Max Zaslofsky was a leader of the Chicago Stags and was selected as one of the top players of the first 25 years of the NBA.
Max Zaslofsky was the best Jewish professional basketball player in Chicago. He played for the Stags from 1946-1950. During the first three years of his career, the Stags played in the Basketball Association of America (BAA), a rival league founded to compete with the already established National Basketball League in 1946. The two leagues merged at the end of the 1948-49, and became the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Chicago Stags played one year as an NBA team, folding the franchise after the 1949-50 season, and letting its players be picked up in a dispersal draft.
A guard, Zaslofsky had a great two-handed set shot. He played one collegiate year at St. John’s in his hometown of New York, and then signed on with the new Stag franchise, who had Arthur Wirtz in its ownership group. The team played at Wirtz’s Chicago Stadium.
Zaslofsky had four outstanding seasons with he Stags. He led them in the BAA Finals in his rookie year, but the team lost the title to the Philadelphia Warriors. Zaslofsky’s 877 points that year was the fourth highest total in the League. One of his fellow backcourt players for the Stags was another Jewish player, Chicago’s Mickey Rottner, who played played high school hoops at Tuley and collegiate basketball at Loyola.
Zaslofsky was a prolific scorer, by the professional standards of the time, scoring over 1,000 points per season for the Stags for the next three years. He was picked up by the New York Knicks in the dispersal draft, and he had three productive years for the Knicks. He played for three other teams in the NBA before ending his career in 1956. Read the rest of this entry →
Luol Deng and the Chicago Bulls are already showing signs that this could be another roller coaster season.
This years Bulls team is reminiscent of the 2002-06 Detroit Pistons teams.
I’m not saying that they mirror each other in every facet of the game, because that is the farthest from the truth.
Maybe I should rephrase that. This years Bulls team is like a poor man’s 2002-06 Detroit Pistons team.
Derrick Rose is a more talented point guard than Chauncey Billups, but Billups was more seasoned and played his role better. John Salmons has a similar game to Rip Hamilton’s, but the difference is that the Pistons played to all of Hamilton’s strengths and the offense made Rip Hamilton who he was instead of him having to make it himself. Luol Deng can match Tayshaun Prince’s length. His defense is not up to the same level, but it’s not too far off. The power forward position is where the teams truly differ. Either with Taj Gibson or Tyrus Thomas, we don’t have the scoring threat that the Pistons had with Rasheed. And, at center, we have the young Ben Wallace in Joakim Noah.
BJ Armstrong was signing autographs and talking basketball as part of a promotion for Windows 7.
On Halloween, I was given the opportunity to interview Chicago Bulls great BJ Armstrong. It was, with great honor, that I accepted the opportunity.
He was at a Best Buy, promoting the launch of Windows 7, in partnership with the NBA, Microsoft, and HP. Before he moved on to his meet-and-greet portion, I, and another blogger (Ricky O’Donnell from TremendousUpsidePotential.com) were given fifteen minutes to throw any question at him that we may have had.
I had sixteen questions lined up for him, but obviously knowing that I was only going to have fifteen minutes, I had to decide which ones would be best to ask. I wish I could have had more time, because I had some good ones that I wanted to ask, but may have come off a bit odd if I asked them as stand alone questions. Read the rest of this entry →
Don't miss a chance to meet former Chicago Bull star B.J. Armstrong.
Come spend Halloween with ex-Chicago Bull great B.J. Armstrong. He will be at the Best Buy store at 1000 W. North Ave from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm on Saturday (October 31), taking pictures with fans and customers alike. He will be there for the launch of Windows7, with HP and Microsoft.
I will be conducting an interview with him beforehand, so stay tuned for that posting next week.
Jordan was not a gracious host during the 1988 All-Star Game
This morning I woke up at 7 am and, in my normal routine, I switched on NBA TV. The 1988 All-Star game was playing. While composing my “Tendon-Gate”article, and hearing Dick Stockton doing the play by play in the background, I had to stop and watch.
As I watched, I realized this may have been the game that encompassed everything the 1980’s were. As the decade was winding down and the NBA greats of that era were moving passed their prime, this exhibition was extremely hard fought with a blend of fundamentals and gritty determination – qualities that are far lacking in today’s All-Star games.
These guys wanted to defeat their peers, they saw this game as less of an exhibition for fun and more of an artistic exhibit of talent in a 5 on 5 competition of who is the best conference – not player.
Until today, I never realized what a bridge year 1988 was. The natural evolution of the game was perfectly displayed in Chicago Stadium on that Sunday afternoon.
Michael Jordan was a "human highlight film" almost every time he took to the court.
In honor of Michael Jordan’s induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, rather than writing a lengthy column articulating his many accomplishments, we thought it was best to use YouTube to remind us of just how amazing Jordan was.
Here are some of the great highlights of Jordan’s career available on You Tube
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