JIM KING – FORMER NBA PLAYER FOR THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS, SAN FRANCISCO WARRIORS, CINCINNATI ROYALS & CHICAGO BULLS – EPISODE 720
Website – https://gtrnews.com/formertustarjimcountrykingrecountsbasketballcareer-d1/
Email – kingjames4545@gmail.com
Jim King is a retired NBA player and former college coach. A 6’2″ guard from the University of Tulsa, King was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the 1963 NBA draft. King played 10 NBA seasons (1963–1973) with four teams: the Lakers, the San Francisco Warriors, the Cincinnati Royals, and the Chicago Bulls. He represented the Warriors in the 1968 NBA All-Star Game, and he retired with 4,377 career points.
King later coached the Tulsa Golden Hurricane from 1975 to midway through the 1979–1980 season, when he resigned after 4 & 1⁄2 seasons. The school retired his jersey number 24, and in 1984, he was inducted into the University of Tulsa Hall of Fame.
If you’re looking to improve your coaching please consider joining the Hoop Heads Mentorship Program. We believe that having a mentor is the best way to maximize your potential and become a transformational coach. By matching you up with one of our experienced mentors you’ll develop a one on one relationship that will help your coaching, your team, your program, and your mindset. The Hoop Heads Mentorship Program delivers mentoring services to basketball coaches at all levels through our team of experienced Head Coaches. Find out more at hoopheadspod.com or shoot me an email directly mike@hoopheadspod.com
Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram @hoopheadspod for the latest updates on episodes, guests, and events from the Hoop Heads Pod and check out the Hoop Heads Podcast Network for more great basketball content.
Follow us on social media @hoopheadspod on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to check out the Hoop Heads Podcast Network for more great basketball content.
What We Discuss with Jim King
- Growing up on a dairy farm in Arkansas
- The day his mom told him, “Well, if it’s too hard for you, maybe you should quit.”
- Thinking he was going to become a barber
- How he ended up at the University of Tulsa
- “Son, if, if you think you can do something, I don’t even want you to think about not doing it. You go ahead and do anything you want to. I believe in you that much. I want you to do anything that you think you can. And so that freed me up. You know, I needed that kind of confidence builder.”
- “If you can get the ball down the court and get it to Jerry West or Elgin Baylor, you will make the team.”
- “You do the right things and the right things come back.”
- “I never expected Jerry West to miss a shot.”
- Dick Barnett and the “Fall Back” Taunt
- Playing with Jerry West and Elgin Baylor on the Lakers
- His experience playing with Rick Barry on the Warriors
- Why he believes Bill Russell intimidated Wilt Chamberlain
- Comparing Russell & Chamberlain
- The toughness of Jerry Sloan
Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!
We’re excited to partner with Dr. Dish, the world’s best shooting machine! Mention the Hoop Heads Podcast when you place your order and get $300 off a brand new state of the art Dr. Dish Shooting Machine!
Prepare like the pros with the all new FastDraw and FastScout. FastDraw has been the number one play diagramming software for coaches for years, and now with it’s integrated web platform, coaches have the ability to add video to plays and share them directly to their players Android and iPhones via their mobile app. Coaches can also create customized scouting reports, upload and send game and practice film straight to the mobile app. Your players and staff have never been as prepared for games as they will after using FastDraw & FastScout. You’ll see quickly why FastModel Sports has the most compelling and intuitive basketball software out there! In addition to a great product, they also provide basketball coaching content and resources through their blog and playbank, which features over 8,000 free plays and drills from their online coaching community. For access to these plays and more information, visit fastmodelsports.com or follow them on Twitter @FastModel. Use Promo code HHP15 to save 15%
Your first impression is everything when applying for a new coaching job. A professional coaching portfolio is the tool that highlights your coaching achievements and philosophies and, most of all, helps separate you and your abilities from the other applicants.
The key to landing a new coaching job is to demonstrate to the hiring committee your attention to detail, level of preparedness, and your professionalism. Not only does a coaching portfolio allow you to exhibit these qualities, it also allows you to present your personal philosophies on coaching, leadership, and program development in an organized manner.
The Coaching Portfolio Guide is an instructional, membership-based website that helps you develop a personalized portfolio. Each section of the portfolio guide provides detailed instructions on how to organize your portfolio in a professional manner. The guide also provides sample documents for each section of your portfolio that you can copy, modify, and add to your personal portfolio.
United Basketball Plus has over 3,000 plays, 45 Deep Dive Courses with some of the best minds in the game including Tyler Coston, Paul Kelleher, Tobin Anderson, Dave Love and more. You can also view United Basketball Clinics, and receive 50% off in-person clinics. United Basketball Plus partnered with Jordan and Joe Stasyzyn from Unleashed Potential to create their Skill Development Curriculum. United Basketball Plus is a one stop shop to help you grow as a coach, leader and culture builder. Use the code ‘clinic’ and receive an annual membership for $50.
THANKS, JIM KING!
If you enjoyed this episode with Jim King let him know by clicking on the link below and sending him a quick email:
Click here to let Mike & Jason know about your number one takeaway from this episode!
And if you want us to answer your questions on one of our upcoming weekly NBA episodes, drop us a line at mike@hoopheadspod.com.
TRANSCRIPT FOR JIM KING – FORMER NBA PLAYER FOR THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS, SAN FRANCISCO WARRIORS, CINCINNATI ROYALS & CHICAGO BULLS – EPISODE 720
[00:00:00] Mike Klinzing: Hello, and welcome to the Hoop Heads Podcast. It’s Mike Klinzing here without my co-host Jason Sunkle tonight. But I am pleased to be joined by former NBA player, Jim King. Jim, welcome to the Hoop Heads Pod. Excited to have you on looking forward to diving into all of the interesting things that you’ve been able to accomplish in your basketball career.
[00:00:19] Jim King: Thank you, Mike. I’m really looking to visiting with you.
[00:00:25] Mike Klinzing: Let’s start out by going back in time to when you were a kid. Tell us a little bit about how you got into the game of basketball, what some of your earliest memories are of the game.
[00:00:37] Jim King: Well, you know I grew up on a farm in Arkansas a dairy farm.
And so, and I remember not having electricity so we were really of us at that. There was one more, but We, my brother and I had a goal from the time we were five or six, seven you know, but didn’t, we never had a net or even thought about it. And there were no leagues to play in cause country.
I’m really well on baseball, probably more than anything. Cause it’s, it was easier to get someone to he school, but, and a small you there, 300 people in the and really, so anyway you know, I I never really got fired up about basketball. It was mainly just about baseball.
And then when I was in sixth grade, had a than was 13 older. So like twins, competitive each and we moved to Fort Smith, which was 35 miles out. My dad just decided he couldn’t, wasn’t going to be able make, make a farm life. And he Fort Smith and found work, started working for Coca-Cola, so had to be up there.
You know, at the time we didn’t even have a car. We had the church bus. So on Sundays we at least could go to church cause he drove the church bus and he took care of it. So anyway we had to finally get a car and, and then we he worked for about a year or two like that. And when I was in, when the sixth grade, the middle of the year, my parents said, well, we’re going to move to Fort Smith.
The dad’s found a house up there and we’re going to buy that. And it’s got an acre and you’ll be to your and animals. And we ended up a cow too. I had milk, milk, milk that cow school, high school days. And I that was something. I had these really big hands already, and you knowing the ball was simple, I could grab it out of the air really.
And kind of like Oscar Robertson used to do, he’d come dribbling right me. And he’d, he’d have on the ball, he’d could to the right or the, and officials never called any kind of carrying the ball and even though he carried it and I learned to do that too. So, but anyway. There was a boys’ club in Fort Smith, and we, and we go in there and try out for baseball and they did a, and you know, you got drafted on, different team was on one, but we were, we were so country and we could, we, my dad would bring Coca-Cola you know, at the house and we’d take the, all the lids and, and play baseball with those, those lids.
And and we could hit we could hit and throw. And when we tried out there, my brother was a, like a, he was older one year, so he, he was on the older age. But we, you, I went out for shortstop and he was the one he wanted to pitch. And so I, we would, could so hard that they said son birthday,
Two, three years. I and they’d me ground you and, and the, and then they finally said, son, could you just hold not so hard to the first base ? He , he’s, he, he doesn’t real glove. He can’t, he’s not having be, feel, catch it. So anyway, it was, we were so and we were, we were so excited to be in town where we could actually play sports.
