Random nba stories that dont often come up. [Archive] - Message Board Basketball Forum

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Kblaze8855

03-07-2008, 06:09 AM

Watching an old tape I was reminded of when Kareems house burned down. He was always a personal guy who wasnt really loved I guess. Or at least he didnt think so. He loved jazz and he lost a huge collection of rare records. Fans all over the world started sending him their rare jazz records to replace what he lost. A reporter said it was the closest hed seen Kareem to crying when hed talk about all the people who seemed to care. Kinda changed his view on the world and how people saw him.

Also....

About Bill Russell. Wondering if you know more of this story than I do. The only 2 titles from 57 to 69 that Russell didnt win were won by teams coached by Alex Hannum. He coached the 58 Hawks and 67 76ers. Only teams to beat Bill(and he was hurt in one....). At some point they got in a fight and Russell knocked him out. Anyone know why they fought? Some celtics official from the 60s mentioned that it happened but I dont know any more.

Little pointless trivia...Bill russell was 22-0 in winner take all games. Meaning game 7s, ncaa/HS title games, olympic gold medal games and all that. He won every single game where the only two options were win the title or lose the title. Off the top of my head I can think of 16-17 titles he won from age 15 till he retired so im not sure where the others come from but I dont find it hard to believe.

Know any little discussed NBA stories worth a mention?

JtotheIzzo

03-07-2008, 06:26 AM

I know I am a Nash homer, but this is one of the reasons I really like him. In the Sydney 2000 Olympics after Canada won their pool but got bounced by France in the quarter finals Steve went to the coach (Jay Triano I believe) and gave him $25,000 with the instructions to split it up amongst all the guys who don't have high paying pro contracts so they can go out and have a good time for the rest of their stay in Australia.
Solid teammate.

kidachi

03-07-2008, 06:28 AM

Kermit Washington punching the shyt out of Rudy Tomjanovich.

you won't recognize his face after the incident..

Washington's punch was so hard Rudy T. said "I thought the scoreboard fell on my face"..

and he was just suspended for a month..

03-07-2008, 07:59 AM

My favourite:

"In 1978, Ray was in the news for an entirely different reason: he helped save a dolphin's life.

At Marine World in Redwood City, California, during maintenance in the tank of a bottlenose dolphin named "Mr. Spock", the dolphin swallowed a sharp screw. The veterinarian was unwilling to perform a risky operation while the screw was still in the dolphin's first stomach, just inches beyond his reach.

His frustrated suggestion that he needed longer arms led someone to ask local star Ray (whose arms are 3 feet 9 inches, or 114 centimeters, long) if he could help. With gloves, lubrication, and guidance, he was able to reach down Spock's throat and retrieve the screw before it could cause more damage."

Courtesy of the Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2006/05/24/ray_jumps_into_job/

El Kabong

03-07-2008, 08:25 AM

Shaq said in his book that at the end of each season he takes all his teamates to a casino and gives them $10,000 each to spend.

mjbulls23

03-07-2008, 08:30 AM

Link (http://www.geocities.com/michaeljordangallery11/longley/longley.htm)

Luc Longley has had to rediscover life in the real world after being a key member of the most famous basketball team on the planet.

THE seagulls have abandoned the sky tonight as the roaring south-wester jangles boats in their pens, hisses through mainstays and knocks the salt out of the sea.

My brother, Luc, and I are back on his converted crayboat for the last of our late-night journeys back into the bizarre tale of his life as a basketball mercenary in America.

When Luc was first traded to the Bulls, coach Phil Jackson asked him if he pronounced his name Luke or Luck? The answer was Luke but Jackson told him he should go by Luck now, because he was the luckiest centre alive to be traded onto that team. He was right.

Luc had earned his place in the National Basketball Association, but no amount of dedication or talent could guarantee a spot on a team described as the best in the history of the game; a team led by the world's greatest player - Michael Jordan.

But Jackson signed Luc for a reason. He was part of a jigsaw of talents and personalities that only this legendary coach could complete. Jackson - who gave all his players a copy of the little Zen Handbook, made them watch Grateful Dead videos for inspiration and adorned the practice facility with Sioux Indian talismans - could see that Luc would be a crucial piece in any future success.

The most important piece of the puzzle was "His Airness" Jordan, who returned to the Bulls after a brief retirement in March 1995, a year after Luc made his debut with the team. "It was definitely weird," Luc says of the day Jordan showed up at practice. "His was a dominating presence. And suddenly we went from side stage to centre stage and the pressure went up from five to 10."

In those early days, Jordan was a nightmare for his teammates. He played every practice as though his life depended on it. Seething frustration at being less than perfect, he even fought with his teammates as he pushed himself into a basketball frenzy. After one game, Jordan told the media that if Luc dropped another of his passes, he was going to throw the next one at his head.

"He is so competitive that he was also competing with his teammates," Luc says. "He is a very smart guy, and it's a combination of street smarts and analytical intelligence. And it's all focused on, sharpened on winning." Jordan had the speed, skill and ferocity to make other elite athletes look like injured mice being batted by a cat. They would fall over their own feet trying to catch the second of his five moves before he exploded to the basket.

And, after he had humiliated them on court, he would sometimes mock them by signing his shoes and having them delivered to their locker room.

Off the court Jordan - the promotional face of America's business elite - would match his Ferraris to the colour of his suits. "We called him Mr Corporate. His life was full of being Michael Jordan," Luc says.

"Even on the road he always had something going on. We went out with him a few times, but even then he has got four security guards and a line up to meet him. It's not worth hanging out with him in public and in private he is private and he's busy."

Another part of Jackson's puzzle was completed with the tattooed, cross-dressing arrival of Dennis "The Worm" Rodman. It was a brave move. Rodman was a loose cannon, Chicago fans hated him and he had a running feud with Chicago stars Jordan and Scottie Pippen from the days when the Bulls were wrestling NBA supremacy from Rodman's Detroit Pistons. "It was very frosty to begin with, but soon the same thing happened for him that happened for me," Luc says. "He won Michael's respect when Michael saw what he was prepared to give."

After 48 minutes of the berserk basketball that only Rodman could conjure, he would go into the Bulls gym and climb the Stairmaster for up to an hour. Lathered in sweat, he would then don his tracksuit pants and a black leather jacket and drive to his favourite watering hole, where he would stay.

"Dennis did two things: he worked out and he partied," Luc says. "Sleeping was a distant third. He was earning millions of dollars but he basically had a two-bedroom squat with lino floors next to the training facility. It was just somewhere to try and get back to for a few hours before practice."

Rodman broke all sport's rules and challenged its stereotypes. He was a party animal, but he worked harder than anybody in the league. He like to wear make-up and women's clothes, but he was the toughest, hardest player in the league. He supported gay rights and was dating hot Hollywood starlet, Carmen Electra.

"I remember being in New York for a big play-off game," Luc says. "We rolled out of the Crown Plaza Hotel, right in the middle of town, and thousands of people were in the square. Kids were climbing up the fountain to get a view of Michael, and Dennis comes out with a pink feather boa and a boob tube. He gets on the bus and says, 'Let's kill 'em.' And we did."

"In some ways it was inspiring. How do you respond to that kind of eccentricity? You just have to be lifted up by it."

A good party was integral to Rodman's game preparation, and one occasion when he went without nearly cost the Bulls their second championship. "We were playing Utah and they had us staying in Park City which is a suburban, bleached-vanilla, bland Mormon ski-town and Dennis lost his mind and couldn't play basketball," Luc says. "So Phil sent him to Las Vegas and told him to go and find Dennis. He came back appropriately seedy, he kicked ass, and we won the series."

With Jordan back and Rodman and Pippen in full flight, the Bulls quickly became the most closely watched team in the world. They would arrive in a city in a royal blue 747 chartered from MGM, take a bus to the back of a hotel, where they had checked in under aliases, and enter through the kitchen or the freight elevator to avoid the crowds.

"I would sign in under aliases Bruce Doull, Norman Gunston, Stagger Lee, which you could get away with over there."

Luc was the Bulls' starring centre for the three championships of 1996-98, doing much of the grunt work on court, taking on bodies to free up Jordan and Pippen to score and Rodman to rebound.
But his role was much more than that, says coach Jackson. "What Luc brought to our team, beyond everything he contributed on the court was an ability to be in tightly with his teammates," he says. "During an 82 game regular season, when you are on the road for 200 days with a group of men, people get worked up every now and then.

Luc was always the guy who was prepared to clear the air, or clear the room if necessary. And you have no idea how valuable that is in the context of an NBA campaign." But at the end of the 1998 campaign, Jordan retired again and the team was disbanded as the management decided to start from scratch with new players.

Luc was traded first to' the Phoenix Suns and then, two years later, to the New York Knicks.

But soon after joining the Knicks, he discovered that 14 years of taking anti-inflammatory drugs to control injuries and pain had given him stomach ulcers.

When he stopped the drugs, the pain in his left ankle made even walking up stairs unbearable. The drugs had masked one of the worst ankle conditions that specialists had seen in an athlete.

The ankle had grown at a weird angle, possibly because of an undiagnosed teenage stress fracture, and worn out all the cartilage. Luc's basketball career was over. While he negotiated the end of his contract with the Knicks, Luc continued to work out with the team but felt growing excitement about taking his wife Kelly and their daughters, Claire, 8, and Lily, 7, back to WA.

The exact date of his return home was unclear until the events of September 11,2001.
"I was in the Knicks gym, about 40 minutes' drive from Ground Zero, when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center," Luc says. "At that point we just pulled the rip-cord, there was nothing left to keep us."

