A SIDEWAYS GLANCE : BOTTOM LINE: RODMAN IN, SHAQ OUT.Byline: Tom Hoffarth Remember when the NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= came out with its feel-good 50th Anniversary team, announced amidst huge fanfare at halftime of the '96 All-Star game An all-star game is an exhibition game played by the best players in their sports league. The players are often chosen by a popular vote of fans of the sport and the game often occurs at the halfway point of the regular season, although this is not the case for some all-star games ? And everyone honored - except Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (pronounced "shak-KEEL") (born March 6, 1972 in Newark, New Jersey), frequently referred to simply as Shaq, is an American professional basketball player, generally regarded as one of the most dominant in the National Basketball Association (NBA). and Jerry West
The editors of Athlon Sports' pro basketball special collectors edition ($4.99, on newsstands) goes a step better: It not only picks the game's top 50 players of all time but ranks them. And there's only so much agreement on who should be among the top 50, too. On Athlon's list, the top nine include five who spent a majority of their glory days, if not all, with the Lakers. They shouldn't be too tough to figure out - they've all got numbers up on the wall at the Forum. The top 10: 1. Michael Jordan This article is about the former basketball player. For other uses, see Michael Jordan (disambiguation). Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player. 2. Bill Russell 3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 4. Oscar Robertson 5. Magic Johnson 6. Larry Bird 7. Wilt Chamberlain 8. Elgin Baylor 9. Jerry West 10. Bob Pettit Because Athlon weighed championship rings more heavily into the equation than personal statistics, Russell's choice at No. 2 over Abdul-Jabbar and Chamberlain makes sense. The others on Athlon's list who spent time with the Lakers are George Mikan (No. 15), Bob McAdoo (No. 33), Connie Hawkins (No. 38) and, albeit briefly and dangerously, Spencer Haywood (No. 41). So, if you're doing your homework, this means not only O'Neal but also James Worthy missed the cut. Both were selections on the NBA's 50th Anniversary team. For that matter, nine players on the NBA's team weren't worthy of Athlon's roster. In addition to O'Neal and Worthy, gone are Bill Walton, Robert Parish, Lenny Wilkens, Sam Jones, Wes Unseld, Dave DeBusschere and Earl Monroe. They've been replaced by McAdoo, Hawkins, Haywood, Dennis Rodman, Walt Bellamy, Artis Gilmore, Mel Daniels, George McGinnis and Dan Issel. One reason might be that Athlon's list doesn't discriminate against those who spent a majority of their careers in the ABA, which seven of those nine did. And it doesn't carry any grudges against Rodman, who could be the game's most prolific rebounder. Postscript: Rodman said it on the ``Tonight Show'' with Jay Leno last week, talking about the NBA lockout lockout, intentional closing up of a company, factory, or shop by an employer to prevent employees from working during a strike or labor dispute. The term lockout : ``I think it's kind of messed up that a lot of guys in the NBA do not deserve the money. You have guys (making) $150 million and they don't do a damn thing. That's kind of screwed up, isn't it? ``I think you have a guy here in L.A. like that. Don't get me wrong, I like Shaq as a competitor, but as far as his determination, it's kind of . . . I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. .'' We hear ya. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO O`NEAL v. t. 1. To anneal. v. i. 1. To be tempered by heat. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion