Yardbarker: Maurice Lucas

Jones Drafted By The Green Bay Packers

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 06:45:00 -0500

University of Colorado senior Brad Jones was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft Sunday. Four other Buffs signed free agent contracts Sunday, as well, with Daniel Sanders signing with the St. Louis Rams, George Hypolite with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Maurice Lucas with Atlanta, Brandon Nicolas with Seattle and Patrick Williams will join Jones with the Packers.

Blaze of Glory - 4/3/2009

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:11:42 -0500

The Blaze of Glory is your almost-daily link list of Blazer blog ridiculousness and other random Blazers info. If you ever want your Blazer blog featured, make sure to drop us a line unless your name is Dwight Jaynes. (Kidding!) Greg Oden is doing just fine people. Lay off. [Brian's Straight Dope] Will Brandon make 3rd team All-NBA? He should. [Dwight Jaynes] Interview with Sir Kevin Pritchard. [Blazers Edge] And another one with Casey Holdahl. [B...

Phoenix’s Favorite Sun Round 1: Chambers vs. Lucas

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:05:19 -0500

It’s time for the first round of the Phoenix’s Favorite Sun Tourney (If you have no clue what we are talking about click here). Here is the final first round match up from the “Cotton Express” Region (For the entire Bracket Click Here). #4 Tom Chambers Vs. #5 Maurice Lucas Tom Chambers: The leagues first ever unrestricted [...]

The Most Dominant Championship Teams in NBA/ABA History

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:56:07 -0500

A slightly different version of this article was originally published in the Summer 2001 issue of Basketball Digest.

After Michael Jordan announced "I'm Back" and led the Chicago Bulls to three straight championships, many observers proclaimed the Bulls the greatest team ever. Other experts preferred Russell's Celtics, the 1967 76ers, the 1972 Lakers, the Magic-Kareem Lakers, the Bird-McHale-Parish Celtics or the Malone-Erving 76ers. While it is fun to imagine certain matchups, there is no objective way to determine how these teams would fare against each other. It is obvious that any comparison of teams that played in different decades is pure speculation but even sizing up teams from the same era is an inexact science. Magic's Lakers and Bird's Celtics tweaked their rosters as players emerged (James Worthy, Kevin McHale) and declined (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Cedric Maxwell), making it difficult to even select the best Lakers and Celtics teams of the '80s, let alone the greatest team of all time.

While greatness is an elusive and subjective evaluation, dominance can be found in the record books in several different categories; these numbers show which championship teams obliterated all contenders and which ones narrowly snatched the brass ring from their rivals. In short, the most dominant team is the team that stood out the most from the pack in a given season. The most direct measure of dominance is points per game (ppg) differential. Since the 1954-55 season (first year of the shot clock era), 35 of 46 NBA champions and seven of nine ABA champions finished third in the league or better in this category. Two other measures of dominance are rebounds per game (rpg) differential and field goal percentage (fg%) differential; the NBA has only kept these records since the 1970-71 season, while the ABA did so for all nine of its seasons. Almost every champion of the past 30 years ranked at or near the top of the league in both areas.

Only 11 NBA or ABA champions achieved a ppg differential of nine or better (see accompanying chart; 3/13/09 Note: Since this article was written, one more NBA champion had a ppg differential better than nine: the 2008 Boston Celtics led the NBA with a 10.2 ppg differential while also ranking fourth in rebounding differential [3.1 rpg] and first in field goal percentage differential [.056], numbers that make them worthy of being included on any list of the most dominant championship teams in NBA/ABA history):

