Oscar Robertson is a great example of a player who plays great fundamental basketball. The simple fadeaway jump shot that he implemented and perfected in the game and his records in assists (899 in one season) are more than self-explanatory.
Oscar defined the guard position but could also play as a forward.
Always displaying amazing array of athletic ability. So determined to win the game. The triple-double standard was defined by him because he’s the only player in NBA history to average triple-double the entire season. It’s been a while since then and no one could come close to that. For his career he had 181 triple-doubles.
In his entire 14 season career he logged 9887 assists (a record that remained for almost 20 years)
Roberston was born in 1938. He grew up in Indianapolis in poverty and racism. The first time he made a contact with the basketball was at the age of 6.
Unfortunately his parents didn’t have enough money to provide him with a real basketball so he was training with a tennis ball, shooting at the peach basket.
Here’s a cool video of Oscar Robertson..
In Indianapolis, baseball was also very common sport but he was more drawn to the game of basketball as it was considered a game for “poor kids”. I think that every NBA legend that you can find here on these pages, has paved the way for this and that. I mean, every single one of them, showed tremendous will, love and passion for the game.
They dreamt of basketball. Basketball was their lives and they took it very seriously. That’s what separates the men from the boys. That’s what lasts through decades. That’s how we end up admiring these great people.
And the “Big O” – his nickname, proved just that, how much he loves this game. In 1960 NBA draft, when he became eligible, he was drafted by the Cincinnati Royals. In his first season he almost averaged triple-double for the entire season. Can you believe that? Averaging 30.5 points, 10.1
Of course that led him to become to become rookie of the year. And it happened many times for him. It often took one more assist or a rebound that he’d have another triple-double season. It was that close. Jerry West said that when he became in the NBA, he wasn’t playing like a rookie at all. He was playing like a vet.
In 1970, it was probably the head coach of Cincinnati Royals, Bob Cousy, who traded Oscar Robertson for the Milwaukee Bucks. He (Cousy) didn’t much like all the attention Oscar was getting and decided to do something about that. As Roberston said.. “I think he was wrong and I will never forget it”.
Well, it might have been a mistake but had that not happened, Oscar would’ve never won a championship. He got to play with another Hall of Famer, Lew Alcindor, much more known as Kareem Abdul-Jabar. He played with Milwaukee for two more seasons. In his last season, he also reached the NBA finals but was outperformed by the Boston Celitcs and Dave Cowens.
The Royals retired his jersey (number 14). Milwaukee Bucks retired his number 1 jersey. The “Big O” was chosen third in Slam Magazine’s top 75 NBA players of all time. He’s also chosen as player of century and is in the 50 greatest player in NBA history.
Here’s some of his famous quotes:
“I think that basketball players should get the job done no matter how it looks on the screen.”
“It’s like all guys want to do is make a dunk, grab their shirt and yell out and scream – they could be down 30 points but that’s what they do. Okay, so you made a dunk. Get back down the floor on defense!”
“Some players are more physical than others, some play with more finesse. Some are just really great all-around players. So you have to change your game.”
“This is where young players today want to land. They want to be NBA players because of the money.” – bad thing for the game indeed
“When you play against different people from all walks of life you can’t do the same thing against every player defensively or offensively. You have to change up the way you go at a player.”
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