Medford mail tribune., December 14, 1958, Image 42

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4 Family Weekly, December 14, 1
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ball, hot-shot college ace is up against
good as he is. One specialty isn't enough. All-around man, who can do
several things well (pass, dribble, rebound), has best chance of sticking.
953
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players who are iust as
1 H
by Dave Warner
Maybe you have wondered about
this:
Every college basketball season pro
duces what are ballyhooed as super
stars. If you believe the publicity,
they get bigger and better every
year.
Some of them are as tall as Cali
fornia redwoods, and they're fussed
over as if they were beauty-contest
winners. Some magazines even make
All-Americans out of them beore
the season starts.
While these players are in college,
they are the darlings of their campus.
They are described as terrific, colos
sal, and sensational.
The puzzle is: if they are such
fabulous players, why do so few of
them make good in professional bas
ketball? This is assuming, of course,
that they want to play pro ball.
. The answer, simply put, is that
pro basketball largely calls for an
all-around performer, schooled in all
basics of the game. The pro must be
willing to keep learning and to work
as a team man.
Surprisingly, many of the most
publicized collegians don't meet
those simple requirements. Also,
there are only a few top pro clubs
with only a few vacancies each sea
son, though expansion is likely.
Some college boys come into the
game with all the necessary tools,
some without all the tools but eager
to improve, some with very little but
publicity and no desire to learn.
Sifted from among those groups, plus
the veterans, are the 80 players
who comprise the eight big pro teams
New York, Syracuse, Boston, Phil
adelphia, St. Louis, Cincinnati, De
troit, and Minneapolis of the Na
tional Basketball Association.
With rare exception, the pro clubs
don't necessarily seek the publicized
college player. They are interested
in the player who can best fit into a
pattern of working together.
Whether the prospect comes from
a big college or even a "basketball
school" is not of prime importance.
Examples of this thinking are Harry
Gallatin, who came out of tiny
Northeast Missouri State Teachers
to become one of the all-time greats
in pro basketball. He recently re
tired to take up college coaching.
. Joe Graboski, with no college affili
ation, is a very dependable pef"
Here's why many highly touted college stars
never make the grade in the professional ranks.
former with the Philadelphia War
riors, while Woody Sauldsberry,
who did his college basketballing at
remote Texas Southern, was good
enough to be named NBA Rookie of
the Year last season.
And Al Cervi, easily one of the
best of the all-time pros as both
player and coach, came straight from
the sand lots.
Cervi's 20 years in the pro circuits
span the era of the famed Original
Celtics to the present day. Just this
season, in fact, he was lured out of
retirement to coach the Philadelphia
Warriors. Previously, he coached the
Syracuse Nationals for eight seasons
and had three division titles and one
world championship.
Among pro basketballers, Cervi is
regarded as the coach who can get
mileage from even mediocre players.
He takes time to teach. Yet he is
frequently shocked at the inability
and attitude of the All-American
college players. Many of them seem
to think all they have to do is show
up to win jobs on the club. All of
them know how to shoot; few know
how to pass, dribble, block, and
screen well.
"If a player is just willing to listen,
he will show immediate improve
ment," Cervi says.
Dro basketball should be getting
nothing but the cream of college
players. Yet selection can be a prob
lem. The pro coaches usually know
what they want; most of them have
played and coached among the best
Still, there are good players who
go unnoticed. They are the players
on schools with weak schedules, the
schools which get no publicity.
With the number of colleges play
ing basketball well up in the thou
sands, it's difficult to see them all.
Pro coaches, when their own sched
ules permit, do much of the scouting
themselves, catching college tourna
ments and the like. But they don't
have the time to do a thorough job.
As it stands now, professional bas
ketball scouting scratches only the
surface. The pros rely mostly on
what they see themselves and on
what friends in different parts of the
country might tell them. What is
needed is a scouting system which
will blanket every nook and cranny
of this large basketball nation. May
be that will come with the game's
long-range expansion plans.
