Category Archives: Legends of Hardwood Paroxysm

The Lowdown: Buck Williams

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Years Active: 1982 – 1998
Regular Season Stats: 1307 games, 32.5 mpg
12.8 ppg, 10 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.8 bpg, 0.8 spg, 54.9% FG, 66.4% FT
Postseason Stats: 108 games, 34.4 mpg
11.2 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 1.0 apg, 0.6 bpg, 0.8 spg, 52% FG, 67.2% FT
Accolades: Rookie of the Year (1982), All-Rookie 1st Team (1982), All-NBA 2nd Team (1982), 2x All-Defensive 1st Team (1990-91), 2x All-Defensive 2nd Team (1988, ’92), 3x All-Star (1982-83, ’86)

“Desire is the key to rebounding; you have to want that ball,” says Williams. “Good anticipation – knowing where the ball will go- also is important.” Williams relishes the hard-nosed aspect of the pro game. “The physical play in the pros gives you a chance to play without the nitpicking fouls you see in college.,” he says. “It lets you see who’s a man out there.”

- via “Buck Williams: Nets’ rising star”, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

At 6-feet-8-inches tall and 215 pounds, Charles Linwood Williams was certainly not the most imposing figure on a basketball court at first glance. However, don’t let the slender frame fool you. When “Buck” stepped on the court, suddenly his agility would present itself. His determination and rough style would throw you off. And he may have been just 215 lbs at the power forward spot, but fight with him for position in the post or for a rebound and you’d quickly determine that all of that weight was composed of muscle.

For 17 years Williams played in the NBA and for 14 of them (1982 to 1995) he was as solid and dependable a PF you could ask for. He appeared in all but 26 games in this span. For the 1st half of this reign of dependable front court terror, he was the star anchor of the New Jersey Nets. The sometimes woeful, the sometimes surprisingly good New Jersey Nets. For the last half of it, he was the final piece of the Trail Blazer puzzle that propelled Portland from team-of-the-future to legitimate championship contender.
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The Lowdown: Bailey Howell

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Years Active: 1960 – 1971
Regular Season Stats: 951 games, 32.2 mpg
18.7 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 1.9 apg, 48% FG, 76.2% FT
Postseason Stats: 86 games, 31.7 mpg
16.3 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.5 apg, 46.5% FG, 73.2% FT
Accolades: Hall of Fame (1997), 2x NBA Champ  (1968, ’69), 2nd Team All-NBA (1963), 6x All-Star (1961-’64, 1966-’67)

We knew Howell was a good player. He had an average of better than 20 points for seven seasons in the NBA. And he played in most of the All-Star games since he’s been in the league. Yet, sometimes you don’t realize a player’s true value until he’s on your side for a while… He’s got the good offensive drive. He’s a real holler-guy on the bench, too. Bailey likes team basketball. Joining the Celtics made him a happy player. He doesn’t care how much he scores. He just wants to win.

- Bill Russell on Bailey Howell, via Dynasty’s End (an excellent book that you should buy now!)

For 7 seasons, Bailey Howell plied his way as one of the NBA’s best forwards. He was a man possessed on the boards, particularly the offensive glass. He had an incessant, fearless zeal to attack the basket and rack up points. Five times he was selected an all-star as reward for his routine output of 20 points and 11 rebounds. Along with this individual success usually came team disappointment or outright failure.

Howell’s first 7 years were spent with the Detroit Pistons (5 seasons) and Baltimore Bullets (2). None of these teams ever finished with a record above .500. The best years for Howell’s clubs in this era were in 1962 and 1965. In ’62 the Detroit Pistons (winners of just 37 regular season games), fell into the playoffs and dislodged Oscar Robertson’s Cincinnati Royals in the semi-finals in a 3-1 series win. The Lakers of Baylor and West thereafter bounced Detroit in 6 games in the divisional finals. The ’65 “success” story with the Baltimore Bullets largely repeated this sequence of events: 37-win regular season, dislodge semi-final opponent 3-games-to-1, then lose to the Lakers in 6 games in the divisional finals.

