Remembering Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, NBA Player/European Player and Father of Kobe Bryant
Joe Bryant passed away on Tuesday at the age of 69, reportedly succumbing to a massive stroke. Younger fans may only think of Joe Bryant as the father of Pantheon member Kobe Bryant, who tragically died with his daughter Gianna and seven other passengers in a helicopter crash four years ago--but "Jellybean," as Joe was known, had a long professional basketball playing career, including eight seasons in the NBA and 10 seasons in Europe. Kobe's middle name Bean is derived from Joe's nickname. For clarity in this article, I will refer to Joe and Kobe by their first names.
Joe was ahead of his time as an athletic, slender forward who could
shoot the jump shot but also attack the hoop off of the dribble. After averaging 20.3 ppg and 11.1 rpg in two seasons at LaSalle, he was drafted by the Golden State Warriors as an underclassman Hardship selection (now referred to as Early Entry) with the 14th overall pick in the 1975 NBA Draft, but the Warriors traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers before the start of the 1975-76 season. Joe averaged 7.4 ppg in a solid rookie season, and he scored 7.7 ppg in three playoff games as the 76ers reached the postseason for the first time since 1971. George McGinnis was the 76ers' best player that season, with fellow All-Star Doug Collins serving as a strong second option.
The ABA-NBA merger happened prior to the 1976-77 season, and in the aftermath of the merger the 76ers acquired Julius Erving, the three-time ABA regular season MVP who had shared that honor with McGinnis in 1975. Joe's role was reduced on this star-studded team, but he was part of a talented bench that became known as the "Bomb Squad." The 76ers lost 4-2 in the NBA Finals to a Portland Trail Blazers team featuring Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas.
Joe played two more seasons for the 76ers before they traded him to the San Diego Clippers for a 1986 first round draft pick that the 76ers later traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who selected Brad Daugherty. San Diego's coach was Gene Shue, who was Joe's first coach with the 76ers, and San Diego's leading scorer was World B. Free, a fellow "Bomb Squad" member with the 76ers. Joe spent three seasons with the Clippers, averaging a career-high 11.8 ppg in 1981-82.
The Clippers traded Joe to the Houston Rockets on June 28, 1982, and he finished his NBA career by averaging 10.0 ppg for the 1982-83 Rockets. Joe spent the next 10 years playing professionally in Europe. After his playing career ended, Joe held a variety of coaching positions in America and overseas, including three seasons as coach of the WNBA's L.A. Sparks (2005-06, 2011). Joe led the Sparks to the Western Conference Finals in 2006.
There is no doubt that Kobe learned a lot about basketball from his
father and from his father's journey, and it is evident that Kobe's
experiences growing up in Italy had a significant influence on him. Joe was often frustrated by his relatively limited role during his NBA career, and it is not a stretch to say that Kobe's determination to be the number one option at all times was fueled in part by refusing to be relegated to a subordinate role the way that Joe had been.
The Bryant family has suffered the loss of three members in the past four years, and I wish them peace and comfort in this difficult time.
Labels: Doug Collins, George McGinnis, Joe Bryant, Julius Erving, Kobe Bryant, Philadelphia 76ers, World B. Free
posted by David Friedman @ 1:24 PM
Geometry, Art--and Doc
I wrote this free verse poem on November 8, 1988.
Geometry, Art--and Doc
"It's simple, man.
First you bounce the sphere on the rectangle,
Then you arc it into the big ol' oval ring.
It's just like an equation:
shoulders squared straight+
eyes on oval+
flick+
follow= 2 points."
"No, man, it ain't no equation:
It's winner's out, the City Game, a dance where they keep score.
It's Johnny Cool and Pistol Pete and Bo Lamar and Clyde and World and Air Jordan.
It's one-on-one or two-on-two or five-on-five.
It's a glittering Pearl
And Doc operating on a grounded Bird.
It's a new net rippling 'swish!'
It's extemporaneous spontaneity,
The art of swift, strong and graceful movement."
