Sports Poets Society

The New York Times Tue 11 Nov 2025 An N.B.A. Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens was cited as one of the league’s 50 greatest players and one of its top 10 coaches. He was 88. Lenny Wilkens, the All-Star N.B.A. point guard of the 1960s and ’70s who became the league’s second-ranking coach in total victories, forging a Hall of Fame career through five decades in pro basketball, has died. He was 88. Adam Silver, commissioner of the N.B.A., confirmed the death in a statement. It did not specify when or where Wilkens died, nor did it cite a cause. Growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, Wilkens began playing basketball in Catholic playground leagues, and then played for Boys High School in his senior year. He became an All-American at Providence College and was selected by the St. Louis Hawks in the first round of the 1960 N.B.A. draft. One of the league’s leading playmakers of his time and a strong defensive presence with a nifty left-handed jump shot, he played for 15 seasons, ...

https://vault.si.com/vault/1976/02/23/slicks-his-nameand-his-game SEATTLE'S NIFTY GUARD WOULD BE A SHOO-IN IN A POPULARITY CONTEST, TOO JOHN PAPANEK Sports Illustrated -  FEBRUARY 23, 1976 TABLE OF CONTENTS ORIGINAL LAYOUT Whether or not Slick Watts is the most popular athlete ever to perform in the state of Washington is no longer in question. Forget Hugh McElhenny, Elgin Baylor and Lenny Wilkens . The question now is: Why do Washingtonians regard a totally bald six-foot, 24-year-old black backcourtman as the most popular person ever to live in the state? What about Judy Collins? Bing Crosby? That celebrated pick and roll artist Jimi Hendrix ? The next President of the United States, Henry (Scoop) Jackson ? Watts, who plays for the Seattle Super-Sonics, isn't even close to being a superstar . He's a very good player and getting better, and he leads the young Sonics with boundless optimism and energy. He also leads the universe in color on court and off. Watts emerged 2½ y...

Slick Watts in 1976 in his signature headband. In the 1975-76 season, he became the first player to lead the N.B.A. in both assists and steals.Credit...George Gojkovich/Getty Images https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/obituaries/slick-watts-dead.html An undrafted, 6-foot-1 point guard with patchy hair, he made an enduring fashion statement and became seen as the ultimate Seattle SuperSonic . By Alex Traub Published March 16, 2025Updated March 18, 2025 Slick Watts, an unheralded, undersized, patchy-haired point guard who turned his obstacles into springboards, endearing himself to fans of the Seattle SuperSonics long past the team’s existence and helping to invent the headband as a basketball fashion signature, has died. He was 73. His son Donald announced the death on social media on Saturday in a statement that did not provide further details. In 2021, Watts had a major stroke, and he spent recent years dealing with lung sarcoidosis, an inflammatory condition. Watts played for the Sup...

1 of 13 | Slick Watts, in 1978, was named to the Sonics’ 40th anniversary team before the team being moved to Oklahoma City. He was such a Seattle institution, the Blue Scholars,  a local hip-hop group, named a song after him. (Seattle Supersonics) https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/sonics/sonics-legend-slick-watts-dies-at-73/ March 15, 2025 at 12:26 pm  Updated March 15, 2025 at 1:46 pm 2 of 13 | Slick Watts arrives before the 76th Annual Sports Star of the year  banquet held at Benaroya Hall in 2011. (Jim Bates / The Seattle Times) By  Tim Booth Seattle Times staff reporter Slick Watts, the baldheaded point guard known for his colorful headbands as a player and his role as an ambassador of Seattle basketball following the conclusion of his NBA career, died Saturday morning at the age of 73. Watts was a generational figure in the Seattle hoops scene, first as a starter for the SuperSonics in the mid-1970s as a young guard from Mississippi before becoming one of ...

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/latest-news/shawn-kemp-admits-dennis-rodman-should-have-won-1996-finals-mvp?fbclid=IwY2xjawI9Q6FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHY5YfuWrG_CtAdcyG-UFSXwF1uSFLOuIWTq7M026HDf0xxAqNNjWvaZYEA_aem_wpUqCANzF0CfAawBsleE-A Dennis was doing all the silent and dirty work. SHANE GARRY ACEDERA MAR 10, 2025 12:34 PM EDT CHICAGO BULLS 1COMMENT Former Seattle SuperSonics star Shawn Kemp has never been shy in giving Dennis Rodman his flowers for "The Worm's" performance in the 1996 NBA Finals. Kemp has always said that Rodman was the key to the Bulls winning that championship series. However, during a recent interview, Shawn took Dennis's praise to the next level, saying that the power forward should've won the hardware that went to Michael Jordan 's trophy case. "To play against him, he's simply one of the best," Kemp said of the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year winner. "And what I mean that he is, we played against him in ...

