Tag Archives: Atlanta Hawks

ProHoopsHistory HOF: Lou Hudson

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Lou Hudson

The last great player to emerge from the St. Louis Hawks, Lou Hudson was a member of the All-Rookie 1st Team in 1967 thanks to a healthy 18.5 points and 5.5 rebounds that season. The sweet shooting Super Lou seemingly had a sophomore slump in 1968, though. He averaged a disappointing 12.5 points in only 46 games. The true story here though is that the military drafted Hudson and kept him from the NBA for half the season. By the time he fully returned to form, the Hawks had flown the Missouri coop and landed in Atlanta, Georgia.

Hudson’s game truly took flight in the Peach State.

From 1969 to 1975, Hudson averaged 25 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 49.6% FG and 80.3% FT. His defensive acumen is hinted at in the 1974 season when averaged 2.5 steals a game. Sadly, we don’t know how truly incredible he was in that department since that was the first season steals were tracked.

What we do know is that Hudson formed an offensive juggernaut playing alongside Pete Maravich. The two men played seamlessly off one another. Maravich would push the rock and Hudson would smoothly work off the ball. The tandem fit together like hand and glove. They reached their apogee in 1973 and 1974 where they combined for 53 points a game both years. With Walt Bellamy anchoring the middle, these teams always made the playoffs in the early 1970s (except in ’74).

They were a good team, but not good enough in the East. The Celtics and Knicks ruled the roost and thwarted the Hawks. In 1973, Hudson scorched the postseason with a league-leading 30 points a game, but that would be the last time he appeared in the playoffs until 1978 with the Lakers. By then he was older and not quite as effective.

An elbow injury in 1974 led to his untimely demise at the age of 29. Without that unfortunate injury, Super Lou would have had a few more years of prime time 20+ PPG seasons. Nonetheless, his incredible game was rewarded with six straight all-star appearances from 1969 to 1974. He notched 57 points in a game. His jersey is one of just three retired by the Hawks.

He achieved all of this thanks to a jump shot that’d make even the sweetest of Georgia peaches taste like a bland Southern cracker.

Seasons Played: 1967 – 1979

Accolades

NBA -
All-NBA 2nd Team (1970)
6x All-Star (1969-’74)
All-Rookie 1st Team (1967)

Statistics

NBA - 890 Games
20.2 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 2.7 APG, 1.4 SPG, 48.9% FG, 79.7% FT
50th All-Time PPG

ProHoopsHistory HOF: Dikembe Mutombo

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Dikembe Mutombo (itzyourzradio.com)

Dikembe Mutombo (itzyourzradio.com)

A usually gregarious and affable man, Dikembe Mutombo was as rude a host imaginable in the NBA. He was thoroughly unwelcoming to anyone who would attempt to come into his house. Penetrating guards, sky-walking forwards, and hulking centers were equally dismissed from his abode with disdain. After rejecting these unwelcomed overtures, Mutombo would surely wave a stern finger to make sure such foolishness wasn’t tried again.

Opponents never quite got the message though.

3,289 times Mutombo would officially reject wayward shots that dared enter his domain. Thousands more he intimidated. Four times he’d be recognized as the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year for his stingy block parties. An irascible few succeeded in storming Dikembe’s paint and, as they claimed, climbed Mount Mutombo. These successful few led the brash many to failure.

Mutombo left this trail of devastation across a path that went from Denver to Atlanta to Philly. From New Jersey to New York to Houston. It spanned 18 years and 1196 games.

The most endearing moment in Mutombo’s career came early on, though. It was during his third season, the 1993-94 season in Denver. His 8th-seed Nuggets upended the Seattle SuperSonics in a first-round upset. Mutombo averaged a gaudy 12.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 6.2 blocks a game. As the Nuggets toppled Seattle, Mount Mutombo crumbled to the floor in ecstasy. 

He’d later help Atlanta to become a perennial playoff team. He pushed the Sixers into the realm of title contenders in 2001. He proved a surprisingly effective stopgap for the Rockets late in his career when starter Yao Ming went down to injury. Sadly, Mutombo’s own career ended due to an in-game injury in the 2009 playoffs.

