Players YOU want in the Creation Draft

[London]

I am looking for players to add into our league from pre-1960. I don't want to miss anyone but if I do this alone undoubtedly I will.

Please give me:

Name
Position
DOB
Strengths
Weaknesses
College/Country
Hometown
Similar Player (if possible)

I'll take anyone you got. If a few people do a lot of work for this there could be some bonus PP in it. Not a bad way to start the league - right?

Keep in mind - I'll find guys like Wilt Chamberlain, etc.

I love foreign guys or perhaps early African-American barnstorming teams. Anything to add to the actual history of what we are doing.

[Derek]

Name: Malcolm "Sparky" Wade
Position: PG
DOB: February 25, 1910
Strengths: Dribbling, Pass, Shoot
Weaknesses: Athleticism (obviously due to era, lol)
Similar Player (if possible): Muggsy?

www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=3658901

files.usgwarchives.net/la/lasalle/newspapers/roots127.txt (must read)

[Governor Huey P.] Long told him he had 36 hours to get on a Greyhound bus and get back to LSU! It was either that or he said he's send a bulldozer to Old Jena and cut the road into so that every time his "pore ol' mama" came to town, she'd have to swim. "Sparky" told me that he knew he meant it.

[Sydney]

Name: Jackie Moon
Position: ALL
DOB: July 4, 1935
Strengths: Passing, FT Shooting, Rebounding, Dribbling, Post-Game
Weaknesses: 3pt Shooting, Fouls, Strength
Similar Player: None

The owner/player (Power Forward)/coach of the failing Flint Tropics and once famous billboard hit song "Love Me Sexy".

[London]

Apr 10, 2013 13:22:41 GMT -6 Sydney said:

Name: Jackie Moon
Position: ALL
DOB: July 4, 1935
Strengths: Passing, FT Shooting, Rebounding, Dribbling, Post-Game
Weaknesses: 3pt Shooting, Fouls, Strength
Similar Player: None

The owner/player (Power Forward)/coach of the failing Flint Tropics and once famous billboard hit song "Love Me Sexy".

No BS players, please.

[Tel Aviv]

Tried to find a couple european players from around that era to help, couldnt find alot of info on them so not sure how much use it will be or if any are suitable but thought id put it forward to try and help out...

Ivo Daneu
PG
October 6, 1937
A Slovenian basketball legend like no other, Ivo Daneu joined Union Olimpija in his teens and took the team to a different level. He helped Olimpija to five Yugoslavian League titles between 1956 and 1970 while becoming one of the first stars in European club competitions history. He also guided Yugoslavia to the 1970 World Championship title in Ljubljana, as well as a silver medal in the 1968 Olympic Games


Radivoj Kora?
PF
November 5, 1938
One of the most dominant big men of the 1960s was left-handed center Radivoj Korac, who died in a car crash in 1969 in the prime of his career. Korac dominated the Yugoslav League to the tune of four titles and was its top scorer for seven consecutive years. He also won silver medals at World Championships, EuroBasket and the 1968 Olympic Games. Korac did things never seen before or since in the Euroleague, too, scoring 99 points in a game against Alvik Stockholm in 1965. When a third European competition was created, FIBA named it the Korac Cup in his honor.


Janis Krumins
C
30 January 1930
The first superstar in European club basketball was Janis Krumins, ASK Riga's franchise player, who led the team to three consecutive Euroleague titles from 1958 to 1960 as well as five Soviet Union league trophies in the 1950s. Krumins was a 2.15-meter center in an era when few players reached the 2.00-meter mark. He changed games on defense, but also dominated at the other end, scoring 29 points in the first leg of the 1959 Euroleague final against Academic Sofia and 28 in the 1960 Euroleague final against Dinamo Tbilisi. His jump hooks and size turned him into one of the most unstoppable players ever in Europe.

Armenak Alachachan
PG
?
One of the best players in European basketball when the European club competitions started was Armenak Alachachan, whose career was always linked to CSKA Moscow. Alachachan was one of the first playmakers to dominate the game, helping CSKA to its first Euroleague title in 1961. He would add a second title in 1963 and reached another final in 1965 before retiring. Alachachjan became CSKA's head coach in the late 1960s, with Aleksandar Gomeslky as the club's sports director. Alachachan became the first man to lift Euroleague trophies as both a player and coach when he helped CSKA to the 1969 title.


Info from:http://www.euroleague.net/history/50-years/player-nominees

[Chipper]

Pre-empting this post- this is not gonna be a guy you'd add in 1960, but he's my dad's all-time favorite player for various reasons, and he came in the league around 1968. Total scrub but I need to plug him just for the heck of it.

(Again, this is more for reference for later draft classes)

Dave Newmark
7'0
9/11/1946
Being Tall, smart guy, went to Columbia (my dad's alma mater)
Probably everything else.
Like a tall version of Brian Scalabrine crossed with Scot Pollard.

When my dad was growing up in Atlanta the Hawks had just moved here, and when he was in high school he and his friends started the Dave Newmark Fan Club for basically the 12th man who never really ever got to play for the Hawks except in garbage time. Even in 1968, and even with the fact the dude was a giant. Dad didn't realize the guy went to Columbia until after my dad had already graduated from there. Ended up meeting him one day and got a picture with him that's somewhere around the house. Guy played in Israel too. Jewish guy.

One of my all-time favorite obscure players that I'd love to see make the league in the future since, as of 1960, the dude's only 14.

Sorry for the complete random tangent there.

[Buenos Aires]

Giusseppe Giergia was a Croat who started playing before 1960s but most of his accomplishments came after 1960. So tell me if u want his info now, or if you will leave him in the 60s pool. Korac is also a guy who had more success in the 60s.

[craig]

I would suggest you look through the olympics, you can easily get names for foreign guys, you'll have to research a bit.

[Madrid]

If you still have access to the old Global files or you can look back at names from the original creation draft way back when, those would be good places to start. But yes, the olympics as well.

I remember that we had quite a few players, but we still missed some that were added in subsequent drafts as well.

[London]

Yes, thanks for the "search the Olympics" tips but I know how to do research myself.

If you have actual information please leave it here.

[Bayi]

I can't help with position/DOB and that stuff because I don't have a lot of time, but here are some players listed in Sports Illustrated's Basketball Book from that era that we either missed on or weren't stars. (I can't remember if you have this book or not. If you do, please ignore.)

Some of these are players that were only in college - given the league wasn't huge back then, and that we'll need a full roster, I figure super-talented college players from the era would be good high-potential players for the initial draft.

First, the book lists the All-pre-50s teams as:
Pro First Team
C - George Mikan
F - Joe Fulks
F - Max Zaslofsky
G - Bob Davies
G - Bob Feerick

Pro Second Team
C - Bones McKinney
F - Jim Pollard
F - Stan Miasek
G - Al Cervi
G - Buddy Jeannette

College First Team
C - George Mikan
F - Bob Kurland
F - Hank Luisetti (this guy's a HOFer, I'm almost positive)
G - Vic Hanson
G - John Wooden

College Second Team
C - Paul Nowak
F - Arnie Ferrin
F - Paul Arizin
G - Andy Phillip
G - Bob Cousy

Points leaders for each year of the NBL:
1940 - LeRoy Edwards - 361
1941 - Ben Stephens - 265
1942 - Chuck Chuckovits - 406
1943 - Bobby McDermott - 316
1944/1945 - Mel Riebe - 323/607
1946 - Bob Carpenter - 473
1947 - Al Cervi - 632
1948 - George Mikan - 1,195
1949 - Don Otten - 899

Others:
Guy Lowman is mentioned and featured in an image early in the book as a top college player from the 1910s, as is George Glamack (no year specified). Nat Holman is mentioned as pioneering the art of passing for the Original Celtics, while layups and the one-handed shot are pioneered by Hank Luisetti (he was also the first college player to hit 50 points in a game). Oklahoma A&M's Bob Kurland pioneered the dunk, and Harlem Globetrotters' Marques Haynes was known for his ball handling (and a lifetime 112-3 record).

The 50s.

Pro First Team
C - George Mikan
F - Dolph Schayes
F - Bob Pettit
G - Bob Cousy
G - Bill Sharman

Pro Second Team
C - Ed Macauley
F - Neil Johnston
F - Paul Arizin
G - Bob Davies
G - Slater Martin

College First Team
C - Bill Russell
F - Tom Gola
F - Elgin Baylor
G - Oscar Robertson
G - Cliff Hagain

College Second Team
C - Wilt Chamberlain
F - Bob Pettit
F - Clyde Lovellette
G - Jerry West
G - Frank Selvy

College Leaders in PPG:
1950 - Paul Arizin - 25.3
1951 - Bill Mlkvy - 29.2
1952 - Clyde Lovellette - 28.4
1953/54 - Frank Selvy - 29.5/41.7
1955/56 - Darrell Floyd - 35.9/33.8
1957 - Grady Wallace - 31.2
1958/59 - Oscar Robertson - 35.1/32.6

Pro leaders in PPG are the usual suspects: Mikan twice, Arizin twice, Johnston three times, Pettit twice and George Yardley once. Rebounds - Schayes, Foust/Hutchins (they tied one year), Mikan, Gallatin, Johnston, Pettit, Stokes, and Russell twice.

Other notables:
Clarence Francis of Rio Grande (Division II college) scored 113 points in a game. Frank Selvy scored 100 in college in one game as well. Vern Mikkelsen was disqualified 127 times in his career - a league record that still stands. The Knicks purchased the rights to Nat (Sweetwater) Clifton, Earl Lloyd and Chuck Cooper, who all three became the first African Americans to play in the NBA.

[Tyler]

Dunno if you had him but Neil Johnston

He led the NBA in scoring for three consecutive seasons: 1952-53, 1953–54, and 1954-55. During the 1954-55 season, he also won the league's rebounding title. Johnston played his entire career with the Philadelphia Warriors, playing on their championship team in 1956. He played in six NBA All-Star Games, was an All-NBA First Team selection four times, and was an All-NBA Second Team selection once.

During his career, the 6 foot 8 inch Johnston was well known for his right-handed hook shot, which contributed to his leading the league in field goal shooting three times. Johnston was forced to retire after a serious knee injury in the 1958-59 season.

copy/paste ftw

[Detroit]

Any chance you could upload the 'current' draft HTML page for people to start preparing their lists?

[Bayi]

Apr 10, 2013 20:41:04 GMT -6 Tyler said:

Dunno if you had him but Neil Johnston

He led the NBA in scoring for three consecutive seasons: 1952-53, 1953–54, and 1954-55. During the 1954-55 season, he also won the league's rebounding title. Johnston played his entire career with the Philadelphia Warriors, playing on their championship team in 1956. He played in six NBA All-Star Games, was an All-NBA First Team selection four times, and was an All-NBA Second Team selection once.

During his career, the 6 foot 8 inch Johnston was well known for his right-handed hook shot, which contributed to his leading the league in field goal shooting three times. Johnston was forced to retire after a serious knee injury in the 1958-59 season.

copy/paste ftw

Johnston was totally in our league last time - top 10 creation pick, too, if I remember - but I think (like Mikan) he came into the league older because he was from the early 50s and wasn't the power that other F/Cs of his pedigree were. He was good, but a disappointment compared to the people he was drafted around.

[London]

Apr 10, 2013 20:49:18 GMT -6 Detroit said:

Any chance you could upload the 'current' draft HTML page for people to start preparing their lists?

I'm not sure that I can.

I'll look into it tomorrow - or at least exporting something.. I'm not sure. Setting up this much is all pretty new to me.

[Derek]

Name: Petar "Press" Maravich
Position: Guard
DOB: August 20, 1920
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
College/Country: Davis & Elkins College
Hometown: Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Similar Player (if possible):

[London]

Done with all of these guys.

[Drew]

John, I'm assuming you have a lot of the same players from Global? Or should we go ahead and name some of our favorites from that pool as well?

[London]

Sure. Go for it.