After 14 years without seeing a summer, Luc is a local again. He eats in restaurants where he washed dishes as a kid and goes to shops where he knows the mother of the person behind the Counter.

"Here people either don't know about my career or aren't that impressed, or maybe - the one I like - "they are just respectful. I think people who do recognise what I have done think, 'Good on him. I'm glad he is home and I will let him enjoy it.' I think that is as far as it goes and I love that about Australians."

In the year and a bit Luc has been home, he has divided his time between his family, trying to make a viable business out of the Wildcats - for whom two generations of Longleys have played - and campaigning for a sustainable future for Ningaloo Reef.

He was asked to help in the campaign by author Tim Winton, whose books had sustained him on long road trips with images of the State he loves. He also has been coming to terms with the end of his career in the rarefied world of the NBA. "My career was a dominating thing. I had to apply all I had to make it work, and it affected every aspect of my life," he says.

"I know that when I was playing good basketball and winning I was a better husband and father. I was a nicer person to be around. When I was losing or failing or didn't feel like I was doing a good job, I was a miserable person to be around. Basketball was a big part of my self-esteem. "That is one of the things that is confusing when you are not a player any more: from where do you derive your self-esteem, especially when you desperately don't want to be one of those has-beens who sits around and gloats on the past."

So has fame changed Luc Longley? Yes.

The lessons from his career are still with him. Some are lessons about trust that most of us never have to learn, but behind them lies that same child who could be found trying to catch crabs underneath the Fremantle wharf.

"1 love that moment of lull between the easterly and the sea breeze when you can smell the harbour," he says. "You can smell bait and diesel and the sheep **** from the export ships. I actually really like the smell; it means home."

theblackmamba100

03-07-2008, 08:33 AM

What a refreshing thread.

03-07-2008, 08:38 AM

The Luc Longley story was a good read.

RainierBeachPoet

03-07-2008, 09:41 AM

another jabbar tidbit:

kareem studied jeet kune do with bruce lee which led to his being involved with the filming of bruce's last movie, game of death,

kareem plays hakim and exemplifies the fluid style of jeet kune do

if you havent seen this scene, enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBRJ2qCx5VM

LMFAO

03-07-2008, 09:45 AM

in 1995 Two of my friends met up with Phil Jackson when the Bulls were in town. Being loyal Spurs fans they decided to buy him drinks thinking he would be hung over for a Sunday morning game and therefore a poor coach and increase the Spurs chances of winning. After three hours of drinking with P.Jax he was still seemingly sober and had to arrange a cab to get my two (now completely drunk) friends home. Not only did Phil drink them under the table (and win the game the next day) but he did it while being an amiable gentleman and all around great guy. He still has the reputation here in San Antonio as being one of the most fan friendly nice guys of the NBA. Despite being a thorn in our side for many years Phil is well liked and well thought of in San Antonio.

Ice

RainierBeachPoet

03-07-2008, 09:55 AM

another kaj:

while at ucla, he drove a vw bug

he took out the front seat and drove from the back seat

El Kabong

03-07-2008, 09:56 AM

To add to the Luc Longley post. He went halves in the Perth Wildcats, who are in the Australian national basketball league, with Andrew Vlahov (Former Wildcat and Australian Boomer) and ended up giving his half of the team to Vlahov. Also during the lockout season in 99, he said that he and Scottie Pippen were going to come over to Australia and play with the Wildcats if the season was cancelled.

Kblaze8855

03-07-2008, 02:13 PM

and he was just suspended for a month..

And had his life ruined.

kidachi

03-07-2008, 02:22 PM

And had his life ruined.

which was sad..

dnyk1337

03-07-2008, 02:37 PM

Nice Luc story.

Kblaze8855

03-07-2008, 02:59 PM

A good party was integral to Rodman's game preparation, and one occasion when he went without nearly cost the Bulls their second championship. "We were playing Utah and they had us staying in Park City which is a suburban, bleached-vanilla, bland Mormon ski-town and Dennis lost his mind and couldn't play basketball," Luc says. "So Phil sent him to Las Vegas and told him to go and find Dennis. He came back appropriately seedy, he kicked ass, and we won the series."

Quality coaching right there.

SCREWstonRockets

03-07-2008, 03:03 PM

I'll do some Rocket stories......

-Yao Ming and Tyson Chandler played against each other in the same Nike Camp when they were just teens. One of Yao's teammates was Teyo Johnson of the Buffalo Bills. Those two still remain close friends till this day.

- Steve Francis said that when he went to the clubs in Houston, all the ladies were always asking for Yao. Yao isn't much of a clubber.

- During his college days, Dikembe use to go to parties and announce, "WHO WANTS TO SEX MUTOMBO!!!"