Labels: Bo Lamar, Earl Monroe, Johnny Neumann, Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Pete Maravich, Walt Frazier, World B. Free
posted by David Friedman @ 3:59 PM
World B. Free: From Rucker Park to the NBA Finals
World B. Free never met a shot he didn't like or couldn't make, whether he was playing in the streets or on an NBA court. He earned his name in Rucker Park and he earned his fame by helping the 1977 Philadelphia 76ers make it to the NBA Finals, battling George Gervin for scoring titles and revitalizing the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise in the dark days of the early-mid 1980s. Here is a link to my article about the 6-3 guard who was also known as the "Prince of Mid-Air" because of his incredible jumping ability (9/3/15 edit: the link to HoopsHype.com no longer works, so I have posted the original article below):
World B. Free did not just decide to call himself "World"; he earned the name on the playgrounds of New York.
"That name was given to me by Herb Smith," Free explains. "This guy named a lot of guys at the Rucker. I was doing
360 slam dunks and once he saw that he said 'All-World’ and the crowd
really got into it. So, you had a 'Helicopter' (Herman Knowings) and now you had a 'World.' It came from the streets--like James 'Fly' Williams, Phil 'the Thrill' Sellers. This guy Herb Smith was naming everybody. When you got a tag, then that meant that you had a chance to go far."
Free--who legally changed his name from Lloyd to World--led Guilford
(North Carolina) to the 1973 NAIA Championship, winning Tournament MVP
honors. The 6-3, 190-pound guard averaged 23.6 ppg and 6.5 rpg in three
seasons before being drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round as the 23rd overall pick in the 1975 NBA draft. Free contributed 8.3 ppg in limited playing time as George McGinnis (23.0 ppg), Doug Collins (20.8 ppg) and Fred Carter (18.9 ppg) led an outstanding three-pronged offensive attack.
The NBA and ABA merged prior to the 1976-77 season and when the New York Nets could not agree to terms with three-time ABA MVP Julius Erving, they sold his contract to the Sixers. "That
memory right there is one of the greatest from my life," Free says of
being on a talent-laden squad with Erving, McGinnis and Collins. "That
was one of the greatest teams ever assembled, on paper. We had a dunk
show before the game started. People got mad if they were late to the
game and missed the layup line. Our layup line was like the dunk shows
that they have now at halftime and at the All-Star Game. Playing with
Doc made me grow. Playing with George McGinnis, another superstar, was
unbelievable."
The
Sixers were only 12-9 on December 3, but they took over first place in
the Atlantic Division soon after that and never looked back, finishing
with the best record in the Eastern Conference (50-32). Erving (21.6
ppg), McGinnis (21.4 ppg) and Collins (18.3 ppg) each made the All-Star
team. Free finished fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 16.3 ppg in
less than 29 mpg. During the Sixers' season-best seven-game winning
streak in January, Free was the team's high scorer three times,
including a 39-point outburst versus the Houston Rockets, the team’s second best individual scoring effort of the season (Erving had one 40-point game).
Free poured in a game-high 27 points as Philadelphia eliminated the defending champion Boston Celtics, 83-77, in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. "That was a heck of a night for me," Free says. "I was unconscious. My thing
with Boston was when I watched them on TV--I was a Knicks fan because I'm from New York--I used to always see Dave Cowens and Jo Jo White and John Havlicek in the Garden, so I just got into it when I was in the playoffs. The
game was on CBS and I was like, 'This is a chance for the people in
Brownsville to see World B. play!' I just played out of my mind." Free was a key contributor throughout the Boston series, averaging 15.3 ppg in only 20.3 mpg.
Philadelphia outlasted Houston 4-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals, but Free's production plummeted after he suffered a collapsed lung during that series. Free missed three of the games versus Houston. He returned to
action in the NBA Finals against Bill Walton and the Portland Trail Blazers,
but he was clearly not at full strength, missing one of the games and
averaging just 16 mpg in the others. Still, it looked at first like the
Sixers might win the title anyway as they raced to a 2-0 lead. Portland
regrouped with two blowout victories at home and won the next two as
well to claim the title.