And so baseball that first year was my, was our first. We just absolutely thought we had to heaven and. And then at the end of the year, the, when the winter came, well, we I went out’s club and, and played basketball and, and I loved that too. I mean, I really love playing basketball, but I hadn’t had any coaching at all, but I knew we played one on one all the time.
So that was my beginning. And then I went to a junior high school and in the, was that built close my house.and it’s the grade I was. Like the best player on the team. And, and I I could tell I was, I could tell I could do everything better than a coach basically told me that and I played one year of football and hated that there.
And you a quarterback? Cause I could throw the ball, but I had, that’s the first game I had ever played in. Or, or even Reallyt. I’d only seen part of one game, so I didn’t know anything about football, the football, the basketball. So I smart that I better know him and he wanted me to, so I ran one play in seventh grade in football.
He put me in his last game of the season and stood out there and it was about 20 and we played Muscogee, Oklahoma over. And in several of ’em went to ou, played football after they went to high school there. And so there was some great athletes, but he said, I throw it as you can to get it.
That guy can get it maybe in the end zone. But I went back and threw it and just as I threw it, this big lineman stepped on my toe and I was standing there freezing and I lost my toe and a football player anymore. So from football on the way home from that game, and didn’t get mixed up with it at all.
So then I so the, he I went out for basketball there and played for him. And we weren’t that good. But I played in the eighth grade, I played in tournament, so that was sigh idea of, I weighed 103 lose pounds to get in that tournament. So they wen by weight. So I to play in that tournament.
But then he didn’t know anything about basketball. He was only about five, six was fighter. And and really You know, one of those guys who had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth most of the time. And if you’d in to him, you’d smoke. You know that before. Anything that with smoked time, you know when I finally got to the high school.
And I was in actually high school was, it wasn’t until 10th grade. I played in eighth grade. And then in high school I went to ninth grade first. And and I played, but I didn’t really, the, the coach that there junior high school moved over and became the assistant coach for the high school.
And he, and they had about four or five guys on the team and they were, so they came and he was coaching them as JV coach and I was on that team so, but he wouldn’t me cause he knew his other players and he wanted to play them. And, even though one of ’em was more a baseball football player than a basketball player, he wouldn’t even me in front of him or it was a very frustrating time.
And remember coming home something and was a she, you kids, she knew well, and I, and I came in one evening and, and we’d had a, a game and, and I said, I as just quit. And I told her what was going on and she said she was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes and she didn’t even look up.
She just said, well, if it’s too hard for you, maybe you should quit. And you know what she, how to motivate me because she knew then what she had done to me and I did too. And I thought don’t tell me I’m not, you’re motivated. I didn’t, of course I never said that. But anyway I went back out and then and this is really during my sophomore year and I was on the JV team and, but during the course of the season I was, when I got that real frustrated with other coach, yeah.
I realized he’s not going to play me. The head coach, he was an incredible coach and a man and just I mean he won the state, the state In the Arkansas, he won the state championship with girls and boys, and I know he won the boys six times and he, he never had a 50 years of coaching was a great, and he, to me, I guess he maybe read that I was really getting confused.
But he also saw that I had ail and he said, son, I up from now make, we’re going to go on a couples too need plan on. And I thought, man that was all I needed. Just a little bit of encouragement and still didn’t get to play much, but I got, we, we were winning. Most of the time. So he’d put me in at the end of the game.
So then this, this is the side deal here. My dad, he used to cut my book. There were four of us boys and two girls, and he cut our hair all the time at home. And I started cutting her my brother’s hair cause they, we hated his, he’d like a bowl . And, and Clippers would then he’d skin us up the sides, you white walls on sides, and We hated that, but we didn’t, we never didn’t dare he didn’t allow anybody to talk back to him or even give you an a suggestion.
But anyway, he, so I have to where I mo his hair. Then he had an uncle that was a barber and town and he passed and dad got his barber stuff and he brought it home and bar had a chair and the mirrors and everything had a little building out behind garage. And we, that set where I could set, cut the boys’, all my brother’s hair and she, he, to go ahead and go to college and your get you where you can go to work, you’ll have something you can fall back on.
And I thought, oh, that’d be fun. I’d just be fun to get out of town, you know? Right. We lived in a. House with a sleeping on the very back. And that’s where, that’s where the four boys slept and live basically worlds with oatmeal boxes from the into the play could play with a tennis ball or Jack Ball or whatever ball we could find.
And but there would, there would be a knockdown drag out there game. So anyway, so I went to Barber College and we had some neighbors that went, had moved to Oklahoma City and that’s where it I to go to get my license. And it would take me six months. So I went over there in the summer and it’s first summer thinking I’ll play some baseball over there cause that I know they have a baseball.
And I got over there and they wouldn’t let me play my, didn’t come didn’t live there. So went to the. You know, I kind ruined my whole year, but I did go to the gym some and shoot, and, and I did, and I, like I say, I wasn’t playing a lot as a sophomore, so this, I’m coming back my junior year and I started playing some, actually I was like the second or third.
Second or third substitute on the team. And I was, I was about six foot, five 11 maybe. And I had those big hands again, my huge hands could, and a one rebound and like that. And, but I was coachable. I was so coachable. I mean, if he, he was, if he wanted time out, he just wouldn’t ever yelled.
He’d just, he was a real quiet guy, but he would stand up. And put one, one finger in his, in the palm of his other hand. And that meant time out. And there’s five guys out when did that. We had one eye all the time and, and you know, didn’t want, have to raise his voice or holler to say anything. And then we’d come over and lay down in front of him, right arc.
He wouldn’t even get up. He’d just sit there on bench and talk to, and we’d down on ours and circle and would draw something out or show. Or tell us what he wanted. And so that, that’s when I started kind of getting serious about it. But we went to our junior, that junior season. We, we only lost oh two or three and we were in the state got really better and the state tournament and we had to play some Tex was the one our conference and they had a big six nine guy went to and we played them first and.
10 or 15. And we played Iba’s style. And Mr. Iba you know, he would say before you, you knowed everybody got to it, start thinking about, and it just, he was very conservative, . And we didn’t do any fasting. There was no fasting, although we had to do this center made American as a junior.
He six six and, and would our leading score. He only had site in one eye and he led the nation in shooting all the way
Boyer. And anyway That year we, we won the state championship. Right. And WERC play in Little and Little Rock Central is, was always competitive team and us and the of the there minute Tommy Boyer had six points and somebody else had two. So we had, we had ’em eight to nothing at the end of the first quarter.
And they thought they would never get the, I they got it. They had to so it just played right into our hands. And so we go ahead and beat and win the championship. Well then that next summer I had to go back. Another summer barber college. Cause I had, I needed a thousand hours and I had to do six months of that.
So I went back to day, I went back to Oklahoma and the day started, back started that day. You first day of school Anyway, so but what I did that summer was I would leave the boys, the barbershop, barber college at two after I’d get there at seven and I’d cut hair until one and then I’d go to a class and we had an hour class.
And then I’d go to the YMCA and I, at that time, there would, nobody would be in and, and I’d weights like the hour or, and And I would do those, those weights over and over again. And, and I didn’t have any idea if I was growing or how much I weighed or anything. And when, and then when I came that summer.
I really improved or, and I grew two inches and didn’t even know it until I got back home. But I also put 15 pounds on and, and so I basketball really got, got in my, under my skin there after we won that state. Cause that, that was really fun to be the best in the state and thinking we could come back and do it again the next year.
So my senior year, but the, to a get starter. And so when I, first thing I heard was that was the year of the integration problems were going on in Little Rock. And you know, governor Fs closed the schools in little rock and go anywhere you penalties, but not in Little Rock. And so they said, some my kid, he said, dude, have you the new kid on Moved Rock And he grandparents Fort Smith and moved get senior year.
He six six weighed about 220. You know, we already had the center who was an All American at six six. And then we had the two guards who had played since their sophomore years. They had been starters and. And then that, that other spot was, there was a kid that played in front of me at my junior year and I thought, well that means I don’t get to start again.
You know? So I go to practice and what I don’t realize is I am physically. I had so far ahead of him. The kid that was ahead of me before he was an eye doctor. Ok. But going to smart and he, he wasn’t going, he wasn’t practicing or going to the, he would just going to school and getting ready, med schools and all that stuff college and and I walked in the gym that first day and, and we did some drills and stuff and I.
I am stronger than he’s, I’m quicker than he’s, I’m faster than he is. I’m just better. And I thought I can make this starting team. And for the first six weeks of our season, I led the team and rebounding and the most ever scored was 13 points. Cause we, we averaged 50, about 51 points a game and we held our opponents to, so there wasn’t a lot of shooting.
Like I said, there weren’t, I’ve didn’t that, but he was, he just knew I wasn’t I wanted to, but I was, I was loyal to him and did what he said. You know, kind of like my dad, if you can’t hear the real i’ll the belt and attention you can’t listen. Well. We’ll teach you how. And so that’s the way my coach was my attention too.
And but so way, so I started playing and then I was just better than I thought I could didn’t know outbound, those two, those of the year and then came down, we won the state again. We lost one game by one point, and that we then it beat like 30 next time we played. You know, it was just one of those things.
Couldn’t do anything. Right, I guess. But anyway, we lost that one game We thought, we thought we could have done, gotten had an undefeated season, but we didn’t. But we did win the state again and after the summer, during the summer, my coach called me and said, he said, I’ve thinking about it.
He said, you like to in the all know, all baseball? And I thought all the press that’d ever written about really was the two big guys. AndI said, what about, he said, I’ve, they’ve, the said I could, my two players to and I to go. And I said, what about Larry? And what about Tommy? And he said, well, Tommy’s going and you need to go.
And he said, you’ve burned. I want you to go. So I said, man, okay, well I didn’t even have a jump shot. I mean, I didn’t score that much. I, I just, I got most of my stuff off the boards and rebounds and stuff, like, didn’t shoot anything. So they didn’t what I could do. But as far as handling the ball, I could handle it as, as the guards, I could, could pass it you that the coach both right and left and do ’em full.
And if you couldn’t, he’d say you’d go down at the other end of the and and how to do it and until, and then you come up here and play with the boys he’d just kind of in face your, if you couldn’t it, but he, he wasn’t going to wait on you. He was very strict in that area. S you end up doing, being able to do, everybody on the team could do it.
I mean, it didn’t matter how big you were, you had to do the same drills that the guards had to do. Right. And you had to do Right and right. And, and it was, he was an incredible coach and I didn’t realize how much, how good he was until later. But when I, when I, when I got down to the All Star.
I practiced for five days, then we had the game, or six days . And so they started playing me at, they saw that I could handle a ball, knew I could, we we’re you at guard? And great, I’ll, like, I don’t play. And he said, well, which one you’d rather play? And I said, the open spot put me in the open place.
I don’t care. I can play center if you need it and mean, I just that confident. And they said, we’re put at guard and said, okay. And I had been working for that, for that summer. I’d just started working on a jump shot so I could at least kind of know how to shoot one. And we played and they called time out and they selected so they could announce at the end of the game the most valuable player. And at that time I was tied 16 points and, and then and another guy had to 16 on the other team. And and it looked like, and they had a four point lead on us. And so they gave him the, the, the most valuable player.
They selected him before the game was over. And in the last four minutes I kind of just took over and, and scored like six one points. And was doing all my other stuff and I was hitting jump shots, so I didn’t even know I could shoot from out one time I thought, I got up in the air and thought I’ve never shot on this far out.
All of a sudden, I’m a guard. Right. Jim a guard. And they were going in and I never had anything like that. So anyway, I ended up when they, when they announced that the most valuable player, people stood and, and for about five minutes they just stood there and booed cause they felt like I should have.
and you know, I didn’t really care. I was so happy. I was, I didn’t care about the, the award really. I just was, they thrilled that at Tulsa university had come after me and he wanted Tommy Boyer too, but he wanted to, to Arkansas. That’s all wanted, was Arkansas. And I did too. But Tulsa was there.
And then at the end of the game, my coach came down and I was on the court talking to family or somebody, and he came backed and he said you still to go on the, and he said, and I said no, I’ve already committed to Tulsa. That was before the if you said it, you meant you couldn’t change it or you guess you could, but.
I was taught to, didn’t do that, and I just said, no, I’m not. I’ve already told us I’m going there. And he said, good. He said there’d been a change of heart. The coach up there was Rose. He was an older guy. He kept telling my coach, he said he’s too small. He’s big enough to play inside, or he’s too small and he’s too slow.
He doesn’t have the speed he needs to play guard in our league. And he said, well, he’s going to be playing at the University of Tulsa, which is the Missouri Conference. And I think that’s Southwest conference. So if you don’t get him, you know you’re going to lose a good one. And he didn’t, he then he wanted me to come there, but I just wouldn’t do it.
I couldn’t, and my coach said, you know what? You made the right decision. Cause he said, Missouri conference is the number one college conference, puts more people in the NBA than anybody else in, in the country. So Oscar had just gone in there. Cincinnati was the national champion and anyway, they were tough then.
And so that’s kind of from there, I was ready to go to college and that’s what my coach said. He said, well, you’ll be able to run the ball over there. He said, they, to coach. I’ve been to the, and he, he wants to you over there and down the game of the, and then, and I and the coach over there.
Not great coach. He wasn’t a great teacher. He was good for me. He just told me, he said, son, he, he always said I was like a son to him and he said, son, if, if you think you can do something, I don’t even want you to think about not doing it. You go ahead and do anything you want to.
I believe in you that much. I want you to do anything that you think you can. And so that freed me up. You know, I needed that kind of confidence builder from him to know that he did. He wasn’t going to be like my other coach and screw us down real tight. But anyway, that was, that was chance to go to Tulsa.
And then I got see all the Missouri Valley teams freshman ball, you don’t, you don’t get to play ’em. But in those days, different time. Yeah. And my freshman year, I think, I don’t remember 20 a game and I just thought, this is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. you’ve never seen anything so easy.
But it was, cause I had the ability to do it, I just was afraid to really turn and that’s where I really got started the right there. And when I to Tulsa we played great basketball. Tommy Boyer, we see him all the time and he’s you was go to, he were the best conference country and, and it made you better you have to play great guys every time, every night you played and that prepared you for the pros.
So he didn’t go, didn’t play pro multimillionaire, but he was a business and really smart, good guy. Still, still living up here in the Fayette Bell. He’s, he’s all the boards up athletic board and the academic and everything. Good.
[00:30:58] Mike Klinzing: What did you want to do when you went to school? What did you think you were going to do career-wise?
[00:31:02] Jim King: I thought I was going to be come back and be a Joe Dean. You remember Joe Dean? You who he is? He used to coach at lsu? Yes. Oh, Joe Dean used to work for Converse, and he would, he would come up and he told me, he said when you get through playing, you need to come back here in Oklahoma and we’ll put you here as a for Converse and it’ll you’ll with basketball and well all the time and it’ll be great.
You’ll, and that’s what I planned on doing. But then when I got my barber license I had had this license and I’d set up shop and that’s when I could charge 50 cents ahead. I was only getting 15 a month for the, for the money. For the money. And but I could go in there and set up shop and work for an hour and, or say an hour and a half and the guys would sit they’d fight for, and then I’d get you know, make 20 bucks.
And man, that’s a lot of money. I had money all the time I, my money, he was a, the Ozarks and playing ball over there and he, my folks didn’t have any money to send them soI would, I did that a few times. So the other ones sent me to school at Barber College. So, you know the Lakers drafted me and I didn’t there was no, it wasn’t even on tv wasn’t even, I don’t guess it was even on the radio. It, it was probably on a chalkboard, right? Yeah. That’s about it. And what happened was interesting stories on that. So they got, they called and said call the coach.
And coach said, Lakers are trying to get a of you, you to come over here and we’ll call. So I did.
He’s a tough old guy. And, and he said I’m be coming in there tomorrow and I’ll meet with give a contract. Came in and he $500 check, check and 90 comp contract for the rest of the year. And I said okay. I said, now I want to ICU contract. And he said, we don’t do contracts like that. Coach doesn’t and we don’t like them.
You know, so, so we don’t do that. You’ll be all right. He said, you’ll, if you just the, and here’s just, I’m going to, you, you, I, I play, I need somebody that can. The offside guard from Jerry. So Jerry West doesn’t have to, we don’t wear him out playing defense. And, and he said, if you can do that, you might be able to make the team.
And then he said, and if you can, if you can get the ball down to court and get it to Jerry West or Elgin Baylor, you will make the team. And I said, okay, I can do both of those things. But I said, I want you to gimme time to show you what I can do. And he said, you’ll get your time. He was a really grouchy man.
Anyway, so so I’ll go. So they said you have to come in,well, I had a, that bonus I had, my wife was, we were going to get married after my first year and Vietnam was going and, and you were. You got drafted. And so after I got out there, he said we’d like to get married.
If you could do it, we go ahead and get married so we don’t lose you to the army. And he said, I said, well, I can do that. We I’m sure weeks. And I called her and told her that and she said, well, I can’t do two weeks. We three and get it. So I went to, and Tulsa got my blood.
All the stuff you have to do, you get and got the license. And then I went on to New York, picked and, and stayed with them for road trip. And then I flew back through Tulsa, got married and took her with me. She never been Oklahoma City hated. Anyway, that’s the way I started it. And, but when, when I, here’s what I was going to tell you.
We had, we had training camp, we had that tryout camp and they had nine guys there, eight, see, eight guys there, and five of ’em were drafted and the other three had been on some other teams before and they wanted to work out and wanted try out. So they let them come in. And so we were working out the first I got there,
I could get in, find out, and I I hadn’t met anybody other than that general manager, and I didn’t know where Loyola was. You know, until I found it on and I wasn’t even sure I was at the right gym or anything, so I was nervous about it, but somebody drove up in a car there by.
And he was an older guy and then gets out of the car and I said, is this where the Lakers work out? And he said, yes, its son. And I said, well, are you with the Lakers? And he said, yes, I’m the coach. And I said, oh, well I’m Jimmy from Tulsa. And said, oh Jimmy, you first time he had he didn’t even know what I looked like you’d think he’d seen some film or something.
Right. You know, and worried. So, so, and I’m be, I’m going to be the you one in the gym first and, and you, I’m, I’m going to be ready and I’ll be last one to leave. I just was just so gun-ho ho. So we go in and. And I go in and get dressed and get on court, shoot for a while get ready for everything. And he starts he, he starts these he, he coached Jerry West, you knows, he coached Jerry at West Virginia.
And he played some in the pros. He’s a big guy, about six eight and was a good man. But he was, the good thing about it was he had coached in college. So he was a teacher, he was more of a teacher. And then some of these guys who turn in from pro to coaching, they don’t really have any technical teaching ability.
And that’s more, it’s probably not as bad as it used to be, but that’s the way it was a lot. And so I’m, I’m I’m in there working and we, so he says we’re going to go, tells everybody we’re, and then we’re going to take a break. And then we’re going to come back and go another hour. And the about 15
Strickland was number, he was a six five guard, led the nation, two A from Jacksonville. And I and when I was checking in a motel he was in line and, and I was in line. I knew he was . He’s have to, so I just said, are Lakers, I’m Jim from Tulsa. He, he’s to Strickland. And we just said hello. And he, he was kind of tight lip, so we didn’t talk much, but.
He was a, he was a, I said, I said to him, oh, what’d you get in? And he said, I’ve been with, and what’d asked him do, I’d called him and him, I’m drive out my, my 55 Ford that doesn’t have any air conditioning , and I’d like to get, if I could get out there at least one day ahead of so I could kind of rest up.
And he and the man said, no, you get here. And well then I found out that, and I wanted to whip somebody I didn’t know who, but it was, that had lied to me about, about the practice stuff and all that. So anyway, I don’t have, we’re in practice first and we, and they are to side windows.
There’s no air conditioning. And the smog, we were having a smog that was, so there was of sg and, and I couldn’t see I mean, could a you, when could SG just, and and then everybody was just dying, you know? And there were, and then, oh, about 15 practice Strickland, they, him there, so could out as good as he was supposed to be.
And they didn’t, they actually figured out that he couldn’t play and he didn’t, he couldn’t cover my mother. He was, he was awful defensively, didn’t, never even thought about a defense he, but he, all he did was shoot a standing shooter. And so about 15 minutes into practice, coach said something to him, I don’t even know what he said.
And he turned and he said, son, there’s the door right over there. Turn your stuff in you’re through. And that he was gone. So there were seven instead of eight. That I like that cause I liked discipline. I like to see ’em be charged and, and if they got a bad mouth, we’ll get rid of ’em. So.
That encouraged me. And so about most of them couldn’t run the drills that was running. I mean, they, they had run they, the balls away, they’d crash, run into other, it was just, hadn’t been most of are from smaller schools and they just hadn’t been coached much. And hadn’t had many drills.
You know, what happened was in about, and he got really frustrated because the guys couldn’t run the plays and, but he saw I could run the plays and looked. He said, you know how to run. And he told me, well, I said, yes, sir. He said, well, us out. So I did it, and then from then on I let him out. I got moved.
He called everybody in, all seven of us in, and we’re in standing in a circle on the court and he says, right, take five minutes, get a drink of water, and we’re going right back after. And everybody, all seven, six guys down on the floor in a there were, were hurting. I, everybody was hurting.
I was hurting, right? And couldn’t get a you long breath for, for a long time. I mean, it was just reallys were killing you. And so what I did, I thought, I never had a coach that would let me sit down and practice, let alone the, you neither my high school or college coaches. They weren’t tough guys. And so what happened was I of and
handling shot throws. You know, just stayed busy. And then when we got ready to go, I didn’t even get a drink of water. Cause that’s something we never did, you know? And I just went right back to work. And so the last day, I mean, then we go on exhibition and play 10 exhibition games and, and you know, we travel around and all that and they’re eliminating guys all the time.
So it’s down the Carolina, Carolina something. He standing too of guys who really couldn’t handle the ball, run a or anything. He was nice kid. Anyway, so we get down whenever after we played those games. So he called me in and he said no man. He said, well, We’d like to keep you if you could move your, your wedding date and get, so we don’t want to lose you to the military.
You’re suspect for it. We said, right, didn’t we don’t want to lose you. You think you could do that? I said, yes, sir, I can do that. I can get that done. And he said, okay. And then he said, sat there for a, and kind of looked over, I guess when you made this team. And I looked at him, I said, I played 10 games, part of 10 games.
And I thought, what did they see? You know? And he said well, You remember that first day of practice when we had that smog alert? And I said, oh yeah, I remember that. And he said, remember what you did? You, you the only one didn’t lay down on the floor. You ran the other floor. He said, well, your buddy Jerry West.
And I had never but said, your buddy Jerry West was sitting with me watching and practice, and whenever you did that, he leaned over to me and said, there’s only one guy here can make us better, that kid right there. And I thought, holy cow. Wow. Isn’t, that’s amazing. That’s a powerful story. And said like, I’ve always been told you, you do the right things and the right things come back.
But you have to do ’em first, you know? And so then I hear, then I’m on later on the Allstar game. I, and the owner was, who owned Thers Minneapolis. He’d, and and he, he’s on on, and he says, Jimmy Speaks, I, who he was. He said,we talked to him and he, anybody tell you how got drafted, what he was about?
And I said, no, don’t, so don’t anything. Well they had, it was on a, on a, just a conference call on phones. And he said I was listening. And we had to we had to call the second pick and they said Lakers, you’re on. You got two minutes. And Mr. Mo says, wait a minute. We need a little bit more time.
And he said, we don’t need time. I knew, oh, here’s what happened was we had a kid on, at Tulsa University that played he was on the track team and the guy who, who and, and he was from Minneapolis and his dad worked for Mr. Short and did all the, the leg work and movement of taking the lake Minneapolis, Lakers to.
So he did all the business stuff, all the contracts and everything. And so then he would, every article that came out, I had some great writers that were good friends of mine and really kind to me. And he, and he would send those articles to his dad and say, Dave say, dad, give these short, he needs to know, he needs to know this guy.
He complain, he complained NBA cause he been watching Lakers as a kid growing up and everything.
