I finished logging a game from 1950! (linked at bottom)......which was pretty fun. Very interesting to watch [imo], and fantastic video quality for a film that old.
I already did a
long rant pertaining to commentary by the author of the video, and general comments on how to watch these old games.
Here I'll just note some general observations and some statistical talking points....
Firstly, it's a really different kind of game to watch, and definitely does look a bit "raw" in many ways.
There is A LOT of travelling on the perimeter (the refs allow a fair bit of shuffling the feet at the start of a drive---I wonder if it has anything to do with the poor quality of the floors---but otherwise will NOT allow that third step). Carl Braun has this weird head-fake [he often doesn't move the ball at all, it's just a toss of his head], and then drive; and he travels a lot when he does it.
At first glance, the quality doesn't look terrific, though on closer scrutiny some other suggestions emerge.....
For example, let's look at Bill Henry.
Bill Henry is visibly the biggest guy in this game, and is listed at 6'9" and 215 lbs according to bbref. Take a look at the move and converted reverse lay-up at 9:42 in the video. Not too shabby.
And check out the defensive play at the 8:18 mark in the video: here Henry recognizes the play pretty quickly, makes a very early rotation to help, contests the shot hard forcing a miss, and grabs the defensive rebound. Really nice defensive play. (SIDENOTE: it's also right around this point in the video where the narrator is making his ridiculous claim that Bill Russell wouldn't even be able to stay in the league by the early 80s, btw).
I bring ^^these plays up because.....Bill Henry was a mere role-player for just two seasons ['50 would be his final season]. To be sure, professional basketball offered highly questionable financial prospects, so he may have bowed out of the league for personal reasons [likely, in fact], rather than washing out.
However, it's still worth noting that a 6'9" guy who was coordinated enough for the play at 9:42, had solid enough defensive instincts for the play at 8:18 [and who shot a respectable 67% at the FT line that year] was NOT a star in this 1950 league [or even close to it].
That's gotta say a little something about the quality of the league, no? It certainly serves as yet another counterpoint argument to what the narrator was spewing.
Just as another quick suggestion that a degree of talent [certainly more than the narrator gives them credit for] was required: Clint Wager was 6'6" and 210 lbs with really well-defined legs (can see at 33:17, as well at a jump-ball that follows shortly).......but he was a scrub in '50, which was his one and only season.
One other guy I wanted to specifically point out was Hall of Famer Dick McGuire (#15 for New York). He scores just 2 pts on 1 of 6 shooting [though the one he made was a doozy], but I credit him with 10 assists [and a FT assist] in this game......and there are a handful of very nice passes, imo:
7:46 - no assist here because Gallatin misses the shot, but a really nice look-off pass
20:15 - really fine no-look pass to Vandeweghe (Kiki's dad, fwiw)
32:55 - another look-off assist to Gallatin
His one awesome made FG is at the 20:40 mark.....it's like an "alley-oop" reverse lay-up.
At 24:42 he does a really nice step-back dribble [perhaps not easy under ball-handling rules of the time]; unfortunately he doesn't have a good jumper or quick release to follow it up with. But I nonetheless thought it was worth pointing out.
One kinda cool play I wanted to point out from Carl Braun [he does have a couple nice hustle blocks, too, fwiw] is at 27:37: pretty nice cross-over under the rules of the time, followed up with an actual jump-shot (though he doesn't make it).
There are other legitimate jump-shots [from several different players] to be seen here, too:
18:39 (by Charlie Black)
20:10 (by Ernie Vandeweghe)
26:34 (by Bob Harris)
27:16 (by Dick McGuire [not pretty though])
31:37 (turnaround jumper by John Oldham)
So anyway.....they were happening by then.
And lastly I wanted to look at some collective shot-location data, because some of it was surprising.
For instance, I didn't figure that the era [aside from the present one] where I'd find the MOST shots outside of 25'......would be the pre-shotclock [and pre 3pt-line] era. But they take A LOT from the outside.
In this game [which again is only perhaps 85% complete], I counted 24 attempts from 24+ feet [plus one 22-footer from the corner--->may have been a 3pter in today's league, but here I'm counting those in the 16-23' range].
And they made 7 of 24 (29.2%).......not too shabby, especially considering many of them were WAY out there.
Fred Schaus takes one from about 34-35 feet; no kidding, the edge of the half-court circle was barely one
short stride behind his heels when he shoots this. He missed that one, but he later does MAKE one from ~28-29'.
Leo Klier actually MAKES one from just outside of 30 feet (and was 2 for 3 overall from deep, despite ALL THREE being from 27+ feet).
Curly Armstrong took one from >30', too.
John Oldham drills one from outside of 27'.
No question, a lot of these guys had serious range. A 3pt-line would have been a game-changer for this era.
They finished 19 of 31 (61.3%) at the rim.
They were 11 of 30 (36.7%) in the 3-10' range. Not awful, all things considered. Some of these guys were decently accurate in this range with hook-shots.
It was the other mid-ranges where they
really struggle (lack of reliable jump-shots for many of them being the reason):
4 of 27 (14.8%) from 10-16'
1 of 19 (5.3%) from 16-23'
[so a combined 5 for 46 (10.9%) from 10-23'.....fairly ugly in there, no question]
Anyway, cool stuff. Thanks for pointing me to it, 70sFan. I'll be logging some early 70s stuff next, though I will get back to the other early games later.
"The fact that a proposition is absurd has never hindered those who wish to believe it." -Edward Rutherfurd
"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire
