kimball

1 hour ago, chrispw12 said:

Here is one I found from antes Hawks game that appears to have been played in Washington, what the heck was the deal here, and Dominique is there in the old Hawks uniform when the Pacman uniform debuted his rookie year

 

I've been looking for one of those pictures. I believe this is pre-season -- it's being played in Landover, MD -- but, the Hawks also played in the old style in their first game against Detroit in 1982. There's a video floating around somewhere on these boards, but I have been looking for evidence via a picture.

GREAT FIND.

Interesting name on the back for the Bucks' Marques Johnson. I recall Isiah Thomas doing this for a season or so in Detroit as well?

OLD TIMER CELTICS GAME -- 1985ish? Crappy uniforms. They all look like the cheap replicas.

Pacers vs. Bulls game that looks to being played in Univ. of Indiana's Assembly Hall. Not sure of the reason behind this?

4 hours ago, ImmortalChef said:

NBA all star game in the Houston Astrodome, circa. 1989

Men's 1984 USA Team vs. NBA All-Stars at the Hoosier Dome. Interesting layout -- more so in the vein of what the Final Fours do how with a full stadium layout instead of a corner. I also believe the success of this game led the NBA to move the All-Star from Market Square to the Dome.

4 hours ago, ImmortalChef said:

The Bulls pose for a team photo with the Champion logo covered, most likely for copyright reasons

Interesting. I saw that picture and assumed it was a memorial patch.

EDIT: Read above notes. Makes sense. I digging now to see why the memorial patch. 

I've had a hard time finding this Cincinnati Royals jersey style. I believe it was worn only one season before they moved to the Midwest as the Kings. 

Notice the many different styles of "2s" on the Kings. McCray (#22) and Tisdale (#23) have a slanting 2 and Pervis Ellison has a blocked 2.

Probably a laundering issue. But, notice the different shade of purples on the jersey and shorts. Doesn't seem to have been a year long issue, just this game from what I saw.

I've never seen this jersey, especially on Dawkins, but this seems to be a preseason game in 1976.

Posted this in another thread, but this belongs here too. Ted Stepien (pictured) poses with the logo he was going to use for the relocated Cavs if he was allowed to move them to Toronto as the Towers.

I haven't seen many pictures of Charles Barkley in the Sixers' rainbow jersey with his familiar #34. As many know he changed his number to #32 after Magic retired in 1991.

I wasn't sure where to put all of these, so I figured I'd start a new thread of small little finds I found while browsing the 'net -- and specifically, right now -- Getty Images. Most of these are small oddities, difficult finds and what not. 

I was going to open this up to stuff I found in other sports, but basketball and NBA history in the 70s and 80s has recently captured my attention. 

Anyways ... some of my finds:

GORGEOUS Color vs. Color in Baltimore against the Bullets and Warriors (also note it's Ladies Night!)

Royals vs. Warriors game in Phoenix's Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The caption says it was a 1967 pre-season game. Note Rick Barry in the old-style Warriors' jersey. He never wore these in the regular season as 'The City' jerseys were introduced on Opening Night 1967.

Larry Nance wearing #6 in the half season right after he was traded to Cleveland from Phoenix. 

Similarly, Kevin Johnson wore #11 in Phoenix for the half season after he was traded from Cleveland to Phoenix.

Interesting font and styling of Tom McMillen's name on this Hawks' jersey. Not sure why the underline?

Notice the name on the back of Dave Stallworth of the Bullets. The name was pretty long so the "st" of Stallworth is white to not clash with the blue stripe.

1 hour ago, Discogod said:

 

Funnily enough, I bought that book a couple of weeks ago. I'm just waiting for it to arrive (currently chugging through Terry Pluto's "Tall Tales").

 

Half the teams in the league had relocation threats in the 70s & 80s. The ABA kicked a lot of the established teams square in the nuts, and a lot of them found it hard to keep going. Combine that with escalating salaries, half-empty arenas and a negligible TV deal and it was a recipe for disaster. It wasn't until Stern became the Commissioner that the league found some stability (and of course Jordan, Magic & Bird didn't hurt). A lot of people have no idea how unsteady the NBA was back then, and how close it came to losing a good chunk of teams.

 

This is a pretty good article about the late 80s expansion:

http://articles.latimes.com/1987-04-19/sports/sp-2064_1_expansion-team

 

Two things from that ...

1) I am sooooooo glad that Shinn didn't go with the Charlotte Spirit.

2) If the NBA picked only one team from Florida and it was the Heat -- do you think it would be the Florida Heat?

1 hour ago, Discogod said:

Been doing some digging myself - after he sold the Cavs, Stepien bought a CBA expansion team in Toronto and named them the Tornados. They played 2-and-a-bit seasons from 1983-85, and their logo was very similar to that proposed Towers logo:

 

That's fascinating. Awesome find!

8 hours ago, Discogod said:

Incredible find! I love anything like that related to the late 70s/early 80s NBA, when it seemed like teams were going to relocate, merge or just go out of business every week.

 

I wish I could find an article I had from c.1982 which detailed the NBA's tentative plans around that time - amongst other things, it had the Nuggets & Jazz merging, Spurs moving to Miami and Cleveland, Indiana & Kansas City folding outright!

I'm in that same boat.

There's some golden info in "In the Hornets' Nest" chronicling the Charlotte Hornets' first season. Before being awarded a team David Stern directed George Shinn to a couple of troubled franchises including the Jazz and the Clippers among other teams. 

I remember reading rumors of the Jazz and Nuggets merging, the group that bought the Kings to move them to Sacramento almost bought the Pacers in 1982 and the Kings almost moving to Dallas or Minneapolis back in the late 70s.

I love all that 'What If' history.

OH ... and then there was the NBA Expansion team awarded to Toronto in 1975, but there wasn't a group that could come up with the franchise fee so expansion was cancelled.

Here's a fun one I found dinking around Getty Images. 

This is the logo of the Toronto Towers -- the relocated Cleveland Cavaliers -- that Ted Stepien was going to use if the team was allowed to relocate. Of course the team was eventually sold to the Gunds, teams weren't allowed to trade First Round Picks in consecutive drafts, etc., etc.

I never knew there was a mock up logo for the relocated Cavs.

OH -- and it should be noted that in the caption the team colors were to be red and white. 

Man, oh man, oh man ... 

I've been looking for a picture of Bernard King in a Utah Jazz uniform for YEARS and I found it!

He only played 19 games for the Jazz before he got arrested from a New Years Eve tryst involving underage girls, etc., etc. The Jazz pretty much suspended him the rest of the season before trading him to Golden State in the offseason. 

I am pretty sure this is Bernard for a couple of reasons ...

1) The Jazz played Chicago on October 25, 1979 in SLC with Bernard King scoring 6 points.

2) Ricky Sobers also played in that game (the pictured Chicago Bull).

3) Bernard King wore #22 with the Jazz. Pretty sure that second number is a 2.

4) And, well, that is Bernard King.

4 hours ago, Rj0498 said:

Rodman's teammate. I remember a cousin who wore this jersey

This seems more odd to me, especially since it was for just a season -- well 50 games because of the lockout.

22 minutes ago, MCM0313 said:

I first knew of Rodman as a Spur, not a Bull. I'd say Detroit, San Antonio, and Chicago would all be right uniforms for him, and the Lakers would be wrong.

Lakers maybe. But, his Dallas stint tops all of them ...

17 hours ago, chrispw12 said:

a couple wrong version

Moses Malone in that awful Sixers crayon uniform

I always found it strange to see Moses in a Spurs and Bucks uniform.

I guess in the same vein, but under his own merits -- Master P did play pre-season ball for the Raptors and Hornets.

3 hours ago, Discogod said:

 

Or when Mark Curry played a preseason game for the Warriors for the TV show "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper" (complete with Sir Charles in the wrong Suns uni!)?

 

Fascinating. I had no idea that happened as well?!

43 minutes ago, larrypep said:

 

Wow, I can't believe they let that happen.  I guess it was cheaper than staging a fake game.  

It kinda reminds of when Ahmad Rashad played a preseason game with the 76ers as part of a promotional thing for Inside Stuff. 

11 hours ago, YessSir32 said:

Chauncey Billups in a Motor City uniform.

At least it's sleeveless. 

6 hours ago, Discogod said:

 

Good catch! The Hawks only wore that uni for the opening game of the '83 season, switching to the Pac-Man unis for the next game against Boston (no idea why they wore the old unis for a game, maybe the new ones weren't ready yet?).

Fascinating. 

And, aren't those the Pistons' silver jerseys too?

The Magic may have had more future HOFers, but Miami sure brought in a lot more former All-Stars in their twilight. 

4 minutes ago, MCM0313 said:

I don't think Horace Grant was washed up when he went to the Magic. Didn't he actually play a big part in getting them to the Finals against Houston in '95?

He wasn't in 1994-99, but when he came back in 2002 he was -- I should have clarified that's from his 2002 stint.

The Florida teams seem to have picked up a bunch of 'washed up' All-Stars over the years. Some more shocking then others. Maybe it's Florida's no income tax or the chance to play with Orlando's Shaq & Penny or Miami's Shaq & D-Wade or Big Three.

Here are some former All-Stars in Magic uniforms later in their careers (with the exception of Big Ben of course ... still odd seeing him in any uniform other than Detroit).

A few more one season or rarely seen players in "wrong" uniforms ...

Anything after the Nets is "wrong" with VC, even though you might have an argument for Dallas.

Price will always be a Cav -- especially one decked out in orange and blue. I'll never get used to any of these. So odd.