And so he didn’t that now I didn’t, I didn’t know it. And he said, yeah, he said, you know what’s his name? You know, you knew the kid down there that was from Minneapolis said, well, you know me. And he said he would bring these articles I’D and to you. And so said he was sitting there on that second pick and when they said, well, we’re not quite ready.
And he said, I just butted in. I said, we’re taking King from Tulsa. And he said, I heard from the other end. Who the hell is King to Tulsa? And, and he said, I’m taking King from Tulsa to my damn team. You know, it’s my team. I’m a, I’m DRT King from Tulsa. And the old said, it’ll be King from Tulsa. And he’s, that’s the way I got drafted.
[00:48:56] Mike Klinzing: When you get there and then you’re on the roster, Yeah, tell us a little about, obviously you’ve got two all time great teammates. Just tell us a little bit about Jerry West, Elgin, Baylor. Just give us an idea of what those guys were like day in, day out, maybe a story about them, just what, what separated them from, from just the average player in the nba.
[00:49:21] Jim King: Jerry and I really hit it off. He was a country boy like I was. And you know, he didn’t know anything but hard work and, and actually you know, no, he, and he and Elgin both said a great example along with Rudy La Russo, who was on the team, who was a great player. And those guys showed up every day.
You know, they came and worked and they didn’t ask for any help, any time off. They, they knew their job. And that a great example for our team, and you had to respect them for that, you know. So Jerry I mean, Elgin could get a shot off, he could get a shot off.
He may not make it, but he could get a, he could, he could do contortion his body and everything, go up and, and twist and put English on the ball and all kinds of stuff and, and get the shot off. But Jerry you know, Jerry never took a bad shot. I don’t remember him shooting a bad shot.
He shot it when he wanted to, when he ready. And, and he would he would w wouldd get in the ball. And then we had the sinner that couldn’t shoot a, but they could set good picks and they’d come out and set AEM and he’d rubbed man on his man off on the, and the big guys would switch off on and buckle their knees.
I, he’d lower shoulder and like, he was the take one hard dribble and he’d go up and, and just rip it. Never expected him to miss a shot. I mean, literally. He shot a shot. He made, like I say, he never made a bad shot. He never took a bad shot. So everything seemed just supposed to go in and And, but you know, I saw him shoot, I, I, I would say he, he won, he made, he would make T 20 to maybe 30 shots to win games for us a year.
Out the out the 82 games he would cause what Dick Barnett was on the team when I, when I first got there the first year. And Dick was a great shooter too. You know, he, he was interesting player. I don’t know if you remember him, but he used to, he used to take, he was lefthanded and he would shoot up, he’d go up, kind of shoot off the side left.
You know, he didn’t shoot straight in front of me off to left and he would jump up and shoot.
[00:52:14] Mike Klinzing: That’s a quote that I don’t know if you, have you ever heard of the in your face basketball?
[00:52:20] Jim King: Yeah, I’ve heard it, but I never read it.
[00:52:22] Mike Klinzing: It’s a great book. You would really enjoy it. But it has, it’s, it’s kind of about the culture of pick basketball. But, but the Dick Barnett fallback is, is in that book.
[00:52:30] Jim King: Yeah. Fallback. He’d, and so, and rookie didn’t a third of the game, I mean, half of the game the games were played before I have to getting play I coach didn’t believe in playing rookies. They had to, and so you go into start the fourth quarter and we’re down, say 10 points, and, and, and Barnett would come in and he’d, and he talked real deliberately slow like that.
And, and he’d say, look at here, man, let’s just, it. And, and I thought, yeah, yeah, let’s keep it close. You know, I thought I knew what he was saying, but he, I didn’t. Cause what he meant was we’ll keep it close and then we’ll, we’ll, we’ll start the move to, we’ll get every time down the floor, we’ll give Jerry the ball.
We’ll send the big guy out to pick for him. He’ll rub him off and buckle their knees and he’ll shoot it and make it, I don’t care if he missed every shot the first three quarters, the last quarter, eyes, like dilated or so. You just see they’re different. And then, then he just would miss it. And, and He’d, he’d hit, like, we’d just go ahead and play defense.
And that was where I would start to playing. I could play better than Dick and I could little, but anyway, and then when the hazard came, the thought team couldn’t lick of defense. He’d, but, but then he’d then then I would get to play a lot of the defense like the fourth quarter especially.
And but. Dick Barnett was, was a fun guy, play around’s. What Dick would do, he’d come down on the pull up and shoot it and he’d I’d hear him yell fall back . I was in practice one day and I said, do you think three on one and a shot from the top of the key is better percentage than shooting a layup? And he looked at me and kind of, and he said, well, it’s not for most people, but it is for Dick .
[00:55:17] Mike Klinzing: And in today’s game it definitely is.
[00:55:19] Jim King: Yes, yes. I see that. But a lot of guys shoot it and can’t, don’t you, when they shoot well as, but there’s lot of great shooters, no question.
But anyway, was Yeah. Elgin he got knees and, and that took him to get him. But he worked his tail off too, and first down on floor, played on him, played with him. First time I went down the floor on the, on the wing, the ball, me in the face. I didn’t even know where it came from.
He was, he was dribbling, he was leading the, and there was people between me and, but he got it through there and it in the face and I realized I’m keep an, he’s got the cause he so strong. You know in my, in my camp I had a it’s probably in 63 or yeah, 63. 62, 63. Cause played Celtics every year finals.
And this time Russell rebound.
And so he did that. He threw the ball out and Elgin intercepted the ball about half and just him and just kind of backed back, got in the, and waited on and, and on this to wore this this, the, I had it at my, and I’d show it to coaches and players and all, and couldn’t believe it. He left his feet wide.
He went the and of took it up in his left hand up high and Russell left the ground, the floor and had his, that big left hand up there waiting on him, and then he transferred the ball over to his right and then he stuck his arm, left arm out, and got ahold of bill’s. And moved it over and slammed it right over him.
He was one of the most incredible plays. You know, Elgin was really only about six five he wasn’t six eight, like some people thought he’s six, about six. But man, he, when he was and had that spring I just saw a little bit one year of it. But he could do some things that you just would wouldn’t, he wouldn’t believe.
And he, he also would do night. They didn’t, everybody, he was right. Ae he going to penetrate. Thats Lenny. Since he always going to go to his left, he might, he’s like, he’s going to the right 3, 3, 4 times, still come back. that’s the way Elgin was. You know, he might even, he not even walk over there.
He might both you or three feet and try to get around somebody setting a and cheat all the time like that. And but Elgin, they to go to his left, so, and to his left and he jumped up at, at mean about a five degree angle and he put reverse spin on it. It was about 15 feet out, re reverse spin on it.
Where he, he, he shot it past the, and it came back back to the net right. And I’d never seen anybody do that. But he had, our hands were pretty close to the same except his was, looked like he had an extra finger on there. They were so wide. Yeah. You know, so anyway, those two guys were great pros. I had none but respect for ’em for three years. Jerry and I are friends.
[00:59:40] Mike Klinzing: After you leave the Lakers, you end up in San Francisco with the Warriors and you get an opportunity to play with. Rick Barry, who historically is probably a player who I think there’s a lot of sentiment out there that he’s underrated. And then of course, I’m sure you’ve heard the stories that he wasn’t maybe all that well liked by player.
So just what’s your, what’s your take on, on Rick Barry? Just give us, give us your feeling about just what kind of player he was and what kind teammate he was.
[01:00:13] Jim King: Well I liked Rick and I liked playing with him. He was if you were, had a better him, he’d get it to, but he usually was going so that was more open than anybody he, he could just fly down the floor and the whoever’s covering him couldn’t go to the boards they’d have to start running getting back fast’s.
He’s going to come down fast and I never saw basket fast like you the on thee past you and I mean get it to the basket. So thinking to about a half to go wing net, he speed and of you had Nate in, he didn’t have go to the board. Nate was as good anybody. The boards, you fly shots and rebounds and stuff.
And we had Clyde who was Clyde about a, and he was a great defensive player. But I’ll tell you, Rick was he was a prima donna andhe worked at it. He, he wanted to be he was, he was kind of guy. We’d come in two in the morning and he started that shoot around deal on day of game.
