Appreciating Some Older Players
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2025 2:54 pm
Okay.
This one's for those of us who don't like to take potshots at literally every older player ever. This thread is for reminiscing or appreciating guys who played a while ago. Maybe you grew up watching them, maybe you came to them later. Maybe you have come to appreciate their place in league history, or what they did for the league.
So let's talk about some old guys today.
I'll throw one out to start.
Walt Bellamy.
I never hear his name. Probably because he had a fast start, playing bonkers at Indiana and then being invited to dominate on the Olympic team, before moving onto the NBA with a ROY and a bunch of AS teams before fading out. Still played over 1,000 games. Was a pretty good rebounder, though not super wild given that he mostly played in the 60s. Hit the league as a 31.6 ppg (3rd in the league), 19.0 rpg player, led the league in FG% ahead of Wilt. Only Wilt made more FGs as a rookie, and only Wilt and Russell posted higher rookie rebounding averages. On his career, he was the 2nd guy in league history (after Wilt) to accrue 20,000 points and 14,000 rebounds.
Questions of motivation haunted him, but he was a talented dude. Was an All-State football receiver. I've seen it posted he was 6'10.5" without shoes, and that he was 260+ pounds (bunch of people call him 270). Good wingspan. Solidly built regardless, with good mobility (pretty good end-to-end speed, good lateral mobility from what I saw). Pretty springy; didn't use it all the time, but in his youth, he has some notable ups and could jump from pretty far out and dunk or get a close lay-in kind of thing. Good shot blocker. Could be a good post defender when he wanted; certainly gave fits to Kareem in the footage I have seen, bumping him, denying position, etc. Had a nice right-elbow jumper, baseline shot on either side, fade to the baseline on the right side. I've seen him hitting jumpers that are like 18, 20 feet from the basket on the baseline, mostly on the right. Couldn't tell you how reliable that was, but he took the shot at times. Given his FT%, I'm sure his range was a little dicey at best, kinda like Giannis this year. But he was a consistently high-FG% guy, if only from the dunks and the tip-ins and so forth, so I don't know. Someone with more knowledge, like penbeast0, or with tracking like Djoker or 70sFan, would have to confirm.
Lots of movement without the ball. Lots of classic shots with a foot on the edge of the key. Jumpers, as discussed. He seemed to be semi-capable with a face-up drive, and he sometimes ended up in a pull-up into a pass for a quick bucket from one of his teammates. Wasn't a super prolific passer, but he clearly had eyes for hi-los and shuffle passes. But he also had that huge reach, so he could drive and just reach forward for the finish. Definitely fast enough to challenge the big boys going to the basket, and he had some rudimentary like right to left crossovers and stuff. Simple things, but effective enough.
Fun stuff. Didn't age too well and his dominance was done after his fifth season, but he was an interesting player who was quite good for a time.
This one's for those of us who don't like to take potshots at literally every older player ever. This thread is for reminiscing or appreciating guys who played a while ago. Maybe you grew up watching them, maybe you came to them later. Maybe you have come to appreciate their place in league history, or what they did for the league.
So let's talk about some old guys today.
I'll throw one out to start.
Walt Bellamy.
I never hear his name. Probably because he had a fast start, playing bonkers at Indiana and then being invited to dominate on the Olympic team, before moving onto the NBA with a ROY and a bunch of AS teams before fading out. Still played over 1,000 games. Was a pretty good rebounder, though not super wild given that he mostly played in the 60s. Hit the league as a 31.6 ppg (3rd in the league), 19.0 rpg player, led the league in FG% ahead of Wilt. Only Wilt made more FGs as a rookie, and only Wilt and Russell posted higher rookie rebounding averages. On his career, he was the 2nd guy in league history (after Wilt) to accrue 20,000 points and 14,000 rebounds.
Questions of motivation haunted him, but he was a talented dude. Was an All-State football receiver. I've seen it posted he was 6'10.5" without shoes, and that he was 260+ pounds (bunch of people call him 270). Good wingspan. Solidly built regardless, with good mobility (pretty good end-to-end speed, good lateral mobility from what I saw). Pretty springy; didn't use it all the time, but in his youth, he has some notable ups and could jump from pretty far out and dunk or get a close lay-in kind of thing. Good shot blocker. Could be a good post defender when he wanted; certainly gave fits to Kareem in the footage I have seen, bumping him, denying position, etc. Had a nice right-elbow jumper, baseline shot on either side, fade to the baseline on the right side. I've seen him hitting jumpers that are like 18, 20 feet from the basket on the baseline, mostly on the right. Couldn't tell you how reliable that was, but he took the shot at times. Given his FT%, I'm sure his range was a little dicey at best, kinda like Giannis this year. But he was a consistently high-FG% guy, if only from the dunks and the tip-ins and so forth, so I don't know. Someone with more knowledge, like penbeast0, or with tracking like Djoker or 70sFan, would have to confirm.
Lots of movement without the ball. Lots of classic shots with a foot on the edge of the key. Jumpers, as discussed. He seemed to be semi-capable with a face-up drive, and he sometimes ended up in a pull-up into a pass for a quick bucket from one of his teammates. Wasn't a super prolific passer, but he clearly had eyes for hi-los and shuffle passes. But he also had that huge reach, so he could drive and just reach forward for the finish. Definitely fast enough to challenge the big boys going to the basket, and he had some rudimentary like right to left crossovers and stuff. Simple things, but effective enough.
Fun stuff. Didn't age too well and his dominance was done after his fifth season, but he was an interesting player who was quite good for a time.
