How fitting is it that the men whose flair and flash mirror each other so much - one the originator and one the pupil - have birthdays five days apart?
On February 17, Michael Jordan turned 62. On Saturday, Julius Erving turned 75.
Erving, from East Meadow, Hempstead, Long Island, came on to the basketball scene first at the University of Massachusetts, where he averaged 26.3 points and 20.2 rebounds over two seasons (1969-1971).
Then Erving showed up at Harlem's famed Rucker Park in 1971, winning the Rucker Tournament as the star of the Westsiders squad, a team coached by future Hall of Fame NBA columnist Peter Vecsey, that included Charlie Scott and Billy Paultz.
"When Julius Erving came to Rucker, he'd either be known in the basketball world as a great player, or he would have probably figured out a way to deal with his books and keep his grades high," said New York City playground legend Pee Wee Kirkland in NBA TV's 2013 documentary The Doctor. Kirkland, along with fellow blacktop legend Joe Hammond, starred on Milbank, a competing team of the Westsiders.
Erving turned out to fit the former of the two categories, not needing his books so much as crowds of people rushed to the Rucker to see the young star who on that court in Harlem introduced himself to that basketball world. In the company of street ball legends and NBA players, Erving was a main attraction.
After UMass, Erving, who counted Brooklyn native Connie Hawkins as one of his basketball idols (both, coincidentally, had giant hands that allowed them to palm the ball with ease and dunk impressively), started in 1971 with the ABA's Virginia Squires, debuting on October 15. He averaged 27.3 points, 15.7 rebounds, and 4.0 assists on 50 percent shooting as an ABA rookie, finishing second in MVP voting to the Kentucky Colonels' Artis Gilmore. In 1972, Erving was drafted 12th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Draft, but he had signed a contract prior to the draft with the Atlanta Hawks. Paired with future Hall of Famer Pete Maravich and "Sweet" Lou Hudson, Erving played two exhibition games with the Hawks, where they averaged 135 points per game.
The issue was, Erving's rights belonged to the Bucks, so the Hawks were being fined for Erving suiting up. He went back to the Squires, where he played one more season (1972-73), averaging 31.9 points and 12.2 rebounds and finishing second in MVP voting to the Carolina Cougars' Billy Cunningham. Ironically, Cunningham later would be Erving's head coach in Philadelphia from 1977-1985. Following the 1972-73 season, Erving returned to his home state for three seasons with the New York Nets, averaging double-doubles in each season (he averaged a double-double every season of his ABA career). He led the ABA in scoring in 1975-76 (29.3 points per game) and in the 1976 playoffs, Erving, who won the inaugural Slam Dunk Contest that year, averaged 34.7 points and was named playoff MVP. The Nets defeated the Denver Nuggets in the 1976 ABA Finals. In three of his five ABA seasons, Erving led the league in points per game, topping out at 31.9 in his second season.
When the ABA merged with the NBA for 1976-1977, the Philadelphia 76ers bought Erving's contract from the Nets for $3 million, paving the way for the 76ers' Finals appearance in 1977. Erving averaged 21.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 3.7 assists on 50 percent shooting in his first season in Philadelphia as the 76ers led by head coach Gene Shue won 50 games with a talented roster that also included George McGinnis (3-time ABA and NBA All-Star), Doug Collins, and World B. Free (1980 NBA All-Star). The team lost in the Finals to Bill Walton and the Portland Trail Blazers 4-2, but Erving led all playoff performers in points with 518. In the Finals, he averaged 30.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.7 steals, and 1.2 blocks. One of Erving's great career highlights occured in that Finals, a powerful, one-handed slam over the leaping and challenging Walton.
In 1979-80, Erving averaged 26.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.2 steals, and 1.8 blocks and finished second in MVP voting to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The 76ers met the Lakers in the Finals, but lost in six games. The 30-year-old averaged 25.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.3 blocks, and 2.0 steals in the series. His signature play of the series was what is to this day one of the great highlight plays ever seen in basketball - a baseline reverse layup in which he leapt from the right baseline, extended the ball outward with one hand, swooped underneath the basket, and on the other side touched the ball off the glass.
Three seasons later, the 76ers got their revenge over the Lakers, sweeping Kareem, Magic, & Co. 4-0, with Erving now alongside Hall of Fame center and '83 regular season and Finals MVP Moses Malone as Andrew Toney, Maurice Cheeks, and Bobby Jones helped make up a talented roster. Erving, aged 33, averaged 19.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.8 blocks, and 1.3 steals in the series.
In his final season of 1986-87, Erving averaged 16.8 points on 47 percent shooting, retiring at age 37 after 11 NBA seasons.
Erving averaged 22.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.2 blocks on 51 percent shooting in his NBA career, while in five ABA seasons, he averaged 28.7 points, 12.1 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.4 steals, and 2.0 blocks on 50 percent shooting. He was part of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class of 1993, and in 1994, Sports Illustrated named him as one of the 40 most important athletes of all-time. He was named by SLAM Magazine in 2011 as the 16th greatest basketball player of all-time. Combining his ABA and NBA statistics, he amassed 30,026 career points, currently the ninth most in history.
Sade’s 1984 iconic single Smooth Operator, and Big Daddy Kane’s hit of the same name in 1989 weren’t named for him, but they could have been.
Happy 75th, Dr. J.
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