The moment was hard to watch because a man of such intense dignity and impassioned skill was hobbled by a bad knee he could no longer control. Still, no one moment, whether ecstasy in victory or agony of injury, can encapsulate and define a person. It’s the sheer body of work, the routine, that defines a person. Mutombo’s body of work, the routine, proved that his being was pure hall of famer.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUyqp3kSYIs]

Seasons Played: 1992 – 2009

Accolades

NBA -
4x Defensive Player of the Year (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001)
3x All-Defensive 1st Team (1997-’98, 2001)
3x All-Defensive 2nd Team (1995, 1999, 2002)
All-NBA 2nd Team (2001), 2x All-NBA 3rd Team (1998, 2002)
8x All-Star (1992, 1995-’98, 2000-’02)
All-Rookie 1st Team (1992)

Statistics

NBA - 1196 Games
9.8 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 2.8 BPG, 51.8% FG, 68.4% FT
3x BPG Leader (1994-’96), 2x RPG Leader (2000-’01)
2nd All-Time in Blocks, 7th All-Time in BPG
19th All-Time in Rebounds

57: The Hawks’ Magic Number

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It's a hawk! (wolfpix via Flickr)

It’s a hawk! (wolfpix via Flickr)

Wilkins, last year’s NBA scoring champ, scored a league season-high 57 points, equaling his own career best, as the Atlanta Hawks routed Jordan and the Chicago Bulls 123 – 95 Wednesday…

“They caught me in my rhythm,” Wilkins said. “I feel like I’m on the top of my game.”

-Via the Gadsden Times

Oh, I do believe scoring a career-high 57 points in a 123 – 95 thrashing of the Chicago Bulls counts as being on the top of one’s game. On December TENTH, 1986, in 40 minutes of action the Human Highlight Film simply couldn’t miss. He was 19-28 from the field (68%) and 19-21 from the free throw line (91%). Now, the curious thing about Nique’s offensive explosion isn’t this was the 2nd time he hit exactly 57 points, but it was the fourth time in Hawks franchise history that a player had hit for exactly 57 points.

At the end of the previous season on April TENTH, 1986, Wilkins had eviscerated the New Jersey Nets for 57 points in a late season matchup that the Hawks won 126 – 117. In that game Wilkins was similarly en fuego with 21-37 shooting (57%) and 15-19 free throws (79%).

Nearly 17 years earlier, in just the Hawks second season based in Atlanta, Lou Hudson on November TENTH, 1969, torched the Chicago Bulls for 57 points much like Wilkins would. Hitting 7 of his 8 free throws and netting 25 of his 34 field goals.

Sweet Lou’s down right nasty destruction of the Bulls tied him with his old teammate Bob Pettit who also dropped 57 points. Pettit did his damage as a member of the St. Louis Hawks against the Detroit Pistons. Hitting 25 of his 42 field goal attempts and making seven of nine free throws, Pettit unfortunately hit his franchise-record points in a game on February EIGHTEENTH, 1961.

Although Pettit ruined the streak of all 57 point games being done on the TENTH of a month, he did haul down 28 rebounds that night… and he was the first Hawk to reach 57 points, so maybe it was the other two gentleman who ruined the synergy.

In any case, these three men are the only ones to have their jerseys retired by the Hawks franchise. So, if Josh Smith or even DeShawn Stevenson wants their jersey number retired, all you have to do is go for 57, the Hawks’ magic number.

The Misunderstood Journey of Walt Bellamy

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Walt Bellamy had one of the greatest rookie campaigns in NBA history. His 31.6 points per game remain the 2nd-highest ever for a rookie behind only Wilt Chamberlain’s 37.6 in 1960. His rookie rebounding average of 19.0 is behind only Wilt’s 27.0 in 1960 and Bill Russell’s 19.6 in 1957. His field goal percentage of .519 was the highest a player had ever shot from the field up to that point in the NBA. He was big, strong, agile, durable and ran a pick-and-roll perhaps better than any center of his era.

He could go toe-to-toe with the Big Dipper:

Wilt Chamebrlain won a personal scoring duel with Chicago rookie Walt Bellamy in the opener [of a double header] as the Philadelphia Warriors topped the Chicago Packers, 122-108.

Chamberlain scored 55 points. Bellamy dropped in 47.