Attila

03-07-2008, 04:13 PM

- During his college days, Dikembe use to go to parties and announce, "WHO WANTS TO SEX MUTOMBO!!!"
:roll:

vert48

03-07-2008, 04:51 PM

Ancient Legend

03-07-2008, 05:03 PM

I saw Wilt Chamberlain in Conan the Destroyer before I saw him play. His character was awesome. Andre The Giant was the final boss (the monster with the horn) in that movie also.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/981/wiltandrearnoldconanls5.jpg

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9647/wiltarnoldconanol3.jpg

RainierBeachPoet

03-07-2008, 07:22 PM

bill russell was involved with the movement against the jim crow laws in the south in the late 50s

in 1958 bill vowed to refuse to play in a town that forced him to sleep in a segregated hotel or eat in a segregated restaurant

after the playoffs in 1958, a promoter scheduled an exhibition tour for the all star teams

when the teams arrived in dallas., russ found out that he could not stay in the same hotel as the white players, bill spat on the promoter and immediately caught a plane home, forfeiting the exhibition money

RainierBeachPoet

03-08-2008, 03:14 PM

About Bill Russell. Wondering if you know more of this story than I do. The only 2 titles from 57 to 69 that Russell didnt win were won by teams coached by Alex Hannum. He coached the 58 Hawks and 67 76ers. Only teams to beat Bill(and he was hurt in one....). At some point they got in a fight and Russell knocked him out. Anyone know why they fought? Some celtics official from the 60s mentioned that it happened but I dont know any more.

Know any little discussed NBA stories worth a mention?

i hadnt seen this from the op

i am not sure about russell and hannum,

but hannum squared off against wilt in the lockerroom when he first became coach with the 76ers

alex made comments that the sixers (and by inference, wilt) needed to change. wilt did not like being told what to do

it came to a head in the lockerroom and players had to break them up. hannum ordered all the players out, took off his jacket and said to wilt, "you've being fighting me as a coach all the way, now fight me as a man"

wilt glared at alex for a long moment, folded and said, "aww i cant fight you alex"

hannum became vindicated when the club started winning with wilt scoring a lot less and getting his teammates involved. gotta give hannum props for standing up to wilt when NO ONE else had in the past

DieHardBullsFan

03-08-2008, 06:15 PM

Loki

03-08-2008, 06:35 PM

When Jordan beat Rasheed Wallace so bad in Sheed's last summer at UNC after Sheed was talking smack that he actually made Sheed cry from the abuse.

detroit1

03-08-2008, 07:05 PM

I dont know how true this is but...when Chancey Billups was a rookie wasnt he traded from boston because of some rape charge or something :confusedshrug: that what someone told me a long time ago...probably got the story mixed up anyone know what Im talking about?

Back in '97, Chauncey, Ron Mercer and Michael Irvin were accused of raping a woman at Antoine Walker's house after a night out partying. No criminal charges were ever filed and Chauncey and Mercer settled out of court with her. Walker later sued Chauncey and Mercer because he claims he lost endorsements due to the incident. And both of them were traded that same season.

03-08-2008, 10:39 PM

Back in '97, Chauncey, Ron Mercer and Michael Irvin were accused of raping a woman at Antoine Walker's house after a night out partying. No criminal charges were ever filed and Chauncey and Mercer settled out of court with her. Walker later sued Chauncey and Mercer because he claims he lost endorsements due to the incident. And both of them were traded that same season.

Wow, I never knew that

El Kabong

03-08-2008, 11:03 PM

Myth

03-08-2008, 11:16 PM

Horace Grant stabbing Harvey in the ass with a fork when they were kids. Harvey left it in for hours waiting for their mother to get home so he could show her what Horace did to him. :roll:

kidachi

03-09-2008, 12:19 AM

When Jordan beat Rasheed Wallace so bad in Sheed's last summer at UNC after Sheed was talking smack that he actually made Sheed cry from the abuse.

wow. didn't remember that.
Sheed cried? damn..

but i remember a statement game from MJ for Stackhouse.. Stack was running his mouth.. MJ dropped 48 on them..

Drama loves company. This was one of the few statement games by the older and wiser MJ. With rookie Stackhouse mouthing off to the press about how he held his own against MJ during his summer-UNC warmup sessions, MJ was quietly enraged. To add to that, Vernon 'Mad' Maxwell was upset that the Bulls were getting so much press with MJ's return after retirement that he spewed nonsense to the press as well. It awoke the sleeping giant.

With cool and calm efficiency, MJ destroyed the two in this game as their comments were unacceptable. Toying with Stack the whole game, MJ frustrated him into shooting 4-11 for 13 pts. Smothering Mad Max the other half of the time, MJ ruined him into shooting 1-8 for 4 pts. On the other end, MJ chose to hit 64% with a butter-like J to go 18-28 in 3 quarters for 48 pts and 10 rebounds. With his exploits responsible for a 30 point lead, MJ rested the 4th, iced his knees and asserted his physical and mental mastery of the game while marching his way to a record 72 win season that year.

