That comparison may sound like an insult to future Hall of Famer O’Neal but it is not insulting … [visit site to read more]

Every now and then a hint of the coiled spring deep within the man once labeled soft and passive pops up.

A swing at Detroit Piston Bill Lambier in January of 1989, after being elbowed in the throat.

A somewhat alarming pronouncement regarding NASCAR:

Brad Daugherty admitted that he “likes to see the violence”, to which Suzy [Kolber] added, “everyone wants to see it!”

More than once.

“I just love the sport,” Daugherty says of racing. “I love the smell, I love the color, I love the violence, I love everything involved.”

Early on, no one guessed Brad would someday be hailed by the Boston Globe as:

[e]nter[ing] the realm of Hakeem Olajuwon, Pat Ewing, David Robinson, Robert Parish and other elite big men. (Source: The Boston Globe, May 2, 1992)

Growing up in Black Mountain, North Carolina, with brothers 5 and 10 years older who played on the high school basketball team while Brad was still in grade school, Brad was determined to catch up. He and his brothers:

[...] played on a dirt court in back of their house. The basket, only 81/2 feet high, was nailed to an old oak tree. When his brothers weren’t around, Brad played there alone and worked on his dribbling, shooting, and rebounding.

“It really wasn’t much of a court, “ said Brad. “The yard had been beaten down so much by our playing on it that it was just dirt. There were a lot of bushes, shrubs, and small trees in the yard, so I pretended they were other players. I practiced dribbling around the tress, shooting over the shrubs, and going one-on –one with the bushes.”

[…]  Sometimes he pretended the bushes were his older brothers, Steve and Greg. … Other times, he imagined he was leading the University of North Carolina Tar Heels to victory in the Final Four against the arch-rival Duke Blue Devils.  (Source: Little Basketball Big Leaguers by Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo, 1991, Nash and Zullo Productions, Inc; Simon & Schuster)

During his sixth grade year, Brad’s brothers relented, letting Brad play in real games unwittingly helping to form Brad’s passing game, for which he would later become famous:

[…] Brad stood 5 feet, 9 inches tall. Steve and Greg decided he was now big enough to play in the neighborhood games-as long as he played by their rules.

“They said they wouldn’t rough me up anymore if I passed them the ball while they shot,” laughed Brad. “So I spend most of my time passing trying to hit them when they were open so they could score. That was really the only way they’d let me play. If I started shooting too much, or tried dribbling around, they’d make me quit. The way they made me play helped me develop good court awareness at a young age. I was right there in the middle of the action against bigger and older guys, but I still had to find the open man.”  (Source: Little Basketball Big Leaguers by Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo, 1991, Nash and Zullo Productions, Inc; Simon & Schuster)

… [visit site to read more]

“It’s a funny story,” Price says. “It actually just kind of happened once in a game. I remember vividly that we were playing Philadelphia. It was probably my second year in the league and I was trying to develop myself. I was being defended by Maurice Cheeks (a four-time All-Star and five time All-Defensive Team selection). I came off the pick and roll and it just seemed like it opened up like the Red Sea so I just kind of slid in there and scored. I remember running back down the floor and Cheeks said, ‘That was a sweet move.’ So I kind of locked that away and watched it (on film) and I started looking for it a little bit more and it became a mainstay in my repertoire.”

Johnny Bach, who was the de facto “defensive coordinator” for the Chicago Bulls during their first three-peat, says that the Mark Price-Brad Daugherty pick and roll combination was “the best in the business” because of Price’s unique ability to split the trap and get the defense back on its heels.

Daugherty breaks the play down from a technical standpoint: “Mark was obviously a tremendous ballhandler and in order to get through the double-team you just have to have a great angle and a great pick. Your big guy has to set the pick and hold the screen and give the guy time to get through. A lot of times when you run the pick and roll, your forward or your center is looking to roll immediately because after you set the screen you are wide open. It’s hard sometimes to go over to that point guard and really hold on to that screen because you know that as soon as you roll that you have a chance for a shot. I think that the number one key is making sure that the guard doesn’t move until the big guy sets the screen and once the screen is set in place that the big guy does not move until the guard comes off of his hip. It is easy to split it that way because as the big guy sets the screen the big guy guarding him–the other center or forward–has to pick up the point guard. Usually that big guy will drop off because he knows that the point guard is quicker than he is. That creates a gap and Mark was just really good at cutting through that gap.” … [visit site to read more]

Seek not every quality in one individual. — Confucius

Thomas Jefferson had several. George Washington was widely rumored to have a few. Murphy Brown had only one but sparked a nationwide debate. Somewhere in the middle is Shawn Kemp.

Shawn doesn’t talk much about fathering out-of-wedlock children except to say he wishes he could spend more time with them. His love for kids is as obvious as his inability to control his demons.

Starting with his Seattle Sonics tenure in 1989, Shawn dressed like Santa and gave out food and toys to children of the poor. Crowds of adoring kids came out to see Santa Kemp; he returned their affection with a priceless gift. Shawn took these kids seriously; he helped them, he joked with them, he even played ball with them.

“He’s done more in the community in the few weeks he’s been here than a lot of players have done over their whole careers,” says Jim Marsh, the Sonics’ director of community relations.

Six years later, same story. Shawn and Mayor Norm Rice dedicate new basketballs courts, funded by Reebok, at I-90 Park. … [visit site to read more]

Candace Parker, WNBA rookie superstar and first female Bballer to be seriously compared to the NBA, admires one player above all:

I respect Jordan — he is the king — but I would walk past Jordan to get Ron Harper’s picture . . .

Hanging on Candace Parker’s wall is a long way from recess in Dayton, Ohio, where Ron, struggling with a speech impediment, endured endless taunting. Even then, Ron’s basketball skills spoke louder than words:

Since I was 5 years old, kids been making fun of me. But then they go out to the court for recess and it’s like, ‘I want Harp on my team, I want Harp on my team.’ Nuh-uh. I ain’t playing with you.

As so often happens, cruel kids became older, bigger, stronger, crueler:

He [Ron] kept close tabs on everybody who made fun of his stutter when he raised a hand to answer questions. He heard the snickers and giggles, and they hurt, even though Harper was the star basketball player at Kiser High School . . .

Harper didn’t curse his antagonists. A part of him actually enjoyed the teasing because he was certain he’d get his revenge — during afternoon pickup basketball games.

“My friends used to laugh at me every day,” Harper said. “But the first thing they would say when they stepped on the basketball court was, ‘I got Ron.’

“I’d say, ‘You’re not on my team today because you laughed at me in class. So we are going to go at it.’”

Star player at Miami University of Ohio and Dayton native, no one was surprised when the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted Ron in 1986. Such a team. When you say the names out loud, voices become quieter, Clevelanders pause and wonder:

Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Hot Rod Williams, Ron Harper . . .

Unbeatable? Listen and you will hear every single voice in Cleveland raised in the affirmative. Our year. Playoffs looming. Head over to Lottie Moon’s in Oxford, order a Ron Harper All-Star, enjoy the cheeseburger with fried egg and get ready to hear a sad tale. … [visit site to read more]

In 1987, Curry Kirkpatrick, writing for Sports Illustrated, reflected on a memorable 1983 Hawks-Celtic Playoffs fight. Tree Rollins elbowed Danny Ainge; Danny made the mistake of tackling Tree; one tetanus shot and a permanently reduced ability to give anyone the finger later, the conflict passed into legend.

The Boston Herald ran a Tree Bites Man headline the following morning and although some fans chose to believe Danny bit Tree, Rollins’s reputation was set in stone.

Tree is no stranger to controversy. Leaving Clemson after four years of double-double season averages and joining the Atlanta Hawks, Tree found himself in the middle of a heated debate concerning high school / college athletes and generous (and by generous, I mean illegal) gifts bestowed by recruiting colleges.

