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By:\u00a0 Michael D. McClellan |\u00a0<\/strong>The dream starts here, in the gang-infested, drug-ravaged projects of New York\u2019s South Bronx, a place where bullets fly and dreams die in near synchronous rhythm, a concert of violence that plays on a continuous loop next door, down the street, all around.\u00a0 Murder in the 4-0 \u2013 New York\u2019s 40th Precinct to the uninitiated, a two-square-mile area in the South Bronx that is home to the Patterson housing projects \u2013 is a way of life, a place where it\u2019s nothing to see wounded men in the prime of life walk with canes or ride in wheelchairs.\u00a0 The Yankees might be the pride of the borough, but the only pitchers here are the ones dealing drugs.\u00a0 This is nothing new; heroin has long been shot into the vein of the South Bronx, and visits by Jimmy Carter, Mother Teresa, Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II have done nothing to stem the tide.\u00a0 Still, the South Bronx remains a mystery to most New Yorkers, a shadow city within the city, out of sight and mind, except when someone gets shot or falls down an elevator shaft \u2013 a collection of bad-news redbrick piles to whiz by on the BQE.<\/p>\n The dream starts here, and it starts with a boy and a basketball.\u00a0 The ball goes wherever the boy goes.\u00a0 He shoots at a rusting rim in all sorts of weather, the creased concrete uneven and cracked, graffiti spray-painted onto the wall just beyond.\u00a0 He dribbles hard and fast under the noonday sun, his shoes barely touching the pavement, sweat racing down a face so boyish it takes decades for time to catch up.\u00a0 He grows from child to teenager, the basketball jammed under his arm as he makes his way home from the PSAT Community Center, Latin jazz rolling down from the open windows above, the timeless rhythms of Eddie Palmarie the lone remaining companion in a day that starts with thirty boys playing pickup.\u00a0 It\u2019s the early Sixties, and Patterson is little more than a decade old.\u00a0 The gangs haven\u2019t taken over yet, and the opioid epidemic hasn\u2019t yet transformed an abandoned railroad bed into \u201cThe Hole,\u201d the South Bronx\u2019s answer to the \u201cBluff,\u201d Atlanta\u2019s open-air heroin market made famous by its ominous acronym:\u00a0 Better Leave U Fucking Fool.<\/p>\n The boy is one of the lucky few to escape and make it big.\u00a0 The fraternity includes boxer Iran \u201cThe Blade\u201d Barkley, who, as a teenage member of the Black Spades street gang, engages in years of turf wars and bloody fights in the South Bronx.\u00a0 He rises up to knock out Thomas Hearns and win the WBC middleweight title, and earns $5 million during a career that also includes winning the vacant WBB heavyweight title.<\/p>\n That Barkley later descends into poverty and returns to Patterson homeless should surprise no one, which makes the story of Nate \u201cTiny\u201d Archibald even more extraordinary.\u00a0 Archibald not only escapes to register one of the greatest seasons in NBA history, leading The Association in scoring and assists\u00a0in the same season<\/em>, he goes on to win an NBA Championship with Larry Bird en route to being named one of the\u00a0NBA\u2019s 50 Greatest.<\/p>\n It could have gone the other way for Archibald, who attends DeWitt Clinton High School but fails to make the basketball team during his sophomore year.\u00a0 He finds a mentor in Floyd Layne, who runs the local community center, and it’s Layne who convinces Archibald to stay in school and give basketball another try.\u00a0\u00a0Archibald seizes the opportunity, ultimately graduating from DeWitt and playing a transition season at tiny\u00a0Arizona Western, where he averages 29.5 points-per-game.\u00a0 He transfers to\u00a0the University of Texas at El Paso, and in three seasons transforms himself from a one-dimensional point guard into a legitimate NBA prospect.\u00a0 Scouts take notice, especially after a 51-point performance in the 1970 Aloha Classic.<\/p>\n The Cincinnati Royals hold the fifth pick in the 1970 NBA Draft.\u00a0 Cincinnati, in desperate need of a big man, selects Sam Lacey.\u00a0 Somehow, Archibald is still available when the Royals pick again in the second round, nineteenth overall.\u00a0 Head coach Bob Cousy wastes little time selecting UTEP’s talented point guard.<\/p>\n Archibald, who earns the alternate nickname\u00a0 \u201cNate the Skate\u201d while playing summer ball at Rucker Park, struggles during his rookie campaign.\u00a0 He averages 16.0 points and 5.5 assists, but catches heat for being careless with the rock.\u00a0 Turnovers continue to plague Archibald during his second season, causing Cousy and General Manager Joe Axelson to briefly consider trading their young floor general.\u00a0 The Royals stand pat, and Archibald goes on a scoring rampage over the second half of the season.\u00a0 His 34.0 points-per-game average after the All-Star Break is second only to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just a matter of getting on a roll,\u201d Archibald says.\u00a0 \u201cIf the shot was there I was going to take it, and if not then I wanted to find my teammate.\u00a0 At that point in my career I was a scorer first.\u00a0 Cooz gave me the freedom to play.\u00a0 He trusted that I\u2019d take good shots, and that I\u2019d pass the ball if there was a better option on a given trip down the court.\u201d<\/p>\n The Royals, struggling on the court and at the box office, relocate to Kansas City ahead of the 1972-73 regular season.\u00a0 The franchise also changes its name to the Kings.\u00a0 Archibald responds with a season for the ages, becoming only player in NBA history to lead the league in scoring and assists in the same season.\u00a0 The numbers \u2013 34.0 points and 11.4 assists \u2013 are eye-popping.\u00a0 The third year pro is selected to play in his first All-Star Game, and is also honored with a place on the All-NBA First Team.<\/p>\n \u201cCooz gets a lot of credit, because he gave a skinny kid from the Bronx the chance to go out there and do his thing,\u201d Archibald says.\u00a0 \u201cSome coaches are good for bigs, and some are good for guards.\u00a0 Cooz helped me to analyze what was going on out there, and he really helped me to understand when to take the shot versus passing the ball.