And so we always did that. And and he would explain to us, give us 10 reasons. We need to shoot around at 10 o’clock. And the da game day and of would say the, and scoring was, he’d, don’t I need rest more? I need practice. And, and you know, and Rick and, and Bill would say, I know Rick. I know that’s how you feel.
I know, but you know, it’s, we’re, we’re really planning together well, right. Now’s just not, we stay and together and shoot together and be that kind of thing. Anyway. And I loved Billman. I’d played for him forever. And Rick, and he was very patient with Rick. But Rick bill had a rule that if you practice, or you know, guys, if they were late for practice, one cost minute didn’t early enough to get thereinto traffic problems.
And he’d say, well, that’s, that’s why you, you pay it for a minute. So it got him better habits. Well then Rick two
Go and Checkbook Life, the trainer I check and said, I’m, I won’t be there. He just paid the fine and sleep in
So, so we had a bunch of, we had a bunch of guys for one, we s. Jeff Mullins myself and and Nate especially, everybody was, was much more mature than Rick. And so when he would do the things, we’d just look at other, and that’s, and not we wouldn’t get upset or you know, you just overlooked him.
Cause its like a kid you and you just overlook what so, but he was a score. Great score. Alex when coached him and in San Francisco before he went to Philly and coached back there and got of.
He said one of these days he’s going play the whole game and score 50 or 60 and, and
we’re going to miss sometimes that he was a talented player, very talented player and he, but he wanted to argue about everything. Thought he knew a little bit of, and he did. He a Everything wanted. He wanted. Sure. Everybody. . That’s right.
[01:05:14] Mike Klinzing: you had an opportunity to play in the NBA finals against both Bill Russell and Will Chamberlain.
So somebody who’s my age 52. Basically my recollection of those two guys as players comes from whatever highlight footage I can get. And obviously reading and listening and, and watching as much as you can to, to study the history of the league. When you think about those two guys, just give us a compare and contrast your thoughts about sort of where they stack up in the history of the game.
Obviously the most common argument is Wilt had all the statistics wasn’t always about winning. Russell didn’t care about the statistics was all about winning. Those are sort of the, the stereotypical descriptions of each of those guys. So just are those things. Accurate. Are they inaccurate? Just tell us a little bit about your experiences with those two guys.
[01:06:19] Jim King: They’re accurate. You’re right on with em. You know, I think Russell, I ru bill Russell intimidated wilt you know, he was only really six nine and he was like a big cat. You know, you couldn’t out, he was really studied the game, studied players and I remember going in early in my career rookie year and I was playing against them and went in down in the middle cause I, to drive the middle.
And I’d go in and, and, and have my bottom, I’d hold the ball in one hand and like, I was going to just throw it up there. And, and I did that to Bill I, and he came up to block it and I just instead I just turned my hand over and threw it to the, our center and he, it, and I never did that again. Bill never forgot that.
I mean, he just, he would just back off and let to the ground or else I had to it up there, or to find somebody to it and to do in a second. So you killer, like assassin and, and used to say the guys whenever they get the and Bill he’d on and go in the light, go in the shower and throw up before they went out and the guys look around. At each other, the in arm and he’s doing, they knew they weren’t going to lose. He was ready to eliminate everybody’s shots,
felt wilts intimidation. And I never felt his intensity like wilt like a Russell did. You know, Russell was a really was to time and all is see the coach that he didn’t wint when he the only that he was playing. And anyway, I don’t, I limited in what could do offensive. But that’s not what is, he was, his purpose was, he was a defensive genius and I’ll, something that I’ve understood, tried.
One big kid, when I was coaching Tulsa and tried him, he was like six. I tried to teach him to not just jump up and slap it up in the seats Russell would jump up and tip it over. He’d tip it to one of teammates. Like those guys would take off. Soon as they saw Russell was going to block it. He didn’t, never slapped it stands that didn’t, that’s not a possession it’s, it’s out of bounds for the other team.
So I never understood why coaches haven’t taught a lot of these big guys how to. How to not it was such a big deal for him to slap it up in the stands and all the fans go crazy, but that, that’s not percentage of basketball like Bill played. He only, he would go up and tip it with his bigger, big left wrist.
He just use his hand. He wouldn’t seem slap it at all with his arm. He’d just, his arm, he’d go up as, as he could with his wrist. He’d go it over to one of the players. And so and never did that. You know, I don’t think anything from him like that. He wasn’t, will think Wilt realized he was twice as strong.
He could have picked up and stuffed was ALS.
During the summertime he said he go over there and sometimes it’d be some of those guys in there you lifting. And he watched him pick do five 50 on on a press for us. Said it was not a stretch for him. And he said he tried to get al to do stuff like, and I don’t need that.
Anyway, he of strongest guys I know. He definitely athlete and one day in practice at San Francisco, this story was told me before I got there and he said Al was there and they were talking about who the fastest guard, fastest player in the league was. And Wilt said, I am.
And of course nobody had ever seen him run up, run full speed he never did that. I mean, I used to be in the middle of court when I’d to,
so, so don’t I’d stir him up, you know. But but Al said, he said, well, I don’t. And they, so then they throwing, I’m saying, I’ll up a 20 on. He al’s a, all of ’em said, Al’s fastest guy in the league, no doubt. And they, and everybody believed that and Will said, look, Al can start at the free throw line, and I’ll start at the end of the, under the basket.
And when we say start and we’ll run to the other inline and back to this line, and I’ll beat him five feet and everybody was just screaming thinking that’s, that’s idiotic. There’s no way, can’t move his feet that fast. He said, doesn’t, doesn’t realize how fast Al is. And so they got out there and did it and he beat al five feet, couple steps of strides down and back.
So that was, but he never did show it very much. You know, he just didn’t feel like he had to run time. He didn’t have Why down the floor real fast. You, it looked awkward. He looked toward when he did that, but. But his, his, his makeup, his mental makeup was certainly not the same as Bills. He didn’t have to win.
You know, he wanted to, I think, and he worked at the game. But he had to be motivated by personal gain. Like when he, when he went after free throws I remember one of the things when they said, you need to get well, let’s, get’s showed and are winner, he said One thing, you need to be the best rebounding.
You have the best stats on rebounding. And of course, that year, I think he averaged something like, Rebound. That’s like a team rebound number, you know? Yep. Lot of, lot of games had less than 30 rebounds and was savaging that just because wanted to, and we, Nate grew up under wilt cause they, they drafted him and then they.
Then he got on the waits. I was in Allstar games with, with Nate and he only weighed about a one s really, really know. And then the thing him in, and he got up two mean he’s got most on his shoulders and arms this big, huge shoulders and arms and his knit legs never got that much bigger. But you know, they some, but Nate could block his shocks like dump, use his dipper he couldn’t dipper on, on Nate.
He’d just straight up knock it back out, weed him there he mode of trying to, he had 20 consecutive field goals and he didn’t take a shot the whole game cause he knew Nate would get it.
That’s funny. That’s, that’s good stuff. It’d be, it’d be nice to be able to talk to Nate and, well, I talked to Nate about it anyway, but I mean, Just talk to him about it. I don’t think he, he wouldn’t tell you anything. Yeah, he wouldn’t tell you the truth probably in that case, right? No, he wouldn’t
[01:16:26] Mike Klinzing: I always just, I always just think of Wilt as just an incredible athlete and the things that he did and you know, and then you, you contrast that as you did with Russell. And just talk about how, how that mentality is such a big piece of when you get to, when you get to the NBA level, right?
You’re talking about the very best, the best and everybody. Everybody has talent and everybody has skill. And I think ultimately, and I don’t care if you go back to the sixties and seventies when you were playing or Yeah. You talk about the modern NBA game today, what really sets apart the very, very best is that ability to be mentally tough and mm-hmm.
to, to separate yourself, not just with your skill and with your athleticism, because that’s really hard to do cuz so many guys in the league have it. But that mental piece of it, I think is, is incredibly important. And I think when, when you talk to people who were in that era, when Russell and Will were going against each other, that, that, that was the advantage that Russell had that.
His mind and the way that he utilized it to lift up his teammates and as you said, sort of intimidate and kind of get into Will’s head. Yeah. Gave him the advantage when it came to the two of them going head to head and obviously Wilt had huge stats and those matchups, but Russell’s teams usually got the best of him.