"You do not look at Michael Jordan in the eye because he'll take that as a challenge and he'll dominate you. You do not make him mad. Whenever I played against him, I just looked at the ground." (Jayson Williams, NJ Nets.)

here's the vid..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUMHZbvnMAA

new noise

03-09-2008, 09:29 AM

I remember reading a snip from the book Jayson Williams (the murdery one) put out, probably totally untrue, about Hakeem Olajuwon and something about how he'd literally slap dudes in the face if he wasn't getting a certain number of touches in practice.

detroit1

03-09-2008, 11:40 AM

Billups was only on the Celtics for 51 games, Mercer lasted 2 seasons.

Thanks, you're right. My bad on that part.

Kblaze8855

08-02-2011, 06:07 AM

Anythng new? Lockout is...boring.

PHILA

08-02-2011, 06:16 AM

PHILA

08-02-2011, 06:25 AM

http://i.imgur.com/keWsv.jpg

Lawrence Journal-World - Feb 8, 1981 (http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8bYrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u-cFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4827,1508950&dq)

http://i.imgur.com/7wOGw.png
http://i.imgur.com/lcRLl.png

Fatal9

08-02-2011, 06:26 AM

PHILA

08-02-2011, 06:32 AM

^ lol, iirc he had an arrest warrant out for him in the '86 playoffs (he was playing a road game) because he smacked someone up in a convenience store. he transformed from being a punk to one of the most humble/respected players in the league later in his career though.Herald-Journal - May 1, 1986 (http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pUQsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pYoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3015,504770)

http://i.imgur.com/XVTiv.png

The Pittsburgh Press - May 1, 1986 (http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PfgjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0GIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7042,84095&dq)

http://i.imgur.com/zarUe.png

necya

08-02-2011, 08:56 AM

the 20th of november in 1993, Shaquille O'neal recorded a triple double against New Jersey with 24pts 28rbd and 15blk.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199311200NJN.html

with 1min 11 left in the 3rd QT, the nets commentator announced that Shaq got a triple double with 11blk (whereas he only blocked 1 shot in the entire 3rd QT and clearly blocked 5 shots in the 1st half). then late in the 4th QT, Donald Royal an Penny Hardaway made 2 very nice blocks who was counted in Shaq's statistics. but from the boxscore, Royal did not block any shot.
in fact, he "only" got 24pts 21rbd and 8 blk. scoreboard keeper just went crazy...

Big#50

08-02-2011, 02:08 PM

Horace Grant stabbing Harvey in the ass with a fork when they were kids. Harvey left it in for hours waiting for their mother to get home so he could show her what Horace did to him. :roll:
Not true, right? Funny as ****, goat story ever.

Fatal9

08-02-2011, 02:49 PM

catch24

08-02-2011, 02:55 PM

get these NETS

08-02-2011, 03:06 PM

also from Jayson Williams' book

Chris Mills(aka bootleg Juwan Howard)

http://www.sportsbuy.com/images/oldordscans/new_thumbs/seller_listing/11373699.jpg
had an altercation with opposing player...after the game he stood in front of the other team's bus and challenged the guy to a fight...stood there for an hour until cops arrived.

SEVERAL stories of after the game confrontations..and who the real tough guys were.

=========================================

Robert Parrish having his package of weed intercepted by the Feds.It was sent in the mail. Think the stigma to that still haunts him.

===============================================

NugzHeat3

08-02-2011, 03:18 PM

Crown&Coke

08-02-2011, 04:21 PM

Red Auerbach used to predict the end of game scores by simply watching the first few minutes of the game. He mostly did this in losses, and he was surprisingly very close when he did it.

Bill Russell wanted Spencer Haywood when he coached Seattle, then detested him because he wanted to be the next Bill Russell. Seattle moved him to NYKnicks and he crashed and burned because he wasn't strong enough to play the 5 and not coordinated enough to play the 4.

Clyde Frazier once said (paraphrasing) when asked by a reporter "can you guard Earl Monroe?" His response was "not even God could guard Earl Monroe"
-mind you, Clyde was known as the best defensive guard in the league
-they had battles when Magic (Monroe) was in Baltimore but they were teammates in NY at the time.
-This was an older Monroe, more "vanilla" than Black Jesus

Yet Clyde still felt Monroe was the most unstoppable player on the wing

Crown&Coke

08-02-2011, 04:24 PM

During a NBAPA meeting in 1999, Charles Oakley slapped the shit out of Charles Barkley in front of everyone who was there.

Dizzle-2k7

08-02-2011, 04:30 PM

During a NBAPA meeting in 1999, Charles Oakley slapped the shit out of Charles Barkley in front of everyone who was there.

sauce?

Crown&Coke

08-02-2011, 04:32 PM

sauce?

?