Gus Williams in maglia Sonics nella stagione 1978-79 -  GETTY Gus era soprannominato “Il Mago” per le sue doti. Vinse l’anello nel 1979 e fu uno dei primi registi realizzatori Simbolo Scelto al Draft 1975 da Golden State, con i SuperSonics superò 4-1 in finale Washington 17 Jan 2025 La Gazzetta dello Sport - Lombardia Di Antonino Morici Il Mago sapeva come far sparire il pallone dalle mani degli avversari. Del resto a Seattle hanno sempre saputo come mettere pressione agli avversari (ricordate negli anni Novanta Gary Payton, detto il Guanto?). Gus Williams, “The Wizard”, è morto ieri a 71 anni. La sua specialità era tirare e rubare palla agli avversari. Vincendo. È stato uno dei giocatori-simbolo nella storia dei SuperSonics insieme con Payton, Shawn Kemp e Ray Allen, con la sostanziale differenza di un anello, quello del 1979, che i suoi successori nella Emerald City  non riuscirono a vincere. Precursore   Williams ha vissuto gli ultimi anni della sua vita combattendo co...

WITH ITS STAR GUS WILLIAMS SIDELINED BY A CONTRACT DISPUTE, SEATTLE IS SUB-SONIC ROY S. JOHNSON TABLE OF CONTENTS ORIGINAL LAYOUT For the first 11 years of their existence, the Seattle SuperSonics were simply the other team that wore Kelly-green uniforms . Then, in 1979, the Sonics suddenly turned super and ran away with the NBA title. In the championship series, Seattle's little guys—6'2" Gus Williams and 6'4" Dennis Johnson—fast-broke Washington into oblivion . They out-scored, outrebounded and outdefensed their Bullet backcourt counterparts and, in a game so dominated by redwoods, Williams was the series' leading scorer and Johnson its MVP. Ah, those were the days. These aren't. On Jan. 20, Coach Lenny Wilkens' now less-than-super Sonics stumbled all the way into the Pacific Division basement . At times this season their play has been reminiscent of their expansion days. During last week's East Coast swing, the Sonics blew a 10-point lead in los...

Gus Williams waves to the crowd before a game between the Sonics  and Denver Nuggets in Seattle in March. (Rod Mar / The Seattle Times) https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/sonics/gus-williams-who-lead-sonics-to-nba-championship-dies-at-71/ Jan. 15, 2025 at 7:34 pm  Updated Jan. 15, 2025 at 8:58 pm By  Tim Booth Seattle Times staff reporter Gus Williams, the point guard “Wizard” who helped lead the SuperSonics to their only NBA championship in 1979, died Wednesday nearly five years after suffering a stroke. He was 71. Nicknamed “the Wizard” for his combo of speed, athleticism and scoring , Williams spent six seasons of his NBA career with the SuperSonics . He was a dynamic score-first point guard at a time that kind of player wasn’t a regularity in the professional game and evolved from being a second-round pick out of college at USC into one of the best guards of his generation. Williams’ career ended after spending the 1986-87 season with the Atlanta Hawks and his care...

AMAZON https://www.amazon.it/Hoops-Portraits-Ritratti-basket-americano-ebook/dp/B07JC4X181 PODBEAN https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-86hrs-13f048d SPOTIFY https://open.spotify.com/episode/7resWKIzCnHp9fKVViEv2N di CHRISTIAN GIORDANO © La saga di Spencer Haywood è come la fiaba (vera) di Cenerentola. Nato nel 1949 a Silver City, nel Mississippi, sin da ragazzino Spencer si era guadagnato il pane spezzandosi la schiena nei campi di cotone insieme con il resto della cucciolata di casa-Haywood: dieci tra fratelli e sorelle. Il padre era morto, ammazzato più che da una malattia dalla fatica delle tante, troppe ore di lavoro come carpentiere e la madre guadagnava una miseria pulendo pavimenti.  A tredici anni Spencer si trasferì in cerca di fortuna con un fratello a Chicago, ma presto si trovò coinvolto fra bande e sparatorie. Per fortuna riuscì a sottrarsi in tempo da quel tipo di ambiente. Una fortuna con le sembianze di un pallone da basket. Andando a zonzo per Detroi...

https://gnbuzz.com/man-child-seattles-shawn-kemp-is-anything-but-a-little-kid-on-the-basketball-court/ By Glenn Nelson The Seattle Times He has an old face, etched with generations of hardship . His eyes, ever widened beneath an often-furrowed brow, sometimes appear as pools of melancholy , gazing backward as much as forward. Then there is the body that unfolds 6 feet, 10 inches, the balance between ambition and temperance in his outlook, and the ripened repertoire of basketball skills. The basso-profundo voice completes the illusion. Yet the maturity of his appearance, his personality and his game is incongruous with reality. Shawn Kemp could easily be mistaken for, say, 31. But that would be 10 years off. In public, Kemp appears most at ease on a basketball court, either plying his trade among men or taking an educational or promotional respite among children. The SuperSonics find Kemp the most willing of their players to volunteer for either. Truth be known, he fits comfortably wi...