Everything seemed to be fine at first for Elmore Smith in Buffalo. Then it was Los Angeles. Then it was Milwaukee. Now it is Cleveland. Elmore Smith has been an enigma no matter what the team.
Tag Archives: 1970s NBA
Bill Bradley: The Reeducation of Princeton Bill, 1970
Bradley himself doesn’t think this game is much work. He thinks it’s fun, and older men will tell you those who feel that way about it—and who have the necessary and special talent—get to be the great ones.
Willis Reed: The Game I’ll Never Forget, 1970
I had some nerve going up against the greatest all-around center in NBA history in my condition, but I’m glad I made the effort. It was worth it.
Ed Ratleff: Easy Does It, 1975
Coach Johnny Egan says Ratleff’s presence in the Rocket lineup “became a great stabilizing factor. He is the complete team basketball player. Offensively, he is totally unselfish. He just does whatever it takes to win.”
Gary Brokaw: Potential for Magic, 1974-78
As a youth, Brokaw tried to pattern his play after Walt Frazier and Dave Bing. Little did he know that several years later, it would be Frazier and Bing that would be his workaday opponents.
Maurice Lucas: Roughing It in the NBA, 1977
Lucas plays aggressively, and critics say he plays dirty. “I play very aggressively. I play with intelligence,” he said. He paused a moment and added a footnote. “I play rough.”
Mitch Kupchak: The Game’s Best Sixth Man, 1979
Because Kupchak is so versatile, he poses monumental problems for opposing teams. “He creates favorable mismatches for us,” says Bullet coach Dick Motta, who likes to compare Kupchak with Jerry Sloan, the hellaciously tough guard Motta coached with the Chicago Bulls some years ago.
It’s a New Year for Elvin Hayes, 1971
It’s a new year for a new Elvin, really. It’s all a selfless campaign, hard to imagine for the once-brooding rookie who caused so many problems for himself and his team two years ago.
Goliath Comes to Tinseltown, 1968-1969
Contrary to popular opinion, the Lakers and their opponents, though agreeing that Los Angeles would be formidable, had reservations about the Super-team label and scoffed at the thought that the Lakers had anything locked up.
Dick Barnett: Keep on Keepin’ On, 1972
At 35 years of age, Barnett doesn’t have much time left in the game. It has been only in the past four years that he has really made decent money, and he hates to give it up so soon.
From Way Downtown 