The Artis Gilmore Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Friday, May 6th, 2005
Kentucky went 68-14 during your first season with the team, a 24-game
improvement over the previous year. You were honored as both the ABA Rookie of
the Year and as the league's Most Valuable Player, finishing 10th in the league
in scoring, first in rebounds, and first in field-goal percentage. Was the
transition from college to the pros as easy as you made it seem?
I
was able to make the transition, but I don’t think in terms of it being an easy
one. Like so many other young players, I felt that I had developed very well.
I was prepared for the competition at that level. It helped that my body had
fully matured – so many players today turn pro after one or two seasons at the
college level, and some don’t even go to college at all, which makes the
adjustment to the pro game’s physicality that much more difficult – and for that
reason I’m glad I had four years of college ball under my belt. I was prepared
to take the banging. I was able to produce on the offensive end – I wasn’t just
a big body out there taking up space. But like I said, it wasn’t an especially
easy transition, even though I was able to put up good statistical numbers. I
was still a rookie out there competing against men who had been playing pro ball
for several years.
You
played five seasons in the ABA, producing staggering statistical numbers and
leading the Colonels to the ABA Finals twice, both against Indiana. By
1975, you and your teammates were champions of the ABA. Please take me back
to that series against Indy.
We
had a very good coach in Hubie Brown, and had great a combination of players
on the roster. As a matter of fact, I’m in Louisville right now as part of
the buildup to the Kentucky Derby. We’re being honored and acknowledged for
that accomplishment thirty years ago. It’s very special for us. We had a
very select group of guys who played their roles to perfection. We had Lou
Dampier, Dan Issel and myself, as well as William Averitt, Wil Jones, Marvin
Roberts and Ted Mcclain. It was a very competitive, smart group of players
who were able to play very well together under the leadership and guidance
of Hubie Brown and his fine assistant, Stan Albeck. We were able to put
together a good game plan and execute it all season long. And then, once we
reached the playoffs, we were able to eliminate our opponents one-by-one,
winning the ABA Championship in ’75.
The ABA
would fold a year later. Ironically, the Bulls would have the first overall
pick in the dispersal draft. In a draft that included such talent as Moses
Malone and Maurice Lucas, Chicago wasted little time in snatching up one of
the best big men in basketball. What was it like to go from a successful
franchise in the ABA one season, to one of the NBA's doormats the next?
As
you indicated, Chicago was a struggling franchise, and I thought it would be
a great opportunity to turn that team around. I learned quickly that the
NBA was quite a bit different from the ABA. It was more complicated – you
couldn’t just plug one player into the equation and expect to turn a losing
team into a championship contender. It just didn’t work that way in the
NBA. We were eventually able to put Chicago back on the winning track, but
it didn’t happen overnight. There were a lot of struggles, a lot of
ups-and-downs, not only in that first season but over the course of my
career in the Chicago uniform.
We started off very poorly during my first season there, losing our first thirteen games, but we were able to win twenty of our last twenty-four games to finish with a 44-38 record. I think we were only six games out of first place in our division. It was quite an accomplishment, because the Bulls went 24-58 during the 1974-75 season. They had Dick Motta as the head coach that year – Motta would go on to win a championship with the Washington Bullets in 1978. The Bullets had Wes Unseld that year, Bob Dandridge, Mitch Kupchak, Greg Ballard. Great team. Anyway, it was great way for us to end the season –especially after starting off with all of those losses.
If there
were any doubters about your ability, you proved them wrong by posting
numbers comparable to those put up while playing in the ABA. Of all the
statistics and records associated with your name, of which are you the most
proud, and why?
Certainly
I’m very proud of my accomplishments in both leagues. Unfortunately, much
of what I’ve accomplished has not been totally acknowledged. Regardless,
I’m very proud of I’ve done as a professional basketball player, and at this
point in my life I’ve come to accept that some people might not fully
appreciate the numbers that I put up in the ABA. An example is the award we
are getting ready to receive here in Louisville. I’m thrilled and honored
to be recognized for what we did thirty years ago in the ABA – Dan Issel and
myself were up at 5AM this morning, doing a walkthrough of Churchill Downs,
and the award for that ABA championship is certainly going to be special.