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The Lowdown: Lee Shaffer

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Years Active: 1962 – 1964
Regular Season Stats: 196 games, 28.1 mpg
16.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.2 apg, 42% FG, 77.6% FT
Postseason Stats: 13 games, 29.8 mpg
19.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.2 apg, 41.6% FG, 77.8% FT
Accolades: All-Star (1963)

Few things are as peculiar as someone with an immense talent or acumen voluntarily, willingly setting aside that skill for other endeavors. It’s what made Michael Jordan’s first retirement such a shocking development. Now, Lee Shaffer should not be considered on the same basketball plane as titans like Michael Jordan, but he definitely was an incredibly skilled player who after a mere three years decided to forego the NBA. Even Michael Jordan at least put in 9 seasons of work before quitting… but even he returned… and retired again… and returned again. When Shaffer quit, he was gone for good.

Lee Shaffer was a bit of a basketball prodigy and early bloomer. As a 15-year old high school senior Shaffer, led his Pittsburgh-area team in scoring with 25 points per game. Shaffer thereafter attended the University of North Carolina. His time as a Tar Heel was met with much acclaim. Typical for Shaffer were performances like this one in 1959 where he knocked down 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds against Notre Dame. Just two weeks later the forward emphatically dismissed rival North Carolina State:

Nerveless Lee Shaffer dunked in a layup in the last 22 seconds of an overtime to give third-rated North Carolina a 72-68 victory over top-ranked North Carolina State in an [ACC] showdown here Wednesday night.

Shaffer, a 6-7 blond from Pittsburgh, took a perfect pass under the boards from sophomore [and future ABA all-star and NBA Coach of the Year] Doug Moe and laid in the winning basket.

The small forward played his way onto the All-America 2nd Team and was named ACC Player of the Year in 1960.

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The Lowdown: Alvan Adams

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Years Active: 1976 – 1988
Regular Season Stats: 988 games, 27.5 mpg
14.1 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 4.1 apg, 0.8 bpg, 1.3 spg, 49.8% FG, 78.8% FT
Postseason Stats: 78 games, 29.3 mpg
13.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 4.1 apg, 0.9 bpg, 1.1 spg, 47.3% FG, 76.6% FT
Accolades: Rookie of the Year (1976), All-Rookie 1st Team (1976), All-Star (1976)

“I remember looking around at the old guys in the locker room—guys like Pat Riley—and feeling sorry for them because they only had a year or two left. I thought I’d have lots of chances to win the championship, but in 12 years with Phoenix I never got back to the Finals.”

- Via Alvan Adams, Phoenix Suns Center

As it turned out, Adams would not only never return to the Finals, but he’d never match the dramatic output of is rookie season, which was the one of the better and surprising ones in league history. Despite winning the Big 8 player of the year award three times at the University of Oklahoma, pro scouts had their doubts about Adams’ ability to play in the NBA. Most concerning was his body: 6’9″, 210 lbs. That’s not the size of your prototypical NBA center and there was fear he was too slow to convert to forward.

One man who had no doubts about Adams was John MacLeod. MacLeod was the man who recruited Adams to Oklahoma, but the coach left the Sooners after one year of Adams’ college career to coach the Phoenix Suns. MacLeod now jumped at the chance to draft his former college recruit and utilized Adams as one of the main cogs in his free-flowing Suns offense. Alvan indeed was too frail to play in the lowpost all the time, but his best skill was passing not scoring. This led MacLeod to station Adams in the highpost where he proved to be a devastating force.

That rookie year (1976) he averaged 5.6 assists per game. Before him only Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell passed that mark. Since then, only Sam Lacey has.

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The Lowdown: Mike Mitchell

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Years Active: 1979 – 1988
Regular Season Stats: 759 games, 32.3 mpg
19.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.5 bpg, 49.3% FG, 77.9% FT
Postseason Stats: 35 games, 33.2 mpg
18.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.8 bpg, 50.2% FG, 76.2 % FT
Accolades: All-Star (1981)

Cavs History (Flickr)

“Someday I think I’m going to be right up there with Marques Johnson, Walter Davis and the Doctor,” Mike Mitchell was saying the other day. “I feel like I’m destined to be one of the greats of the NBA. Only right now nobody knows who I am.”