He could throttle the Russell-led Celtics defense:

Walt Bellamy scored 35 points and grabbed 30 rebounds Wednesday night to lead the Packers to a 103-90 triumph over the Boston Celtics to break a seven game losing streak.

But what he couldn’t do was escape the shadow cast by his spectacular debut season.

Bellamy was the 1st pick of the NBA draft in 1961 taken by the expansion Chicago Packers. As is typical of an expansion franchise, the team stunk. They finished with 18 wins and it’s a miracle they got that many. Bellamy was the only above average player on the team. This explains why he shot a gaudy 24 field goals a game. Given the that defenses didn’t have to worry about his teammates it’s amazing Bellamy connected on a then-record 51.9% of his shots.

This “opportunity” to score at-will and necessarily dominate the glass to the tune of almost 20 boards a night would come to haunt Bellamy. As he slowly found better teammates in his career, his averages predictably fell as he needed to handle less of the burden. His scoring average fell through the years as he teamed with better teammates and the Bullets as a team improved.

Just compare these rosters. I’ve given you Bellamy’s top 5 teammates, who played at least 1000 minutes, based on player efficiency rating (PER) for each season he was with the Chicago/Baltimore franchise.

1961-62 Chicago Packers (18-62) – Andy Johnson (13.6), Slick Leonard (12.2), Charlie Tyra (10.8), Horace Walker (10.3), Ralph Davis (9.9)

1962-63 Chicago Zephyrs (25-55) – Terry Dischinger (20.8), Charlie Hardnett (16.2), Don Nelson (13.9), Si Green (11.4), Mel Nowell (10.5)

1963-64 Baltimore Bullets (31-49) – Terry Dischinger (19.6), Gus Johnson (16.3), Rod Thorn (12.9), Don Kojis (12.6), Si Green (11.6)

1964-65 Baltimore Bullets (37-43) – Bailey Howell (18.9), Gus Johnson (16.6), Don Ohl (13.5), Kevin Loughery (11.6), Si Green (11.6)

Now let’s check back with Walter’s PER, scoring, rebounding and shooting average for these seasons.

1961-62 Chicago Packers (18-62) – 26.3 PER, 31.6 ppg, 19.0 rpg, 51.9% FG

1962-63 Chicago Zephyrs (25-55) – 24.9 PER, 27.9 ppg, 16.4 rpg, 52.7% FG

1963-64 Baltimore Bullets (31-49) – 23.3 PER, 27.0 ppg, 17.0 rpg, 51.3% FG

1964-65 Baltimore Bullets (37-43) – 21.7 PER, 24.8 ppg, 14.6 rpg, 50.9% FG

So as the teammates improved, Walter’s numbers appropriately declined. It’s some perverse culture of hero ball that leads people to think Bellamy should have stymied the following players their chance to shine:

Gus Johnson – 5x All-Star, 4x All-NBA, 2x All-Defense, Hall of Famer

Don Ohl – 5x All-Star

Terry Dischinger – 3x All-Star, 1963 Rookie of the Year

Bailey Howell – 6x All-Star, 1x All-NBA, Hall of Famer

Bellamy looking around and giving in to some “alpha male” bullocks would have been nonsense. It would actually be antithetical to his nature. He was a thoughtful, introverted individual interested in politics and spent his free time registering African-Americans to vote in the 1960s. And really, a player averaging at least 24.8 points and 14.6 rebounds in all these seasons getting a bad rap is absurd. His quiet nature was misunderstood as apathy but couldn’t be further from the truth. Upon his retirement he scored over 20,000 points and grabbed over 14,000 rebounds but it was the 38,940 minutes played and only 12 games missed in a 13-year career that gave him the most pride (and notice his deferential tone):

“I look back on the number of coaches I had who permitted me to log the sixth most minutes [as of his retirement in 1975] of all time. The statistic I treasure the most is my playing time.”

By 1965, the Bullets made the playoffs, upset the St. Louis Hawks in the 1st round and then gave the Los Angeles Lakers a tussle in the Western Division Finals ultimately losing 4 games to 2. Then Bellamy was traded to the New York Knicks where he tagged-team at center with a young Willis Reed. But the Knicks were a mediocre-at-best team. They had finished in last place 9 of the previous 10 seasons in the Eastern Division. However, Reed and Bellamy got the team to the playoffs twice in their 3 seasons together (1966-68), including the 1st winning season for New York since 1959.

