NBA - Pete Maravich Takes on George Gervin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYC2YjK8Mk4&feature=related

1970 First NBA season of Pistol "Pete" Maravich: Hawks-Suns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUlRe547A1g&feature=related

Pete Maravich - Free Bird
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkmvEzNUq2I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-bhv5s7yGY&feature=related

Rare Pistol Pete Maravich Commercials (Vitalis)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqk3Rq4a2c4&feature=related

Rare 1978 film PISTOL PETE Maravich Jazz Warriors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqWC3ipMjc8&feature=related
Larry Bird VS Pete Maravichhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rCms00EY-Y&feature=related

Pistol Pete Maravich dribbling wizardry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np_ee6Z4bDc&feature=related

Pete Maravich - dribbling drills
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MissouriMauler


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MissouriMauler

1977 NBA: Knicks vs. Jazz (Pete Maravich 68 points). Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh7UIarN5cA&feature=related

The Oscar Robertson Trophy is given out annually to outstanding men's college basketball players by the United States Basketball Writers Association. The trophy is considered to be the oldest of its kind and has been given out since 1959.
Contents[hide]
1 History
2 Past winners
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links
//

[edit] History
USBWA College Player of the Year was started in 1959. Which makes it the oldest running trophy for the college player of the year. The USBWA annually selects a player of the year and All-America teams for both men and women in college basketball. The USBWA men's player of the year award is now called the Oscar Robertson Trophy.
The USBWA also selects a national coach of the year for men and women, with the men's award named after legendary coach Henry Iba. It was renamed after the college and professional legend Oscar Robertson in 1998. Five nominees are presented and the individual with the most votes receives the award during the NCAA Final Four. The Oscar Robertson Trophy, previously known as the Player of the Year Award, was renamed in 1998 because of Robertson’s outstanding career and his continuing efforts to promote the game of basketball. He averaged 32.6 points per game in his sophomore year at Cincinnati.

[edit] Past winners
2009 - Blake Griffin, Oklahoma[1]
2008 - Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina[2]
2007 - Kevin Durant, Texas[3]
2006 - J.J. Redick, Duke and Adam Morrison, Gonzaga
2005 - Andrew Bogut, Utah
2004 - Jameer Nelson, Saint Joseph's
2003 - David West, Xavier
2002 - Jay Williams, Duke
2001 - Shane Battier, Duke
2000 - Kenyon Martin, Cincinnati
1999 - Elton Brand, Duke
1998 - Antawn Jamison, North Carolina
1997 - Tim Duncan, Wake Forest
1996 - Marcus Camby, UMass
1995 - Ed O'Bannon, UCLA
1994 - Glenn Robinson, Purdue
1993 - Calbert Cheaney, Indiana
1992 - Christian Laettner, Duke
1991 - Larry Johnson, UNLV
1990 - Lionel Simmons, La Salle
1989 - Danny Ferry, Duke
1988 - Hersey Hawkins, Bradley
1987 - David Robinson, Navy
1986 - Walter Berry, St. John's
1985 - Chris Mullin, St. John's
1984 - Michael Jordan, North Carolina
1983 - Ralph Sampson, Virginia
1982 - Ralph Sampson, Virginia
1981 - Ralph Sampson, Virginia
1980 - Mark Aguirre, DePaul
1979 - Larry Bird, Indiana State
1978 - Phil Ford, North Carolina
1977 - Marques Johnson, UCLA
1976 - Adrian Dantley, Notre Dame
1975 - David Thompson, N.C. State
1974 - Bill Walton, UCLA
1973 - Bill Walton, UCLA
1972 - Bill Walton, UCLA
1971 - Sidney Wicks, UCLA
1970 - Pete Maravich, LSU
1969 - Pete Maravich, LSU
1968 - Lew Alcindor, UCLA
1967 - Lew Alcindor, UCLA
1966 - Cazzie Russell, Michigan
1965 - Bill Bradley, Princeton
1964 - Walt Hazzard, UCLA
1963 - Art Heyman, Duke
1962 - Jerry Lucas, Ohio State
1961 - Jerry Lucas, Ohio State
1960 - Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati
1959 - Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati

[edit] Notes
^ USBWA SELECTS OKLAHOMA'S GRIFFIN AS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
^ Hansbrough named college player of year - UPI.com
^ United States Basketball Writers Association (2007-03-27). USBWA names Durant, Bennett as player, coach of the year. Press release. http://www.sportswriters.net/usbwa/news/2007/robertson070327.html. Retrieved on 2007-03-27.

