NBA Playoffs and Your Bradley Braves

[Dallas Brave]

I enjoy NBA basketball, especially the playoffs. I also enjoy Bradley Basketball's connections. I'm sure there are more, but here are the connections I know about for teams in this year's post-season play:

Cleveland Cavaliers: Anthony Parker, Starting 2 Guard, former Bradley star

Boston Celtics: Kevin Eastman, Assistant Coach, Father of Bradley player Jake Eastman

Utah Jazz: Jerry Sloan, Head Coach, Former Head Coach of Jim Les

OKC Thunder: Scott Brooks, Head Coach, former team mate of Hersey Hawkins

Dallas Mavericks: Bob Ortegal, Mavs Color Announcer, former Bradley player


If you watch the the Mavs / Spurs game Wednesday night, look for me. I'll be the guy sitting next to a 16 year old kid (my son) in blue body paint and green hair five rows behind the basket closest to the Spurs bench. :mrgreen:

 

[BUfan14]

They mentioned Anthony Parker being from Bradley when talking about him in game one I believe it was. They went on to mention his time in Europe and coming back into the NBA. Some nice pub for Bradley, and even if the Bulls lose, Anthony Parker still gets to go on.

Does anyone know many Braves have won an NBA championship before??

 

[Da Coach]

A couple more connections to BU, though not quite so direct-

The Boston Celtics have Shelden Williams as a reserve on their roster, who is married to Anthony Parker's sister, WNBA star Candace Parker.

The Orlando Magic star Rashard Lewis was a childhood friend of Alvin Brooks III growing up in Houston, and they remain close friends today.

Jeff Teague, a rookie on the Atlanta Hawks, went to Wake Forest. However, he played high school ball at Indianapolis Pike High School, was recruited by Jim Les, and played for former Bradley player Billy Wright who coached him in HS.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have a 2nd year player on their roster named Kyle Weaver, from Washington State. He only played in 12 games this season and averaged 3.0 ppg. However, he was a star in the Pac-10 at Washington State. Yet he received only 4 Division I offers when he came out of high school in Beloit, Wisconsin- From Tony Bennett at WSU, from Jim Les of Bradley, and from Ball State and Miami, Ohio.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2912

Utah Jazz player Carlos Boozer might be the only player in the NBA from Alaska (does anyone know of any others?). He graduated from Douglas High School in Juneau, AK, the same high school that produced Will Egolf.

Utah also features former MVC and Creighton star Kyle Korver. There is not really any Bradley connection, other than Korver playing against BU a bunch of times at Creighton. But Korver set a new NBA record this season that some thought may never be broken. Korver had the highest season three-point percentage ever recorded at 53.6%. He topped the previous record of 52.4% that Steve Kerr held since 1994-95. Kerr set his record during the 3 year span that the NBA shortened the 3-point distance to try to increase scoring (1994-1997). Many of the 3-point shooting and accuracy records remain in the record books from that 3-year period.

Korver is an unrestricted free agent after this year, and should cash in with a big contract this summer.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/...ver-sets-NBA-record-for-3-point-accuracy.html

 

[OrangeandBlack74]

If you watch the the Mavs / Spurs game Wednesday night, look for me. I'll be the guy sitting next to a 16 year old kid (my son) in blue body paint and green hair five rows behind the basket closest to the Spurs bench. :mrgreen:

Must be a chip off the old block...didn't you used to paint your body with red paint as a BU student?

 

[Da Coach]

Does anyone know many Braves have won an NBA championship before??