And so yeah, someone who’s not there, it’s always interesting to read and to talk to someone like yourself who’s there to kind of get that firsthand story of what it was like.
[01:18:13] Jim King: Yeah, well, you know when I, rookie year we went to Hawaii for, with three other teams and so we’d go over and play exhibition and and Jerry was kind of coaching me. He said, that’s where I’ll be, I’ll be over with the water fountain. And, and sure enough, that big fight broke out and I looked around and get a drink of water. And there you can’t let these slip up on slip up on cock. And but anyway, they had, we had original Russo was, he was a great, I loved him.
He had this attitude, a Dartmouth graduate. He was very smart. Smart.
And he, and he, he put up a with a lot, you know. Then he’d just, okay, I’ve had, and he’d co-op somebody Orem know he’s to something. He, he, he were, we’re playing and I forgot what, what team it was. There were three of three other teams there and weed. Bu and so we were playing mad Wilt, and.
He and he they were jawing back and forth. And then finally will I heard him Rudy say, you son of I, you, I’m not afraid of youre atch. I, and gosh, that time you, that everybody realized going to be a fight. And, and so two guys grabbed Rudy and pulled and of like, on Will’s forwards the forwards 8 25, 30 and there’s, and, and, and hey, they pull him out to half court and he’s standing right in half court and, and I’m there watching him and I’m thinking, Rudy, just give it up, you know?
And. I mean, nobody wants to fight. Well, and so finally they let Rudy go and, and so he’s, he takes off running at, and Will’s got these four, two guys are standing in front of him, and then the, then each one of guys saw on his arm. And so he, he sees Rudy coming and he just takes a step forward and he, these fares him, those two guys on his, they’re like, well, I think it was somebody like Don Nelson a big strong two guys and both of their feet came off the floor and, and both of them crashed into Rudy and knocked him down and to him, I’m a big man, Rudy kind of
then it what an un understatement. He’s through, totaled about five their came and, and he threw him into Rudy as he was running into to tot and threw it and knocked him back. He’s standing looking him and he, I’m Rudy was that was the whole sort of an understatement by Wilt there, right? Yeah. Didn’t brag.
He just, I’m a big man, Rudy, and you know, in other words, you better take note. Yep, absolutely. Yeah. But anyway, that was one of the strong man deals. He did one and that. You know, earlier in my career there were more fights, causes, no association, and you didn’t have anything. And
and Cliff Hagen stepped out and we, we on team, I can’t even tell you. It was, it was a, a guy who’d been in League A and he and, and he came off pick Cliff out, forearmed him, the mouth, knocked his teeth out. I said, good grief, why’d he do that? He didn’t need to do that. There wasn’t a fight going on. He just, just knocked him cold cock.
And Frank said they had a fight a couple years ago. He just got. Ha, , he said he just waited for the shot and that, that’s what would go on then. And lust at Boston he was on the bench for red to protect him and to and Elsman would get a hot, he’d put Skat in, he’d put Lu in who never played, but he had rough Elg up and try to get him in a fight.
And then he’d throw both of out. So it’d kill us to lose Elgin, but throw him out. Didn’t that was the, on all those.
[01:24:01] Mike Klinzing: So our mutual friend, Tim Gallagher, said that one of the players that I had to make sure that I asked you about was Jerry Sloan, and he said, he said, make sure you don’t just ask him about Jerry as a coach, which has, which is how a lot of people remember him with the jazz.
But as a player, what I know of Jerry Sloan was that he was one of the toughest guys out there. So just he said, make sure I ask you so, so lay some Jerry Sloan on me.
[01:24:31] Jim King: Yeah. He was, was the hardest working basketball player that ever lived. I mean, he gave everything, he couldn’t even dump. You know, he was six five, but he couldn’t dunk.
He wasn’t, he had little hands. He, he was a, he, he was a country guy country and I mean, he, he was, and you know, he didn’t, didn’t have what you would call athletic as far as just gifted. He didn’t, he wasn’t gifted. He outworked everybody. And I remember when Pete came in the communal, it’s know be a lot of people there tonight. ’em, but the I in and Jerry was, he’s in these locker room and ma wouldn’t you get, he said, I’ve got here a little. He was sitting there had his up on and he was ready. I mean, he would’ve gone to the airport to pick him up. You know, the papers already made a big deal out.
The best defensive player against the best offensive, skilled offensive against the skilled a deal, big deal in splashing the paper. And so it, he, he would’ve, he would’ve gone after him at the airport if he could’ve up as he saw and then the first got figures against, against what would he You’re really frustrated, Jerry, did he w you know how you come down and you pass the balling and you you’re wing or left and as you the over and you pass, got to the righting, right?
Well, Everybody does that. And he had already studied Pete playing and he saw that Pete did that a lot and he had three fouls at halftime, charging fouls. Cause Jerry, whatever time he made that pass on that either side, Jerry would be right up in his face. I mean, when he turned to go the other way and he’d just pull him on top.
And Pete got so rattled, really. He was afraid Jerry’s going to do another one to him and foul out or something. So had he completely took his game away from him kind of strategy. But Icame to rookie and we worked out at Wheaton, and, and I, I got dressed, I was walked out there and I was shooting for free throws.
Jerry comes and he’s he gets on the, and I’m, when I shoot, he jumps in the lane real quick, like, and he does that two times. I said, I thought he had lost hadn’t all. And I said, and he said, didn’t you hear they changed that? I said, what rule? And he said, well you had to wait ’til it hit the rim before you jump across.
And he said, now, as soon as you it, you can jump in the lane. I’m going to rebounds
You know, that’s, that was him. He was just thinking any way he could get a possession and, and he would get, he, he would, So beat up he’d take charges. He didn’t care who it was. He, vanier nor Vanier. Vanier would, he was guard. Jerry didn’t really, and was like, and would, would take one jump out in front a train he didn’t, must have been terrible playing against our team.
But every, about every six, four to six weeks to balls on these elbows, he’d, they’d get, he’d land on his elbows when he’d get charges. And then, so they’d swell up, get they’d to drain so often. And but Jerry was big enough to where he could kind of hold bigger and, but he still took a beating. He, his body looked like he’d give the every time he’d the I’d.
See, I think he, like, he about years his is . And that was when he was pretty young. Yeah. He was still young at that point, right? Oh yeah. Was probably, he was probably about 32 then. I just, I him, his as for was he gave everything, he did everything could to make his team win. He, he would give it all up. Just nobody were outwork.
You know, nobody got ahead of him there. He, he would come to my camp in the summertime and get out there with the kids and start teaching them about taking charges and he’d take charges on them. They’d be landing on top of him and he’d get up, he’d say, get up, get up, get up, get up. teach him how to take charges where they wouldn’t get hurt.
So he was a good guy. He was an awesome, good guy. Yeah, I talk about him for a long time.
[01:30:38] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, I believe it. I mean, it’s amazing just when you go back and, and talking to a guy like yourself and as somebody who even growing up as a kid, so again, I’m 52, so born in 1970 and, and growing up and reading about.
Some of the guys that you obviously had the opportunity to play against and thinking about the history of the game. And it’s always, it’s always an honor to be able to talk to somebody who actually suited up with some of the guys that you get an opportunity to, to read about and hear about and, and obviously never got to see those, those players or yourself play, play live and, and, but, but, but the stories still live on and I think it’s just, it’s such an important part of the game of basketball and you think about the history of where it’s been and how it continues to evolve.
And I’m sure there’s times where you sit back and watch a game today, and obviously there’s still. Lots of elements of the game that are the same, but I know even from the time when I played college basketball, like things are just so different in terms of the way the spacing is and just the skill level of the players is just so much better.
When you sit and watch a game today, what thoughts pop into your mind as you’re watching?
[01:32:02] Jim King: I’ll tell you, college, I’ll tell you the mystery to me. I mean, I, it’s not a mystery, but I think it’s a mystery to a lot of other people, is that you’ve got a guy like Westbrook who is talented he’s got great skills, basketball skills, he’s got speed, quickness, strength And yet he doesn’t fit in in anybody’s plans, anybody’s game.
