Basketball from a fans perspective

“Amazing Grace”
Smooth is the easiest word I could use to describe 25,000+ point Hall of Fame athlete Alex English.  English arrived in the NBA from South Carolina after being drafted in the second round of the 1976 draft by the Bucks.  He spent two years there before leaving in free-agency for the Pacers.  With the Pacers his scoring prowess began to blossom.  The Pacers would trade English to the Nuggets where his career went into the stratosphere.  

English would spend 11 seasons with the Nuggets and would average 25.9 ppg while shooting .509 from the floor.  Try as he might English alone couldn’t raise the level of play of his Nuggets teammates.  The Nuggets only managed to a plus .500 record four times during his time with the team.  From his arrival in 1976 through 1991 English was one of the NBA’s most efficient and effective shooters.  

English was one of those guys who could wake up in the middle of night get out of bed and drain shot after shot.  English is also one of those in the double-double club, enshrined in the Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame.  As for the title in 1987 English was the featured star in a movie titled “Amazing Grace and Chuck.”

Moving too fast
I never claimed I worked for the Sixers, I said the other day they should trade Okafor based on break-out game Joel Embiid had.  It looks as though a trade is not in the offering based on the coaches’ comment.  Brett Brown indicates both Embiid and Okafor coming off injuries played limited minutes in the first game.  Brown further states he might experiment with a twin tower lineup.  Listen fans I never said Okafor couldn’t play I just believed Embiid had a higher upside, a twin tower front line might indeed work.  As the season progresses and each player receives more time on the court we shall see what we shall see.  

Sugar
Sometimes a player leaves the game far too soon; often its due to injury other times its personal demons.  For Michael Ray Richardson nicknamed Sugar it personal due to a developed drug habit.  Sugar from Manual High in Denver graduated and headed for the University of Montana.  How good was he at Montana good enough to be made the 4th pick in the 1st round of the 1978 NBA Draft by the Knicks.  

The 6-5 guard moved easily between the point and shooting guard position.  In four years with the Knicks Sugar averaged nearly 15 points, 7 assists, 3 steals and 6 rebounds a game. The problem at the time the Knicks were not very good and Sugar was the one bright spot.  Whether it was the pressure of playing under the bright lights of New York City or something else Sugar would “disappear” at times.  

Near the end of his tenure with the Knicks he issued a statement that remains part of basketball lore forever.  Questioned on the bad play of the Knicks he said; “The ship be sinking.”  From 1982 to 1986 he played for the Warriors and New Jersey Nets and played reasonably well despite a drug addition.  In 1986 Sugar was banned for life by Commissioner David Stern for violation of the NBA’s drug policy.  

Sugar would never return to the NBA although the lifetime ban was lifted in 1988.  He spent the balance of his playing career in the Continental Basketball Association and in Europe playing for a number of teams.  Sugar began a second career coaching the game he loved after his playing career ended.  A friend of mine who saw him play says; “He was a smaller Magic with a jumper. Michael “Sugar” Ray Richardson “He might have been right behind Patrick Ewing and Bernard King in the minds of Knick fans if not for his personal demons instead of a distant memory.”