Bucks retiring Marques Johnson's jersey

[insidehoops]

In March, the Bucks will retire the jersey of Marques Johnson

About Marques Johnson: http://www.insidehoops.com/marques-j...t-012019.shtml

[kennethgriffen]

mcadoo deserves his jersey retired by LA


hes a hall of famer and helped LA win 2 titles



dude averaged 17ppg in the playoffs for their 1982 championship for **** sakes


wilts number is retired and the guy averaged 14ppg for the 1972 title


both guys barely even played for the franchise

[Kblaze8855]

Sometimes I see why players dont see being unselfish as worth it. Wilt was a 50ppg player....losing. Dropped his scoring by 30ppg to be a team player and won in Philly..but ive heard people talk about how he wasnt leading scorer. Ignore that he put up 22/29/9 assists and probably 10+ blocks a game leading his team to the title along with 29/36/13/12 to finally knock off the Celtics....people talk about his ppg. Especially his finals ppg. IVe read a poster on here talk about being like a third option in those finals. Mention he had 10 point games and ignore than he only took 10 shots. He had 10 points...38 rebounds...10 assists..and 12 blocks...in a 31 point win. Key game of the series he had another 10 points. Only took 6 shots. But had 27 rebounds, 8 assists, and 15 blocks(a guy named Harvey Pollak..one of the early NBA stat trackers recorded it). Another win.

Wins the title they said he couldnt win because he was so selfish.

He goes to LA.

The best scorer ever decides to chill even more. Coach tells them that Wilt can score...but they have to wait for him to come down the floor to do it. Makes the other players less effective since they had the guys to run. Wilt says fine. He will rebound, outlet pass, defend the paint, and score the easy ones when the game slows down. They win 33 games in a row and the title. And all these years later he gets:

wilts number is retired and the guy averaged 14ppg for the 1972 title

Hes out there playing 45 minutes in 25 point wins holding Kareem to 13/33 shooting in straight up man to man battles getting standing ovations on the road for his effort...he took 3 shots that game.

Think he could have demanded the ball down the stretch up 30 to stat pad the points a bit?

Sure. But why?

Its a W.

They won games by 63 points. 44 points. 39 points. He plays massive minutes...he doesnt ask for the ball in the blowout to make his scoring numbers look better. Plays all 48 minutes blowing out the bulls in the playoffs. Only took 3 shots.

So we hear about his reduced PPG.

You have to ask yourself....

We looking for Ws or we looking for points?

Bill Russell said himself that when Wilt stopped scoring he played Russells role better than he did himself....probably because wilt could still score at will. He supposedly had a 53 point quintiple double at one point on Philly. On the Lakers he twice showed he could score if he chose to. SI writes an article saying hed lost it. He had two sixty point games in like a week. I think 66 points on 29/35 shooting and a 60 on like 22/35.

In 72 he had multiple games of 48 minutes...only taking 3 shots.

He was letting his teammates play. Let his 3 other guys take 31, 23, and 19 shots in a W. He played every second...takes 3 shots.

Was Wilt not doing exactly what we want stars to do? Not disrupt anyone elses game....play in the flow...work hard on D...rebound..pass.

What does he get for it?

"But he only scored ____" as if the team didnt have a 3 month winning streak and win the title.

Be better basketball to force up 38 shots and score 70 while his teammates watch bored and they lose? You really have to ask yourself what the priority is at some point.


They lost a game in October...then didnt lose again till January 9th.

We really...REALLY gonna call out someones numbers when they are contributing to the best basketball ever played till that point...narrowly beating out Wilts previous team who won 67 games when he first started to play great team ball instead of score for himself?

Whats the goal?

PPG? Or victory?

[Kblaze8855]

Anyway...on the subject...

I came across something while back with Bob Lanier saying nobody who saw him play Dr.J in the early 80s wondered who the better player was. Like Johnson was comfortably the best player in the series they had. Hes one of those guys nobody even heard of who was going toe to toe with legends....but he just played in the wrong place and ended up injured on top of it.

Hes probably something like the Pierce of his time. Wont be remembered that well but in his prime could be the equal of anyone else at his position.

Really nothing to be done to get him his due respect though. People just arent gonna care about guys like that. Not now...not ever.

Hes chilling with Pierce, Jojo White, and Billy Cunningham in the "Who gives a ****?" hall of fame. Only question is who from our current era joins him.

You see anyone caring Melo existed in 30 years?

[Xiao Yao You]

mcadoo deserves his jersey retired by LA


hes a hall of famer and helped LA win 2 titles



dude averaged 17ppg in the playoffs for their 1982 championship for **** sakes


wilts number is retired and the guy averaged 14ppg for the 1972 title


both guys barely even played for the franchise

McAdoo backed up Kareem. They've had too many great to retire a 6th man

[Akrazotile]

Anyway...on the subject...

I came across something while back with Bob Lanier saying nobody who saw him play Dr.J in the early 80s wondered who the better player was. Like Johnson was comfortably the best player in the series they had. Hes one of those guys nobody even heard of who was going toe to toe with legends....but he just played in the wrong place and ended up injured on top of it.

Hes probably something like the Pierce of his time. Wont be remembered that well but in his prime could be the equal of anyone else at his position.

Really nothing to be done to get him his due respect though. People just arent gonna care about guys like that. Not now...not ever.

Hes chilling with Pierce, Jojo White, and Billy Cunningham in the "Who gives a ****?" hall of fame. Only question is who from our current era joins him.

You see anyone caring Melo existed in 30 years?

*Ahem...*


I think youre forgetting someone...?

[Kblaze8855]

I

[Jasper]

Johnson perfected the spin move to a T.

Great UCLA player and Bucks player... well deserved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2AW-AKgLiY

I want to add- obviously I watch him play , but this particular Bucks team was destined for a chip , and Milwaukee was trying to redeem them selves after Jabbar left.
Lanier was 'I'll say' a cornerstone for the franchise to bring the ring.
They had quite a roster , but it never happened. Milwaukee never blamed Lanier , other than getting him to late in his career. Just like Moses Malone, Dave Cowens to name a couple names...