YouTube Gold: Dolph Schayes Highlights

A pioneering player, Schayes laid the groundwork for positionless basketball way back in the 1950’s and ‘60’s.

You may remember that awhile back, JJ Redick got some heat for saying that early NBA players were “plumbers and firemen,” a comment that Bob Cousy, for one, didn’t appreciate.

Redick specifically mentioned Dolph Schayes, saying that he’d like to play him one-on-one so that he could be a Top 75 player in NBA history (the idea there was that he could then take Schayes’ spot in the NBA’s 75th anniversary team).

Well, maybe.

Redick was a wonderful player at Duke and exceeded expectations in the NBA, but he may have underestimated Schayes.

As we’ve said before, human genetics haven’t changed much in the last 75 years. What has changed is training, nutrition, equipment and the way that the game is played.

When you see these highlights, and realize that Schayes pioneered big men stepping outside to shoot and was also highly ambidextrous, you realize that he’s an unusual player. Certainly he was in his own day, but even today, with all the same advantages listed above, he would still have been good. He set the template for Rick Barry, Larry Bird and Dirk Nowitzki.

The thing about these “those old guys suck” comments is this: you wouldn’t get Dolph Schayes from 1955. You’d get the 2024 version. And given his ambidextrousness and his offensive skill, he’d probably be a big guard today or possibly a small forward. And he’d be a load. As you can see in the video linked above, not only could he shoot, but he could pass and rebound too. He was a Top 75 player for a reason.