- via Mike Makes His Pitch

When the great scorers of the 1980s are mentioned, quick to roll off the tongue are Larry Bird or Alex English. Perhaps Mark Aguirre or Adrian Dantley spring to mind, too. Big men like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Moses Malone also sneak their way after a moment’s thought.

But quietly sitting among the list of the 1980′s greatest scorers is Mike Mitchell. The small forward finished with the 10th most points scored for that decade behind only the aforementioned players, Dominique Wilkins, Reggie Theus and his Spurs teammate George Gervin. Condensing matters to just his heyday of 1980 through 1986 and you’ll see he was the 7th leading scorer in the NBA behind only 6 Hall of Famers.

His scoring during this point was effortless and methodical. He averaged 22.3 ppg during this stretch while shooting 49.6% from the field and 77.7% from the line. His bread and butter was a ridiculously effective mid-range jumper that he could release with impunity over other small forwards given his 6’7″ frame which was brazenly powerful and fast. And in the age old fashion, he was also quick enough to take a larger defender off the dribble. But that magnificent jump shot was where it was at.

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NBA Champs from Downtown

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James Good (flickr)

In this survey, I shall present the evolution of how dependent NBA champs have become upon the 3-pt shot. Now remember this is just NBA champs, so contenders and pretenders may have beat the champs to the punch on the 3-pt shot, but I still think this shows a neat progression of the 3-pt shot and its utilization.
Editor’s Note: I amazingly did not note the shortening of the three-point line in the mid-1990s. That may have had a sliiiiiight effect on 3-point shooting.

The Three Point Stone Age

In the Three Point Stone Age (1980 to 1993), NBA champs hardly deigned to use the three-point basket. From 1980 to 1983, a grand total of 16 threes were made by all four NBA champs for the entirety of their playoff runs. When asked about why the 1983 Sixers only made one three, Moses Malone responded, “cuz there are no fo’s.” (terrible joke)

It wouldn’t be until the 1990 Pistons (somewhat) and the 1993 Bulls (truly) that teams put the long-range bomb to effective use. The players on most of these teams had grown up playing basketball without the 3-pt shot and their coaches certainly had as well. It would take a new crop of players and new philosophies from old-timers to unleash the three-pointer.

Team 3Ps 3PAs 3PT% 3Ps/G 3PAs/G % of pts
1980 Lakers 3 18 16.67% 0.19 1.13 0.51%
1981 Celtics 10 45 22.22% 0.59 2.65 1.71%
1982 Lakers 2 12 16.67% 0.14 0.86 0.37%
1983 Sixers 1 10 10% 0.08 0.77 0.22%
1984 Celtics 21 62 33.87% 0.91 2.7 2.47%
1985 Lakers 29 78 37.18% 1.53 4.11 3.63%
1986 Celtics 45 115 39.13% 2.5 6.39 6.55%
1987 Lakers 43 119 36.13% 2.39 6.61 5.94%
1988 Lakers 57 145 39.31% 2.38 6.04 6.75%
1989 Pistons 42 142 29.58% 2.47 8.35 7.37%
1990 Pistons 62 168 36.90% 3.1 8.4 9.14%
1991 Bulls 30 92 32.61% 1.76 5.41 5.09%
1992 Bulls 54 145 37.24% 2.45 6.59 7.34%
1993 Bulls 79 182 43.41% 4.16 9.58 12.19%

The Rockets Shot for the Stars… and then the league relapses

Well, we have the breakthrough! The Houston Rockets in 1994 and 1995 demonstrated the utility and deadliness of the 3-pt shot. And not only did they take a lot, they made a high percentage. 36% as a team in 1994 and then 39% in 1995 as Kenny Smith, Vernon Maxwell, Sam Cassell and Robert Horry drilled shots when Hakeem Olajuwon was double-teamed. But perhaps the formula proved to be unique to Houston for the time being.

