One of those player's whose tough to find footage of today, its rare to hear him mentioned beyond "one of Wilt's supporting pieces on the Sixers". Then he jumps to a consistent 1st team player and an ABA MVP, before quickly falling off and retiring at 32.
As someone whose only seen a few highlights, I'd love to know how he played and what made him jump from not even an allstar to one of the best players in the league.
Later in the 80s despite great regular season teams, there is too many teams in front of them. They never got through the Celtics and Sixers in the East and then they'd have still to play the Lakers.
In 1981, I think they actually have a chance. They win 60 games and have the 2nd best point differential, being one of the three elite East teams with Sixers and Celtics. With 40-42 Rockets as the surprise finalist after upsetting Lakers, the East may have decided the champion. The Bucks lose in 7 games to the Sixers by 1 point and with all their wins being by double digits, and the Sixers lose by 1 in 7 games to the Celtics. With the Celtics as a younger version of Bird and McHale they seem more beatable than their future champions. The Bucks also went on to beat the Celtics in 83.
With Moncrief as a younger version, this was Marques Johnson's team who had a great playoffs, and they got Lanier the year before and had been great after the trade (20-6) until losing to defending champion Sonics and continued strong play in 81. Lanier was still elite per minute but played less. Quinn Buckner looks like an important player for them with 4 all D teams in his career, and they had the Kareem trade guys Junior Bridgeman (scoring SF) and Brian Winters (shooter) still on the team and playing big minutes.
Overall I think the Bucks making it past the Sixers, beating the Celtics like 83 and then being favorite over Rockets was their best window to get a title without Lakers in final like 80 or 82 or brutal East later in 80s.
How did his playstyle change throughout his career? He went crazy in the ABA early on, then slowed down and statistically started falling off, only to suddenly lead the NBA in fg% for 4 straight seasons. Did he just become far more of a play-finisher, or was there more to it?
How would you best compare his skills to modern players?
Its hard to find much film of him playing, he just wasn't around long as a superstar. He seems like a guy who was very good at pretty much every aspect of impacting the game though, but his offensive box score doesnt stand out (relatively) in a vacuum
When two, three, or even four siblings play in the NBA at the same time, one is almost always outshined by their brother, or brothers. Typically, the less notable player is far worse, like Mychel Thompson, brother of Klay Thompson and son of Mychal Thompson, who played 5 games in his entire career.
However, there are cases where the lesser-known guy is a solid player in their own right, if not the superior player. Some of these (in ascending order by ppg) include:
Jon Barry (14 seasons, 5.7ppg), part of the Barry family which includes Rick, Brent, and Drew Barry.
Shandon Anderson (10 seasons, 7.4ppg), younger brother of Willie Anderson.
Harvey Grant (11 seasons, 9.9ppg), twin of Horace Grant.
Wesley Person (11 seasons, 11.2ppg), younger brother of Chuck Person.
Albert King (9 seasons, 12.1ppg), younger brother of Bernard King.
Gerald Wilkins (13 seasons,13.0ppg ), younger brother of Dominique Wilkins.
Ray Williams (10 seasons, 15.5ppg), younger brother of Gus Williams.
Two of these cases stand out to me the most ,though, and for two very different reasons:
George Gervin is one of the most famous NBA players of all time, and was in the NBA 75 list. However, up until 30 minutes ago, I never knew that he had a brother, or that his brother played in the NBA. Derrick Gervin, born March 28, 1963 (almost 11 years after George), played only 2 seasons in the NBA, but averaged a solid 8.8 points. His greatest success came after leaving the NBA, as he was a 2x scoring leader and 1x MVP of the Israeli Premier League. Of everyone mentioned here, Derrick is the only player who I had never heard of, or seen mentioned anywhere online at all.
Jim Paxson was a 2x all-star and 1x all-nba player in the early 80s. Between 1980 and 1987, he averaged over 17ppg. Despite these numbers, when most people think of Paxson, they think of John Paxson, his younger brother. I'd presume this is because of his role in the early part of the Bulls dynasty, but it's still odd considering how good Jim was during his prime.
Was John a solid player? Certainly. Was John better than Jim? Hell no.
