By Frank Heath
Sports Columnist
It can be difficult for fans of college basketball — especially around these parts, where the natural rivalries are so entrenched — to warm up to pro hoops and the NBA. But when the playoffs are in swing, as now, some among us can’t help but try.
Of course it doesn’t hurt when there are a couple of former Carolina guys playing for contenders, as there are now, with Rasheed Wallace and Vince Carter; and it goes without saying that it was easier still to motivate for the playoffs back during the 1990s when Michael Jordan and the Bulls were blitzing the league to the tune of six championships. Leading up to that, James Worthy’s years with Magic and the Lakers in the mid-to-late ‘80s were a fun ride as well.
When ranking players after Jordan’s exploits (a 33.4 postseason average over 179 games), there is, as one might imagine, a considerable drop-off. But next-best-thing Worthy, who averaged 21.1 points and 5.2 rebounds in 143 playoff games with the “Showtime†Lakers, wasn’t exactly chopped liver. The Gastonia native – nicknamed “Big Game James†because of his consistent excellence during crunch time – was a member of three championship teams in L.A. (1985, ‘87 and ‘88) and was named Finals MVP once in ‘88.
For postseason success, in a group just below Worthy I’d put a trio of former Heels with impressive professional and playoff resumes and the all-important championship rings in their possession: Kenny Smith, Rasheed Wallace and Billy Cunningham.
Smith played an integral role on Houston’s back-to-back champions in 1994 and ‘95; for his career, “The Jet†averaged 11.5 points over 68 postseason games.
Wallace has visited the NBA Finals twice with Detroit and it appears he’ll have a decent chance of returning this year. ‘Sheed also came within a whisker of the title series back in 2000, when his Trail Blazers team fell to L.A., with Kobe and Shaq, in the Western Conference Finals – despite leading the Lakers by 19 in Game Seven. In 116 playoff games, Wallace has a 15.2 scoring average, and he’s playing some of his best basketball right now in ‘07.
Cunningham, who was a consensus All-American while at UNC, also excelled in the professional ranks, both as a player and a coach. The “Kangaroo Kid†became an NBA champ early, with a 15 point playoff average for the 1967 76er team that took it all and featured Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet Walker and Luke Jackson.
Cunningham’s best season may have been 1973, when he won the ABA season MVP (with this amazing stat line: 6.3 assists, 24.1 points, 12 rebounds, 2.6 steals) and carried the Carolina Cougars to within a whisker of the championship series before they lost four games to three to Kentucky in the semis. The achievement that makes Billy C’s resume really stand out is the additional NBA title he won as the Sixers’ head coach in 1983.
Some other Tar Heels who became NBA champions include Charlie Scott, Bob McAdoo (twice with the Lakers in 1982 and ‘85), Mitch Kupchak (Lakers, ‘85), Pete Chilcutt (‘94-’95 Rockets) and Scott Williams (three rings as a Chicago Bull). Scott averaged 15.4 points during the playoffs for the Celtics’ championship team in 1976.
Another trio of guys with great pro careers who also performed consistently well during the postseason but never won a title are Walter Davis, Sam Perkins and Carter. Davis averaged 21.6 points over 65 playoff games, including 24.9 points and 6.4 assists in the 1984 playoffs when his Suns team made it to the Western Conference Finals.
Carter has a career 27-point playoff scoring average over more than 30 postseason games, and Perkins played in the NBA Finals with three different teams and averaged 11.1 points over 167 postseason games (that’s about two extra seasons worth of basketball for “Big Smoothâ€)
Among current players, entering the 2007 postseason Shammond Williams had been good for 6.7 points in 11 playoff games for New Orleans and Seattle, and Jerry Stackhouse has averaged 15 points in 50-plus postseason appearances. Sadly, no one from the Class of ‘05 – Felton, May, McCants and Marvin Williams – has made it out of the regular season.
A couple of my favorite Heels – Phil Ford and Antawn Jamison – made good pros but never seemed to land on teams that had the right pieces to advance very far past the regular season. Jamison, of course, still has time to reverse that.
As for Rasheed – who may have once looked like the Carolina player least likely to be worth much to his team – he has become an integral element on a powerful Detroit squad that feeds off his versatility, athleticism, unselfishness, defensive intensity and, yes, personality.
One way or another, the tradition does continue.