by Earl Monroe
The first time I saw my old Baker League sidekick Archie Clark play was at the Palestra in Philadelphia, when the University of Minnesota came to play the University of Pennsylvania or Temple or some other Big Five school there, I think, in 1966. Anyway, Lou Hudson was the star of that team, but he was hurt and didn’t play, so Archie Clark came in and really put on a show. I remember saying to myself, Wow! Who is this guy? Then he came into the league with the Lakers and was good out there, too. So now I knew who he was. Archie was six feet two inches and was the original shake-and-bake and crossover-dribble man. He would make opponents break their ankles trying to guard him, and then he would step back and shoot that great long jumper of his and score. But if you came out to get him after he made his shake-and-bake move and then stepped back as if he was going to shoot the jumper, he would go right by you because he still hadn’t given up his dribble yet. That was his bread-and-butter move. Man, Archie was an original cat. He had his game down to a science. He understood the game, could really play, and was creative. That’s why I liked playing with him, because he understood what you were doing and what he could do to make you better. He was one of the best at what he did, and he could have done the same thing today and been even more devastating.
Lou Hudson, Archie’s old Minnesota teammate—man, I sure would like to have seen them play together—was just an out-and-out scorer. You couldn’t really stop him from shooting his jumper because he got it off so quickly. “Sweet Lou” is what we called him, because he could shoot so well. He was six feet five and a classic shooting guard because he didn’t handle the ball much. He was a really smooth player and a tremendous shooter. He knew how to move around the floor and get to where he needed to be. Plus, in most situations, the team he was on structured its offense around him, so that made it easier for him to score points. He played with Pete Maravich, Joe Caldwell, Bill Bridges, and Zelmo Beaty. But no matter who he played with, he would usually emerge as the leading scorer on the team. It wasn’t that he was a gunner, he just hit a high percentage of his shots and was an out-and-out great player—another one who nobody hardly mentions today, which is a shame.
My old nemesis, Gail Goodrich, did everything on the court. He wasn’t a great long jumper shooter, but he was deadly from about 15 to 18 feet and he could take it to the hole. He wasn’t very big, only six one and 170 pounds, or very fast, but he understood the game and how to get his shot off. Gail was a reliable player. He could do pretty much whatever a team needed him to do offensively, and he meshed pretty well with Jerry West. Even at UCLA and when he first came into the league with the Lakers he was always a reliable scorer. He was left-handed, which I think caused problems for some people defensively. He had his way with me in the first final that I played against him. But I was hurt when we faced each other those times. But that takes nothing away from Gail: I think he was a very good player and I always give him his due.
Now, John Havlicek is another story. He was used to playing without the ball, and most of the time he only dribbled with his right hand, even when he went left. Hell, he probably couldn’t dribble with his left hand. But he understood how to play the game. He would come off picks, get the ball, and if you were late getting there, he would shoot and score. Even if you were right there on him, he could still go by you and pull up and shoot the jumper, or go to the basket and put up a little left or right hook off the backboard, or shoot the ball off one leg. He was something else, very difficult to guard, a scorer who knew how to get his points and who was very reliable in the clutch. He was a great defensive player as well, and I think only Bill Russell and Sam Jones have won more NBA championships than him. John was one of the all-time great players.
Jo Jo White is another player that I think should be in the Hall of Fame. He was a quick-shooting guy and was also very quick getting up and down the floor. He was six feet three, could pull up and shoot the jumper really well, and could also drive by you. Jo Jo could take over a game just by coming down and shooting his deadly quick jumper.
Now, David Thompson was another truly great talent and player who had his career cut short because of injuries. Thompson was six four, and because he had a 44-inch vertical leap he was nicknamed Sky-walker. I mean, today’s game of alley-oop passes and high-flying dunks were preceded decades earlier by Monte Towe’s (Thompson’s backcourt teammate at North Carolina State) over-the-rim lobs, which the Sky-walker converted into high-flying layups (college players couldn’t dunk at that time because of the “Alcindor rule”). But Thompson’s game wasn’t only about jumping over opponents. He could shoot his jumper with accuracy from all over the floor, handle the ball, pass, play defense, block shots, and take his opponent to the hole off the dribble and score. He was a great college player on an equally great college team that went undefeated in 1973. In 1974, he led his team to victory over UCLA and Bill Walton in the NCAA semifinal game, ending the Bruins’ streak of consecutive championships at seven, and then over Al McGuire’s Marquette squad for the championship.
Thompson was the first player chosen in the 1975 draft by both the Virginia Squires of the ABA and the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA. In the pros he was an all-star in both the ABA and the NBA. When the ABA and the NBA merged in 1976, Thompson played for the Denver Nuggets and brought two of his North Carolina State teammates—Monte Towe and Tom Burleson—with him. He had a memorable game in 1978 on the last day of the regular season, when he scored 73 points against Detroit. He barely lost the scoring championship that year to George Gervin, because Iceman scored 63 points later that same day and secured the title. But Thompson fell down some stairs at a New York nightclub and hurt his knee, and he was never the same player after that. David Thompson’s high-flying approach to the game was an influence on Michael Jordan, and when Jordan was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009, he was introduced by the one and only Skywalker, which was a nod to Thompson’s influence on His Airness’s game.
Isiah Thomas was another player in the Tiny Archibald mold, only he had a much better outside jump shot and he was bigger. Isiah was an outstanding player, and I think his greatest strength was his desire to be the best and for people to know that he was the best. He was a very hard-nosed player who was a great leader on that Detroit team and a clutch shooter when the game was on the line; he also could play through injury. He could take the ball to the hoop and score inside against bigger players; he was fearless. He had the look of a nice young guy with a beautiful smile. But Isiah was an assassin, man. He was ruthless. He came to play hard every night, and he would fight if it came down to that. Isiah could jump, too, and would dunk on his defender if he relaxed. And he was a very good defensive player as well.
Magic Johnson was a player unto himself, and a really great one. I mean, he could see the whole court and make things happen in a blink. He knew where everyone was on the court, and man, did he have a handle. I mean, he was an incredible passer, and a great team leader and player, even as a rookie. He was the kind of player who made his teammates better, and you could tell how much they loved playing with him. It wasn’t that Magic couldn’t score a lot of points, because he could have, he just wasn’t the kind of shooter a guy like Michael Jordan was. Magic always thought Pass first, getting his teammates involved in the flow of the game. In that way he was different from Michael Jordan, and any other player I can think of except LeBron James, who is a lot like Magic in the way he approaches the game.
Michael Jordan could also handle the ball and get to wherever he wanted to on the court and finish plays. If I had to give the ball to somebody to finish a play, I’d give it to Michael. But if I wanted to give the ball to somebody to make a play, I’d give it to Magic. Magic could play inside and outside, any position, and make it work for his team. He was a facilitator, just like LeBron is. But LeBron and Kobe Bryant are also finishers like MJ was, and that’s a special gift, too. I mean, Magic brought excitement into the game, and he could run the fast break as well as anyone in the history of the game. Yeah, he was special, and
he could have been a dominant player in any era, just like Larry Bird, or Michael Jordan, or Isiah Thomas could have been. Any of the players I mentioned above could have played in my era and been truly dominant players.
I would also place Allen Iverson in that category. Allen was a guy with a lot of heart and ability. He played the game with attitude, which made him even better because he was so fierce. Allen played the game with a whole lot of ego because he believed he could do anything on the court. He was one of the quickest guards I’ve ever seen, had a really good jump shot, and could go to the hoop and dunk on you—as small as he was—if he got the opportunity. He could handle the ball, pass, and run the court in a flash. But it was his attitude and courage that pulled everyone on his team with him. He was a fearless player who got in the paint and took it right to the big men. They would knock him down, but Iverson, who had been an All-American high school quarterback in Virginia, would just get back up and bring it to them again. He was relentless, talented, and tough as nails. In his prime he was a brilliant player.
Kobe Bryant is more of a Michael Jordan–type player—he always tried to be like him. But they are both truly great players, fiery competitors. It’s just a matter of what the situation calls for. I really like Kobe because I’ve watched his game grow from the time he was a youngster in Philadelphia, and he hasn’t disappointed me. He’s hard-nosed like Magic, Michael, and Isiah—guys who wanted very badly to win championships—were. That’s a special attitude that some players just don’t have, though some think they have it until push comes to shove and they just can’t seem to get the job done.
Other really good guards were Lenny Wilkins, who we used to call “the Quiet Assassin”; Dick Barnett; Geoff Petrie; Calvin Murphy; Norm Van Lier; Jerry Sloan; and Jeff Mullins.
Now don’t get me wrong, there have been other great players who have played in the NBA over the years, but time and space don’t allow me to mention them all. I thought I would mention some of the really good players that people don’t often recall or mention today. After all, the NBA has been built on star players, and it would be ludicrous for me to say that the players I mentioned are the only ones who have had an impact on the game. Yes, there are many more, and they know who they are.
LeBron James is the best player in the game today, with Kevin Durant a close second. I say this because I think LeBron can do anything he wants to on the basketball court. He can score whenever he wants, he sees the court well, and he is totally unselfish and a team player. He can really pass the ball and set up other players—just check out how many assists he gets every game—he can rebound, and he can really get out and run the floor. Even though he’s a prolific scorer with the ability to take over games, he’s a pass first–type player who looks to set up guys before he thinks to shoot the ball, which he can now do very well. When LeBron first came into the league, his jump shot was suspect and unreliable. And because he’s such a big fella at six feet eight inches and 240 pounds—I think people forget he was an All-State wide receiver for his high school football team—and because he’s so fast, he’s just too much of a load for players to handle. Plus, he can really jump, get up off the floor and play that above-the-rim game. LeBron can take guys to the hole off the dribble—and he can really handle the ball, too—and jump over everyone and score. I mean, just watch how defenders get out of the way when he comes down on a fast break and throws down those ferocious dunks. Today he can hit the midrange jumpers and three-point shots as well as he can sink little finger rolls in the paint. So now he’s got a complete game and a new attitude as a leader of his team. Before, he used to pout when things didn’t go his way, but now he’s more mature, and it’s reflected in his game. Plus he’s got Dwyane Wade as a sidekick, who is another great ballplayer, one of the best in the league right now. Wade is also a very creative player, and he can score points in bunches when his game is clicking. He and LeBron have similar games in that they both can run, pass, shoot, rebound, and play hard-nosed defense. Both are unselfish and mesh well together. Chris Bosh is another gifted player on that Miami team.
Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are both really great talents, but Durant, at this point, is the more advanced ballplayer of the two. He’s definitely a finisher, and he can shoot the ball like nobody’s business. I really love seeing him do that. But he’s also a guy that doesn’t have to take all the shots to make it happen. He’s matured a lot, led the league in scoring the past two years, and is up there with the leaders this year also. But he knows and understands the game, knows he can get his points whenever he wants to, so he doesn’t have to try to get his every time he comes down the floor. He can let everybody else get involved, which is the way I used to be. So Durant is very good. He can shoot the deep three and the midrange jumper accurately—“deadly” if you wish—but he can also take it to the hole, shoot with either hand, dribble and handle like a little man, set guys up, dish, rebound, and play defense, and for a six-foot-10-inch guy, he can really get out on the fast break and run. He’s a very, very, very special talent, and LeBron should be looking over his shoulder because not only is Durant coming close to him as the dominant player in the game today, he’s also younger and hungry. So we are going to be watching this matchup for years to come, and that’s very good for the health of the game.
I like Russell Westbrook too, but sometimes I’m afraid of him. He’s a guy with a lot of talent, but sometimes it’s unharnessed. He’s still growing as a player, and I can see that in his game this current season. As you grow as a player you home in on and do the things you do best and he seems to be doing that more this year. He’s also an exciting player. He can dunk, jump, run with the best of them, play defense, pass the ball, and shoot both the long-range and midrange jump shots, but he can sometimes be inconsistent with making those shots. Again, though, he seems to be getting better. But he has to home in on what he does best, and when he learns to do that the game will become easier for him. I think he has to understand what Miles Davis meant when he said playing fewer notes makes for better music sometimes. Once he understands this concept, he will be almost unstoppable, because he has a tremendous amount of talent.
Carmelo Anthony of the Knicks is really a guard in a big forward’s body. He could always get his points, even when he first came into the league. At first he was a Kobe Bryant–type player in that he used to always think to shoot first before he looked to pass the ball. I can understand that, because I had a little of that in me too, back in the day. But recently, during the 2012–2013 season, he has become a leader on the Knicks team, perhaps because of the influence of New York’s coach, Mike Woodson. So in my opinion his overall game has gotten better. Like I said, Carmelo always had the ability to score from anywhere on the court. He can put the ball on the floor and take his opponents to the hoop and lay it in or dunk the ball. He is a special player when he focuses in on all of his various talents, and he can lead this Knicks team into the playoffs and beyond if everyone on the team meshes together. Only time will tell if that will happen, but they’ve definitely got the talent.
Tim Duncan has always been a special player, a leader on the court and off. He makes everybody around him better because of the team-oriented way he plays the game. He can score, rebound, run the floor, and play outstanding defense. He’s not what I would call a spectacular player, though. Rather, his game is steady and very, very good, and he comes to play every night. He leads by example and can make the big shot or set a pick and get one of his teammates free to score. I think he has great fundamentals and is a very smart player, too. He’s tough, no nonsense, doesn’t back down from anybody, and after all these years he’s still a very effective player. There’s nothing fancy about his game, but he gets the job done every time he sets foot on the court.
I think Chris Paul is the best pure point guard in the NBA today. I have always liked his game. He’s a better shooter than I used to think he was, and he definitely has the knowledge of the game. He knows the pace of
the game and how to run a team, and that’s what sets him apart from all the other point guards. He understands the nuances of running a team. He is also fearless out there on the court, and he makes his teammates better just by being there and leading by example. He’s a very creative player and can get his points whenever he decides he wants to implement his own offensive game. He’s unselfish and can really handle the ball and pass like nobody else in the game today. He’s a special player, one who can carry his team on his shoulders to the championship round.
James Harden is another interesting young player. When I see him I think of Manu Ginobili, because their games mirror each other. They both play the same kind of game: Both have real good jumpers from anywhere on the floor and are adept at slashing to the basket. It doesn’t matter if the defender knows they’re going left, nobody’s stopping them that much. They both have great energy and creativity with the ball in their hands, and they pass the ball and rebound as well. The Celtics guard Rajon Rondo is like an Energizer Bunny coming at you all the time. He has great energy and creativity, and he’s a hard-nosed, in-your-face type of player. He sees the big picture on the court, sees everything in front of him. He also has great speed, and he’s a really good passer who can get to the basket and score. All he needs now is a reliable jump shot, so he’s got to work on that. It’s really a shame that his knee injury will keep him sidelined for a while.
Two other interesting young players today are Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving. I think both of them are good, solid players who will only get better over time. I think Irving is more offense minded and Lillard is more an all-around player. I want to watch them more before I make up my mind about them, though I can say now that I really like what I’ve seen from both of them.