I found it refreshing to be served by people who truly knew everything and who came across as glad i stopped in and only care about me getting the service beyond what i deserved. We're talking about the pre-1965 version with healthy knees. He died aged 67. While Dantley always thrived in traffic, he wasn't any good at playing well with others. His career ORTG is 119. MARK AGUIRRE ADRIAN DANTLEY Position: Forward Forward Ht./wt: 6-6/235 lbs. The dominant offensive force was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008. The following February, Dantley suffered the second major injury of his career a broken right fibula, which sidelined him for the year. But those wounds seem to have healed, and all the honors that took too long to come Dantley's way have been realized in the past few years: His jersey was retired by the Jazz in 2007, and in ceremonies related to the event Layden took the blame for everything that went wrong. Inducted into Hall of Fame as Player in 2008. In 1983-84, Utah posted a 15-game improvement over the previous year and claimed its first Midwest Division championship. It was also suggested that Piston coach Chuck Daly and Dantley were not on the same page, as Dantley was reportedly not happy about losing playing time to Dennis Rodman who had become one of the leagues best defenders and rebounders. Dantleys many basketball accomplishments include a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics, the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, and two NBA scoring titles. When the brittle big man finally played in a semifinals series, against the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2009 playoffs, a fractured left foot sidelined him for the final four games of the seven-game series. Already as a promising freshman at the University of Notre Dame, the 6'5" . according to Montgomery County civil service records, put him in the school's Ring of Honor in 2012, receive the same insurance and benefits package as full-timers. He played for seven different teams during his 15-year playing career, with his longest stint spent in a Utah Jazz uniform. And I was happy they won those championships.. About Us When the 10-time All-Star finally did get to the championship series with the Pacers, Reggie Miller bricked 15 of 16 field-goal tries in a Game 1 loss versus the Lakers that set the tone for the series. He led the U.S. team in scoring during its gold-medal run at the 1976 Olympics. It was during his time in Utah (1979-86) where Dantley earned six out of his seven career NBA All-Star performances. Dantley still managed to play in 60 games, averaging 17.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists. In the 197778 season, he appeared in 56 games at small forward, finishing second in team behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with an average of 19.4 points, to go along with 7.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per contest. He was canned after the 2010-2011 season for refusing to sit in a row of seats behind the players, as head coach George Karl had asked his aides to do. All I had to do was point, and before I could even ask, Crafty launched into the story about how he came to end up with Adrian Dantley's New Balance sneakers. . Joe Dumars called Dantley the best teammate he has ever played with and John Salley called him mentor. Salley publicly acknowledged not only that A.D.s role wasnt disruptive for the team as it was later shown but quite the contrary - he was a vital part of the team and thus deserved to stay. And so Phil Jackson had to remind him that basketball is a team game. "A lot . Since he was a child, basketball has always piqued his curiosity. He was able to amass 26.6 points on average. He practiced obsessively, even on Christmas Day, when he would pick up the gym key from coach Wootens house. Teams: Fort Wayne/Detroit Pistons, Syracuse Nationals. Sorry, Artis Gilmore and Dan Issel, but you had a taste of it. His teacher, Morgan Wooten, who was also Dantleys basketball coach, suspected that young Adrian had cheated. Years later I had the opportunity to ask Dantley what he said to Thomas that night before tip-off. Teams: Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks. A ring. There was no stopping for Dantley in the pros either - the 6th overall pick by the Buffalo Braves in the 1976 NBA draft went on to average 20.3 ppg and 7.6 rpg on his way to the 1977 NBA of the Rookie of the Year award. What did the hoops gods have against this guy, anyway? But midway through the 1988-89 season, the Pistons decided to make a move and traded the 33-year-old Dantley to the Dallas Mavericks for Isiah Thomas childhood friend, small forward Mark Aguirre. The five-time All-Star spent the prime of his career with mostly ordinary Warriors teams before he finally made an NBA Finals appearance with the Pacers. Too many times the inability to win the big one comes down to a bad bounce, a bad call, a bad matchup, bad health or just plain bad luck. Adrian Dantley was one of the premiere low-post scorers of the 1980s. The dominant offensive force was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008. "He's not going to just sit around," the associate continues, "and he just doesn't want to pay health insurance." Would this be dismissed as a small matter, even sour grapes, on the day the Pistons beat the Lakers, 114-110, at the Forum to take a 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals? Dantley lives with his mother, aunt and cousin after his parents divorced three years ago. One of the most unstoppable post players in the history of basketball stood a mere 6'5 on a good day in an extra thick pair of high knee socks. When "CP3" willed his team past the Utah Jazz with 41 points, 10 assists and zero turnovers in the 2018 Western Conference semifinals clincher, it appeared that his time had finally come. Falk did not return a phone call for this story. Day after day, Adrian Dantley hangs out on a street corner in his hometown, like some clich of a pitiful ex-ballplayer years after his athletic prime. Magic Johnson amazed basketball fans with his court vision and swagger, all while leading the Lakers to new heights. Teams: Chicago Packers/Zephyrs, Baltimore Bullets, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Jazz. Together they came within one win of an NBA championship and also dev. Mundy died in 1996. He proved them wrong, leading national powerhouse DeMatha to a combined 57-2 record and earning high school All-America honors. . Isaiah Thomas and Adrian Dantley were teammates on the Pistons during the late 1980s. Have Your Own Jersey? AD also known as The Teacher by his Piston teammates had been one of the key reasons the Pistons had become a championship bound team after he was acquired from Utah in 1986 in exchange for Kelly Tripucka and Kent Benson. (Chamberlain had finished his game with 100 points.). The litigants settled the case just before trial, and while the details of the deal were to remain confidential, rumor around D.C. has always been that Falk's side gave Dantley's people every penny they'd asked for to avoid having the agent's business methods aired in public. Extremely satisfied with the wonderful personable service! [12] Dantley's 19801984 seasons include two of the top three and four of the top seven spots in true shooting percentage for players averaging at least 30 points per game. By: HoopsHype. I was in desperate need because of a upcoming event to make purchase I could get same day while searching for the item I quickly realized there wasn't just limited availability of the item but very limited locations in Metro Detroit i could purchase the item. From NBA.com Staff. In 1977, he was traded to the Indiana Pacers. But I did.. Two years later in the 1987 ECF, Boston averaged 109.6 ppg in a seven-game victory over the Pistons. He started by tying the score, 96-96, on a 17-foot straight-away jumper, and the Pistons never trailed again. When the trade was announced, rumors swirled as to why Piston GM Jack McCloskey made the deal. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Still in UCLAs corner, Ben Howland stressed importance of getting No. MARK AGUIRRE. And then Thomas defended himself for the . [27], Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, List of National Basketball Association career scoring leaders, List of National Basketball Association career turnovers leaders, List of National Basketball Association career free throw scoring leaders, List of individual National Basketball Association scoring leaders by season, List of National Basketball Association annual minutes leaders, "NBA Legend Dantley Celebrates B-Day With Extra Candle", "Dantley named assistant for Towson basketball", "Notre Dame's Adrian Dantley Honored As ACC Legend", "Lakers Get Dantley in Aftermath of Violent Brawl", "Dantley Career High 57 Points versus Bulls", "Dantley Playoff Career High 46 Points in WCSF", "Dantley is NBA's Comeback Player of Year", "Best true shooting percentage with more than 30 PPG", "Ex-Piston Adrian Dantley calls Isiah Thomas 'con man' on 105.1-FM show", "SPORTS PEOPLE: PRO BASKETBALL; Dantley Goes to Italy", "Dantley Makes Himself at Home in the Italian Game, Lifestyle", "Towson Mourns Loss of Legendary Basketball Coach Terry Truax", "Nuggets do not renew Dantley's contract", "Train with Adrian, a Basketball coach on CoachUp", "Berman: Dark horse Dantley making name for himself after earning scholarship", "Adrian Dantley Returned To The Site Of A Legendary Prep Hoops Debacle, This Time As A Kids' Rec League Ref", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adrian_Dantley&oldid=1134295941, Career statistics and player information from, This page was last edited on 17 January 2023, at 23:57. Dave McKenna. A year later he became an assistant coach at Towson State University in Maryland. 23,177 points, good for 24.3 a game. At every level, I wasnt supposed to do what I did, he said late in his career in an interview with theDallas Morning News. Aguirre didnt hear of them until some 30 minutes after the game, and he sort of laughed off the notion that it was Thomas who engineered the trade. Although his present occupation is rather surprising since being fired following the 2010-2011 season after serving eight years as an assistant coach of the Denver Nuggets where he briefly was the acting head coach in 2010, Adrian Dantley has had more than one major surprise of his own. C onsidered one of the best small forwards in NBA history, Dantley played parts of two seasons in Los Angeles, treating fans to the skills that would eventually make him a six-time All-Star and a future basketball Hall of Fame inductee. Dantley now works as a school crossing guard in Silver Spring, Maryland for $14,685.50 a year. Dantley went on to the Dallas Mavericks, where he appeared in a total of 76 games throughout the 1988-89 and . A quarter-century later, Dantley's carrying the metaphorical lunch pail. He became a free agent after the 1989-90 season and shopped himself around. Before coming to Detroit, Sparky built a legend in Cincinnati, As Verlander enters his 30s, Tiger fans should pause to appreciate his unique greatness, Dantley was ushered out of Detroit before he could win a title. This past Friday, Deadspin first reported that former Piston and NBA Hall of Famer Adrian Dantley now works as a $14,000 a year crossing guard at a middle school near his home in Silver Springs, Maryland. The heavily underrated Adrian Dantley was an elite scorer in his heyday, leading the league in points per game in 1980-81 (with 30.7) and in 1983-84 (30.6) and averaging at least 30 points nightly . But it wasnt until the following April with 10 games left in the 1990-91 campaign that he found a job with the Milwaukee Bucks. Adrian Dantley. Dantley, who didn't return phone messages to discuss his current occupation, always had a reputation as greedy on the court and frugal off it. With him on the roster, the Pistons were legitimate Eastern Conference threats by making the Conference Finals . Related:Best Free-Throw Shooters in NBA History. and the championship ring that Dantley wanted so badly had eluded him for the second time. On a recent morning I was sitting in a car at the intersection that Dantley guards, and just minutes before the first period bell was to ring, I saw him lunge in front of a running youngster, who was oblivious to everything but her own fear of tardiness, and keep the kid out of the path of a turning automobile. At seasons end, he was named NBA Rookie of the Year. To this day, many players from the legendary Pistons team openly stood up in Dantleys favor. (He paused). Larry Bird thinks he was lucky he didnt have to deal with that in Boston. The small forward matchup was pivotal in the 108-105 clincher James Worthy went off for an epic 36/16/10 triple . This exercise bike can be folded away when not in use, has 16 different levels of resistance, has a backrest, and also has arm and leg resistance bands too. The trade led to unprecedented team success for Dantley and then more frustration. Shipping Service His stats (8.8 points and 11.5 rebounds) did not match the emotions, both good and bad, he injected into the franchise. From Texas, 35-year Dantley continued to Milwaukee, where he rounded up his 15-year NBA career in 1991. I never should have underestimated you, he later said to Dantley. Lots and lots of benefits, actually. At 40, "The Mailman" chased the elusive prize to Los Angeles, but the Detroit Pistons stamped him postage due in the 2004 NBA Finals. 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