[edit] References
Announcement of 2006 award on Robertson's business site; also gives history of award

[edit] External links
Official Oscar Robertson Trophy Site
Forum for the Oscar Robertson Trophy Site

YouTube video of Dr J's "Rock The Baby" dunk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stiAd7W45yE

"Dr. J" redirects here. For the video game character, see StarTropics.
Julius Erving
Position(s):Small forward
Jersey #(s):32, 6
Height:6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight:210 lb (95 kg)
Born: February 22, 1950 (1950-02-22) (age 59)Roosevelt, New York, USA
Career information
Year(s): 1971–1987
NBA Draft: 1972 / Round: 1 / Pick: 12
College: Massachusetts
Professional team(s)
Virginia Squires (1971–1973)
New York Nets (1973–1976)
Philadelphia 76ers (1976–1987)
Career stats
Points
30,026
Steals
2,272
Rebounds
10,525
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Career highlights and awards
1× NBA Champion (1983)
1× NBA MVP (1981)
11× NBA All-Star (1977-1987)
5× All-NBA First Team Selection (1978, 1980-1983)
2× All-NBA Second Team Selection (1977, 1984)
2× NBA All-Star Game MVP (1977, 1983)
1× J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award (1983)
NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team
NBA 35th Anniversary Team
2× ABA Champion (1974, 1976)
3× ABA MVP (1974-1976)
5× ABA All-Star (1972-1976)
2× ABA Playoffs MVP (1974, 1976)
4× All-ABA First Team (1973-1976)
1× All-ABA Second Team (1972)
1× All-ABA Defensive First Team
1972 ABA All-Rookie First Team
Basketball Hall of Fame
Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950 and raised in Roosevelt, New York), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is a retired American basketball player who helped launch a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and play above the rim.
Erving helped legitimize the now-defunct American Basketball Association (ABA). Much as some players are considered "the team," Dr. J was considered "the league." He was the best known player in the ABA when the ABA-NBA merger joined it with the National Basketball Association (NBA) after the 1976 season.
Erving won three championships, four Most Valuable Player Awards, and three scoring titles while playing with the ABA's Virginia Squires and New York Nets and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. He is the fifth-highest scorer in professional basketball history, with 30,026 points (NBA and ABA combined). He is well-known for slam dunking from the free throw line in Slam Dunk Contests.
Erving was named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time team and in 1993 was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2004, he was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame. Many consider him among the most spectacular basketballers ever, and one of the best dunkers. His signature dunk was the "slam" dunk, since incorporated into the vernacular and basic skill set of the game, in the same manner as the "cross-over" dribble and the "no look" pass.
Contents[hide]
1 Career
1.1 High school and college
1.2 Virginia Squires
1.3 New York Nets
1.4 Philadelphia 76ers
1.5 Career summary
1.6 Post-basketball career
2 NBA statistics
3 Memorable feats
3.1 The Baseline Move
3.2 Rock The Baby over Michael Cooper
4 Quotations
5 Influences
6 In popular culture
7 Family
8 References
9 External links
//

[edit] Career

[edit] High school and college
Erving played for Roosevelt High School in New York. He reportedly received the nickname "Doctor" from a high school friend.[1]
He enrolled at the University of Massachusetts in 1968. In two varsity college basketball seasons, he averaged 32.5 points and 20.2 rebounds per game, becoming one of only five players to average more than 20 points and 20 rebounds per game in NCAA Men's Basketball.[2]
At that time, professional basketball was in flux, split between two leagues whose players rapidly switched clubs and leagues. Erving joined the ABA in 1971 as an undrafted free agent with the Squires.

[edit] Virginia Squires
Erving quickly established himself as a force and gained a reputation for hard and ruthless dunking. He scored 27.3 points per game as a rookie, was selected to the All-ABA Second Team, made the ABA All-Rookie Team, and finished second to Artis Gilmore for the ABA Rookie of the Year Award. He led the Squires into the Eastern Division Finals, where they lost to the Rick Barry-led New York Nets.
When he became eligible for the NBA draft in 1972, the Milwaukee Bucks picked him in the first round (12th overall). This move would have brought him together with Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Instead, the 6' 7", 210 pound Erving signed a contract with the Atlanta Hawks before the 1972-73 season.[1]
As attorneys tried to reach an agreement among three teams in two leagues, Erving joined Pete Maravich and the Hawks's training camp, as they prepared for the upcoming season. Erving enjoyed his brief time with Atlanta, and he would later duplicate with George Gervin his after-practice playing with Maravich. He played three exhibition games with the Hawks until, because of a legal injunction, he was obliged by a three-judge panel to return to the ABA Squires. The NBA fined Atlanta $25,000 per game for Erving's Hawks appearances because Milwaukee owned his NBA rights [3] .
Back in the ABA, his game flourished, and he achieved a career-best 31.9 points per game in the 1972-1973 season. The following year, the cash-strapped Squires sold him to the New York Nets.

[edit] New York Nets
The Squires, like most ABA teams, were on rather shaky financial ground. They were forced to trade Erving to the Nets in 1973--a move which eventually sent the Squires into oblivion. Erving led the Nets to their first ABA title in 1973–74, defeating the Utah Stars. Erving established himself as the most important player in the ABA. His spectacular play established the Nets as, finally, one of the better teams in the ABA, and brought fans and credibility to the league.
1976 finally saw the ABA-NBA merger. The Nets and Nuggets actually applied for admission to the NBA before the season, in anticipation of the eventual merger that had first been proposed by the two leagues in 1970 but delayed for various reasons including the Oscar Robertson suit. The Erving-led Nets defeated the Denver Nuggets in the swan-song finals of the ABA. In the postseason, Erving averaged 34.7 points and was named Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.
In his five ABA seasons, Erving won two championships, three MVP trophies, and three scoring titles.

[edit] Philadelphia 76ers
The Nets, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs joined the NBA for the 1976–77 season. With Erving and Nate Archibald (acquired in a trade with Kansas City), the Nets were poised to pick up right where they left off.
However, the New York Knicks threw a monkey wrench into the Nets' plans when they demanded that the Nets pay them $4.8 million for "invading" the Knicks' NBA territory. Coming on the heels of the fees the Nets had to pay for joining the NBA, owner Roy Boe reneged on a promise to raise Erving's salary. Erving refused to play under these conditions and held out in training camp. Boe had little choice but to sell Erving's contract to the Philadelphia 76ers for 3 million dollars.
Erving quickly became the leader of his new club and led them to an exciting 50-win season. This team featured other stars like George McGinnis and Doug Collins. The Sixers won the Atlantic Division and were the top drawing team in the NBA. The Sixers defeated the defending champions, the Boston Celtics, to win the Eastern Conference. Erving took them into the NBA Finals against the Portland Trail Blazers of Bill Walton. After the Sixers took a 2-0 lead, however, the Blazers defeated them with four straight victories. In contrast, the Nets crashed into the cellar.
However, Dr.J enjoyed success off the court, becoming one of the first basketball players to endorse many products and to have a shoe marketed under his name. It was at this time that he appeared in television commercials urging young fans asking for his autograph in an airport to refer to him henceforth as "Dr. Chapstick." He also starred in the 1979 basketball comedy film, The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh.
A famous TV commercial for Sixers season tickets during the 1977-78 off-season summed up Erving's desire to win an NBA Title. In the commercial, Erving was in the Sixers locker room and he said to fans, "We owe you one" while he held up his index finger. It took a few years for the Sixers franchise to build around Erving. Eventually coach Billy Cunningham and top-level players like Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, and Bobby Jones were added to the mix and the franchise was very successful.
In the following years, Erving coped with a team that was not yet playing at his level. The Sixers were eliminated twice in the Eastern Conference Finals. In 1979, Larry Bird entered the league, reviving the Boston Celtics and the storied Celtics-76ers rivalry; these two teams faced each other in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1980, '81, '82, and '85. The Bird vs. Dr. J matchup became arguably the top personal rivalry in the sport (along with Bird vs. Magic Johnson), inspiring the early Electronic Arts video game Julius Erving-Larry Bird One-on-One.
In 1980, the 76ers prevailed over the Celtics to advance to the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. There, Erving executed the legendary Baseline Move, an incredible behind-the-board reverse layup. However, the Lakers won 4-2 with a superb Magic Johnson.
1981 and 1982 were also sour grapes for Erving, as the Sixers stranded twice, once against the Celtics and once again against the Lakers. Nevertheless, Erving was named the NBA MVP in 1981. But for the 1982-83 season, the Sixers obtained the missing element to combat their weakness at their center position, Moses Malone. Armed with one of the most formidable center-forward combinations of all time, the Sixers dominated the whole season, causing Malone to make the famous prediction of "fo-fo-fo (four-four-four)," meaning all the Sixers needed to do was win four games in each series. The media misinterpreted[citation needed] the comment and thought he meant the Sixers would sweep the entire playoffs. In fact, the Sixers went four-five-four, losing one game to the Milwaukee Bucks in the conference finals, then sweeping the Lakers to win the NBA title.
Erving maintained his all-star caliber of play into his twilight years, averaging 22.4, 20.0, 18.1, and 16.8 points per game in his final seasons. In 1986, he announced that he would retire after the season, causing every game he played to be sold out with adoring fans.