\u00a0 I became an extension of Cooz on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n Archibald suffers the first serious injury of his career during the 1973-74 season, cutting short his campaign after 35 games.\u00a0 He bounces back during the 1974-75 season, averaging 26.5 points and 6.8 assists, and earning a return spot on the All-NBA First Team.\u00a0 More importantly, the Kings reach the playoffs for the first time in nine years.<\/p>\n Archibald averages 24.8 points and 7.9 assists during the 1975-76 season, again earning All-NBA First Team honors.\u00a0 He\u2019s in his prime and at the top of his game, but the Kings finish 31-51 and out of the playoffs. The Kings\u2019 struggles forces management to make a change, and Archibald is traded to the New York Nets.\u00a0 A foot injury ends his 1976-77 season after just 34 games, the second major injury in four seasons.\u00a0 He\u2019s then traded to the Buffalo Braves, tearing his Achilles tendon before the 1977-78 season starts, never playing a game in a Braves uniform.\u00a0 When Archibald is traded yet again, this time to the Boston Celtics prior to the start of the 1978-79 season, it looks like his best days are behind him.<\/p>\n \u201cI weighed 240 pounds when I got to Boston, which was a far cry from the 170 pounds that I carried in my prime.\u00a0 Red took one look at me and said that if I didn\u2019t lose weight that I wouldn\u2019t play.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that he didn\u2019t want me \u2013 he just didn\u2019t want two<\/em> of me!\u201d<\/p>\n The Celtics are only two years removed from its last championship when Archibald arrives, but it feels like decades.\u00a0 Boston, however, will\u00a0soon add a generational talent in Larry Bird.\u00a0 The 1979-80 Celtics rebound to win 61 games and reach the Eastern Conference Finals, eventually falling to Dr. J and the Philadelphia 76ers.\u00a0 Archibald also bounces back, and is once again an All-Star.<\/p>\n Healthy again and in shape, Archibald is the MVP of the \u201881 All-Star Game.\u00a0 He\u2019s also selected to the All-NBA Second Team.\u00a0 The arrival of Parish and McHale puts the team over the top; the Celtics win a classic seven-game rematch against the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals, clawing back from a 3-1 deficit to take the series.\u00a0 The Celtics reach the pinnacle one series later, defeating Moses Malone and the Houston Rockets for the 1981 NBA Championship.\u00a0 For Archibald, the championship is the crowning achievement in a Hall of Fame career.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are guys who\u2019ve had a much better career than myself and haven\u2019t won a championship.\u00a0 You look at players like Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing and you realize how lucky you were to win it all.\u00a0 I was able to persevere through the injuries and keep learning the game.\u00a0 Everything that Cooz talked to me about as a rookie ended up coming true.\u00a0 I didn’t need to be a scorer to help my team win a title.\u00a0 I was the facilitator on a championship team.\u00a0 To do it with the Boston Celtics is a dream come true, and something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”<\/p>\n You were born on September 2nd, 1948 in the South Bronx\u2019s Patterson housing projects.<\/strong><\/p>\n A lot has been written about Patterson and my growing up there, and about how horrible it was supposed to have been.\u00a0 A lot of that negative stuff comes from people who write about the projects but haven\u2019t lived there, so you have this misconception that it was a dangerous, drug-infested place where you ran for your life every day.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying that there wasn\u2019t trouble \u2013 every neighborhood has it\u2019s problems, and you have to deal with them, but Patterson wasn\u2019t as bad as it has been portrayed in print.\u00a0 Journalists who haven\u2019t lived there do their research, but it\u2019s not the same because they didn\u2019t grow up in the projects.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember seeing a bunch of abandoned cars all over the place, but I\u2019ve read about them in articles that people have written about Patterson.\u00a0 There just weren\u2019t a lot of cars of any kind when I was growing up \u2013 most folks took the train or the bus.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember people throwing garbage from their apartment windows, but I\u2019ve read about that happening, too.\u00a0 The stories made it sound like you needed an umbrella to keep from getting hit with all of the trash being poured onto the sidewalks [laughs].\u00a0 But that just wasn\u2019t the case.\u00a0 Patterson was clean.\u00a0 The buildings were clean.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What was the community like back then?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was a tight community.\u00a0 People looked out for each other \u2013 the parents and grandparents knew each other, they visited with their neighbors, and they ate at each other\u2019s tables.\u00a0 That closeness was part of what I called my survival kit, which helped to keep me out of trouble.\u00a0 I had the community center and all of the programs it offered.\u00a0 I had sports.\u00a0 I had the school.\u00a0 It all played a part in keeping me from falling victim to bad influences such as drugs, crime and violence.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You frequently talk to young children about growing up in the projects.\u00a0 What stands out after all these years?<\/strong><\/p>\n Growing up we didn\u2019t have a lot of material possessions, but we made the best out of the situation.\u00a0 There was always food on the table.\u00a0 My mother made the best cornbread, and we always had beans and grits to eat.\u00a0 Meat was considered a luxury.\u00a0 Steak, chicken and fish were served on special occasions.\u00a0 There were seven of us to feed, so she made whatever food we had stretch as far as possible.\u00a0 And although we didn\u2019t have a lot, we shared what we did have.\u00a0 Everybody looked out for one another.\u00a0 People got along.\u00a0 When I go back to Patterson now, I can tell that there is a big gap in that closeness between neighbors.\u00a0 Growing up, if any of us did something wrong the other parents would report on it.