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. Add to that the teachings of Myagi: patience. If you don’t get the answer right away, give your brain a chance to work if for no other reason than to stay in the discussion. You may not have THE answer, but you might prompt another reader by asking the right question.
How many N.B.A. players can you name from Norfolk State University? I’ll give you a few minutes to think about that one. Give up? I think the answer is four. The other three guys played 58 games. Me? I played 839 contests in the Association. Back then the N.B.A. draft had several rounds. I was a fourth round pick – 45th overall. Averaged more than 18 points and almost seven rebounds per game for my career. That doesn’t really set me apart from others. Let’s see. I helped two organizations win their only titles. That should narrow your choices. I didn’t play on the Celtics or the Lakers. When I say helped, I mean I was the third leading scorer on the first team I helped to the title. That was my second year in the league. The two guys above me in scoring for that team now have spots in Springfield. Three years after the title, the one guy retired. The other teammate requested a trade. He won his fair share of titles before untying his kicks for the last time. If memory serves me correct, he won five more chan’ships. I scored 18 points a game for that team and grabbed 8 boards. A couple years later I took my bus east. Seven years removed from my first title, I scored 19 points and grabbed almost six rebounds to help that team. We made a trip back to the finals a year later but fell to the team we beat the year earlier. They, too, won their only title in the history of their organization. Might be the only major title in the history of that city. I played in four all-star games, was first team all-rookie, earned a spot on the first team all-defensive squad and earned second team All-NBA once. Four guys I played with on championship teams are part of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players.
Who am I?
This is a good one, but a toughie. I guess the place to start would be to list the teams that have only won one title. Obviously, one of them’s an eastern team and one a western team, relatively speaking.
Who won 6 championships, his first with a different team? The first team only 1 won championship…
Did Abdul-Jabbar win one in Milwaukee and then 5 in L.A.?? Just a guess.
So a player from Jabbar’s (Alcindor’s) Milwaukee days??
Well, the Milwaukee Bucks would be one of the teams with only one championship. If he went east after that, it would have to be to Washington or Miami, but the time frame wouldn’t line up for Miami. So, a guy who played for Milwaukee and later Washington and was on both teams’ only titles.
I just now (5:30pm Central) got to look at this since Casey was SEVERAL hours late with the release this morning. C’mon, Man!!!
I’m thinking there’s a Milwaukee-Washington-Seattle dynamic going here. You guys already mentioned the Bucks and Jabbar. That’s a very good start. Chas … you nailed it with your question … it’s someone who played with Jabbar and the Bucks for a title and then played for the Washington Bullets (with Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld). The Bullets beat the Seattle SuperSonics for the title … and then lost to Seattle. Although I have no idea where he went to college, this has to be one of my favorite NBA players from the ’70s: Bobby Dandridge. He was a very versatile, all-round player … a winner and very highly regarded. I bet he wasn’t too far off from being considered for the “Top 50 Players” himself. He’s definitely in the next 15-20.
Bob Dandridge is the answer. If he was considered for the NBA Top 50, it had nothing to do with being in the HOF. He is not enshrined at Springfield. Dandridge is another one of those great all-around players who has not received HOF notoriety.
So, Dandridge is maybe the Bobby Grich of basketball?
Oh yeah…nice job, Wally. I was going to guess Marques Johnson, but I was pretty sure the time frame was wrong and didn’t think he ever played for the Bullets. Still, his name was the best I could come up with. Not much of basketball is in my wheelhouse. Can’t wait for the baseball WAIs, although I won’t be able to participate. 😉
Or, Grich is the Bobby Dandridge of baseball. 🙂
One other thing…let’s not forget to give Dan credit for coming up with the Jabbar connection. That’s the real assist here.
Yes – good point Chas. Dan dug the puck out of the corner and got it in front of the net.
On another note, how good was the NBA in the 70s? Jabbar, Dandridge, Oscar Robertson AND Lucius Allen did NOT get back to the championship the next year.
Fewer teams; better quality!