Basketball from a fans perspective
Traveling franchise
New Orleans certainly is not a hotbed for basketball, despite this fact the city has secured several franchises over the years. The Buccaneers were a charter member of the American Basketball Association, they began play in 1967. The franchise would only last three years before relocating to Memphis in 1970. In 1974 NBA expansion found the city with another team, this time to tie in with the rich music history of the city this team was nicknamed Jazz. Unfortunately, even adding LSU’s Pistol Pete Maravich could not save the franchise, in 1979 the team would move to Utah but retain the team name.
One might wonder about the
number of Jazz clubs that exist in Salt Laker City, just wondering. In the
2002-03 season then owner George Shinn moved his Charlotte Hornets to New
Orleans retaining the nickname. Due to
Hurricane Katrina the franchise would spend two years in Oklahoma City before
the next associated move would occur.
The expansion Charlotte Bobcats were born in 1988, in 2013 a name
switcheroo occurred. The team in New
Orleans was re-branded the Pelicans and the Hornets name moved to
Charlotte. I hope I didn’t confuse you
with all the moves, as you can see the cities had quite a few franchises over
the years.
“Bells”
Back in the day there was an adept back to the basket center named Walt Bellamy. Although he’s in the Naismith Hall of Fame the passage of time has seen his star shine less brightly. Bellamy or Bells as he was nicknamed arrived in the NBA from the University of Indiana. The 6-foot 11-inch 245-pound Bellamy was made the number one pick by the Chicago Packers in 1961. Before you say who, the Packers changed their name to the Zephyrs the following year. The third year of the team’s existence they moved to Baltimore and were re-branded the Bullets who later moved again and became the Wizards. In any event Bells battled the other centers of the era Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Nate Thurmond.
“Bells”
Back in the day there was an adept back to the basket center named Walt Bellamy. Although he’s in the Naismith Hall of Fame the passage of time has seen his star shine less brightly. Bellamy or Bells as he was nicknamed arrived in the NBA from the University of Indiana. The 6-foot 11-inch 245-pound Bellamy was made the number one pick by the Chicago Packers in 1961. Before you say who, the Packers changed their name to the Zephyrs the following year. The third year of the team’s existence they moved to Baltimore and were re-branded the Bullets who later moved again and became the Wizards. In any event Bells battled the other centers of the era Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Nate Thurmond.
Maybe part of the problem
his career numbers while good it’s been said he appeared take some nights
off. In his 13-year career he played for
four NBA teams, his best years might have been spent as a member of the Atlanta
Hawks. Bells career numbers 20.1 points
and 13.7 rebounds a game, he was among the first of the 20,000 points scorers despite
an occasional “night-off.” It was said
Bells would constantly refer to himself in the third person, i.e. “Bells didn’t
have any help tonight” or “The ball was snatched off the board by Bells and put
back up for the winning shot. “Bells died in 2014 at age 74, Walt “Bells”
Bellamy is one of the basketball names you should know.
Where it
all begins
College basketball talent arrives from small American towns, it also emanates from rural portions of the nation. Those areas mentioned are the exceptions, a much larger percentage is from large urban areas. The book is old by today’s standards having been published in 1970, despite this fact “The City Game, Basketball from the Garden to the Playgrounds” provided us confirmation of the concrete game. A major portion of Pete Axthelm’s book dealt with the NBA championship run of the Knicks, the other portion the game at the amateur level. A great deal of growth can also be attributed to AAU basketball, example Willie Cauley-Stein would likely not be in the NBA today if not for AAU.
College basketball talent arrives from small American towns, it also emanates from rural portions of the nation. Those areas mentioned are the exceptions, a much larger percentage is from large urban areas. The book is old by today’s standards having been published in 1970, despite this fact “The City Game, Basketball from the Garden to the Playgrounds” provided us confirmation of the concrete game. A major portion of Pete Axthelm’s book dealt with the NBA championship run of the Knicks, the other portion the game at the amateur level. A great deal of growth can also be attributed to AAU basketball, example Willie Cauley-Stein would likely not be in the NBA today if not for AAU.
His move from tiny
Spearville Kansas to Olathe and AAU allowed Cauley-Stein higher visibility. There are urban areas the game was always
high profile, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit might be
examples. Over the last uncounted years,
we’ve witnessed the growth in places like Seattle, Denver and a few other metro
areas. Nowhere has the growth been more
apparent than in the State of Texas.
Once if you said Texas, the next words out of someone’s mouth might be
football but that is no longer the case.
In Texas specifically In the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston metro you
could be referencing basketball to a significant portion of athletes in those
areas.