But eventually one center had to go and it was the older Bellamy, shipped to Detroit for power forward Dave DeBusschere . The Knicks went on to win 2 titles and Bellamy continued to accrue a “can’t win” label, which overlooks the emergence of youngsters Walt Frazier, Cazzie Russell and Bill Bradley for those Knicks teams concurrently with the DeBusschere trade.

The “can’t win” label became nearly branded on Bells after Detroit parted with him after just a season and sent him to Atlanta. But with the Hawks, Bellamy would find some redemption in the twilight of his career as the defensive and rebounding anchor for a team that made four straight postseasons and featured flashy Pete Maravich and smooth Lou Hudson.

But that rookie season in 1962, Bellamy never could shake it. There’s just something off-putting seeing a player who had 13 seasons rack up his career high in PPG and RPG in his rookie year. And not just career highs, but staggering career highs. You look at his player card or a table of his career stats and it just looks like a long-steady decline. But this is why you move beyond the snapshot and take in the full view.

Athletes in the 1960s did not determine their lot in pro sports, they merely made the best of it

Maybe if he had fell into a better situation, on a team more loaded early in his career, he would have had a more “natural” career arc. The rookie who delivers the slight edge to veteran team to make noise in the playoffs. Then as the vets slough off, he emerges as the team’s best player and either a) keeps the good times rolling or b) suffers a martyr’s death trying to save the franchise.

Chamberlain parachuted into Philadelphia in 1960, a team just 4 years removed from a title and still with Hall of Famers and all-stars abounding. Russell arrived in Boston in 1957. No title yet for the Celtics, but they had Cousy and Sharman and Heinsohn. Nate Thurmond arrived with the Warriors in 1964, lost in the Finals that year, kind of stunk when Chamberlain left and then got Rick Barry and another Finals appearance.

Walt Bellamy was the great center of his era with the bad fortune of being taken by the 1st expansion team in a decade and had 5 different coaches in his first 5 years in the league.

That’s a particularly bad lot, but Bells certainly made the best of it.

Especially in that magnificent rookie season.

The Lowdown: Richie Guerin

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Years Active: 1957 – 1970
Regular Season Stats: 848 games, 32.4 mpg
17.3 ppg, 5.0 apg, 5.0 apg, 41.6% FG, 78% FT
Playoff Stats: 42 games, 32 mpg
15.6 ppg, 5.1 apg, 3.5 rpg, 42.9% FG, 80.3% FT
Accolades: 6x All-Star (1958 – ’63), 3x All-NBA 2nd Team (1959-’60, 1962), Coach of the Year (1968)

Photo via nasljerseys

“It is inconceivable to me that any coach in any sport, even under the most severe emotional strain, would threaten ‘there will be a lot of blood spilled on that floor tomorrow night’ and that ‘certain players may not be around the game is over.’”

- NBA Commissioner Walter Kennedy explaining why he fined Richie Guerin $1000 in 1970

Few have played basketball with as much intensity as Richie Guerin as he careened up and down the court leaving a wake of destruction. A point guard of fury, he routinely jawed, elbowed and belittled opponents and teammates alike. This pitbull of the hardwood wanted nothing more than to win, but like many greats, the ultimate success of a title would elude Guerin. However, in his quest he left a dubious mark as one of the pioneering score-first PGs in the NBA.

A standout guard for Iona College while averaging 20.5 points per game, Richie Guerin was drafted 17th by his hometown New York Knicks in the 1954 Draft. The Knicks would have to wait two years, however, to get their point guard. Guerin had been a Marine Reservist since he was 15 years old and now Uncle Sam called him up for active duty. Guerin served his two years at Quantico, Virginia, the recent home base for NBA all-star Paul Arizin. As the 1956-57 season loomed, Guerin finished his service and headed to New York.

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The Lowdown: Lou Hudson

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Editor’s Note: Originally appeared April 14, 2011 at Hardwood Paroxysm

Years Active: 1967-1979
Career Stats: 20.2 ppg, 2.7 apg, 4.4 rpg, 1.4 spg, 49% FG, 80% FT
Accolades: All-NBA 2nd Team (1970), 6x All-Star (1969-74), All-Rookie 1st Team (1967)

Lou Hudson

Photo from bandofballers.com

…Sweet Lou, sweet as in cool jazz put down by a lightly plucked bass and the hushed swirling of brushes around a drumhead. His skin is the color of light coffee, his features regular and smooth, his temperament equable. His game is heavy on the sugar: there is a gentle rhythm to his constant motion on offense and a classic softness in his jump shot, of which there is none prettier.

