Hoping some are worth something as it’s been decades in the making! Lol will try eBay I guess. Enjoy

Hang Time by Alan Eisenstock tells the remarkable story of Elgin Baylor, one of the NBA’s great pioneers and one of its most underappreciated superstars and first frequent flyers. Blessed with extraordinary athleticism, creativity and a seemingly effortless ability to hang in the air, Baylor transformed the possibilities of basketball in the late 1950s and 1960s.
The book follows Baylor’s journey from humble beginnings to becoming the cornerstone of the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers, where his spectacular scoring and acrobatic style made him a sensation. It also explores the racial and social barriers he encountered, his complicated relationship with the Lakers, and the personal cost of playing at such an extraordinary level.
Including the grace of his final farewell as the Lakers were poised to win it all, such utter class.

Source: X

These are two guys I think don’t get mentioned enough as their primes in the NBA weren’t long enough.

On Kareem: Physicality and jostling

(Russell had led the Celtics to their 11th championship the year Kareem was drafted at 22, and the two missed out on playing by months). This comment was from 1980, at the end of Kareem’s prime.

Q: If you were matched against Kareem in a big championship game, what would you attempt to do defensively against him?

A: Well, I know that the skyhook is not unstoppable, but it is very accurate. Against a player like that, I would make him shoot other shots. He may kill you with them; he may get 40 or 50 points with them. But in taking it away, you have to physically—you can physically take away the skyhook if you know how.

Q: And how would you take it away?

A: It is a physical thing that you can do out there. You can position yourself so that when he takes the skyhook, he'd have to step away from the basket. He doesn't like to step away from the basket. For example, if he starts at 12 feet away and shoots at 12 feet, but if you make him shoot from 13 feet, then it’s a different shot. So what you’re trying to do is change his shot from the release point as much as possible. You’re not going to stop it, but the more you’re able to affect a change, the less accurate it’ll be.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fms-ktYue3Y&ra=m

On Shaq: Turning the game into a track meet

Interview was in 1997, while Shaq was vying to establish himself as the clear best big in the game. The interview was alongside Wilt Chamberlain, who was cracking jokes.

“I would make him play horizontal as much as possible. Plus, I would make him run up and down the court all day. It I weigh 240, and he weighs 300.”

Wilt adds “(and 40)”

Russell again: “If he had to take that weight up and down the court every time, the fatigue factor starts to set in.” (Then Wilt cuts him off, joking about how Russell takes too long to get to the point).

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N71Pv48erIc&ra=m

On Wilt: Psychological warfare

Often outweighed by 70 or 80 pounds, the 240 pound Russell often relied on psychological tricks in trying to get the best of Chamberlain. He went 7-1 in playoff series against him, winning four game sevens by a combined nine points.

“Everyone fell for my fakes but Bill” (said Wilt)

“Well you flexed your muscles harder when you faked,” Russell said. “If you were posing, you weren’t shooting.”

He implied he would constantly try to get in Wilt’s head, playing to his ego, and trying to frustrate him.

From a 1965 article, called “How I Psych Them”

Russell tells the story of leaning against Wilt during a tiring game and saying, “I never thought I’d see the day when a great big guy like you would be pushing an old man like me around.”

Wilt would respond, (heavily implied to involve stronger words) “Don’t give me that old psych”

Not Wilt directly, but revealing:

“I understood that the game was played by very insecure people. One of the great players that not many people remember is Walter Bellamy, he was a great player. Physically, I was not up to him on some nights, so I would say, 'what am I going to do?'.

I would play very hard defense to keep him from getting the ball, and then I said to him, 'how come they are not passing you the ball?'. And I had been working like a dog for the past five minutes to keep him from getting the ball, and he'd say, 'yeah, they don't treat old Walter right.' And then I had him diverted."

Even though he left a lot on the table, no one has been able to catch him.

Shawn Kemp has always been one of my absolute favorite NBA players. Although he’s generally remembered by most fans in the basketball community for his freakish athleticism and explosive highlight dunks, I’ve always felt that his impact as a defender and rebounder is particularly overlooked and underappreciated.

During the early stage of Kemp’s career, K.C. Jones (who was Seattle’s head coach at the time) had this to say about him, “He has this enthusiasm for rebounding and blocking shots. How often do you come across a player who has that kind of desire for that part of the game? Not very often at all.” That youthful enthusiasm ultimately resulted in Kemp recording a career single game high of 10 blocks in a January 1991 matchup versus the Lakers.

Later on during Kemp’s peak season in 1995-96, he ranked 2nd in the league in defensive rating behind only David Robinson and was 4th in defensive win shares and 3rd in total rebounds as well. Furthermore, after he left Seattle, they fell from 6th to 10th in the standings for collective team defensive rating, and at the same time, Cleveland immediately became the NBA’s #1 rated defensive unit during his first season with the Cavs. Gary Payton seems to receive most (if not all) of the credit for why those Sonics teams were so great on defense, but I think the reality and fact being that they got worse defensively after Kemp’s departure and Cleveland developed into the league’s top rated defense upon his arrival is a very solid indicator that he also played a crucial role in Seattle’s defensive success.

And in hindsight, the fact that Kemp was never selected for an NBA All-Defensive Team is a rather egregious oversight, especially when you take into consideration that during Shawn’s best 4 year stretch from 1992-93 to 1995-96, Horace Grant was named to the All-Defensive Second Team every season during that span, but when you analyze their respective on-court stats and advanced defensive metrics throughout that time, Kemp was superior in pretty much every category. His teams also had better defensive ratings in each of those years as well, and as previously mentioned, Kemp played a significant part in that. Here’s the head-to-head comparison of their individual defensive stats and metrics across the specified timeline...

1992-93

• Shawn Kemp: 10.7 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 1.9 BPG, 25.1 DRB%, 2.3 STL%, 3.8 BLK%, Defensive Rating: 100, Defensive Win Shares: 5.1, Defensive Box Plus/Minus: 1.0
• Horace Grant: 9.5 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 1.2 BPG, 16.9 DRB%, 1.7 STL%, 2.3 BLK%, Defensive Rating: 105, Defensive Win Shares: 3.7, Defensive Box Plus/Minus: 0.1

1993-94

• Shawn Kemp: 10.8 RPG, 1.8 SPG, 2.1 BPG, 24.7 DRB%, 2.8 STL%, 4.6 BLK%, Defensive Rating: 96, Defensive Win Shares: 6.0, Defensive Box Plus/Minus: 2.0
• Horace Grant: 11.0 RPG, 1.1 SPG, 1.2 BPG, 21.1 DRB%, 1.5 STL%, 2.2 BLK%, Defensive Rating: 101, Defensive Win Shares: 4.3, Defensive Box Plus/Minus: 0.9

1994-95

• Shawn Kemp: 10.9 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 1.5 BPG, 25.0 DRB%, 1.9 STL%, 3.5 BLK%, Defensive Rating: 102, Defensive Win Shares: 4.7, Defensive Box Plus/Minus: 0.1
• Horace Grant: 9.7 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 1.2 BPG, 20.3 DRB%, 1.4 STL%, 2.2 BLK%, Defensive Rating: 106, Defensive Win Shares: 3.5, Defensive Box Plus/Minus: 0.6

1995-96

• Shawn Kemp: 11.4 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 1.6 BPG, 26.9 DRB%, 1.8 STL%, 3.8 BLK%, Defensive Rating: 97, Defensive Win Shares: 6.1, Defensive Box Plus/Minus: 1.3
• Horace Grant: 9.2 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 1.2 BPG, 20.0 DRB%, 1.4 STL%, 2.4 BLK%, Defensive Rating: 105, Defensive Win Shares: 3.1, Defensive Box Plus/Minus: 0.6

In today’s modern NBA era of pace and space, Kemp undoubtedly would be one of the more sought after defensive big men in the league largely because of his supreme athleticism and ability to seamlessly rotate and switch onto smaller players on the wing and perimeter. Just on that end of the court, I can easily imagine him having a Bam Adebayo type of impact in terms of versatility and all-around defensive value. But in comparison to Bam, The Reign Man was a noticeably better rebounder.

Here's the link to a video on YouTube that mainly showcases Kemp’s abilities as a shot blocker and rim protector…

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL5XSQLNobA

Appropriately dubbed by Marv Albert as "The Greatest Team Ever Assembled," the 1992 U.S. Men's National Team steamrolled the competition, going an undefeated 8-0, and defeating opponents by an average margin of victory of 43.8 ppg. On August 8, 1992, the Dream Team defeated Croatia by a score of 117-85 to capture its first gold since the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.

The 1992 squad had the distinction of being the first US Men's team to send mostly professional players, 11 NBA veterans and 1 recently-drafted NCAA phenom:

#	Name	Team
4	Christian Laettner	Duke University (drafted by Minnesota Timberwolves on June 24)
5	David Robinson	San Antonio Spurs
6	Patrick Ewing	New York Knicks
7	Larry Bird	Boston Celtics
8	Scottie Pippen	Chicago Bulls
9	Michael Jordan	Chicago Bulls
10	Clyde Drexler	Portland Trail Blazers
11	Karl Malone	Utah Jazz
12	John Stockton	Utah Jazz
13	Chris Mullin	Golden State Warriors
14	Charles Barkley	Phoenix Suns (traded from Philadelphia 76ers on June 17)
15	Earvin "Magic" Johnson	Retired (last played for Los Angeles Lakers)

Some fun facts about this historic team:

1. While Michael Jordan was regarded as the best player in the world at the time, it was Charles Barkley who would be regarded as the best performer of their dominant run, averaging 18.0 ppg on otherworldly efficiency (71.1% from the field, 87.5% on two-pointers). "The Round Mound Of Rebound" would then carry this momentum into the 1992/1993 NBA season, when he would win MVP in his first year with the Phoenix Suns, leading them all the way to the NBA Finals in June of 1993.
2. Opponents of severely undermatched nations were frequently starstruck by the NBA legends they were competing against. On one occasion, an opposing player trying to guard Magic Johnson was waving to his teammate on the bench to ensure he took a photograph of him guarding the Laker legend. Other examples included entire opposing teams requesting to take photos with and getting autographs from the Dream Team.
3. Head Coach Chuck Daly never called one single timeout during their entire run. Let that sink in!
4. 11 of the 12 were eventually inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame as individual players after their respective pro careers, with Laettner being the exception. However, the entire squad was inducted as a team in 2010.
5. And who can forget (see first photo above): Michael Jordan draping the United States flag over his right shoulder to cover up the Reebok logo. He took things personally on a global stage! 🤣

Whether you witnessed this all-time great team or simply read and heard about them: Any additional thoughts or fun facts to share?

And of course we need to ask:

Was this Dream Team the greatest team in USA Men's Basketball history?

Drop your takes below, and the B.A.D. Show just might feature you on a future episode of the podcast!🎙️

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