Naw, Sauce is my hommie, not me. if that is what you meant.

guy

08-02-2011, 05:26 PM

sauce?

http://articles.nydailynews.com/1999-01-08/sports/18101091_1_charles-barkley-charles-oakley-patrick-ewing

The unofficial start to the NBA season came sometime Wednesday afternoon when Charles Oakley said he belted his longtime nemesis Charles Barkley in the face during the players union meeting.
"I heard what he was saying about me in Atlantic City and I didn't like it," Oakley said last night. "I'm fed up with him.
"I told him you need to change your name. I'm the only Charles."
The two Charleses have a long-running feud dating back to Barkley's days with the Sixers. They once squared off during a playoff game in Philadelphia, and also exchanged blows two years ago during an exhibition game in Houston. Barkley often pokes fun at Oakley's lack of finesse, compelling the former Knicks forward to respond with fisticuffs.
During a charity game last month in Atlantic City, Barkley was asked about the Knicks trading Oakley for Marcus Camby. "That's an upgrade," Barkley said.
Then Barkley approached Patrick Ewing and said: "(Oakley) was a hard worker, right? That tells you all you need to know about his game when all people can say is that he works hard."
Oakley claims Barkley plays the punk when he tries to be friendly off the court.
"He did that the other day," Oakley said. "He thought everything was cool, but I'm not his friend. Then everybody grabbed us."
Oakley allegedly slapped Barkley across the face and the two were quickly separated by the Knicks' Chris Mills and Indiana's Antonio Davis.
Just last month, Barkley said he'd be interested in joining the Knicks

necya

08-02-2011, 06:20 PM

Shaq was from NJ, scorekeeper was probably his friend or something. I've seen some of that game, half the blks looked like clear goaltends anyway. That's ridiculous though from 24/21/8 to 24/28/15?? Did anyone call it out at the time?

no you think...you know this, you are watching a game live and tnt or sportchannel will tell rodman has 24 rbd. you will say "wow great job dennis", but you won't never check...

this is Milgram experience like...

one2

08-03-2011, 05:27 AM

Scorekeepers have manipulated stats for a long time now. This is nothing new.

http://deadspin.com/5336974/how-an-nba-scorekeeper-cooked-the-books

http://deadspin.com/5345287/the-confessions-of-an-nba-scorekeeper

It seems that these incidents happened a lot in Grizzlies games or small market teams in general since that was a way of increasing exposure by getting more time on ESPN.

Dang...that's a great read and I am not so surprised or maybe surprised that there was never controversy brought to the general public.

This marketability issue is not unlike how sometimes the NBA draft lottery is fixed the same way. LeBron going to CLE was probably fixed and certainly Patrick Ewing going to the Knicks in 85.

Da_Realist

08-13-2011, 09:27 AM

http://i.imgur.com/jKmsg.jpg

:roll: :applause:

greensborohill

08-13-2011, 09:50 AM

winwin

09-08-2011, 11:41 AM

On November 22 and 23rd, 1967, a national Black Youth Conference was held in Los Angeles

Knicksfever2010

09-08-2011, 12:20 PM

Dang...that's a great read and I am not so surprised or maybe surprised that there was never controversy brought to the general public.

This marketability issue is not unlike how sometimes the NBA draft lottery is fixed the same way. LeBron going to CLE was probably fixed and certainly Patrick Ewing going to the Knicks in 85.

STOP with the lottery is fixed nonsense. if there was a conspiracy, it would have come out by now, heck the league couldnt keep cheating officials under wraps, they certainly couldnt keep a fixed draft lottery under wraps.

JUST STOP, you're embarrassing yourself and your family.

1987_Lakers

02-02-2012, 04:20 AM

- Byron Scott once knocked out Mychal Thompson in a boxing match

- During the last game of the 1986 regular season Larry Bird had the Free Throw% title on lock. Shooting nearly 90% from the line, teammate Danny Ainge shot just over 90%, but he didn't attempt enough free throws to qualify for the title. During game #82 Ainge suddenly started attacking the rim like a mad man and getting fouled so he can qualify for the FT title, the team suddenly realized what he was doing and he got benched, he shot 12 free throws that game and all he needed was a couple more free throws and he would have gotten the title.

1987_Lakers

02-02-2012, 04:25 AM

Horace Grant stabbing Harvey in the ass with a fork when they were kids. Harvey left it in for hours waiting for their mother to get home so he could show her what Horace did to him. :roll:

lmao

Kblaze8855

10-04-2012, 12:37 PM

Something on how the biggest bust ever Larue Martin got drafted over Bob Mcadoo:

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/25/larue-martins-story-proves-one-of-redemption-success/

It initially looked as if life would be easy for Martin, an All-American at Loyola, averaging 19.5 points and 15.7 rebounds as a senior in 1971-72. During what was still a rather unsophisticated time for scouting, Martin had gotten the attention of the NBA for two games in particular.

Although his Ramblers were clobbered, 92-64, at Chicago Stadium by mighty UCLA on Jan. 28, 1972, Martin had 19 points and 18 rebounds against sophomore and College Player of the Year Bill Walton, who had 18 points and 16 rebounds. The next day at Chicago Stadium, Martin had 32 points to 23 for star Marquette center Jim Chones in a 69-67 loss.