Most pro coaches agree, too, that
some solid minor leagues are most
essential. Granted, all drafted college
players can't make the NBA. But
some of them, if placed in well
organized minor leagues, could be
schooled in basic skills, making them
valuable future talent.
The Eastern Basketball League, a
cut below the NBA, comprising
teams in New York, Maryland, and
Pennsylvania, swallows up some of
these castoffs. Others just go into
business careers, confining their
basketball to industrial leagues if
they play at all.
Life as a basketball big-leaguer is
worth pursuing. Salaries range from
$5,000 to over $20,000, with the
average about $8,000 for a season
from October to April. All players
are seen regularly on television.
Chances for making good business
contacts for the future are excellent.
The players are now organized for
more protection, and those getting
into the title play-offs receive addi
tional prize money.
Before he retired last season,
rounding out a fine pro career with
the Boston Celtics, Arnie Risen had
played 13 seasons in the basketball
big leagues. No other player in the
game today has put in more service.
Big Arnie (6-9), now doing spot
playing duty on an Eastern Basket
' ball League team, can rightly be
called an authority on why college
boys fail their pro tryouts.
"Pro coaches," Risen says, "look
for size, offense, defense, all-around
capabilities on the court.
"Teams will draft to fill gaps. All
n
LifHe men, like Detroit's
Dick McGuire, are handy
legmen for their giant
sized (6' 10") teammates.
teams are looking for that good, big
man. But teams normally will go
after what they need most at the
time. It may be a backcourt feeder
and outside or side shooter.
"Coming out of college, many of
the hot-shot players have had the
entire offense built around them.
They've had everything going for
them. In the pros, they are thrown
in the midst of a lot of players with
equal ability. Result is many of
them wilt under the pressure.
"In the pro game a player has to
do things for the other player. He
must be a two-way performer. Gone
are those college days when the rest
of the team would set him up for
those easy shots.
"Some big players can't work out
side in the pro game, meaning they
have become so used to just standing
under the basket, waiting for the
ball to be passed to them that they
never learned anything else. When
they come into the pro league, they
are severely handicapped."
The way the game is played today
one needs a scorecard to tell the
big players from the "little" ones.
Big players such as Tom Gola (6-6)
of Philadelphia, Tom Heinsohn (6-7)
of Boston, and Bob Pettit (6-9) of
the world champion St. Louis Hawks
all can move with the best of them.
This is the age of the mammoth
basketball player, but most pro
coaches concur there always will be
a place for the "little" man such as
Bob Cousy (6-1) and Bill Sharman
(6-2) of Boston, Slater Martin (5
10) of St. Louis, and Dick McGuire
(6-0) of Detroit. These players do
a lot of legwork and add balance.
Cousy (see cover), called the
Houdini of the hardwood, is in a
class by himself, regardless of size.
He is the gifted athlete, perfectly
coordinated physically and tempera
mentally. He is solid box-office,
blending color and skill.
.He has dominated the pro game in
a manner in which no player before
him has. He makes the plays and
points, and is a master at the lead
and blind pass and the behind-the-back
dribble.
Cousy came out of Holy Cross with
a flashy All-American reputation.
Yet he had to unlearn a lot of bad
habits before passing his test as a
pro. For example, in the opinion of
Even "Mr. Basketball," Celtics'
sensational Bob Cousy, had to
unlearn many college habits be
fore making good in pro ranks.
many pro players Bob came into his
own in the last two or three years
when he developed an outside shot.
To get a better idea of how pro
basketball operates, next time you
see a game in person or on television,
watch the passing, dribbling, and
defense not just the shooting.
Does the team do a smooth job of
zinging the ball around, trying to
get a good opening for a shot within
the 24-second time limit? Do the
players dribble smartly, or are they
fumbling and throwing the ball
away? After the shot is taken, does
the team hustle to get the ball back
for more points?
These are some of the telltale
marks of a good pro and a good
pro team.
Family Weekly, December 14, 1958
5