The late 90s Bulls also attempted a lot of threes, but stunk at making them. never getting above 33% accuracy. The Shaq-Kobe Lakers resuscitated some of the Rockets’ magic but it was all but killed with the 2004 Detroit Pistons. Who then was the team that finally rediscovered the Rockets formula for success?

Team 3Ps 3PAs 3PT% 3Ps/G 3PAs/G % of pts
1994 Rockets 149 410 36.34% 6.48 17.83 20%
1995 Rockets 189 483 39.13% 8.59 21.95 24.09%
1996 Bulls 111 363 30.58% 6.17 20.17 19%
1997 Bulls 116 364 31.87% 6.11 19.16 19.80%
1998 Bulls 88 272 32.36% 4.19 12.95 13.50%
1999 Spurs 70 200 35% 4.12 11.76 13.97%
2000 Lakers 124 355 34.93% 5.39 15.43 16.21%
2001 Lakers 98 254 38.58% 6.13 15.88 17.78%
2002 Lakers 116 342 33.92% 6.11 18 18.72%
2003 Spurs 128 365 35.06% 5.33 15.21 16.88%
2004 Pistons 97 319 30.41% 4.22 13.87 14.53%

The Spurs Corner Threes!

The Spurs finally become a team to actually approach the 1994 and 1995 Rockets in terms of three point attempts, makes, percentage and % of team points derived from the three. And since then, the NBA has been loathe to lose the secret again. Finally, last season, the Mavericks crested above the 1995 Rockets’ record of 24.09% of team points scored from threes as they claimed 26.76% of their points from downtown.

As for this year’s finals, the Heat and Thunder are both on pace to maintain the plateau of at least 20% of points derived from threes.

Team 3Ps 3PAs 3PT% 3Ps/G 3PAs/G % of pts
2005 Spurs 164 422 38.86% 7.13 18.35 22.08%
2006 Heat 146 439 33.26% 6.35 19.09 19.78%
2007 Spurs 151 393 38.42% 7.55 19.65 23.68%
2008 Celtics 157 437 35.93% 6.04 16.81 19.27%
2009 Lakers 160 424 37.74% 6.96 18.43 20.38%
2010 Lakers 157 476 32.98% 6.83 20.7 20.26%
2011 Mavs 184 467 39.40% 8.76 22.24 26.76%

And here’s the gargantuan historical line graph. If you’re a fan of long-range deliverance, you can thank Rudy Tomjanovich for devising one of the 1st schemes to make it a tool of deadly effectiveness on the court. Vive la three! Vive le Rudy T!

Waiting for the Train with Bob Cousy and Chuck Cooper

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nolifebeforecoffee (flickr)

Over at Grantland today there is the depressing story of Greg Oden’s heart-wrenching personal journey through emotional and basketball rehab. It’s well worth reading and is a reminder that NBA players are persons. Like all of us, they have particular struggles to battle in their lives. But unlike them, we have the anonymity to privately deal with the issues. Having a close friend die and then being booed by thousands a day later is an experience few of us will ever have to face.

As it so happens, I’m reading Rise of a Dynasty: the ’57 Celtics, the First Banner, and the Dawning of a New America. Within this book is a powerful story recalling an exhibition game the Boston Celtics played in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1950.

Exhibition games were played far more often then than today as the NBA used it as a means to raise both revenue and interest in their sport. Well, being North Carolina in the 1950s, the supposedly public accommodations of Charlotte were not available for use by “colored” persons, including the Celtics’ lone black player, Charles Cooper. The forward was not allowed to eat with his teammates, watch a movie with them at the theater, or even spend the night with them after the game in a hotel. All because of segregation.

Thanks to these dehumanizing conditions, Cooper (the first black player drafted by the NBA) was scheduled to take a train back the night of the game instead of waiting until the morning and flying back with the team to Boston. Symbolic of the lonely, solitary existence early black players faced.