When the draft was approaching and the Trail Blazers had the first pick, McAdoo, who had left North Carolina after his junior year, was regarded by most as the best player available. But Stu Inman, Portland's chief scout and later general manager who died in 2007, initially wanted Martin because the team needed a center.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.aolnews.com/media/2011/01/jack-200-12511.jpgJack McCloskey, 2008
"I asked them, 'Who are you going to draft as the No. 1 player in the country?''' said Jack McCloskey, named the Trail Blazers' coach shortly before the draft. "Stu Inman says, 'We're probably going to take LaRue Martin.' I had never heard his name as far as being the No. 1 player in the country. He said, 'Who would you like?' I said, 'I would take Bob McAdoo.'''

McCloskey, who had coached against McAdoo at Wake Forest, eventually convinced Inman to take the 6-9 McAdoo, whom some believed was too undersized to play center. McAdoo was brought to Portland along with his agent, Al Ross, to hammer out a contract.

"I was outside this meeting room waiting and Stu comes out and says, 'It looks like you're going to get your guy,''' said McCloskey, who would later win NBA titles in 1989 and 1990 as Detroit's general manager and is now retired in Georgia. "Ten minutes later, he comes out and says, 'Everything's off.' I couldn't understand why they couldn't come to an agreement for what was a small of amount of money for a guy who's going to be a Hall of Famer. ... I can't think of another (draft error) quite as catastrophic.''

Accounts differ greatly on what happened in that meeting, which included then Trail Blazers co-owner Herman Sarkowsky, Inman, Ross, Howard King, a lawyer who is now deceased, and McAdoo. However, McAdoo was not in for all the negotiations.

"They already had two (high) first-round picks in Geoff Petrie and Sidney Wicks, and they paid them top dollar and I wanted the same amount,'' McAdoo said of Petrie, co-Rookie of the Year after being drafted No. 8 in 1970 and Wicks, Rookie of the Year after being taken No. 2 in 1971. "I wanted the same amount and they didn't want to do it. So my agent says, 'Wait until the second pick and you'll get the amount that they made.' I'm hurt because there's prestige in being the No. 1 pick. So I waited and Buffalo drafted me second, and I got the same amount.''

McAdoo, now an assistant coach with the Miami Heat, said he wanted $1.5 million over five years but the Trail Blazers offered $1.3 million. However, Sarkowsky said McAdoo was offered the $1.5 million, and wasn't in the room when the deal fell apart due to Ross asking the Trail Blazers to pay his 10 percent commission.

"When we met with McAdoo's agent, we thought we had struck a deal,'' Sarkowsky said. "We had agreed to a price. But at the last minute (Ross) said, 'I expect you to pay my commission,' which at the time was another $150,000. I got pissed off and I said, 'Absolutely not'... Sure, I have a regret (at not just paying the $150,000), but hindsight is perfect ... The fact that we drafted (Martin) was probably my error.''

Ross called it "the biggest crock I've ever heard'' that he demanded $150,000 from Portland, saying his commission would have come from McAdoo. He said failing to reach an agreement stemmed from Inman's refusal to put in the contract a provision that would pay for several visits to Portland each season by McAdoo's family members in North Carolina.

"Most teams would make arrangements (such as that),'' Ross said. "So we asked Stu Inman to put that in. He comes back and says, 'Piss on it.'''

Ross said that meeting ended, and he and McAdoo returned the next day.

"(Inman said), 'Do we have a deal?' Ross said. "I said, 'In the famous words of the Portland Trail Blazers general manager, piss on it.' No, we don't have a deal.'''

Sure, the Trail Blazers could have drafted McAdoo anyway. But there was the threat of McAdoo bolting to the ABA. The Virginia Squires held McAdoo's rights but he said he pretty much already had made the decision to go to the NBA.

"I never dreamed of being chosen as the No. 1 pick in the NBA. I just enjoyed playing the sport of basketball. I had no idea it would happen."
-- LaRue Martin Regardless, the Trail Blazers selected Martin, signing him to a six-year deal worth just under $1 million, and McAdoo went No. 2 to the Braves. Martin became the first of several star-crossed centers to go high in a draft for the Trail Blazers, although it was injuries that would derail 1974 top pick Walton, 1983 No. 2 selection Sam Bowie and 2007 No. 1 draftee Greg Oden.

How much of a long shot was Martin to go No. 1? When he got the word, he was as surprised as anybody.

"Are you kidding me?' Martin said of his reaction when told by then Loyola coach George Ireland. "I never dreamed of being chosen as the No. 1 pick in the NBA. I just enjoyed playing the sport of basketball. I had no idea it would happen. ... Being the No. 1 draft choice, you came out with a big target on your back.''