[edit] Career summary
Erving retired in 1987. He is one of the few players in modern basketball to have his number retired by two franchises: the New Jersey Nets (formerly the New York Nets) have retired his No. 32 jersey, and the Philadelphia 76ers his No. 6 jersey.
In his ABA and NBA careers combined, he scored more than 30,000 points. In 1993, Erving was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. When he retired, Erving ranked in the top 5 in scoring (third), field goals made (third), field goals attempted (fifth) and steals (first). On the combined NBA/ABA scoring list, Erving ranked third with 30,026 points. As of 2005[update], Erving ranks fifth on the list, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain.

[edit] Post-basketball career
After his basketball career, he became a businessman, obtaining ownership of a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Philadelphia and doing work for TV as an analyst. In 1997, he joined the front office of the Orlando Magic.
He and former NFL running back Joe Washington fielded a NASCAR Busch Grand National Series team in the late 1990s, becoming the first ever NASCAR racing team at any level owned completely by minorities. The team had secure sponsorship from Dr Pepper for most of its existence. Erving, a racing fan himself, stated that his foray into NASCAR was an attempt to raise interest in NASCAR among African-Americans.
He has also served on the Board of Directors of Converse (prior to their 2001 bankruptcy), Darden Restaurants, Inc., Saks Incorporated and The Sports Authority. As of 2009, Erving is the owner of The Celebrity Golf Club International outside of Atlanta.
New Jersey Nets star Vince Carter, who was playing for the Toronto Raptors at the time, preferred Erving as the choice for the team's next General Manager, after Glen Grunwald was dismissed in 2004. However, the team owners hired Rob Babcock instead.
He was ranked #10 on SLAM Magazine's Top 75 NBA Players of All Time in 2003.
Erving is the father of professional tennis player Alexandra Stevenson.[4]

[edit] NBA statistics
Games - 836; Field Goal % - .507; Rebounds - 5,601; Assists - 3,224; Total Points - 18,364; Points per game [PPG] - 22.0

[edit] Memorable feats
Although dunking from the foul line had been done by other players (Jim Pollard and Wilt Chamberlain in the 1950s, for example), Erving introduced the dunk jumping off the foul line to a wide audience, when he demonstrated the feat in the 1976 ABA All-Star Game Dunking Contest. He is revered for his legacy of amazing acrobatic and powerful offensive moves.