\u00a0 They were given permission to slap us on the backside if we got out of line, and then we knew we\u2019d get it again when we got back home [laughs].\u00a0 Today, people don\u2019t want to get involved.\u00a0 That\u2019s unfortunate.<\/p>\n I played basketball and softball, but I didn\u2019t play football \u2013 I couldn\u2019t afford the equipment and wasn\u2019t really big enough anyway [laughs].\u00a0 The games drew people together and gave us all a common bond, regardless of our backgrounds or ethnicities.\u00a0 It was beautiful.\u00a0 Patterson had a large Latino population, but by living there you understood that the term \u201cLatino\u201d was an umbrella that covered many different groups of Latin communities.\u00a0 There were Puerto Ricans, and there were Dominicans.\u00a0 There was a distinction.\u00a0 Each group had it\u2019s own identity, and things that made them unique.\u00a0\u00a0There was always music being played.\u00a0 Folks would dance to all different kinds of stuff, because the words really weren\u2019t the important part.\u00a0 You might not understand the words to a song written in Spanish, but everyone could understand the beat.\u00a0 The music crossed all boundaries.\u00a0 I remember listening to the Latin music and loving it.\u00a0 I was a fan of artists like Eddie Palmarie, who played what is now known as Latin jazz.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Your mother was your rock.\u00a0 Tell me about her.<\/strong><\/p>\n We didn\u2019t have meat on the dinner table very often \u2013 but then we never missed a meal, either.\u00a0 Our mother worked at Alexander\u2019s, which was a supermarket in the neighborhood, and she always made sure the family had food on the table.\u00a0 We ate a lot of bean soup.\u00a0 And we were always right there ready to eat at 5PM, because she used to say, \u201cThe kitchen is open from 5:30 until 7 o\u2019clock, but not a minute longer.\u201d\u00a0 And she meant it.\u00a0 Come 7:01 the kitchen was closed and we weren\u2019t going to get anything else to eat.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot different today.\u00a0 Young kids today have pocket money, and most of them are spoiled when it comes to food.\u00a0 They can look at something and say, \u201cI\u2019m not going to eat that.\u201d<\/p>\n We were a very close family, and still are to this day.\u00a0 Back then only two people had keys to the apartment \u2013 my mother and my older sister.\u00a0 And just like dinner, there came a time when you\u2019d better be in the apartment or the door would be locked.\u00a0 I remember coming home and banging on the door, and my sister refusing to let me in.\u00a0 She\u2019d say, \u201cI\u2019ll only let you in if you promise to do the dishes.\u201d\u00a0 And that was deal.\u00a0 We still laugh about it today.\u00a0 You have to understand that our father left when I was fourteen, so we all took turns filling his shoes.\u00a0 It must have worked, because there are five undergrads in our family, and three with masters.\u00a0 I\u2019m still going to school because I believe you never stop learning.\u00a0 My sister is working on her PhD.\u00a0 And that all goes back to our mother.\u00a0 She insisted that we go to school and get our degrees.\u00a0 So even after I went to the NBA I knew I\u2019d go back and finish the work needed to graduate.\u00a0 My mother would see me, or call me, and it was always the same.\u00a0 She\u2019d say, \u201cWhere\u2019s my degree?\u201d\u00a0 And that\u2019s the way she looked at it.\u00a0 That was as much her accomplishment as it was ours.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n A man named Floyd Layne changed the trajectory of your life.<\/strong><\/p>\n Floyd was one of my many mentors growing up.\u00a0 He was the sports director at the community center in our neighborhood.\u00a0\u00a0I didn\u2019t make the basketball team as a sophomore at DeWitt \u2013 I was just a scrawny, skinny kid who liked to play the game \u2013 and was also floundering in the classroom.\u00a0 I considered dropping out of school.\u00a0 Floyd mentored me.\u00a0 He convinced me to stay in school and get an education, and he also asked me to consider going out for basketball again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Two years later you were All-City.\u00a0 Take me on that journey.<\/strong><\/p>\n DeWitt’s head coach at the time was Hank Jacobson, but Hank was gone by the time my junior year rolled around.\u00a0 He was replaced by Bob Buckner, who had played basketball with Bobby Knight at Ohio State.\u00a0 Bob turned out to the be best thing for me \u2013 he was a disciplinarian who provided an open forum and who made players compete for spots on the roster.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t care what had happened last season.\u00a0 Everyone started off with a clean slate, and players had to prove themselves all over again if they wanted to play on his team.\u00a0 I probably benefited more from the coaching change than anyone because I wasn\u2019t even on the roster.\u00a0 It was a fresh start.\u00a0 His attitude was, \u201cLast season doesn\u2019t matter \u2013 what are you gonna give me now?\u201d\u00a0 And he rewarded the players who bought into that.\u00a0 I was a much better player by then, and I really responded to him.\u00a0 I made All-City as a senior and I don\u2019t think we lost a game all year.\u00a0 It was a major turning point in my life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Following graduation, you headed off to Arizona Western Community College.\u00a0 How did you end up so far from home?<\/strong><\/p>\n I had a scholarship to play Division I basketball, but my grades weren\u2019t good enough to qualify.\u00a0 So I had to go to Arizona Western, which was a small school and the perfect place for me at that time in my life.\u00a0 Leaving New York, it was good to go to a small environment where I didn\u2019t disappear in the shear numbers of students.\u00a0 The people there were genuine, the classes were small, and the transition from high school to college wasn\u2019t as dramatic as it might have been at a bigger school.\u00a0 I was able to get the attention that I needed \u2013 there was plenty of tutoring available to help with the coursework, and there were resources available to help me learn how to learn.