When Martin showed up for training camp, it didn't take McCloskey long to conclude he wouldn't be an impact player. Martin weighed about 210 pounds, making it difficult for him to battle the NBA's many strong centers.

"He worked hard and was a very nice young man,'' McCloskey said. "But he wasn't skilled. It was that simple. I tried to develop his skills around the basket, and he wasn't an outside player. He didn't have the skills to be the No. 1 pick. Defensively, he was coming along I thought, but offensively he didn't grasp what was going on.''

Martin, though, said McCloskey never gave him a chance to develop. Martin averaged 4.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in 12.9 minutes as a rookie.

"Jack McCloskey didn't want me,'' Martin said. "He wanted McAdoo. ... If you don't get any playing time, how can you produce? I don't like to point fingers, but I don't think Jack really cared for me. If you don't have that relationship with your coach, what are you going to do?''

Martin recalled a Dec. 19, 1972, game when he made his first trip back to Chicago with Portland. He said he "bought a bunch of tickets for my family and I didn't get one ounce of playing time, and I was kind of hurt.'' McCloskey said he doesn't remember that game.

He ended up out of the league and an alcoholic but he pulled his life together and has worked for UPS for like 35 years.

Kblaze8855

10-05-2012, 12:28 PM

Im trying to find something I dont think justifies a new topic and its in line with this one so ill ask here....

Anyone else remember the story of Jayson Williams predraft workout in person with a GM? And how the GM was fooled into watching the workout at Williams old middle school playground with lowered rims and thinking he was some super athlete because he was "Playing a foot above the rim"?

I know I read about it. Cant find it anywhere. Lot of you keep such articles handy......

outbreak

06-17-2013, 11:32 PM

for the life of me I can't remember the players involved but I remember reading a story about one young player bringing his family into the locker rooms to get auto graphs from another star player and being told no and to piss off which caused a fight or something. Anyone know what I'm thinking of?

jlip

06-18-2013, 12:24 AM

Little pointless trivia...Bill russell was 22-0 in winner take all games. Meaning game 7s, ncaa/HS title games, olympic gold medal games and all that. He won every single game where the only two options were win the title or lose the title. Off the top of my head I can think of 16-17 titles he won from age 15 till he retired so im not sure where the others come from but I dont find it hard to believe.

Know any little discussed NBA stories worth a mention?

I know that this is years later, but I think the extra "non-title" winner take all games include the game 5s in the the best of five series as well as the game 7's in earlier rounds before the Finals (i.e. '59, '62, '63, '65, '68, & '69 Eastern Division Finals.)

WayOfWade

06-18-2013, 12:32 AM

The New Orleans Jazz drafted a woman - Lusia Harris - in 1977. First and only women ever drafted into the NBA. She never played though.

East_Stone_Ya

06-18-2013, 08:57 AM

Josh Howard

East_Stone_Ya

06-18-2013, 09:00 AM

Dave DeBusschere may be best known as one of the best forwards of his generation, finishing his 12-year career with averages of 16.1 points and 11 rebounds per game. However DeBusschere was also a two-sport athlete who spent two seasons in Major League Baseball as well.

A pitcher with the Chicago White Sox, DeBusschere spent two years with the team. Over that stretch, he went 3-4 with a 2.90 ERA and 1.38 WHIP.

OldSchoolBBall

06-18-2013, 09:54 AM

- During the last game of the 1986 regular season Larry Bird had the Free Throw% title on lock. Shooting nearly 90% from the line, teammate Danny Ainge shot just over 90%, but he didn't attempt enough free throws to qualify for the title. During game #82 Ainge suddenly started attacking the rim like a mad man and getting fouled so he can qualify for the FT title, the team suddenly realized what he was doing and he got benched, he shot 12 free throws that game and all he needed was a couple more free throws and he would have gotten the title.

Is this true? LOL if so. :oldlol:

brantonli

06-18-2013, 09:58 AM

Not an old story, very recent, but interesting nonetheless:

Daryl Morey ‏@dmorey 22 May
Best draft interview answers ever part 1: player, can you pass a drug test? [grabs table] TODAY?!?

Daryl Morey ‏@dmorey 22 May
More best answers: "anyone who is projected ahead of U that U think U R better than?" ALL OF THEM "Have you ever seen them play?" NEVER

Daryl Morey ‏@dmorey 22 May
Best answers: "When did U know there might be an issue?" I was carrying [stolen item] 4someone else-knew something up when we got 2pawn shop

Daryl Morey ‏@dmorey 22 May
More best answers: "who is your agent?" I don't have an agent. "Who is advising you?" [gives name] "Who is that?" My agent.

Maybe an NBA GM can come out and tell us what famous players have said during their interviews.

Rake2204

06-18-2013, 10:05 AM

http://i.imgur.com/jKmsg.jpgFor some reason, Hakeem reminds me of Dylan there.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvlryjLc1f1r0ofbpo1_500.gif