Any Old Schoolers Remember Bernard King in '84?

[imsointoyou]

Larry Bird said that BK was the best small forward "hands down."  I missed Bird, BK, and Dr. J.  Somehow, they just knew how to fill it up. Was BK better than Bird in your honest opinion?

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[Tommy Gun]

No Bernard King was a scorer and a shooter..But there is no way the over all package was better than Bird. Bernard King had 2 bad knees and a drug habit which I just recently found out about

[Hoops]

Oh, man. As a player, Bernard King was electrifying at times. He was the first player of my lifetime that was truly unstoppable on offense. When he was on, he could score like no other. I didn't get to see him much, but I loved it when I did. He lacked consistency. As mentioned, his game was mostly offense, not defense.

P.S. Better scorer maybe, but definitely NOT a better overall player than Bird. Not even close.

[connerhenry43]

Oh, man. As a player, Bernard King was electrifying at times. He was the first player of my lifetime that was truly unstoppable on offense. When he was on, he could score like no other. I didn't get to see him much, but I loved it when I did. He lacked consistency. As mentioned, his game was mostly offense, not defense.

P.S. Better scorer maybe, but definitely NOT a better overall player than Bird. Not even close.

in the 1984 playoffs, he was about as ascary as it gets. i cannot repeat the quote, but max and ml carr basically said that king had seen his last 40 point game. they got it wrong. king was awesome and almost unstoppable at that time.

great series, great playoffs in 1984.

[EarthBall]

What I find most amazing is that he shot 59% and 57% from the field in 1981 and 1984, respectively. For a guy 6'7" and scores > 20 ppg, that's awesome. Not even Jordan or Bird could do that.

[nickagneta]

Bernard King, for those who never saw him play, was one hell of a low post player. He still, to this day, had the fastest catch and release on a low post move that I have ever seen. And it's not even close.

He had an assortment of baby hooks, jump hooks and turnarounds that were deadly. Once he established his low post position and the PG decided to pass it, it seemed at times that he was already leaping into his shot before he even received the ball.

And in the 1984 playoffs against Boston he was near unstoppable. Neither Max, McHale, or Bird could stop him. Also, basically because of his presence alone, the Knicks that year were the toughest playoff opponent the Celtics faced.

The boy scared the ever living hell out of me come playoff time thereafter. I just hoped and prayed we didn't meet the Knicks in the playoffs because of the way King demonstrated that he could kick his game into the surreal level.

[ram]

Benard King was an incredible, nearly unstoppable one-on-one scorer who played his best basketball, by far, in the 1984 playoffs.

However, King wasn't much of a defender (average when motivated), rebounder (OK) or passer(decent). Comparisons to Bird, a complete all around player, is ludicrous.

He also could never stay healthy.

[Hoops]

Bernard King, for those who never saw him play, was one hell of a low post player. He still, to this day, had the fastest catch and release on a low post move that I have ever seen. And it's not even close.

He had an assortment of baby hooks, jump hooks and turnarounds that were deadly. Once he established his low post position and the PG decided to pass it, it seemed at times that he was already leaping into his shot before he even received the ball.

And in the 1984 playoffs against Boston he was near unstoppable. Neither Max, McHale, or Bird could stop him. Also, basically because of his presence alone, the Knicks that year were the toughest playoff opponent the Celtics faced.

The boy scared the ever living hell out of me come playoff time thereafter. I just hoped and prayed we didn't meet the Knicks in the playoffs because of the way King demonstrated that he could kick his game into the surreal level.

This comment made me think about this year's series against the Cavs. For all the young guys who never saw BK, think about how scary it was to go up against LeBron - he took the C's to game 7 by himself. BK was like that in '84, except 10x more scary. At least you could force LeBron into missing jumpers. With BK down on the block, there was nothing you could do - especially since he could make his move and get the shot off before the double team came.

[EarthBall]

What I find most amazing is that he shot 59% and 57% from the field in 1981 and 1984, respectively. For a guy 6'7" and scores > 20 ppg, that's awesome. Not even Jordan or Bird could do that.

Had to look it up on basketball-reference: Only Barkley and Dantley were on par with King for players 6'7" and under (sorted by total points scored per season - not shown and sorry the table isn't pretty and stuff)

1   Adrian Dantley     6-5     1982-83     26     UTA             .580         30.7

2   Adrian Dantley    6-5     1981-82     25     UTA             .570         30.3

3    Charles Barkley    6-6    1987-88    24    PHI              .587         28.3

4    Adrian Dantley       6-5    1979-80    23    UTA           .576         28.0

5    Charles Barkley    6-6    1990-91    27    PHI            .570        27.6

6    Bernard King          6-7    1983-84    27    NYK         .572       26.3

7    Charles Barkley    6-6    1988-89    25    PHI           .579        25.8

8    Charles Barkley    6-6    1989-90    26    PHI           .600        25.2

9    Charles Barkley    6-6    1986-87    23    PHI          .594        23.0

10    Bernard King        6-7    1980-81    24    GSW       .588        21.9

[jay_jay54]

Bernard King, for those who never saw him play, was one hell of a low post player. He still, to this day, had the fastest catch and release on a low post move that I have ever seen. And it's not even close.

He had an assortment of baby hooks, jump hooks and turnarounds that were deadly. Once he established his low post position and the PG decided to pass it, it seemed at times that he was already leaping into his shot before he even received the ball.

And in the 1984 playoffs against Boston he was near unstoppable. Neither Max, McHale, or Bird could stop him. Also, basically because of his presence alone, the Knicks that year were the toughest playoff opponent the Celtics faced.

The boy scared the ever living hell out of me come playoff time thereafter. I just hoped and prayed we didn't meet the Knicks in the playoffs because of the way King demonstrated that he could kick his game into the surreal level.

This comment made me think about this year's series against the Cavs. For all the young guys who never saw BK, think about how scary it was to go up against LeBron - he took the C's to game 7 by himself. BK was like that in '84, except 10x more scary. At least you could force LeBron into missing jumpers. With BK down on the block, there was nothing you could do - especially since he could make his move and get the shot off before the double team came.

Glad you brought this up,remember BK very well,also was watching the 1984 playoffs rerun on NBA.TV a few nights ago with the Knicks vs Celts.BK was the toughest sf i think in the league in those days to stop.He was a pure shooter from the outside,and could post up and get his shot off as fast as anyone ive seen.Maybe Worthy was a little quicker,but not by much.Yes BK was probably the best shooting sf in the league,but as someone else stated,Bird had the total package.BK was an average defender.TP for bringing it up.

[Hoops]

I know this is a little off topic, but looking at those numbers, dang, watching the fat Chuckster on TNT tends to make me forget about how good Barkley was. He might be my second favorite player of all-time (behind Bird).

[JAM]

The 1984 Playoffs first round match-up of the Pistons VS the Knicks was one of the great series in NBA history.  Isiah & King went off on each other in a great, great series topped by an unreal Game 5.  Bernard King was a killer prior to the knee injuries.  King, when he came back with the Bullets, was the first player to come back from that type of knee injury (ACL). 

[Brickowski]

Bernard King is the best player not in the hall of fame, and he's better than some of the guys who did get in.  Incredible scorer, and on of the best clutch players in the league.  The only thing that stopped him was injury.