The 1961-62 Boston Celtics were the fifth of Bill Russell's 11 championship teams. Six Celtics averaged double figures in scoring, five of whom were eventually inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Russell (23.6 rpg) finished second in rebounding and Bob Cousy (7.8 apg) was third in assists.
The 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers showcased the all-around brilliance of Wilt Chamberlain, who led the league in rebounding (24.2 rpg) and field goal percentage (.683) and finished third in both scoring (24.1 ppg) and assists (7.8 apg). The 76ers beat the San Franscisco Warriors for the title despite Rick Barry's then record 40.8 ppg outburst in the Finals.
Everyone has seen the footage of Willis Reed limping on to the floor for Game Seven of the 1970 Finals, but how many people remember that Walt Frazier posted 36 points, 19 assists and 7 rebounds in that game? Reed ranked among league leaders in scoring and rebounding, while Frazier placed second in assists, eighth in field goal percentage and 20th in scoring.
Even on a list of dominant teams the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks stand out: 12.2 ppg differential, .085 fg% differential, a then-record 20 game winning streak, and a remarkable 14.5 ppg differential on the way to a then-best ever 12-2 playoff record. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led the league in scoring while placing second in field goal percentage and fourth in rebounding. Oscar Robertson ranked among league leaders in assists, field goal percentage and free throw percentage.
Remarkably, many of the records set by the 1971 Bucks were broken the next year by the Lakers, who posted a best ever 12.3 ppg differential and won an astonishing 33 straight games. Gail Goodrich and Jerry West provided most of the scoring punch (ranking fifth and seventh in the league respectively) and Wilt Chamberlain led the league in rebounding and field goal percentage.
In 1986 Larry Bird captured his third straight MVP award, ranking among league leaders in scoring, rebounding, free throw percentage, three point percentage and steals. Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Bill Walton rounded out one of the most impressive frontcourts in league history, while perennial All-Defensive Team selection and former playoff MVP Dennis Johnson provided steady play at guard.
Magic Johnson led the league in assists and posted a career-high 23.9 ppg average in 1987 and his self titled "junior, junior skyhook" spelled doom for the Celtics in the Finals. James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Byron Scott each averaged at least 17 ppg.
Portland won two more games than Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls in 1991, but fell to the Lakers in the playoffs. Jordan's first NBA championship team romped to a 15-2 playoff record, with both losses by only two points. Jordan led the league in scoring and ranked third in steals, while Scottie Pippen followed a fine all-around season (17.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 6.2 apg) with an even better postseason performance (21.6 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 5.8 apg). Horace Grant and Bill Cartwright provided rebounding and toughness.
The Bulls posted better regular season numbers the next year, but faced a tougher challenge in the playoffs as the Knicks took Chicago to seven games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Jordan again led the league in scoring, while Pippen and Grant both had stellar seasons.
The 1996 Bulls won a league record 72 games while posting a gaudy 12.2 ppg differential and an impressive 6.6 rpg differential. Jordan, Pippen and league rebounding leader Dennis Rodman set the pace, with plenty of help from Sixth Man Award winner Toni Kukoc and three point marksman Steve Kerr.
Jordan, Pippen, Rodman and company led the 1997 Bulls to a 69-13 regular season record, 10.8 ppg differential and 4.9 rpg differential. If sixth man Toni Kukoc and starting center Luc Longley had not each missed more than 20 games due to injuries, this team could have perhaps surpassed the numbers of the 1996 Bulls.

Since 1955 only four teams have failed to win a title after posting a 9-plus ppg differential. The 1972 Kentucky Colonels went 68-16 with an ABA record 9.0 ppg differential but were upset in the playoffs by Rick Barry

The ABA's Unsung Heroes

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:09:22 -0500

This article was originally published in the October 2004 issue of Basketball Digest.

By the mid-1970s, the ABA was failing financially but the league featured many of the sport?s young, rising stars, including Julius Erving, Gilmore, Moses Malone, George Gervin and David Thompson. The NBA needed these marquee players to boost its attendance and its television ratings. The leagues finally merged in 1976, with four ABA teams (Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets and San Antonio Spurs) joining 18 NBA teams.

In the first post-merger All-Star Game, 10 of the 24 All-Stars had ABA playing experience. That year the Pacers? Don Buse led the NBA in assists and steals and the 1977 NBA Finals between Philadelphia and Portland looked like an ABA reunion: Sixers starters? Erving, George McGinnis and Caldwell Jones all began their careers in the ABA, as did Portland starter Maurice Lucas and key reserve guard Dave Twardzik.

Unfortunately, the Hall of Fame seems to have closed its doors to all but a handful of ABA players. Three players in particular personify the ABA?s unrecognized greatness: Roger Brown, Mel Daniels and Artis Gilmore.

Bob ?Slick? Leonard, who coached the Indiana Pacers to three ABA titles, has high praise for Brown, the small forward on those championship teams: ?He was a money player. Anytime the game was on the line, Roger was always there. Roger had tremendous ability?one of the greatest small forwards to ever play the game?I?ve seen everyone who came down the pike in the last 50 years?playing against them, coaching against them or broadcasting them. Roger Brown deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.?

A young Erving looked at Brown as a role model: ?His depth of knowledge made him someone who I wanted to watch and also watch out for. I was just running and jumping and trying to jump over people and (it helped) just to see what he was doing on the ground, knowing that he was a great jumper in his day but that by this time he had channeled his energies to be a complete player, be a team player and win championships. So he was already at a place that I was trying to get to.?

Barry says about Brown, ?He certainly had a terrific basketball career and is probably one of the more underrated guys that most people don?t know a whole lot about. He is not really given the recognition that he deserves for the career that he had. He was just a very skilled and gifted player, especially on the offensive end of the court.?

Brown?s teammate Daniels offers this tribute: ?I think you could sum it up simply like this. Those who did not see Roger Brown or didn?t know him, missed a treat?We ran an isolation play for him and he was so good one-on-one that I remember defenders actually screaming for help. He actually dislocated or broke eight guys? ankles?I think that Michael Jordan is the best basketball player I have ever seen or one of the best. Roger Brown was right there in his class.?

Daniels grabbed a staggering 1608 career postseason rebounds, ranking in the top dozen in pro basketball history. Erving remembers Daniels? imposing presence: ?Mel was the workhorse on that team. Mel just put the fear in people?I think that if contributions to the game of basketball and the history of basketball are the things that are the criteria for someone becoming a Hall of Famer, then the championships that they won in the ABA?three championships in nine years?warrants consideration because it affected fans globally and the recognition of it would paint a much clearer picture of what basketball was like in the 1970s.?

Gilmore?s omission from the Hall of Fame is especially puzzling because he followed his ABA career with a productive NBA career, which seemed to help the Hall candidacy of Hawkins. Erving notes, ?I?ve written letters on his behalf to get him in the Hall of Fame.? Barry observes, ?When Artis first came into the league he was the first guy who I?d ever seen who could block guys? jump shots from the corner. This guy was unbelievable.? Daniels, who went head to head with Gilmore for years, adds, ?He was very efficient, a very good offensive basketball player, could defend, could block shots, could run very well and could score on the block. He should definitely be in the Hall of Fame.?

Three decades after the leagues merged the NBA stubbornly refuses to ?merge? ABA statistics with NBA statistics, but Daniels makes an interesting point: ?If you look back at the (yearly) leaders in different categories, scoring and rebounding, it?s the ABA ball players. Isn?t that amazing?? While the NBA?s flawed record keeping unfairly reduces the career totals of many all-time greats, the NBA cannot hide the fact that Gervin won four NBA scoring titles or that Malone won six NBA rebounding titles or that Gilmore won four NBA field goal percentage titles and holds the NBA career record for highest regular season field goal percentage (.599). Former ABA players figured prominently among the NBA?s single season category leaders for many years after the merger, a lasting testament to the greatness of the league and a permanent reminder that the ABA players deserve to have their statistics accorded equal status with NBA statistics.

Part III of an Interview with Dr. Charles "Chic" Hess, Author of "Prof Blood and the Wonder Teams"

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:53:11 -0500

"Life comes to you in a moment...each moment of your life can be perceived by you only if you are equipped imaginatively, equipped to dramatize your own role in it--to see yourself as a protagonist confronted by adversary circumstances"--Jerzy Kosinski

The greatest basketball coach you've never heard of led Passaic (New Jersey) High School to 159 straight victories from 1919-1925. Ernest Blood--better known as Professor Blood or simply Prof--was an innovator who valued the pass over the dribble and who developed a feeder system in the lower grade levels so that his high school squad had a steady supply of enthusiastic, top level talent. Blood won seven state championships at Passaic from 1915-1925 and he could have enjoyed a much longer run of success there but he ran afoul of shortsighted school administrators who were apparently jealous of his popularity. Blood resigned his post at Passaic and then coached at St. Benedict's Preparatory School (in Newark, New Jersey) for 23 seasons, leading them to five prep school state titles. Blood also coached at Clarkson University and the U.S. Military Academy.

Blood was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1960 but his life story and accomplishments are not widely known. Enter Philadelphia native Dr. Charles "Chic" Hess, a veteran high school and junior college coach who first learned about Blood by reading about the 159 game winning streak in little filler blurbs in the local newspapers. Hess had always wanted to know more about the fantastically successful coach with the eye-catching name, so when he began working on his doctorate in his forties he also started assembling information about Blood's life and times. This turned into a 16 year project that culminated with Hess writing a 455 page book titled "Prof Blood and the Wonder Teams: The True Story of Basketball's First Great Coach." Published in 2003 and currently available for $29.95 plus $5 shipping and handling, Hess' biography of Blood is truly a labor of love, a thoroughly detailed account of Passaic's epic winning streak and the behind the scenes school politics that ultimately ended Blood's time at the school.

Dr. Hess is a very successful coach in his own right. His 1978 Lebanon (Pennsylvania) high school squad, anchored by future NBA first round draft pick Sam Bowie, made it to the 1978 Class AAA State Finals. Hess won three coach of the year awards in Pennsylvania, captured two NAIA District 29 Coach of the Year awards for his work at Brigham Young University-Hawaii and then earned the 1991 NABC Coach of the Year Award at Arizona Western College (NJCAA).

You can read Part I of my interview with Dr. Hess here, while Part II can be found here.

Friedman: "What stands out the most from your coaching career?"

Hess: "I remember an eighth grade coach telling me that I was capable of being a very good player. I was just a skinny little squirt in the eighth grade but I remember him having confidence in me. I remember being touched by a coach in a way that inspired me that I could be good at this game. I'm sure that he never gave it a second thought but it stuck with me and I often see kids (former players) who I inspired—I get emails from them all the time. Little did I know that I was inspiring them; I was just talking to them because I thought that they could be good and then I would show them some things to help make them better. They would keep coming back because they could learn.

In high school, I got cut in my junior year because a new coach came in and I was a badass. I was a street kid badass: give me some s--- and I would punch you, you know? He got rid of a potential problem but he cut someone who he just misjudged my real heart and love for the game. The following year, I came back and started; I came back as a senior in high school and started for the same coach who cut me the year before. He realized that I was a good player and he gave me a chance. Later, he often talked about the kid he cut who came back and became a starter and a good player for him. I remember that. Meeting Howie Landa—we went to the national junior college tournament and we won a lot of games and he was a basketball crazy guy. He is a one in a million coach. That is how outstanding this man is and how he could motivate you to want to be good and to love to play. He's a Philadelphia boy, a Philadelphia city kid. He inspired me and taught me a great deal. We went to play in the national tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas. Then, 25 or 30 years later I took a team to Hutchinson and almost won the national title. We lost the championship game. Those types of memories of being a player and being coached by someone else (really stand out).

Look, I have a doctor's degree and I'm financially independent now and I do what I want to do and it's all because of basketball—and he gave me my start. So, what do you do? When a kid thanks me for something I did I say, 'Do it for someone else. Pass it on. It's your time to pass it on now. It's been passed on to me and I took advantage of it.' I took advantage of my opportunity and I have a doctor's degree and obviously there is a little bit of prestige that goes along with being older and having a doctor's degree. That commands a little bit of respect and it is because I had an opportunity given to me by a coach. What am I supposed to do with this? I'm supposed to pass it on. Help someone else; that is what we are here for. There are no secrets; don't be stingy about what you know about the game. Share it. We're all in this together. Share it. Pass it on. It's for all of us."

Friedman: "You said that Howie Landa basically discovered you playing a pickup game on the playground. Have you ever wondered what might have happened if you had left that court five minutes before he showed up or if he had not been there that day? Do you feel like if you had not met him something else would have happened for you anyway and you would have ended up in a similar place? Or do you think that was really a watershed moment in your life, that if you had not met him your life would have turned out a lot differently?"

Hess: "The road to where I am today would have been entirely different. I don't know if I would have ever gotten into college. I was lost. I was a kid who just lived to play basketball every day and didn't give a crap about anything else. I hear about black kids in the inner city who have no direction in their lives at all and the adjustments that they have to make to go to college: I went through that. I was lost when I got to college. I learned nothing in high school academically and it was totally my fault. I thought that I was cool. Books meant nothing to me. I didn't take any books home. I didn't do any homework. I was a smartass, cocky and going nowhere. I found out that was a dead end. If that man had not been there to put an arm around me, point me in a different direction, I fear for what would have happened."

Friedman: "You coached Sam Bowie when he was in high school. Obviously, he went on to be a very successful college player and a high NBA draft pick who actually was not as bad an NBA player as some people say before he was struck down by the injuries. What was it like to coach Sam Bowie? What kind of player was he in high school?"

Hess: "I just saw Sammy three weeks ago. We spent some time together. I thought Sammy could have been the best basketball player who ever played. I thought he had that type of ability. His disadvantage was his environment. He lost his father when he was in the 10th grade and he lived on what you would call the wrong side of town, on the other side of the tracks. He hung out with kids who were going nowhere, some of whom may be in jail to this day. He had his head in his rear end. I had to get him out of there. During the summer, I would send him up to a camp run by Dave Bing and Howie Landa in the Pocono Mountains. I would send him up there for the summer so that he would have a chance to rub elbows with Dave Bing and Maurice Lucas and many other good black players who were in the NBA. They could see the potential, obviously--he was going to be a big kid, a seven footer. Of course, he looked up to those men and they were good role models for him. He was a typical 16-17 year old who had his head stuck in his butt and who looked at everything the wrong way. He couldn't really make a good decision about choices to stay out of trouble; that was my job and three weeks ago I put my finger in his chest and I told him, 'I did those things because I didn't want you to blow it. It was my job to help you.' If he didn't get his 2.0 then he would have had to go to junior college. I went to junior college and I know there is a far difference between Division I and junior college.

There were other seven footers who blew it: Les Cason. That was how Dick Vitale got his start (by recruiting Cason). Of course, I was offered opportunities to go into college (as a package deal with Bowie) to be an assistant coach but there was no way I was going to do that: I can make it on my own. I'm capable; I can chart my own course. Yes, that would have gotten me into Division I and, who knows, with a few breaks I could have become a Division I head coach but God took care of me. I live right by the ocean. I have a beautiful setup here (in Hawaii). I'm home at night. I may go watch the University of Hawaii play Louisiana Tech tonight but after the game is over I drive home and I listen to the wrap up of the game on the radio with my buddies. I'm home in 20 minutes and those guys are still in the locker room and doing all those things. I count my blessings that I have what I have, because I have a good life. My children are grown up and I like what I have. I wouldn't trade it. I wouldn't want to be a Division I coach right now. I wouldn't mind doing a little high school coaching right nearby where I can teach and get satisfaction.