\u00a0 Arizona Western was like my Noah\u2019s Ark in a giant, confusing ocean of higher education.\u00a0 It really prepped me for the rest of my academic life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What was life like on the basketball court?<\/strong><\/p>\n I had fun at Arizona Western \u2013 not many people know this, but I wanted to stay there two years instead of one.\u00a0 Our team went 35-1, which really made it hard for me to leave.\u00a0 The system was really suited to my style of play \u2013 we were constantly pushing the ball up the court.\u00a0 It was a fast-breaking attack.\u00a0 We ran at every opportunity.\u00a0 I think I averaged 29.5 points-per-game that season, and most of those baskets came in transition.\u00a0 But it wasn\u2019t a run-and-gun, street-ball offense.\u00a0 We played smart\u00a0 on the court.\u00a0 We worked really hard on revving up the offense, and this philosophy was the exact opposite of the system in place at Texas Western.\u00a0 When I transferred there, Coach [Don] Haskins had just won a national championship with a defensive-oriented system.\u00a0 It was more disciplined.\u00a0 More structured.\u00a0 It was obviously successful \u2013 Coach Haskins is a hall-of-fame legend \u2013 and I gladly fit my style of play into it, but my time at Arizona Western stood out from a pure enjoyment standpoint.\u00a0 Who wouldn\u2019t have fun running the court and scoring all of those points [laughs]?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After one season at Arizona Western, you accepted a scholarship to play at the University of Texas at El Paso.\u00a0 Please tell me about your time at UTEP.<\/strong><\/p>\n UTEP was a\u00a0huge<\/em>\u00a0transition.\u00a0 I had to wait my turn.\u00a0 Willie Worsley was on the team.\u00a0 He was a little older than me, and he also played ball at DeWitt Clinton \u2013 I was a sophomore when he was a senior.\u00a0 Back then no one knew who Nate Archibald was, but Willie Worsley was a player with the big-time reputation.\u00a0 He led the city in scoring as a senior \u2013 he averaged more than 30 points-per-game and was considered the best basketball player in New York.\u00a0 He never backed down from a challenge.\u00a0 The man always put on a show.\u00a0 He was also a big summertime player, so I got to play with him a little bit.\u00a0 I always tell people that when Willie was playing, I had the best seat in the house.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because I was on the bench when he was busy doing all of those crazy things on the court [laughs].<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A lot of Haskins’ success stemmed from his decision to recruit New York.<\/strong><\/p>\n That 1966 championship team had three players on it from New York City high schools \u2013 Worsley from Clinton, and two players from Morris High School in the Bronx; Nevil Shed and Willie Cager.\u00a0 I knew those guys because we played summer-league ball together, and having familiar faces there meant everything when it came to choosing UTEP.\u00a0 The fact that they had just won the national championship didn\u2019t hurt, either [laughs].<\/p>\n <\/p>\n UTEP \u2013 then known as Texas Western \u2013 won that 1966 national title and became the team to start five African-American players at the major college level.\u00a0 Did the significance resonate with you back then?<\/b><\/p>\n It meant a lot because it was for the national championship, but it just happened to be five black guys playing against five white guys.\u00a0 That undertone brought the game a lot of attention because of the whole segregation thing, because it was televised and being played for all the money.\u00a0 For me, knowing those guys was more important.\u00a0 I\u2019d played ball with Worsley, Cager and Shed.\u00a0 I could identify with them because we\u2019d grown up in the same environment.\u00a0 So when I arrived a year later it wasn\u2019t such a big deal to fit in.\u00a0 They understood what it was like to grow up in New York.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n What was it like adjusting to Division I basketball?<\/strong><\/p>\n As a student-athlete you start out by keeping the grades to compete, and then once you\u2019re on the team you start to fight for minutes.\u00a0 Then you want to take minutes away from the guys at your position.\u00a0 That all comes from being hungry.\u00a0 Back then I wasn\u2019t hungry \u2013 I was 150 pounds ringing wet \u2013 back then I was\u00a0starving<\/i>\u00a0[laughs].\u00a0 I think that goes back to growing up without a whole lot.<\/p>\n Success in the classroom was equally important to me by then.\u00a0 It goes back to my mother’s influence.\u00a0 To her, the fact that I played professional basketball never ranked with what any of us accomplished in the classroom.\u00a0 I understand that now.\u00a0 I remember when I was playing for the Nets, and the Philadelphia 76ers were coming to town.\u00a0 I had a broken bone and wasn\u2019t going to be in the lineup.\u00a0 That afternoon I stopped by and my mother was getting all dolled up.\u00a0 I said, \u201cWhere are you going?\u201d\u00a0 She said, \u201cTo the game.\u201d\u00a0 She never went to the games, but Dr. J was going to be on the floor that night and she loved watching him play.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that she didn\u2019t like watching me; it was just that she was more interested in my education.\u00a0 She was a great woman.\u00a0 So my decision to play at UTEP had a lot more to do with these things than with any of the black-versus-white stuff that the media talked about.\u00a0 It was important, but it wasn\u2019t the biggest thing that put me in El Paso.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Following graduation you played on a Phillips 66 team in Idaho.\u00a0 Tell me about that.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was a collection of college players showcasing their talents for the pros \u2013 collegiate All-Star games \u2013 and Haskins sent me up there to play.\u00a0 The games were rough.\u00a0 There was a lot of bumping and banging, a lot of people getting knocked to the floor.\u00a0 I played three games and was running for my life the whole time [laughs].\u00a0 But my scoring average was impressive, which helped generate some interest, and I played well against some of the best talent coming out that year.