Sports Illustrated (SI), in March of 1982, cited Rollins as admitting to accepting gifts and cash from Clemson outside of the NCAA guidelines. Their source for this information was a pre-publication copy of Taylor (Tates) Locke’s autobiography, Caught in the Net. Locke, head coach at Clemson when Rollins was recruited, left Clemson in 1975 after the NCAA charged the university with 40 rules violations and placed it on a 3-year probation, starting with the 1975-76 season. … [visit site to read more]

I want to be there when the games matter most. I want the chance to be the guy. (Source: The Kansas City Star January 29, 1998)

The feeling is mutual. After a 2nd 10-day callup bringing Billy from the D-League’s Colorado 14ers to Cleveland, the Cavs extended an offer that includes the 2008 Playoffs and the 2008-2009 season.

Although not even Billy can recite the sequence of events leading up to his most recent callup from the Cavs by heart, his teachers and classmates at Pier Avenue Elementary School in Shreveport, Louisiana, can attest to the journey’s beginning:

“I may have been the first fourth-grader to perfect the finger roll,” Thomas said. “But mostly, I would wander outside, far away from the basket, and I’d shoot. I’d just lay back and launch the ball. I always enjoyed shooting from a long way away.” (Source: The Kansas City Star January 29, 1998)

Plastic bread baskets tacked to trees, Billy and his friends were Michael Jordan and Doctor J. Even then, Billy took up positions 20 or 25 feet behind the basket.

A Shreveport AAU teammate, writing in his blog after seeing Billy on NBA’s Inside Stuff, talks about the early years:

Billy grew up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Shreveport. Billy was one of the nicest guys on the team. Always smiling, soft spoken, and one of the best pure shooters I’ve ever seen.

Billy worked extremely hard to get out of his family’s financial and domestic woes. Instead of going home and falling into the trouble that many promising Shreveport athletes do, Billy would spend his time at the Lighthouse, a sort of Boys Club for underprivileged youth in the inner city.

Cut to Madison Square Garden, November 1997. NIT semifinals; Arizona State in the lead by a single point. Time is running out for Kansas. Raef LaFrentz and a young Paul Pierce are out of moves. Alone in a deep corner of the Garden stands Billy Thomas, staring at a bread basket the size of Shreveport. Swish. (Source: Mike Vaccaro, The Kansas City Star, January 29, 1998)

Not many NBA players are able to say they were both unrecruited and undrafted before and after college. For all of his talent and hard work, Billy was not a serious recruit his senior year of high school:

While scouting another player, University of Kansas head coach Roy Williams kept noticing Thomas making long jump shots. Thomas had not been a highly recruited player, but Williams saw something special in him and offered Thomas a scholarship. … [visit site to read more]

Scoring the pre-season game in 1972 at the Nassau Coliseum against the New York Knicks and watching as Nets’ rookie Jim Chones dove over the Nets’ bench while chasing a loose ball and accidentally ran into my wife Jane, who was sitting in the front row, and knocked her unconscious

If only Chones, in the 1976 Eastern Conference finals against the Celtics, hadn’t jumped for a ball in practice and landed on a teammate’s foot, causing the injury heard round the county.

“I heard a snap like when someone snaps a finger,” said Chones.

Broken hearted fans are still broken hearted:

In these parts, it is an article of faith that the Cavs would have won the NBA championship if Chones had not been hurt. With Chones, the Cavs had no weaknesses.

The Akron Beacon Journal insists Chones’ injury remains one of the cruelest blows in Cavs history.

Eric Cassano’s Weblog puts it into perspective:

If you are a Cleveland sports fan, “hurt” was probably the third word you learned to speak after “no” and “mama.”
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Cleveland’s 10 worst injuries; 2. Jim Chones’ broken foot, 1976. No other injury on this list was more cruelly-timed.