So, anyway, Sammy did not appreciate it right at that time but when he went to Kentucky he came home at Easter and he latched on to me as I did all of my teaching and he followed me around all day and he told me, 'Coach, everything you told me was true.' He admitted that he had been a pain in the ass and I said, 'Yes, Sammy, but I was no prize either when I was a kid.' I was in trouble. I was a juvenile delinquent. I was on probation. I was just a bad ass kid."

Friedman: "So you saw something of yourself in him?"

Hess: "I knew what it was like. We were certainly different, him being seven feet tall and me being six feet tall, him being black and me being white—"

Friedman: "No, not those things but I mean in terms of being that age and making poor choices."

Hess: "Yeah. I've worked with a number of kids who were screwballs. You wondered what the hell was going through their heads. One of them called me up two days ago. Three times he called me up. This kid's making $100,000 a year and after his next promotion he'll be a warden at a prison. He said to me, 'I owe it all to you. People thought that I was going to wind up in jail but here I am making this outstanding money working at a jail.' He was in tears by the third phone call and he said, 'I don't know if I can make it clear to you how much I appreciate what you did for me. No one else would have put up with me. No one else understood me but you took time and worked with me.' I think that maybe because I was one of eight kids and I was a screwball myself that maybe I have a little bit more patience with kids who have some heart and have a love for this game: let's use this game to help you get somewhere. I haven't touched the rim in about 15 years but no one cares that I can't dunk a basketball; what you learn from playing basketball is what is going to be important. There will come a day when you are not even able to play anymore. I doubt if Oscar Robertson can still dunk a basketball. It's what you've learned and what you've gotten out of this game (that matters) and if you don't take advantage of it then you've wasted it. I don't want kids to waste it. If you are going to put time into playing this game then make sure you get something out of it and what you get out of it is directly proportional to what you put into it."

Friedman: "The way that Coach Landa found you and put you on the right path, you responded by doing the same thing for the players you came across during your coaching career."

Hess: "I'm not wealthy but I'm independently satisfied with what I have and I'm fine. I don't need any more than that, so whatever I can do to help someone else, that's my pay. That's my reward. That's the way it always was in coaching and that's the way it is right now. I still get asked to go help teach kids how to shoot. Last week I was at a playground here in Hawaii teaching a bunch of eighth graders how to shoot. I'm passing it on. That's why I had to write Prof Blood's story. I knew the story of Prof Blood, no one else knew it and I had to make it available. It became my responsibility. That may sound corny."

Friedman: "No, it doesn't. Not at all."

Hess: "It became my responsibility to share this story with the basketball community. I told these little kids you don't have to do what I am saying—some of them wanted to keep shooting the ball their own quirky ways—but those of you who want to learn how to shoot, I have something for you. One kid I couldn't help at all. He shot the ball perfectly."

Epilogue

"Eat the banana now"--Al McGuire

"Go down as you live"--"Super" John Williamson's motto, imploring his teammates to not let pressure-packed game situations alter their mindset or their approach; Hall of Fame Coach Phil Jackson, who was a teammate of Williamson's, has adopted that as a mantra that he often shares with his players

Generally, I keep my own personal business separate from my interviews but because of some things that I am currently going through I was really struck deeply by Dr. Hess' comments about the way that Howie Landa completely changed his life by simply believing in him and giving him a chance to succeed. Those thoughts were foremost in my mind as the interview drew to a close and that led to this exchange:

Friedman: "I appreciate very much the time you have taken for this very interesting interview. I enjoyed reading the book and as I read it, I made analogies and comparisons with aspects of basketball history and strategy that I know more about and I thought about how Prof Blood might coach if he were alive today. It was interesting to get your feedback about that."

Hess: "Thank you very much. As you know, when I first contacted you because of what you have at your fingertips, I asked if you could get some exposure for Prof Blood, because I think that it would make a good movie. I didn't write the book for money. If a movie were made out of it I'd probably make some money but that is not my motive."

Friedman: "Right. I have no Hollywood contacts. I can tell you that right off the bat, so I don't think that I can have anything to do with it becoming a movie but I can publicize the story and get our very interesting interview out there. I am always interested in analyzing things and looking at things in depth and the readership that I have is also interested in thinking about basketball that way, so I think that my readers will be interested in this kind of discussion, this comparison of Prof Blood to modern coaches and all of the issues that we talked about. From that standpoint, if I have a reader who has those kinds of connections then you never know what might happen. Howie Landa found you on a playground and look what happened."

Hess: "We need people like you who will analyze something and put a slant on something and inform people."

Friedman: "To be honest, I'm still looking for my Howie Landa, I'm looking for the person who can help me get to the next level in my writing career and get it to the point that it is a lot more financially stable than it is right now. I can relate to the story that you talked about and that is why I asked you the question about where you would have ended up if you had not met Howie Landa. You'd still be the same person on the inside: the same potential, the same talent would still be latent there but if there is not the right person there at the right time to bring all of that out then what kind of result happens? That is a question that interests me not only relating to you but also relating to a lot of other situations as well."

Hess: "Coaches are powerful people. We touch kids in ways that parents and other teachers can't reach them. It's a powerful tool. It's something that should not be taken lightly."

Dr. Hess and I talked a little bit more about 20 Second Timeout and my efforts to expand my readership and he concluded, "You have time. It's time for something to happen but you have time. Keep writing."

I replied, "Well, whenever someone says that, it reminds me of a story about Michael Jordan. One year with Michael Jordan and the Bulls, they had a painful loss to the Pistons in the playoffs and he was literally on the bus crying, wondering if he ever was going to win a championship. His father said to him to not worry, that he has time, that the team is improving. Jordan just looked at him and said, 'We might not have as much time as you think we do.' That is a really poignant statement if you think about what happened afterward; in one sense, his father was right because a year or two after that the Bulls won the championship but in another sense think about what happened just a few years later: Jordan's father was shot and killed on the highway. So, on one hand, Jordan's father was right in that Jordan had a lot of time left and he ended up playing about 10 more years—if you count his comebacks—and he won six championships but on the other hand he only had about four years left with his father. So, if you think about that statement, 'You've got time left,' it was true and it wasn't true, depending on how you look at it."

Hess: "Remember what Al McGuire used to say? Eat the banana now."

Friedman: "McGuire had that approach. I remember that sometimes his team would be scheduled to have a practice and they'd get on the bus and they would go somewhere else, go to a museum or something; sometimes you just have to live for the moment.

Phil Jackson did something like that once after the Bulls had a painful loss in the playoffs. Everyone thought that they were going to practice for three hours but he took them to tour the Statue of Liberty or something. He said that his players needed to get away from the court and not think about all of the bad things that had happened—just do something else together as a group because nothing productive was going to happen in practice that day. That was his pulse of the team at the moment."

In the end, all anyone can do is, as McGuire put it, "eat the banana now"--savor whatever is good in your life at the moment, because you don't know what tomorrow will bring: you can go from being a "playground bum" to being a successful coach/published author or you can win 159 straight games and yet be forced out of your job due to small minded people who harbor petty jealousies. What ultimately matters is that you "go down as you live": Prof Blood never wavered from his principles despite the slings and arrows he suffered at the hands of fools and Dr. Hess worked on his "game"--in the classroom and on the court--until he became a successful coach in his own right and thus had the platform and opportunity to tell Prof Blood's story to the world.

Game to Remember: Game Six, 1976 ABA Finals

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:14:30 -0500

What a treat it is to watch "Game to Remember: Game Six, 1976 ABA Finals"! NBA TV broadcast this program last night, with Julius Erving and Brian Taylor sharing their recollections of the last ABA game, a 112-106 championship-clinching victory by their New York Nets over the powerful Denver Nuggets. Erving won the regular season and Finals MVPs in 1976 as he led the Nets to their second title in his three years with the franchise, while Taylor made the All-Star team and led the league in three point field goal percentage; he is the only player to lead the ABA and the NBA in three point field goal percentage in a season. Denver, coached by Larry Brown and led by Hall of Famers David Thompson and Dan Issel, went 60-24 in 1975-76; their team was so good that the ABA All-Star Game that year consisted of the Nuggets versus All-Stars from all of the other teams in the league--and the Nuggets defeated an All-Star Team featuring two of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players (Erving and George Gervin) plus Artis Gilmore, Maurice Lucas and James "Captain Late" Silas!

Kevin Loughery, the Nets' Coach at that time, recently said of Erving's play in the ABA, "He had more talent at that stage--we asked him to do everything. I really believe--and I've told this to Doc--that the NBA never saw the real Dr. J. I really believe that. In the ABA he did things that were incredible. We asked him to do everything. We won the (1976) championship playing against Denver when they had Bobby Jones, an All-League defensive player. He had the best playoff series in a championship series that I've ever seen one individual have." Erving's numbers certainly support Loughery's contention, as the Doctor led both teams in scoring (37.7 ppg), rebounding (14.2 rpg), assists (6.0 apg), steals (3.0 spg) and blocked shots (2.2 bpg) in the 1976 ABA Finals. Pat Putnam wrote a great Sports Illustrated story about the first four games of the series, when Erving rang up 158 points, 51 rebounds, 22 assists, eight steals and seven blocked shots.

