Blast from the Past: George Mikan

[SWC75]

The pro game's first dominant big man. he won NBL championships with the Chicago American Gears in 1947, the Minneapolis Lakers in 1948 and then NBA titles with the Lakers in 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954.

You won't see much in the way of above the rim play, despite George at 6-10 towering over most opponents. But you will see a variety of hook shots, lay-ups and jumpers. And you'll also see why centers used to be called "the pivot". The half-court offense, (which was dominant), ran largely through them. Mikan often worked through the high post, passing the ball to cutters, to outside shooters or to players on the base-line. When those options were covered, he could make a move to the hoop himself and often did with great effectiveness.

I'm not sure how his game would translate to today's game. He might be too slow and methodical. They'd have to rebuild his body and his skill set from scratch.

But in his day, they said "he is a guy who looked like Clark Kent and plays like Superman".

 

[SWC75]

I'd love to do a post like this about Dolph Schayes but I can't find a You-Tube clip with any actual film of him playing or much of any discussion aobut him. Most of the posts about Dolph look like this crappy one:

It's just not enough to do the above kind of post about.