1.
National Basketball Association
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The National Basketball Association is the major mens professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier mens professional basketball league in the world. It has 30 teams, and is a member of USA Basketball. The NBA is one of the four professional sports leagues in the United States. NBA players are the worlds best paid athletes by average annual salary per player, the league was founded in New York City on June 6,1946, as the Basketball Association of America. The league adopted the name National Basketball Association on August 3,1949, the leagues several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, the Basketball Association of America was founded in 1946 by owners of the major ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Canada. On November 1,1946, in Toronto, Canada, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens, the first basket was made by Ossie Schectman of the Knickerbockers. During its early years, the quality of play in the BAA was not significantly better than in competing leagues or among leading independent clubs such as the Harlem Globetrotters. For instance, the 1948 ABL finalist Baltimore Bullets moved to the BAA and won that leagues 1948 title, Following the 1948–49 season, the BAA took in the remainder of the NBL, Syracuse, Anderson, Tri-Cities, Sheboygan, Denver, and Waterloo. The new league had seventeen franchises located in a mix of large and small cities, as well as arenas and smaller gymnasiums. The process of contraction saw the leagues smaller-city franchises move to larger cities, the Hawks shifted from the Tri-Cities to Milwaukee in 1951, and then to St. Louis in 1955. The Rochester Royals moved from Rochester, New York, to Cincinnati in 1957, japanese-American Wataru Misaka broke the NBA color barrier in the 1947–48 season when he played for the New York Knicks. He remained the only player in league history prior to the first African-American, Harold Hunter. During this period, the Minneapolis Lakers, led by center George Mikan, won five NBA Championships, to encourage shooting and discourage stalling, the league introduced the 24-second shot clock in 1954. If a team does not attempt to score a goal within 24 seconds of obtaining the ball, play is stopped. In 1957, rookie center Bill Russell joined the Boston Celtics, who already featured guard Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, and went on to lead the club to eleven NBA titles in thirteen seasons. Center Wilt Chamberlain entered the league with the Warriors in 1959 and became a dominant individual star of the 1960s, russells rivalry with Chamberlain became one of the greatest rivalries in the history of American team sports. The 1960s were dominated by the Celtics, led by Russell, Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, Boston won eight straight championships in the NBA from 1959 to 1966
2.
Basketball
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Basketball is a non-contact team sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of five players each. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high that is mounted to a backboard at each end of the court. The game was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket being defended by the opposition team during regular play. A field goal scores three points for the team if the player shoots from behind the three-point line. A team can also score via free throws, which are worth one point, the team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time is mandated when the score is tied at the end of regulation. The ball can be advanced on the court by passing it to a teammate and it is a violation to lift, or drag, ones pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling. The game has many techniques for displaying skill—ball-handling, shooting, passing, dribbling, dunking, shot-blocking. The point guard directs the on court action of the team, implementing the coachs game plan, Basketball is one of the worlds most popular and widely viewed sports. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the Euroleague, the FIBA Basketball World Cup attracts the top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for teams, like EuroBasket. The FIBA Womens Basketball World Cup features the top womens basketball teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA, whereas the EuroLeague Women has been dominated by teams from the Russian Womens Basketball Premier League, in early December 1891, Canadian Dr. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied, after rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball and these laces could cause bounce passes and dribbling to be unpredictable. Eventually a lace-free ball construction method was invented, and this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith, dribbling was not part of the original game except for the bounce pass to teammates. Passing the ball was the means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a part of the game around the 1950s
3.
NBA on CBS
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CBS aired NBA games from the 1973–1974 NBA season until the 1989–90 NBA season. During CBS first few years of covering the NBA, CBS was accused of mishandling their NBA telecasts, regular features included a pre-game show that consisted of mini-teams of celebrities, and active and former NBA players competing against each other, and a halftime show called Horse. The NBA eventually took notice of the criticisms and managed to persuade CBS to eliminate its original halftime show, in its place, came human-interest shows about the players. There also was a possibility that CBS would start televising a single game on Sunday afternoons. Other adjustments that CBS made in hopes of improving its coverage included hiring reporter Sonny Hill to cover the league on a full-time basis, CBS also put microphones and cameras on team huddles to allow viewers to see and hear coaches at work. Finally, CBS introduced a segment called Red Auerbach on Roundball. The segment intended to not only educate CBS viewers about the complexities of the pro game and they also subtly introduced audiences to an all-star team based on Auerbachs criteria such as screening and passing. Don Criqui was the host of this particular competition, the final, which pitted Larry McNeill of the Golden State Warriors against eventual winner Darnell Dr. Dunk Hillman of the Indiana Pacers, took place during Game 6 of the 1977 NBA Finals. At the time of the final, Hillmans rights had been traded to the New York Nets, since he was not officially a member of any NBA team, instead of wearing a jersey, he competed in a plain white tank top. Other players to compete in the slam dunk tournament included Julius Erving, George Gervin, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, CBS, anxious for star power, also gave David Thompson the opportunity to be eliminated three times. During the 1977–78 season, CBS held a H-O-R-S-E competition at halftime of the Game of the Week telecasts, Again, Don Criqui hosted with Mendy Rudolph officiating. 32 players, including Rick Barry, Pete Maravich, George Gervin, JoJo White, Doug Collins, Paul Westphal and Bob McAdoo, Barry was eliminated in the first round by journeyman Earl Tatum of the Los Angeles Lakers. Maravich and Westphal made it all the way to the final, however, Maravich was injured and unavailable, so CBS instead had Westphal shoot a free-throw against Bag-Man. Westphal, with a bag over his head as well, made the free throw while Barry missed, from 1975 to 1979, CBS aired all NBA Finals games live, live NBA Finals game coverage on the network resumed in 1982. During this era, CBS aired weeknight playoff games from earlier rounds on tape delay at 11,30 p. m. Eastern Time, CBS continued this practice until at least the mid-1980s. CBS did not want sportscasters to give the score on the late-evening newscasts aired by its local affiliates. The network preferred the games to not be over by that time if they were going to be aired on later that night. Most CBS games were either 8,30 or 9,00 p. m. local starts, for instance, CBS aired Games 1–3 of the 1981 Western Conference Finals, between the Houston Rockets and Kansas City Kings
4.
NBA on TBS
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The NBA on TBS was a presentation of NBA regular season and playoff game telecasts that aired on the American cable and satellite network TBS. The games were produced by Turner Sports, the division of the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner. The network obtained rights to air NBA games beginning with the 1984-1985 season under a four-year contract, TBS also carried numerous NBA Playoff games as well as the NBA Draft from 1985-1989. TBS was also allowed to televise 20 early round playoff games beginning with the 1985 NBA Playoffs. During the 1989 NBA Playoffs, only 13 of the 24 games in the first round aired on TBS or CBS, for example, none of the four games from the Seattle-Houston first round series appeared on national television. Beginning in 1986, TBS televised the various contests from the NBA All-Star Weekend, in 1987, the slam dunk contest was televised live for the very first time on the network. TNT held rights to broadcast the NBA Draft and most NBA regular season and playoff games, while TBS only aired single games or double-headers once a week. Both networks continued to expand their NBA coverage during the late 1990s, by time, TBS only aired games on Wednesday nights. By 1994, the round of the playoffs featured overlapping doubleheaders on both TBS and TNT on the first two nights of each series. For the 1999-2000 NBA season, TBS shifted its primetime game telecasts from Wednesdays to Mondays, for the 2000-2001 NBA season, the broadcasts were moved to Tuesdays, while TNT assumed rights to Wednesday and Thursday evening games. Starting in 2000, the NBA spread out telecasts of games from the Eastern Conference, TNT would air doubleheaders on most weekdays, while TBS would air one doubleheader each week. The 2001-2002 season would ultimately mark TBSs final year of NBA coverage, during 2002, TBS aired doubleheaders every Tuesday night of the playoffs until the Conference Finals. The final NBA game ever to be televised on TBS aired on May 13,2002. In that last game, Robert Horry hit a key three-pointer that won the four games to one for the Lakers to move on to the Western Conference Finals. The game was available in the Los Angeles area through SportsChannel Los Angeles. On isolated occasions since TNT assumed partial cable rights to the NBA, in 2003, TBS aired a doubleheader of first round Game 6 matchups. On May 14,2004, the situation arose, as Game 5 of the New Jersey Nets-Detroit Pistons playoff series lasted three overtimes. However, due to scheduling conflicts with TBS, TNT had to air part of the Sacramento Kings-Minnesota Timberwolves game that was supposed to follow on NBA TV. m, since 2015, TBS started simulcast the NBA All-Star Game on TNT
5.
1985 NBA draft
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The 1985 NBA draft took place on June 18,1985. It was also the first NBA draft of the lottery era, a total of 162 players were selected over seven rounds by the leagues 23 teams. The New York Knicks were awarded the first overall pick by winning the first-ever NBA draft lottery, the Knicks ultimately used it on Georgetowns Patrick Ewing
6.
Patrick Ewing
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Patrick Aloysius Ewing is a Jamaican-American retired Hall of Fame basketball player. He played most of his career with the NBAs New York Knicks as their center and played briefly with the Seattle SuperSonics. On April 3,2017, he was named head coach of the Georgetown Hoyas. Ewing played center for Georgetown for four years—where he played in the NCAA Championship Game three times—and was named as the 16th greatest college player of all time by ESPN and he won Olympic gold medals as a member of the 1984 and 1992 United States mens Olympic basketball teams. In a 1996 poll celebrating the 50th anniversary of the NBA and he is a two-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 2009, he was inducted into the U. S. Olympic Hall of Fame as a member of the Dream Team. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame on September 5,2008, along with former NBA coach Pat Riley and his number 33 was retired by the Knicks in 2003. Ewing was born in 1962 in Kingston, Jamaica, he excelled at cricket, in 1975, 12-year-old Ewing joined his family in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He learned to play basketball at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School with the help of John Fountain, when Ewing was in high school, opponents threw rocks at his team bus when the squad traveled to play an away game. In order to prepare for college, Ewing joined the MIT-Wellesley Upward Bound Program and he went to Georgetown University in Washington, D. C. and became a United States citizen while attending Georgetown. During his recruitment, Ewing was close to signing a letter of intent with the University of North Carolina, while visiting the campus, he stayed at the Carolina Inn. After witnessing a rally for the Ku Klux Klan, he decided not to sign with UNC. Ewing signed a letter of intent to play for Coach John Thompson at Georgetown University, Ewing made his announcement in a room full of fans who wanted him to play for Boston College or Boston University. When Ewing announced his decision to play at Georgetown, the left the room. As a freshman during the 1981–1982 season, Ewing became one of the first college players to start, while at Georgetown, he developed a habit of wearing a short sleeved T-shirt underneath his jersey. This started a trend among young athletes that lasts to this day. In the 1982 NCAA final against the University of North Carolina, Ewing was called for goaltending five times in the first half, setting the tone for the Hoyas and making his presence felt. The Hoyas led late in the game, but a shot by future NBA supestar Michael Jordan gave North Carolina the lead, in the 1983–84 season, Ewing led Georgetown to the Big East championship and a number one seed in the tournament
7.
