Norm Van Lier dead at 61

Man, that was great.

Thanks for posting that.

 

I always thought those 1970s Bulls were underrated -- a Ken Reeves knee injury from title contention. Coming out of BC, the guy looked like the next Dave Cowens. I hear he ended up coaching HS basketball in the inner city somewhere.

Seriously, though -- 61 is young. I'm too young to remember Van Lier well. But I do specifically remember the Bulls against the Pistons (John Shumate/Eric Money/Bob Lanier/M.L. Carr, etc.) at Cobo on TV-50 when I was in 2nd grade and Van Lier and Artis Gilmore were the two Bulls that stood out the most.

 

They were thugs. Marginal basketball players who hacked their way through the league.
Maybe he was a nice man. But overrated, along with Sloan.