Julius Erving

[InnervisionsUMASS]

The '86 Celtics had 5 Hall of Famers.

The 62-63 Celtics had 8 Hall of Famers

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/hof.html

[tom mclaughlin]

As an aside I know that the one team Julius wanted to play for when he was making his decision was in the NBA for the Celtics. I
worked for 8 years alongside Bob Woolf in the Prudential Center on the 45th floor and Bob was Julius’s 1st agent. The 1st person Bob contacted about Julius was Red Auerbach and the Celtics knew all about him and would have loved to have him but since he was an underclass man they could do nothing. Hence Julius signed with the ABA Virginia Squires. Imagine Julius as a Celtic. Would have been fun for all the UMass fans!
Also another rather funny story from Coach Leaman that after Julius signed his contract at Coach Leaman’s house with Bob Woolf, Julius, Ray Wilson, Coach Leaman and Al Bianchi from the Squires sitting around after and Coach Leaman and Al Bianchi are alone in the kitchen and Jack and Al Bianchi the coach of the Squires start talking and Bianchi asks Jack just how good Erving is because he has never seen him play. Jack tells him he got a great one and Bianchi sighs a breath of relief.
It’s funny how life is and takes funny turns but it would have been nice to see Julius as a Celtic.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

My lord, how good would those 70s Celtics teams have been with Dr. J??????

No idea how they would have gotten Bird had that occurred, but I have a feeling Red would have pulled it off.

[minutefanjsf]

As an aside I know that the one team Julius wanted to play for when he was making his decision was in the NBA for the Celtics. I
worked for 8 years alongside Bob Woolf in the Prudential Center on the 45th floor and Bob was Julius’s 1st agent. The 1st person Bob contacted about Julius was Red Auerbach and the Celtics knew all about him and would have loved to have him but since he was an underclass man they could do nothing. Hence Julius signed with the ABA Virginia Squires. Imagine Julius as a Celtic. Would have been fun for all the UMass fans!
Also another rather funny story from Coach Leaman that after Julius signed his contract at Coach Leaman’s house with Bob Woolf, Julius, Ray Wilson, Coach Leaman and Al Bianchi from the Squires sitting around after and Coach Leaman and Al Bianchi are alone in the kitchen and Jack and Al Bianchi the coach of the Squires start talking and Bianchi asks Jack just how good Erving is because he has never seen him play. Jack tells him he got a great one and Bianchi sighs a breath of relief.
It’s funny how life is and takes funny turns but it would have been nice to see Julius as a Celtic.

Julius wore 6 in honor of Bill Russell, right? It has always killed me that LeBron switched from 23 to 6 saying 23 was a number that should not be worn because of MJ.To me it was a slap in the face to Russell. Bill Russell a role model for many players in the early 70s due to his civil rights work as well as his playing/coaching career.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

The good Dr. posted on Twitter that he is doing just fine. Great news to hear!

[LS71]

Julius was on a recent Area 21 with KG and several other greats. The topic was who did always want to dunk on...Julius said the Celtics. He said he knew they’d probably get beat by 30, but he wanted to dunk on Larry, Robert or Kevin.

To another point..they also had a GOAT discussion and not one of those guys included Russell. I couldn’t believe my ears.

[inthescoop]

Should we start the Dr. J statue talks again?

[McKinney]

Should we start the Dr. J statue talks again?

Yes.

[Swampy]

The way the stock market has been going IV has that account about ready to put shovels in the ground, I'm sure.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Ha, not quite.

[MikeUMA]

If a Dr J statue is ever going to happen, let's get it done sooner rather than later. It'd be nice to see him around to enjoy it. There's probably a nicer way to say that, but you get the point.

[Umass90]

A few weeks ago, Bamford did one of those live Q&A sessions on Twitter or FB. I can't recall which. I asked when the Dr. J statue was going up. He said that he hadn't thought about a statue before, but it was worth giving some thought to. I was surprised this issue seemed brand new to him.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

It was mostly ever discussed with the prior regime. It was a very low priority item for them because of the major efforts they were making towards fundraising for the FPC, Pressbox and the Champions Center. I wasn't surprised to hear from Bamford that it was sort of a new idea to him.

[MJatUM]

I am just guessing here that the reason it hasn't been brought up because there are other things the athletic department would rather raise money for. If there was a specific Dr J statue fund, it would probably get filled pretty easily (I would think) - but the department has 100 things higher in priority than a statue.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

^

Correct. And it sounds like we're going to hear about one of those things pretty soon.