Bernard King: Hall of Famer

Long overdue.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/9141494/bernard-king-inducted-basketball-hall-fame-source-says

 

I don't know if long overdue but well deserved. Just loved watching the relentless intensity that he brought every night.

 

One of my top two favorite NBA players ever. I loved watching him play.

 

Needless to say, I'm thrilled.

One of the highlights of my sports life was chatting with Ray Mears at Hearnes Center one afternoon before MU played Mears' UT-Martin team and of course I asked him about Bernie King, and he let loose 15 minutes of stories about King. You could tell he loved the kid like a son -- but was equally as disappointed about King's off-court troubles as he was proud of his accomplishments.



In the post-Internet age, it's hard to grasp just how big an impact a cover like this one could have on a young fan back in the day.

 

I was in college when the Bernie & Ernie Show came to town and destroyed my team. Those two guys took over the floor for the entire game.

 

Loved Bernard King when I was a kid. Considering where he played and that he could go off for 50 at any time, he should've been a much bigger NBA star than he was.

 

He had a very short prime.

 

I disagree. He had a very injury-laden career. He did not really fall off much, though. He posted 28.4 points a game as a 34-year-old in his penultimate season.

 

F_B said, "Considering where he played and that he could go off for 50 at any time, he should've been a much bigger NBA star than he was."

He played only three (full) seasons in New York.

He missed 2 full seasons in the prime of his career.

He did finish strong, but as you point out, his best season after missing those two years was the 2nd to last of his career.

I'm a huge fan. He's about the only NBA player I gave a shit about as a kid. (And, I got to know him as an adult.)

He was a great player, and a star. I loved the fact that he had the All-Star season in D.C., and I thought a lot of the crap he took for not being around the Knicks a lot during his rehab was B.S.

I just don't think there's much of an argument that he should have been a bigger star.

 

I don't disagree with what you said, but I think having a short prime, as it applies to, say, Tiny Archibald or Gus Williams, hurts a Hall of Fame resume. Bernard King had an interrupted prime rather than a short one.

 

He was my favorite player growing up and once he got his head on straight he was unstoppable on offense. When he dislocated the middle fingers on both hands and kept scoring, the 14 year old me actually taped my fingers like Bernard hoping that it would help me shoot better (it didn't).

That playoff series against the Pistons gets a lot of hype, but he was as good as anyone for those few games. A shame that he never got to really play with Ewing.

One of my most prized possessions is a singed Converse poster which has Bernard and Albert King in their NBA warmups on a playground with the caption "Where Kings First Ruled".

 

Bernard sure came a long way from when playing for The Nets few asleep at the wheel at a traffic light in Brooklyn and a cop found him.

84/85 season he was putting up 33 points a game until he tore his knee. That just sucked the life out of Knick fans until they drafted Ewing. It's a shame they never got to play together healthy.