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Mammoth Springs

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Wes Unseld

Basketball great Wes Unseld has died. Unseld was one of my favorite centers of all time.

He was undersized for the position but he was an absolute bull, a powerful force, great defender and tenacious rebounder.

I fondly remember the Baltimore Bullets star giving Willis Reed all he could handle back when I was a Knick fan.

Of course basketball was a different game back then, there were fewer teams so the talent was not as spread out and thinned down and people played actual defense. It was a tougher game and no one was as tough as Wes Unseld. My brother and I used to emulate his fadeaway jumper and fierce picks when we played hoops in the driveway.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wes probably played his best ball at Forward with Elvin Hayes at Center. Standing 6'7" with a wingspan of about seven feet he was of very large build and outweighed most any other player on the court; imovable when positioned under the boards. Everyone loved Wes. RIP

Blue Heron said...

Definitely. Incredibly strong but he also had a nice shooting touch for a man his size.