Game six was actually an understated performance by Erving in that series: he "only" had 31 points--tying his series low--but his floor game was staggering: 19 rebounds, five assists, five steals, four blocked shots. It is very interesting to watch the closing moments of that game; on each New York half court set possession, Erving received the ball above the top of the key and operated in a 1-4 set, much like Kobe Bryant or LeBron James do today. Erving attacked the basket, accepted the double team and kicked the ball to open teammates who either made shots or drew fouls against defenders who were closing out on them; in part because of the defensive attention that Erving drew, muscular shooting guard "Super" John Williamson scored 16 fourth quarter points. This is a 32 year old highlight but Erving's play has a decidedly modern look to it.

It is so tiresome nowadays to hear people talking about being the man or whose team it is. Everyone on the Nets knew that Erving was "the man" but Erving was also smart enough and unselfish enough to understand that when he was double-teamed someone else was open. This all goes back to something else that Loughery said about Erving: "That man was the best. He was the easiest superstar you could possibly coach." Nets President Rod Thorn, who was then Loughery's assistant coach, expressed similar sentiments when I spoke with him: "He was the best teammate of all the players I've been involved with in 40-plus years of NBA basketball. He was our leading scorer, our leading rebounder, our leading shot blocker, our leading assist guy--you name it, he led our team in it, plus he was the leader of our team. He guarded the best forward every night, whether it was a small forward or a big forward. He took most of the big shots. Not only was he a great player, but more importantly he was a great teammate."

During "Game to Remember," Brian Taylor said this about Erving: "My memories and thoughts about Julius and being his teammate are not so much about being in the game but his behind the scenes leadership, his practice, his discipline, all of those things that are unseen (when) you see the highlights (and) that made him a phenomenal player and person. That's what comes to mind when I think about Julius 'Dr. J' Erving: what made him great was his discipline off the court and his personality, his human spirit."

ABA Commissioner Dave DeBusschere once famously declared that some players are franchise players but "For us, Dr. J is 'The League.'" Asked during "Game to Remember" about the burden of carrying such high expectations, Erving--with his characteristic grace, modesty and understanding of the larger picture--replied, "I didn't really feel that (pressure). When I came in I was so young, I was 21; in the last (ABA) game I was 26. So in that five year stretch my responsibilities were my job as a professional basketball player and my family responsibilities...There was so much going on in the world at that time--the Vietnam War was going on, so much political unrest, there was the threat of rioting in various cities around the country because of what had come out of the Sixties--and having gone through that, this was a joy ride, playing professional basketball. Carrying a league? All I was carrying was my jacket and my sneakers, showing up in the arena to play."

The Nets trailed 80-58 with just over 16 minutes remaining before rallying to win game six. Taylor said that this accomplishment contained a "life lesson" that he draws on to this day: "It was the determination and the teamwork and the togetherness that we had all the years that we played together that really stands out for me and 30 years later it feels strong still...It helps me when I'm teaching kids about overcoming adversity. We overcame adversity in a very short period of time but it's a life lesson for us as both Doc and I teach to our young people about how to survive. The game of basketball is so symbolic and that one game helps us as we talk and teach our young people."

Erving deserves the last word about the ABA's last game: "This game connects us for life. John (Williamson) is not with us anymore and Wendell Ladner, who was there in 1975, is not with us anymore, but we stay connected. When you win a championship, when you accomplish something that you set out to do--that you set as a goal months earlier--and then you actually achieve it, it has a bonding effect. It was a superior effort there, from seasoned veterans of five or six years to the rookies who were in the game...I think that the bonding effect is a reality and that's why I've always loved team sports. That's one of the things that separates team sports from individual sports."

