Doug Overton was born August 3, 1969 in Philadephia, Pennsylvania and went to Dobbins Tech Highschool in Philadelphia where he was a standout on the school’s basketball team. Doug’s team-mates in highschool included Bo Kimble and the late Hank Gathers (both stars at Loyola Marymount University). As well as Larry Stewart who later would play in the NBA with Doug in Washington.

Doug then attended La Salle University where he spent 4 years, averaging 22.3ppg as a senior. The 6ft3 point guard also contributed to an NCAA record on December 31, 1990, when he scored 45 points against Loyola Marymount (perhaps going up against childhood friends Kimble and Gathers helped his motivation). The record wasn’t him dropping 45 points, but with his team-mates Randy Woods (46), Overton (45) and Jack Hurd (29) combined for 120 points in that game and it was the most points scored by three players combined on the one team.

Unfortunately, right when Doug was preparing to cap off a successful college career and was considered one of the best point guard prospects in the country at the same level as UNLV’s Greg Anthony and Oregon’s Terrell Brandon, Doug suffered a severe ankle sprain midseason. So close to his NBA dream and trying to keep the interest of NBA scouts leading into the 1991 NBA Draft, Doug continued to play on his injured ankle but his performance dropped significantly. He struggled at NBA camps in Orlando and Chicago, and come draft day, Doug was selected in the second round by the Detroit Pistons with pick 40. Again there would be bad news for Doug as he was waived by the Pistons justy prior to the commencement of the 1990-91 season.

This would be the start of a resilience and continuing work ethic that would be the defining characteristics of Doug’s career. Doug just kept working hard and playing ball! He played for the Rockford Lightning in the CBA in 1991-92, averaged 16.5 points a game and 6.1 assists in a short 28 game stint. Doug then received an offer to play in Australia’s professional league, the National Basketball League (NBL).

For our Aussie readers, this is where we found out about Doug Overton. Doug arrived in Australia relatively unknown, but from the moment he stepped on the court for the Illawarra Hawks, that changed. In the 1992 season, Overton averaged 24 points, 6.2 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals.  Doug was selected in the All-NBL’s first team and was the MVP of the Hawks in his lone season in Australia. Still considered one of the best ‘import’ players of all time in Australia, Doug has always said that playing in Australia gave him the confidence he needed to get back to the NBA. At the conclusion of his season in the NBL, Doug was invited to the Washington Bullets summer league team in the NBA and was signed as a free agent.

In June 1992, Doug was playing in the coastal city of Wollongong, Australia in front of 2,000 people. Then in October he was in Washington, USA, playing next to hall of famer Bernard King in front of 20,000 fans every night. Overton’s hard work showed. He averaged 9.2 points and 4.1 assists a game in his rookie season before fracturing his left thumb and missing the next 26 games. Doug finished the season with what would be the best numbers of his career with 8.1 points and 3.5 assists on .471% shooting. Despite a promising rookie season, he would struggle to gain the confidence of Coach Wes Unseld who was not an Overton fan. Then in the 1994-95 season, Washington would let Unseld go and hire Coach Jim Lynham. Under Coach Lynham, Doug saw his minutes go back up to 20 a game as he played all 82 games for the first and only time in his career.

Doug then got his first taste of the business that is the NBA as his play had improved to the point where his trade value was high. In October 1995, Overton was traded to the Denver Nuggets for Robert Pack where he played barely 11 minutes a game and was not re-signed after the Nuggets 1995-96 season.

Doug would then play for the New Jersey Nets, Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics and two stints for the Philadelphia 76ers over the next 4 seasons. He began the 2000-01 season with the Celtics, but would be released and go through the Charlotte Hornets and New Jersey Nets before the season would conclude. Doug picked up a contract with the LA Clippers in 2001-02, but played only 18 games. Although he wasn’t hitting the mark at all times in the NBA, this didn’t discourage Doug and he kept on working. He played with the Kansas City Knights in the ABA2000 season in 2002, appearing in 15 games and averaging 21.3 points, 6.5 assists & 4.2 rebounds, shooting .495% from three point range. Doug then took an opportunity to play in the Spanish A-1 league, as he played a handful of games for FC Barcelona.

Just when Doug thought that perhaps his NBA career was over, he received a phone call at his home in Spain. It was the New Jersey Nets offering him a 10-day contract at the start of the 2003-04 season. Doug was back on the plane to the USA! Despite some good play, the Nets would release Doug and he played out the 03-04 season in his second stint with the LA Clippers. This would be the last season of his playing career.

Doug played 499 games through 11 NBA seasons with 8 different teams, not to mention time in Australia and Spain. How has a guy, through all the injuries, trades and varied opportunities been able to last in the league this long?  His former coach with the Clippers and now Phoenix Suns head coach, Alvin Gentry put it best in an interview with the LA Times. ‘He doesn’t do anything great, but he does everything solid. I like his energy. I like his knowledge of the game. I like him as a player. I like him as a person. He’s a good chemistry guy. He’s been around the league and played a lot of minutes over the years. He knows what the situation is. He catches on quickly.’

It’s no wonder with that sort of endorsement that Doug is still involved in the NBA today. In the 2005-06 season, Doug spent a year with the Philadelphia 76ers as the Director of Player Development. Then in May, 2006 he was named assistant coach of the Saint Joseph University Mens basketball team where he served under Phil Martelli during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.

Doug then got the opportunity he’d been working towards. Rod Thorn of the New Jersey Nets signed Overton as an assistant to then coach Lawrence Frank. Doug continues to display the discipline and hard-work as a coach that he did as a player. Throughout the 2008-09 and 2009-2010 seasons, he worked with the young New Jersey team, most recently as an assistant coach on the Nets Summer League team. Overton even gets out and runs drills with the players including running drills up and down flights of stairs. Many people in the organisation say that Doug even at age 40 looks like he could step on the court and play. One Nets player who knows is Terrence Williams, who has worked closely with Coach Overton on his ball-handling and general ‘point guard skills’ to give the 6-8 small forward the tools to run the Nets offence at times.

Doug hasn’t been kept on the coaching staff under new head coach Avery Johnson, but everyone close to the organisation believes that with Overton’s dedication to the players and the team, that he’ll definitely be involved in the NJ Nets in some way for season 2010-11.

It’s certainly been a long time since 1992 playing the point for the Illawarra Hawks where Doug was stuffing the stat sheet on a nightly basis.  It’s amazing to see that even without buckets of talent, a smart player with the right attitude who wants to work hard can have a long career in the NBA.  Hopefully we’ve not seen the last of Doug Overton!

Rest In Peace Manute, you lived up to your name, “special blessing”, honourably and proudly.

Manute Bol was born on October 16, 1962, in Turalie, Sudan.  The son of a Dinka tribal chief, Manute played in the NBA from 1985 to 1994.  Working mostly as a shepherd, Manute only began playing basketball in 1978 due to his extraordinary height.  Playing in Sudan for several years with teams in Wau and Khartoum, Manute was eventually scouted by a coach from Fairleigh Dickinson University, who saw Bol play basketball in Khartoum, and convinced him to come to the United States.

Anyone seen “The Air Up There”?  Let the comparisons begin.

Bol was drafted by the San Diego Clippers in the 5th round of the 1983 NBA Draft, but the league ruled that Bol had not been eligible for the draft and declared the pick invalid.  He was then invited to Cleveland by Cleveland State University head basketball coach Kevin Mackey, where Bol attended English language classes for several months at ELS Language Centers on the Case Western Reserve University campus. Bol never played for Cleveland State, nor even enrolled as a CS Student because, some say cruelly, its basketball program was placed on probation for two years as a result of providing improper financial assistance to Bol and two other African basketball players.

Bol lacked a strong command of written English, which reduced his chances of being eligible to play Division I basketball.  He therefore enrolled at the University of Bridgeport, a Division II basketball school, and played college basketball there during the 1984-1985 season.

In 1985 Bol was drafted in the second round by the Washington Bullets. He played in the NBA for ten years, from 1985–1995, spending parts of four seasons with the Bullets, parts of three with the Golden State Warriors, parts of four with the Philadelphia 76ers and part of one season with the Miami Heat.

Due to his height and extremely long limbs, Bol was one of the league’s most imposing defensive presences, blocking shots at an unprecedented rate. Along with setting the rookie shot blocking record in 1985-86, over the course of his career Bol tied for the NBA record for the most blocked shots in one half (11) and in one quarter (8, twice).

However, Bol’s other basketball skills were very limited, and his rail-thin physique made it difficult for him to establish position against the league’s physical centers and power forwards.  In order to compensate, Bol began developing a reputation as a 3-point shooter, much to the delight of his fans and the constant frustration of his coaches.  MidwestSportsFan describes it nicely:

Bol wasn’t Dirk Nowitzi by any means, but he did make 43 3’s in 205 attempts during his career (21%). On the old NBA highlight videos I used to watch when I was a kid they would always show Bol and his tall, gangly body grab the ball behind the arc and launch it with his overhead release. It would hurtle towards the basket for what you expected to be a brick…but it would go in.

Over the course of his career, Bol averaged 2.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 3.3 blocks per game while only playing an average of 18.7 minutes per game. Bol finished his career with totals of 1,599 points, 2,647 rebounds, and 2,086 blocks, having appeared in 624 games over 10 seasons. As of 2010, Manute Bol remains:

• First in career blocks per 48 minutes (8.6), almost 50% beyond second-place Mark Eaton (5.8).
• Second in career blocks-per-game average (3.34).
• Fourteenth in total blocked shots (2,086).
• The only player in NBA history to block more shots than points scored, blocking 2,086 shots and scoring 1,599 points.

Manute was not, however, a man of mere stats.  As one of the few players in League history to be more known for his country of origin than any basketball skill, he did not shy away from proudly supporting, defending and contributing to his homeland.  In fact, he said he spent much of the money he made during a 10-year NBA career supporting various causes related to his war-ravaged nation of birth, Sudan,frequently visited Sudanese refugee camps, where he was treated like royalty.

It was 1991. This was the first time I had seen Sudan on TV and I saw it, the Sudan government were killing my people. I say no. This cannot be right. I have to do something, you know? I decided to be a fighter. I feel I made a lot of money. I should give it back to my people.

In 2001 Bol was offered a post as minister of sport by the Sudanese government. Bol, who was Christian, refused because one of the pre-conditions was converting to Islam.  Later Bol was hindered from leaving the country by the Sudanese government, who accused him of supporting the Dinka-led Christian rebels, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.  The Sudanese government refused to grant him an exit visa unless he came back with more money. Assistance by supporters in the United States, including Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, raised money to provide Bol with plane tickets to Cairo, Egypt. After 6 months of negotiations with U.S. consulate officials regarding refugee status, Bol and his family were finally able to leave Egypt and return to the United States.

Bol established the Ring True Foundation in order to continue fundraising for Sudanese refugees. He gave most of his earnings (an estimated $3.5 million) to their cause, and built a strong community of supporters and activists for change in his native Sudan.

Bol was also involved in the April 2006 Sudan Freedom Walk, a three-week march from the United Nations building in New York to the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.. The event was organized by Simon Deng, a former Sudanese swimming champion, currently a lifeguard at Coney Island, who was a longtime friend of Bol. Deng, who was a slave for three years from the age of nine, is from another tribe in Southern Sudan.  His Sudan Freedom Walk is especially aimed at finding a solution to the genocide in Darfur, but it also seeks to raise awareness of the modern day slavery and human rights abuses throughout Sudan.  Bol spoke in New York at the start of the Walk, and in Philadelphia at a rally organized by former hunger striker Nathan Kleinman.

During his time in Egypt, Bol ran a basketball school in Cairo. One of his pupils was a fellow Sudanese refugee; Chicago Bulls player Luol Deng, the son of a former Sudanese cabinet minister. Deng later moved to the United States to further his basketball career, continuing a close relationship with Bol.  Deng visited Bol in a Connecticut hospital while he was still unconscious and kept close tabs on him throughout his rookie season. Per Deng’s invitation, Bol presented the honorary game ball while walking to center court with a cane before a March 7, 2005, home victory over the Bucks.

His commitment and compassion were absolute.  Tragically, they may have contributed to his passing.  From CNN:

The past few weeks  have been a blur of hospitals and doctors for Mathiang Bol. His cousin basketball great Manute Bol died Saturday at the University of Virginia Medical Center at age 47.  Between making funeral arrangements, helping his Sudanese family understand the American health system and dealing with his own grief,  Mathiang, also known by his English name, George, has been going non-stop. “I was with him when he died,” Bol told CNN as he drove family members to the airport Monday in Virginia. “They put him on a respirator on Friday. He passed on Saturday morning,” says Bol.

George Bol says doctors told the family that a “broad range of complications” led to his cousin’s death.  He had liver and kidney damage.  He also had a bad reaction to medicine and developed a rare skin disease, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, which causes skin and mucous membranes to become inflamed and blister.