\u00a0 I always wanted to excel against the guys in my class, no matter who it was.\u00a0 I was excited whenever I got the chance to play against the likes of Dave Cowens, Pistol [Pete Maravich], Rudy [Tomjanovich], Charlie Scott, or any of the others.\u00a0 For me, it was a great challenge.\u00a0 I took the mindset that I was a bandit and they were on my hit list, and I wanted to play against them so bad.\u00a0 I knew I had to be in great shape to stand out against them.\u00a0 I kept myself in great shape.\u00a0 Always well-conditioned and ready to run.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n From there you played in the 1970 Aloha Classic, lit up the scoreboard, and caught the eye of Cincinnati Royals head coach Bob Cousy.<\/b><\/p>\n When the All-Star games were over, a couple of guys ended up not going to Hawaii and I took one of the slots.\u00a0 The trip wasn\u2019t a new experience for me; I\u2019d played there because UTEP was in the WAC with the University of Hawaii.\u00a0 So I just wanted to stay loose, have fun, and learn some more about myself as a basketball player.\u00a0 I scored 51.\u00a0 Cooz was there.\u00a0 I met him for the first time in Hawaii and it was really special for me.\u00a0 I\u2019d had seen him on television, and I knew all about his career with the Boston Celtics.\u00a0 He was the Royals coach at the time.\u00a0 He took me aside before the game and said, \u201cI\u2019m going to be talking to you.\u201d\u00a0 I didn\u2019t say much \u2013 I was pretty quiet at the time \u2013 but in the back of my mind I\u2019m thinking, \u201cWhy do you want to talk to me?\u201d\u00a0 After the game we sat down together and at first he didn\u2019t say anything about drafting me.\u00a0 He just wanted to know what my intentions were, and whether I was interested in playing NBA basketball.\u00a0 I froze up, went completely blank.\u00a0 I told him that I didn\u2019t know for sure, but that I hoped to play in the NBA.\u00a0 He said, \u201cWell, we\u2019re looking at players for the upcoming draft, and you\u2019re one of the guys that we have in mind.\u201d\u00a0 I didn\u2019t believe it.\u00a0 To hear the great Bob Cousy say that he was interested was just too much, almost like he was blowing smoke at me.\u00a0 But he was true to his word; the next thing I know, I\u2019m a member of the Cincinnati Royals and Cooz is my coach.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Please tell me about Mr. Cousy, and what it was like to play for him.<\/b><\/p>\n I always tell people that Bob Cousy was like my step-dad, that\u2019s how much I think of him.\u00a0 Even though he\u2019s from Queens and I\u2019m from the Bronx, I never held that against him [laughs].\u00a0 It was great to play for him.\u00a0 He gave me a shot at pro basketball when none of the so-called experts thought I could play in this league.\u00a0 And for him to think of me that way, well it only gave me more confidence and really helped my development.\u00a0 He was one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game, so I listened to everything he said.\u00a0 Our conversations were guard-to-guard.\u00a0 He understood the position so well, and he knew what I was going through as far as learning to play the game.\u00a0 He made me understand what it was to be a leader.\u00a0 He envisioned me being more of a floor general and less of a scorer, and he said, \u201cOne of these days you\u2019re going to change the way you play the game.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to become more of a quarterback and not so much of a scorer.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what happened.\u00a0 I ended up winning that championship in \u201981 with the Celtics of all teams, and I didn\u2019t score a ton of points.\u00a0 Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Cedric Maxwell \u2013 those guys were going out and getting the points.\u00a0 My job was to run the offense and keep the team flowing, just like Cousy had said way back in my rookie season.<\/p>\n A lot of guys get drafted and don\u2019t get a chance to play, but Cooz was a man of his word.\u00a0 He gave me the basketball and said. \u201cThis is your team.\u00a0 Run it.\u00a0 Score points in transition.\u00a0 Get guys up-and-down the court.\u201d\u00a0 He had all this faith in me, even at such a young age.\u00a0 It shocked me, really, because I wasn\u2019t ready for that much responsibility.\u00a0 You\u2019re talking about a guy who is twenty-one years old, and he\u2019s asked to run an NBA team.\u00a0 I just wasn\u2019t ready.\u00a0 He expected me to be a more vocal leader, but that wasn\u2019t my nature.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t do a lot of talking.\u00a0 I let my game do that.\u00a0 Later on he complimented me on that first season, but thought that I didn\u2019t speak out enough.\u00a0 I just told him that I led by example.\u00a0 I think he came to understand that.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n You averaged 28.2 points-per-game in only your second season in the league.\u00a0 You were particularly hot down the stretch, averaging 34 points after the All-Star Break.<\/b><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know that it was by design, it was just a matter of getting on a roll.\u00a0 At that point in my career I was one of the primary threats on offense.\u00a0 I just went out and played the game.\u00a0 If the shot was there, I was going to take it, and if not then I wanted to find my teammate.\u00a0 Early on, I was a scorer first and a quarterback second.\u00a0 Cooz knew that I\u2019d have to change my game, that I\u2019d do it eventually, but he didn\u2019t put the clamps down to get his point across.\u00a0 He gave me the freedom to play.\u00a0 He trusted that I\u2019d take good shots, and that I\u2019d distribute the ball if there was a better option on a given trip down the court.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n The Royals moved to Kansas City prior to the 1972-73 season, changing their name to the Kings.\u00a0 You averaged 34.0 points and 11.4 assists, becoming the only player ever to lead the league in both categories in a single year.<\/b><\/p>\n That was never by design, either.\u00a0 It was something that just happened.