This plan was initially unknown to Cooper’s road roommate, the tender-hearted Bob Cousy. After learning about it from coach Red Auerbach, Cousy insisted on riding all the way back to Boston via Syracuse on the train with Cooper. The train back to Boston wouldn’t arrive until the wee hours of the morning, so Cooper and Cousy just walked the streets, passing the time. Eventually, nature’s call arrived and the two men searched for a restroom at the station. Finally finding one, Cousy was embarrassed to see the clean toilets marked “WHITE” and the decrepit one “COLORED”.

Tears filled his eyes as he felt not only ashamed for this moment he and Cooper had to endure, but perhaps also for the teasing he absorbed as a child in New York.

Cousy was the son of immigrants from Alsace and spoke with a French accent. Called “Flenchy” for his accented rolling of r’s by peers, his existence was made even more wretched by the indifference his parents showed to their only child. It was a loveless home he hastily abandoned after turning 18. The stoic guard would always be guarded and yet sympathetic with his teammates. Particularly showing this passion when he broke down crying in an interview years later talking about what more he could have done to aid Bill Russell against virulent racism in the late 1950s.

But on this night, waiting together at the station, Cooper and Cousy ignored discussing the solemn moment they came upon the separate but unequal stalls. Finally, Cousy broached the topic by relating to Cooper all the horrors done to Jews in Europe just a few years earlier in World War II and the recent terrorist bombings of Catholic Churches in Louisiana. Cooper absorbed Cousy’s sincere attempt to tackle the issue of prejudice, but his slow retort revealed the enormous burdon borne by the lone black Celtic who couldn’t escape or evade the prejudice if he tried…

“That’s all right, but you can’t tell a Jew or a Catholic by looking at him.”

Cousy, again embarrassed, dropped the topic. And the two men continued their wait…

A painful reminder that we all deal with demons, whether personal or social, self-made or imposed by others. All we can do is gird ourselves and aid others in that battle like Cousy did (however timidly) with Cooper. Hopefully Greg Oden and anyone else with these battles find that strength and empathy from themselves and others.

Warm and Fuzzy thoughts on Andrew “Fuzzy” Levane

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Editor’s Note: This was originally written May 6, 2012, shortly after Levane’s passing.

PatrickSmithPhotography (Flickr)

Andrew “Fuzzy” Levane passed away last Sunday. Obviously, I’m a bit slow on putting something together acknowledging his contribution to professional basketball, but the Internet has ably taken care of that.

The New York Times put together a great piece on Fuzzy:

A personable and gregarious figure, Levane was head coach of the Knicks during the 1958-59 season, leading them to a 40-32 record, a second-place finish in the N.B.A.’s Eastern Division and a playoff appearance, though he resigned under pressure early in the 1959 season after the team lost 19 of its first 27 games.

His biggest contribution to the franchise was probably his hiring of a scout, a longtime friend named Red Holzman, who would later coach the Knicks to their only league championships, in 1970 and 1973.

As you’ll see reading through the rest of that article, Holzman and Levane were practically inseparable. One would salvage the other’s career only to return the favor a couple of years later. The native New Yorkers most famously led the Knicks to their 1970 and 1973 titles, but for children of the 1990s like myself the most lasting Levane impact was his discovery of Anthony Mason.

But as I’ve mentioned, the Times did an excellent job summarizing Levane’s life and career, as did our friends over at Knicker Blogger.

All I can add is that Levane’s passing leaves us with one fewer voice to recall the sights, sounds and action of the early days of professional basketball. He got his start playing for the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League in shortly after his Coast Guard duty in World War II ended. The NBL, around since the mid-1930s, was the premier professional league and would later merge with the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to form the NBA.

Established in 1944, the Royals were the brainchild of Lester Harrison, a local Jewish businessman. Seeking to attract interest in the Royals amongst the local Jewish population, Harrison had signed Levane assuming he was Jewish because of his last name. Much to Harrison’s surprise, the 6’2″ forward was actually Italian. Nonetheless, Levane tipped Harrison off on a possible Jewish guard to fill the role mistakenly given to himself. That guard of course would be Red Holzman.

Despite the initial, comical mix-up, Levane adored his time with the Royals and pro ball in general:

We were millionaires! I was making five grand a year! Before that I didn’t know that you could get paid for what we were doing. I got married in 1945 and bought a house in Rochester and we stayed there until 1949.