Blazers Name Joe Prunty Assistant Coach

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 07:03:56 -0500

The Portland Trail Blazers announced Monday that Joe Prunty has been named an assistant coach.The announcement was made by Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard Prunty spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks. Prior to his time in Dallas, he served for nine seasons with the San Antonio Spurs as assistant video coordinator, video coordinator, advance scout and most recently, assistant coach. During his time with the Spurs, the team won three NBA Championships. ???"We couldn?t be more thrilled to add a talented, hard-working and experienced individual like Joe to the organization,? said head coach Nate McMillan. ???"He brings to us a blend of player development and basketball knowledge that will be a tremendous asset to the coaching staff.? The Sunnyvale, Calif., native joins a McMillan coaching staff that includes lead assistant coach Dean Demopoulos, assistant coach Monty Williams and assistant coach Maurice Lucas. Prunty starts work immediately as the team prepares for the 2008 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.Source: Portland Trail Blazers OTHER NEWS ACROSS THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK Linkin Park, MLB Properties Hook-up For 3rd Year - The Biz of Baseball Wrigley Field It Is: NHL Outdoor Classic in Chicago Jan. 1 - The Biz of Baseball Passing Gas? Rays, Hess to Give Away $5 Cards on July 18 - The Biz of Baseball All-Star Game Starters, Reserves, and Pitchers Announced - The Biz of Baseball Is the Ed Wade/Shawn Chacon Altercation a First? - The Biz of BaseballYou Really Like Me! Rays See Highest TV Ratings Ever - The Biz of Baseball Cellphone to Throw Away at the All-Star Game - The Biz of Baseball Six GMs on the Hot Seat - The Biz of Baseball Chicago's Wrigley Field to Host Next Outdoor Classic on New Years Day - The Biz of Hockey Jaromir Jagr First Major NHL Player to Crossover to Continental Hockey League - The Biz of Hockey Free Agent Signings - July 1, 2008 - The Biz of Hockey NHL Free Agent Listing As of July 1, 2008 - The Biz of Hockey Ducks owner Henry Samueli Suspended by NHL - The Biz of Hockey NHL 2K9, First Officially Licensed Game by NHL and NHLPA for Wii, Coming this Fall - The Biz of Hockey Dion Phaneuf Selected for Cover of EA Sports "NHL 09" - The Biz of Hockey Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann to Reumite for NBC's "Football Night in America" - The Biz of FootballXM Satellite Radio Locks Up SEC. Adds Alabama, Auburn, Florida, and Vanderbilt - The Biz of Football Don Imus, "Pacman" Jones and Media Correctness - The Biz of Football 15,000 General Admission Tickets for London NFL Game Sell Out in 30 min. - The Biz of Football Papa Replaces Gumbel as NFL Network?s Play-by-Play Announcer - The Biz of Football NFL Network May Partner Up With ESPN - The Biz of Football NFL Players Help Hometown Tornado Victims - The Biz of Football Recently Retired Strahan Joins Fox NFL Pregame Show - The Biz of Football TNT Lands Full Slate of Sponsors For ???"Wide Open Coverage? Telecasts - Maury Brown's Biz of Sports Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus, and is available as a freelance writer.Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.

Blazers Name Joe Prunty Assistant Coach

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:42:10 -0500

The Portland Trail Blazers announced Monday that Joe Prunty has been named an assistant coach.The announcement was made by Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard Prunty spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks. Prior to his time in Dallas, he served for nine seasons with the San Antonio Spurs as assistant video coordinator, video coordinator, advance scout and most recently, assistant coach. During his time with the Spurs, the team won three NBA Championships. "We couldn't be more thrilled to add a talented, hard-working and experienced individual like Joe to the organization," said head coach Nate McMillan. "He brings to us a blend of player development and basketball knowledge that will be a tremendous asset to the coaching staff." The Sunnyvale, Calif., native joins a McMillan coaching staff that includes lead assistant coach Dean Demopoulos, assistant coach Monty Williams and assistant coach Maurice Lucas. Prunty starts work immediately as the team prepares for the 2008 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.Source: Portland Trail Blazers OTHER NEWS ACROSS THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK Linkin Park, MLB Properties Hook-up For 3rd Year - The Biz of Baseball Wrigley Field It Is: NHL Outdoor Classic in Chicago Jan. 1 - The Biz of Baseball Passing Gas? Rays, Hess to Give Away $5 Cards on July 18 - The Biz of Baseball All-Star Game Starters, Reserves, and Pitchers Announced - The Biz of Baseball Is the Ed Wade/Shawn Chacon Altercation a First? - The Biz of BaseballYou Really Like Me! Rays See Highest TV Ratings Ever - The Biz of Baseball Cellphone to Throw Away at the All-Star Game - The Biz of Baseball Six GMs on the Hot Seat - The Biz of Baseball Chicago's Wrigley Field to Host Next Outdoor Classic on New Years Day - The Biz of Hockey Jaromir Jagr First Major NHL Player to Crossover to Continental Hockey League - The Biz of Hockey Free Agent Signings - July 1, 2008 - The Biz of Hockey NHL Free Agent Listing As of July 1, 2008 - The Biz of Hockey Ducks owner Henry Samueli Suspended by NHL - The Biz of Hockey NHL 2K9, First Officially Licensed Game by NHL and NHLPA for Wii, Coming this Fall - The Biz of Hockey Dion Phaneuf Selected for Cover of EA Sports "NHL 09" - The Biz of Hockey Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann to Reumite for NBC's "Football Night in America" - The Biz of FootballXM Satellite Radio Locks Up SEC. Adds Alabama, Auburn, Florida, and Vanderbilt - The Biz of Football Don Imus, "Pacman" Jones and Media Correctness - The Biz of Football 15,000 General Admission Tickets for London NFL Game Sell Out in 30 min. - The Biz of Football Papa Replaces Gumbel as NFL Network's Play-by-Play Announcer - The Biz of Football NFL Network May Partner Up With ESPN - The Biz of Football NFL Players Help Hometown Tornado Victims - The Biz of Football Recently Retired Strahan Joins Fox NFL Pregame Show - The Biz of Football TNT Lands Full Slate of Sponsors For "Wide Open Coverage" Telecasts - Maury Brown's Biz of Sports Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus, and is available as a freelance writer.Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.