New York Knicks
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The New York Knickerbockers, commonly referred to as the Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in New York City. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its games at Madison Square Garden, located in the borough of Manhattan. They are one of two NBA teams located in New York City, the other is the Brooklyn Nets, along with the Boston Celtics, the Knicks are one of only two original NBA teams still located in its original city. The Knicks were successful during their years and were constant playoff contenders under the franchises first head coach Joe Lapchick. Beginning in 1950, the Knicks made three appearances in the NBA Finals, all of which were losing efforts. Lapchick resigned in 1956 and the team began to falter. It was not until the late 1960s when Red Holzman became head coach that the Knicks began to regain their former dominance, Holzman successfully guided the Knicks to two NBA championships, in 1970 and 1973. The Knicks of the 1980s had mixed success that included six playoff appearances, however, the playoff-level Knicks of the 1990s were led by future Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing, this era was marked by passionate rivalries with the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, and Miami Heat. During this time, they were known for playing tough defense under head coaches Pat Riley, during this era, the Knicks made two appearances in the NBA Finals, in 1994 and 1999, though they were unable to win an NBA championship. Since 2000, the Knicks have struggled to regain their former glory, in 2012–13, the franchise won its first division title in 19 years, but was eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Indiana Pacers. According to a 2016 Forbes report, the Knicks were the most-valuable NBA franchise, in 1946, basketball, particularly college basketball, was a growing and increasingly profitable sport in New York City. Hockey was another sport at the time and generated considerable profits, however. Max Kase, a New York sportswriter, became the editor at the Boston American in the 1930s. Kase developed the idea of a professional league to showcase college players upon their graduation. Brown, intrigued by the opportunity to attain additional income when the teams were not playing or on the road. Ned Irish, a college basketball promoter, retired sportswriter and then president of Madison Square Garden, was in attendance, Kase originally planned to own and operate the New York franchise himself and approached Irish with a proposal to lease the Garden. Irish explained that the rules of the Arena Managers Association of America stated that Madison Square Garden was required to own any professional teams played in the arena
8.
Boston Celtics
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The Boston Celtics are an American professional basketball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the leagues Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 and one of eight NBA teams to survive the leagues first decade, the Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which they share with the National Hockey League s Boston Bruins. The franchises 17 championships are the most of any NBA franchise, as a percentage of championships won, the Celtics are the most successful franchise to date in the major four traditional North American professional sports leagues. The Celtics have played the Lakers a record 12 times in the Finals, including their most recent appearances in 2008 and 2010, four Celtics players have won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for an NBA record total of 10 MVP awards. Their mascot Lucky the Leprechaun is a nod to the teams Irish heritage, in 1950, the Celtics signed Chuck Cooper, becoming the first NBA franchise to draft a black player. The Celtics struggled during their years, until the hiring of coach Red Auerbach. In the franchises early days, Auerbach had no assistants, ran all the practices, did all the scouting—both of opposing teams and college draft prospects—and scheduled all the road trips. One of the first great players to join the Celtics was Bob Cousy, Cousy eventually became the property of the Chicago Stags, but when that franchise went bankrupt, Cousy went to the Celtics in a dispersal draft. After the 1955–56 season, Auerbach made a stunning trade and he sent perennial All-Star Ed Macauley to the St. Louis Hawks along with the draft rights to Cliff Hagan in exchange for the second overall pick in the draft. Auerbach also acquired Holy Cross standout, and 1957 NBA Rookie of the Year, Russell and Heinsohn worked extraordinarily well with Cousy, and they were the players around whom Auerbach would build the champion Celtics for more than a decade. With Bill Russell, the Celtics advanced to the NBA Finals and defeated the St. Louis Hawks in seven games, Russell went on to win 11 championships, making him the most decorated player in NBA history. In 1958, the Celtics again advanced to the NBA Finals, however, with the acquisition of K. C. Jones that year, the Celtics began a dynasty that would last for more than a decade. In 1959, the Celtics won the NBA Championship after sweeping the Minneapolis Lakers, during that time, the Celtics met the Lakers in the Finals five times, starting an intense and often bitter rivalry that has spanned generations. In 1964, the Celtics became the first NBA team to have an all African-American starting lineup. On December 26,1964, Willie Naulls replaced an injured Tommy Heinsohn, joining Tom Satch Sanders, K. C. Jones, Sam Jones, the Celtics defeated St. Louis 97–84. Boston won its next 11 games with Naulls starting in place of Heinsohn, the Celtics of the late-1950s–60s are widely considered as one of the most dominant teams of all time. Auerbach retired as coach after the 1965–66 season and Russell took over as player-coach, with his appointment, Russell also became the first African-American coach in any U. S. pro sport
9.
NBA Most Valuable Player Award
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The National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1955–56 season to the best performing player of the regular season. The winner receives the Maurice Podoloff Trophy, which is named in honor of the first commissioner of the NBA, until the 1979–80 season, the MVP was selected by a vote of NBA players. Since the 1980–81 season, the award is decided by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada, each of whom casts a vote for first to fifth place selections. Each first-place vote is worth 10 points, each vote is worth seven, each third-place vote is worth five. Starting from 2010, one ballot was cast by fans through online voting, the player with the highest point total wins the award. As of May 2016, the current holder of the award is Stephen Curry, every player who has won this award and has been eligible for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has been inducted. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the award a record six times, both Bill Russell and Michael Jordan won the award five times, while Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James won the award four times. Russell and James are the players to have won the award four times in five seasons. Moses Malone, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson each won the three times, while Bob Pettit, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash and Stephen Curry have each won it twice. Only two rookies have won the award, Wilt Chamberlain in the 1959–60 season and Wes Unseld in the 1968–69 season. Hakeem Olajuwon of Nigeria, Tim Duncan of the U. S. Virgin Islands, Steve Nash of Canada, Stephen Curry in 2015–16 is the only player to have won the award unanimously. Shaquille ONeal in 1999–2000 and LeBron James in 2012–13 are the two players to have fallen one vote shy of a unanimous selection, both receiving 120 of 121 votes. Since the 1982–83 season, every winner was from a team won at least 50 games in the regular season that year. Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award NBA Development League Most Valuable Player Award General Specific
10.
Larry Bird
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Larry Joe Bird is an American professional basketball executive, former coach and former player, currently serving as president of the Indiana Pacers in the National Basketball Association. Since retiring as a player for the Boston Celtics, he has been a mainstay in the Indiana Pacers organization, Bird was a 12-time NBA All-Star and was named the leagues Most Valuable Player three consecutive times. He played his professional career for Boston, winning three NBA championships and two NBA Finals MVP awards. He was a member of the 1992 United States mens Olympic basketball team won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Bird was voted to the NBAs 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996 and he served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. In 2003, he assumed the role of president of operations for the Pacers. After a year away from the position, he announced he would return to the Pacers as president of operations in 2013. In addition to being part of the 50–40–90 club, he is the person in NBA history to be named Most Valuable Player, Coach of the Year. Bird was born in West Baden Springs, Indiana to Georgia and Claude Joseph Joe Bird and he was raised in nearby French Lick, where his mother worked two jobs to support Larry and his five siblings. Bird has said that being poor as a child still motivates him to this day, Georgia and Joe divorced when Larry was in high school, and Joe committed suicide about a year later. Bird received a scholarship to college basketball for the Indiana University Hoosiers in 1974. After less than a month on campus he dropped out of school and he returned to French Lick, enrolling at Northwood Institute in nearby West Baden, and working municipal jobs for a year before enrolling at Indiana State University in Terre Haute in 1975. Indiana State would lose the game 75–64, with Bird scoring 19 points, despite failing to win the championship, Bird earned numerous year-end awards and honors for his outstanding play, including the Naismith College Player of the Year Award. For his college career, he averaged 30.3 points,13.3 rebounds, Bird also appeared in one game for the baseball team, going 1-for-2 with 2 RBI. Bird was selected by the Boston Celtics with the sixth pick in the 1978 NBA draft. He did not sign with the Celtics immediately, instead, he played out his season at Indiana State. After protracted negotiations, Bird inked a five-year, $3.25 million contract with the team, shortly afterwards, NBA draft eligibility rules were changed to prevent teams from drafting players before they were ready to sign, a rule known as the Bird Collegiate Rule. Bird immediately transformed the Celtics into a contender, helping them improve their win total by 32 games from the year before he was drafted
11.
