From: davidy@sumax.seattleu.edu (Stimpson J. Cat)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: "Like Tom Chambers" (WAS: Re: Laettner selfish?)
Date: 26 Jan 93 11:28:45 GMT
Article-I.D.: sumax.1k4vhdINNadf
Organization: Seattle University
NNTP-Posting-Host: sumax.seattleu.edu

In article <1993Jan26.135426.26123@uvmark.uucp> davem@uvmark.uucp (Dave Meeks) writes:

************************Xtian Laettner stuff deleted***********************

>
>Hmm... not all that bad.   Laettner reminds me a lot of a young Tom Chambers
>and is more of a PF than a Center.  He has actually surprised a lot of people
>with his play in the paint.  As for shot blocking ability, well, he is not
>a big shot blocker, but in comparision to some other PF in the league, he
>doesn't do all that bad...
>
**************** more Xtian Laettner stuff deleted *******************
>
>Again, I see Laettner turning out a lot like a Tom Chambers...  He will make
>a few AllStar teams, have a few great seasons, but overall be a very solid
>player in the league...
>-- 
>David T. Meeks            || "New shadows tugging at the corner of his eye
>VMark Software, Inc.      ||  Jostling for attention as the sunlight flares
>uvmark!davem@merk.com     ||  Through a curtains tear, shuffling its beams
>davem%uvmark@merk.com     ||  As if in nervous anticipation of another day"



	I often see the comment " like Tom Chambers" made a lot (not just this
post, but in other posts and in the media as well.) It is often used to
describe tall (6'10"+) players of a certain skin tone who can score points.
Well, I suppose this is true to a point, but no more so that calling, say,
Dale Ellis a "Michael Jordan type" (both are about the same size, play guard,
and can score points.) 


	I have heard guys like Michael Smith, Alec Kessler, etc. called
Tom Chambers types for this reason. But I say they are not, nor is Christian
Laettner,nor is Tom Gugliotta. Why? Well, the main reason is athleticism.
Tom Chambers was one of the most athletic big forwards *ever*. He could run
the floor with great speed, could handle the ball very well on the drive,
and was an outstanding leaper. Nowadays, with Chambers aging and injured a lot,
you don't see that, but back in his Seattle days this guy could dunk just about
anything and everything, the onlything he rarely did was do the big putback
slam, but that was because he was a lousy rebounder. He did all the fancy
dunks you'd want, reverse jams, tomahawks, you name it. Even with Phoenix,
in his later years, he was still pretty fine (I remember one highlight where
he dunked over Mark Jackson, then with the Knicks, on a fast break, Chambers
going clear over Jackson with Chambers' head at rim level. The point of all
this dunk-mania being none of those guys listed above, and few guys in 
general, have the athleticism to do any of this.

	Also where it falls short- Tom Chambers, for most of his career,
was a lousy outside shooter. Not until his last couple of seasons with
Seattle, and then with the Suns, did his outside shot come around. Even now,
I wouldn't say Chambers is a great outside shooter, solid, but not great.
Chambers' offensive game is built around the drive, not the jump shot. Chambers
was (is?) great at driving to the hoop. He scored tons of points, indeed
most of his buckets in his early career, on drives to the hole. Most of those
above people used their jump shots to score big.

	Finally, Chambers is a weak rebounder. The only good year rebounding
I can remember for him was his 1st year for Phoenix. He was also a poor
shotblocker, and this is weird because you'd think a guy 6'10" with great
leaping ability could rebound and block shots, but he did not. I don't think
rebounding and defense were very important to Tom. He would much rather
run on the fast break, and outscore his man. Maybe Michael Smith was "like
Tom Chambers" in these respects.

	My litmus test for a Tom-Chambers type is this: Can he play small
forward? If he can play small forward *consistently* (i.e. start for a quality
team at small forward) the guy might be a Chambers type. Chambers did this for
Phoenix, but never could at Seattle because X-Man was the small forward (a
strange combination- a "small" power forward in X-Man (he was a tough guy and
the main rebounder for Seattle) and a "big" small forward (in Chambers, who
would rather get out on the break and score points.) A mistake Phoenix repeated
in trading for X-Man. To be honest, I don't see many Tom Chambers types out
there at all. Maybe you call some of them *old* Tom Chambers types.....




					David L. Yee
				email to:davidy@sumax.seattleu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro