Post#17 » by penbeast0 » Mon Nov 7, 2011 11:16 am
If we are seriously considering Penny (and I'm not -- 2/3 the already abbreviated career of Grant Hill and a second option as well -- and not as key a second option in my mind as Rodman or Bobby Jones), how about Connie Hawkins?
Banned from college and the NBA for the best athletic years of his career (age 19-27), he became a street legend for his dunking and athleticism. Given short chances to play in weaker leagues, he was the ABL MVP at age 19 (over the likes of Bill Bridges and George Yardley among others -- a weak league maybe equivalent to the Euro leagues today), then the first ABA MVP (and running away with the 2nd year MVP as well when he suffered a bad knee injury). Coming back from the knee injury, he changed his game from a post player to a jump shooting wing and went to Phoenix where he became 1st team All-NBA only to suffer additional knee injuries and fade into oblivion (2.5 top seasons if we don't count ABL which I don't -- v. Penny's 4 -- but as a primary scorer and MVP level player).
He was not only a great scorer and the next great dunker after Elgin Baylor, his signature dunk was the Iron Cross. His teammates on those ABA teams talk about his passing, particularly his outlet passing (he could grip the basketball in one hand and fake a baseball throw, like a quarterback) and his leadership -- the chapter on him in Terry Pluto's "Loose Balls" is full of comments about his team play that make him sound like Bill Walton but with more scoring (he wasn't but he was a high IQ player apparently).
I'm not going to put him in before the great two way defenders like Bobby Jones, Larry Nance, even Shawn Marion but for those who think Penny's 4 years as Shaq's sidekick is enough, he's someone to consider.
“Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination,” Andrew Lang.