1982 Bradley grad David Thirdkill was a member of the Championship 1985-86 Boston Celtics. He was a reserve on that team with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish, Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge, Bill Walton, and others.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1986.html


Steve Kuberski left Bradley after his junior year in 1969, and was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the 4th round (52nd overall pick). He played 11 years in the NBA, 8 of them for Boston. He was a reserve on the 1975-1976 Boston Celtics team that won the NBA Championship. He averaged 5.4 ppg during the regular season. He played in all 18 playoff games and averaged 5.4 ppg in the playoffs.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1976.html


Chet Walker, who graduated from Bradley in 1962, and was the 12th overall pick in the NBA draft. He played on the NBA Champion 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers. Chet was a starter and a star for the 76ers. He averaged 19.3 ppg for the regular season, and 21.7 ppg in the playoffs.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHI/1967.html


Hersey Hawkins never won an NBA Championship, but he came close. He was a key member of the 1995-1996 Seattle Sonics who won the Western Conference Championship, but lost in 6 games to the Bulls for the NBA Championship. Hersey started all 82 games in the regular season, plus all 21 playoff games in the Sonics backcourt with Gary Payton. He averaged 15.6 ppg that season, and 12.3 ppg in the playoffs.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/SEA/1996.html

Here are all the players who played at Bradley and have played in the NBA (note- Danny Granger does not appear on this list)-
http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/colleges.cgi?college=bradley

 

[tornado]

Also, the Philadelphia 76'ers won the 1982-1983 NBA Championship...4 games to none over the Lakers...
http://www.nba.com/history/finals/19821983.html

The 76'ers had a young rookie that they drafted in the 1982 NBA Draft..with their 13th pick in round #2...
Mitchell Anderson from Bradley University...
http://basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=AnderMi01

Mitchell JJ Anderson played only 13 games with the Sixers that season then was let go...
and signed with Utah to finish out the season, averaging 8.9 ppg with the Jazz,
after a stellar college career where he scored 2341 points at Bradley.

JJ wasn't around with the Sixers at the end of the season when they made their Championship run,
but he was part of their team that year, later becoming part of the assistant coaching staff at Memphis as well,
after a fine career in Europe.

 

[Dallas Brave]

Must be a chip off the old block...didn't you used to paint your body with red paint as a BU student?

War paint. The victory cigar came later

 

[Dallas Brave]

Chet Walker, who graduated from Bradley in 1962, and was the 12th overall pick in the NBA draft. He played on the NBA Champion 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers. Chet was a starter and a star for the 76ers. He averaged 19.3 ppg for the regular season, and 21.7 ppg in the playoffs.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHI/1967.html

That 76er team was amazing and considered by some the greatest NBA team ever. As good as 76ers were that year, the Celtics won like 10 championships in a row during that era with the 1996-67 76er team being the only team to interrupt the Celtics streak.

 

[Da Coach]

One more Bradley grad who has a total of 9 NBA Championship rings-

Though he never played a game, Bradley grad Chick Hearn, longtime broadcaster for the Los Angeles Lakers, was given a World Championship ring for each Championship the L.A. Lakers won.
He had a total of 9 NBA Championships in his career with the Lakers.
This article was written in 2000, after the Lakers' 7th NBA title, talks about Chick and his championship rings.
The Lakers won again in 2001 and 2002 before Chick Hearn died August 5, 2002.
http://articles.latimes.com/2000/nov/02/sports/sp-45926

http://espn.go.com/classic/obit/s/2002/0805/1414492.html

Chick Hearn was in the news yesterday, as the LA Lakers unveiled a 5,000 pound bronze statue of the legendary broadcaster in front of the Staples Center yesterday (4/20/10) prior to game 2 of the Lakers-Thunder playoff series.
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=5120506

 

[BUfan14]

Cool thanks for the info! The only one I was alive for was the Sonics-Bulls series with Hawk. I do remember it though, surprisingly.

 

[SFP]

Cool thanks for the info! The only one I was alive for was the Sonics-Bulls series with Hawk. I do remember it though, surprisingly.

I feel bad for anyone who never heard Chick Hern call a game! What a voice and best of all you could close your eyes and imagine that you were there right next to him watching it. There are are very few great play by play guys IMO but Herns was a star among even the greats. I'm not even close to being a Lakers fan.

 

[BUfan14]

I feel bad for anyone who never heard Chick Hern call a game! What a voice and best of all you could close your eyes and imagine that you were there right next to him watching it. There are are very few great play by play guys IMO but Herns was a star among even the greats. I'm not even close to being a Lakers fan.

I've heard Chick before, he was still announcing during a couple of the Lakers titles early in the 2000s. He really did have a great voice.