- via The National Basketball League: A History 1935 – 1949

The times were grand in Rochester as Levane played on a team stacked from top to bottom with Hall of Fame and All-NBL talent: Bob Davies, Bobby Wanzer, Holzman, Arnie Risen, and Al Cervi chief amongst them. A different game usually brought a different leading scorer for the plucky club that played their games in an arena the size of a pillbox. They took home the NBL crown in 1946 and lost in the NBL Finals in 1947 and 1948.

Perhaps it was Levane’s experience with this egalitarian Royals team that later influenced how the early 1970s Knicks, so famous for their effortless passing and camaraderie, came about. What is certain is that Fuzzy Levane was one of the true ambassadors of the game and it’s a shame, as inevitable as it is, that he’s now gone.

The Lowdown: Jack Twyman

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Years Active: 1956 – 1966
Regular Season Stats: 823 games, 31.8 mpg
19.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.3 apg, 45% FG, 77.8% FT
Postseason Stats: 34 games, 32.2 mpg
18.3 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.8 apg, 44.1% FG, 82.4% FT
Accolades: 2x All-NBA 2nd Team (1960, ’62), 6x All-Star (1957-’60, ’62-’63), Hall of Fame (1983)

If you’ve heard of Jack Twyman, it’s likely because of his superhuman, graceful acts off the court. For over a decade he helped care for his teammate and friend Maurice Stokes. That story has rightfully been told several times and will continue to deservedly be told.

(SERIOUSLY, go here and watch the three-part video of the whole story. Powerful stuff)

But Twyman was a fine basketball player and that, too, deserves to be remembered.

A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Twyman starred at the University of Cincinnati averaging 24.6 points and 16.5 rebounds his senior season and is one of only three Bearcats to have their jersey retired. His spectacular offense intrigued the NBA’s Rochester Royals who made him the 8th pick in the 1955 Draft.

Also taken in that same draft and also from Pittsburgh was Maurice Stokes. Twyman and Stokes formed an incredible duo of forwards that looked to finally propel the Royals out of a dangerous mediocrity following their halcyon years with Bob Davies, Arnie Risen and Bob Wanzer. Of course, the superb tandem never really achieved their potential with the Rochester (and then Cincinnati) Royals. Stokes’ paralysis in 1958 curbed the team’s ascent and Twyman was the lone bright spot for the Royals for the rest of the decade.

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The Lowdown: Bob Boozer

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Years Active: 1961 – 1971
Regular Season Stats: 874 games, 29.2 mpg
14.8 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.4 apg, 46.2% FG, 76.1% FT
Postseason Stats: 48 games, 26.7 mpg
11.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.2 apg, 46.7% FG, 73.9% FT
Accolades: NBA Champion (1971), All-Star (1968)

Bob Boozer (upper right) with Royals teammates Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson, Adrian Smith and Jay Arnette

The sure hands of Bob Boozer dealt the Boston Celtics their first defeat in eight [NBA] games this season. The 6-foot-8 former Kansas State star hit on a couple of jump shots sandwiched around a Celtic Sam Jones basket for a 116-115 victory… Boozer’s last basket was a short jump shot with five seconds left in the game.

“I knew they were going in as soon as they left my hands,” Boozer said in the happy Royals’ dressing room after the game.

-Via The Bulletin, November 9, 1963

That performance early in the 1963-64 season would be one of Bob Boozer’s final games as a member of the Cincinnati Royals, the only pro club he’d known to that point in the NBA. His trade to the New York Knicks mid-season would be start of a sojourn across several teams in the NBA.

His time with the Knicks was brief. A mere 129 games through the rest of 1964 and all of the 1965 season. From there he hooked up with the Los Angeles Lakers for a year in 1966. His stop in California provided Boozer with his first taste of the NBA Finals. The Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in 7 games, which was the style at the time. Everyone lost to the Celtics in the Finals. Boozer hardly played a role though in the defeat, appearing in only half the games and barely getting any playing time when it occurred.

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