Did anyone bother to read the article I posted. Therein you will learn that Bill Walton isn't a chump, he's a nut job. However, dude was insane as a player. I saw him walk all over Moses Malone in 1978. Pre-injury he just dominated on an athletic and basketball smarts level.
I was going to mention Ralph Sampson, three time, college player of the year as a big waste of talent. But I am not that sure he was ever that good.
Did anyone bother to read the article I posted. Therein you will learn that Bill Walton isn't a chump, he's a nut job. However, dude was insane as a player. I saw him walk all over Moses Malone in 1978. Pre-injury he just dominated on an athletic and basketball smarts level.
I was going to mention Ralph Sampson, three time, college player of the year as a big waste of talent. But I am not that sure he was ever that good.
Sabas wasted his greatness on the Euros.
Walton is a brilliant guy who plays up the "nut job" side to his advantage.....he's a weird/hippie/fruits and nuts version of Howard CoSELL and he does just that ...he SELLS his wacky personality.....I've heard him sit down for serious conversations and he knows more about hoops than any 3-4 announcers/analysts combined....hell, why else would John Wooden sing his praises to this day.
Walton was/would have been one of the three greatest big men ever had his injuries not got in the way.....look at the team that he won the NBA championship with....Dave Twardzik started on that team for god's sake....Walton WAS that team.
And his last Final Four performance might have been the single greatest effort ever seen on the hard court....if he wasn't so infatuated with being wacky I believe he could be the REAL Zen master coach that Phil Jackson pretends to be.
And before you Phil Jackson fans get on my case please do this....get up from the computer.....find the nearest mirror.....look straight ahead and realize that the reflection you see could have coached 6 NBA Championships given the teams Phil had.
And before you Phil Jackson fans get on my case please do this....get up from the computer.....find the nearest mirror.....look straight ahead and realize that the reflection you see could have coached 6 NBA Championships given the teams Phil had.
Truer words were never...Most overrated coach in NBA history.
Reading about Walton's performance in the Final Four game against Memphis is
Did anyone bother to read the article I posted. Therein you will learn that Bill Walton isn't a chump, he's a nut job. However, dude was insane as a player. I saw him walk all over Moses Malone in 1978. Pre-injury he just dominated on an athletic and basketball smarts level.
I agree with all of this. His persona these days is crazy annoying, but on the court back in the day, dude was completely unfuckwitable. Like you said, he was incredible on both the athletic and game smarts level. Maybe somebody could deal with him on one level or the other, but not on both. If his body hadn't crapped out on him, he would've had some unbelievable NBA career numbers.
And before you Phil Jackson fans get on my case please do this....get up from the computer.....find the nearest mirror.....look straight ahead and realize that the reflection you see could have coached 6 NBA Championships given the teams Phil had.
Truer words were never...Most overrated coach in NBA history.
Reading about Walton's performance in the Final Four game against Memphis is
Hate to admit it but I'm old enough to have watched and remember that game....Walton took 22 shots and made 21 of them....had 14 rebounds and I guarantee you if you asked Bill today what he remembered most about that game he'd say the three Free Throws he missed....I've literally watched 1,000's of games in my life...High School, College and Pro...and there has NEVER been a performance even close to Walton's '73 final.
(Although Andre McCarters 63 points in the Philly High School playoffs his senior year does begin to approach it)
And before you Phil Jackson fans get on my case please do this....get up from the computer.....find the nearest mirror.....look straight ahead and realize that the reflection you see could have coached 6 NBA Championships given the teams Phil had.
Truer words were never...Most overrated coach in NBA history.
Reading about Walton's performance in the Final Four game against Memphis is
Hate to admit it but I'm old enough to have watched and remember that game....Walton took 22 shots and made 21 of them....had 14 rebounds and I guarantee you if you asked Bill today what he remembered most about that game he'd say the three Free Throws he missed....I've literally watched 1,000's of games in my life...High School, College and Pro...and there has NEVER been a performance even close to Walton's '73 final.
(Although Andre McCarters 63 points in the Philly High School finals his senior year does begin to approach it)
The NCAA tourney is my favorite sporting event on the planet, and I've studied if for years. Given that, if I played for Wooden from '64-75, I might get a little crazy with the wisdom and nonsense. The Walton sons always talk about getting Wooden-isms in their lunch growing up. I mean, why not? They sure did work.