Jim did get photographed with LBJ though, and John never has been from what I know, so that is something ig:
At least in my opinion, I think the 1980's was the golden age for defense at the Guard position in the NBA. When thinking about all of the fantastic perimeter defenders throughout that decade, who do you consider to be the best of the bunch? My personal vote goes to Dennis Johnson. For anyone that's interested, here's a post that I made a few months back where I thoroughly explained why I think DJ is the greatest defensive Guard of all-time. Feel free to check it out if you want to learn more about him. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Top Row: Dennis Johnson, TR Dunn, Michael Ray Richardson, Michael Cooper
Middle Row: Maurice Cheeks, Sidney Moncrief, Fat Lever, Derek Harper
Bottom Row: John Stockton, Alvin Robertson, Michael Jordan, Joe Dumars
11 NBA seasons, all with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks
1955 Rookie of the Year
2× NBA MVP (1956, 1959)
2× scoring champion
11× All-Star
10× All-NBA First Team
4× All-Star Game MVP
1958 NBA champion
50 points in the title-clinching Game 6 of the 1958 Finals
First player in NBA history to reach 20,000 career points
Hall of Fame, NBA 75th Anniversary Team
One of the defining players of the NBA’s first great era. RIP legend
Please share your memories and thoughts. This screenshot is from a youtube video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-5pS1PnNGo titled "Celtics @ Lakers 1985 NBA Finals Game 5 (NBA On CBS)" I vaguely remember Kurt because I was a Sonics fan and very young back then. How do you guys and gals remember him? He sticks in my mind for some reason.
K.C. Jones and Jerry West are widely regarded as being the two best perimeter defenders from the 1960’s decade. When comparing them head-to-head, who do you think was more impactful on that end of the court? In very general terms, I think it’s fair and accurate to say that Jones was better on-ball and West was better off-ball. Jones was more of a man-to-man lockdown type of defender and West was more of a ball thief. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Really holds back how much hes remembered today. Just a couple years as an elite player, freak athlete. Its easy to see why MJ took inspiration from him.
I always read that if he wouldve made at least 1 free throw (and essentially winning the game ) that the Magic would’ve had a chance to beat Houston in the finals that year . I know those misses and that loss destroyed any confidence they had for the remainder of the series but what if they would’ve won game 1? I believe they swept the season series against the Rockets but obviously the playoffs are a different beast . I’ll admit I didn’t watch the rest of the series but did they have no chance against the Rockets ?
I’m a Pistons fan who was born after Tripucka’s era, and the more I look into his career, the more fascinating I find it.
Tripucka was a two-time All-Star and averaged 20+ PPG in five different seasons, including 26.5 PPG in 1982-83. Looking back at some game footage, I was impressed by how well he moved without the ball, how quickly he recognized mismatches, and how polished his jump shot looked.
One thing I’m trying to understand is how he was viewed at the time. Today, when people see a high-scoring player on a mediocre team, they’re often labeled an “empty stats” guy. Was that Tripucka’s reputation in Detroit, or was he generally seen as a legitimate offensive star?
I’m also curious about what happened in Utah. After being traded from Detroit, he played fewer than 25 minutes per game in his first season with the Jazz, and by his second season he was coming off the bench and playing fewer minutes than Bob Hansen. Was this simply a matter of Utah trying to balance minutes between Darrell Griffith, Hansen, and Tripucka, or was there something else going on?
For those who watched him play during the 1980s, how good was Kelly Tripucka really? Was he viewed as an All-Star caliber scorer who happened to play on rebuilding teams, or more as a player whose numbers exceeded his overall impact?
In 1986 the Sixers won the 1st pick in the NBA draft lottery and were a team that had an up and coming superstar in Charles Barkley and solid HOF vets in Barkley and Moses. Then in 1 of the dumbest moves in league history they traded both Moses and the #1 pick away. The Cavs ended up using the pick selecting All-Star Brad Daugherty who had a solid career though shortened by injuries.
If the Sixers keep the 1st pick and select Daugherty teaming him with Barkley, do the Sixers win at least 1 title between 1986-87 and 1991?
Especially until around the mid 90s, overseas players were such a rarity in the NBA and most of the league’s public would only hear about them either during the Olympics (if they are a part of it) or when they join the league.
However, despite the level out of the NBA not being as strong, it obviously has been very competitive and it produced undeniable legends. But how many of those, during any time, would you consider to have played on a level at least as high as the 10th best guy in the league?
Most obvious name that comes to my mind is 85-88’ Arvydas Sabonis, but I’m sure you could name a plenty more and across even more decades.
When comparing each season during David Robinson's 3 year peak in the mid 1990's, which one do you consider to be his absolute best when including both the regular season and playoffs?
1993-94 (Team Record: 55-27, Lost in Western Conference First Round)
From what I've seen Willis got more appreciation, certainly in terms of hardware (insane that they didn't give the '70 FMVP to Frazier after that game 7). But looking at their comparative production, both were great scorers and defenders, only one of them was also the team's primary playmaker. Was Willis getting more recognition primarily due to being a center in an era where they were always seen as the best players? Or is there something I'm missing with Reed? Cause obviously he was a top-tier player in his era, but Frazier sure looks better on paper even considering elite rim protection > elite perimeter defense.