Factors outside of his control shaped Jim’s early life decisions; a gravely ill father, younger siblings needing care, both practical and brotherly, a soon-to-be widowed mom who wanted a college education for her baby and knew in her heart it was going to have to wait.

After playing ball for St Catherine’s high school in Racine, Wisconsin, under John McGuire, the man credited with creating St. Cat’s basketball powerhouse (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin, June 12, 2001), Jim headed for Marquette and the experience of his life, playing for a McGuire called Al. … [visit site to read more]

Living a life of hyperbole comes naturally:

I think it’s a family gene . . . It’s in the DNA. [Damon’s Mom, Renee Jones-Lee]

Galveston Ball High coach Jerry Williams, denying any knowledge of Damon’s boy’s room gambling ring, cites his “exceptional personality.” (Source: Palm Beach Post, May 11, 2005)

Alvin Brooks, Jones’ … [visit site to read more]

It’s great to have aspirations of being a pro athlete, but you have to bring more to the table than being able to play the game. Not all of us that have aspirations are going to succeed, but there are other parts of the game you can succeed in, and an educational background will help.

His surroundings aren’t ideal; Gulfshore Life described the PAL facilities as “a windowless portable building in a city park off Marsh Avenue.” I can only imagine Walt’s response. “Let me tell you a story,” he might begin, “a tale of two cultures and one love.”

It’s not that we weren’t capable, or good enough academically.

We just weren’t recruited. There was a segregated system, and it was tough. Fortunately, I was recruited by several schools out of the midwest and that’s where I chose to go. (Source: News-Press)

The University of Kansas, not just any midwest school, and Walt Wesley, not just any high school basketball player, clasped hands and set records. This black Crimson and Blue star would twice be named All American; averaging 19.3 points per game, Walt is still one of the top 25 leading scorers in KU basketball history.

And that is how Walt Wesley found himself the unintentional catalyst for a world famous movie. The 1966 Midwest Regional Finals are coming to a close in Lubbock, Texas with a nail biter between the #4 ranked Kansas Jayhawks and the #2 ranked Texas Western (now known as The University of Texas at El Paso or UTEP) Miners. Walt sets a pick; Jo Jo White grabs the ball, flinging a ridiculous 30-footer as the buzzer sounds. Swish. Kansas is Final Four bound. And then – the whistle.

… [visit site to read more]

Undrafted out of the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) in 2002, Devin Brown split the 2002-2003 season between the NBA (10 games with San Antonio and Denver) and the NBA D League. A pattern emerges.

Arriving in Cleveland by way of San Antonio, Denver, Utah, the Golden State and New Orleans, Joe Gabriele struggled to define Devin’s skill sets:

The Cavaliers’ second unit has its pretty boy shooters like Boobie Gibson, Damon Jones and Wally Szczerbiak. And its got a lunchpail crew who can get down and dirty, with guys like Anderson Varejao, Joe Smith and Dwayne Jones.

And then there’s Devin Brown – somewhere in-between. (Source: Cavs.com)

Devin first played professional basketball for the Kansas Cagerz in 2002. During his rookie year he averaged 17.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and was honored with the United States Basketball League (USBL) Rookie of the Year award. He was, of course, between his amateur high school/college life and his soon-to-be NBA career.

… [visit site to read more]

7 Bobby Smith
10 Dick Snyder
14 Foots Walker
20 Campy Russell
22 Jim Chones
24 Fred Foster
34 Austin Carr
35 Jim Cleamons
42 Dwight Davis
44 Luke Witte
50 Steve Patterson
52 Jim Brewer

Clarence spent ten seasons (1974–1984) in the NBA, playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers until 1980 before he hopped a bus to New Jersey and Roger Phegley woke up in Cleveland. Back in the day when a triple double was still a triple double, before LeBron made it a nightly event, Clarence became the first Cavalier in franchise history to record double digits in rebounds, assists and points.

• Had the best first two years of any Terrapin
• Was a freshman … [visit site to read more]
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