this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Happy Veterans Day Weekend! Players whose careers were impacted by serving (alien.top)
submitted 1 year ago by WinesburgOhio@alien.top to c/nba@nba.space
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On this Veterans Day weekend, I'd like to thank all veterans who have served their country!

Here is a list of several noteworthy NBA players whose careers were impacted by serving, which obviously happened far more in the 40s, 50s, and 60s than it has since then. Many of these players are Hall of Famers, and I believe everyone I've included were All-Stars or Al-NBA during their careers, so it's certainly not a complete list of every player ever who served.

  • David Robinson - served in the Navy for 2 years before entering the NBA at 24

  • Elgin Baylor - missed huge chunks of the '62 season while on active duty, but still put together an insane 38-19 stat-line

  • Lenny Wilkens - missed almost his entire 2nd season while serving (the same '62 season that Baylor missed part of)

  • Paul Arizin - led the NBA in scoring and FG% in '52 at 23 years old (25.4 ppg, .448 FG%) then missed the next 2 seasons while serving in the Marines

  • George Yardley - the high-scoring 50s SF served in the Navy for 2 years, so he didn't enter the NBA until he was 25

  • Sam Jones - served for 2 years in college before entering the NBA at 24

  • Bill Sharman - Cousy's famous backcourt partner served in the Navy for 2 years after HS, eventually joining the NBA at 24

  • Joe Fulks - high-scoring forward of the late-40s didn't enter the NBA until he was 25 after serving for 3 years

  • Nat Clifton - served in the Army for 3 years before joining the Rens prior to the NBA's official integration in 1950

  • Carl Braun - 5x All-Star missed the 1st two ASG's ('51, '52) while serving in the Army

  • Jim Pollard - served for 4 years during WWII before starring for the Lakers in the late-40s and early-50s

  • Larry Costello - served for 2 years after HS and for most of his first 2 pro seasons, eventually starting his first full season at 25

  • K.C. Jones - served in the military before entering the NBA 2 years after being drafted

  • Bob Davies - served 3 years in the Navy during WWII, so he entered the NBL 3 years after graduating college

  • Harry Gallatin - served in the Navy for 1 year before college, but he still entered the NBA at 21 (he graduated college in 2 years)

  • Slater Martin - served in the military for 2 years during college; entered the NBA at 24

  • Al Cervi - star 40s/early-50s PG served in the military for 5 years (~'40-45)

  • Adrian Smith - was in the military for 2 years in the early-60s before entering the NBA

  • Frank Selvy - after being the #1 draft pick in '54 and his promising rookie season, Selvy served in the Army for 2 years

  • Johnny Green - spent a few years in the Marines during the Korean War before joining the NBA shortly before turning 26

  • Tom Gola - after helping the Warriors win the '56 title as a rookie, Gola served in the Army for a year

  • Bob Feerick - star 40s player who missed 2 seasons in the NBL while serving in the Navy during WWII

  • Jack George - didn't enter the NBA until he was 25 after serving in the Army for 2 years

  • Andy Phillip - entered the NBA at 25 after serving in the Marines for 3 years during WWII

  • Cliff Hagan - served in the Air Force for 2 years before joining the NBA

  • Dick McGuire - served for 2 years during college, entered the NBA shortly before turning 24

  • Jack Coleman - it appears he was probably in the military for 3 years between HS and college before entering the NBA at 25

  • Max Zaslofsky - served in the Navy for 2 years before a one-season college career; entered the NBA shortly before he was 21

  • Richie Guerin - was a Marine reservist for 7 years, including his first 2 years in the league; this appears to have delayed the start of his NBA career by 2 years

  • Frank Ramsey - after his rookie season, he missed most of the next 2 seasons while in the Army

  • Fred Scolari - he was unable to serve due to a broken ear drum (he was deaf in one ear), but he worked at a bank for 3 years during the war to fulfill his service

  • Bob Verga - decent ABA player who was selected to the 1968 ASG but was unable to participate since he got drafted into the Army shortly before the contest (his replacement was Larry Brown who was the ASG MVP) - Verga played in the 1970 ABA ASG

  • The only players who were drafted during the Vietnam War were all from the ABA: Bob Verga, Hal Hale, and Les Powell. Powell's case is particularly tough since he was drafted on the same day he signed his rookie ABA deal, and he later died in combat so he never made it into the pros.

  • I believe John Macknowski is the only living former NBA player who served in WWII. He served for 3 years in the middle of his time at Seton Hall, (where he played as a freshman in '42 beside senior Bob Davies), later making it to the league with the Syracuse Nationals.

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[–] surprisinggoose@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

https://youtu.be/EEc-9ENNm1k?si=-d_YYWzdlCpUAwEd

[–] Exact_Improvement_87@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Lauri Markkanen

[–] the13bangbang@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

He didn't serve in the U.S. military.

[–] Doesntcheckinbox@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ehh, I’ll appreciate who they were as players & people. No reason to get jingoistic about serving. Some of these guys had their NBA career’s messed up to get drafted into Nam. I’m not celebrating the machine that did that.

[–] rumdiary@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Worship the military industrial complex or else buddy! There's a handful of billionaires who need to get a little bit richer off of that suffering

[–] whyenn@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

The guy who coined the term "military industrial complex" used it in a speech warning of its danger. Like you, he wasn't a fan of it. That guy was Ike and he could recognize the danger of a warmongering profit machine without losing the ability to honor soldiers that have served, and at times lost their lives, for their country.

War is always evil, and the war industry always makes a profit from it, but the people that serve aren't always to be condemned. They don't need to disappear down a memory hole. It's possible to keep in mind those that have served, one day a year, without glorifying the concept war-mongering.

[–] whyenn@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Some of these guys had their NBA career’s messed up to get drafted into Nam. I’m not celebrating the machine that did that

You're not asked to celebrate a meat-grinding war machine, nor a culture of worshipping war.

You're offered an opportunity to take note of those players affected by serving in the military, and if you think some war was unjust, and the players that served unjustly and forcibly conscripted, it's no less reasonable to keep the memories of these players in mind.

[–] Jshshshsj@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

that’s not the point of the holiday, nor is it the point of posts like these. veterans holidays are recruitment propaganda meant to make the troops seem more socially respected than they actually are to make impressionable young people enlist.

you can have your own interpretation of what it means, but that’s how these holidays are supposed to function. don’t pretend this post is doing anything different.

[–] OsamaBinHarden2@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

What's your favorite US war crime?

[–] ProfessorTicklebutts@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Gross.

[–] hegotmegoood@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Americans really think rampaging into the global south with metric tonnes of weapons to plunder, murder and torture is "serving". Stupid ass post, imagine "celebrating" war crimes and imperialism, do top 10 failed Americans coups in Latin America next