The Henry Finkel Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Monday, March 20th,
2006
Your next two years were spent with the San Diego Rockets, which were the
precursor to the Houston Rockets of today. During this period you teamed with
rookie phenom Elvin Hayes, as well as future coaching greats Pat Riley and Rick
Adelman. Please tell me a little about each of these men.
I
teamed with Elvin during my second year in San Diego. The first year was the
expansion year, and I fared well because that was an expansion team and I got a
chance to shoot. Pat Riley was on my team that first year, and I’ll never
forget the story about seeing him for the first time. It was at training camp
that very first year, we were all gathered outside, and here came Pat Riley in a
canary yellow Corvette. It was a convertible, of course. Black interior. And
he was as polished then as he is today. He was wearing a gorgeous golf shirt,
form fit, and he had a pair of shorts on at the time. Nice tan. Forty years
later, Pat Riley is still the same guy. And by the way, he was one tough
competitor. A tough kid. Six-five, well-built, strong…set a pick on him and
he’d try to break you in half.
The only thing that I remember clearly about Rick Adelman was that he played with his head. He knew where guys were, and he was a pretty good shooter. And if I’m not mistaken, I think he was drafted in one of the later rounds – maybe the seventh round by San Diego – but he played so hard and so well that he made the team. And those same characteristics have helped him to become an outstanding head coach.
Elvin – just a great, great player. Big and strong – I’ll bet that he was about six-ten, about 260, big hands, strong body….he could shoot the ball, he could rebound, he could jump, he could clog the middle so that it was tough to get around…he was just a great all-around player.
On August
7th, 1969, you were traded by San Diego to the Boston Celtics. What were
your feelings when you knew you were officially a part of the Celtic family?
Two
things – I knew that I had to get rid of my convertible and all of my
Bermuda shorts, because I was coming to Boston. Secondly, Elvin Hayes had
come on the scene in San Diego. So, my time was up. I was not getting any
playing time at all. I was still young – twenty-seven or twenty-eight years
old – and I felt that I could contribute in some capacity to another team.
Pete Newell was the general manager for the Rockets, and when he told me
that I’d been traded to Boston, I said, ‘Boy, it doesn’t get any better than
that.’ Coming up here with all of this tradition and all of these great
players, the numbers in the rafters, and the parquet floor…and that doesn’t
even speak of Red Auerbach and Tommy Heinsohn. Red was the general manager
and Tommy was the head coach. So I said, ‘That’s terrific.’ And that’s how
I wound up getting traded to Boston.
Your
arrival in Boston coincided with the retirement of the great Bill Russell,
and the end of the Celtic Dynasty. It was perhaps the toughest act to
following in the history of professional sports. What was that first season
like for you, and how did you handle the expectations placed on you by the
city and its fans?
I
almost quit. The fans up here are tough – they want a winner. And I’ve
said all along, that if you’re going to play sports in any town, you would
want to play in either Boston, New York, or Philadelphia. I say that
because they have the most rabid fans in the country – and arguably in the
world.
When I came to Boston, Sam Jones had retired. Russell had retired. The whole team was beginning a new era, and a rebuilding process was taking place. I was by no means in the category of the guys I’ve just mentioned, but I had my own assets. I was prepared to come in and do whatever I could to help this team continue that same standard of excellence.
Well, the
team struggled. Things got rough, and the fans started booing me, and I got
discouraged. It got to the point that I contemplated retirement. And then,
after the season, Red and Tommy pulled me into Tommy’s office and said,
‘Wait, slow down, we’re going to get you some help.’ And I said, ‘Okay, not
a problem. I’ll stick it out.’ And then they went out and drafted Dave
Cowens. The rest is history. So I stayed with the team, and after they
draft Dave Cowens I said, ‘Man, it doesn’t get any better than this.’
While the
Celtics struggled that first year, help was on the way; Red Auerbach nabbed
Jo Jo White in the first round of the 1969 NBA Draft, and followed that up
with the selection of Dave Cowens a year later. Please tell me about each
of these men, and their significance in turning the Celtics back into
champions.
Jo
Jo – great shooter, great team player, all finesse – but boy, when you
needed a clutch basket you went to Jo Jo every time. Cowens’ play could be
described as anything but finesse. He was a hard-working, blue collar,
aggressive player. He was a 6’9” center who dominated his position in the
NBA. You’ll never see another Dave Cowens in the NBA as long as you live.
This guy would tear you apart on the basketball court. And he did it night
in, and night out…and he did it against other centers who were much bigger
and much taller.
By the way, I’ve always been asked who I found to be the toughest player to play against in the NBA, and the first name at the top of the list is Dave Cowens. That would be Dave because I had to play against him everyday in practice. And when you play against Cowens in practice you may as well just go against him in a game, because he only has one speed and only knows one way to play the game – and that’s hard. So he was just as tough in practice as he was in the games.
Anyway, they were just two different types of players. Jo Jo was more finesse but a great shooter, and Dave was the kind of guy to dive on the floor and get his hands dirty and his knees scratched. He wasn’t afraid to get in a scrape.
