I played a fair amount of basketball between ages of 12 and 17 — I was on four teams — one at Terman, three at Gunn. I recall leaving practice at Terman about ten times to sneak in a peak at the Torah in the run-up to my Bar Mitzvah and then Rabbi Sidney Akselrad mentioning that, praising my versatility and saying it reminded him of his youthful fondness for handball. I took a ball with me on trips to Europe and Oaxaca. I played on one more time at the JCC when I was in my twenties — I recall Don Yarkin and Steve Yescies as teammates and leaders (Noodles and I both played for Hans Delannoy). When I met Nick Peterson I discerned that he and Hans were rivals in 1969, which is 55 years ago this winter.

Regarding the NBA, I’m a so-so fan. I have at arms length more than a handful (and less than a box full) of 1975 Topps cards.

A brief take on the above, all “bigs” — that is a recent term for forwards and centers (source: 2023-24 NBA Book A360/Future Publishing Ltd):

Kareem — invented or perfected the sky hook; icon of both basketball and thoughtful modern Islam. I saw him once at LAX;

Mikan — I still practice and sometimes recommend to younger players “The Mikan Drill” which is a succession of left and right hand layups combined with a climbing or leaping action. A skilled player can make 20 layups, 10 each hand, in a Mikan Drill in about two minutes. Takes me four.

Shaq–I remember having a theory that correlates the weather with whether he hit 50 percent or more from the charity stripe. Wishful thinking or magic but not Magic. He met my friend Norzin once in Palo Alto and filmed their interaction. (She thought he was Barkley).

Bob Pettit – I don’t know much about him, actually; there is some footage of him in his prime — off topic, but I also watched Rudy LaRusso my fellow Dartmouthian score 6 points at the NBA 1969 All Star game – -I started following basketball in about 1972. He was with the Hawks in St. Louis. He scored 20,000 points but never dunked. From LSU.

Hakeem Olajuwon — played for only one team, Houston Rockets; or two if you count Phi Slamma Jamma, also known as Houston Cougars NCAA. I recall him as Akeem before Hakeem. And that they said he carried an ice chest with popsickles, which they didn’t have in Nigeria. Makes me wonder: Igbo or Yoruba.

Interlude: I am 6 feet tall, although I am more accurately five foot eleven and one half inches. In 7th grade, for Terman Tigers I once lined up as a center in the zone when Koijane took a blow. By my sophomore year, and meeting Hans it was suggested I need to learn to dribble and move to back court. But I learned a bunch of moves in the paint and near the boards, offensive and defensive. In retrospect, maybe I should have just perfected those inside moves. Or worked harder on the dribble. Light is both particle and wave; Weiss is both too small for forward and too clumsy for guard. Against Buchser – -what is now Santa Clara High gym — in my lone varsity field goal for Gunn in 1980-81, I caught the ball from Alan Ng beating the press in the high post, took one dribble, wheeled and kissed the ball of the glass for two! (The next possession, exactly the same, got fouled, sank two; the third time, missed front end of 1-and-1).

Parrish — people forget he was a Warrior before a Celt.

Karl Malone — the mail man, played against my teammate Lockhart in NCAA. Mike Norman never made the NBA but was an all time great for Saint Francis of Mountain View, then Santa Clara Broncos and worked out at least once at Gunn gym, now known as Bow but not Titan. Titan might change to Lockhart if they ask me.

And1: Stanford beat #4 Arizona the other day, in the breakout game, 28 points for Kanaan Carlyle, whose father I met at Springline dog run. From ATL, like Ja Morant. One and done from the Farm. Hope to catch in person his next set of flow or magic.