HoopersParadise

HoopersParadise All About Basketball – Bringing you the best stories, highlights, and coverage from the game we all love.

Boston Celtics All Time Starting 5
06/10/2026

Boston Celtics All Time Starting 5

San Antonio Spurs All Time Starting 5
06/10/2026

San Antonio Spurs All Time Starting 5

New York Knicks All Time Starting 5
06/10/2026

New York Knicks All Time Starting 5

Gregg Popovich Told Vernon Maxwell No More Clubs or He Was Gone. Six Hours Later Maxwell Was at a Club. Popovich Had a P...
06/10/2026

Gregg Popovich Told Vernon Maxwell No More Clubs or He Was Gone. Six Hours Later Maxwell Was at a Club. Popovich Had a Private Investigator Following Him the Whole Time. Maxwell Didn't Even Know.

Vernon Maxwell was new in San Antonio.

He was also getting into fights in the street and going to clubs every night and generally being the opposite of what Gregg Popovich wanted in his locker room.

Popovich sat him down and delivered the ultimatum.

No more clubs. Next time you go, you're gone.

"I couldn't do that s**t he wanted me to do. I'm from Florida. I'm new in San Antonio, and these MF'ers are trying me everywhere I go, so I'm knocking ni**as out in the streets. So Pop tells me 'No more clubs. The next time you go to a club, I gotta get you out of here.'"

Six hours later. Same day. Maxwell was at a bar.

Popovich called at six in the morning.

"'I told you.'"

Maxwell had no idea how he knew. Then Popovich explained.

A private investigator. Following him the entire time. Reporting back.

"They had a PI follow me. My dumb as* didn't even know."

Popovich didn't negotiate. Didn't lecture. Didn't give a second chance.

"He told me, 'Ok, get your s**t packed. I'm trying to find a team that wants your as*.' He called me back and said 'you're going to Houston.' I said, oh s**t this MF sent me to my city."

Houston. Maxwell's hometown. Where he found a starting role, won two championships alongside Hakeem Olajuwon, and had the best years of his career.

Gregg Popovich won five championships. He didn't do it by accident.

Patrick Ewing Named His All-Time Knicks Starting Five. Charles Oakley Is the Hitman. John Starks Is the Guy You Want in ...
06/10/2026

Patrick Ewing Named His All-Time Knicks Starting Five. Charles Oakley Is the Hitman. John Starks Is the Guy You Want in Your Foxhole. And at Point Guard He's Flipping a Coin Between Two People.

The Knicks are in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

With New York back on the biggest stage someone asked Patrick Ewing to build his all-time Knicks starting five from the players he actually played with.

First pick. No hesitation.

"John Starks because I loved his toughness. He worked for everything that he got. He played with a chip on his shoulder. He was a good athlete, a streaky shooter, but when you go to war, that is the kind of dude you want in your foxhole."

Second pick. Also no hesitation.

"Charles Oakley is the hitman. We played about 10-12 years together. He was physical, and if anybody messed with anybody on the team, he would be the first one to step to him."

Then the forward spots. Larry Johnson and Allan Houston.

"By the time Larry Johnson came to the Knicks, he had reshaped his game. He became a great three-point shooter and a great leader. Allan Houston was also a great shooter."

Then the point guard question. The hardest one.

"We are also gonna need someone to bring the ball up so you can flip the coin. It's either Charlie Ward or Mark Jackson."

Fifteen seasons. Two Finals appearances. No rings. The most beloved Knick in franchise history is watching someone else finally get the job done.

With Oakley as the hitman and Starks in his foxhole, Ewing got very close. Hakeem took one away in 1994. A torn Achilles took the other in 1999.

Jalen Brunson is finishing what Ewing started. The city that lived and died with Big Pat for fifteen years finally has a team back in the Finals.

About time.

Drazen Petrovic Was Riding the Bench in Portland Behind Terry Porter. Porter Had a Fever. He Didn't Tell Anyone. He Kept...
06/10/2026

Drazen Petrovic Was Riding the Bench in Portland Behind Terry Porter. Porter Had a Fever. He Didn't Tell Anyone. He Kept Playing Sick Because He Was Terrified Petrovic Would Take His Minutes and Never Give Them Back.

Drazen Petrovic couldn't get on the court in Portland.

Rick Adelman didn't trust European players. Clyde Drexler was untouchable. Terry Porter was the starting point guard. Danny Ainge was ahead of Petrovic in the rotation. A man who had won two EuroLeague titles, been called the Mozart of Basketball across Europe, and scored 112 points in a single game in Yugoslavia was sitting on the bench while the Trail Blazers reached two consecutive NBA Finals.

But everyone in that building knew.

Drazen's brother Aleksandar revealed exactly how much they knew.

"Rick told me at the time that he didn't have patience, he didn't have experience, and he was a first-time NBA coach. Naturally, Terry Porter and Clyde Drexler were untouchable. What was unbelievable is that Terry Porter, when he had a temperature, he didn't report it. He kept playing because he was scared, he didn't want Dražen to get those minutes and possibly play well."

A starting NBA point guard. Playing through a fever. Because he was afraid of the guy behind him on the depth chart.

That's the whole story of Drazen Petrovic in Portland in one sentence. The coaches didn't trust him. The teammate behind him didn't dare give him an inch.

John Salley watched what happened the moment Petrovic finally got consistent minutes in New Jersey and had one way to describe it.

"The real gangster was Petrovic playing in New Jersey. He was giving everybody numbers. He was giving Michael Jordan numbers, not even realizing what was happening. He was just happy that a shot was going in. I was like, 'No, you're destroying it.' And he was."

In his final NBA season Petrovic averaged 22.3 points on 51.8 percent shooting and 44.9 percent from three. All-NBA Third Team. For a European guard in 1993 that was practically impossible. He was 28 years old. Just entering the prime that Portland never let him show.

Terry Porter was right to be scared. He just didn't know how right he was.

The Knicks Are in the NBA Finals. Jalen Brunson Is Playing Like a God. Shaquille O'Neal Has One Thing to Say About Who t...
06/10/2026

The Knicks Are in the NBA Finals. Jalen Brunson Is Playing Like a God. Shaquille O'Neal Has One Thing to Say About Who the Greatest Knick Is. It's Not Even Close. The New York Knicks Belong to Patrick Ewing.

Jalen Brunson has done something nobody saw coming.

6'2". Left-handed. Standing up to Wembanyama in the NBA Finals. Four seasons in New York. The city is his.

Shaquille O'Neal watched all of it and didn't move an inch.

"I want to say, truthfully, from the bottom of my heart, if the Knicks do win, I'm still not putting them above my favorite player named Patrick Ewing. I want to say thank you for everything. I appreciate you, and I love you. You will always be my favorite."

Then he made it official.

"You hear all this talk about the King of New York and all that. The New York Knicks belong to Patrick Ewing. Just like the Lakers belong to Magic and Kareem, the New York Knicks belong to you."

Then Shaq admitted something he had never said publicly before. The first time he played against Ewing at Madison Square Garden.

"The first time I played against this man in this building, I was terrified. Terrified."

Kenny Smith added the part that makes Ewing's legacy even more remarkable.

"He's never played with a first-, second-, or third-team All-NBA player. Every great player, even the ones that are sitting here, had someone on their team who made first, second, or third-team All-NBA. Patrick Ewing played with some really good players, but Shaq played with Kobe. Hakeem played with Clyde Drexler. Patrick Ewing never had that. And we were happy back in '95 that he didn't have that because they took us to seven games. If they had that, that would've possibly been the difference."

Fifteen seasons. Eleven All-Stars. The all-time franchise leader in every major category. One Finals appearance. No rings.

Brunson can win one this year. He should. He's earned everything New York is throwing at him.

But Shaq already made the call. The Knicks belong to Ewing. They always will.

33 Years Ago the NBA Lost Drazen Petrovic at 28 Years Old. Charles Barkley Said It Was Like a Death in the Family. Willi...
06/10/2026

33 Years Ago the NBA Lost Drazen Petrovic at 28 Years Old. Charles Barkley Said It Was Like a Death in the Family. Willis Reed Broke Down in Tears. The Mozart of Basketball Was Just Getting Started.

June 7, 1993. A stretch of German Autobahn. A car traveling 110 miles per hour.

Drazen Petrovic was asleep in the passenger seat. No seatbelt.

He was 28 years old. Coming off back-to-back seasons averaging over 20 points per game for the New Jersey Nets. Shooting above 40 percent from three. He had just dropped 24 points on the 1992 Dream Team in the Olympic gold medal game while his country Croatia was still technically at war. He was supposed to be entering his prime.

He never made it home.

Sam Bowie was his teammate. He found out by phone call.

"I just got done shaking his hand a few weeks ago after our postseason physicals, and then you get a phone call saying that no more shakes from Draz. A lot of times they say grown men aren't supposed to show their emotions, but it's very difficult for me to speak about it at this time."

Charles Barkley had competed against Petrovic. Watched him grow from the Croatian kid who Larry Bird dismissed with three words in 1988 into one of the most dangerous scorers in the league. He had one way to describe what losing him meant to the people inside professional basketball.

"It was like a death in the family because I think one thing people don't understand, they think us guys in the NBA don't get along, which is absurd. We're very close. It's like a fraternity. And it's like somebody in my family passing away."

Willis Reed had seen it coming from the Portland years when Rick Adelman was burying a Hall of Famer on the bench because he didn't trust a European guard. Reed brought Petrovic to New Jersey and handed him the franchise. He watched what happened next from closer than anyone. When the news broke he could barely get the words out.

