By Paul Casey Gotham
****Remember, try this without research. Release your inner James Joyce and show us your stream of consciousness as you decipher the answer.
Do you know of any guys taken in the second round of the N.B.A. draft that have gone on to the Hall-of-Fame? I did. Yeah, Springfield by way of the Bronx through Arizona Western Community College to UTEP and a few other stops after that. Truth be told, I was taken in a pretty good draft. At least four guys taken before me also have spots in Springfield. I averaged 16 points a game my first season and 28 the year after that. But in my third season I led the league in points and assists per game. I don’t think anybody else has ever accomplished that feat. That was my first of three first-team All-NBA seasons. I earned second-team honors twice in my 13-year career. I almost played for Buffalo, but was injured prior to the season and never got on the floor for the Braves. After playing for losing teams and averaging 20 points or more five of my first seven seasons, I finally won a championship. But I became more of a playmaker. I went from averaging 16 field goal attempts one year to eight the next year. Two years later, we won the title. I averaged 35 minutes per game and 13.8 points. Plenty of other guys could score on that team. We kept Moses from parting the waters.
Who am I?
Major clue (to me anyway) is the comment at the end about preventing Moses Malone from winning the title. That had to be the early ’80s matchup between the Celtics and the Rockets (Malone) in the Finals. So who was a guard on that Boston title team that went on to the Hall of Fame … and went to UTEP?
Ok … gotta hit the showers to get ready for work. Later ….
Okay … on short notice, I can think of only two guards on that Celtics title team … Nate “Tiny” Archibald and Gerald Henderson. They were joined by frontcourters Cedric “Cornbread” Maxwell, Robert Parish, Larry Bird, McHale and ML Carr. Anyway, since the question is really about guards … and a HoF guard, it’s got to be Tiny Archibald. I believe his greatest scoring seasons were with the KC Kings … but his true winnings seasons were with the Celtics later in his career. I have no idea if he went to UTEP, but I’m guessing he probably did 🙂
OK … off to work …
I just Googled Nate Archibald and the first results were the photos of some teenage heart-throb on the show “Gossip Girl.”
Archibald is obviously very versatile !!
I remember Archibald, but I have no recollection of his time with Celts. I always thought of him as KC. I do also remember that Celts team. It just hit me now how that team consisted of “no-name college” players; UTEP, Bird, ISU, Parrish, Centenary, Maxwell, UNC Charlotte. Can’t remember where McHale went to school; might have been Minnesota – big name school with small basketball history.
Add to that ML Carr -Guilford, Gerald Henderson-VCU
I had no idea where Carr and Henderson went to college, but I should have guessed it would be schools of that ilk. That era I believe was before VCU’s first run to prominence, or maybe he was part of that run. Nevertheless, VCU (and Minnesota) are not schools you associate with the terms “basketball power” or (illustrious basketball history”. Did that roster have ANY traditional BB power school players on its roster?
Here’s the roster: https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1981.html
Rick Robey came from Kentucky. Chris Ford played at Villanova.
Interesting that the ’81 Celts and ’94 Rockets both had players from Detroit Mercy and Centenary College of Louisiana.
’94 Rockets roster: https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/1994.html
And what Casey also probably meant to say, but forgot, is … “And a Helmet Sticker to Wally for nailing yet another WAI!”
Gotta have some closure, buddy 🙂
Nate “Tiny” Archibald is the answer.
I forgot that Ford played on that team. He was a personal friend of 2 of my ND roommates.
And …. ???
C’mon Wally, you don’t need Casey’s reinforcement that you did a good job. Be the master of your domain. 😉
Correct, Chas. I was just hoping he’d start demonstrating a pulse … his enthusometer is running way low. We used to get 3-4 helmet sticker commendations collectively per week and responses that were more than one sentence. Just sayin’ …
You don’t want helmet stickers to be like some HOFs; just about ANYBODY gets in! They should be special. You just make it look so EASY Wally that we stop thinking of your WAI successes as special!