\u00a0 I never went out on the court feeling as though I was going to make history that way \u2013 I just wanted to help the team win.\u00a0 I went out and played the game.\u00a0 Cooz gets a lot of credit for that record, because he gave the chance to play.\u00a0 He gave this skinny kid the chance to go out there and do his thing, and in a lot of respects I became an extension of Cooz out on the court.\u00a0 Some coaches are good for bigs, and some are good for guards.\u00a0 Cooz helped me to analyze what was going on out there, and he really helped me to make good decisions.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s why I was able to lead the league in scoring and assists in the same season.\u00a0 I could quickly dissect the situation and instinctively know when to take the shot versus giving up the ball.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Cousy led the league in assists eight times, but never led the league in scoring.<\/strong><\/p>\n Our team that year was different from all of those great Celtics that Cooz played on.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have a Bill Russell.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have a Tommy Heinsohn.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have a K.C. Jones, or a Sam Jones, or a Jim Loscutoff.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have the old guys to learn from, the guys who\u2019d been through the playoff wars and had walked away with championship rings.\u00a0 We were learning how to communicate without the benefit of great veterans who\u2019d been there and done that.\u00a0 But we did have guys like Johnny Green, who took me under his wing and helped me understand the game better.\u00a0 Johnny had led the league in field goal percentage.\u00a0 He was a great target on the court.\u00a0 I looked for him when we needed a big basket.\u00a0 He was on the receiving end of a bunch of my assists, and he was also the wise sage who gave me a lot of great advice.\u00a0 Leading the league in both categories in the same season was a very satisfying accomplishment, but not one that outranks winning the championship in \u201981.\u00a0 It was just something that all came together \u2013 we were running at every opportunity, and scoring a lot of points in transition.\u00a0 I just played my game, which blended perfectly with the philosophy in place at the time.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n You suffered an Achilles tendon injury the following season.\u00a0 How did you bounce back so quickly?<\/strong><\/p>\n The single biggest factor was probably the return trip that I made to New York after I tore the Achilles tendon.\u00a0 I went back to work with the youth in the neighborhood, and all of these kids were so supportive.\u00a0 They were saying, \u201cTiny, you can still play.\u00a0 You can come back from this injury.\u00a0 You\u2019ve still got it.\u201d\u00a0 And here I was in New York, supposedly mentoring them, and they were ones imparting the wisdom.\u00a0 It made me work hard to regain my speed.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want to let them down.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1974-75 marked your return to greatness.\u00a0 You averaged 26.5 points and 6.8 assists, returned to the All-NBA First Team, and led the Kings reached the playoffs for the first time in nine years.\u00a0 What was it like to finally taste the postseason?<\/strong><\/p>\n Coming back, I had the quickness that made me such a dangerous player.\u00a0 All of the self-doubt was gone; I was healthy again, and it showed in the way I played the game.\u00a0\u00a0It was a dream season because we finally made the playoffs.\u00a0 We had solid players on that team \u2013 Jimmy Walker, Nate Williams, and Sam Lacey to name a few.\u00a0 Scott Wedman was a rookie that year, and he really helped us.\u00a0 But we lost to the Chicago Bulls in the playoffs, so that was a big disappointment.\u00a0 Anytime you\u2019re eliminated it\u2019s a bitter pill to swallow.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n You mentioned that Scott Wedman was your teammate while with the Kings.\u00a0 Ironically, you would both go on to win NBA championships with the Boston Celtics.\u00a0 Please tell me about Scott.<\/strong><\/p>\n Scott was a really good player.\u00a0 Those first couple of years he was kind of in the shadows in Kansas City, because he was a young guy just getting started and he wasn\u2019t one of the focal points of the offense.\u00a0 But as time went on he became one of the team\u2019s stars, and one of the better players in the league.\u00a0 He could shoot the lights out.\u00a0 Nobody in the league shot it any better.\u00a0 He was a role player when he went to Boston, which was a big change for him, but he really wanted to win a championship.\u00a0 He knew that he\u2019d never take Larry Bird\u2019s spot, and that his job would be to come off the bench and provide a spark on offense.\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly what he did, and the Celtics won two championships with him on the roster.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You averaged 24.8 points and 7.9 assists during the 1975-76 season, again earning All-NBA First Team honors.\u00a0 The Kings, however, struggled in the win column.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was frustrating, but I just kept playing my game.\u00a0 I was never satisfied when we fell short of the ultimate goal.\u00a0 It had been like that since I\u2019d started playing basketball.\u00a0 We added Bill Robinzine through the draft, but we just didn\u2019t put things together like I thought we would.\u00a0 We won 31 games and missed the playoffs, so to me that was a huge step backwards.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t matter what I\u2019d done as an individual.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t get it done as a team, so there was some doubt about contending for a championship.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The next couple of seasons were marked by injuries and trades, as you moved from the Kings to the New York Nets and Buffalo Braves.\u00a0 Please tell me about this period in your life.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was a difficult time for me as a professional basketball player.\u00a0 I was hurt and I only played in 34 games for the Nets.