"It's a shame that he had so much to give to so many people that he won't be here to do it."

Then he burst into tears.

Reed was later the man to induct Petrovic into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The general manager who rescued him from obscurity became the man who formally gave him his place in history.

Drazen Petrovic had told Larry Bird he preferred playing Magic Johnson. Bird dismissed him. Then Petrovic scored 39 on Bird's Celtics in March 1992 and Bird stopped asking who he was.

He averaged 22.3 points per game in his final NBA season. The trajectory was pointing at something nobody had seen from a European player before. He was the blueprint for everything Dirk Nowitzki and Luka Doncic would become.

He never got the chance to finish what he started.

Every year on this date Croatia stops and remembers the Mozart of Basketball. The NBA fraternity that Barkley described never forgot him either.

He was 28 years old. Just getting started.

Alonzo Mourning Blocked a Charles Barkley Shot and Started Talking Trash. Larry Johnson Watched It Happen and Immediatel...
06/09/2026

Alonzo Mourning Blocked a Charles Barkley Shot and Started Talking Trash. Larry Johnson Watched It Happen and Immediately Said No. Barkley Put His Head Down and Scored 16 Points in the Third Quarter Alone.

Charles Barkley was having a regular night in Charlotte.

Around 16 or 17 points through three quarters. Larry Johnson matching him on the other end. A competitive game. Nothing extraordinary happening.

Then Alonzo Mourning blocked a Barkley shot.

And couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"One game, Charles Barkley got about 16, 17 [points], I got about 16, 17 [points], it's the third quarter and he went to go up and shoot and Lonzo blocked it. [Mourning was like] 'Get that f—king sh—t out of here.'"

Johnson knew immediately what was coming.

"I said, 'No! Just block the shot.'"

Too late.

"He put that big ass head down and I couldn't stop him. Lonzo couldn't stop him. He had like 16 in the third. He finished with close to 40."

Barkley scored 29 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. The Suns won 108-105.

Johnson watched every second of it and couldn't do anything to stop it. Nobody could once Barkley decided the talking had given him everything he needed.

Horace Grant saw the same thing from a different angle in the 1993 Finals. Barkley didn't need trash talk. He didn't need extra motivation. He showed up to every game already locked in.

"He didn't want them to lose. The guy played with an injured elbow, draining the fluid and still going out there putting up 35 points a night."

Alonzo Mourning was one of the most feared defensive players of his generation. Four-time Defensive Player of the Year. A man who made life miserable for every center in the league.

It cost the Hornets the game.

There are players you talk trash to. Charles Barkley was not one of them. Larry Johnson tried to say so before it was too late.

Nobody listened.

Terry Cummings Said Nobody Could Guard Him Once He Got to His Sweet Spots. He Also Said He Felt He Reestablished What a ...
06/09/2026

Terry Cummings Said Nobody Could Guard Him Once He Got to His Sweet Spots. He Also Said He Felt He Reestablished What a Power Forward Was Supposed to Be Before Barkley or Malone. Most People Have Already Forgotten Who He Was

Terry Cummings was the second pick in the 1982 NBA Draft.

His rookie season: 23.7 points on 52.3 percent shooting, 10.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists. Rookie of the Year. From there he averaged 21.3 points and 8.7 rebounds for the next decade. Two All-Star teams. Two All-NBA citations. Fifth in MVP voting in 1985 behind Bird, Magic, Moses Malone, and Kareem.

Then a knee injury in a pickup game in 1992 took everything away.

He still remembers exactly what it felt like before that.

"I felt like no one could defend me when I got in my sweet spots. I was lethal from 15 feet in."

Then he explained where he fit in the power forward pecking order of the 1980s and didn't hedge for a single second.

"We were all vying for the position of best power forward. I feel like I reestablished what a power forward was supposed to be, before any of those other guys. I could run the point, too, if need be."

Before Barkley. Before Malone. Before McHale. Cummings was the blueprint.

He also broke down exactly how he handled Barkley when they matched up.

"Charles was shorter than everyone else at his position, and he wasn't a great defender anyhow, but he was a great athlete. I always felt you had to bang him down low to take away his athleticism. On the open floor, he could do some things defensively, but if I got him on my back down in the block, I was gonna score every time."

He also acknowledged the two forwards who actually gave him trouble.

"Kevin McHale could really make me change my shot, because of his height. Buck Williams was tough to bang with, so I tried to take him out on the floor, but he had good speed."

The prime version made Barkley's athleticism irrelevant the moment he caught it in the block.

Most people have already forgotten Terry Cummings. He hasn't forgotten what he was.

Address

Los Angeles, CA
90001

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when HoopersParadise posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to HoopersParadise:

Shortcuts

Share