Earl MANIGAULT was the number one Street legend, ANYWHERE!!! MJ nor Magic could ever beat him, one on one!!! It was TOO MANY GUYS BACK THEN THAT WERE TRULLY GREAT IN THE STEEETS!!! AND I'M ONE OF THEM!!! Earl #1 i call him, could soar over any player he wanted too!! Plus he didn't NEED A RUNNING START TO DUNK OVER ANYONE!!! Yes,he could shoot and defend and all else!!! He could easily get to the top of the backboard!!! He could soar!!!!! Drugs brought him down and keeping bad company!!! I accosted him on 8th ave in HARLEM,all strung out and asked, him why?? Why was he destroying himself!!!! Earl of ElBarrio,NYC,NY. 6/8/24
The Fly gos on offense and defense foot steps by Dr.J and he gets the run of his ball play when readt and open. Said "Beavis and Buthead" or "Siskel or Ted" or its Senior "Senor" Biff or Hombre . But he gets open on a good way but not to close to soon with "The Fly" and like with a little Ziggy....or no ziggy moments of Health.
Yes today is MJ who plays along Pippen and Cylde on another team but James "Fly" plays in a earlier years before or the 70's mostly during his youth adult prime-times and Dr.J too but for the ABA and NBA but it shows both on their move and run byt Dr.J has the ball and got his run move open to the basket while "The Fly" had been aside on his turn around foot run or step by a little tyrn aside towards where Dr.J had left by already of his own run from being open enough soon too but the "Fly" kept on his site a little to him running ahead by one play .
I love Kobe, but the narrative he tried to create about what happened from 99-04 is garbage; lakers didn’t win til Phil Jackson showed up and built the triangle offense around Shaq, because Shaq was the better player then, by far; Shaq won 3 straight finals mvps, a league mvp and a scoring title while Kobe won nothing except in every playoffs from 01-04 Kobe attempted more shots than Shaq to the dismay of Phil Jackson; but Shaq was still the lakers leading scorer every year they won rings from 99-02; in 03 playoffs and 04 playoffs kobe increased his fga over shaqs by astronomical amounts and Kobe became the leading scorer, by like 1ppg, but the lakers lost; Kobe said the triangle offense was “holding him back”, he got rape charge, Phil Jackson left, and Kobe didn’t get past the first round for 3 years; Phil returns brings back triangle offense “expert” Derek Fisher to run the triangle and smart euro player gasol, and other rebounders to make up for Kobe’s high amounts of missed shots as Phil and Tex build a new triangle around kobe who ends up with two rings in the triangle offense he claimed was holding him back in 04; The league and Kobe try to push the “Kobe’s chasing jordan” thing, so the narrative about what happened from 03-04 is constantly put out about “shaqs work ethic” hoping you’ll forget and just blindly go with the “5 rings” narrative; Kobe is a top great with bird and magic; but he has 2 finals mvps; he was the best player in a finals 2 times; 2 less than Lebron, and 4 less than jordan;
This guy was overrated because there’s no footage of him because that wasn’t him catching that alley you from half court that was Dr. Jay…….. talking like this guy can fly and I never seen one dunk of him flying except in the movie theater
The greatest basketball player of all time? He never made an NBA or ABA roster, and rarely played in college. That doesn't sound like Michael Jordan to me. And there are A bunch of "greatest" playground players of all time. Depending on who you ask.
I grew up with a guy named Sammy Chu, only 5-6" but he can dunk it from the free throw line as well as shooting using both his left and right hand, he's the goat, no doubt about it. No video to show, but trust me!
I was raised in harlem almost 40 years now granted earl was one of the best street ball players ever. I spoke earl before he passed away and he told their was nobody in harlem,the bronx or brooklyn that could stop joe hammond. This came out of earls mouth.
Amazing how u highlight the bucks made Kareem a millionaire but not what he went thru with the bucks to get that million, the hate the racism etc, dealing with that bs he should of gotten more
This is all fine and good and I'm not trying to disrespect anyone by saying this. But to become "the best" in any sport, you have to prove yourself by competing against the best again and again and again. And in basketball, realistically, I don't see how you do that outside of playing in the NBA for an extended period of time. Just my personal opinion, nothing more.
These stories are all too common. I am convinced the best players never played in the NBA. With racist coaches, ghetto stressors such as upbringing, grades, parental guidance , drugs and prison so many great athletes fell through the cracks.
For every micheal jordan, theres a earl manigualt... great quote. Basketball is not everything, if you cant excel on the court, find another passion. Get a job but dont become complacement. Thats what they (society) wants you to do. I'm a fan of basketball, I dont allow it to dictate my happiness. Everyone wants to be micheal jordan, i just want to be Ke'esh mitchell; excel in life, not just a basketball court.
I think there is a pretty strong consensus that Joe "The Destroyer" Hammond. Ages ago ESPN in around 1980 televised a lot of the Rucker Park games, and I got to see Hammond score an incredibly nasty 72 points. Like Manigault he had problems with drugs, and in fact turned down an opportunity to sign a contract with the LA Lakers around 1972. They were going to sign him without ever seeing him play, either in person or on film. Wilt had played some pck up games with Hammond and the LAKER FRONT OFFICE that he had just seen the most talented player he'd ever seen. He had a number of legendary games, but the wildest was missing the first half of a game, only to show up for the second half, in which he scored 50 points against Dr. J. But Hammond was making so much money selling drugs he wasn't interested in playing basketball professionally. So while I think Hammond would probably get voted the #1 street player of all time, Manigault is in in the top three, along with Hammond and Herman "Helicopter" Knowings. He got the nickname from the way he would wave his bizarrely long arms around. Bernard King said Knowings was the greatest leaper he ever saw, and watched him in person do the dollar in change trick off the top of the back board. I think, though I could be wrong about whether or not this is still the case, Hammond is the only street player to be the subject of an advertising campaign by a major athletic shoe company. I don't remember which company (Nike, maybe?), but I remember the really cool T-shirts they had at the time, which merely had a photo of Hammond jumping up, with the words alongside the image reading merely, "The Destroyer." I'll have to check out the movie with Don Cheadle.
I once scored 175 points in a HS basketball game. That was only in a half too, because I left to go play football where I passed for 500 yards, 10 td, ran for 6 tds.
Joe Hammond scored 50 points in a HALF against the Dr and other NBA players at Ruckers. When offered a chance to play for the Lakers he declined because he was making more money selling drugs on the street.
So he was the greatest street baller because his skills couldn't translate to college so one could assume that they wouldn't have translated to the NBA and apparenly he wasn't coachable. Meanwhile Kareem was great at street ball, in college, and his skills translated accorss the board. Earl was a gifted player but I wouldn't say that he's a goat just a street legend. The best part about this story is that he overcame his addiction.