I first posted because of your Phil Jackson comments, which I guess led me to what I wanted to say in the first place: John Wooden. There's a coach. Obviously didn't see this game either, but my favorite game I've ever seen/listened to/read about is the UCLA-Houston '68 semi-final game when UCLA was ranked #2 to Houston...and won by like 36. No one on UCLA had over 19 points, and they completely shut down Elvin Hayes. Most impressive TEAM performance I've ever heard about.
Walton was/would have been one of the three greatest big men ever had his injuries not got in the way.....look at the team that he won the NBA championship with....Dave Twardzik started on that team for god's sake....Walton WAS that team.
And his last Final Four performance might have been the single greatest effort ever seen on the hard court....if he wasn't so infatuated with being wacky I believe he could be the REAL Zen master coach that Phil Jackson pretends to be.
And before you Phil Jackson fans get on my case please do this....get up from the computer.....find the nearest mirror.....look straight ahead and realize that the reflection you see could have coached 6 NBA Championships given the teams Phil had.
Walton would be the first to admit that the heart and soul of the team was his best friend, Maurice "The Original Enforcer" Lucas. The Blazers were a great "team" in the very best sense of the word. All the parts were so seemless and worked to devastating effect. They were 50-10 (on pace to win 68) when Walton shattered his foot. They finished 58-24, losing in the semis to Seattle. Walton still managed to win the MVP while only playing 3/4 of the season.
Oh and to the Phil haters in the house. Look at the Lakers record before he and Tex Winter arrived. . All the great coaches won because they had the great players. The trick is getting them to work together. Ten rings batches...
injury wise, raplph sampson and sam bowie really got derailed hard and bernard king coulda been one of the greatones.
drazen petrovic on the accident front.
but i think this is more about dudes who had mad talent and just had no will/heart. last i checkedon keith van horn, opie would fit into this category. pervis ellsion was a top pick and didnt really do psit in the nba. not sure what the story was though.
anyone say roy tarpley yet? dudewas kinda ill if it wasnt for those damn druuuuugs.
injury wise, raplph sampson and sam bowie really got derailed hard and bernard king coulda been one of the greatones.
drazen petrovic on the accident front.
but i think this is more about dudes who had mad talent and just had no will/heart. last i checkedon keith van horn, opie would fit into this category. pervis ellsion was a top pick and didnt really do psit in the nba. not sure what the story was though.
anyone say roy tarpley yet? dudewas kinda ill if it wasnt for those damn druuuuugs.
what about artest?
Before people were dubbing everyone the next MJ (i.e. Vince Carter, Harold Miner, etc.) People were calling every big guy that could handle the ball the next magic (i.e. Billy Owens, Steve Smith). Carter is the only one that had long lasting talent, the rest were mediocre to OK.
To give Owens credit. He was great, but ran into serious knee injuries and that ended his career. He was great playing alongside Tim Hardaway, but when his knees went out so did his quickness and he never developed a jump shot to make up for it so that was the end of his playing days.
Bernard King though? He WAS one of the great ones!!!! Dude was one of the greatest scorers of his time. He averaged a career 22.5 ppg. His 2nd to last year in 1991 even though he only played in 64 games he averaged 28.4 ppg. That's not too shabby.
Seriously, whoever said Christian Laetner was right on. Dude was selected for the only real dream team, the first one. He was the truth at Duke, and I frickin hate the bluedevils too. And as a pro he was so mediocre. I would also put everyone on the Fab five Michigan team on this list except for Webber.
Comments
shea (sp?) cotton - i remember him being on the cover of Sports Illustrated and everything
I was going to mention Ralph Sampson, three time, college player of the year as a big waste of talent. But I am not that sure he was ever that good.
Sabas wasted his greatness on the Euros.
Walton is a brilliant guy who plays up the "nut job" side to his advantage.....he's a weird/hippie/fruits and nuts version of Howard CoSELL and he does just that ...he SELLS his wacky personality.....I've heard him sit down for serious conversations and he knows more about hoops than any 3-4 announcers/analysts combined....hell, why else would John Wooden sing his praises to this day.
Walton was/would have been one of the three greatest big men ever had his injuries not got in the way.....look at the team that he won the NBA championship with....Dave Twardzik started on that team for god's sake....Walton WAS that team.