Via “He’s Shooting the Works” by Peter Carry

Cool Jazz: Lou Hudson was indeed a cool character on the court. His seeming lack of flair is probably to blame for his footnote status in NBA history. To boot, he spent the bulk of his playing days in the cold outer reaches of the basketball universe. First was his collegiate stint at the University of Minnesota under coach John Kundla, who won several titles as coach of the Minneapolis Lakers in the NBL, BAA and NBA, but achieved little with the Golden Gophers. Second, Hudson was drafted a lofty #4 by the St. Louis Hawks in 1966 after averaging a 20-and-8 with a broken wrist during his senior year at Minnesota.

As you may know, the Hawks are no longer in St. Louis, so any potential myth/narrative/memory of Hudson carrying on the torch lit by Bob Pettit, Ed Macauley & co. was squashed. Third, those Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968, a city notorious for its fair-weather attitude toward professional sports. However, like a cool, swinging jazz bass, you may not consciously notice Hudson was expertly plying his craft, but just like that bass once you are awakened to Lou’s presence, you deeply dig the groove.

Regular, Smooth, Equable: “Super Lou” spent 13 seasons in the NBA, 11 of which came with the Hawks. Along with Pettit and Dominique Wilkins, he forms the troika of legendary Hawks. Indeed, they are the only ones to have their jerseys retired by the franchise and they all hold the franchise record for points in a single game (57). Hudson also scored the 1st points in Atlanta Hawks history, truly a harbinger of his stay in Georgia. For 7 straight seasons, Hudson averaged at least 22 points a game including five in a row of 25+. The only blips in his steady play came from Uncle Sam drafting him into the army in 1967 allowing Hudson to play in only 48 games that season and then an elbow injury suffered in 1974-75 limiting him to 11 games.

Heavy on the Sugar: “Sweet Lou” got to those prodigious scoring numbers by relying on a jump shot as saccharine as any before or since. He was not a high-flyer, a wizard with the ball, or a bruiser down low. He would just kill you softly with that jumper while his cohorts, Walt Bellamy, Paul Silas and Bill Bridges would punish you down low. The 1st phase of Hudson’s Hawkdom culminated in 1970 when he averaged a healthy 25 points on a blistering 53% shooting. He was named an All-Star starter and to the All-NBA 2nd Team that season. The Hawks as a team also reached its apex losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. This was the true death of the Hawks’ St. Louis character. The roster would be overhauled, coaches changed and conferences switched during the next two seasons.

Constant Motion: In 1971, on board came Pete Maravich and in 1972 coach Cotton Fitzsimmons. The Hawks made the playoffs both years with a mediocre 36 wins each time, but Cotton was on to an offensive scheme from heaven. “Pistol Pete” was given free reign to wheel and deal, so long as he sought out “Super Lou” who was to ceaselessly move without the ball: cutting to the hoop, dashing around screens, being Reggie Miller before there was Reggie Miller. Their synchronicity was ridiculously productive. In 1973, they became only the 2nd pair of teammates to score 2,000 points a piece for a season. That ’73 season, with Walt Bellamy the only interior holdover, the Hawks put together a strong season of 46 wins and were finally legit playoff participants. Such was their luck that they faced off with the Boston Celtics (the most forgotten about 68-win team ever) that postseason.

Hudson played his heart out averaging nearly 30 points and 8 rebounds but Boston triumphed in 6 games. This proved to be the highlight of the Hawks sudden resurgence. The team regressed to 35 wins in 1974, Maravich was traded in ’75 and Lou went down with his elbow injury that same year. As the Hawks sank ever deeper, Sweet Lou at the age of 32 was traded to the Lakers for the 1977-78 season. Two relatively productive seasons as a reserve were followed by retirement in 1979. Maybe hanging around for one more season and getting a ring with the 1980 Lakers would have salvaged a bit more of a popular legacy for Hudson, but really, what else was left for Sweet Lou to prove?