[edit] The Baseline Move
One of his most memorable plays occurred during the 1980 NBA Finals, when he executed a seemingly impossible finger-roll behind the backboard.[5] He drove past a defender on the right baseline and went up for a layup. Then 7'2" center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar crossed his way, blocking the route to the basket and forcing him outwards. In mid-air, it was apparent that Erving would land behind the backboard. But somehow he managed to reach over and score on a right-handed layup despite the fact that his whole body, including his left shoulder, was already behind the hoop. This move, along with his free-throw line dunk, has become one of the signature events of his career.

[edit] Rock The Baby over Michael Cooper
Another of Erving's most memorable plays came in a regular season game against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1983. He deflected a pass for a steal, charged down the court's left side, with one defender to beat (Laker's top defensive player Michael Cooper). As he came inside of the 3-point line, he cupped the ball into his wrist, swinging the ball back and forth before taking off on, as described by sports announcer Chick Hearn, a "Rock The Baby" slam dunk, slung the ball around behind his head and dunked over Cooper. This dunk is generally regarded as one of the greatest dunks of all time.

[edit] Quotations
"As a basketball player, Julius was the first to actually take the torch and become the spokesman for the NBA. He understood what his role was and how important it was for him to conduct himself as a representative of the league. Julius was the first player I ever remember who transcended sports and was known by one name, Doctor". -- his coach, Billy Cunningham.
"I saw that basketball could be my way out and I worked hard to make sure it was."
"Respect is a lot more important, and a lot greater, than popularity."
"Here I was, trying to win a championship, and my mouth just dropped open. He actually did that! I thought, 'What should we do? Should we take the ball out, or should we give him the ball back and ask him to do it again?' It's still the greatest move I've ever seen in a basketball game, the all-time greatest." -- Magic Johnson on the Baseline Move.

[edit] Influences
Glenn "Doc" Rivers got his nickname while at Marquette University for the "Dr. J" t-shirt he often wore to basketball practice.
Julius Erving was a hero to famous television star, rapper, and sitcom actor Will Smith.
Carolina Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers was named after Erving.
Erving was President Barack Obama's childhood sports hero; as a child, he had his posters up in his room.[6]
Erving's nickname "DR. J" influenced rapper Dr. Dre's name

[edit] In popular culture
Erving was idolized by American rapper Dr. Dre, who even rapped using the alias "Dr. J" for a short time.
American rappers Gucci Mane & Yo Gotti created the song "Julius" from the mixtape "Deeper Than Trap" in his honor
In One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird (a popular 1983 Electronic Arts title originally for the Apple II and subsequently for the Commodore 64, Amiga, Macintosh, Atari 7800, Atari ST, TRS-80 Color Computer and PC booter) Erving plays opposite Larry Bird in a game of one-on-one. A sequel, Jordan vs Bird: One on One, was a 1988 basketball video game for the Mega Drive/Genesis, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Commodore 64, and the PC.
Legendary smooth jazz musician Grover Washington, Jr., a fan of the Philadelphia 76ers, created the song "Let It Flow (For Dr. J)", from the album Winelight, in honor of Erving.
He is mentioned in the song You Be Illin' on the album Raising Hell by Run-D.M.C.. The subject of the song witnesses a dunk by Dr. J and promptly yells "Touchdown".
In the episode My Déjà Vu, My Déjà Vu of the hit show Scrubs, Dr. Cox asks Elliot Reid if she "is a real doctor or if she is a doctor like Julius Erving is a doctor", alluding to Julius Erving's nickname of Dr. J.

