Basketball history assignment thread

drob50

Magic Johnson and David Robinson ON CARD autos
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Just an idea I had as a result of some discussions I have had recently, as well as the fact you can see plenty of HOFer autos constantly selling for under $10, I thought I would create a thread which is designed to allocate 'assignments' to people who want to participate.

I am aiming to help some people who may not have spent much time reading about the history of the game (including myself), appreciate just how good some players were and what the game was like back before Lebron, Kobe and MJ.

The idea is that you nominate yourself to participate by posting in this thread and mentioning some of the teams/players that you do know a bit about. Not too detailed, just mention who, then I will allocate a player to each person. You then need to spend a day or 2 looking up as much as you can and reading a bit about them, trying to learn exactly how good these guys were in their day.

I will try to allocate you someone that you don't know much about and will be interesting. Then, after you have looked and read up, you can come back and make a post about the player, including some of the achievements/facts etc about the player that you found interesting.
Hopefully we get enough people doing it to make it interesting enough to read through from time to time.

I will post a sample 'report' after this post to give you an idea what sort of thing I mean. Keep in mind, it is not meant to be about copying and pasting Wiki text, but more about reading some of the finer details or watching some footage or interviews about the player to try find some of the hidden gems!


@drob50 - George Mikan & Slater Martin
@UncleBlue - Ed Sadowski
@khouzza -Sam Jones
@WhiteyTheCelticsFan - Oscar Robertson
 
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Thought I would start with Pistol, seeing as I just finished reading about him recently.

"Pistol" Pete Maravich

  • Was the son of 'Press' who was a great college coach and created all sorts of drills and methods for Pete to practice, starting at age 3.
  • Died in 1989 at the age of 40 (so young :() as a result of what people call a 'broken heart' because of the depressing times he constantly went through. He was born with a condition that didn't allow proper function and flow to his heart and should have seen him die before he reached his 20s. Instead, he managed to play professional sports in spite of it :eek:. He literally dies playing the game he loved as he collapsed on the court during a 3 on 3 pickup game.
  • Played college ball and LSU (Louisiana) and smashed all scoring records to become the ALL TIME leading scorer in the NCAA
  • Averaged 44 points per game in his college career, which is CRAZY, but what people don't realise is that he played in a time where they didn't have a 3pt line. People have since gone back through his shot/game logs and by using the recorded distances of his shots, worked out that he would have averaged 13 3 pointers per game based on the current format, which would have made his scoring average 57ppg :woot:
  • Got the name "Pistol" because of his shooting action sort of coming off his hip
  • Played for 3 teams in the NBA - Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Jazz (then moved to Utah) and Boston Celtics.
  • He had an almighty run of bad luck during his 10 years in the NBA causing him to never really take over the league like many had hoped he would, although he was definitely the No1 player for some periods.
  • He was the original "Showtime". A name which the 80s Lakers coined for their fast style of play, much of which came from Pete via Magic Johnson. Magic humbly attributes many of his moves to Pistol
  • His celebrity status was unparalleled by any other player at that time and as a result (along with the accompanying contracts) caused issues with his teammates not wanting to accept him as part of the team. He had endorsements for hair products and other items just because of his stature.
  • Played his last season at the Celtics, alongside Larry Bird, chasing that elusive championship, but his body and demons got the better of him. The very next season, Boston won :(
 
I'm in, this is a great idea!

What about something like this...I loved reading up on these 2.

George Mikan and Slater Martin, the first real flamboyant duo!
 
I'm in, this is a great idea!

What about something like this...I loved reading up on these 2.

George Mikan and Slater Martin, the first real flamboyant duo!

Nice!!
I just recently picked up "Mr Basketball" on Mikan. Looking forward to reading that!

Now I'll think of someone for you to do! ;)
You trying to make me write more reports? Uni finished a month ago!

You can't impress your girlfriend with a calculator Bainy!
You need useless basketball knowledge!
 
I will write one on Big Ed Sadowski.
Have you read about Ed before??
The idea was for me to choose someone you may not have heard much about!
Who/what do you normally read about/follow?

I will find someone!

I will choose someone sweet for you Whitey, that way it is someone you may not have looked into otherwise! :cool:
 
Edward Anthony Sadowski
"Big" Ed Sadowski was born in Akron, Ohio 1917 and in his later years was a standout at Seton Hall University. At 6-5 and 240 lbs he played at the Centre role. In his standout college years he lead Seton Hall to its only undefeated season in 1939-1940. From college he played in the ABA, NBL and Most importantly the NBA. The most biggest team he ever played for as far as history wise would be the Boston Celtics in which he debuted on November 1st 1946. in the 1947-48 season he ranked third in the BAA in PPG (19.4) and was named to the All-BAA first team. This made him the first ever Boston Celtic to be named to the All-BAA/NBA Team. With a total of 5 seasons playing professionally he ended his career with a total of 7,159 points. He retired from basetball in 1950 and died of lung cancer on September 18, 1990.
 
I read a brief article about the founding BAA teams and they had a sew sentences on him and now is the first time I've looked him up online :)
 
Love the idea, im lazy and short for time atm though so won't be contributing but will be reading what everyone has spent time researching and writing :thumbsup:
 
I read a brief article about the founding BAA teams and they had a sew sentences on him and now is the first time I've looked him up online :)
Sweet!

Honestly, I have never heard of him, so it is a good one!
Keep reading and see if you can find anything else about him and edit your post with it! No rush, we will spend a few days each on each player!
 
I'm in, this is a great idea!

What about something like this...I loved reading up on these 2.

George Mikan and Slater Martin, the first real flamboyant duo!

I know very little about Slater Martin and only a little about Mikan, so how about I take them and find someone random for you?
 
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