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Eddie Johnson: Steady Eddie in the Zone, 1988

And it’s a game I’ll never forget. When I look back on my career, this was my outstanding game.

Clifford Robinson: Super Swingman, 1994

Even if Robinson becomes a “permanent” starter—and that seems inevitable—his adaptability will continue to magnify his importance.

Tim Duncan: The Can’t-Miss Kid, 1997

Duncan, a psychology major, estimates that perhaps 80 percent of his game is mental. Much as pitcher Greg Maddux likes to keep a low profile on his knowledge of baseball, Duncan is equally low key.

Mike Gminski: No Ands, Ifs, or Buts, 1989

Gminski almost never makes a bad pass or a goofy shot. How could he? Inherent, implied, in every move he makes are thousands and thousands of hours of solitary practice.

Walter Bellamy vs. the NBA, 1963

The money he makes is considerable salve for the aches and bruises that he absorbs working at his job. At a workout a while ago, a gash was opened on his left wrist.

Reggie Harding: The Original Detroit Bad Boy, 1972

By the end of the season, the Pistons had fined Reggie nearly $3,000 of his $15,000 a year salary and suspended him indefinitely. “After Reggie made the professional league,” his wife Nadine said, “he felt he was ‘The Man’ now, and no one had the right to tell him what to do.”

Reggie Harding: Jackson Prison Blues, 1970

[In January 1969, two Baltimore reporters got “locked up” in an airport waiting more than six hours to board their connecting flight to cover the NBA Bullets. To fight the boredom, the two embarked upon selecting their unconventional assortment of all-time NBA teams: All-Crybaby, All-Bald, All-Schoolyard, All-Hatchet, and All-Ugly (“the entire Seattle team”). Reggie Harding,Continue reading “Reggie Harding: Jackson Prison Blues, 1970”

Reggie Harding: A New Kind of Piston, 1964

Harding still retains some of his arrogance, but it’s not offensive. Sure, he said, he misses playing basketball. “It’s part of me,” he said. But he added: “I’ve still got the ability, and they can’t take that away from me.”

Penny for Your Thoughts on Cleo Hill

Cleo Hill had certain remarkable talents as a player. He had fast hands, a wonderful asset for a basketball player. He was quick. But his quickness and his hand speed were wasted when they weren’t harnessed with the team effort of everybody else. It is something a man might learn in a minor league but has to be taken for granted in the majors.

Stan Stutz: The 1940s King of the Running One-Hander

One of the things that impressed me was the wild, one-handed shooting of Stan Stutz, “who had that sallow complexion and would comb his light hair straight back and take one-handers from all over the court.”