That result inspired the Sixers to run the infamous "We Owe You One" ad campaign. A lot has been written and said about the flaws of that Sixers team, but if Free had been healthy in the Finals the Sixers may very
well have beaten Portland.
In an interview with the
New York Times' Sam Goldaper shortly after the Finals concluded, Erving said, "I think we would have won the championship if Free and Steve Mix would have been healthy...A healthy Lloyd Free just can't be stopped offensively."
In 1977-78, Philadelphia again had the best record in the Eastern Conference, but the Sixers fell to the eventual NBA champion Washington Bullets in the Eastern Conference Finals. Free again finished fourth on the team in scoring (15.7 ppg in 27 mpg) but the Sixers traded him to the San Diego Clippers. Free responded by averaging 28.8 ppg (second in the league behind George Gervin) while leading the NBA in free throws made and free throws attempted. The Clippers improved from 27-55 to 43-39 but did not qualify for the playoffs. Free made the All-NBA 2nd Team.
The Clippers had high expectations for 1979-80 after they signed Bill
Walton, but the 1977 Finals MVP had been dogged for years with injury
problems and was unable to stay healthy, appearing in only 14 games. He
showed tantalizing flashes of his skills, averaging 13.9 ppg, 9.0 rpg
and 2.7 bpg while only playing 24 mpg. "Playing with Bill Walton was the ultimate--even though I didn't get a full
year to play with him," Free says. "If it had been a full year, we would
have done something really special out there in San Diego, but he was
injured. Just the little bit of time that I played with Bill Walton
showed me that when he was healthy he was one of the best ever."
Portland received Kermit Washington and Kevin Kunnert as compensation for the Clippers signing Walton. Since Walton missed most of the season, San Diego had difficulty overcoming the loss of two
inside players who had combined for 1,369 rebounds in 1978-79. Swen Nater led the league with a 15.0 rpg average but the Clippers still got outrebounded overall and fell to 35-47. Second-year guard Freeman Williams blossomed into a deadly scorer, averaging 18.6 ppg in only 25.8 mpg and scoring 51 points in one game. "Freeman Williams was just as good as anybody in the game offensively," Free declares.
The NBA added the three-point shot in 1979-80 and the Clippers led the NBA
in three-pointers attempted and made that season. Many people expected
Free to nail the first three-pointer in NBA history, but Chris Ford of the Boston Celtics earned that distinction. Free only attempted 25 three-pointers all season, making nine.
Although fans to this day still fondly remember his high-arcing jumpers, Free's game was actually based more on going to the basket and drawing fouls. In 1979-80 he led the league in free throws made for the second
consecutive season while finishing second in the league in scoring (a career-high 30.2 ppg) to George Gervin. Free earned his first and only All-Star selection that year.
The Clippers traded Free to the Golden State Warriors prior to the 1980-81 season. He averaged 24.1 ppg that year (ninth in the league) and led the Warriors to a 39-43 record, three games ahead of the Clippers, but one game out of the last playoff spot. Free scored 22.9 ppg (10th in the league) in 1981-82 and the Warriors improved to 45-37 but again missed the playoffs by one game. Early in the 1982-83 season the Warriors traded Free to the Cleveland Cavaliers, which had been the worst team in the league in 1981-82 (15-67).
"When I first came (to Cleveland) the team had Phil Hubbard and a couple of other journeymen," Free remembers. "There were about 12 people in the stands. That is what I remember from when I first came in the place, being traded for Ron Brewer. I said to myself, 'I'm going to help this organization' because people said to me that when you go to Cleveland that's the last stop on the totem pole--and I wasn't finished yet, you know what I mean? It wasn't going to beat me down." Free ranked eighth in the league in scoring (23.9 ppg).
He averaged 22.3 ppg in 1983-84 (14th in the league) as the Cavaliers improved to 28-54. The Cavaliers fired coach Tom Nissalke and hired George Karl, who had never coached in the NBA and was Cleveland's seventh coach since 1979-80. The Cavaliers started out 2-19 in 1984-85, but Cleveland
went 34-27 down the stretch to earn a playoff berth. Free scored 22.5
ppg (15th in the league) and for the first time in his career he really
utilized the three-pointer as a weapon, ranking second in the league in
treys made and seventh in the league in three-point field goal
percentage.
Cleveland faced the defending champion Boston Celtics in the first round. The
Celtics had the best record in the NBA (63-19) but Free and the
Cavaliers gave them a run for their money before losing 3-1. The two
teams scored exactly the same number of points in the series and
Boston's wins came by three, two and two points. Free averaged 26.3 ppg
and 7.8 apg in the series.
The 6-3 guard averaged 23.4 ppg in 1985-86 (11th in the league) but the
Cavaliers slipped to 29-53 and decided to completely rebuild, firing
Karl and not electing to re-sign Free, who ended up rejoining the 76ers.
He played in 20 games for them and then appeared in 58 games for the
1987-88 Houston Rockets before retiring. He did not get a lot of playing
time in his final two seasons, but could still score when given an
opportunity--as he showed on November 12, 1987 when he shot 15-21 from
the field and scored 37 points in 31 minutes in a win over the Sacramento Kings. Free scored 17,955 points in his career, averaging 20.3 ppg.
Looking at Free's production, it does not seem like too many defenders bothered him, but he recalls two who played him very well. "Dennis Johnson was a tough matchup for me because he was 6-4, had long arms and he was strong," Free says. "Maurice Cheeks had something in there, too, because he was little, but he always bothered the ball--and one thing about offensive players, they don't like little guys jabbing at the ball all the time because it throws their
rhythm off a little bit. Those two were pretty tough.”
As for the other end of the court, it is not surprising that Free singles
out the man who beat him out for two consecutive scoring titles. "George 'Iceman' Gervin by far was the toughest guard that I ever had to guard," Free declares.
Free was inducted in the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997. He
served for two years as the 76ers strength and conditioning coach before
becoming the team's Ambassador of Basketball. He travels to schools,
recreation centers and playgrounds to speak to young people about
basketball and life. The warm and engaging Free is perfectly suited for
this role. This year he has additional responsibilities as the Director
of Player Development, traveling with the team and helping the coaches
and scouting staff prepare the players.
If you come to Sixers games early and see Free on the court, you will
notice that he still shoots his high-arcing jumpers with deadly
accuracy.
Labels: Cleveland Cavaliers, George Gervin, Golden State Warriors, L.A. Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, World B. Free
posted by David Friedman @ 12:17 AM
Phil Hubbard: Playing Within Limits
Phil Hubbard might have become an NBA star if not for a serious knee injury. Instead, he persevered, accepted his limitations and had a solid 10-year NBA career. Here is a link to my HoopsHype.com article about Hubbard (10/8/15 edit: the link to HoopsHype.com no longer works, so I have
posted the original article below):
Phil Hubbard seemed destined to be an NBA star. He made a splash right from the start of his college career, producing 15.1 ppg and 11.0 rpg and shooting .546 from the field while leading Michigan to the 1976 NCAA Championship Game versus Big Ten rival Indiana. The Hoosiers were one of the great teams in college basketball history. They went 29-0 in the 1975 regular season, only to lose in the NCAA Tournament after star Scott May broke his arm, and followed that up with a 27-0 record in the 1976 regular season. Indiana lost starting guard Bobby Wilkerson to a head injury in the opening moments of the 1976 Championship Game and Hubbard’s Wolverines led 35-29 at halftime. Hubbard fouled out in the second half, finishing with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, and Indiana pulled away, winning 86-68. Hubbard is one of the few freshmen who scored at least 25 total points in the Final Four, a group that includes Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Chris Webber and Carmelo Anthony.
In the summer of 1976, Hubbard won an Olympic gold medal as Team USA streaked to a 7-0 record. The youngest player on the team, Hubbard ranked fourth on the squad in rebounding. "The players have gotten a lot better," Hubbard says. "When we played, we were college players and we came together for two months. Other than the Russians, they (the players from other countries) were still just grasping the game. Overall, it's changed because so many of the players that they have now play in our league. That's made the difference."
Hubbard averaged 19.6 ppg and 13.0 rpg while shooting a sizzling .556 from the field in his sophomore season, good enough to earn selection to the AP All-American Team. Michigan won the Big Ten with a 16-2 record and finished the regular season 24-3 overall. The Wolverines lost in the Elite Eight to a UNC-Charlotte team led by future Boston Celtic Cedric Maxwell. Hubbard led the NCAA Tournament in rebounding average (15.0 rpg).
A serious knee injury forced Hubbard to sit out his entire junior year. While he was able to return for his senior season, he clearly had lost a lot of his explosiveness and his numbers declined across the board: 14.8 ppg, 9.1 rpg, .495 field goal shooting. He still showed enough skill and savvy for the Detroit Pistons to select him in the first round with the 15th pick overall in the 1979 draft.
Hubbard had a solid rookie season (9.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg) for the dreadful Pistons, whose 16-66 record was the worst in the league by eight games. Not surprisingly, that was the last season for the team's coach--none other than Dick Vitale. Hubbard became a starter in his second season, averaging 14.5 ppg and leading the team in rebounding (7.3 rpg). He was particularly strong on the offensive glass, quite an accomplishment considering the severity of his knee injury. "I had to adjust my game and just work harder--be able to play below the rim instead of above it," Hubbard explains. "Rebounding is just effort," he adds. "To get rebounds you have to work at it. It's not an easy task but if you work at it you can get rebounds."
On February 16, 1982, the Pistons sent Hubbard to Cleveland in a multi-player deal that included Bill Laimbeer, who became the starting center for the "Bad Boys" teams that later won two titles. For Hubbard, it meant going from a bad team to an even worse one--the Cavaliers were the laughingstock of the league and won only 15 games that season. That December, help arrived in the form of World B. Free, acquired from Golden State in exchange for Ron Brewer. The flamboyant Free had legally changed his name from Lloyd to World because he was--at least in his own estimation--not just All-Star caliber but in fact "All-World."
Free came to Cleveland with great fanfare, arriving in a helicopter and receiving much media coverage. "They made a big production out of it but it worked out," Hubbard recalls. "World was good to play with because he was a guy who could get a basket on his own. He could help us get open, too."
Hubbard’s first impression of Free can be expressed in one word: "Arrogant." Hubbard hastens to add, "But he turned out to be a good guy."
Free's confidence and scoring ability did improve the Cavaliers but not enough to get into the playoffs.
Meanwhile, Hubbard had found his niche in the NBA, playing about 23 mpg and averaging roughly 10 ppg and 5 rpg. The Cavaliers improved to 23 wins in 1983 and 28 wins in 1984.
Then, Cleveland hired George Karl to be the team's head coach. The Cavaliers started the season horribly, chafing under Karl's micromanaging ways. But then he loosened the reins and a funny thing happened--the team caught fire and made the playoffs. That turnaround is Hubbard's fondest memory of his 10 year NBA career. "We were able to make the playoffs after starting out the season 2-19," Hubbard says. "That’s probably the most memorable. Being able to come back and do that was big."
"It was his first coaching job," Hubbard says of Karl. "He's a good motivator. He's always getting on you and riding you. We listened to him. We all just came together for him and it was a good thing." The Cavaliers went 34-27 down the stretch. "It was a good experience because World was our leader," Hubbard says. "He scored the points for us and we worked off of him. He was probably one of the most prolific scorers of that era. He was a good player to play with. He turned out to be a good teammate. A lot of people didn't get to know him as well as we did but he was a real good teammate."
