Lots of talk on NBA.com about The King of NYC and his HOF induction, comments seem to revolve around the lines of Bernard King one of the best pure scorers in NBA history. First of all, I was not alive back in Kings hayday, and Secondly, don't know a whole lot about Bernard King. Given that, I did a little wikipedia research (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_King): King: 6'7" 205 lbs No Rings Knee injury essentially took away most of his athleticism leading to his termination from the Knicks (although he had a good stint with the Bullets afterwords) Several 50 point games with a 60 point game to boot 4x Allstar, 1x Scoring champ The question is of course, what made Bernard King such an obvious and uncontroversial HOF inductee whereas TMac is doubtful to earn a consideration at best? It would be wonderful if this didn't turn into a LOF v LOH conversation, I actually want to learn a little about Bernard King if anyone used to watch him play.
Only thing I know about Bernard King was some clip where a player took some line from a Lenchmob song and inserted something about his "baseline fadeway."
For a short time he was in the Golden Triangle Rivalry of Dr. J/Bird/King [Philly/Boston/NY] His short was money and he worked hard. Probably a better defender than bird and a better shooter from outside than Doc. Rocket River not that i know him 100%
King was pretty much a post up player. To my memory, King wasn't anywhere near the athlete that McGrady was. There were a ton of relatively short guys back in the day who were post scorers with the ability to step out and hit an occasional 15-20 footer. Adrian Dantley was barely 6'5" and was a post up machine. Mark Aguire was in the post a ton. 6'4" Ricky Pierce posted up all the time. And even though Alex English was more of a jump shooter, but he still was in the post more than any guard/small forward type today. Even Purvis Short, one of the best shooters around, split time between posting up and taking 15 footers early in his career. Guys like that don't really seem to exist anymore. If you are a post up 3, you'd better be at least be taller than average, like Carmello Anthony. Basically, the thing that sets King apart was that he was a tough mf-er, while McGrady was the exact opposite. That may not show up in a box score or a highlight reel, but people who watched him remember. Edit: Here's a pretty decent quality single game highlight reel for King. It pretty accurately matches up with what I remember him to be: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/B-U86VQSFHc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
NBA TV has been showing some of his games. He was pretty much unstoppable on offense...which is what I remembered also. Had more heart than T-Mac ever thought about.
Read the Bill Simmons article he posted the other day. Tmac is a no brainer for the HOF. Having watched most of his career, truely one of the most gifted players to ever play the game. This bs he had no heart crap irks me every time. Your either bitter that he didnt take us to a chip or have never watched him play ever.
The post up game, a somewhat lost art...a way to score quickly & easily, a way to draw in double teams and then kick it out, a way to pick up some quick fouls. I know the 'Barkley Rule' tried to kill the back to the basket post up game, but it is still one of the most effective ways to play offence, IMO. Just ask Dream.
Like Simmons said... If Dumars is a HOFer, then NO DOUBT TMac is as well. 7 straight all star games, a bunch of ALL NBA Teams, Ridiculous PERs, and insane playoff numbers with horrendous teams.
Did u see how he left Houston?? Screaming and mean mugging doesn't show HEART T-Mac has some heart but no one will ever think he had the most on the Rockets . . . Yao had far FAR more heart that TMac could ever dream of . . Rocket River
It was not THAT obvious and uncontroversial to include King, or he woulda been in a long time ago. Almost 2 decades had to pass for people to start looking back romanticizing the past some. Bernard King's teams were from decent to mediocre. Thats what it boils down to really. Bernard King had ONE GOOD RUN and playoff push. Fortunately it was in New York, RIGHT in the middle of the Bird/Magic era, post Dr J title, in the birth of Jordan. When Bernard King won the scoring title, that same team was bad selecting FIRST in the DRAFT LOTTERY (to get Patrick Ewing). Consider how the same thing happened with Tracy Mcgrady, and was ABSOLUTELY CRUCIFIED by fans, TORCHED by media because of it. And still didnt shake that memory away enough later. Also, Bernard King had one last LATE career SURPRISING outstanding year. King FINISHED STRONG, and left 1 last good impression. Consider that at age 34 McGrady is RETIRING from the NBA (though he started earlier). And Bernard King at age 34 out of nowhere scored 28 POINTS a GAME (on a 30 win team) But that would LITERALLY be like Tracy McGrady going back to "Orlando T-Mac". Basically, I really think it is more the times now compared to then. We're more cynical and hyper-critical now about everything. (Back then ESPN was awesome, now ESPN is everything WRONG with sports.) Where-as people then were more accepting of players with "hollow stats", as long as they entertained. (Still, McGrady never had that ONE good POSTSEASON. And King did) Thinking back, how GREAT would it have been in '09, a Tracy McGrady/Kobe Bryant PLAYOFFS face-off. And Rockets a really strong chance of advancing with McGrady. Its stuff like that which is "HOF worthy" distinction.
Seems like they were alike in their primary ability - to score lots of points - albeit in different ways. Also seems like the only other difference between the 2 of them is that King had "Heart", and perhaps King had 1 good playoff showing, yet here is a sample of Tracy McGradys good playoff years: YR / Team / GP / GS / MPG / FG% / 3pt% / FT% / RPG / APG / SPG / BPG / PPG 2001 Orlando 4 4 44.5 .415 .200 .816 6.5 8.3 1.8 1.3 33.8 2002 Orlando 4 4 44.5 .462 .313 .739 6.3 5.5 .5 1.8 30.8 2003 Orlando 7 7 44.0 .448 .340 .773 6.7 4.7 2.0 .9 31.7 2005 Houston 7 7 43.0 .456 .370 .824 7.4 6.7 1.6 1.4 30.7 2007 Houston 7 7 40.0 .394 .250 .737 5.9 7.3 .7 .9 25.3 2008 Houston 6 6 41.2 .425 .208 .623 8.2 6.8 1.5 .8 27.0 Is it true that time heals all wounds? TMac HOF Inductee 2030? When it happens I wonder if we see lots of feel good story time ESPN and NBATV specials talking about how he was always on his way to the HOF after they have trashed him since his retirement.
(Also, back then it was just "That Boy He GOOD!" and thats that. Now its if you like a player you're a "fanboy" or "Stan" or "-OF" or something disparaging. Kinda lame, but then we wouldnt have forums like Clutchfans without having both sides of sentiments) What "crap" was he doing? Being stronger and tougher than everyone else, with shooting touch around the basket? So maybe WING players like Kobe and Lebron need to STOP seeking out Hakeem Olajuwon's services? Its easy to look fondly back on the past and "simpler times" (though really every era has had problems in it) That was absolutely before the 3 point shot became popular. And the mentality wasnt much different from playground ball, where the attack mentality was to come down and "drill it in your eye", and to "kiss it in". There's a certain amount of pride you have to take in WORKING to get a closer bucket and shooting angle. And you had to be more active and persistent than everyone at it. And you got back respect for it. No Steve Novak'ing it. Though the aerial assault now is a nicer product to look at, that was when the league had an array of fundamentals, the "ground game", shooting game and above-the-rim game.
Bernard King is a HOF. TMAC is a HOF. Bernard retired in 1993 get's into the hall in 2013 T-Mac retires in 2013 so he should get into the hall between 2023-2033. Both were great individual players but neither deserves rush status to put them in the HOF. T-Mac was one of the most physically gifted basketball players of modern time but didn't get it done for whatever reason. Bernard King is one of the best all around scorers to play the game during the Glory Years of the NBA (When all Dr.J and Nique could do is dunk BK was getting buckets from everywere on the court) but could not get it done for what ever reason. So many players fall into this category of being a great player never getting it done. In my opinion, getting the ring is what separates you from being a FIRST ballot HOFer to just a HOFer. T-Mac, Benard King, AI, Barkley, etc and players that never got it done all just regular HOFers. Tim Duncan, KG, Kobe, Paul Pierce, and yes Lebron are FIRST ballot HOFers. Got to get them rings.