[edit] Family
Erving was married to Turquoise Erving from 1972 until 2003. Together, they had four children. Their son, Cory, drowned after driving his vehicle into a pond in 2000. [7]
In 1979, Erving began an adulterous affair with sportswriter Samantha Stevenson, resulting in the 1980 birth of American tennis player Alexandra Stevenson. Although Erving's fatherhood of Alexandra Stevenson was known privately to the families involved, it did not become public knowledge until Stevenson reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1999, the first year she qualified to play in the tournament. Erving had provided financial support for Stevenson over the years, but beyond that, had not been a part of her life. The public disclosure of their relationship did not initially lead to contact between father and daughter. However, in 2008, Stevenson contacted him, and they at last did initiate a further relationship with one another.[8]
In 2003, Erving fathered a second child outside of his marriage, this time with a woman named Dorýs Madden. Julius and Turquoise Erving were subsequently divorced. Julius Erving continued his relationship with Madden, and as of 2008, they remained a couple, and had had two more children together.[8]

[edit] References
^ a b "NBA.com: Julius Erving Bio". NBA Media Ventures, LLC. http://www.nba.com/history/players/erving_bio.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-16.
^ NCAA Basketball Records
^ "Dr. J and Pistol Pete on the Same Team". http://20secondtimeout.blogspot.com/2006/11/dr-j-and-pistol-pete-on-same-team.html. Retrieved on 2009-2-25.
^ Making a splash - After dancing through Wimbledon, the always-smiling Alexandra Stevenson has dedicated herself to rejuvenating her game, by Chris Nicholson published in USTA Magazine, May 2000
^ NBA.com: Doctor’s Shot Stuns Lakers
^ [1] "Barack Obama on sports talk radio, April 2, 2008"
^ Son of Julius Erving died of accidental drowning, CBC Sports
^ a b Reaching Out

[edit] External links
Basketball Hall of Fame profile
NBA History profile
nba.com historical playerfile
The Baseline Move (includes animated GIF)
Julius Erving Playerfile, career stats, draft, wallpapers
Career stata at basketball-reference.com
YouTube video of Dr J's "Rock The Baby" dunk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DN2p4p2piI

Full Name: Adrian Delano DantleyBorn: 2/28/56 in Washington D.C.High School: DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.)College: Notre DameTransactions: Traded to Indiana, 9/1/77; Traded to L.A. Lakers, 12/13/77; Traded to Utah, 9/13/79; Traded to Detroit, 8/21/86; Traded to Dallas, 2/15/89, Signed with Milwaukee, 4/2/91

Nickname: A.D.Height: 6-5; Weight: 210 lbs.Drafted by: Buffalo Braves (1976)Honors: All-NBA Second Team (1981, '84); NBA Rookie of the Year (1977); NBA Comeback Player of the Year (1984); NBA All-Star (1980, '81, '82, '84, '85, '86); Olympic gold medalist (1976).
Complete Bio Summary Complete Stats
Anyone wanting to get a line on Adrian Dantley the basketball star need only look at his career statistics: 23,177 points, ninth on the NBA career scoring list at time of retirement; a .540 field-goal percentage, one of the highest ever recorded by an NBA noncenter; and 30-plus points per game for four straight seasons. He was a smart, fundamentally sound player who relied on both strength and finesse.