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t make the playoffs, and then I ended up being traded to Buffalo \u2013 and didn\u2019t play at all during the 1977-78 season.\u00a0 So it was a very challenging period for me mentally.\u00a0 I had to deal with the injuries, and at the same time stay positive and focused on coming back.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You were traded to the Boston Celtics on August 4th, 1978.\u00a0 Your spot on the team was anything but assured.<\/strong><\/p>\n I weighed 240 pounds when I got to Boston, which was a far cry from the 170 pounds that I carried in my prime.\u00a0 Red [Auerbach] took one look at me and said that if I didn\u2019t lose the weight that I wouldn\u2019t play.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that he didn\u2019t want me, because he did.\u00a0 He just didn\u2019t want two of me [laughs]!\u00a0 So Red told [Celtics\u2019 trainer] Ray Melchiorre to help me lose the weight.\u00a0 Ray put me on a diet; skim milk with Raisin Bran for breakfast\u2026no sugar, no butter, no jelly.\u00a0 I love fried eggs, but he cut those out, too.\u00a0 I could have them hard boiled, and that was it.\u00a0 Lunch was a dry salad \u2013 no dressing \u2013 and no tomatoes.\u00a0 Dinner was skinless meat, broiled.\u00a0 Nothing to drink but water and grapefruit juice.\u00a0 And if that wasn\u2019t enough, Ray made me wear a fat suit when I worked out [laughs].\u00a0 He was into scuba diving, so he brought one of those scuba suits to the training facility and had me put it on.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a short suit, either \u2013 it was one of those long ones.\u00a0 Putting it on was no problem, but taking it off was almost impossible [laughs].\u00a0 But it all worked, because the weight came off and I was back to my playing weight to start the season.\u00a0 I had my speed back, and I was back to running for my life [laughs].<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tell me about the legendary Red Auerbach.<\/strong><\/p>\n That first year in Boston I didn\u2019t play lot, at least by my standards.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure where I fit in or if I\u2019d remain on the team.\u00a0 Red and I had some interesting conversations \u2013 he loved to walk through the locker room and tell you about the great Celtic teams that he coached during the 50s and 60s, and about all of the championships that he won on the parquet.\u00a0 Red would also sit you down in his office, which was a smoke-filled room loaded with championship mementos, and he\u2019d try to motivate you to play up to those standards.\u00a0 I remember sitting down with him one day, the cigars stinking up the place, and he wanted to welcome me to the team.\u00a0 He said, \u201cTiny, I\u2019m not sure where you\u2019re gonna be by the end of the season.\u00a0 You\u2019re out of shape and overweight, and I want guys who are in shape.\u00a0 I\u2019m just not sure if you\u2019re gonna be any good.\u00a0 You gotta compete.\u00a0 To be in this picture you\u2019d better want to win.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Celtics were in full-fledged rebuilding mode when you arrived.<\/strong><\/p>\n That first year in Boston was ugly.\u00a0 We won 29 games and didn\u2019t have much hope.\u00a0 Satch Sanders started off as the head coach, but he was fired and Dave Cowens took over as player\/coach.\u00a0 On paper there was some good talent on that team \u2013 Cowens, Chris Ford, Curtis Rowe, Jo Jo White, Don Chaney \u2013 but the mixture wasn\u2019t right.\u00a0 We even had young guys like Cedric Maxwell and Rick Robey.\u00a0 Bob McAdoo was on the roster for twenty games or so.\u00a0 But there was just so much turmoil and negativity that things went from bad to ugly, and they just stayed that way.<\/p>\n Larry Bird was drafted as a junior eligible, so we had to wait a year to find out what kind of player he was.\u00a0 He was our hope, although the press kept saying that he was too slow to play in the NBA, and that he couldn\u2019t jump or shoot or play defense.\u00a0 When he arrived, and we actually got to see how good he was, that was when I started to believe that we\u2019d compete for a championship.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tell me about Larry Bird.<\/strong><\/p>\n Larry was easily one of the greatest players I\u2019d ever played with.\u00a0 Everyone calls him Larry Legend, but I\u2019ve always liked to call him Larry the Professor.\u00a0 He was so smart.\u00a0 He could analyze things on the court, and then diagnose a play almost before it even happened.\u00a0 He dissected his opponent.\u00a0 And while he might not have had the greatest physical tools \u2013 he wasn\u2019t going to jump through the roof like a Dominique Wilkins \u2013 he was a master of the fundamentals.\u00a0 Nobody was any better at doing the little things collectively, like boxing out and making the extra pass.\u00a0 He had the highest basketball intellect that I\u2019ve ever been associated with.\u00a0 It was a privilege to play with him, and also with Kevin and Robert.\u00a0 They were the heart of our team and the reason we won it all in \u201981.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The 1979-80 Celtics won 61 games and reached the Eastern Conference Finals.\u00a0 You were once again an All-Star.\u00a0 How did your role change with the arrival of Larry Bird?<\/strong><\/p>\n My role changed every year, which goes back to what Cooz told me my rookie season.\u00a0 Red Auerbach needed a quarterback to run his team, especially since he was assembling such a talented front line, and he wanted to motivate me to be the player that I was before the injuries.\u00a0 But he also knew that he needed a player who could distribute the ball, someone who didn\u2019t need to score a ton of points, and by that time in my career I was more than ready to share the load offensively.\u00a0 I\u2019d been a big-time scorer, but I hadn\u2019t gone deep in the playoffs.\u00a0 I wanted a ring.\u00a0 The pieces were coming together.\u00a0 Max [Cedric Maxwell] was already there, Larry was there, and Robert and Kevin were on their way the following season.\u00a0 And with Larry on the team we were able to turn it completely around.\u00a0 We only won 29 games my first season, and then we won 61 games the next.