Right. Cause he can’t, he, he was, he was a kid that probably grew up on on the streets in LA and nobody he never was a point guard anyway. Right. You, they made even shooting guard when he’s in college. So then now they’re wanting to be a guard and doesn’t have the smart Yep. You know, I, it’s, maybe it’s not that, but it’s, I’m not him down.
I’m just, he, he doesn’t have the, He’s a reactor. He’s not a thinker. Yep. And that’s the way Van was with the Chicago and I used to talk to about it. I was an assistant to there. And I would about it’d say know he’s so, he’s never going to think like you want him to, he’s just react to whatever he’s noting ahead.
I had something’ll it happen, but May wrong . Yeah. You know,
[01:33:35] Mike Klinzing: What do you enjoy watching today?
[01:33:40] Jim King: Well, Steph favorite, so unselfishly the Warriors are the best teams to watch if you want to really want to watch team play and Yeah. And hard work and, and you know, unselfishness so much easier to play that way, that rather than, I can’t believe kd’s not going back to saying, send me back to San Francisco.
Yeah. It’s kind crazy.
[01:34:10] Mike Klinzing: It’s kind of crazy. You wanted leave you do the right things and the right things come back.
[01:34:12] Jim King:.Well, really, but you know to get what you can but without screwing up people’s lives. Right? Yeah, exactly. Especially your own, no question. You know? Yeah. So I KD, him what do you think about it? Would you do it? You know, how important is the money
[01:34:45] Mike Klinzing: And the winning? I mean Right. It’s a balance between, and the money is so big in the game today.
Mm-hmm. , I mean, the numbers. In normal people, we can’t even relate to the amount exactly in the size of the contracts. It just, at a certain point, it just becomes kind of ridiculous. But you look at, you look at what drives guys to make the decisions that they do, and I think goes back to what I said earlier, I think the very best players, they have something that separates them.
And, and part of that is just that they, they value winning. Now they don’t always make the best decisions about how to go about getting to that winning situation. But I, I think those the best guys. I mean, Steph’s a great example of
[01:35:32] Mike Klinzing: But I think those the best guys. I mean, Steph’s a great example of as a Cavs fan you know, obviously I went through a stretch where.
Or I where I didn’t enjoy or I didn’t enjoy watching him very much just from a selfish standpoint. But prior to the, the Cavs Warriors Finals runs Steph was definitely a guy that you just as, as a basketball player, if you’re trying to, to watch somebody that you can just appreciate all the things mm-hmm.
that he does, that so many players just don’t do, and his off ball movement and his footwork and the things that he can do that the average person just doesn’t notice or is not picking up on. He’s so good at all those little small things that add up to be one big thing and one giant thing
He’s just so unique. There’s just, there’s nobody, there’s nobody that plays the game like him and, and that even that just. Discounts. The fact that he’s the greatest shooter in the history of the game. There’s so many things that are fun about him beyond just his ability to shoot the ball.
[01:36:40] Jim King: Mm-hmm. , his love for the game is just it.
Yep. He loves the game and that makes it fun, you know? Cause he’s got a smile on his face all the time. Yeah, yeah. But you know, there’s other guys who think they band to play, I guess. Yeah. Westbrook I think is just don’t, another really, really needs help is Simmons left-hander.
[01:37:13] Mike Klinzing: We’ve talked about him a lot, Jim, on a podcast, and he was a guy who Back there. Early in his career, I kind of had ieg and we, my, my partner Jason, who wasn’t, isn’t on with us tonight, but he and I kind of debated back and forth between would you take Simmons or would you take beat if you had to take one of ’em?
And for a while early on I was like, I think you’d take Simmons. To me, he’s more versatile and indeed had the injury history and the mm-hmm. just felt like he was never in great shape and it just felt like Simmons was a guy that played both ends of the floor and did everything. Mm-hmm. . But I think when you look at what happened to him, I think slowly at first and then very, very quickly, where when you get that mental block, when you get the Ys at the free throw line, it, it’s really hard.
I think people discount how hard it is. To overcome that when you’re afraid to go out there and play and, and go to the free throw line, cuz you don’t want to go up there and have to have to shoot free throws. And I, I worry that that guy that we saw early in his career is gone because he just can’t, he just can’t get over that mental piece of it to be able to take advantage of all the skills that he has.
It’s painful to watch, in all honesty.
[01:38:33] Jim King: It’s very hard. You can see him struggling and you can’t want to go up, right? Yeah. Doesn’t want to go to the line. I would go up there and I feel like one thing I learned to do from Sherman was a great he percentage Shooting and, and he was con he would concentrate, but he had had a five to shooting and clinic still with Lakers and he in a water oil company and he was doings stuff. And I went to watch him and he and he spoke about these five steps to shooting. And I had never in my life in those days it was just shots were right.
Rights a of you.
I watched him and I tell you, I got so excited. I came back and, and got in a gym that after, I mean, as soon as I could get in, I don’t know if it was the next day or night, but and I didn’t know what I was, I, these jump, jump up like I was jump shot and then I’d dump it kick it off. Cause I could looked like I was going to shoot it or I’d hang onto it and shoot.
Finally when I started down, I’d shoot. But it was a goof. It was goofy cause it messed my up. Right. Consistently. And so told me about, he said, you have to or don’t do. And he said, if you’re the it don’t it. So he and I went in the gym and I started shooting one handed, one handed one over and over and over.
And he, these and everything’s
grandson, grandson, he worked with me, Dallas when I was living. He’s a R shooter. I work and shot, told him, told him this this five steps and He said he got my, he was looking at some of my basketball cards and they put those percentages back there he said, did you realize when you left the Lakers what your shooting percentage was?
I know it was bad. I don’t, didn’t was, I didn’t shoot that much. Right. You know, cause the coach would say, let’s get the balls. If you, if you took a shot he’d say, let’s get the balls. Well, what you
you, I could a going because I could get to the basket. But you know, I wasn’t going to argue with him, but, I didn’t have anybody teach me how to shoot until I heard that from, and then of course I was running camps for years and, and I would start teaching and
you could turn just by simply working with them for an hour and give them the right way to do it. And then they can learn to shoot it straight you to shoot it before you anything you, and that’s when Oscar and West and you know, all the guys that were, Jerry Lucas was a great shooter and, you know all the guys that were considered great shooters.
I would try to cover him or get around him and talk to him about the shot anyway. I know I could, when I saw him the other day, last week when started walking up to the, doesn’t a few private time with him for an hour or a couple of hours, I guarantee I could have him walk up and, and lock everything out and shoot, even if it’s just used one, because it has to be a one hand shot. Right now he’s, he’s a one and a half or one and a quarter hand. Right. You know, he doesn’t even know what he’s doing, and I know that’s true.
[01:43:28] Mike Klinzing: Or you get him, or you get him to shoot like Rick Berry.
[01:43:32] Jim King: Well, that’s hard to teach. Yeah. Will tried that, you know? Yeah. Well, I mean he had success, right? His a hundred point game shot him under hand and 28 for 32.
[01:43:37] Mike Klinzing: Success, right? His a hundred point game shot him under hand and 28 for 32.
[01:43:42] Jim King: Yeah. But keep doing it. Didn’t keep doing it.
[01:43:45] Mike Klinzing: Didn’t stick with it, didn’t, didn’t
[01:43:48] Jim King: wimpy, right.
Yeah. He didn’t, he probably thought it was silly or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he had just think if he’d had that kind of a shooting percentage Right.
[01:44:01] Mike Klinzing: How many more points he would’ve scored. I it would’ve been ridiculous. Crazy. Oh my
[01:44:04] Jim King: gosh. Yeah. He probably more hundred hundred ft. You know? Yeah, yeah,
[01:44:09] Mike Klinzing: yeah.
No question about that. But anyway, Jim, we are, we are coming up to two hours
[01:44:16] Jim King: and, oh my,
[01:44:17] Mike Klinzing: this has been just a blast for me to be able to hear your stories and the experiences that you’ve had. In your lifetime and in your career, and I can’t thank you enough for taking the time outta your schedule to jump on and to join us.
Sure. And thankful for our friend Tim Gallagher for connecting and putting this together.
[01:44:41] Jim King: He’s a good man,
[01:44:41] Mike Klinzing:I just want to say thanks and really appreciate it. And to everyone out there who’s part of our audience, we thank you for listening and we’ll catch you on our next episode. Thanks.