The Bailey Howell Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Monday, January 17th, 2005
On November 25th, 1960, you registered NBA career-highs
with 43 points and 32 rebounds in a home battle against
the Los Angeles Lakers. What was it like to play so
well against the likes of Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and
Hot Rod Hundley?
It
was a big thrill whenever something like that happened,
because it didn’t happen that often. The Lakers had
Rudy LaRusso, who was their defensive stopper. He was a
tough assignment. On a couple of occasions I grabbed
more than thirty rebounds, but I don’t remember one of
them being the same night that I scored forty-three
points. We played a double-header once, and I grabbed
thirty-two rebounds against the Lakers. But LaRusso
didn’t let me score all of those points [laughs].
Later that season, the Pistons battled the Lakers in the
Western Division Semifinals, taking them to the five
game limit. What was that experience like for you, and
what still stands out about it after all of these years?
The
biggest thing was playing against Jerry West and Elgin
Baylor. In my opinion, West ranks as one of the
greatest guards to ever play the game – easily in the
top three or four. And as for Baylor, I still consider
him to be the top forward in the history of the NBA. I
remember trying to stop him, and then realizing that
nobody was going to stop Baylor – especially me
[laughs]. So I went into each game with the mindset
that I was going to make him earn his points. He might
score thirty, but he was going to take a lot of shots to
get there.
In 1962, John Havlicek joined the Celtics as a rookie
out of Ohio State. Please tell me about some of those
battles with Celtics, and about your personal matchups
with players such as Havlicek and Satch Sanders.
When
we played the Celtics, they had some of their greatest
teams. Players like Bill Russell, Sam Jones and Tommy
Heinsohn were in their prime. Bob Cousy was winding up
his hall-of-fame career. As for Havlicek, he started
out playing the role of Sixth Man, and he wasn’t an
outstanding shooter at that point in his career. He
later became a terrific shooter through practice and
dedication, and that was part of what made him so
great. The other thing was his tremendous stamina. I
believe his resting heart rate was close to forty
beats-per-minute, which allowed him to outrun and
outlast the opposition. He’d just keep running, and
eventually the other guy would wear down.
Havlicek was a difficult matchup. He was big enough to
play forward and quick enough to play guard. Because of
these advantages, he really presented problems wherever
he was asked to play. He could run the floor against
the big, slow guys, and he could step out on the quick
guards and really play great defense. Kevin McHale was
the only other player I saw who really posed the same
kind of matchup problems. McHale also started out as
the Celtics’ Sixth Man, and he was really able to use
his height – and long arms – at the forward position.
He could do this because he had Robert Parish playing
center beside him. Having Chief there allowed McHale to
shoot over the forwards, but he could also use those
incredible moves to get around the slower players. So
where Havlicek got his mismatches against guards and
forwards, McHale got his against forwards and centers.
When the Pistons played the Celtics I wasn’t matched up against Havlicek. It was usually Tom Sanders. He was the Celtics’ defensive stopper, and he going to Boston I always knew I’d be in for some difficult times. Tom played me well, and that was only part of it. There was all of that talent and tradition, and the great Bill Russell. He was the league MVP, and probably the greatest player ever. So playing Boston was not an easy assignment.
Following five seasons with the Pistons, you found
yourself playing for a new team. Please tell me how you
ended up in Baltimore, and what it was like to reach the
Western Division Finals against the Lakers.
Baltimore
was an expansion team – they were known as the Chicago
Zephyrs during the 1961-62 season, but then moved to
Baltimore and changed their name to the Bullets. They
had some successful teams early on. In Detroit, we
finished second in the West to the St. Louis Hawks
(1959-60) and then really struggled. We didn’t win half
of our games after that, but each season we seemed to
improve. I felt that we were getting ready to contend
for the Western Division title. Coach Dick McGuire
retired after the 1962-63 season, and then the Pistons
brought in Charlie Wolf. Charlie had coached the
Cincinnati Royals for three seasons prior to taking over
in Detroit. He changed a lot of things and, looking
back, he made a lot of bad decisions. We won only 23
games that year. The Pistons didn’t fire him – instead,
they decided to make a gigantic trade involving a bunch
of players. Four or five went to Baltimore, along with
a draft choice, and three or four of the Bullet players
ended up with the Pistons. The Pistons started the next
season 2-9 and Wolf was fired. They were able to
rebuild with players like Dave Bing and Dave
DeBusschere, and really get the franchise back on its
feet.
The Bullets had a really good club, but the team concept was lacking. We won most of our home games, lost most of our road games, and never really figured out how to play together. We won thirty-seven games that season and wound up in third place in our division. We played the Hawks in the opening round of the playoffs, splitting the two games in St. Louis and then winning the next two at home. We just couldn’t beat the Lakers on the road. They took us 4-2 in that series. All six games were competitive.
