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General Category => Fighting Illini Basketball Forum => Topic started by: IVMP on February 10, 2023, 08:01:07 AM

Title: Who is #4?
Post by: IVMP on February 10, 2023, 08:01:07 AM
It's a given that Nichi wants George Mikan to be #2 and Dolph Schayes to be #3.

So who's #4? Bob Pettit? Rick Barry? Pete Maravich? Thunder Dan Majerle? Jeff Hornacek?
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: Jobu on February 10, 2023, 08:07:41 AM
Rik Smits

Jack Sikma
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: ridingthegrange on February 10, 2023, 08:57:10 AM
"Butterbeans"
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: IVMP on February 10, 2023, 09:06:25 AM
Rik Smits

Jack Sikma

Sikma won a ring!

He had an amusing tweet recently. Someone for the women's team scored 47 in a game and either tied or broke his single-game record. He said he could have scored more, but his teammates didn't pass him the ball often enough. But he was kidding.

Sikma's team defeated Washington with Elvin Hayes in 1979. Hayes should get mentioned more often in these "top player" discussions.
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: Jobu on February 10, 2023, 09:23:22 AM
Sikma won a ring!

He had an amusing tweet recently. Someone for the women's team scored 47 in a game and either tied or broke his single-game record. He said he could have scored more, but his teammates didn't pass him the ball often enough. But he was kidding.

Sikma's team defeated Washington with Elvin Hayes in 1979. Hayes should get mentioned more often in these "top player" discussions.

I grew up in the Bloomington area.  In the late 70s - early 80s, it was Sikma fever around there. He had a basketball camp at IWU in the summer, and we all went.  Good times.
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: Murph’s Dog on February 11, 2023, 09:55:13 AM
John Paxson.
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: Miles Leonard on February 11, 2023, 07:04:07 PM
Dickey Simpkins
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: IVMP on February 11, 2023, 07:27:35 PM
Dickey Simpkins

You're not seeing the pattern. Temp0 picked up on it with Paxson.
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: illiniray on February 11, 2023, 07:32:54 PM
Clyde Turner
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: IVMP on February 11, 2023, 07:42:39 PM
Clyde Turner

Nope. Doesn't fit the pattern.

Kevin McHale.
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: illiniray on February 11, 2023, 07:46:45 PM
Cazzie Russell
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: IVMP on February 11, 2023, 10:09:06 PM
We're still missing Steve Nash.
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: illiniray on February 11, 2023, 10:15:02 PM
Mo Cheeks
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: Jobu on February 11, 2023, 10:17:04 PM
John Stockton
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: Judge Judy on February 11, 2023, 10:32:38 PM
Christian Laettner
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: Custard on February 11, 2023, 10:43:26 PM
Yao Ming
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: illinicalvin on February 12, 2023, 09:21:46 AM
Bob "Cooz" "Houdini of the Hardwood" Cousy. A guy so 50s white he had two nicknames that one might hear in discussions about prostitutes.
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: illiniray on February 12, 2023, 02:34:07 PM
I got to watch Bob Cousy play a few times on TV his last year or so with the Celtics. Dick McGuire and Andy Philip were probably the first playmaking guards. Bob Cousy was way ahead of them. He was the first point guard; he literally defined the position. He averaged 7.5 assists per game for his career.  He could also score.

https://youtu.be/sbpsn2zNx2A
Title: Re: Who is #4?
Post by: illiniray on February 12, 2023, 06:13:18 PM
Bob Cousy's parents arrived in New York from Alsace France in September 1928. He was born a month later. He grew up speaking French as his first language, but also learned English. He had a speech impediment causing him to pronounce his r's like l's. So his friends started calling him flenchy  instead of frenchy. 

He was also called Cous (Cooz), a phonetic play on his last name. Kind of like John Bagly is called bags.  Cousy is pronounced coozy, not cowsy. This nickname had nothing to due with the crude American slang that originated in the 1950s at the earliest.

He was later dubbed the Houdini of the hardwood because the basketball floor is called the hardwood and he had magical ball skills. Harry Houdini was a famous magician. Although, actually, I think Houdini was better known for being an escape artist than for slight of hand.

If I recall correctly, the 93 year old Bob Cousy is the oldest living former NBA player.