\u00a0 At the time it was the biggest turnaround in NBA history.\u00a0 Larry was the focal point of the offense, and that was fine with me.\u00a0 The next year we had Robert and Kevin, as well as M.L. Carr, so there were a lot of options.\u00a0 And we were all close, which was the best part.\u00a0 Max and I were like brothers.\u00a0 We stayed in the same house, we went to his home in North Carolina during the off-season, and we had a lot of great times together.\u00a0 The camaraderie on those teams was unbelievable.\u00a0 Nobody can take that away.\u00a0 The practices were real battles, and they made us closer as a team.\u00a0 There were fights, but that\u2019s only because the intensity level was so high.\u00a0 Nobody was giving up, not even for a minute.\u00a0 And the individual records didn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 We were all after the same thing, which was to be recognized as the best in the world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The following season you were named the MVP of the All-Star Game.\u00a0 After suffering so many injuries in recent years, how did it feel to be recognized as the best of the best?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was special.\u00a0 I was healthy again, and I was on a team that had a chance to win it all.\u00a0 I never doubted my ability, so it was good to be able to remind people that I could still play the game at a very high level.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The 1980-81 Boston Celtics came back from a 3-1 series deficit to defeat the 76ers and advance to the NBA Finals.\u00a0 Please take me back to that classic series.<\/strong><\/p>\n Nobody was giving up.\u00a0 There was no quit on that team.\u00a0 Philly was the team to beat, they had the big lead in the series, and we just kept playing as hard as we could.\u00a0 Larry told us to take one game at time, and we were able to focus on that.\u00a0 All of the games were very close, and very intense.\u00a0 Those last three games all went down to the wire, and they reminded me of the great Red Sox-Yankees series, with the Red Sox coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win.\u00a0\u00a0People may forget this, but our best battles back then were against the 76ers.\u00a0 They had Doc [Julius Erving], Andrew Toney, Bobby Jones, Caldwell Jones, Darryl Dawkins, Doug Collins, Steve Mix, Lionel Hollins, and Maurice Cheeks.\u00a0 Philly was loaded.\u00a0 We had to beat them just to get to the Finals and face the Houston Rockets.\u00a0 It was a great series, probably the best I\u2019ve ever been involved in.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You reached the NBA Promised Land one series later, defeating Moses Malone and the Houston Rockets for the 1981 NBA championship.\u00a0 What was it like to finally win basketball\u2019s ultimate prize?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was like Christmas.\u00a0 There are probably a lot of guys who\u2019ve had a much better career than myself, guys who haven\u2019t won a championship.\u00a0 You look at players like Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing and you feel for them, and at the same time you realize how lucky you were to win it all.\u00a0 I was fortunate and lucky to get to play early on, and to learn how the game was supposed to be played.\u00a0 I was able to persevere through the injuries and keep learning the game.\u00a0 I was just thankful to be a part of that team, and to have the ball in my hands.\u00a0 Everything that Cooz talked to me about as a rookie ended up coming true.\u00a0 I was the quarterback on a championship team.\u00a0 I accepted my role and I did the things that made my teammates better, and we were able to run the table.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and have been recognized as one of the NBA\u2019s 50 Greatest Players.\u00a0 What do these honors mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n They are the ultimate honors.\u00a0 Red and Cooz were right there at my induction ceremony, and just having them as a part of it made me relax.\u00a0 I was able to take the podium and speak about my career.\u00a0 I had been so nervous beforehand, but they helped me keep it together.\u00a0 Afterwards they told me that I stole the show, and that I\u2019d talked about everything.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You\u2019ve always gone back home \u2013 coaching clinics, donating equipment, giving your time.<\/strong><\/p>\n I love teaching.\u00a0 When I look at my childhood, I realize how important it was to have safe havens to keep kids away from drugs and gangs. \u00a0Activities such as basketball are so important in that regard.\u00a0 League play teaches kids the importance of sportsmanship and discipline, things that I learned early on because of the people who donated their time and energy to make a difference.\u00a0 And education stands out above all.\u00a0 It\u2019s\u00a0 the foundation that helps to keep kids from doing crazy stuff.\u00a0 It\u2019s important to help these kids understand that they lose out if they don\u2019t have an education.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I keep going back.\u00a0 I want to help instill the values of sportsmanship and education in children at the earliest age possible.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Final Question:\u00a0 You\u2019ve achieved great success in your life.\u00a0 If you could offer one piece of advice on life to others, what would that be?<\/strong><\/p>\n Live life to the fullest, and remember that a rich life is not one measured by money or material possessions.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By:\u00a0 Michael D. McClellan |\u00a0The dream starts here, in the gang-infested, drug-ravaged projects of New York\u2019s South Bronx, a place where bullets fly and dreams die in near synchronous rhythm, a concert of violence that plays on a continuous loop next door, down the street, all around.\u00a0 Murder in the 4-0 \u2013 New York\u2019s 40th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[773,775,776],"tags":[350],"class_list":["post-16039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-interview","category-team-green","category-bird-era","tag-nate-archibald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/basketball.png\")
<\/p>\n