Sports Poets Society

HIGH STANDARDS Under Popovich, the Spurs could be creative,  versatile  and even unpredictable on offense,  but a commitment to tough D was nonnegotiable. When he became the Spurs’ coach three decades ago, no one imagined would be one of the NBA’s defining figures. As he steps away, raise a glass—a nice Château d’Yquem, ideally—to a man whose impact goes far beyond wins and rings by Jack McCallum photograph by Greg Nelson Sports Illustrated - July 2025 THE NBA was in a transitional state when Gregg Popovich was named general manager of the San Antonio Spurs before the 1994–95 season, a transaction that was big news only in Alamo City. The holy triumvirate upon which the NBA had built its brand over the past decade was gone: Michael Jordan to minor league baseball, Larry Bird to the Celtics’ front office, Magic Johnson to a kind of purgatory owing to his HIV-positive condition. With those exits (Jordan returned for five complete seasons, as we all know, and Magic had a...

THERE'S JUST NO DOUBTING THOMAS ISIAH THOMAS SPARKED THE PISTONS TO A SURPRISING 3-1 PLAYOFF LEAD OVER ATLANTA JACK MCCALLUM TABLE OF CONTENTS ORIGINAL LAYOUT By the time Atlanta and Detroit finish banging bodies, flinging elbows and talking trash in their Round 2 playoff, the survivor's Eastern Conference final versus Boston or Milwaukee will seem like two weeks of R & R. So be afraid, Celtics or Bucks. Be very afraid. Detroit's 89-88 victory at the Pontiac Silverdome on Sunday gave the Pistons a 3-1 lead in this, the best and brightest of the NBA's second-round series. To be sure, Boston and Milwaukee are not exactly coasting through their war, which Boston led 3-1 after a 138-137 double-overtime victory on Sunday. But the belief that the eventual Eastern champion will emerge from Detroit-Atlanta is not all that absurd. Or at least no more absurd than the selection of shots that were served up by one Isiah Thomas, who in the last two games has treated the Hawks li...

https://vault.si.com/vault/2005/12/05/detroit-loves-larry-especially-now-that-hes-gone WHEN NEW YORK COACH LARRY BROWN RETURNS TO THE PALACE TO TAKE ON HIS FORMER TEAM, HE'LL BE MET BY FLOURISHING PLAYERS WHO BEAR HIM NO ILL WILL. THE SAME CAN'T BE SAID (YET) OF HIS KNICKS by  JACK MCCALLUM Sports Illustrated -  DECEMBER 05, 2005 TABLE OF CONTENTS ORIGINAL LAYOUT It is difficult to predict how Larry Brown will be greeted when he's introduced on Friday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills, his first appearance there since his messy divorce from the team he took to two straight NBA Finals . The Palace loyalists, after all, have been known to hurl an epithet or two, not to mention the occasional cold beverage. But the only response the first-year New York Knicks coach cares about is the one he will get from his former Pistons players , and there is little doubt they'll gather him to their metaphorical bosom. "I love Larry," says Chauncey Billups, the Detroit poin...

https://vault.si.com/vault/1987/03/09/the-nbas-unsung-heroes-which-of-the-best-players-get-the-least-ink-herewith-sis-nba-all-underrated-team WHICH OF THE BEST PLAYERS GET THE LEAST INK? HEREWITH, SI'S NBA ALL-UNDERRATED TEAM JACK MCCALLUM TABLE OF CONTENTS ORIGINAL LAYOUT As last month's NBA all-star game tipped off in Seattle. Lafayette (Fail Lever was enjoying lunch with his daughter, Elyse, at Peter Piper Pizza, in Phoenix, his off-season home. "I didn't even watch it on television," said Lever. You were missed, Fat. As Seattle forward Tom Chambers said just two days before he won the game's MVP award. "Fat Lever deserves to be on the All-Star team this season more than any other player in the United States. I feel bad that he's not here." Well, never mind, Fat. Please accept this consolation prize: You've just been named to SI's first NBA All-Underrated team. Congratulations and pass the pizza. Our criteria in selecting the team were...

https://vault.si.com/vault/1988/06/27/tackling-a-tough-task-detroit-had-the-nba-title-within-its-grasp-but-la-broke-free-to-tie-the-playoff-finals-at-3-3 DETROIT HAD THE NBA TITLE WITHIN ITS GRASP, BUT L.A. BROKE FREE TO TIE THE PLAYOFF FINALS AT 3-3 JACK MCCALLUM TABLE OF CONTENTS ORIGINAL LAYOUT The Los Angeles Lakers and the Detroit Pistons swept into this season's championship series as vastly different fronts on the NBA weather map. The former was a familiar, well-charted high-pressure area, the latter, an ominous, unpredictable storm center. No one was sure what would happen when the systems collided, and, indeed, the first five games produced no pattern. The Pistons won Games 1, 4 and 5 by an average of almost 16 points, while the Lakers won Games 2 and 3 by 12 and 13 points, respectively. None of the encounters was particularly dramatic. On Sunday at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., however, Showtown and Motown finally played themselves a classic in Game 6. The Lakers prevai...

https://vault.si.com/vault/1987/05/04/last-rounds-for-the-doctor-as-julius-erving-says-goodbye-seven-writers-remember-doc-across-america MAY 04, 1987 JACK MCCALLUM Though the Philadelphia 76er season traversed a long and bumpy road, Julius Winfield Erving II never took a false step. He handled the NBA's longest goodbye, a 23-city, six-month farewell tour, with both elegance and dignity, words that describe his play on the court and his comportment off it. And, so, as his final days as a player draw near—by Sunday night the Sixers had split the first two games of their best-of-five Eastern Conference playoff series with Milwaukee—we remember Dr. J for what he was and what he has become...and we should be quite happy with both. "I've never heard anybody knock him or express jealousy," says Atlanta's Dominique Wilkins. "Never one negative word. I can't name you one other player who has that status." Because there isn't one. At each stop on the Doc A...