Tidbits from Darryl Dawkin's book "Chocolate Thunder&am
Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 11:31 am
Hey there, I am currently reading Darryl Dawkin's book "Chocolate Thunder". I am happy to say that it is not the fluffy run-of-the-mill ghostwritten shtick, but quite an interesting, authentic look on the NBA of the 1970s and 1980s. Dawkins, which I previously regarded as a spoilt man child, seems matured and pulls no punches at persons he does not like, including himself. Here some tidbits according to DD:
HIMSELF
DD seems a bit bitter that coaches like Billy Cunningham and Lary Brown just saw him as a sideshow attraction, and therefore also the refs never gave him respect. But he also admits that he was very inconsistent and simply as not good as e.g. Kareem or Lanier.
THE DUNKS
Of course, DD loves his dunks, I think that it is his blood. DD recalls how happy NBA fans were to see those shattered backboards. The NBA commissioner severly rebuked Dawkins, but at the same time was a fringe league scrambling for spectators. People were lining to up see the Sixers, and were horrified in a delightful way to see Dawkins. But the NBA officials effectively neutered Dawkins and robbed themselves of one of the biggest tickets.
SIXERS
The Sixers were Doc's team, and coach Cunningham exclusively drew up plays for Doc and McGinnis. BC looked down at World B. Free and DD as useless streetball players, so he never drew up plays for them. In the 1978 series vs SAS (i.e. Doc vs Gervin), PHI had a huge mismatch of beefy Dawkins vs stick insect Paultz, but BC and PG Mo Cheeks insisted to dump it to Doc and ignore DD. Gervin outshot Doc, and PHI lost in 7.
In the lost 1979 NBA Finals, Cunningham overused Doc, and Mo was too stupid to pass to anyone else but Doc. Also, he did not counter that aging Doc had to play D vs quick Wilkes, and little Mo Cheeks was brutally mismatched vs Magic. Also, Kareem was sniggering at BC for snubbing DD and thus never forcing him to play low post D. In the clinching Game 6, it is an urban legend that Magic played center: DD mostly played Jim Chones. Magic mostly torched Doc via the SF position. One anecdote: the LA fans taunted ultra religious Bobby Jones at the FT line by flashing him pics of naked women. Jones went 0-of-2 and nearly airballed both.
In the lost 1981 NBA ECF (PHI lost 3-4 after being up 3-1), DD credits the clutchness of Larry Bird and Cedric Maxwell. Then he was traded, but although he still dislikes BC, he felt happy that the Sixers finally won it all.
RACIAL QUESTIONS
Dawkins says that the 1970s were a weird era. Black and white players did not really mingle, but they also did not shun each other. However, he observed that white players who played "black" (e.g. dunking god Tom Chambers) were admired but black players who played "white" (e.g. fundamentally sound) were jeered at.
BEST AND WORST NBA CITIES
DD describes Salt Lake City as very loyal, PHI as very passionate, and BOS and LA as very knowledgable. DET is seen as a city where "fans are happy when things go wrong on their own team".
For picking up girls, Nr. 1 place is Salt Lake City. Dawkins does not have an explanation for this, but he asserts that SLC is the place to pick up the hottest girls. Close behind were ATL and NO, and by far the worst was NY, "because the girls always lied to you". Among others, getting pregnant from an NBA players was one of the best ways to get a quick buck.
SEX, DRUGS AND MONEY
In the 1970s, nobody had heard about AIDS yet, and if you did not get laid as a NBA player, "something was wrong with you". One of the most prolific "scorers" on those Sixers teams was Henry Bibby. As a GOAT pick up line, Henry Bibby bluntly asked girls: "Hey, you want to f***?" DD was puzzled how effective this line was.
