With the 2019 NBA draft taking place next week, we will spend the days ahead taking a walk down memory lane with a choice collection of players who are celebrating an awesome anniversary this year. From a future Hall of Famer selected 2nd overall in 1959 (60th anniversary) through a conference POY picked in the 2nd round in 2009 (10th anniversary), these stars have all seen their dreams come true in past drafts. We continue our series with Bill Cartwright, who was a 3-time conference POY at San Francisco who led the Dons to 3 straight NCAA tourneys. He had a 16-year NBA career that was highlighted by 3 straight titles as a player in Chicago. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Bill about all those rings and the 40th anniversary of getting drafted.
At Elk Grove High School you were a 2-time California state POY, went 30-0 as a junior, and won the 1st-ever NorCal title game as a senior: did you consider yourself to be 1 of the best high school players in the country, and why did you decide to go to USF? I knew that I could score but we had a really good team so I just worried about playing. The title as a senior was nice because we had graduated a lot of good guys from the previous year. I wanted to go to school in California so I looked at USC, UCLA, and USF. I liked the coach at USF and I liked the school: the guys on the team would come visit me and showed a real commitment to wanting me to go there.
Take me through the 1978 NCAA tourney:
You had 23 PTS/11 REB in a 4-PT win over North Carolina: how were you able to beat the legendary Dean Smith? We played a really good game. Doug Jemison was a 6’6″ high-jumper who blocked a ton of shots for us.
You scored 27 PTS/9-11 FG in a 3-PT loss to Cal State Fullerton: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career? That game really sucked! We were playing well but they just made a hell of a lot of shots that day. We had high hopes after some good wins earlier that year and had a good bond but it just did not happen.
You were a 3-time WCC POY: what did it mean to you to win such outstanding individual honors? I had a great time at USF and enjoyed each of my 4 years there. We were able to win a lot of games and worked really hard to accomplish a lot, which is what I was interested in more than any individual accolades. It never would have happened if I did not have really good teammates.
In the summer of 1979 you were drafted 3rd overall by the Knicks (2 spots behind Magic Johnson): did you see that as a validation of your college career, or the realization of a lifelong dream of reaching the NBA, or other? I talked to Coach Red Holzman who thought that I would get drafted pretty high. Like most players I just wanted to make sure I was prepared to play well once I got there. My goal was not to get to the NBA but just to take what life gave me and go from there, and since I was being led to the NBA I decided to do the best job that I could do.
In the 1980 All-Star Game you scored 8 PTS as a rookie in an 8-PT OT win by the East: how were you able to make such a smooth transition from college to the pros? It was not that smooth, but I got to play a lot of minutes as a rookie after Marvin Webster got hepatitis. Playing in New York helped me get a lot of recognition…but after the All-Star break I was tired as hell.
In the 1984 Eastern Conference 1st round you scored 29 PTS in a 4-PT OT win over Detroit in the decisive Game 5: were you more impressed by Bernard King (who scored 44 PTS despite having the flu and 2 dislocated fingers) or Isiah Thomas (who scored 35 PTS including 16 in the final 93 seconds of regulation to force OT)? They both played great that night: it had to be the hottest freaking arena that I have ever played in! I was lucky to play with Bernard: I saw him do a lot of amazing things every single night. We were lucky to win, which made it even sweeter.
In Game 5 of the 1989 Eastern Conference 1st round with Chicago, Michael Jordan made his famous jump shot over Craig Ehlo at the buzzer while hanging in the air to clinch a 1-PT win over Cleveland, and in Game 2 of the 1991 Finals Jordan made his famous layup while switching hands in mid-air en route to winning the 1st title in franchise history: was the secret to his greatness simply the fact that he could stay in the air longer than anyone else on the court? There are a couple of contributing factors. He was a tremendous athlete. He gets no credit for the switching-hands layup because nobody on the Lakers jumped up to defend him.
In Game 1 of the 1992 Finals Jordan set a couple of records in Game 1 by scoring 35 PTS in the 1st half and famously shrugging after making his 6th 3-PT shot of the half: did you feel that it was harder to win a title or defend a title? I think that both present their own challenges. After we lost Game 1 to the Lakers in 1991 a lot of people thought that we would sweep the next 4 games, which we did. In the 1992 Finals we were playing a Portland team that was viewed as more athletic. Each year had its own challenges, probably more mental than physical. You have to give our coaches a lot of credit: they made great moves defensively such as trapping Magic Johnson in the backcourt, which disrupted the Lakers’ offense for the entire series. Portland had us beat in Game 6 (leading by 15 PTS in the 3rd quarter) before Phil put the bench players in and they brought us all the way back in the 4th quarter.
In Game 6 of the 1993 Finals John Paxson made a 3-PT shot with 3.9 seconds left in a 1-PT win to clinch the title: did you feel like your team could just keep winning titles for the rest of the decade? When we beat Detroit in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals we felt that everyone loved us and our style of basketball…and they did! However, after you win your 2nd title, people start looking for someone else who can beat you.
After retiring you became an assistant coach under Phil Jackson while the Bulls won a few more titles in the late 1990s: what made Phil such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? Phil understood that basketball is more than just basketball: it is about balancing your life, knowing what is going on in the world, being aware of your body, etc. He would encourage us to read the paper and also introduced us to yoga. Some guys think that basketball is more important than their family, but it is not. You cannot get too high or too low: just stay on your feet.