Dominique Wilkins
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Jacques Dominique Wilkins is an American retired professional basketball player who primarily played for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association. Wilkins was a nine-time NBA All-Star, and is viewed as one of the best dunkers in NBA history. In 2006, Wilkins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Wilkins was born in Paris, France while his father was stationed there as an airman in the U. S. Air Force. Wilkins family then moved to Dallas and Baltimore before settling in Washington, North Carolina and he was the back-to-back MVP for the teams consecutive Class 3-A State Championships. Wilkins then starred in the McDonalds All-American Game, The Capital Classic, The Kentucky Derby Festival Classic and he had 16 points and 12 rebounds in the McDonalds,26 points in the Capital, and 22 points in the Derby Classic. He entered the University of Georgia in 1979 with a reputation as an exciting player. Wilkins averaged 21.6 points a game over his career and was named SEC Mens Basketball Player of the Year in 1981 and he left college after his junior year and was selected third overall by the Utah Jazz in the 1982 NBA draft. Despite Wilkinss reluctance to play in Utah, the trade is now considered among the most lopsided deals in NBA history, as Drew, Wilkins was instrumental in the Hawks prominence in the 1980s, when the club recorded four consecutive 50-win seasons during the decade. As Wilkins entered his thirties and the Hawks needed more of a contribution from their star. A nine-time NBA All-Star and the winner of two NBA slam dunk contests, Wilkins registered 26,668 points and 7,169 rebounds in his NBA career, as of 2016, he ranks 15th on the NBA scoring list. Wilkinss nickname was the The Human Highlight Film for his athletic ability and his trademark dunk was a powerful one- or two-handed windmill, dunks he used to capture the slam dunk contest titles in 1985 and 1990. As a basketball player he was known as a scorer, somewhat of a gunner, though an outstanding finisher. His #21 jersey was retired by the Hawks on January 13,2001 and he is one of four players whose jerseys have been retired by the Hawks. Wilkins notched his first Slam-Dunk Championship at the NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis during the 1984–85 season and he went on to finish the season with a 27.4 scoring average, good for sixth in the NBA. He ranked second on the Hawks in rebounding and steals, for the first of two straight seasons he led the NBA in field-goal attempts, with 1,891. After going 0-for-11 from the three-point line the previous season, Wilkins made 25 of 81 three-point shots in 1984–85 and he also shot better than 80 percent from the free throw line for the first of 10 consecutive seasons. Despite Wilkinss efforts, Atlanta finished 34-48 and failed to reach the playoffs, Wilkins exploded into the NBAs elite circle in 1985–86, winning the league scoring title with an average of 30.3 points per game. He was an NBA All-Star for the first time and was voted to the All-NBA First Team at the end of the season and he failed in his bid to repeat as NBA Slam-Dunk champion, his competition coming from an unlikely source
12.
Atlanta Hawks
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The Atlanta Hawks are a professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association as a team of the leagues Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its games at Philips Arena. The teams origins can be traced to the establishment of the Buffalo Bisons in 1946 in Buffalo, New York, after 38 days in Buffalo, the team moved to Moline, Illinois, where they were renamed the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. In 1949, they joined the NBA as part of the merger between the NBL and the Basketball Association of America, and had Red Auerbach as coach briefly, in 1951, Kerner moved the team to Milwaukee, where they changed their name to the Hawks. Kerner and the team moved again in 1955 to St. Louis, the Hawks played the Boston Celtics in all four of their trips to the NBA Finals. The St. Louis Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968, when Kerner sold the franchise to Thomas Cousins, the Hawks currently own the second-longest drought of not winning an NBA championship at 57 seasons. The franchises lone NBA championship, as well as all four NBA Finals appearances, meanwhile, they went 48 years without advancing past the second round of the playoffs in any format, until finally breaking through in 2015. Much of the failure theyve experienced in the postseason can be traced back to their history in the NBA draft. Since 1980, the Hawks have drafted four players who have been chosen to play in an NBA All-Star Game. Dominique Wilkins was actually selected by the Utah Jazz and traded to the Hawks a few months after the draft, the origins of the Atlanta Hawks can be traced to the Buffalo Bisons franchise, which was founded in 1946. The Bisons were a member of the National Basketball League, the club was organized by the Erie County American Legion and was coached by Nat Hickey. Their first game – a 50–39 victory over the Syracuse Nationals – was played on November 8,1946, on the team was William Pop Gates, who, along with William Dolly King, was one of the first two African-American players in the NBL. The team, which needed to draw 3,600 fans per game to break even struggled to draw 1,000 fans per game to the Auditorium. Upon relocation to Moline, the team was renamed the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, and played their games at Wharton Field House. The team featured guard/forward and coach Deanglo King, and was owned by Leo Ferris, Pop Gates remained on the Blackhawks roster, and finished second on the team in scoring behind future 1948 NBL MVP Don Otten. A Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member, Gates helped to integrate the league and later become the first African-American coach in a sports league. In 1949 the Blackhawks became one of the National Basketball Associations 17 original teams after a merger of the 12-year-old NBL and they reached the playoffs in the NBAs inaugural year under the leadership of coach Red Auerbach
13.
Milwaukee Bucks
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The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball franchise based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the leagues Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 as a team. The team is valued at $675 million according to Forbes. The Bucks have won one title, two conference titles, and 13 division titles. On January 22,1968, the NBA awarded a franchise to Milwaukee Professional Sports and Services, Inc. a group headed by Wesley Pavalon, a fan contest was held to name the new team, with over 40,000 fans participating. One fan, R. D. Trebilcox, was awarded a new car for his part in reasoning why the Bucks was a nickname, saying that bucks were spirited, good jumpers, fast. In October, the Bucks played their first NBA regular-season game against the Chicago Bulls before a Milwaukee Arena crowd of 8,467, as is typical with expansion teams, the Bucks first season was a struggle. Their first victory came in their game as the Bucks beat the Detroit Pistons 134–118. The Bucks record that earned them a coin flip against their expansion cousins. It was a conclusion that the first pick in the draft would be Lew Alcindor of UCLA. The Bucks won the flip, but had to win a bidding war with the upstart American Basketball Association to secure him. Despite the Bucks stroke of fortune in landing Alcindor, no one expected what happened in 1969–70 and they finished with a 56–26 record – a nearly exact reversal of the previous year and good enough for the second-best record in the league, behind the New York Knicks. The 29-game improvement was the best in league history – a record which would stand for 10 years until the Boston Celtics jumped from 29 wins in 1978–79 to 61 in 1979–80. The Bucks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in five games in the Eastern semifinals, Alcindor was a runaway selection for NBA Rookie of the Year. The following season, the Bucks got a gift when they acquired Oscar Robertson, known as the Big O. Subsequently, in only their season, the Bucks finished 66–16 – the second-most wins in NBA history at the time. During the regular season, the Bucks recorded a then-NBA record 20-game win streak and they then steamrolled through the playoffs with a dominating 12–2 record, winning the NBA Championship on April 30,1971, by sweeping the Baltimore Bullets in four games
14.
Houston Rockets
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The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association, as a club of the leagues Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its games at the Toyota Center, located in downtown Houston. The Rockets have won two NBA championships and four Western Conference titles, the team was established as the San Diego Rockets, an expansion team originally based in San Diego, in 1967. In 1971, the Rockets moved to Houston, the Rockets won only 15 games in their debut season as a franchise in 1967. In the 1968 NBA draft, the Rockets, picking first overall, selected power forward Elvin Hayes, the Rockets did not finish a season with a winning record until the 1976–77 season, when they traded for center Moses Malone. Malone went on to win the NBA Most Valuable Player award twice and he also led the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981 where they were defeated in six games by the Boston Celtics, led by Larry Bird and future Rockets coach Kevin McHale. In 1984, the Rockets drafted center Hakeem Olajuwon, who would be paired with 7 feet 4 inches Ralph Sampson, nicknamed the Twin Towers, they led the team to the 1986 NBA Finals—the second NBA Finals appearance in franchise history—where Houston was again defeated by the Boston Celtics. The Rockets continued to reach the playoffs throughout the 1980s, Rudy Tomjanovich took over as head coach midway through the 1991–92 season, ushering in the most successful period in franchise history. Olajuwon-led Rockets went to the 1994 NBA Finals and won franchises first championship against Patrick Ewing, Houston became the lowest-seeded team in NBA history to win the title. After Yaos early retirement in 2011, the Rockets entered a period of rebuilding, the acquisition of franchise player James Harden in 2012 has launched the Rockets back into championship contention in the mid-2010s. The Rockets, under general manager Daryl Morey, are notable for popularizing the use of advanced statistical analytics in player acquisitions and style of play. The Rockets were founded in 1967 in San Diego by Robert Breitbard, Breitbard brought in Jack McMahon, then coach of the Cincinnati Royals, to serve as the Rockets coach and general manager. The Rockets lost 67 games in their season, which was an NBA record for losses in a season at the time. Because of the low performance and attendance, Breitbard looked to sell the team, and in 1971, Texas Sports Investments bought the franchise for $5.6 million, and moved the team to Houston. The franchise became the first NBA team in Texas, and the nickname Rockets took on greater relevance after the move. It was also around this time that the Rockets would unveil their classic yellow and red logo, winter left soon after, being fired in January 1973 following a ten-game losing streak, and was replaced by Johnny Egan. Egan led the Rockets back to the playoffs in 1975, where the franchise also managed to win their first round against the New York Knicks, subsequently losing to the veteran Boston Celtics in 5 games
15.
Los Angeles Lakers
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The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association, as a club of the leagues Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA, as of 2015, the Lakers are the second most valuable franchise in the NBA according to Forbes, having an estimated value of $2.7 billion. The franchise began with the 1947 purchase of a disbanded team, the new team began playing in Minneapolis, calling themselves the Minneapolis Lakers in honor of the states nickname, Land of 10,000 Lakes. The team was propelled by center George Mikan, who is described by the NBAs official website as the leagues first superstar, after struggling financially in the late 1950s following Mikans retirement, they relocated to Los Angeles before the 1960–61 season. Led by Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, Los Angeles made the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, but lost each series to the Boston Celtics, beginning their long and storied rivalry. After the retirement of West and Chamberlain, the team acquired another center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had won multiple MVP awards and this team featured Hall of Famers in Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy, and a Hall of Fame coach, Pat Riley. After Abdul-Jabbar and Johnsons retirement, the team struggled in the early 1990s before acquiring Shaquille ONeal, led by ONeal, Bryant, and another Hall of Fame coach, Phil Jackson, Los Angeles won three consecutive titles between 2000 to 2002, securing the franchise its second three-peat. After losing both the 2004 and 2008 NBA Finals, the Lakers won two championships by defeating the Orlando Magic in 2009 and Boston in 2010. The Lakers hold the record for NBAs longest winning streak,33 straight games,21 Hall of Famers have played for Los Angeles, while four have coached the team. Four Lakers—Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, ONeal, and Bryant—have won the NBA MVP Award for a total of eight awards, Minneapolis sportswriter Sid Hartman played a key behind the scenes role in helping put together the deal and later the team. Inspired by Minnesotas nickname, Land of 10,000 Lakes, Hartman helped them hire John Kundla from College of St. Thomas, to be their first head coach, by meeting with him and selling him on the team. The Lakers had a roster which featured forward Jim Pollard, playmaker Herm Schaefer, and center George Mikan. In their first season, they led the league with a 43–17 record, in 1948, the Lakers moved from the NBL to the Basketball Association of America, and Mikans 28.3 point per game scoring average set a BAA record. In the 1949 BAA Finals they won the championship, beating the Washington Capitols four games to two, the following season, the team improved to 51–17, repeating as champions. In the 1950–51 season, Mikan won his third straight scoring title at 28.4 ppg, one of those games, a 19–18 loss against the Fort Wayne Pistons, became infamous as the lowest scoring game in NBA history. In the playoffs, they defeated the Indianapolis Olympians in three games but lost to the Rochester Royals in the next round, during the 1951–52 season, the Lakers won 40 games, finishing second in their division. They faced the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, which won in seven games
16.