Also, 90% of the NBA ballers used drugs in the 1980s. Usually they smoked weed, but some players like Terry Furlow, Walter Davis and Eddie Johnson (ATL) regularly used hard stuff (crack and coke). One of the worst cokers was Michael Ray Richardson, who DD regards as the best PG not named Magic: MRR destroyed his career by taking too much coke and was finally blackballed by the NBA as a lone scapegoat. DD still says that more than 50% of today's NBA players do drugs. He himself says that he had about 1,000 girls, but "nowhere near" the gargantuan appetite of this guy called Wilt.
The third big bane was money. In the era before competent sports managers came, many players got robbed by shady managers, like Kareem or also DD52 himself.
MOST UNSTOPPABLE PLAYERS
DD names Bob Lanier and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Lanier had that wide bottom that you could not get around to save your life (or got dunked on viciously if you tried), and Kareem's sky hook was utterly unstoppable. You could see it coming and you could do NOTHING. But one day, Lanier told DD to block Kareem's sweet spot on the left lane. When he did, Kareem was angry, and then frustrated, because it meant he had to shoot his hook from elsewhere.
BASKETBALL OF THE 1990s
For DD, true centers are a rare breed, because they are able to dish out and TAKE severe beatings. For him, only Shaq, Ewing and maybe Sabonis were true 1990s centers, but Hakeem, Mourning and Sampson PFs forced into C. (Hakeem was super great, but could not really take a beating) Also, he thinks that ppl are too obsessed about dunking, so real jump shooters who connect automatically on midrange Js like Reggie Miller and Allan Houston are a dying breed. He really likes Phil Jackson because he can do everything: defense, offense, motivation.
MOST OVERRATED/UNDERRATED PLAYERS
DD calls Robert Parish mentally soft and Larry Bird's stooge. David Thompson is taunted as a dunk-only one trick pony, and Jason Williams as the epitome of everything wrong in the NBA marketing division. As underrated, Dawkins names Dennis Johnson, who simply could lock up his guy, Nate Thurmond, Gus Gerard and John Williamson.
OBLIGATORY WILT ANECDOTE
If you play for the Sixers, no way you can circumvent Wilt. A popular anecdote about Wilt was when he was coach in the ABA. He once was too late to make it to a game (he had female compaionship), so he taped his prep talk on a cassette and had his co-trainer play it to the team before the game. Can anyone beat that??
HIMSELF
DD seems a bit bitter that coaches like Billy Cunningham and Lary Brown just saw him as a sideshow attraction, and therefore also the refs never gave him respect. But he also admits that he was very inconsistent and simply as not good as e.g. Kareem or Lanier.
THE DUNKS
Of course, DD loves his dunks, I think that it is his blood. DD recalls how happy NBA fans were to see those shattered backboards. The NBA commissioner severly rebuked Dawkins, but at the same time was a fringe league scrambling for spectators. People were lining to up see the Sixers, and were horrified in a delightful way to see Dawkins. But the NBA officials effectively neutered Dawkins and robbed themselves of one of the biggest tickets.
SIXERS
The Sixers were Doc's team, and coach Cunningham exclusively drew up plays for Doc and McGinnis. BC looked down at World B. Free and DD as useless streetball players, so he never drew up plays for them. In the 1978 series vs SAS (i.e. Doc vs Gervin), PHI had a huge mismatch of beefy Dawkins vs stick insect Paultz, but BC and PG Mo Cheeks insisted to dump it to Doc and ignore DD. Gervin outshot Doc, and PHI lost in 7.
In the lost 1979 NBA Finals, Cunningham overused Doc, and Mo was too stupid to pass to anyone else but Doc. Also, he did not counter that aging Doc had to play D vs quick Wilkes, and little Mo Cheeks was brutally mismatched vs Magic. Also, Kareem was sniggering at BC for snubbing DD and thus never forcing him to play low post D. In the clinching Game 6, it is an urban legend that Magic played center: DD mostly played Jim Chones. Magic mostly torched Doc via the SF position. One anecdote: the LA fans taunted ultra religious Bobby Jones at the FT line by flashing him pics of naked women. Jones went 0-of-2 and nearly airballed both.