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Dantley twice led the league in scoring and left the game ranked ninth on the NBA career list.AllsportAnyone wanting to understand Adrian Dantley the man should hear an often-told story from his youth that was recounted in the Dallas Morning News. While in ninth grade, Dantley got a 99 on a history test; no other student scored above 80. His teacher, Morgan Wooten, who was also Dantley's basketball coach, suspected that young Adrian had cheated. So he stood Dantley up and made him answer questions in front of the class. Dantley got them all right, stunning Wooten. "I never should have underestimated you," he later said to Dantley.
For all that was known of Dantley the deadeye shooter and high-intensity competitor, Dantley the man confused and often confounded coaches, players, and fans during a stellar, if highly unusual, NBA career. His motives were often misunderstood and his intentions misread.
On the court, the athletic Dantley was as smooth an outside shooter as could be, a force on the inside with an explosive first step, and a master of psychology. Sometimes he intentionally allowed his first shot of the game to be blocked, and then, for the rest of the night, he used his patented head fake to burn his defender. Dantley also lured opponents into unsuccessful steal attempts by dribbling the ball very high. Off the court, Dantley chose his words carefully. He spoke with conviction and honesty, sometimes at the expense of diplomacy.
Dantley's many basketball accomplishments include a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics, the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, and two NBA scoring titles. He played for seven different teams during his 15-year playing career, with his longest stint spent in a Utah Jazz uniform. Regrettably, his teams never won an NBA Championship.
Dantley's playing style and personality may be traced to his early childhood in Washington, D.C. After his parents divorced when he was 3 years old, Dantley lived with his mother, an aunt and a cousin. At such a tender age and with no father figure in the house, Adrian turned inward, rarely letting on how he felt inside.
"Even when Adrian was a child, you couldn't figure him out. You couldn't get him to smile even then," his mother, Virginia, told writer Thomas Bonk. "I still ask him, 'How is everything?' Because with him, you can never tell." At age 12 Dantley quietly devoted himself to basketball.
Throughout his life, Dantley surprised people, especially his critics. "At every level, I wasn't supposed to do what I did," he said late in his career in an interview with the Dallas Morning News. "But I did."
As a 6-4, 245-pound freshman at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Maryland, his prodigious posterior earned him the nickname "Baby Huey." Nearly everyone thought Dantley was too fat and too short to excel at basketball. He proved them wrong, leading national powerhouse DeMatha to a combined 57-2 record and earning high school All-America honors. He practiced obsessively, even on Christmas Day, when he would pick up the gym key from Coach Wooten's house.
Dantley was only 10 pounds lighter and an inch taller when he enrolled at Notre Dame in 1973, so once again he was pegged for mediocrity. But he averaged 25.8 points in his first three collegiate seasons, earning All-America honors twice. He left after his junior year to enter the NBA Draft.
Years later, in an article in the Washington Post, Dantley looked back on the way people had doubted him throughout his life. "It's always the same things. 'How does Dantley get away with that stuff?' I always joke with guys who've doubted me. After I score on them, I get behind them at the other end of the court, change my voice, and say, 'I wouldn't let no 6-4 fat boy come inside and pile-drive on me like that.' Then they turn around and see it's me."