Cleveland battled the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics extremely hard in a 3-1 first round loss; the teams actually scored exactly the same amount of points and each of Boston's victories was by three points or less. Hubbard enjoyed the finest season of his career, averaging 15.8 ppg and 6.3 rpg in the regular season and 15.5 ppg and 5.0 rpg in the playoffs versus the Celtics' Hall of Fame frontline of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.
Hubbard says that Bird and Bernard King, who had his best years with the New York Knicks, were the two toughest players for him to guard.
What made them so hard to handle? "They got to shoot a lot," Hubbard says with a chuckle. "That makes it hard. (When you guard) guys who get to shoot a lot and get a lot of opportunities you have to make sure that you make them work to get their points and that they are not getting any easy points. Guys who get a lot of shot opportunities always have a chance to score."
The Cavaliers were unable to sustain their good play in 1985-86. Injuries forced Hubbard to miss 59 games, Karl was fired near the end of the season and Cleveland finished 29-53. New Cavaliers' General Manager Wayne Embry put together a promising nucleus of young players in the offseason, trading for the rights to draft center Brad Daugherty and also drafting Ron Harper and Mark Price. He hired Lenny Wilkens to be the team's coach. The Cavaliers only won 31 games as their young players learned the ropes, but Daugherty, Harper and John "Hot Rod" Williams (drafted in 1985 but forced to sit out a year by the NBA before being cleared of point -shaving charges) each made the All-Rookie Team in 1986-87. Hubbard, now 30, was the oldest player on the team, and he averaged 11.8 ppg and 5.7 rpg while providing a steadying influence.
The emergence of Price as a top tier point guard enabled the Cavaliers to ship the talented Kevin Johnson to Phoenix for Larry Nance and in 1987-88 the Cavaliers improved to 42-40. Williams was now the versatile sixth man, filling in at forward or center, and Hubbard started alongside Nance and Daugherty, the team's two leading scorers. "Mark was a phenomenal player--great shooter," Hubbard recalls. "He really surprised people with his quickness with the basketball--they didn't realize how quick he was with the basketball. He was just a constant competitor and he would knock down the big shot." The Cavaliers were a promising team but another team was also rising in the East: the Chicago Bulls, who paired rookies Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant with the incomparable Michael Jordan. The Bulls eliminated the Cavaliers in a hard fought first round series.
The Cavaliers soared to 57-25 in 1988-89 but Hubbard only played sparingly as Nance, Daugherty and Williams received the bulk of the frontcourt minutes. Price earned his first All-Star selection and also made the All-NBA Third Team. "He was really a big key to us making that run to winning 57 games--he was a big part of that," Hubbard says. "With his quickness he was able to read the defense and cut through a little space. He was just such a good player in terms of knowing how to use the pick-and-roll and knowing how to split the pick-and-roll. He was a good passer and when he got in the lane, by the time they came over to help, he would make good passes that enabled us to get layups."
This was by far the best NBA team that Hubbard played for, but their title hopes were ended by Michael Jordan's famous shot over Craig Ehlo. Hubbard retired after that season with career averages of 10.9 ppg and 5.3 rpg.
Hubbard worked as the New York Knicks' scouting coordinator for five years before Wilkens--then coaching the Atlanta Hawks--hired him as an assistant coach. Later he spent some time on Dave Cowens' staff at Golden State. In 2003, Eddie Jordan of the Washington Wizards hired Hubbard as one of his assistant coaches, a position that Hubbard has held ever since. In 2005, he helped Jordan guide the franchise to its first playoff series win in 25 years and the team returned to the playoffs in 2006, Washington's first back-to-back playoff appearances since 1987-88.
Labels: Brad Daugherty, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, George Karl, Larry Nance, Mark Price, Phil Hubbard, Washington Wizards, World B. Free
posted by David Friedman @ 6:22 AM