In the lost 1981 NBA ECF (PHI lost 3-4 after being up 3-1), DD credits the clutchness of Larry Bird and Cedric Maxwell. Then he was traded, but although he still dislikes BC, he felt happy that the Sixers finally won it all.
RACIAL QUESTIONS
Dawkins says that the 1970s were a weird era. Black and white players did not really mingle, but they also did not shun each other. However, he observed that white players who played "black" (e.g. dunking god Tom Chambers) were admired but black players who played "white" (e.g. fundamentally sound) were jeered at.
BEST AND WORST NBA CITIES
DD describes Salt Lake City as very loyal, PHI as very passionate, and BOS and LA as very knowledgable. DET is seen as a city where "fans are happy when things go wrong on their own team".
For picking up girls, Nr. 1 place is Salt Lake City. Dawkins does not have an explanation for this, but he asserts that SLC is the place to pick up the hottest girls. Close behind were ATL and NO, and by far the worst was NY, "because the girls always lied to you". Among others, getting pregnant from an NBA players was one of the best ways to get a quick buck.
SEX, DRUGS AND MONEY
In the 1970s, nobody had heard about AIDS yet, and if you did not get laid as a NBA player, "something was wrong with you". One of the most prolific "scorers" on those Sixers teams was Henry Bibby. As a GOAT pick up line, Henry Bibby bluntly asked girls: "Hey, you want to f***?" DD was puzzled how effective this line was.
Also, 90% of the NBA ballers used drugs in the 1980s. Usually they smoked weed, but some players like Terry Furlow, Walter Davis and Eddie Johnson (ATL) regularly used hard stuff (crack and coke). One of the worst cokers was Michael Ray Richardson, who DD regards as the best PG not named Magic: MRR destroyed his career by taking too much coke and was finally blackballed by the NBA as a lone scapegoat. DD still says that more than 50% of today's NBA players do drugs. He himself says that he had about 1,000 girls, but "nowhere near" the gargantuan appetite of this guy called Wilt.
The third big bane was money. In the era before competent sports managers came, many players got robbed by shady managers, like Kareem or also DD52 himself.
MOST UNSTOPPABLE PLAYERS
DD names Bob Lanier and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Lanier had that wide bottom that you could not get around to save your life (or got dunked on viciously if you tried), and Kareem's sky hook was utterly unstoppable. You could see it coming and you could do NOTHING. But one day, Lanier told DD to block Kareem's sweet spot on the left lane. When he did, Kareem was angry, and then frustrated, because it meant he had to shoot his hook from elsewhere.
BASKETBALL OF THE 1990s
For DD, true centers are a rare breed, because they are able to dish out and TAKE severe beatings. For him, only Shaq, Ewing and maybe Sabonis were true 1990s centers, but Hakeem, Mourning and Sampson PFs forced into C. (Hakeem was super great, but could not really take a beating) Also, he thinks that ppl are too obsessed about dunking, so real jump shooters who connect automatically on midrange Js like Reggie Miller and Allan Houston are a dying breed. He really likes Phil Jackson because he can do everything: defense, offense, motivation.
MOST OVERRATED/UNDERRATED PLAYERS
DD calls Robert Parish mentally soft and Larry Bird's stooge. David Thompson is taunted as a dunk-only one trick pony, and Jason Williams as the epitome of everything wrong in the NBA marketing division. As underrated, Dawkins names Dennis Johnson, who simply could lock up his guy, Nate Thurmond, Gus Gerard and John Williamson.
OBLIGATORY WILT ANECDOTE
If you play for the Sixers, no way you can circumvent Wilt. A popular anecdote about Wilt was when he was coach in the ABA. He once was too late to make it to a game (he had female compaionship), so he taped his prep talk on a cassette and had his co-trainer play it to the team before the game. Can anyone beat that??