On the court, the athletic Dantley was as smooth an outside shooter as could be, a force on the inside with an explosive first step, and a master of psychology.
By 1976 he was the "fat boy" no longer. Instead, Dantley was a calorie-counting, iron-pumping basketball machine. His weight dropped to a leaner 220 pounds and his muscles made him look more like a decathlete than the "small" forward he was. The right-hander also had improved his left-handed dribbling so that he could handle the ball equally well from either side. At draft time the Buffalo Braves made Dantley the sixth pick overall. Before turning professional Dantley played on the 1976 U.S. Olympic Team. He led the squad in scoring with a 19.3 average in seven games, including 32 points in 30 minutes in the gold-medal game against Yugoslavia.
Dantley joined the Braves for the 1976-77 season and became an instant star, averaging 20.3 points on .520 field-goal shooting. At season's end, he was named NBA Rookie of the Year.
His hopes for settling in with Buffalo were dashed, however, when the Braves traded him with Mike Bantom to the Indiana Pacers after the season for Billy Knight. The season prior to the trade, Knight had a 26.6 ppg and 7.5 rpg averages but it was thought that Buffalo owner John Brown, who had owned the American Basketball Association's Kentucky Colonels, wanted more players from the now-defunct ABA on the Braves' roster.
Dantley didn't stay in the Hoosier State long -- after 23 games he was sent to the Los Angeles Lakers with Dave Robisch for center James Edwards and Earl Tatum. Dantley finished the 1977-78 season with the Lakers (who at the time boasted Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and a young Jamaal Wilkes) and averaged 21.5 points. He remained with Los Angeles for the entire 1978-79 campaign and contributed 17.3 points per game. Displaying an uncanny knack for drawing fouls, Dantley led the NBA in free throws made that year with 541 (in 680 attempts). He topped the league in that category four more times during his career.
With two small forwards on the team, however, either Dantley or Wilkes had to go, so Dantley was traded to the Utah Jazz before the 1979-80 season for power forward Spencer Haywood. Dantley spent seven seasons in Utah, where he became the league's deadliest scorer. When the Jazz moved from New Orleans to Salt Lake City in 1979, fans there didn't know quite what to expect. What they saw was "A. D." in his prime. In 1979-80, Dantley averaged 28.0 points with a .576 field-goal percentage, a stunning level of accuracy for a noncenter. That year, in his first of six trips to the NBA All-Star Game, Dantley led the West squad with 23 points. Meanwhile, he watched as his former team, the Lakers, rode a rookie named Magic Johnson to the 1980 NBA Championship.
During his next six seasons in Utah, Dantley's consistency was as remarkable as his scoring. From 1980-81 through 1985-86 he averaged between 26.6 and 30.7 points, including four straight seasons over 30. He collected NBA scoring titles in 1980-81 and 1983-84, and he set a record in 1983-84 for requiring the fewest field-goal attempts (18.2 per game) to average at least 30 points. His knack for getting fouled certainly helped, as Dantley canned 813 free throws that same season (more than 10 per game) and tied Wilt Chamberlain's NBA record by hitting 28 foul shots against the Houston Rockets. Dantley finished that game with 46 points. (Chamberlain had finished his game with 100 points.)
During his first four years in Utah, however, the Jazz failed to make the playoffs. Dantley wasn't a winner, many critics charged, and he was selfish, neither playing defense nor running the court. Justified or not, the criticism reflected the frustration of having the league's best offensive weapon playing on a subpar team.
The team's fate changed during Frank Layden's second full season as head coach and general manager. In 1983-84, Utah posted a 15-game improvement over the previous year and claimed its first Midwest Division championship. Dantley, who had missed 60 games in 1982-83 because of a wrist injury, was named Comeback Player of the Year. Suddenly it was a team of stars: Dantley led the league in scoring, Rickey Green in steals, Mark Eaton in blocked shots, and Darrell Griffith in three-point shooting. And Layden led the league in one-liners. Describing Dantley to the Salt Lake Tribune, Layden said: "We love him. He's our piranha. He'll eat you alive. He would score in a raging storm at sea."
In the First Round of the 1984 NBA Playoffs the Jazz bested another team with a high-powered offense, the Denver Nuggets. The more versatile Jazz won in five games, then lost in the next round to the Phoenix Suns.
The Jazz made the playoffs in each of the next two years, and Dantley kept doing the things he did best. By the 1985-86 campaign, however, his relationship with Layden had cooled off. Salt Lake City wasn't big enough for the two of them, so Dantley was traded -- for the fourth time -- to the Detroit Pistons for Kent Benson and Kelly Tripucka.
The trade led to unprecedented team success for Dantley -- and then more frustration. During two full seasons in Detroit, Dantley averaged better than 20 points and he helped the Pistons reach the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1988. In Game 1 of the series Dantley scored 34 points on 14-of-16 shooting from the field. But the Pistons ultimately fell to the Lakers in seven games.
It was the closest Dantley ever came to the NBA's promised land. The following year he was traded to Dallas at midseason for Mark Aguirre. Ironically, three months later the Pistons became NBA champs, and the championship ring that Dantley wanted so badly had eluded him for the second time. But at age 33 he went on playing, completing the 1988-89 season with Dallas and averaging 19.2 points for the year.
The following February, Dantley suffered the second major injury of his career -- a broken right fibula, which sidelined him for the year. He became a free agent after the 1989-90 season and shopped himself around. But it wasn't until the following April -- with 10 games left in the 1990-91 campaign -- that he found a job with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Dantley, now 35 years old, left the NBA after the season as the ninth-leading scorer in NBA history with 23,177 points. He also left the league ranked fifth on the NBA's all-time list for free throws made (6,832) and his career scoring average (24.3 ppg) ranks among the best ever.
The next summer Dantley moved to Italy, where he played for Breeze Milan, averaging 26.7 points with a .593 field-goal percentage. A year later he became an assistant coach at Towson State University in Maryland.
Career Statistics
G
FG%
3PFG%
FT%
Rebs
RPG
Asts
APG
Stls
Blks
Pts
PPG
955
.540
.171
.818
5,455
5.7
2,830
3.0
944
150
23,177
24.3