NBA Is Leaning to Towers

An experiment in the 1960s by the San Francisco Warriors to start future Hall of Famers Nate Thurmond and Wilt Chamberlain at the same time was an utter failure.

The two 7-footers simply were unable to combine their talents because big men in that era were expected to take up space around the basket. They had no room to maneuver and Chamberlain ended up being traded to Philadelphia.

Today, the NBA champion Boston Celtics start 6-10 Kevin McHale and 7-foot Robert Parish in the frontcourt. The “Twin Towers” of 7-4 Ralph Sampson and 7-foot Akeem Olajuwon have taken the Houston Rockets from a 14-victory season to the NBA finals in three seasons.

The Dallas Mavericks intend to use 7-2 James Donaldson and 6-11 rookie Roy Tarpley together and Denver plans to use 7-footers Blair Rasmussen and Wayne Cooper in their bids to challenge for NBA supremacy.

In the East, Washington hopes to be successful with 6-10 Moses Malone and 7-6 Manute Bol and the New York Knicks will feature 7-foot Patrick Ewing and 7-1 Bill Cartwright on the floor together.

“It has nothing to do with size,” said Lakers general manager Jerry West. “It has something to do with talent and flexibility. People forget basketball is a relatively new game and it is still being refined.”

West is familiar with successful changes in strategy. The Lakers have won world championships with 6-9 Magic Johnson at point guard.

“I think there will always be trends,” West said. “Someone will win with something different and the next year, someone else will try that.”

The franchise that has enjoyed the most immediate success utilizing a pair of 7-footers is Houston. The Rockets won the right two successive years to take the No. 1 player in the NBA draft. General Manager Ray Patterson, who in 1969 drafted Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the Milwaukee Bucks, wasted no time in selecting Sampson in 1983 and Olajuwon in ’84.

“The reason we were in the final two (last year) is the way Ralph and Akeem have played together,” Patterson said. “They have surpassed what people thought they could do.”

Sampson and Olajuwon have become the first two big men to average more than 20 points and 10 rebounds a game since Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor of the 1970 Lakers.

Patterson believes there is too much being made over the “Twin Towers” image.

“All you have to do is go back 20 years to the average height of a player,” Patterson said. “It’s a figment of the writer’s imagination.”

However, it has been proven that a team seeking success needs to develop more than one big man and Patterson said the trend toward more and more big men on the floor will continue.

Rockets Coach Bill Fitch turned 6-11 Jim Petersen, drafted the same year as Olajuwon, into a solid NBA performer and Petersen has been labeled the team’s “Third Tower.”

This year, Fitch selected 7-foot Dave Feitl from Texas El Paso in the second round of the NBA draft and is determined to bring him along.

“I think anybody who has seen Feitl play knows he’s a great prospect,” Fitch said. “It usually take three or four years for a big man to develop.”

The key is being able to select the right big man.

“Teams could always put tall people on the floor, but not always with success,” West said. “They (Rockets) were in a position to draft those people. That’s the way it goes. I don’t think you’ve seen the end of it.”