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Monday, October 20, 2025
Tamir Goodman's Basketball Journey from Baltimore to Towson University to Israel
I generally focus on pro basketball here, but this story deserves the widest possible audience, and is relevant not just to basketball but to life, because life is about having a meaningful journey during which you grow and help others, not just about reaching a destination--and life is about overcoming obstacles without compromising your core values.
If you are younger than 40, you may not remember Tamir Goodman, who was dubbed the "Jewish Jordan" after he emerged as one of the top high school basketball prospects in the country. Goodman did not seek out fame or publicity, but when he became famous he used his platform and visibility to send a powerful message about faith and persistence. Goodman not only wrestled with the high expectations others placed on him, but he also dealt with numerous injuries plus severe dyslexia.
Goodman's basketball accomplishments may be the least interesting part of his life story, but it is worth noting that he played well against high level competition. Goodman was co-MVP of the 2000 Capital Classic game featuring some of the nation's top high school recruits. Other MVPs of the Capital Classic include LeBron James (2003) and Dwight Howard (2004). Maryland, which later won the 2002 NCAA title, offered Goodman a full scholarship. Goodman ended up not playing at Maryland because the school and the ACC were unwilling or unable to accommodate his observance of the Jewish Sabbath, which meant that Goodman could not play in any games from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Instead, Goodman went to Towson, a Division I school, and he averaged 6.0 ppg and 4.0 apg as a freshman while starting 23 of the 27 games that he played. Coach Mike Jaskulski accommodated Goodman's religious observance, but after a 12-17 season Towson fired Jaskulski. The next coach, Michael Hunt, clashed with Goodman, and Goodman filed an assault complaint after a locker room confrontation during which Hunt kicked a chair such that it hit Goodman's leg. Goodman subsequently dropped the complaint, and he never played for Towson again.
Goodman played in various Israeli professional basketball leagues for several seasons before knee injuries forced him to retire in 2009 when he was just 27 years old. Now, he lives in Israel with his wife Judy and their five children. Goodman is an entrepreneur, coach, educator, and motivational speaker who says, "Judaism actually helped me with basketball, because Judaism is a
blueprint. It's a way of life. It's, like, how to sleep, how
to eat, how to take care of your body, how to take care of your mind,
winning each day, giving back, playing for a higher purpose. I think
Judaism actually helped me be a better basketball player."
Here is Goodman's recent appearance on the Living Lchaim channel:
The whole podcast is worth a listen, but the most striking moment is the story of someone asking Goodman's high school coach Harold Katz (not the Harold Katz who owned the Philadelphia 76ers) if he thought the team would have a good season. Coach Katz replied that he would not know the answer for 30 years, until he saw what kinds of men, husbands, and fathers his players became. Podcast host Meredith Shiner concluded that Goodman and Katz are too modest to say it, but she is comfortable saying that the team had a successful season.
Becoming the best person you can be and then using your gifts to help other people is the ultimate win.
"The Basketball Maniac's Almanac" is a Great--but Sloppily Executed--Concept
The Basketball Maniac's Almanac has a bold front cover declaration (capitalization and emphasis replicated from the original): "The ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, and WITHOUT QUESTION GREATEST BOOK OF FACTS, FIGURES, and ASTONISHING LISTS EVER COMPILED." That is quite a mouthful (and eyeful).
Before purchasing this 542 page behemoth, I skimmed through to see if ABA statistics are included--I would never purchase a basketball statistics book that ignores ABA statistics--and I was pleased to note that on page four the list for "Most Points, Career" includes Julius Erving with his correct total of 30,026 points. On page 202, Erving is correctly listed as a four-time regular season MVP winner, with Erving's three ABA regular season MVPs rightly given equal status with his one NBA regular season MVP.
Unfortunately, after I bought the book, brought it home, and inspected it more thoroughly, I found numerous errors and inconsistencies. It appears that the editors were well-intentioned, but just not quite up to the task that they set for themselves. I look forward to the publication of a basketball almanac that matches this basketball almanac's self-proclaimed hype.
Here are just a few errors that I found in The Basketball Maniac's Almanac (referred to subsequently here as TBMA):
1) On page 3, the "Most Points by Decade" list for 1970-71 through 1979-80 omits every eligible ABA player even though the list purports to include ABA statistics. The correct list is included in the chapter that I wrote about pro basketball in the 1970s for the anthology Basketball in America: From the Playgrounds to Jordan's Game and Beyond.
In my list, I defined the 1970s as the seasons 1969-70through 1978-79, because the 1969-70 season mostly took place in 1970 and would correctly be referred to by shorthand as the 1970 season (that is also the season that crowned the 1970 NBA champion); I did not include the 1979-80 season in the 1970s using the same reasoning that I applied regarding why I included the 1969-70 season: the 1979-80 season mostly took place in 1980 and would correctly be referred to by shorthand as the 1980 season (that is also the season that crowned the 1980 NBA champion). TBMA chose to begin the 1970s with the 1970-71 season and end the 1970s with the 1979-80 season, but under either criterion Julius Erving's point total easily cracks the top 10; he scored 16,763 points during the 1970s under my criterion, and he scored 18,863 points during the 1970s under the criterion used in TBMA. Rick Barry, Dan Issel, and Artis Gilmore also qualify under either criterion, while Spencer Haywood makes the cut under the criterion I used.
Erving's omission is baffling: he and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were the two best pro basketball players of the 1970s, so even without looking up Erving's statistics any informed fan or historian knows that Erving ranked among the decade's top 10 scorers--and on page 29, TBMA included Erving on the list of players who had the highest scoring averages during the 1970s. How did the editors figure out to include Erving on the scoring average leaders list but not realize that he also belonged on the most points by decade list?
2) On page 6, the "Most Times Leading League in Scoring" list is, at best, deceptive. The NBA ranked the seasonal scoring leaders by total points scored until 1969-70, when it changed the rules and began ranking the seasonal scoring leaders based on points per game (minimum of 70 games played). Thus, in 1969-70 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led the NBA in points scored (2361) but he did not lead the league in scoring; Jerry West won the scoring title with a 31.2 ppg average, while Abdul-Jabbar finished second with a 28.8 ppg average. TBMA credits Abdul-Jabbar with leading the league in scoring three times (incorrectly including the 1969-70 season), but he officially led the league in scoring twice. Similarly, TBMA incorrectly credits Michael Jordan with leading the league in scoring 11 times; Jordan led the league in scoring 10 times (based on ppg average), while in 1984-85 he ranked third in scoring even though he led the league in points scored.
TBMA should have used a more clearly worded label to distinguish between leading the league in points scored versus leading the league in scoring, which are two different things by rule since 1969-70 in the NBA (the ABA determined the scoring champion by average in each of its nine seasons from 1967-76). This is an issue throughout TBMA, as there are numerous lists referencing players who led the league in scoring but who were not the official scoring leader/scoring champion; to cite just two examples, on page 43 Larry Jones (1968 ABA) and Trae Young (2022 NBA) are erroneously included in the list titled "Point Guards Winning Scoring Title," while Jones and Kevin Garnett (2004 NBA) are erroneously included in the list titled "Fewest Turnovers for Scoring Champion." Jones did not lead the ABA in total points or scoring average in 1968, so TBMA editors completely lost their way with that list (and several other lists).
3) On pages 9-10, the "Players Scoring 1500 Points in Each of Their First Five Seasons" list omits Julius Erving, who scored at least 2000 points in each of his first five seasons. There are at least two weird things about this list: The list purports to include ABA players but omits Erving (who played the first five seasons of his pro career in the ABA), and Erving scored at least 1500 points in each of his first five NBA seasons, so he should have been included even if ABA statistics were not used.
4) On pages 12-13, the "Scoring 2000 Points in a Season With Multiple Franchises" list omits Julius Erving, who scored at least 2000 points in a season with the Virginia Squires, New York Nets, and Philadelphia 76ers. Erving is the only player to accomplish this feat at least twice with three different franchises, so he deserves a list of his own! This is yet another list that purports to include ABA statistics--and Rick Barry's tenure with the ABA's New York Nets is included in this list--but fails to completely include ABA statistics.
5) On pages 14-15, the "Players with 5000 Total Points in First Three NBA Seasons" list omits Julius Erving, who scored 5101 points in his first three NBA seasons. It is not clear why this list excludes ABA seasons, or why the editors failed to accurately add up up Erving's scoring totals from his first three NBA seasons.
6) On pages 146-147, the "Players with 10 Rebounds in Each of First Two Career Games" list omits Julius Erving, who had 19 rebounds in his rookie debut followed by 17 rebounds in his second game. This list purports to include ABA statistics, and in fact several ABA players are included, so the Erving omission is baffling--and inexcusable: if the editors do not know about Erving's rebounding numbers, all it takes is a quick online check of his game logs to find them.
7) Starting on page 160, TBMA includes various lists about steals. Julius Erving is correctly credited with 2272 career steals, which means that TBMA editors included all of his ABA statistics dating back to 1972-73, the first season that the ABA officially kept track of steals and blocked shots (one season before the NBA began keeping those records). However, TBMA did not include Erving on the list for players with most steals in the 1970s despite the fact that his 1361 steals from 1972-73 through 1979-80 should have been ranked first. Erving is credited in TBMA with having four straight seasons with at least 150 steals, but he actually had five if his 181 steals in the 1972-73 season are counted--and those steals are included in the 2272 total, so they should have also been included in the list of consecutive 150 steal seasons.
8) On page 171, the "Most Blocked Shots by Decade" list omits Julius Erving from the 1970s despite the fact that his 1098 blocked shots from 1972-73 through 1979-80 should have ranked him fifth on the list--well, actually he should have ranked sixth, because TBMA editors also left out Artis Gilmore. Again, it must be emphasized that these lists have footnotes stating that ABA numbers are included. This is just as deceptive as not counting ABA numbers at all, because a reader who lacks historical knowledge is going to assume that the numbers of the ABA's greatest players did not measure up for inclusion, when in fact the TBMA editors just dropped the ball throughout this error-riddled book.
9) On page 182, the "Players with 150 Blocks, 150 Steals, and 600 Rebounds, Season" list omits Julius Erving, who accomplished that feat three seasons in a row (1973-76). Side note: The 100/100 Club for steals and blocked shots has fascinated me for a long time; here is the most recent article that I wrote about that topic: The 100-100 Club Revisited (I plan to do an updated version after this season ends).
A true historian would know a lot of the information missing from TBMA without even looking it up, while a diligent and thorough editor would have double-checked the manuscript before submitting it for publication.
There are probably more errors in TBMA than the selection listed above, but I have made my point: a reference book with that many errors and inconsistencies is useless. The editors made so many mistakes regarding easy to verify information that it is difficult to have any confidence in the information in the book that is less easy to verify.
The book provides an email address for submitting corrections, and I will send a link to this article to that email address with the hope that the publisher will produce a second edition that corrects all of the first edition's errors.
"Even when I'm old and gray, I won't be able to play it but I'll still love the game."--Michael Jordan
Love is an easy word to throw around and many people use it far too casually.
True love is innocent, pure and deep.
True love is based not on how much you can get but how much you can give.
Michael Jordan loved basketball so much that he had a "Love of the game" clause written into his contract with the Chicago Bulls; that clause stipulated that Jordan could play basketball whenever and wherever he wanted to in the offseason, something that was once taken for granted (back when pro basketball players routinely participated in the Rucker League and other summer leagues) but later was legislated out of existence because teams feared that their high priced players might get hurt.
Jordan fought with the Bulls' management to ensure that he could find full expression for his love of the game, even in games for which he would receive no pay and no glory. Love does not get any more innocent, pure and deep than that.
Jordan later defined his love of basketball very simply, yet very profoundly: "Love is playing every game as if it's your last." Think about that for a moment: how much harder would you try, how much more passion would you display, if you knew that you were doing something you love for the very last time? That is a beautiful approach to take for sport and for life itself.
A performer who truly loves what he is doing is so much more captivating than a performer who is just doing something because he is good at it and/or because he can make money doing it. Bobby Fischer had the same kind of pure love for chess that Michael Jordan has for basketball:
"It's nice to be modest, but it would be stupid if I did not tell the truth. It is Fischer."--Bobby Fischer's response to a question about who is the greatest chess player.
"On the chess board lies and hypocrisy do not survive long. The creative combination lays bare the presumption of a lie; the merciless fact, culminating in a checkmate, contradicts the hypocrite."--Dr. Emanuel Lasker, World Chess Champion from 1894-1921
In a recent interview with Tavis Smiley, Prince explains why he prefers the pure competition found in sports like golf, basketball and boxing to the nonsense he deals with in the music business (his comments about those subjects can be found starting at the 11:10 mark of Part II of the interview).
Prince's newest three CD set (LOtUSFLOW3R/MPLSoUND/Elixer) debuted in the number two sales position despite receiving little if any radio airplay--and Prince told Smiley that his CD set may in fact have had the most sales: "SoundScan said that it was number two. Other charts say that it was number one. So, it doesn't make a difference to me one way or another. What makes a difference to me is that history is told truthfully and that's not always the case. I love golf and basketball and sports--and boxing especially--because it is mano a mano." Prince--or at least his new music--has been effectively banished from the radio because he has chosen to distribute his work via his own website and in cooperation with Target, as opposed to conforming to the traditional norms of the music industry. Prince owns his recording masters and controls his fate and it is quite an accomplishment to vault nearly to the top of the charts despite working outside of the music industry's tired, old infrastructure.
Prince's comment about relishing "mano a mano" battles resonates with me on a very deep level. I recently won the Dayton Chess Club Championship for a record seventh time (1997, 1999-2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009) and I have a U.S. Chess Federation rating over 2000, which classifies me as an "Expert" and places me somewhere around the 95th percentile of American chess players. I love chess for many reasons--the game is part art, part science, part raw blooded competition--but one of the best things about chess is that your performance can be immediately and objectively quantified: you win, lose or draw and your rating is adjusted accordingly (often within 24 hours thanks to the internet/computers). Facing someone over the chessboard is much like going into a boxing ring--you are battling one on one against your opponent and it does not matter how rich you are, how popular you are or who you know: if you don't bring everything you've got then you will get knocked out. Boxers are taught to "protect yourself at all times" and I deliver a similar message to my chess students, because one lapse in concentration can completely turn a game around; if my last round DCC Championship game had been a boxing match then you could say I was losing on all of the judges' cards but my opponent made one critical error that enabled me to obtain a draw (and thus win the tournament).
You may have in mind a certain stereotype regarding chess players but I have played in USCF tournaments since 1987 and the truth is that most tournaments consist of a diverse socioeconomic melting pot; a young child from a poor neighborhood may very well be a much stronger player than a middle aged corporate executive. While a person's intrinsic worth is obviously not reflected in his USCF rating, that rating is a very reliable indicator of his chess playing strength.
What does this have to do with basketball? It can objectively be said that I am a relatively strong chess player (though there are obviously players who are much stronger than I am), but I think that it is pretty clear to anyone who understands both writing and chess that I am much "stronger" at writing than I am at chess. Over the years, some commenters here at 20 Second Timeout have asked why I don't market my writing to larger publications. The reality is that I have tried to do just that and, for someone who is in many ways an "outsider"--I don't have a journalism degree and have never worked for a newspaper--I have had a certain degree of success, landing pieces in national magazines like Hoop, Lindy's Pro Basketball and Basketball Digest. Unfortunately, the writing business--like the music business--does not have objective ratings. There is no mano a mano competition; people who are completely unqualified to analyze either writing or basketball often determine who "wins" and who "loses."
I respect the way that Prince has successfully sidestepped the music industry's bureaucracy and found ways to deliver his art straight to the public; of course, he has the advantage of already being well known and he also possesses a certain degree of wealth, though his personal fortune is minuscule compared to the resources commanded by the recording companies he is snubbing. Similarly, George Lucas obtained enough capital to assert complete control over how his films are made and the way that they are distributed. Not only have I yet to discover a similar path in the writing field, I have had to endure the indignity--and the irony, considering how I feel about chess--of seeing my work ripped off by an editor who does not even know the most basic facts about NBA history. This is a strange business, though a stronger word than strange comes to mind.
My last round DCC Championship opponent--John Dowling, who many years ago obtained the National Master title (signified by a 2200 rating) that still eludes my grasp--collects chess-themed posters/artwork and he is generous enough to display many of these items at the DCC; the piercing visage of Bobby Fischer "watched" over us during our battle for first place but my favorite poster reads, "A bad day playing chess beats a good day at work."
Clyde Drexler Explains How He Developed His Jumping Ability
The April 2008 issue of Dime had an interesting quote from Clyde Drexler. This is what the "Glide" says about his legendary hops:
"There was nothing natural about my jumping ability; it was 'natural' after I spent six hours a day working on it (laughs). I had so many exercises to improve the strength of my legs: sprinting, jump rope, squats, wearing ankle weights two or three days at a time and jumping rope with those ankle weights. I did all that for a 10-year period of time, and during that time I became a pretty good jumper."
It is interesting that Drexler mentions that he put in a decade of work to become a great leaper, because--as I mentioned in a July 27, 2006 post titled Basketball, Chess and Boxing, Part II--there is a significant body of research that suggests that it takes 10 years of "effortful study" to become an elite performer in a wide range of fields, from chess to music to soccer. A lot of achievements that are assumed to be the result of "natural" talent are in fact the product of years of hard work that honed whatever "natural" ability that particular individual had in his given field. Hard work may not guarantee success--particularly at the elite level--but no one gets to the elite level without putting in a lot of hard work over a long period of time.
"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
