Damn. Dominique Wilkins is 50 years old. Happy birthday to one of the most underrated players in NBA history. So much more than a dunker...but the dunks were pretty bad ass. And a Damn Good Dawg.
Life Lessons Learned from Nique:
"Always go for the 50 in the first round."
PWD
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11 comments:
the two handed windmill was freakish. he got jobbed in that dunk contest in chicago
Those 10 were certainly the greatest NBA dunks by Nique, but his greatest dunk ever, to me, was the over the shoulder/over the DEFENDER'S shoulder behind him job he threw down at home against Alabama his freshman year.
If you saw it, you know what I mean. If you didn't see it, it was the sickest, most ridiculous attempt ever. One on one break, coming down the left side of the lane, defender perfectly positioned on Nique's right shoulder. Several feet out from the hoop, Nique plans his right foot, spins counterclockwise, and two hands over his head buries the dunk over the startled defender. Someone got a picture, and it was on the UGA schedule poster the next year. Absolutely jaw dropping. 10th graders may be doing 360 windmill dunks now, but in 1979, nobody in Athens, or probably anywhere else, had ever seen anything like THAT.
Second sickest college dunk? It was waved off, but versus UK at the Omni (I think it was his junior year). Someone shot the ball from the right wing, and Nique crashed the boards from the top of the key. The rebound kicked out toward the top of the key, and Nique caught it about a foot over the outstretched hands of UK's Sam Bowie (7'1") and Freddie Cowan (6'11"), who were shoulder to shoulder facing the basket in the middle of the lane, and two handed it so viciously that it felt like the resultant vacuum took the air out of the Omni. The refs called an offensive, or maybe it was a 3 second violation for his hang time in the lane, but everyone who saw it just said, "Daaaaaaaaaaamn."
The boy could bring the pain. Every second he played, you couldn't turn away, lest you miss something you had never seen before and might never see again. He was absolutely screwed on the Greatest 50 NBA team. He carried a middling Hawks team on his back for years, and despite his rep with some as a no conscience gunner, I can't tell you how many times I saw a Hawks player throw him the ball 30 feet from the hoop with less than 5 seconds on the shot clock with a look on his face that said, "here...do something great!" One of the most entertaining players ever, and a really, really nice guy, too.
Let's start 'Nique's second half-century with a win of the Rebels tomorrow!
My favorite dunk was when he was a freshman in '80 and stole a ball at mid-court against 'Bama. He got cut off going toward the hoop, but twisted in the air and jammed it home backwards. No one had seen anything like that before in the Steg. I used to have a poster of this. He got hurt later in the game, which affected the rest of his freshman campaign.
And to think, that '83 team made its run after 'Nique had left. Perhaps it's b/c they were a better team without him...I don't know.
Anyway, he had the good fortune of playing at a time when the league was somewhat clean, ie,non-thuggish. You don't see old highlights with players sporting disgusting tattoos all over their arms and bodies. They didn't bring guns to games back then, and most players were gentlemen, not the horrific gang-bangers and thugs were have today. Those guys just played ball, and did it well.
'Nique also had the misfortune of playing alongside Jordan, who had he not been around, would have possibly allowed 'Nique to claim the MVP a few times. He would have won more dunk contests, that's for sure.
Happy Bday big fella.
You really can't imagine what it was like when we saw how good he was. You think we have no hoops tradition now? We barely had a program then, much less a tradition of success. Heady times.
Also, couldn't agree more on the jobbing by the NBA Top 50 team, 'school. And the role he played on some good (but offensively challenged) and not so good Hawks teams.
The greatest NBA draft counterfactual ever:
Wilkins to Lakers, Worthy to Hawks.
What if it had been 'Nique's job to run the floor with Magic and finish for the Showtime Lakers, and Worthy's job to be the scorer of last resort when Doc Rivers, Kevin Willis, Tree Rollins, Cliff Levingston et al couldn't make anything good happen?
'Nigue would now be considered an inner circle immortal, and Worthy would have had a career about like Tracy McGrady.
I second that Anon at 6:46! Let's ruin the Rebs!!
You know how when you watch old footage it often appears that the athletes couldn't compete in today's game because the athleticism of the sport has evolved? When I watch that, it's as if the NBA still hasn't caught up with Dominique. There are some freaks like Dwight Howard, don't get me wrong, but there aren't many guys who have EVER had the hops that Dominique had. You don't see guys his size slamming the ball on a putback over two people, nor do you see a lot of guys dunking in a game where the person with the ball moves the ball down to avoid a defender before taking it back up and slamming it -- all mid-air.
Wow.
Really! Wow
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/ncf/news/story?id=4820737
Damn good Dawg! I had the great fortune to attend UGA with both Dominique and Herschel, the National Championship and the Final Four team (yeah, I hung around a while). It was a great time to be a Dawg!
Happy Birthday, Dominique! Hope you have half a hundred more!
OMG... I went to school with him! I was at UGA when we went to the Final Four the year after he turned pro. Damn, I'm getting olde!
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