Too long, didn’t remember: NBA stars that time (and the internet) forgot
Have you ever opened a social media page with a specific goal in mind only to get sidetracked right away? After playing around for a while, you close the page and discover that you haven’t even accomplished the reason you logged on.
Indeed, there are a lot of distractions on the internet. Instagram, TikTok, or whatever Twitter (X) is? Sometimes it’s difficult to recall what you ate for breakfast. Naturally, this also applies to NBA history.
Reading about basketball on the internet today may give the impression that the league or the sport was invented in the twenty-first century. that there was nothing at all prior to Kobe Bryant.
Because of this, fans occasionally require a history lesson. And that is precisely what we aimed to accomplish today: to look at the careers of seven former NBA players who made significant contributions to the league but whose tales run the risk of being forgotten because of our contemporary attention spans.
Sikma Jack (1978-1991)
If you talk to any Seattle basketball fan for longer than five minutes, the name Jack Sikma will undoubtedly come up.
The fact that the big, curly-haired, blonde man helped guide the SuperSonics to the 1979 championship only serves to highlight how absurd it is that Seattle no longer has an NBA team.
Sikma was selected in 1977 from the tiny Illinois Wesleyan University, and his unusual catapult jump shot—which began far back behind his head and typically ended with a swish in the net—helped him earn seven All-Star selections.
Along with that ’79 championship trophy, Sikma averaged 16.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game during his first nine years in Seattle.
He concluded his career with five more years in Milwaukee, against the likes of Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics.
Tiny Archibald (1971-1984)
The 6ft 1in Nate ‘Tiny’ Archibald boasts a lot of gear. But arguably his biggest achievement is that in 1972-73, he was the league’s scoring and assist champion.
Not only that, he’s the only one ever to achieve that feat. Later, the six-time All-Star was a member of the Boston Celtics squad that won the 1980-81 NBA title. From the 1971-72 season through the 1976-77 campaign, Archibald averaged 26.7 points and 8.6 assists per game.
He sat out a year due to injury but then he rebuilt himself as a cagey vet, finishing fifth in the MVP race in 1980 and won a ring with Robert Parish, Bird and the gang the next season.
Today, the four-time NBA champion Parish considers Tiny to be one of the greatest five Celtics of all time.
Bob McAdoo (1973-1986)
Raise your hand if you recall the Buffalo Braves? The short-lived club in western New York later became the San Diego Clippers through a confusing series of relocations.
However, Bob McAdoo, the MVP and three-time scoring champion, captained the club while it was still in Buffalo. The dynamic center won rookie of the year when he joined the league in 1972 after attending UNC.
“Do” finished second in MVP the following season. He was named MVP in this third year.
Additionally, McAdoo finished his fourth season as the NBA’s top scorer for three consecutive seasons.
But in the middle of his career, things took a turn for the worst. He moved from the Knicks to Boston, Detroit, and New Jersey during his NBA career.
However, he joined the Lakers in 1981 and won two rings there as a crucial player who scored ten points or more off the bench during the playoffs.
Dantley, Adrian (1977–1991)
Carmelo Anthony, a Hall of Fame scoring forward, will tell you the unexpected tale of Adrian Dantley, a brilliant basketball player who saved his money and still finds time to work as a crossing guard.
For someone who was a two-time scoring champion and a six-time All-Star with the Utah Jazz in the 1980s, it’s a humorous concept.
It’s true, though! But before he started working the crosswalks, Dantley spent seven years in Salt Lake City, averaging 29.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
The forward then moved to Detroit, where the Pistons were poised to win a championship, before to the 1986–87 season.
However, Dantley was sent to Dallas in the midst of 1988–89, just before the Pistons made their breakthrough.
Anthony still holds Dant in high regard today, having known him when he was an assistant coach in Denver.
English, Alex (1977–1991)
The Denver Nuggets were a prolific, high-scoring basketball team in the 1980s. And forward Alex English was a major factor in it.
English was able to finish near the rim with the league’s greatest players and shoot the midrange, becoming the first player in NBA history to score 2,000 points in eight consecutive seasons.
Furthermore, the scoring champion from 1982–83 and eight-time All-Star accomplished these accomplishments in the latter part of his career.
English started his professional career in Milwaukee and Indiana, but after a few unsuccessful years, he moved to Denver, where his scoring really took off.
He played in the Mile High City and averaged 26.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game throughout the 1980s.
Price, Mark (1987-1998)
Mark Price was the world’s top point guard in 1992–93. Along with players like Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, and Charles Barkley, he was selected to the All-NBA first team that season.
Good company. Price was selected to four All-Star teams and four All NBA teams throughout his 12-year career.
Price led the Cleveland Cavaliers to tremendous success over a series of years.
He was a career 40% three-point shooter at a period when few people had that prestigious distinction. Price also won the annual three-point shooting contest twice. They were dreaded.
However, because of injuries and Michael Jordan’s presence, the squad reached its zenith in the early 1990s.
Price, however, remained courageous to the very end. The 6′ Price had a remarkable ability to split double teams and then humiliate you with a lightning-fast jumper as he streaked down the court.
Bing, Dave (1967–1978)
In addition to being a seven-time All-Star, scoring champion, and former Rookie of the Year, Dave Bing served as Detroit’s mayor for five years following his retirement.
Bing, who played for the Pistons for nine seasons before suiting up a few more in Washington and Boston, placed in the top-six in MVP voting three times over his remarkable career.
The combo guard kept a mediocre team afloat during his whole time in the Motor City by averaging 22.6 points, 6.4 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per game.
Bing might fill it from the inside out, smooth as silk and lethal as fire.
He came first in a long line of great Detroit guards, which now includes players like Cade Cunningham, Chauncey Billups, and Isiah Thomas.
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