In their grief, some people close to Bol wonder if he put his commitment to the people of his home country of Sudan above his own health.

“I think if he had not gone to Sudan, he would be alive today,” says Tom Prichard, a friend of Bol and executive director of Sudan Sunrise, a group Bol worked with to help rebuild Southern Sudan.  “Back in the fall, I helped arrange for Manute to go to the doctor. He was having kidney problems.  He shouldn’t have traveled until it cleared up.”

But he did.

You see, Manute Bol never saw himself as being above anyone else.  The comedy of life made him 7 feet 7 inches, yet his feet and his focus were always planted right on the ground, and his heart, rather than his head, always reached for the clouds.

Manute, you make us proud to love this game.

You showed us how invaluable, how priceless, how precious caring for others can be.

You showed courage, faith, perseverance and patience your entire life, and for that we thank you.

Rest in peace, Manute.

There used be a time when looking up to athletes seemed to mean something more than just what happened for 48 minutes.  When the game and one’s behavior within it were not separated from one’s life away from the court.  A time when athletes were revered not only as players, but as people.

David Robinson was born August 6, 1965 in Key West, Florida.  The second child of Ambrose and Freda Robinson, David found himself travelling across the country due to his father’s position in the United States Navy.  After his father retired, the family settled in Woodbridge, Virginia, where Robinson excelled in school and in most sports except basketball; being only 5 feet, 9 inches tall, David found himself at a disadvantage on any court, even the pickup games around his block.  Yet, thankfully, his senior year in high school saw a growth spurt to 6 feet, 7 inches.  When the coach added the tall senior to the basketball team, Robinson earned all-area and all-district honors but generated little interest among college basketball coaches.  See the young David relied on raw athleticism rather than learned skill to conquer the game.

As David moved on the the US Navel Academy, his love and mastery of basketball grew.  Widely considered to be the best basketball player in U.S. Naval Academy history,  David, now 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), became an All-American and won college basketball’s two most prestigious player awards, the Naismith and Wooden Awards as a Naval Academy first classman (senior).

Upon graduation, David became eligible for the 1987 NBA Draft and was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the first overall pick; however the Spurs had to wait two years before he could join them because he had to fulfill two years of duty with the Navy.

The Spurs didn’t mind waiting.

In basketball lore we speak of “franchise players”, those athletes who become synonymous with their cities, forging a relationship that endures more as myth than anything else, bound not only by achievements and honors on the court, but also of those intangible connections to the community that are created away from the limelight, far from the theatre and pageantry of NBA games.  David Robinson’s persona, style, elegance and heart were so fitting to the city of San Antonio that for a decade you were in “Mr Robinson’s Neighbourhood”, not simply San Antonio, Texas.

While it was generally thought David’s arrival in San Antonio would make the Spurs respectable again, no one expected what happened in his rookie season. Led by Robinson, 1989 draftee Sean Elliott and free agent acquisition Terry Cummings, the Spurs achieved the then-biggest one-season turnaround in NBA history, finishing with a record of 56–26. They also jumped all the way to first place in the Midwest Division. The Spurs eventually lost in the Western Conference semifinals after losing a seven-game series to the eventual Western Conference champion Portland Trail Blazers, led by Clyde Drexler.  Robinson had one of the most successful rookie seasons for a center in NBA history, finishing the season as the unanimous Rookie of the Year while averaging 24.3 points and 12.0 rebounds.

David may have won ROY, but more importantly he had won the hearts of the Spurs faithful.

In a stellar career from 1989 to 2003, Robinson made the infamous 1992 US Olympic Dream Team that won the gold medal in Barcelona, won NBA Championships in 1999 and 2003, was named NBA MVP in 1995, and continued to rack up silverware amongst arguably the greatest years in NBA history, including:

• NBA Champion (1999, 2003)
• NBA MVP (1995)
• NBA Defensive Player of the Year (1992)
• NBA Rookie of the Year (1990)
• All-NBA First Team (1991, ’92, ’95, ’96)
• All-NBA Second Team (1994, ’98)
• All-NBA Third Team (1990, ’93, 2000, ’01)
• All-Defensive First Team (1991, ’92, ’95, ’96)
• All-Defensive Second Team (1990, ’93, ’94, ’98)
• 10-time NBA All-Star
• Only player in NBA history to win the Rebounding, Blocked Shots, and Scoring Titles and Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and MVP
• One of only four players to have recorded a quadruple-double
• NBA Sportsmanship Award (2001)
• Third player in NBA history to rank among the league’s top 10 in five categories in one season (7th in scoring (23.2 ppg), 4th in rebounding (12.2 rpg), 1st in blocks (4.49 per game), 5th in steals (2.32 per game) and 7th in field-goal percentage (.551))
• First player in NBA history to rank among the top five in rebounding, blocks and steals (per game) in a single season
• Fourth player ever to score 70+ in an NBA game
• 3-time Olympian (1988, ’92, ’96)
• Led NBA in Scoring (1993–94 season) – 29.8 ppg
• Led NBA in Rebounding (1990–91 season) – 13.0 rpg
• Led NBA in Blocked Shots (1991–92 season) – 4.49 bpg
• Holds record for most IBM Awards (1990, ’91, ’94, ’95, ’96)
• His 10,497 rebounds and 2,954 blocked shots are the most by any player wearing a San Antonio Spurs jersey, and his 20,790 points are second most only to George Gervin’s 23,602. (Had only Gervin’s NBA numbers been taken into account, Robinson would be #1 in this category; Gervin scored 4,219 of his points while the franchise was in the American Basketball Association.)
• Gold Medal in 1986 FIBA World Championship.
• Member of Dream Team #1 during Olympic Games at Barcelona.
• Elected into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
• Elected to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame Class of 2008

During the 1993–94 season, Robinson scored 71 points in the final game of the season to beat Shaquille O’Neal for the NBA scoring title, in the process breaking George Gervin’s single-game franchise record of 63 on the final day of the 1977-78 NBA season.

In 1996, Robinson was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, and in 2010 was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

With such an incredible resume, you may forgive this 3MW writer for having such high expectations of today’s players, both on and off the court.

Away from the cameras, Robinson continues to invest in the San Antonio community through the Carver Academy, providing “pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade students an education of excellence regardless of race, creed or financial status.”  Robinson also continues to advise, promote and contribute to many children’s charities and organisations throughout Texas.

As a player, as a person, as a team-mate and as a leader, Robinson set an extraordinary example that had a profound impact on so many who knew him.

What I can speak to is a cognitive placidity that he has always provided. The culture of professionalism and service that defines the Spurs predates the arrivals of Tim Duncan, Gregg Popovich or Peter Holt. It was born in the heart and mind of David Robinson. He is the cornerstone.

For many, the effects of Robinson’s hard work are blessedly demonstrable. But his effects on my life have been quieter and more elusive. While many fans are forced to wade through the turmoil that surrounds their teams, in the hopes of stumbling across the game they love, I have always been able to watch the Spurs in peace, knowing that the threats of scandal and distraction are nowhere to be found.  48 Minutes of Hell.

His basketball existence wasn’t defined by any one thing. He did it all. Basketbawful.

Yet for all the accolades and trophies, Robinson was not above setting aside personal pride for the betterment of the team; having endured a horrific, injury plagued season, the arrival of Tim Duncan in the 1997 Draft could have become a flash-point for any other star, unaccustomed to sharing the limelight or credit.  Robinson, however, took the arrival of Duncan as a blessing, differing his scoring to the young rookie in a way that had not been seen before.

“An absolute class act” was how Pop boiled it down, arguing that no other high-level player in NBA history had ever welcomed and tutored his own superstar replacement as willingly and as well as Robinson had with Tim Duncan the previous six years.

He made the point that Robinson’s altruistic appeal had always been on a different level than that of Jordan, whose fame, fortune and ego grew exponentially during his career. Of how Robinson was more reserved, more religious and more focused on making a lasting difference in people’s lives. And how the crowning accomplishment of Robinson’s career, and his future legacy, had nothing to do with basketball. (Robinson donated $9 million to help create the Carver Academy, an all-scholarship school for underprivileged children from San Antonio’s impoverished East Side.) ESPN - Chris Sheridan.

Hard not to call this guy a “hero”… maybe even more so for his sense of humor:

I was never the awkward tall guy, because I had done a lot of gymnastics as a kid. Everyone has their strengths. Mine was that I was tall and lithe. There was never any awkwardness to it, except on the living side, you know, taking a shower and the shower head hits you in the stomach. Wall Street Journal.

In an upcoming article on 3MW, we’ll be looking at Big Men past and present in basketball, but for now know this – David Robinson was a true gentleman of the game.