It is quite obvious that anyone reading this column is a basketball fan, and likely a serious one. Basketball fans are our people. If you’re looking for analysis of political races, that is not the strength of this web site.
(And, by the way, some people who are sharp with political analysis should steer clear of sports to avoid embarrassing themselves.)
Whether you are a serious or casual basketball fan, there is a must-see program still running on Showtime. If you haven’t seen Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s On the Shoulders of Giants, put it on a to-do list because it is extraordinary.
The documentary was released a year ago, but I didn’t watch it until last week and, well, put it this way: I’ll be watching it several more times.
One of the joys of history is that it spurs you to comparisons, theories and ideas. While watching the history of the Hall of Fame New York Rens – a.k.a the New York Renaissance, Harlem Rens or Renaissance Big Five – I had some diverse thoughts:
1. Was the Boston Celtics’ dynasty as great as we make it out to be?
2. Mikhail Prokhorov and Jay-Z really blew a chance to do something cool.
3. My favorite piece of John Wooden trivia.
Giants opens with a lively discussion between Bill Russell, Jerry West, Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, Globetrotters legend Marques Haynes and Abdul-Jabbar. Each is arguing their team is the greatest of all-time – Russell’s Celtics, West’s 1980s Lakers teams, Reinsdorf’s Chicago teams led by Michael Jordan or the Globetrotters, who were a serious barnstorming team before they became theatrical.
Russell was at acutely boisterous and actually, he walked a fine line between a convincing argument and pure Celtics obnoxiousness. He let everyone know that it was his belief he was better than Jordan and Kareem, which is OK but usually you like to let others make that argument for you.
Abdul-Jabbar handled what could have been an uncomfortable situation very well – although we have no way of knowing how many takes that segment took. Ultimately, Abdul-Jabbar’s purpose was to make a case that the Rens were the greatest team of all-time. But rather than presenting those arguments here, I encourage you to watch the show. If you don’t have Showtime, buy the video.
On paper, no team approaches the Rens record. From 1923 to 1949, according to the Official NBA Encyclopedia, they had a record of 2,588-529. They were the first all-black team to win the world championship. They once had an 88-game winning streak. In 1939, their record was 112-7.
A case could be made, of course, that some of the competition wasn’t that great. But isn’t that true of all the great teams?
That leads me to the notion that the Celtics are the greatest NBA dynasty. On paper, again, they are. Eight consecutive championships and 11 in 13 years. No one has approached that.
But it is interesting breaking it down. In eight of those championship seasons, the Celtics had to play only two playoff series. A team now has to win 16 playoff games. Those Celtics had to win only eight.
And please don’t tell me that since there were fewer teams, the competition was better. In 1959, the Celtics beat Syracuse and the Lakers to win the title. During the regular season, Syracuse had a 35-37 record and the Lakers were 33-39.
Let’s just say there weren’t a lot of Reggie Millers or Julius Ervings who had to be overcome.
The Celtics also benefitted from Red Auerbach’s foresight. Auerbach believed in equal opportunity and embraced the black player. At a time when NBA teams were slow to integrate, Auerbach had no problem starting five black players. The result was the Celtics often faced inferior competition.
Boston won its first title in 1957. Before starting their streak of eight consecutive titles, the Celtics lost in 1958 to the St. Louis Hawks. Those Hawks were the last all-white team to win a title.
When you look at the records and add the numbers, there is ample room for argument among those who claim to be the best.
In the Celtics’ 11 championship seasons, they had a playoff record of 97-49 for a winning percentage of .644.
In the Lakers’ five title seasons in the 1980s, they had a playoff record of 66-22 for a winning percentage of .750.
When the Bulls won their six championships, they had a playoff record of 90-26 for a winning percentage of .776.
The Celtics had an amazing run, but let’s break it down even more. They had to win 25 playoff series to win 11 titles. The Bulls had to win 24 to win six championships.
I’m not saying the Celtics weren’t the greatest. Perhaps they were. But it is a lot closer than 11-6 or 11-5.
The Rens movie also reminded me of an e-mail I sent to one of Mr. Prokhorov’s assistants after he bought the Nets. With the franchise moving to Brooklyn in an area being revitalized – a renaissance if you will – I thought adopting the Rens name would be perfect.
Besides getting a cool name with all sorts of logo possibilities, Prokhorov would also be getting the Rens history. Not official, of course. But it would be a way to honor the African-American pioneers of the sport and tributes could be set up throughout the arena. And think of how interesting it would be to have the fusion between the jazz of the Rens era and the rap of the Jay-Z era.
At the time, I suggested New York Rens, but I understand positive provincialism and the Brooklyn Renaissance, Rens for short, would have been great. Chances are the name is copyrighted, so Prokhorov would have had to write a check from his empire of $13 billion to acquire it.
Besides, what’s so romantic about the Brooklyn Nets? You get a history of Julius Erving, Jason Kidd and Exit 16W.
An opportunity lost.
The Rens story is at the very core of what makes basketball great, and what makes those of us who contribute to and reach this site have so much passion for the game. Wooden played professionally for the Indianapolis Kautskys, a barnstorming team that played against the Rens, and Wooden was effusive in his praise for the Rens’ teamwork, passing ability and commitment to playing basketball the correct way.
And what better judge than Wooden, who coached UCLA to 10 NCAA championships.
The trivia, by the way, is that while playing pro ball, Wooden once had a streak of making 138 consecutive free throws, according to the official encyclopedia. That’s 41 more than the NBA record held by Michael Williams.
It seems obvious that Wooden has the most impressive free throw streak, but as Giants shows us again, arguments in sports never end. And that’s great.
Jan Hubbard has written about basketball since 1976 and worked in the NBA league office for eight years in between media stints. Follow him on Twitter at @whyhub.
John issac of the harlem rens should be plced in basketnall hall of fame hands down.I am one of his brief students of the game via the boys club in the bronx and his contributions basketball and the bronx are phenominal and tornaments should be staryed in this mans name. I am hoping that someone reads and starts the crusade to mr. naismiths house of basketball worship for this man the story should be greatly spread because it is apiece of history that should be in the minds of all ball players past and present. They were the first champions of the basketball. Let us remember one of the best mr. john issac for all his accomplishments along with the rest of the team. I am going to pray on. like the nike commercial says just do it !!!
I actually watched this about 2 weeks ago, and started texting a few people asking if they had seen or read the book. Me being a Lakers fan find it funny that Bill Russell said he would block the sky hook at least 6 times a game. The thing that I found to be very telling was that the most dominant white team of the time ended up having as much respect for the Rens as they did for any white team maybe more since that was the only team to beat them multiple times.