And his last Final Four performance might have been the single greatest effort ever seen on the hard court....if he wasn't so infatuated with being wacky I believe he could be the REAL Zen master coach that Phil Jackson pretends to be.
And before you Phil Jackson fans get on my case please do this....get up from the computer.....find the nearest mirror.....look straight ahead and realize that the reflection you see could have coached 6 NBA Championships given the teams Phil had.
LaRue Martin worst #1 pick EVAR!!!
Truer words were never...Most overrated coach in NBA history.
Reading about Walton's performance in the Final Four game against Memphis is
I agree with all of this. His persona these days is crazy annoying, but on the court back in the day, dude was completely unfuckwitable. Like you said, he was incredible on both the athletic and game smarts level. Maybe somebody could deal with him on one level or the other, but not on both. If his body hadn't crapped out on him, he would've had some unbelievable NBA career numbers.
Hate to admit it but I'm old enough to have watched and remember that game....Walton took 22 shots and made 21 of them....had 14 rebounds and I guarantee you if you asked Bill today what he remembered most about that game he'd say the three Free Throws he missed....I've literally watched 1,000's of games in my life...High School, College and Pro...and there has NEVER been a performance even close to Walton's '73 final.
(Although Andre McCarters 63 points in the Philly High School playoffs his senior year does begin to approach it)
The NCAA tourney is my favorite sporting event on the planet, and I've studied if for years. Given that, if I played for Wooden from '64-75, I might get a little crazy with the wisdom and nonsense. The Walton sons always talk about getting Wooden-isms in their lunch growing up. I mean, why not? They sure did work.
I first posted because of your Phil Jackson comments, which I guess led me to what I wanted to say in the first place: John Wooden. There's a coach. Obviously didn't see this game either, but my favorite game I've ever seen/listened to/read about is the UCLA-Houston '68 semi-final game when UCLA was ranked #2 to Houston...and won by like 36. No one on UCLA had over 19 points, and they completely shut down Elvin Hayes. Most impressive TEAM performance I've ever heard about.
Speaking of Isaiah Rider, he just got arrested here in the Bay about 2 weeks ago.
Walton would be the first to admit that the heart and soul of the team was his best friend, Maurice "The Original Enforcer" Lucas. The Blazers were a great "team" in the very best sense of the word. All the parts were so seemless and worked to devastating effect. They were 50-10 (on pace to win 68) when Walton shattered his foot. They finished 58-24, losing in the semis to Seattle. Walton still managed to win the MVP while only playing 3/4 of the season.
injury wise, raplph sampson and sam bowie really got derailed hard
and bernard king coulda been one of the greatones.
drazen petrovic on the accident front.
but i think this is more about dudes who had mad talent and just had no will/heart.
last i checkedon keith van horn, opie would fit into this category.
pervis ellsion was a top pick and didnt really do psit in the nba. not sure what the story was though.
anyone say roy tarpley yet? dudewas kinda ill if it wasnt for those damn druuuuugs.
what about artest?
Before people were dubbing everyone the next MJ (i.e. Vince Carter, Harold Miner, etc.) People were calling every big guy that could handle the ball the next magic (i.e. Billy Owens, Steve Smith). Carter is the only one that had long lasting talent, the rest were mediocre to OK.
To give Owens credit. He was great, but ran into serious knee injuries and that ended his career. He was great playing alongside Tim Hardaway, but when his knees went out so did his quickness and he never developed a jump shot to make up for it so that was the end of his playing days.
Bernard King though? He WAS one of the great ones!!!! Dude was one of the greatest scorers of his time. He averaged a career 22.5 ppg. His 2nd to last year in 1991 even though he only played in 64 games he averaged 28.4 ppg. That's not too shabby.
I'm looking at his stats right now and dude never was healthy. Here's a run down of games played:
32, 76, 66, 49, 47, 55, 69, 6, 33, 30, 9
No love for Keith Van Horn?
Darko is the new Sam Bowie, that is fo' sho.
Yeah, I hate him more after reading that than I did before.
Kemp was unstoppable in the FINALS against the Bulls
Penny went to the FINALS
Steve Smith is still playing
Cats who have carrer threatening injuries dont waste their talent.
w'ell talk later.....
I don't think Walton wasted his talent I just think he's a dip shit.