump hook at close range over Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, while the back cover photo depicted Julius Erving soaring above Louis Orr. It was fitting that the two Philadelphia stars received that recognition, because they had dominated the league the season before, leading the 76ers to a 65-17 regular season mark and a magnificent, record-setting 12-1 playoff run capped off by a 4-0 sweep of the defending champion L.A. Lakers. Erving had won the 1981 regular season MVP, while Malone captured the 1982 and 1983 regular season MVPs in addition to winning the 1983 Finals MVP.
The 1984
CHPB contained 335 pages, 15 fewer than the previous edition. It included 23 team profiles, lists of the 1983 NBA
statistical leaders, the complete 1983-84 schedule, a list of all 226 selections in the 1983 NBA Draft and a "TV/Radio roundup." The
1984
CHPB had four feature stories: Stan Hochman wrote "Wholly Moses! The Indestructible Sixer," Bob Ryan contributed "The All-Bizarre All-Star Teams," Peter Alfano heralded "The Dawning of the Age of Sampson" and Frank Brady profiled Marty Blake in "Superscout: The Marty Blake Report."
Steve Hershey and Fran Blinebury co-wrote the "Inside the NBA" article, predicting that the Philadelphia 76ers would defeat the Lakers in the NBA Finals to become the first repeat NBA champions since Bill Russell's Boston Celtics in 1969. The Lakers posted the best record in the Western Conference (54-28) and cruised to the NBA Finals by going 7-1 in their first two playoff series before losing to the Boston Celtics in seven games. The 76ers mounted a disappointing title defense, finishing the regular season 52-30 (second best record in the Eastern Conference but 10 games behind the Celtics) before being stunned in the first round by the New Jersey Nets.
Here are some interesting notes, quotes and quips from the 1984
CHPB:
1) Hochman's article chronicled the improbable rise of Moses Malone from high school phenom in Petersburg, Virginia to NBA champion, NBA Finals MVP and three-time NBA regular season MVP. Malone was never a flashy player but he was brutally and relentlessly effective. As Erving put it, "We have the world championship because after six years of knocking on the door, even though we felt good in our hearts, in our minds, in our souls, we went out and got, for cold cash, a hard hat." Prior to the 1982-83 season, the 76ers signed Malone to a then record-setting six year, $13.2 million deal, and they shipped former ABA All-Star Caldwell Jones plus a first round draft pick to Malone's former team, the Houston Rockets (per the NBA's limited free agency rules at that time, which stipulated that a player's team owned a "right of first refusal" but could waive that right in return for compensation).
As if often the case when two superstars join forces, some wondered if Malone could co-exist with the iconic Erving--but Malone never had any doubts: "It's Doc's show and I just want to watch the show," Malone said not long after arriving in Philadelphia. In the ABA, Doc was always a great show. Now I've got a chance to play with Doc and I think it's gonna be a better show." In that first season, Malone helped lift the 76ers from 20th in the league in rebounding to first as the 76ers raced to a 50-7 start, the best such run in the history of the league. Such dominance makes one wonder how many titles Erving might have won had he been paired with one of the 50 Greatest Players of All-Time while he was in his prime, the way that Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan were as they won multiple NBA titles.
2) Bob Ryan noted that no one could argue about the five players selected to the 1983 All-NBA First Team--Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, Sidney Moncrief--and commented, "But there's more to the NBA than excellence. There is, for example, baffling inconsistency, greed, stupidity, selfishness and any number of anti-social behavioral patterns. There is also valor, determination, aggressiveness, and self-sacrifice." Ryan then selected his version of "The All-Bizarre All-Stars," 13 teams consisting of five players each.
I disagree with several of Ryan' choices; you can judge for yourself after looking at a couple of the teams he put together: "All Slama-Jama" (F Dominique Wilkins, F Edgar Jones, C Tree Rollins, G Darrell Griffith, G Sidney Moncrief); "All-ICBM" (F Larry Bird, F Eugene Short, C Dan Issel, G Fred Brown, G Brian Winters, Swingman Junior Bridgeman). Ryan realized that not putting Erving on the team of best slam dunkers would look odd but Ryan's explanation is hardly persuasive: "All I can say is Dominique
had to be on this team, and that if you have never seen Edgar's act, hush your mouth." During the 1982-83 season, Erving authored his famous
"rock the cradle" dunk over Michael Cooper, one of the greatest dunks of all-time. At age 33, Erving was still a phenomenal dunker; keep in mind that in the season after Ryan wrote those words Erving finished second in the NBA's inaugural All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest (after winning the ABA Slam Dunk Contest in 1976), while in 1983 Wilkins had just completed his rookie season and Jones was a third year journeyman who had already played for three different NBA teams. No, Erving
had to be on the team and he probably should have been joined by Larry Nance, an emerging young talent who beat Erving in the 1984 Slam Dunk Contest.
Regarding Ryan's team of sharpshooters, he wrote, "Distance, and distance alone, counts. When these guys approach the three point arc, an alarm buzzer should sound on the opposing team's bench." This was a much different era than the current one; in the early 1980s, no NBA player shot the three pointer with great regularity and few players connected at what would now be considered a decent percentage. Only four NBA players made at least 25 three pointers during the entire 1982-83 season and Mike Dunleavy led the league in three point field goal percentage at .345 after hitting 67 of his 194 attempts. Still, it is more than a bit of a stretch (no pun intended) to put Issel and Bridgeman on a list where "distance, and distance alone, counts." There is no doubt that Issel and Bridgeman were deadly midrange shooters but Issel shot 4-19 from three point range during the 1982-83 season and Bridgeman shot 1-13 from beyond the arc that season. The only alarm buzzers sounding when those guys took three pointers were on the benches of their own teams. Issel shot 29-142 (.204) from three point range during his ABA/NBA career and, surprisingly, he shot even worse during his free-wheeling ABA days (10-67, .149) than he did during his NBA career. Bridgeman finished his NBA career as a .244 three point shooter (40-164). As for Eugene Short, he played one NBA season prior to the league adopting the three point shot. Maybe Ryan meant Eugene's brother Purvis? Purvis was a big-time scorer for a few years in the 1980s but he shot just 4-15 on three pointers in 1982-83 and he finished his career as a .282 three point shooter (125-443).
I have a lot of respect for Ryan--there is a Ryan section in my extensive basketball library--and he is usually a perceptive commentator (albeit one with a Boston Celtics bias at times), so perhaps someone ghost-wrote this piece for him, because the choices and explanations are, to borrow a word, bizarre.
3) It is easy to forget just how big of a star--literally and figuratively--the 7-4 Ralph Sampson was in the early 1980s. As Alfano put it, "Now, like Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and, to a lesser extent, Bill Walton, Sampson is expected to usher in an era of his very own--'The Age of Sampson.'" Sampson had an exceptional collegiate career at Virginia, though some critics faulted Sampson for not winning a national title. He earned the 1984 NBA Rookie of the Year award after averaging 21.0 ppg, 11.1 rpg (fifth in the NBA) and 2.4 bpg (third in the NBA) while helping the Houston Rockets improve from 14 wins to 29 wins. In 1986--after the addition of Hakeem Olajuwon--the Rockets made it to the NBA Finals before falling to the Celtics in six games. Injuries limited Sampson's production during the rest of his career, but he still was inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.
4) Marty Blake was officially the NBA's Director of Scouting but everyone called him Superscout. As Frank Brady noted, anyone can identify the few elite players but it takes real skill to know "the difference between good players--of whom there are many--and very good players--of whom there are never enough." Blake provided each of the 23 NBA teams with detailed scouting reports regarding college basketball players. "Marty Blake is the guru of pro basketball," declared 76ers' owner Harold Katz.
Blake started his NBA career with the Hawks in 1954 and he spent 17 years with the franchise in three cities (Milwaukee, St. Louis, Atlanta). He began to be recognized as Superscout in the early 1960s, when he found future Hall of Famer Zelmo Beaty at Prairie View. Blake worked briefly for the ABA's Pittsburgh Condors before founding his independent scouting service. For a few years, he worked for individual teams but after the 1976 ABA-NBA merger he was hired by the league office. The 76ers' 1983 championship team featured a couple of second round draft picks recommended by Blake: future
Hall of Famer Maurice Cheeks and key reserve Clint Richardson.
Blake has a quick wit and Brady mentioned some of Blake's quips but a couple of my favorites come from Alexander Woolf's
March 14, 2005 Sports Illustrated profile of Blake: "Best newspaper lede I ever read was in a music review: 'The St. Louis Symphony played Beethoven last night, and Beethoven lost.'" and "It's hard to tell a coach with a two-year contract that some guy's three years away."
5) Dominique Wilkins' player profile stated, "Can do it all, but often lets his man do it all, too...Prematurely called the next Dr. J, but he does have potential to be one of the league's elite showmen."
6) Larry Bird's profile included high praise: "How do you improve a Picasso?...May be one of the best all-around players ever...Incredibly, he somehow improved again in almost every statistical category."
7) Kevin McHale is described as "Most publicized sub since the nuclear-powered Triton went around the world without surfacing...As free agent, he surfaced last summer with a $4 million, four year contract, reportedly making him the fourth highest paid player in the NBA."
8) M.L. Carr's profile is harsh: "Let's put his Carr up on blocks...The only part that still runs well is between the lips...Used to be an aggressive defender, but probably caught cold in the draft created by guards rushing past him last year."
9) Boston traded Darren Tillis to Cleveland and Tillis'
CHPB profile opined, "Could Red Auerbach be wrong?...Sure, but not in this deal...A first-round draft choice of the Celtics, this non-shooting, non-rebounding near 7-footer has all the makings of the next Eric Fernsten...Was told he didn't have to score, so he didn't...Is lifting weights, but not big ones."
10) Sidney Moncrief may not be a name player to members of the younger generation but he was at his peak during the early to mid-1980s. His
CHPB profile stated, "Worked his way to the top...No doubters now...Generally acknowledged to be one of the game's best all-around players...He can sky...Could score more if he wasn't so unselfish."
11) The 76ers' scouting report noted the team's offensive prowess--four starters plus Sixth Man of the Year Bobby Jones shot at least .500 from the field as the team scored 112.1 ppg--and added, "Finally, after capturing that elusive championship, the 76ers are getting credit for playing magnificent defense...When you're talking defense, nobody does it better than the 76ers."
12) Julius Erving's profile began, "On top, where he belongs...A champion, at last." Of course, it must be mentioned that Erving won two championships and two Finals MVPs in the ABA prior to winning the 1983 NBA title. The profile continued, "A truly genuine sports hero...The fans' favorite throughout the league...In storybook fashion, he took over in the closing minutes of the final game, scoring seven straight points to assure the 76ers of a 4-0 sweep of Los Angeles." Erving's best game of the season came on December 11 versus Detroit, when he posted 44 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and a career-high eight blocked shots. The
CHPB included Erving's ABA statistics and thus listed Erving with 24,393 career points (25.6 ppg average), 8945 rebounds, 4195 assists, a .509 career field goal percentage and a .778 career free throw percentage.
13)
Andrew Toney's profile declared, "Has arrived...Status secured...An All-Star now...All it took was full time duty...One of the best at getting a shot on his own late in the game...Wants to take the last shot...Played best against the best...Had career-high 46 points vs. Lakers and set club record with 25 points in one quarter against Boston...Very difficult to defend--Boston has no one who can--because he has no favorite spot and unlimited range."
14) Moses Malone is described as "'Octobull'--a cross between an octopus and a bull...Simply wears out defenders, then dominates them in fourth quarter...The most dominating player since Wilt Chamberlain."
15) Maurice Cheeks, who just became the third Hall of Fame player from that squad, was a young star on the rise: "Stock is soaring...Played in first of what should be many All-Star Games...Named to All-Defensive Team...Starts a lot of breakaways with steals...None better in the East at taking the ball the length of the court...Has averaged more points in playoffs than during regular season every year."
16) Hall of Fame player
Billy Cunningham is an underrated coach. As the
CHPB noted, at that point he owned the highest regular season winning percentage (.707) of any of the league's 10 winningest coaches. Cunningham also ranked first in career playoff winning percentage (.653) and he reached the 300 win plateau faster than anyone else. Cunnigham is currently second in career regular season winning percentage (.698) behind Phil Jackson (.704); Steve Kerr's career regular season winning percentage is .808 but he has only coached 328 regular season games and one must coach 400 regular season games to qualify for the career winning percentage leaderboard. Cunningham now ranks sixth in career playoff winning percentage (.629; minimum 25 playoff games coached)
17) Kobe Bryant's father, Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, played for the Rockets. The
CHPB summarized the elder Bryant's game simply: "If he stays within limits, he can contribute in a reserve role...Rarely stays within limits."
18) Eddie Johnson is now a fixture on Sirius XM NBA Radio but in 1983 he was a third year forward for the Kansas City Kings. His scoring average jumped from 9.3 ppg as a rookie to 19.8 ppg in his second year and the 6-7 small forward led the team in rebounding as well (though that also said something about the quality of the team's big men). The
CHPB saw a bright future for Johnson: "Everything you would want in a young player...Enthusiastic...Coachable...Dives for balls the way a street mutt would jump on a piece of filet mignon...Attended Illinois, where he set career records for scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage."
18) Wilt Chamberlain once lamented "Nobody loves Goliath," and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could certainly relate to that sentiment. The
CHPB stated, "Any time the Lakers don't win the whole enchilada, the big fella can expect to hear plenty of criticism...Has been the giant redwood everyone has loved to cut down since his days at Power Memorial High and UCLA." The
CHPB asserted, "Definitely near the end of a long and glorious career." Who could have imagined at that time that Abdul-Jabbar would play until 1989, winning three more titles plus the 1985 NBA Finals MVP?
19) Magic Johnson did not win a regular season MVP award until 1987, by which time he had already captured four championships (1980, 82, 85, 87) and three NBA Finals MVPs (1980, 82, 87). The
CHPB fully recognized his greatness, though: "Has revolutionized the guard position...Arguably the finest player in the game today...Can pick you apart with his pinpoint passes, sink you by scoring or rip you apart by rebounding...The most complete player since Oscar Robertson...San Antonio coach Morris McHone says: 'He can do whatever he wants on the court, he's so good. He could lead the league in scoring or rebounding or assists.'"
20) The soft-spoken Jamaal Wilkes was overshadowed by Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson but Wilkes was a vital contributor to the Lakers' success: "Baryshnikov of basketball...Everything about him is smooth as silk, hence the nickname...Can cut your heart out with that long slingshot jumper that starts out behind his right ear...Probably the best in the game today at finishing off the fast break...Has shot better than 50 percent from the field for five straight seasons."
Wayback Machine, Part I looked at the 1975 Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball
Wayback Machine, Part II looked at the 1976 Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball
Wayback Machine, Part III looked at the 1977 Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball
Wayback Machine, Part IV looked at the 1978 Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball
Wayback Machine, Part V looked at the 1979 Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball
Wayback Machine, Part VI looked at the 1980 Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball
Wayback Machine, Part VII looked at the 1981 Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball
Wayback Machine, Part VIII looked at the 1982 Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball
Wayback Machine, Part IX looked at the 1983 Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball
Labels: Bob Ryan, Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Moses Malone, Sidney Moncrief, Zander Hollander
posted by David Friedman @ 7:39 AM
