On this planet, when it comes to contributions and significance to the sport of basketball, it is difficult to find a few more convincing players than Julius Irving. He led the 76ers to an NBA championship in 1983 and won the MVP Trophy in 1981.
Dr. J was recently named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary 75Th star lineup. The stadium inventor has revolutionized the expressiveness of basketball games, attracting a large number of fans for the NBA with a variety of gorgeous dunks, and inspiring generations of young stars.
Dr. J's influence off the court is equally remarkable, as he was one of the main instigators of the NBA's merger with the ABA. His early departure from college to run for the NBA and his success have indirectly changed the perception of the draft, and more and more young people do not have to play in the NCAA for another four years to become professional players.
In addition, through the signing of endorsement agreements with companies such as Converse and Coca-Cola, he also pointed out a way for other NBA stars to make money in addition to playing. Dr. J's business acumen is absolutely commendable, as he acquired a Coca-Cola bottling company in 1985 and, more recently, shot an endorsement for Coca-Cola. He recently gave an interview in which he shared his thoughts on the NBA, college basketball and business operations.
Q: When you watch the NBA this season, which teams or players have caught your attention?
Dr. J: Memphis, yes, man. I think Morant will be a Hall of Famer in the future, and he could easily be inducted into the Hall of Fame and maybe even become MVP. I think he's already on the table this year.
This year's MVP candidates include Jokic, Embiid, and then Doncic, Alphabet Brother and Morant. That's what I think are the top five MVPs. Curry was among them before he was injured, oh and Booker, don't forget Devon Booker! Don't ignore him because his team has the best record, and the MVP's selection criteria are inherently successful.
Q: What are your thoughts on the development and progress of Joel Embiid?
DR. J: There's no doubt I like Joel. I'm very happy to see him evolve into a star of his current rank. Moses Malone established his style and status in the first two months of his career, and Joel apparently took longer, but fortunately he ended up on a path of success like his predecessors. He has absolute dominance, but also adds some skill, he can make three-pointers, and he is also good at turning over on the bottom line and making a back-up jump shot. He's built himself into an unstoppable star with all-round technique, and it's really hard to stop him unless you use a double or triple bag, but he's smart and if you do that, he'll pass the ball.
Q: You were a shareholder of The Coca-Cola Company and owned a franchise for a bottling plant. This kind of business practice was not common for players in the 1980s, can you talk about this story?
Dr. J: Not just basketball players, all the athletes of that era were less involved in business. But the gate is open,
I was lucky enough to meet a businessman named Bruce Luerin who ran a food conglomerate with a multimillion-dollar business. Thank you for his willingness to give me such a minority player in that era, he was also my absolute enlightener in business, and he made me understand that I can show my value in other ways than playing.
In the 1980s, Bruce invited me to work on the acquisition of a Coke bottling plant that covered Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware. The acquisition went well and we had a great time working together, we held that company until around 2005 and then sold it to the Coca-Cola Company, so it was a very successful business operation, the whole process was longer than my career, my career was only 16 years, but this company stayed with me for more than 20 years and benefited me a lot.
Q: What do you think is the impact of your business success and business acumen on the next generation of players?
DR J: If you've seen Michael Jordan's career documentary, you'll notice that Converse once wanted to sign him. Jordan and his father met with Converse, but eventually chose to sign for Nike. Without kidding, this is largely because I, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson were all Converse customers at the time. Jordan didn't want to be blocked by us, he wanted to make a career of his own, and he did succeed, very successfully, taking the brand to an unattainable height (laughs).
Before me, there were very few basketball players, or other athletes, who signed endorsement contracts with brands. But if you look at it now, more than 50% of endorsement stars are athletes. Look at O'Neal, he's almost everywhere, that's what sports bring to you, and I'm letting the players know that if you have a way to use influence to get rich, then take advantage of it. It's great to see that today's young people have understood this and embodied their worth.
Q: How much do you think the NCAA will gain from opening up player name & portrait rights to young people? What do you think of the NCAA's sports model?
Dr. J. I think it's a perfect example of a multi-party benefit, where the NCAA companies will benefit, brands will benefit, and of course the kids will make the money they deserve. It is actually strange to say that our country is really lagging behind in this regard, and now it is just catching up with some other countries. In China, Europe, and South America, children there are professional athletes or professional players at the age of 12 or 3, and they will get the rewards that professional players deserve.
And we limit young people to 18 years old or even older to become professional athletes, sometimes even to 21 years old, which is simply a kind of ridicule. It doesn't make sense for professional sports, in most parts of the world, Olympians have been professional since childhood, and in this regard we are lagging behind and are now catching up.
But what I mean is that not everyone is ready, and letting go of restrictions is one thing, children still have to have the corresponding strength and physical conditions. Take myself, for example, when I was in high school, I was completely unprepared to play professional basketball, when I was only 1.82 meters and very thin. By the time I got to college, I grew a little taller and gained dozens of pounds. I reached the standard of professional basketball at the age of 21, but the real maturity was around 25, and some children were taller than me at the age of 16 and reached the peak of physical fitness. So I think that letting go of restrictions offers more possibilities, but the specific situation still needs to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, and children cannot be allowed to do things that are beyond their capabilities.
Q: Can you tell me the story between you and the dunk? This technique was not common in your day.
Dr J: It was 1970, my sophomore year, and Abdul-Jabbar was a senior at UCLA. NCAA games have directly banned dunks, not because Abdul-Jabbar dunks are too easy to make the game suspenseful and banned, I know there are a lot of rumors in this regard. The reason at the time was safety considerations, the rebounds back then were not like they are now, and the dunks could break the rebounds. This not only has a safety hazard, but also delays the game, so dunks are banned, but they can be dunked during training and warm-up.
Then I'm in my junior year, and as long as you come to the training ground before the referee arrives, you can dunk as much as you want. That's why I'm famous for dunking, and even though I've been stopped several times, people remember me. I really enjoyed warming up with dunks, which were part of my game, but I didn't dunk during college games, which saved me a lot of money (rebounding repairs).
I have a lot of tackling skills under the basket, but dunks have certainly perfected my skill pack. Later in my career I prefer to put the ball into the basket with some skill rather than dunks, because that would wear out my wrists. Many players end their careers with wrist injuries, and while the immediate trigger may be hitting a rebound or floor, the long-term damage caused by a dunk is not negligible.
Q: What do you think is the key to finding good young people in the NBA draft?
Dr. J: There's so much analysis now, and we were more intuitive and simple at the time. One thing is constant, but the most important thing in my opinion is that you have to have the skills to get a foothold in the NBA. Having those means you have something to be trusted in future games. It can be a jump shot, it can be defensive ability, and of course it's good if you have a special intuition about rebounding.
After we have the technology, we talk about other things, such as character and potential. Honestly, the draft now values potential a lot more than it used to. In the past, managers generally could only rely on statistics to analyze players, but now they have more tools and indicators to scientifically analyze the potential of a young person to determine whether they are worthy of selection and whether they can play well after entering the league.
Q: Have you seen HBO recently put out a documentary about the year you reached the Finals?
Dr. J: I've always heard this film talked about! But I'm going to wait until after the playoffs to see it, and I'm going to focus on the business and what's going on right now, rather than spending my time reminiscing about the past and watching stories about Jerry Bass and the Lakers (laughs, Dr. J's 76ers swept the Lakers in the Finals in the '82-83 season). I think this film will make me have a lot of fun in the offseason.
Original: Bryan Kalbrosky
Compilation: Best Fifteenth Man