1986 NBA Finals
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The 1986 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1985–86 NBA season. It pitted the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics against the Western Conference champion Houston Rockets, the Celtics defeated the Rockets four games to two to win their 16th NBA championship. The championship would be the Celtics last until the 2008 NBA Finals, Larry Bird was named the Finals MVP. Until the 2011 series, this was the last time the NBA Finals had started before June, since game three, all NBA Finals games have been played in June. Starting with the year, the NBA Finals would be held exclusively in the month of June. It was also the last NBA Finals series to schedule a game on a Monday until 1999, CBS Sports used Dick Stockton and Tom Heinsohn as the play-by-play man and color commentator respectively. Meanwhile, Brent Musburger was the host and Pat OBrien and Lesley Visser were the sideline reporters, the Celtics made the 1985 NBA Finals, but lost in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers. The series exposed some of Bostons weaknesses, such as the lack of bench scoring, in addition, Larry Bird played through an elbow injury, which severely affected his shooting. In the offseason, president Red Auerbach decided to tweak the roster and he also made a trade with the Indiana Pacers, acquiring the younger Jerry Sichting for an aging Quinn Buckner. These moves would pave the way for the Celtics greatest season yet, entering the 1985–86 season, the Celtics surged to a league-best 67–15 record, powered by an NBA record 40 victories at home. Their incomparable home record alone put the Celtics in the conversation among the NBAs greatest teams in a single season. In the playoffs, Boston needed just three games to defeat the Chicago Bulls in the first round, despite a playoff record 63 points by Michael Jordan in Game 2. When asked about Jordans performance in Bostons 135-131 2OT victory, Bostons coach K. C. Jones said, in retrospect, this game is considered to be a classic clash of the NBAs greatest player, Jordan, and the NBAs greatest team, Birds 86 Celtics. In the second round, Boston eliminated the Atlanta Hawks in five games, then in the conference finals, Boston swept the Milwaukee Bucks in four games, a direct reversal of their second round meeting in the 1983 NBA Playoffs. Following their previous Finals appearance in 1981, the Rockets entered a rebuilding period. Long-time Rockets Calvin Murphy and Rudy Tomjanovich retired, while Mike Dunleavy, Sr. Bill Willoughby, Tom Henderson, but the biggest move came during the 1982 offseason, when the Rockets traded Moses Malone to the 1983 champions Philadelphia 76ers. The loss of Malone sent the Rockets to a league-worst 14–68 record in the 1982–83 season, after which the Rockets were awarded the top pick of the 1983 NBA draft and selected Ralph Sampson. After a 29-win season in 1984, the Rockets were once again rewarded with the top pick in the 1984 NBA draft and they selected another center in Akeem Olajuwon, and paired alongside Sampson, they were dubbed as the Twin Towers
17.
Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award
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The Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1969 NBA Finals. The award is decided by a panel of nine media members, the person with the highest votes wins the award. In at least one NBA Finals, fans balloting on NBA. com accounted for the tenth vote, the award was originally a black trophy with a gold basketball-shaped sphere at the top, similar to the Larry OBrien Trophy, until a new trophy was introduced in 2005. Since its inception, the award has given to 30 different players. Michael Jordan is a record six-time award winner, magic Johnson, Shaquille ONeal, Tim Duncan and LeBron James won the award three times in their careers. Jordan and ONeal are the players to win the award in three consecutive seasons. Johnson is the only ever to win the award, as well as the youngest at 20 years old. Andre Iguodala is the winner to have not started every game in the series. Jerry West, the first ever awardee, is the person to win the award while being on the losing team in the NBA Finals. Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, Olajuwon, Bryant, and James have won the award in two consecutive seasons. Abdul-Jabbar and James are the players to win the award for two different teams. Olajuwon of Nigeria, who became a naturalized U. S. citizen in 1993, Tony Parker of France, cedric Maxwell is the only Finals MVP winner eligible for the Hall of Fame who has not been voted in. NBA Most Valuable Player Award NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award General Specific
18.
NBA Finals
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The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association played between the Western and Eastern champions of the Conference Finals. The first team to win four games in the game series is declared the league champion and is awarded the Larry OBrien Championship Trophy. Winners from 1946 to 1983 received the Walter A. Brown Trophy redesigned in 1977 to the current form, the NBA Finals has been played at the end of every NBA and Basketball Association of America season in history, the first being held in 1947. Most NBA Finals series were played under the 2–2–1–1–1 format prior to 1985, the series was named the BAA Finals from 1947 to 1949 and then changed to the NBA World Championship Series from 1950 to 1982. The following two years, the league used Showdown 83 and Showdown 84 and it returned to NBA World Championship Series in 1985, before settling on NBA Finals in 1986. During the first decade the Minneapolis Lakers had the first NBA dynasty, the team also featured George Mikan, one of the greatest players in NBA history. The Boston Celtics went 11–1 in the NBA Finals during 13 seasons and they won eight straight NBA championships from 1959 through 1966. With the establishment of the Celtics dynasty in 1957, Bill Russell became the star of the league, Game 7 of the NBA Finals was decided on a Celtics basket in the final seconds of the second overtime. For most of the late 1950s and 1960s, the Celtics always seemed to have the hand on Wilt Chamberlains teams. The following season, he joined the Philadelphia 76ers, the former Syracuse Nationals team that had moved to cover the vacancy created with the departure of the Warriors, a clash between the two stars in the playoffs was in 1966 and Boston won it 4–1. Chamberlains coach told him to play a game, not an individual game. His new-found team spirit brought them to a new record of 68 wins the season, and they defeated the Celtics and then advanced to, and won. In 1968, Boston overcame a 3–1 deficit against Philadelphia to once again arrive in the Finals and they went on to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers for the sixth straight time,4 games to 2. In 1969, the Celtics overcame even longer odds, Boston was an aging team and had injuries to a number of players. They barely qualified for the playoffs, finishing fourth in the East, the Lakers, who in the offseason added Chamberlain to join West and Elgin Baylor, won the West and were prohibitive favorites to finally win it all for the first time since relocating to L. A. They won the first two games at the Los Angeles Forum, however, when the series shifted to Boston Garden, the Celtics won Game 3 110–105. Game 4 was the point, as the Lakers led 87–86 and had the ball with 10 seconds to play. But after a turnover, Sam Jones put up a shot hit the front of the rim, the back heel, rolled around
19.
Philadelphia 76ers
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The Philadelphia 76ers are an American professional basketball team based in Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the leagues Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 and originally known as the Syracuse Nationals, they are one of the oldest franchises in the NBA and they have won three NBA championships, with their first coming as the Syracuse Nationals in 1955. The second title came in the 1966–67 season, a team which was led by Chamberlain, the third title came in the 1982–83 season, won by a team led by Erving and Malone. The 76ers have only been back to the NBA Finals once since then, in 2001, while in the NBL with teams largely consisting of small Midwestern towns, the Nationals put together a 21–23 record, finishing in 4th place. In the playoffs, the Nats would be beaten by the fellow upstate neighbor Rochester Royals in 4 games, in their second season, 1947–48, the Nationals would struggle, finishing in 5th place with a 24–36 record. Despite their struggles, the Nats would make the playoffs, getting swept by the Anderson Duffey Packers in 3 straight games, several teams began to leave the NBL for the BAA as the foundation for an absorption was laid. The Nationals recipe for success began by recruiting Leo Ferris, in the playoffs the Nationals would make quick work of the Hammond Calumet Buccaneers, winning the series in 2 straight games. However, in the semifinals the Nats would fall to the Anderson Duffey Packers for the second season in 4 games. In 1949, the Nationals were one of seven NBL teams that were absorbed by the Basketball Association of America to form the NBA, the Nationals were an instant success in the NBA, winning the Eastern Division in the 1949–1950 season, with a league best record of 51–13. In the playoffs the Nationals continued to play basketball, beating the Philadelphia Warriors in 2 straight. Moving on to the Eastern Finals, the Nationals battled the New York Knickerbockers, in the NBA Finals, the Nationals faced fellow NBL alums the Minneapolis Lakers. In Game 1 of the Finals the Nats lost just their home game of the season 68–66. The Nats did not recover, as they fell behind 3 games to 1 before falling in 6 games, despite several teams leaving the NBA for the National Professional Basketball League before the 1950–1951 season, the Nationals decided to stay put. In their second NBA season the Nationals played mediocre basketball all season, however, in the playoffs the Nats played their best basketball of the season as they stunned the 1st place Philadelphia Warriors in 2 straight, taking Game 1 on the road in overtime 91–89. In the Eastern Finals the Nationals were beaten by the New York Knickerbockers in a hard-fought 5-game series, in the playoffs the Nats knocked off the Philadelphia Warriors again in a 3-game series. However, in the Eastern Finals the Nats fell to the New York Knickerbockers again, the Nationals would finish in 2nd place in a hard fought 3-way battle for first place in the Eastern Division for the 1952–1953 season, with a record of 47–24. In the playoffs the Nationals would face the Boston Celtics dropping Game 1 at home 87–81, the Nationals acquired Alex Groza, and Ralph Beard as the Indianapolis Olympians folded leaving the NBA with just 9 teams for the 1953–1954 season
20.
Billy Cunningham
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William John Billy Cunningham is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid. He spent a total of 17 seasons with the NBAs Philadelphia 76ers, Billy Cunningham was born in Brooklyn, New York. His fame began while he was playing at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and that year, he was the First-Team All-New York City, and a member of the Parade Magazine All-America Team. Cunningham then went to the University of North Carolina, where he excelled. He once grabbed a record 27 rebounds in a game vs. Clemson on February 16,1963, Cunningham also set a single-game North Carolina record with 48 points against Tulane on December 10,1964. In his UNC career, he scored 1,709 points, upon graduation, his 1,062 rebounds were the best in North Carolina history and he held seasonal records for most rebounds and rebound average. Cunningham was a member of the powerful 1967 Sixers championship team, after Chamberlain left the team in 1968, Cunningham became the 76ers franchise player. After that season, he earned the first of what would be three straight All-NBA First Team selections, in 1972, he joined the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association. In his first ABA season, Cunningham averaged 24.1 points per game,12.0 rebounds per game and he led the Cougars to the best record in the league and was selected to the All-ABA First Team and was named the ABA MVP. During the post-season, the Cougars defeated the New York Nets in five games in the Eastern Division Semifinals to advance to the Eastern Division Finals, in the Division Finals the Cougars lost a tight seven game series to the Kentucky Colonels,4 games to 3. In the 1973–74 season Cunningham and the Cougars finished third in the Eastern Division, after the 1973–74 season, Cunningham returned to the 76ers, where he played until he suffered a career-ending injury early in the 1975–76 season. For his career, Cunningham scored 16,310 points and grabbed 7,981 rebounds in both the NBA and the ABA and he reached the 300, and 400-win milestone faster than any coach in NBA history. He led Philadelphia to the playoffs in every year as coach, upon his retirement, his 454 wins as a head coach were the 12th best in NBA history, he holds the third best regular season winning percentage in league history.698. In 1987, Cunningham replaced Tom Heinsohn as the color commentator for CBS NBA telecasts. Cunningham left CBS Sports the following season to join the Miami Heat expansion franchise as a minority owner, Cunningham was subsequently replaced on CBS by Hubie Brown. Barkley normally wore the number 34, but switched to 32 in honor of Magic Johnson, list of National Basketball Association single-game playoff scoring leaders Billy Cunningham statistics
21.
Chicago Bulls
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The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the leagues Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 16,1966, the team plays its home games at the United Center, an arena shared with the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League. The Bulls saw their greatest success during the 1990s and they are known for having one of the NBAs greatest dynasties, winning six NBA championships between 1991 and 1998 with two three-peats. All six championship teams were led by Hall of Famers Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, the Bulls are the only NBA franchise to win multiple championships and never lose an NBA Finals series in their history. The Bulls won 72 games during the 1995–96 NBA season, setting an NBA record that stood until the Golden State Warriors won 73 games during the 2015–16 NBA season. The Bulls were the first team in NBA history to win 70 games or more in a season. Many experts and analysts consider the 1996 Bulls to be one of the greatest teams in NBA history, Michael Jordan and Derrick Rose have both won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award while playing for the Bulls, for a total of six MVP awards. The Bulls share rivalries with the Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, the Bulls rivalry with the Pistons was highlighted heavily during the late 1980s and early 1990s. On January 16,1966 Chicago was granted an NBA franchise to be called the Bulls, the Chicago Bulls became the third NBA franchise in the city, after the Chicago Stags and the Chicago Packers/Zephyrs. The Bulls founder, Dick Klein, was the Bulls only owner to play professional basketball. He served as the Bulls president and general manager in their initial years, after the 1966 NBA Expansion Draft, the newly founded Chicago Bulls were allowed to acquire players from the previously established teams in the league for the upcoming 1966–67 season. The team started in the 1966–67 NBA season, and posted the best record by a team in NBA history. In their first two seasons, the Bulls played most of their games at the International Amphitheatre, before moving to Chicago Stadium. Fan interest was diminishing after four seasons, with one game in the 1967–68 NBA season having an attendance of 891. The Bulls under Williams and head coach Dick Motta qualified for four straight playoffs and had attendances grow to over 10,000, in 1972, the Bulls set a franchise win-loss record at 57 wins and 25 losses. During the 1970s, the Bulls relied on Jerry Sloan, forwards Bob Love and Chet Walker, point guard Norm Van Lier, the team made the conference finals in 1975 but lost to the Golden State Warriors,4 games to 3. After four 50-win seasons, Williams returned to Philadelphia, and Motta decided to become GM as well, the Bulls ended up declining, winning only 24 games in the 1975–1976 season
22.
Brooklyn Nets
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The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its games at Barclays Center. They are one of two NBA teams located in New York City, the other are the New York Knicks, the team was established in 1967 as a charter franchise of the NBAs rival league, the American Basketball Association. They played in New Jersey as the New Jersey Americans during their first season, before moving to Long Island in 1968, during this time, the Nets won two ABA championships. In 1976, the ABA merged with the NBA, and the Nets were absorbed into the NBA along with three other ABA teams, in 1977, the team returned to New Jersey and played as the New Jersey Nets from 1977 to 2012. During this time, the Nets won two consecutive Eastern Conference championships, but failed to win a league title, in the summer of 2012, the team moved to Barclays Center, and took its current geographic name. The Brooklyn Nets were founded in 1967 and initially played in Teaneck, New Jersey, in its early years, the team led a nomadic existence, moving to Long Island in 1968 and playing in various arenas there as the New York Nets. Led by Hall of Famer Julius Dr. J Erving, the Nets won two ABA championships in New York before becoming one of four ABA teams to be admitted into the NBA as part of the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. The team then moved back to New Jersey in 1977 and became the New Jersey Nets, the Boston Celtics were once rivals of the Nets during the early 2000s because of their respective locations and their burgeoning stars. The Nets were led by Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin, while the Celtics were experiencing newfound success behind Paul Pierce, the rivalry began to heat up in the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals, which was preceded by trash-talking from the Celtics who claimed Martin was a fake tough guy. Things progressed as the series started, and on-court tensions seemed to spill into the stands, celtic fans berated Kidd and his family with chants of Wife Beater. in response to Kidds 2001 domestic abuse charge. When the series returned to New Jersey, Nets fans responded, referring to a night club incident in 2000 in which Pierce was stabbed 11 times. When asked about the fan barbs being traded, Kenyon Martin stated, Our fans hate them, rondo was suspended for two games in the aftermath, while Wallace and Kevin Garnett were fined. The story was revisited on December 25, when Wallace grabbed Garnetts shorts and this move was billed as a merger of the two Atlantic Division teams. Celtics announcer Sean Grande said Its almost as if you found a home for these guys. You couldnt have found a better place and these guys will be in the New York market, theyll be on a competitive team, theyll stay on national TV. Its funny, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so with Celtics fans feeling the way they do about the Heat, feeling the way they do about the Knicks, the Nets are going to become almost the second team now
23.
Seattle SuperSonics
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The Seattle SuperSonics, commonly known as the Sonics, were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington. The SuperSonics played in the National Basketball Association as a club of the leagues Western Conference Pacific. After the 2007–08 season ended, the relocated to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Sam Schulman owned the team from its 1967 inception until 1983 and it was then owned by Barry Ackerley, and then Basketball Club of Seattle, headed by Starbucks chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz. The sale was approved by the NBA Board of Governors on October 24,2006, home games were played at KeyArena, originally known as Seattle Center Coliseum, for 33 of the franchises 41 seasons in Seattle. In 1978, the moved to the Kingdome, which was shared with the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball. They returned to the Coliseum full-time in 1985, moving temporarily to the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington, the SuperSonics won the NBA championship in 1979. Overall, the franchise won three Western Conference titles,1978,1979, and 1996, the franchise also won six divisional titles, the most recent being in 2005, with five in the Pacific Division and one in the Northwest Division. The SuperSonics franchise history, however, would be shared with the Thunder, on December 20,1966, Los Angeles businessmen Sam Schulman and Eugene V. Klein and a group of minority partners were awarded an NBA franchise for the city of Seattle. Schulman would serve as the partner and head of team operations. He named the SuperSonics after Boeings recently awarded contract for the SST project, the SuperSonics were Seattles first major league sports franchise. Beginning play in October 1967, the SuperSonics were coached by Al Bianchi and featured All-Star guard Walt Hazzard and NBA All-Rookie Team members Bob Rule and Al Tucker. The expansion team stumbled out of the gates with a 144–116 loss in their first game, Hazzard was traded to the Atlanta Hawks before the start of the next season for Lenny Wilkens. Wilkens brought a strong game to the SuperSonics, averaging 22.4 points per game,8.2 assists per game. Rule, meanwhile, improved on his rookie statistics with 24.0 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game, the SuperSonics, however, only won 30 games and Bianchi was replaced by Wilkens as player/coach during the offseason. Wilkens and Rule both represented Seattle in the 1970 NBA All-Star Game, and Wilkens led the NBA in assists during the 1969–70 season, Schulman also threatened to move his soon-to-be ABA team to Los Angeles to compete directly with the Lakers. The Oscar Robertson suit delayed the merger, and the SuperSonics remained in Seattle, early in the 1970–71 season, however, Rule tore his Achilles tendon and was lost for the rest of the year. The following season, the SuperSonics went on to record their first winning season at 47–35, for the 1972–73 season, Wilkens was dealt to Cleveland in a highly unpopular trade, and without his leadership the SuperSonics fell to a 26–56 record
24.
Lenny Wilkens
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Leonard Randolph Lenny Wilkens is an American retired basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association. He is also a 2006 inductee into the College Basketball Hall of Fame. S, during the 1994–95 season, Wilkens set the record for most coaching wins in NBA history, a record he held when he retired with 1,332 victories. Wilkens is now second on the list behind Don Nelson, who broke it in 2010 and he won the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award for the 2010–11 NBA season. Wilkens grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn and his father was African American and his mother was Irish American. Wilkens was raised in the Roman Catholic faith, at Boys High School, Wilkens was a basketball teammate of longtime Major League Baseball star Tommy Davis. Wilkens was a two-time All-American at Providence College and he led the team to their first NIT appearance in 1959, and to the NIT finals in 1960. When he graduated, Wilkens was, with 1,193 points, in 1996, Wilkens No.14 jersey was retired by the college, the first alumnus to receive such an honor. In honor of his accomplishments, Wilkens was one of the inaugural inductees into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. Wilkens was drafted sixth overall by the St. Louis Hawks in the 1960 NBA draft and he began his career with eight seasons with the St. Louis Hawks, who lost the finals to the Boston Celtics in his rookie season. The Hawks made the playoffs consistently with Wilkens but never reached the finals. Wilkens placed second to Wilt Chamberlain in the 1967–1968 MVP balloting, Wilkens was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for Walt Hazzard and spent four seasons there. He averaged 22.4 points,6.2 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game in his first season for the SuperSonics and he was named head coach in his second season with the team. Wilkens was dealt to the Cleveland Cavaliers before the start of the season in a highly unpopular trade. Wilkens ended his career spending two seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers and one with the Portland Trail Blazers, Wilkens scored 17,772 points during the regular season, was a nine-time NBA All-Star, and was named the 1971 NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1971. With Seattle, he led the league in assists in the 1969–70 season, from 1969 to 1972 with Seattle, and in his one season as a player with Portland, he was a player-coach. He retired from playing in 1975 and was the coach of the Trail Blazers for one more season. After a season off from coaching, he became coach of the SuperSonics when he replaced Bob Hopkins who was fired 22 games into the 1977–78 season after a dismal 5-17 start. He coached in Seattle for eight seasons, winning his only NBA championship in 1979 and he would go on to coach Cleveland, Atlanta, Toronto and New York
25.
Bernie Bickerstaff
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Bernard Tyrone Bernie Bickerstaff is an American basketball coach. He previously worked as the coach for the NBAs Seattle SuperSonics, Denver Nuggets, Washington Bullets/Wizards, Charlotte Bobcats. He has also been an assistant for the Portland Trail Blazers, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and he has served in numerous other NBA front office positions, and has been a consultant for the Harlem Globetrotters. He was born in Benham, Kentucky, where his father and grandfather worked in the coal mines and he often had to endure open racism. He attended East Benham High School, where he was the point guard of the basketball team. After graduating in 1961, he moved to Cleveland where he had relatives, with the idea of joining the Army, the racial tension he experienced during his time playing there made him leave school early and head back to Cleveland to work in a steel mill. However, the working conditions prompted him to accept a second opportunity to play college basketball at the University of San Diego from 1964 to 1966. As a senior he was named captain and MVP, when the Toreros finished 17-11. He is a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and his wife, Mrs. Bickerstaff, is a 4th grade teacher in Wykoff, New Jersey. After finishing his college eligibility, he was hired by his coach Phil Woolpert to serve as an assistant for the 1968–69 season. After three seasons at 25 years old, he was named the coach of the University of San Diego after Woolperts abrupt resignation. In 1972–1973 his team finished 19–9 and his overall record was 54–49. In 1973, Bickerstaff was hired as an assistant for the Washington Bullets by then coach K. C. Jones and was a part of the 1978 Bullets NBA Championship. He left the team after 12 seasons, when Lenny Wilkens hired him for the coaching position with the Seattle SuperSonics. Bickerstaff was the Denver Nuggets president and general manager from 1990 to 1997, in 1997, Wes Unseld hired him to coach the Bullets, making the playoffs for the first time since 1988 and becoming the leagues all-time 34th-winningest coach. After parting ways with the team in 1999, he had a stint with the International Basketball Leagues Saint Louis Swarm. In 2003, he was hired by Ed Tapscott to become the expansion Charlotte Bobcats first head coach, Bickerstaff was hired by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012–13 as an assistant coach to Mike Brown. On November 9,2012, Bickerstaff was named head coach of the Lakers after Brown was fired
26.
Washington Wizards
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The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D. C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association, as a club of the leagues Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its games at the Verizon Center, in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington. The team now known as the Wizards began playing as the Chicago Packers in 1961, as the first modern expansion team in NBA history, an expansion prompted by Abe Sapersteins American Basketball League. Rookie Walt Bellamy was the star, averaging 31.6 points per game,19.0 rebounds per game. During the All-Star game, Bellamy represented the team while scoring 23 points, Bellamy was named the league Rookie of the Year, but was the team finished with the NBAs worst record at 18-62. The teams original nickname was a nod to Chicagos meatpacking industry, their home arena, however, it was extremely unpopular since it was the same nickname used by the NFLs Green Bay Packers, bitter rivals of the Chicago Bears. After only one year, the changed its name to the Chicago Zephyrs. Their only season as the Zephyrs boasted former Purdue star Terry Dischinger, in their first year in Baltimore, the Bullets finished fourth in a five–team Western Division. Prior to the 1964–65 NBA season the Bullets pulled off a trade, sending Dischinger, Rod Thorn and Don Kojis to the Detroit Pistons for Bailey Howell, Don Ohl, Bob Ferry. The trade worked out well, Howell proved to be a hustling, in the 1965 NBA Playoffs, the Bullets stunned the St. Louis Hawks 3–1, and advanced to the Western Conference finals. In the finals, Baltimore managed to split the first four games with the Los Angeles Lakers before losing the series 4–2. In the late 1960s, the Bullets drafted two future Hall of Fame members, Earl Monroe, in the 1967 draft, number two overall, and Wes Unseld, in the 1968 draft, also number two overall. The team improved dramatically, from 36 wins the season to 57 in the 1968–69 season. The Bullets reached the playoffs with high expectations to go far, the next season the two teams met again in the first round, and although this one went to seven games, the Knicks emerged victorious again. In the 1970–71 season, the 42–40 Bullets again met the 1970–71 Knicks and they were swept in four games by the powerful Milwaukee Bucks led by future Hall of Fame members Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson. Even after the trades of Earl Monroe and Gus Johnson, the Bullets remained a playoff contender throughout the 1970s. Following a less than spectacular 1971–72 season, Baltimore acquired Elvin Hayes from the Houston Rockets and drafted Kevin Porter in the third round, out of St. Francis in Pennsylvania
27.
Gene Shue
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Eugene William Gene Shue is a retired American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association. During his playing days he was a 62170 lb guard, Shue attended Towson Catholic High School and the University of Maryland, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. After graduation, he was drafted 3rd overall in the 1954 NBA draft by the Philadelphia Warriors, during his ten-year playing career in the NBA, he was also a member of the New York Knicks, Fort Wayne/Detroit Pistons, and the Baltimore Bullets. After just six games with the Philadelphia Warriors Shue was sold to the New York Knicks, after the 1955–56 season Shue was traded to the Fort Wayne Pistons for Ron Sobie. In 1956–57 he played his first season for the Fort Wayne Pistons, the franchise moved to Detroit the following season, and Shue blossomed. Shue was one of the top guards of the days of the NBA. He is credited with inventing the Spin Move, a 360-degree turn while changing hands, Shue was an NBA All-Star five consecutive times. In 1959–60 he recorded 22.8 pts/game and 5.5 rebounds/game, leading the NBA in minutes, the following year he may have had his most complete year ever, averaging 4.3 rebounds/game,6.8 assists/game and 22.6 points/game. He also marked his highest field goal% and was named to the All-NBA Second Team, the 1961–62 season was his last one as star player, he averaged 19.0 pts/game and 5.8 assists/game. In 1962 Shue was traded back to the New York Knicks for Darrall Imhoff, in 1963 Shue was traded along with Paul Hogue to the Baltimore Bullets for Bill McGill. Shue then served 23 years as a coach in the league. As the Baltimore Bullets coach he guided them to the NBA Finals in 1971 and he guided the Philadelphia 76ers, which had the worst record in NBA history in 1973, to the 1977 NBA Finals, but eventually lost to the Bill Walton-led Portland Trail Blazers. Shue finished his career with a regular season record of 784-861 while going 30-47 in the playoffs. His 784 wins are the 16th most in NBA history and his 861 losses are the sixth most in NBA history, Gene Shue was twice named NBA Coach of the Year. Shue, who now lives in Marina del Rey, California, BasketballReference. com, Gene Shue BasketballReference. com, Gene Shue
28.
Cleveland Cavaliers
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The Cleveland Cavaliers, also known as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavs compete in the National Basketball Association as a member of the leagues Eastern Conference Central Division, the team began play in 1970. Many past and present top NBA players, including LeBron James, Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, the franchise has won five Central Division championships, three Eastern Conference championships, one NBA championship, and have reached the playoffs 20 times in their 46-year history. The 2016 NBA Finals victory over the Golden State Warriors marked the first time in Finals history a team had come back to win the series after trailing three games to one, the Cavaliers began play in 1970 as an expansion team. Their 46-year history has been marked by stretches of strong play and periods of poor play. In the 1970s, under the ownership of Nick Mileti, the team won its first division title in 1976 and they won Game 7, 87–85, on a shot by Snyder with four seconds to go. Injuries, particularly an ankle injury to Chones, led to this teams demise, as the Cavaliers would lose the Eastern Conference Finals to the Boston Celtics, 4–2. It is widely believed among both Cavaliers fans and players that the Miracle team would have won the 1976 NBA Championship had Chones stayed healthy, the remainder of the 1970s were marked by early playoff losses and eventually Fitchs resignation. The early 1980s were marked by Ted Stepiens ownership, Stepien also oversaw the hiring and firing of a succession of coaches and was involved in making a number of poor trade and free agent signing decisions. The ensuing chaos had an effect on both the Cavaliers on-court performance and lack of local support, losing over 50 games in three straight years. The 1981–82 and 1982–83 combined to lose 24 straight games, which at the time was the NBAs all-time longest losing streak, george and Gordon Gund purchased the Cavaliers from Stepien in 1983. The team was in a transition as they went through nine head coaches from 1980 to 1986, during the 1986 offseason, the Cavaliers acquired Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Ron Harper and Larry Nance. The Cavaliers entered into a period of decline from the mid-1990s through the early 2000s, the team appeared in the playoffs the next two years, but could not get past the first round. In the 1997 off-season, the team added Shawn Kemp and Wesley Person, as well as a class that included Derek Anderson, Cedric Henderson, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas. This team lost in the first round of the playoffs in 1998, in the early 2000s, the team added Andre Miller, Lamond Murray, Chris Mihm and Carlos Boozer, but could not make it to the playoffs. The 2002–03 season saw the Cavaliers finish 17–65, tied for the worst record in the NBA, the Cavaliers luck changed as they landed the number 1 pick in the 2003 NBA draft. With it, the team selected heralded forward and future NBA MVP LeBron James, in 2005, the team would be sold to businessman Dan Gilbert. That year, the team also hired head coach Mike Brown, over the next few years, the Cavaliers built a team around James and Žydrūnas Ilgauskas by adding players including Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, and Anderson Varajao
29.
George Karl
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George Matthew Karl is an American former professional basketball coach and former player. He is one of 9 coaches in NBA history to have won 1,000 NBA games, Karl was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, where he starred at Penn Hills High School. He played collegiality at the University of North Carolina for three years, drafted in the fourth round of 1973 NBA draft by the New York Knicks, Karl opted instead to sign with the ABAs San Antonio Spurs. He spent three years as the starting point guard, playing with George Gervin. After the Spurs joined the NBA in 1976, Karl played limited minutes over the two years, retiring as a player in 1978. After his playing career, Karl spent two years with the Spurs coaching staff as an assistant coach and he was then named head coach of the Montana Golden Nuggets of the Continental Basketball Association. As coach of the Golden Nuggets, Karl guided the team to the CBA Finals in 1981 and 1983, in 1984, Karl returned to the NBA, when he became the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In his first season he took back to the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. He was dismissed by the Cavaliers after a disappointing 25–42 start in his season with the team. For the remainder of the 1985-86 season and early portion of the offseason, Karl worked as a scout and adviser to the Milwaukee Bucks. Karl was named coach of the Golden State Warriors in 1986, he took them from a record of 30–52 the year before. In the first round of the playoffs, they faced the Utah Jazz in a best–of–five series, each team won two close games at home setting up a decisive game 5 in Utah that the Warriors won to advance to the playoff semifinals. Facing elimination in game 4, the Warriors overcame a 12–point fourth quarter deficit, Game 4 was the only game the Lakers lost in the Western Conference playoffs that year, en route to the first of their back–to–back championships. During the 1987–88 season, the Warriors got off to a rough start, with Chris Mullin going through alcohol rehabilitation, Karl was now without his top four scorers from the 1987 playoff team. Frustrated with the direction, he resigned from the Warriors with 18 games left in the season. Though he resigned, there has been speculation Karl was actually fired, as he signed a non-disclosure agreement, on September 5,1988, Karl was named head coach of the Albany Patroons of the CBA, leading them to a 36–18 record. In 1989, Karl coached Real Madrid of Liga ACB, Madrid finished 69–17, though they dealt with the death of their best player, Fernando Martín Espina. Karl returned to coach the Patroons in 1990, leading them to a 50–6 season, for his efforts, Karl was named CBA Coach of the Year for the third time
30.
Reunion Arena
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Reunion Arena was an indoor arena located in the Reunion district of downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena served as the home of the National Basketball Associations Dallas Mavericks. Its capacity held accommodations for 18,187 basketball and 17,001 for ice hockey spectators, Reunion Arena was demolished in November 2009 and the site was cleared by the end of the year. Reunion Arena was completed in 1980 at a cost of US$27 million and it was named for the early mid-19th century commune, La Reunion. Reunion Arena was notable for two lasts, it was the last NBA or NHL arena to be built without luxury suites, the color matrix messageboards on that scoreboard were replaced in 1991 with Sony Jumbotron video screens. Reunion Arena also hosted the WCT Tennis Tournament in the 1980s, due to scheduling conflicts in 1984, the WCT Tennis Tournament forced the Dallas Mavericks to play Game 5 of their first ever playoff series at Moody Coliseum, against the Seattle SuperSonics. Reunion Arena hosted the Southwest Conferences basketball tournament in the 1980s and 1990s, in 1994, U. S. President Bill Clinton visited the arena to watch the University of Arkansas basketball team play in the NCAA Tournament. In late 2005, the arena and the Dallas Convention Center were used as the primary Dallas shelters for evacuees of Hurricane Katrina. The arena featured 30,000 ft² of floor space and had great sightlines, making it ideal for a number of events and games, including many high school graduations. Though The Who was promoted as the first concert at Reunion on July 2,1980, p-Funk performed touring with SHOWCO sound and lights. Two other concerts played there in late June, Foghat and Pat Travers on June 25,1980, and Ted Nugent, Scorpions, the rock band Journey played three consecutive shows at the arena in July 1983, and again in December 1986. Van Halen played three shows in June 1984, Judas Priest played June 27,1986 recording the show which parts can be found on the Priest. Live. A full concert DVD was released as well, pink Floyd played three consecutive shows at Reunion in November 1987, and Guns N Roses played a show in December 1987. Pop songstress Whitney Houston played two concerts at Reunion in September 1987. The video for the Scorpions song Still Loving You was filmed there, country music superstar Garth Brooks filmed his first television special, This Is Garth Brooks, in the arena during two sold-out concerts in September 1991. The concert became noteworthy after Brooks and guitarist Ty England took two guitars together and smashed them on stage. Another country music star, Shania Twain, once performed her Come on Over Tour in the arena on September 12,1998 and was filmed in her first DVD released Shania Twain Live. Reunion was also a venue that was used by World Class Championship Wrestling in the 1980s, in which the organization held many
31.
Dallas
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Dallas is a major city in the U. S. state of Texas. It is the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the citys population ranks ninth in the U. S. and third in Texas after Houston and San Antonio. The citys prominence arose from its importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries. The bulk of the city is in Dallas County, of which it is the county seat, however, sections of the city are located in Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties. According to the 2010 United States Census, the city had a population of 1,197,816, the United States Census Bureaus estimate for the citys population increased to 1,300,092 as of July 1,2015. In 2016 DFW ascended to the one spot in the nation in year-over-year population growth. In 2014, the metropolitan economy surpassed Washington, D. C. to become the fifth largest in the U. S. with a 2014 real GDP over $504 billion, as such, the metropolitan areas economy is the 10th largest in the world. As of January 2017, the job count has increased to 3,558,200 jobs. The citys economy is based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare and medical research. The city is home to the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation. Located in North Texas, Dallas is the core of the largest metropolitan area in the South. Dallas and nearby Fort Worth were developed due to the construction of railroad lines through the area allowing access to cotton, cattle. Later, France also claimed the area but never established much settlement, the area remained under Spanish rule until 1821, when Mexico declared independence from Spain, and the area was considered part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. In 1836, the Republic of Texas, with majority Anglo-American settlers, in 1839, Warren Angus Ferris surveyed the area around present-day Dallas. John Neely Bryan established a permanent settlement near the Trinity River named Dallas in 1841, the origin of the name is uncertain. The Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845, Dallas was formally incorporated as a city on February 2,1856. With construction of railroads, Dallas became a business and trading center and it became an industrial city, attracting workers from Texas, the South and the Midwest. The Praetorian Building of 15 stories, built in 1909, was the first skyscraper west of the Mississippi and it marked the prominence of Dallas as a city
32.
Isiah Thomas
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Isiah Lord Thomas III is an American retired basketball player who played professionally for the Detroit Pistons in the National Basketball Association. A point guard, the 12-time NBA All-Star was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, Thomas has also been a professional and collegiate head coach, a basketball executive, and a broadcaster. Thomas played collegiately for the Indiana Hoosiers, leading them to the 1981 NCAA championship as a sophomore and he was taken as the #2 pick by the Pistons, playing for them his entire 1981–1994 career and leading the Bad Boys to the 1988–89 and 1989–90 NBA championships. He was later the basketball coach for the Florida International University Golden Panthers for three seasons from 2009 to 2012. Thomas was born on April 30,1961, in Chicago, Illinois, during his junior year, he led St. Joseph to the State Finals and was considered one of the top college prospects in the country. Thomas was recruited to play basketball for Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers. Although he received mail saying Knight tied up his players and beat them, when Knight visited the Thomas home, one of Isiahs brothers, who wanted him to attend DePaul, embarrassed him by insulting the Indiana coach and engaging him in a shouting match. Nevertheless, Thomas chose Knight and Indiana because he felt that away to Bloomington would be good for him. Thomas quickly had to adjust to Knights disciplinarian style, at the 1979 Pan American Games in Puerto Rico Knight got so mad at Thomas he threatened to put him on a plane home. Knight recalled yelling at the freshman-to-be, You ought to go to DePaul, Isiah, prior to the start of his freshman year, the 1979–80 season, Knight became so upset with Thomas that he kicked him out of a practice. According to Thomas, Knight was making a point that no player, however, Thomas quickly proved his skills as a player and became a favorite with both Knight and Indiana fans. His superior abilities eventually would cause Knight to adjust his coaching style, fans would display bed sheets with quotations from the Book of Isaiah and nicknamed him Mr. Wonderful. Because of Thomas relatively short stature at 6 ft 1 in, Thomas and Mike Woodson led the Hoosiers to the Big Ten championship and advanced to the 1980 Sweet Sixteen. The following year, the 1980–81 season, Knight made Thomas the captain, Thomas responded so positively that, as the season unfolded, Knight and Thomas grew as friends. When a Purdue player took a shot at Isiah in a game at Bloomington. And 19 days later, when Thomas hit an Iowa player and was ejected from a game and that year Thomas and the Hoosiers once again won a conference title and won the 1981 NCAA tournament, the schools fourth national title. The sophomore earned the tournaments Most Outstanding Player award, and made eligible for the upcoming NBA draft. In the 1981 NBA draft, the Detroit Pistons chose Thomas with the No.2 pick, Thomas made the All-Rookie team and started for the Eastern Conference in the 1982 All-Star Game
33.
Detroit Pistons
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The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the leagues Eastern Conference Central Division. The team plays its games at The Palace of Auburn Hills and was founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons in 1941. The Pistons joined the Basketball Association of America in 1948, in 1949, the NBL and BAA merged to become the NBA, and the Pistons became part of the merged league. Since moving to Detroit in 1957, the Pistons have won three NBA championships in 1989,1990 and 2004. The Detroit Pistons franchise was founded as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, owners Fred Zollner and his sister Janets Zollner Corporation was a foundry, manufacturing pistons, primarily for car, truck and locomotive engines. The Zollner Pistons were NBL champions in 1944 and 1945 and they also won the World Professional Basketball Tournament in 1944,1945 and 1946. In 1948, the became the Fort Wayne Pistons, competing in the Basketball Association of America. In 1949, Fred Zollner brokered the formation of the National Basketball Association from the BAA, there are suggestions that Pistons players conspired with gamblers to shave points and throw various games during the 1953–54 and 1954–55 seasons. In particular, there are accusations that the team may have intentionally lost the 1955 NBA Finals to the Syracuse Nationals, in the decisive Game 7, the Pistons led Syracuse 41–24 early in the second quarter, then the Nationals rallied to win the game. Syracuse won on a throw by George King with twelve seconds left in the game. After the 1956–57 season, Zollner decided that Fort Wayne was too small to support an NBA team, although it was the fifth largest city in the United States at the time, Detroit had not seen professional basketball in a decade. In 1947, they had lost the Detroit Gems of the NBL, Zollner decided to keep the Pistons name, believing it made sense given Detroits status as the center of the automobile industry. The new Detroit Pistons played in Olympia Stadium for their first four seasons, the franchise was a consistent disappointment, struggling both on the court and at the box office. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Pistons were characterized by strong individuals. In fact, in their first 27 years in Detroit, they only had three winning seasons, some of the superstars who played for the team included Dave DeBusschere, Dave Bing, Jimmy Walker, and Bob Lanier. At one point DeBusschere was the youngest player-coach in the history of the NBA, DeBusschere became a key player in leading the Knicks to two NBA titles. Detroit qualified for the postseason in four seasons, but never advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs
34.
Sacramento Kings
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The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the leagues Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the team in the major professional North American sports leagues located in Sacramento. The team play its games at the Golden 1 Center. The Kings are the oldest franchise in the NBA, and one of the oldest continuously operating professional basketball franchises in the nation and they originated in Rochester, New York as the Rochester Seagrams in 1923 and joined the National Basketball League in 1945 as the Rochester Royals. They jumped to the Basketball Association of America, forerunner of the NBA, as the Royals, the team was often successful on the court, winning the NBA championship in 1951. However, they found it difficult to turn a profit in the comparatively small market of Rochester. In 1972, the relocated to Kansas City, Missouri. In 1975, the Kings ceased playing home games in Omaha, the team again failed to find success in that market, and moved to Sacramento in 1985. The Royals defected to the NBLs rival, the Basketball Association of America, in 1948. In 1949, as a result of that absorption of the NBL by the BAA, the Royals became members of the newly formed NBA along with the Fort Wayne Pistons, Minneapolis Lakers. A year later, the BAA absorbed the remaining NBL teams to become the National Basketball Association, the move to the BAA took away Rochesters profitable exhibition schedule, and placed it in the same Western Division that Minneapolis was in. Of the two best teams in pro basketball, only one of them could play in the finals from 1949 to 1954. Minneapolis, with George Mikan, was almost always a little better at playoff time than the Royals, Harrison knew that the NBA was outgrowing Rochester, and spent most of the 1950s looking for a buyer for his team. The Royals won the NBA title in 1951 by defeating the New York Knicks 4 games to 3 and it is the only NBA championship in the franchises history. However, the title did not translate into profit for the Royals, the roster turned over in 1955, except for Bobby Wanzer, the team moved to the larger Rochester War Memorial. Now a losing team filled with rookies, the Royals still did not turn a profit, meanwhile, the NBA was putting pressure on Harrison to sell or relocate his team to a larger city. With this in mind, the 1956–57 season was the Royals last in Rochester, in April 1957, the Harrison brothers moved the Royals to Cincinnati
35.
Kansas City, Missouri
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Kansas City is the largest city in Missouri and the sixth largest city in the Midwest. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the city had an population of 475,378 in 2015. It is the city of the Kansas City metropolitan area. Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a Missouri River port at its confluence with the Kansas River coming in from the west, on June 1,1850 the town of Kansas was incorporated, shortly after came the establishment of the Kansas Territory. Confusion between the two ensued and the name Kansas City was assigned to them soon thereafter. Most of the city lies within Jackson County, but portions spill into Clay, Cass, along with Independence, it serves as one of the two county seats for Jackson County. Major suburbs include the Missouri cities of Independence and Lees Summit and the Kansas cities of Overland Park, Olathe, and Kansas City. The city is composed of neighborhoods, including the River Market District in the north, the 18th and Vine District in the east. Kansas City is also known for its cuisine, its craft breweries, Kansas City, Missouri was officially incorporated as a town on June 1,1850, and as a city on March 28,1853. The territory straddling the border between Missouri and Kansas at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers was considered a place to build settlements. The Antioch Christian Church, Dr. James Compton House, the first documented European visitor to Kansas City was Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont, who was also the first European to explore the lower Missouri River. Criticized for his response to the Native American attack on Fort Détroit, Bourgmont lived with a Native American wife in a village about 90 miles east near Brunswick, Missouri, where he illegally traded furs. In the documents, he describes the junction of the Grande Riv des Cansez and Missouri River, French cartographer Guillaume Delisle used the descriptions to make the areas first reasonably accurate map. The Spanish took over the region in the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the French continued their fur trade under Spanish license. After the 1804 Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark visited the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, in 1831, a group of Mormons from New York settled in what would become the city. They built the first school within Kansas Citys current boundaries, but were forced out by mob violence in 1833, in 1833 John McCoy established West Port along the Santa Fe Trail,3 miles away from the river. In 1834 McCoy established Westport Landing on a bend in the Missouri to serve as a point for West Port. Soon after, the Kansas Town Company, a group of investors, began to settle the area, in 1850, the landing area was incorporated as the Town of Kansas
36.
Sacramento, California
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Sacramento is the capital city of the U. S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. It is at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the portion of Californias expansive Central Valley. Its estimated 2014 population of 485,199 made it the sixth-largest city in California, Sacramento is the cultural and economic core of the Sacramento metropolitan area, which includes seven counties with a 2010 population of 2,414,783. In 2002, the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University conducted for Time magazine named Sacramento Americas Most Diverse City, Sacramento became a city through the efforts of the Swiss immigrant John Sutter, Sr. his son John Augustus Sutter, Jr. and James W. Marshall. Sacramento grew quickly thanks to the protection of Sutters Fort, which was established by Sutter in 1839, the city was named after the Sacramento River, which forms its western border. The river was named by Spanish cavalry officer Gabriel Moraga for the Santísimo Sacramento, California State University, Sacramento, is the largest university in the city and one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. University of the Pacific is a university with one of its three campuses in Sacramento. In addition, the University of California, Davis, located in nearby Davis, operates its UC Davis Medical Center, nisenan and Plains Miwok Native Americans had lived in the area for perhaps thousands of years. Unlike the settlers who would eventually make Sacramento their home, these Native Americans left little evidence of their existence. Traditionally, their diet was dominated by acorns taken from the oak trees in the region, and by fruits, bulbs, seeds. In 1808, the Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga discovered and named the Sacramento Valley, a Spanish writer with the Moraga expedition wrote, Canopies of oaks and cottonwoods, many festooned with grapevines, overhung both sides of the blue current. Birds chattered in the trees and big fish darted through the pellucid depths, the air was like champagne, and drank deep of it, drank in the beauty around them. The valley and the river were then christened after the Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, John Sutter first arrived on August 13,1839 at the divergence of the American and Sacramento Rivers with a Mexican land grant of 50,000 acres. The next year, he and his party established Sutters Fort, representing Mexico, Sutter called his colony New Helvetia, a Swiss inspired name, and was the political authority and dispenser of justice in the new settlement. Soon, the colony began to grow as more and more pioneers headed west, within just a few short years, John Sutter had become a grand success, owning a ten-acre orchard and a herd of thirteen thousand cattle. Fort Sutter became a stop for the increasing number of immigrants coming through the valley. In 1847, Sutter hired James Marshall to build a sawmill so that he could continue to expand his empire, Sutter received 2,000 fruit trees in 1847, which started the agriculture industry in the Sacramento Valley. In 1848, when gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Sutters Mill in Coloma and he hired topographical engineer William H
37.
Sleep Train Arena
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Sleep Train Arena, originally ARCO Arena and later Power Balance Pavilion, is an indoor arena located in Sacramento, California, United States. Opened in 1988, it was the home of the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association from 1988 to 2016 and it hosted nearly 200 spectator events each year. The arena is named for The Sleep Train, a chain of mattress and bed retailers based in Rocklin, the original ARCO Arena, where the Kings played their home games for three seasons, after moving from Kansas City had a capacity of 10,333 seats. Sleep Train Arena is located in an isolated area on the expanding northern outskirts of the city. It was constructed at a cost of just $40 million, the lowest of any venue in the NBA and it is the smallest arena in the NBA with a seating capacity of 17,317, and has 30 luxury suites and 412 club seats. It can host such varied events as concerts, ice shows, rodeos, nearly two million spectators from throughout Northern California visited Sleep Train Arena last year. The configuration for ice shows and ice hockey actually runs perpendicular to the court with the normal sideline seating being retractable to allow for an international standard ice rink. The original namesake sponsor of the arena was ARCO, on March 19,2007, the Maloof brothers announced a multi-year agreement extending the naming rights of ARCO Arena. ARCOs sponsorship agreement ran out in February 2011, the arena was renamed Power Balance Pavilion on March 1,2011 for its new sponsor, Power Balance, a manufacturer of sports wristbands. On October 15,2012, the arena assumed its current name when The Sleep Train purchased the naming rights, the arenas center-hung scoreboard was designed as a joint venture between Panasonic and White Way Sign. Sleep Train Arena is still in use, though the Kings, there are no immediate plans on what to do with the arena or land surrounding it after the new arena opens. Sleep Train Arena has hosted several high school basketball championship games Sleep Train Arena hosts many graduation celebrations for local high schools. This was also the home for the WNBAs Sacramento Monarchs until they folded in 2009, Sleep Train Arena has hosted several WWE events including the 1993 Royal Rumble, Judgment Day 2001, and The Bash in 2009. Other notable events include the five-day 1995 Billy Graham Greater Sacramento Crusade, the arena has also hosted NCAA Mens Basketball Tournaments multiple times and was the host site for the 2007 NCAA Volleyball Championships. It has also hosted a PBR Built Ford Tough Series bull riding event every year since 2005, Sleep Train Arena has played host to four Ultimate Fighting Championship events, UFC65, UFC73, UFC on Fox, Johnson vs. Benavidez 2 and UFC177. The arena hosted World Extreme Cagefightings first ever event, WEC48. It also hosted the WECs two biggest events ever, WEC34, Faber vs. Pulver 1, and WEC41, Brown vs. Faber 2, with an average of 1,300,500 viewers on Versus each. It also hosted WEC The last Kings home game at Sleep Train Arena was on April 9,2016, the last points scored in the arena were two free throws by the Kings Rudy Gay with one second left to clinch the game for the Kings
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